The Golden Gate Bridge viewed from our harbor tour aboard Blue & Gold Fleet
Kathy & I returned home late Sunday after an amazing vacation to California, Alaska and back to a few days in Sonoma, CA to visit wine country. This was our first time to California, second visit to Alaska, and of course – since we hadn’t been to California before – our first time to wine country. What an experience!
Famous Cable Car in San Francisco, California prior to our cruise on Sea Princess
A good time was had by all, the weather was relatively uneventful, with the usual cool weather in San Francisco, a little snow in Alaska, and gorgeous weather in wine country.
Random photos from walking in San Francisco, California prior to our cruise on Sea Princess
I ended up with just under 3000 photos, but with the 5D Mark III it turned out to be just shy of 100GB of data, so I am now pushing the limits of my storage capacity and am now in the market for a new set of hard drives!
Random photos from walking around Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, California prior to our cruise on Sea Princess
I took the MacBook Pro along and did some captioning and keywording, and I even processed some photos, but I purposely decided to “stay on vacation” and not try to post stuff while I was away, since that tends to take me away from enjoying where I am while looking at where I’ve been.
California Street from the top of Knob Hill while walking in San Francisco, California prior to our cruise on Sea Princess
So here are a few of my keepers from the first several days of the trip. I plan to follow this with a little summary of the various parts of the journey over the next few days. Stay tuned!
Aboard Sea Princess departing from San Francisco, California
Sunrise at Cone Manor, Julian Price Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina
Several times over the last few weeks, people have asked me about our upcoming vacation. Way too often, the comments I’ve gotten have been along the lines of – insert mopey Eeyore-voice here – “boy, I’m really jealous,” “must be nice,” “I wish I could take a 2-week vacation,” “wow, two weeks? I’d never be able to be away for two weeks.” Etc., etc., blah, blah, blah.
When I ask people why they don’t think they could take a two week vacation (keeping in mind that many of them don’t even take one-week vacations) I get answers like, “my wife would never spend that long in a car/on a plane/with me,” or “we could never leave the cat/dog/fish/grandchild that long,” or we just can’t afford that while we’re paying for private school/ivy league college/my Mercedes/my wife’s Mercedes/our 4000 square foot house.” I get the same comments when I buy a new camera, to which I reply something about the new Harley/boat/RV or the golf club membership or the 3 car payments that some other people have.
Most people don’t mean anything by their comments, they are just trying to express their interest or make conversation. I understand that, but it still bothers me.
Everything we do has a price. My friend John Schornak refers to it as “currency.” He says there is a cost to everything, and it just depends on what kind of currency you want to use to pay for whatever you do or buy. And I agree. Sometimes it means giving up a fancy car to pay for a vacation. Sometimes it means teaching classes to pay for a camera. Sometimes it means wearing older clothes to be able to eat out more. What do you want? What are you doing to get it, and what are you willing to give up? I’ve always tended to err on the “Life” side of the Work/Life balance equation. Not everyone agrees.
Granted, we’ve been very fortunate. We’ve made good choices and things have gone our way. Some people have had bad luck, and I understand that. But most people have just made different choices, and I believe that sometimes luck comes from good planning and making the right choices. Choices that suit our needs and desires. The grass is always greener somewhere else, but that doesn’t necessarily make it better. That just means that it’s different.
I’m going away for a couple of weeks. Have fun and be good. And no whining!
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This is my 200th post. Can you believe it? Thanks for stopping by and making it fun.
White Pass & Yukon Scenic Railway, Skagway, Alaska
Kathy & I are planners, and we have developed a number of tools to help us gather and pack the clothing, sundries, camera equipment and other essentials for every kind of trip we take. I was talking with a friend the other day about our upcoming Alaska/California adventure, with the usual small talk (have you started packing, how many suitcases are you taking, etc.). I replied that while Kathy & I have talked about the fact that our packing for this trip will be a little different than our packing for a typical Caribbean cruise (it’s rainy and 44 in Skagway as I write this, with snow and lows in the 30’s in the short-term forecast!) it’s not that difficult because we’re pretty organized.
