I have been frustrated with my tripod for quite some time now, but had not been able to pull the trigger on a new one. Over the last 24 hours, I discovered two very good reasons to say “goodbye” to my old tripod and “hello” to a new Gitzo. I had taken some photos on Saturday using my tripod, but had not taken it down, so last night, I decided to put it away. As I was taking it down, the head disconnected from the mounting plate, causing my camera and my favorite lens, the Canon 24-70/2.8L, to tumble to the floor. The camera appears to be fine, but the…
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Tests shots were finished. It was time to take my film project on the road and put it into action. In July, I took my film cameras to Bastille Days here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When people think of Milwaukee or Wisconsin, they generally think of beer, brats or cheese. If they think about the ethnic origins of the area, they generally think of the Germans or Polish settlers to the area. Often overlooked is the fact that the first explorers were French. The first European known to explore the area was Jean Nicolet, followed by Father Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit missionary, and Louis Joliet, a fur trader, exploring and mapping the waterways through…
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In June, I participated in “A Travel Story with Kevin Miyazaki,” an online travel photography class hosted by Jessica Kaminski’s JsKool. Participants were from various parts of the country, with some traveling during the month. Kevin gave us assignments on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and your assignment was due before the next assignment was issued. There were a total of 13 assignments over the course of the month. Participants posted their photos in the online Facebook group dedicated to the class, so people were free to share their successes and failures and openly discuss their work. Kevin was a great resource, offering useful suggestions for improving our images, and answering…
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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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The crystal clear water in the Caribbean begs you to explore below the surface. Whether you are a diver, a snorkeler, or just like to get your feet wet, there is a desire to capture the beauty of what we see below the surface. I took diving certification class, and although I was a wiz at the classroom work, due to some ear problems, I was unable to descend below 12 feet, but that didn’t mean I was giving up the desire to explore below the surface. On our trip to the BVI, I had a GoPro Hero2 which was a lot of fun to play with and capture video.…
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This week, I began “A Travel Story with Kevin Miyazaki,” an online course in travel photography hosted by Jessica Kaminski’s JsKool and featuring the talents of Kevin Miyazaki, a well-regarded professional photographer who has traveled the world shooting for publications such as Conde Nast Traveler, Martha Stewart Living, and The New York Times. Atop this post is part of our first assignment, one of three each week during this month-long class. So, I will be a bit busy over the next month, but I hope to learn better storytelling through photography, and I’ll post up some more shots once the class is completed. In the interim, enjoy these outstanding travel…
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This edition of “What’s in My Bag?” is our post-trip report on the camera gear we used for our trip to Eleuthera and Harbour Island in the Bahamas. I’m changing up the gear I use the more trips we take. Let’s take a look to see what was worth the effort, and what just ended up being dead weight. I still love my Think Tank Airport AirStream roller bag, and I can’t think of a better bag for the job. Once again, we encountered a small plane (this time from Miami to North Eleuthera), and all roller bags had to be checked. As is my practice, I put my primary camera body…
