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Alex Cooke

Cleveland, OH
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Articles from Alex Cooke

Is This the Ultimate Large Format Landscape Film?

Ilford's Pan F Plus has been a staple black-and-white film for decades, but it was never available in sheet formats until now. The new 4x5 and 8x10 releases open up a genuinely different shooting experience, and it's well worth a look.

Many Working Photographers Are Buying the Wrong Camera

For roughly twenty years, the working photographer's purchase logic was simple. The flagship body was the right answer for demanding work, and the mid-range body was the right answer for everything else. Working pros bought flagships because their work demanded it. Wedding photographers shooting in dim churches, photojournalists in unpredictable conditions, sports photographers tracking fast subjects, wildlife photographers waiting for a single decisive moment, commercial photographers needing absolute reliability across long shoot days. All of them needed something the mid-range bodies could not deliver, and the flagship was where that something lived.

The Nikon 600mm f/4 TC vs. 400mm f/2.8 TC: A Wildlife Shooter's Honest Take

Spending $15,000 on a single lens is not a decision you make lightly, and getting it wrong is an expensive mistake. Tom Mason owns the Nikon Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S and has put it to work as a professional wildlife shooter for years, but he's the first to admit it might not be the right call for everyone.

7 Creative Principles From Brian Eno That Photographers Need

Choosing a single focal length and following rigid systems might feel like the opposite of creativity, but Brian Eno built a career proving otherwise. His framework for making music turns out to map almost perfectly onto how the best street photography work gets made.

Nikon ZR Tested on a Real Road Trip: Is It Worth Carrying All Day?

Picking the right cinema camera for run-and-gun work is rarely straightforward, and the Nikon ZR raises real questions about whether its feature set justifies its size and complexity for everyday shooting. This video puts that to the test not on a studio set or controlled shoot, but on a full movie-location road trip through Flagstaff, Arizona.

Why the 24-70mm f/2.8 Should No Longer Be the Default First Zoom Purchase

The 24-70mm f/2.8 has been the default first professional lens purchase for at least 25 years. Almost every working photographer has owned one. Every photography forum recommends one to every newcomer asking what to buy after the kit lens. Every wedding educator names it as the foundation of a working kit. Every camera store stocks it at eye level. The lens has been so culturally dominant within working photography that the question of whether it should still be the default has rarely been asked seriously. It should be asked now. 

Why Your ISO Obsession Is Hurting Your Photos

Choosing the right ISO setting is one of those decisions that quietly shapes every photo you take in low or mixed light. Get the thinking wrong, and you either miss the shot or spend years avoiding conditions that could actually produce your best work.

Why "Boring" Locations Might Be Better for Your Photography

Choosing a camera system and committing to a focal length are decisions most serious shooters obsess over, but this approach to both is refreshingly straightforward. After 18 years of shooting, burning out, stepping away, and coming back, this perspective on gear, creative ruts, and where to find compelling images cuts through a lot of the noise.

Lumix L10 vs. Fujifilm X100VI: Which $1,500 Compact Actually Delivers?

The Lumix L10 is a compact camera built around a 26 MP Micro Four Thirds sensor, a fixed Leica-branded zoom lens, and a spec sheet that will make you question whether Panasonic even knows how to make a simple camera. At $1,500, it sits in a crowded space occupied by cameras like the Fujifilm X100VI, and the question worth asking is whether it can hold its own.

Thypoch 24-50mm f/2.8: Half the Price of Sony's Version, But Is the Image Quality There?

Thypoch built its reputation on manual focus prime lenses, so when the company announced an autofocus zoom, nobody saw it coming. The Thypoch 24-50mm f/2.8 is not only the brand's first zoom lens, it's the first autofocus zoom lens to come out of China entirely, and it lands at $619 on Sony E-mount, undercutting the Sony 24-50mm f/2.8 G by roughly half.

Why "Less Perfection, More Human" Is the 2026 Photography Trend That Will Last

Photography has spent most of its digital era chasing technical perfection. Sharp focus, clean files, controlled lighting, smooth skin, perfect exposure across the dynamic range. The pursuit was reasonable. Each generation of cameras and editing software made these standards more achievable, and working photographers who failed to meet them risked looking unprofessional. By 2020, a wedding photographer delivering a slightly soft image was apologizing for it. A portrait photographer leaving visible skin texture was risking client complaints. The technical-perfection ceiling kept rising, and the industry kept rising with it.

How to Make Digital Photos Look Like Film in Lightroom

Film photography costs money at every step, and if you shoot both film and digital, keeping a consistent look across both can be a real headache. Knowing how to replicate that film aesthetic in post gives you control over the final result without being locked into a single workflow.

Canon Announces the RF 20-50mm f/4 L IS USM PZ, a Power Zoom for the EOS R6 V Era

Alongside the EOS R6 V camera body, Canon today announced the RF 20-50mm f/4 L IS USM PZ, the first L-series lens from Canon to include built-in power zoom without requiring an external accessory. The lens is aimed at video shooters and hybrid creators working on gimbals, sliders, and handheld setups, and serves as the native companion to the video-focused EOS R6 V.