“Pretty organized” may be an understatement.
We haven’t worried about packing because it’s not a big deal. We’ve developed a workbook in Excel that contains checklists for every kind of trip we’ve ever taken. It we did something different, we would probably be able to adapt one or more of our existing lists to make a new one. It’s partly because we’ve traveled a lot and don’t like to reinvent the wheel every time, but it’s also because we try hard to not take too much stuff. It’s a bit of a challenge, but we both try very hard to enjoy coming back from a trip with stuff we didn’t use or clothes we didn’t wear. Especially the latter.
Sherman City Hall-Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Denali National Park, Alaska
Being organized is a real advantage, though. On one hand, we love to be serendipitous. Decide on Thursday night to head for the mountains after work on Friday. Sometimes we do, and we can be packed for a weekend in 30 minutes. On the other hand, we never worry about having what we need because if we’ve needed it before it’s on the list, and if we haven’t needed it before it’s not. So when we need to we can pack in a hurry, and we take comfort in knowing that – ruling out something unexpected – if it’s not on the list, we don’t need it! And THAT allows us to enjoy the journey and not worry about the gear.
Gracious House Lodge and Flying Service, Denali Highway, Cantwell, Alaska
Packing camera gear is a lot like packing shirts. I decide how many I think I need, know that I’ll leave a favorite or two at home, put them in a bag or case, and go. For this upcoming trip I’ve decided to take just 3 lenses. I could take more, but then I would have to take my huge Think Tank roller and I know I’d end up having to check it. Plus, that’s a lot of gear that I just don’t need. So I’ve decided to pare things down to a small backpack that I’m confident will fit under the seat. My current lens choices are the 17-40, 24-105 and 100-400. I keep going back and forth between the 24-105 and the 24-70. It’s tough because the 24-70 is a significantly better lens (to me), but the 24-105 gives me a bit more coverage and I think the IS will come in handy. Handy enough to give up the better lens? That’s the question.
I have the same struggle with the 100-400. My 70-200 is my favorite lens of all, and I hate to leave it at home. But I really think I’m going to want the 400 focal length in Alaska, and while I could get that with the 70-200 and a 2X converter, having the converter is kind of like having another lens, because then I either have a 70-200 or I have a 140-400, and the 100-400 pretty much solves that.
And as I’m so fond of saying – repeat after me – the more lens choices I have the more likely I’ll decide I’ve got the wrong one on the camera.
My next decision involves whether to take a backup body, a point & shoot, or both. There may be a few times when I’ll want to have the 100-400 on one body and a wide-angle on another body. Not too many, but enough that I’m taking the 5D as a second body. It would be a shame to carry all that glass to Alaska and have something happen to the new 5D, so it will be good to have a worthy backup.
Glaciers in College Fjord, Alaska
I originally planned to take along my G12 as a “walking around” camera, but when I really started thinking about it, I had to ask myself how likely it would be that I would leave the 5D Mark III behind anywhere? I’m pretty sure that the new camera will go with me everywhere, and that I’d end up never using the G12. So, as of right this moment it is staying at home.
One of the things I liked about my previous choices of camera bodies was that the 5D, 40D and 20D all use the same battery. The 5D Mark III uses the same battery as the 7D, but alas I didn’t buy that one, so I’ll need to take a separate set of batteries and a charger for the other camera, too. That’s not really a problem, but it is a bit more stuff to pack.
Fog Rising from the Bay, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska
I don’t usually take a computer when we travel these days, but I’m taking one for this trip. I’m taking it mostly because I know I’m going to take a lot of photos, and even though I think I’m taking plenty of cards I want to be able to back them up. And just in case I do run out of empty cards I want to be able to re-use them. So the computer goes with me, along with an external hard drive for backup. And if I get inspired to write a blog post or two, it’s a heck of a lot easier to type on the computer than on the iPad!
Marina, Ketchikan, Alaska
Since this trip involves lots of different destinations with activities in each, with appointments and directions once we get back to California, I’ve added all my maps and documents to my iPad. So in addition to having plenty of things to read I’ve got everything I need to get us where we need to go. Pretty slick!
