Sometimes you have to jump right in, even when you may not think you are experienced enough or talented enough. It was back in 2011 that my husband convinced me to enter the Caribbean Travel + Life Photo Contest, and it turned out that I won the grand prize. But that competition was primarily for amateurs. I was eager to get to the next level, but not sure I was able to compete. Last fall, I decided to take the plunge joining NATJA, the North American Travel Journalists Association, hoping to learn something from the talented people in that organization who make their living bringing you great travel articles and…
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Time for our Top 9 Instagram photos of 2016! Your favorite Instagram photos based upon likes and comments include: #9 Film Prints by Richard Photo Lab We printed our favorite film shots from our trip to Kamalame Cay, Andros, Bahamas. Our film processing and printing was done by the wonderful and very talented people at Richard Photo Lab! More from our trip to Andros, Bahamas here! #8 Arrival Dock at Kamalame Cay Your departure point on Andros for the short boat ride over to Kamalame Cay, Andros, Bahamas. More from our trip to Andros, Bahamas here! #7 Lighthouse Bay, Barbuda, Antigua & Barbuda The palapas mark the beginning of miles of…
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“I’ve never been to a place where the palm fronds clack together,” my husband said while sitting back in his beach chair facing the calm of Kamalame Cay. Coconut palms surrounded our chairs on what seemed to be our own personal beach. “You have,” I replied. “You have just never heard them before.” We have been to quite a few private beaches and luxury resorts in the Caribbean, but Kamalame Cay was distinctive from the rest. It was like nothing we had ever seen, or heard, before. There are no televisions. We thought we would miss that, particularly with the NBA Finals going on at the time of our visit.…
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Receiving the e-mail from Richard Photo Lab that “Your Order is Ready!” is pretty exciting. It was like Christmas morning, wondering what presents await. Yesterday, I received my negatives and prints I ordered from the first rolls. I wasn’t planning to order prints every time, but I wanted to see how they would look, and I’m glad I did. There is something really special about holding a printed image, and it was even more beautiful than the scans! I see photographers post it again and again, but it bears repeating. Print your images! Rarely do people look through their hard drives when reminiscing, but there is a simple joy…
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A few weeks ago, I started a film project. It has been years since I shot film, and I wanted to experiment with some different films and techniques. Plus, back then, I was pretty much an “Auto” mode kind of girl. I really didn’t know what my camera could do, so the thought of returning to film with a lot more photography knowledge was kind of exciting. First, I had to get back in the swing of things and try to get a reproducible technique, and then experiment with new ideas. The first experiment uses three cameras, two film and one digital to see how the different cameras treated the…
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After our trip every year, I look back and try to work on something for next year – – developing better technique, buying better gear, trying new things. This year, I’m trying an old thing – – film. My first “real” camera was a Canon Elan II, a gift from my husband when our children were young. I moved up to a Canon Elan 7n, and resisted moving to digital. I finally took the plunge into digital in 2007 with the purchase of a Canon 40D. Luckily, all of these cameras, and my current camera, a Canon 5D Mark II, use the same lenses, so I was able to move…

