Canon Unveils the EOS R6 V: A 7K Full Frame Video Camera at $2,499

Canon today announced the EOS R6 V, a new full frame mirrorless camera built around video capture, alongside the RF 20-50mm f/4 L IS USM PZ lens and a set of accessories aimed at solo creators and small productions. The R6 V is the first V-series body to use a 32.5-megapixel full frame sensor, and it slots into Canon's lineup as a video-first counterpart to the still-focused R6 Mark III.

What Is Truth in a Post-Photography World?

In March 2026, the National Republican Senatorial Committee released an online ad featuring a minute-long video of Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico speaking into the camera, reading statements the real Talarico had not spoken on camera. The Talarico in the video was generated entirely by artificial intelligence, voicing content drawn from the candidate's old social media posts. The words "AI Generated" appeared in small text in the corner of the frame at the start, then faded into even smaller text that remained on screen while the fake Talarico continued to speak. 

Leica M11-D Review: What Shooting With No Screen Actually Does to Your Photography

The Leica M11-D is a digital camera with no rear screen, and that single omission is either its greatest flaw or its greatest feature depending on how honest you are with yourself about how you actually shoot. If you've ever told yourself you'd stop chimping and never followed through, this camera calls that bluff immediately.

Panasonic Jumps Into the Compact Camera Game With the LUMIX L10

Panasonic has announced the LUMIX L10, a new fixed-lens compact camera built around a Four Thirds sensor and a Leica-branded zoom. The release marks the 25th anniversary of the LUMIX line, and Panasonic is launching the camera in three finishes: Black, Silver, and a limited Titanium Gold Special Edition.

Why Every Photographer Needs to Delete 90% of Their Portfolio

Most working photographers have a portfolio problem. The problem is not that the work is bad. The work is usually fine. The problem is that there is too much of it. Portfolios that should have 12 to 18 images contain 40 or 50 or 80. Websites that should load three galleries fast contain eight galleries that load slowly. Instagram grids intended to function as portfolios contain two years of inconsistent work that blurs the photographer's identity rather than sharpening it. The photographer has spent years building the portfolio and cannot bring themselves to remove anything from it.

The Fujifilm XC 13-33mm Kit Lens Is Cheap, Wide, and Surprisingly Capable on Some Cameras

The Fujifilm XC 13-33mm f/3.5-6.3 OIS is the one of the newest kit lens options for the Fujifilm's X-mount system, and it takes a different approach than most. Instead of the typical 15-45mm range, this lens goes wider, giving you a full frame equivalent of 20mm to 50mm, which opens up genuinely different shooting possibilities for landscapes, interiors, selfies, and vlogging.

When Plans Fall Apart Mid-Shoot

Shooting in brutal coastal wind is one of the fastest ways to learn what your gear and your plans are actually worth. When conditions fall apart mid-shoot, what you do next says more about your photography than any perfect golden-hour session ever could.

Why Niching Down Is the Single Most Profitable Decision Many Photographers Never Make

The photography business has a strange relationship with specialization. Almost every working photographer starts as a generalist. The first few years of paid work are a scramble: weddings on weekends, headshots during the week, a real estate gig when a friend asks for a favor, some product work to pay for a lens upgrade, maybe a few corporate events when the calendar is thin. The logic is obvious and reasonable. Early in a career, any paying work is better than no paying work, and saying yes to every request builds both experience and cash flow. That first phase of generalist scrambling is not a mistake. It is how most photographers who become successful actually learn their craft. The mistake is staying there.

Why a 50mm Prime Might Be the Best Travel Lens You're Ignoring

Choosing a single prime lens for travel forces a real trade-off, and most people default to a 35mm or a wide angle out of habit. The 50mm prime makes a compelling case that it deserves that spot instead, especially if you care about how a location actually feels in a photo rather than just how much of it you can fit in the frame.

Starting Photography in 2026? Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes

 If you're starting photography in 2026, the path to improvement isn't paved with better gear. Brenda Bergreen has spent years shooting weddings, adventure, landscapes, portraits, and travel, and she's mapped out exactly where beginners waste time and where they actually grow.

OM System Survived Its Split From Olympus: Who Expected This?

When Olympus sold its imaging division to Japan Industrial Partners on January 1, 2021, the new company was called OM Digital Solutions. The OM SYSTEM product brand arrived later, announced in October 2021 as the name the company would put on its cameras going forward. Most of the photography press wrote the obituary in advance of either event. The division had been unprofitable for years. Olympus itself, after more than eighty years of making cameras, was exiting the business. Micro Four Thirds had lost the sensor-size argument in the public imagination to APS-C and full frame. The buyer was a private equity firm, not a camera manufacturer. The standard expectation was managed decline: a few years of catalog padding, a thinning lens roadmap, and eventual fade.