So, now that I’ve got all the camera gear and computer equipment figured out, the clothes should be a – relatively speaking – piece of cake!
Life maintains a fragile balance. Most of us take this balance for granted, but the result when this changes even a little can be devastating. A life full of health and optimism can quickly turn to pain and misery with little or no warning.
Kathy’s Mom passed away this past week. The funeral was Saturday. Just a few short years ago she was healthy and energetic, walking and exercising regularly, optimistic for a long and happy future. A series of falls and illnesses were eventually diagnosed as Parkinson’s. A disease as diverse as those who are afflicted, there is little to be done, save for some medicines whose side effects tend to be as horrible as the illness they are designed to alleviate. Eventually the inevitable prevailed, and in too short a time she was gone.
A loving wife and caring mother, she left a family who misses her greatly. Her wit, wisdom and sense of humor inspires us all, and I am grateful that she was even able to find a few redeeming qualities in me.
South Beach Marina, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
Here’s something a little different this month. A simpler and more graphic photograph, the kind of photography I’ve been doing more of lately…seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary.
While this photograph was taken on Hilton Head Island, SC the location isn’t really important. The photo isn’t about Hilton Head. What it is about is the combination of red, white and blue in a simple, graphic design that to me represents that feeling I get on a sunny summer day with a great clear blue sky. That feeling of being on vacation!
Lots going on these days, so while I hope to send off a few more posts before the Big Adventure, it may be a too little hectic. But you’ll hear from me, don’t worry!
Kathy & I make frequent trips to Marion, NC to visit our friends at Bruce’s Fabulous Foods on Main Street in Marion. We stumbled on Bruce’s a few years ago and have been making regular visits ever since. This past Saturday we made our most recent pilgrimage.
Marion Train Station, Marion North Carolina
I’ve had an ongoing love for train stations and enjoy photographing them. Not sure exactly why, but I do. We often plan trips around train stations just to check them out.
This one's for Earl
The station in Marion is one we had visited before, but with a new camera to play with it was time to stop by again! The light was a little tough and we were hungry, so we didn’t spend a lot of time but I got a few shots.
Fire AlarmOld building near the Marion Train Station, Marion North CarolinaGrowing Like A Weed
I’ve gotten a little more time to shoot with the 5D Mark III over the last few days. Saturday I was teaching a digital point & shoot class for The Light Factory, and part of the class time is spent out actually taking photos. What a concept – a photography class that actually goes out and takes photos…amazing if I do say so myself! I cheated a little and took the 5D, with full disclosure to the class, of course. And after using my G12 in the previous session.
Looking Up, Clouds
I’ve still a little vexed by what I feel is most likely a learning curve in Lightroom…my files seem to be coming in flat and dark, and only after applying a pretty aggressive tone curve adjustment can I get them where I want them. I thought maybe I had some kind of Auto Tone turned on, but nothing I see indicates that I do, and even if I did I think the images, if anything, would look lighter instead of darker. I also saw on a video tutorial something about some automatic highlight suppression that Lightroom is doing, but I haven’t found anything definitive about that. So for now I’ve got something that works and I’m using it.
Looking Down
I’ve posted this photos a little larger than usual in case anyone wants to do some peeping. Click on each photo to make them bigger (dare I say “embiggen?”). They look pretty good, I think.
Frame In Need of a FaceWalkingNo LitteringArrivalCrossed
I’ve been amused by some of the press reports surrounding the so-called “light leak” issue with the Canon 5D Mark III. I won’t even link to it here but you can easily Google it if you feel you need the details, but suffice it to say that, while it is admittedly an “issue” it is not exactly a “problem” unless you normally take pictures in the dark with your lens cap on and rely on the LCD backlight while you are metering. Not something that concerns me, but people have made enough of a ruckus that Canon was forced to issue a press release to state that they were working on a “fix.” It amazes me that people must actually spend time trying to find these so-called flaws.
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No Waiting
I’ve had the 5D Mark III for about 2 weeks now, and while a lot of people would have turned over 10,000 images in that amount of time, my schedule has given me barely enough time to become familiar with the camera. I have managed to come up with some initial impressions and conclusions that I thought might be interesting to share.
My first real experience with the new camera was a little time spent walking around Charlotte on a rainy day, shooting some dreary outside scenes and some dark interiors, stretching the ISO limits a bit. I was and remain quite impressed with the relatively low noise at the higher ISOs, although in reality I was shooting much higher than I would seriously consider for serious use, mostly just because I could.
Random photo along College Street in Charlotte, North Carolina
My first actual job with the new camera involved shooting a small event at a local restaurant. I used ISO 3200 because, even though I was using a flash, I wanted the extra shutter speed that the higher ISO gave me. The photos from that event are very nice and I can confidently say that if I was a wedding or event shooter I wouldn’t hesitate to bump the ISO when I needed the speed.
I took the camera with me over Easter weekend when we visited Shenandoah National Park. Most of the photos I took on that trip were taken without benefit of a tripod (because I was too lazy to carry it) and those where I used the tripod were taken in very windy conditions or in harsh lighting, which makes it difficult to really evaluate the files. Add to that a major update to Lightroom, and I have been flummoxed trying to get files to come out to my liking. I’ve finally turned the corner on that, however, and am much happier now.
Along the trail to Stony Man Mountain summit in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
Handling
My first impression of the camera when getting it out of the box was that it has a nice feel. The surface has almost a “stickiness” to it that makes it comfortable to hold, and the grip areas are shaped just right for my hands. It feels well balanced with all of my lenses, most especially the 17-40 and the 24-105. Sticking a 70-200 2.8 or a 100-400 on the front of any body makes it a beast, so there’s not much to say about that. I have yet to put the 70-200 on it, which is weird since it is my favorite lens. Soon! I promise!
The controls are pretty well laid out, although it does have a couple of useless buttons, the “Rate” button and something called the “Creative Photo/Comparative Playback/Direct Print button that can’t be programmed for anything else. After a little fiddling with some of the custom controls I have managed to get things pretty much where I want it. I’ve purposely stayed away from the custom controls on the mode dial, figuring that I wanted to get a better feel for the choices before I started trying to come up with “canned” settings. As I did with some of my other cameras, I’ll probably create a setting for general nature stuff when shooting from a tripod, one for shooting hand-held, and another for shooting action.
I really like the addition of the “My Menu” (remember I’m coming from an original 5D) for commonly used functions like mirror lockup. I’m still playing around with what I put on there. It seems pretty useful though, and while navigating the main menu isn’t that hard, it’s nice to be able to recall the frequently used functions easily.
View from Stony Man Mountain summit in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
Focusing
I haven’t had a chance to use the capabilities of this camera shooting action, but for what I’ve done so far the focusing ability of this camera is impressive. It took a little effort to figure out how to change modes and move the focusing point around, but once I did it’s a piece of cake. Focusing is fast and accurate, although I’ve found that I have to be very careful with depth of field. After spending a lot of time using point & shoot or crop-sensor cameras I’m gaining a new appreciation for being careful with depth of field. It’s easy to get lazy with a tiny sensor camera, and moving to a large sensor makes you pay attention. On the other hand, getting shallow depth of field when you want it couldn’t be easier. I’d love to put a fast prime on this baby!
Unnamed cascade along the Rose River in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia
Image Quality
This is the one area where I want to spend some more time, but the impression I have so far is that quality is very good. The photos I’ve taken that I’m happy with show an amazing amount of detail. The downside is that the ones that I’m not happy with tend to exaggerate my mistakes!
One area that I feel like I see the most improvement seems to be dynamic range. I seem to be able to pull a lot of detail out of the shadows and control of highlights seems pretty good. Some of that may be the improvements in Lightroom, too. But the results look like the combination will be a good one for what I do.
The thing I haven’t done yet is to make prints from these files, and I am very much looking forward to a chance to do that. Hopefully I’ll have some time this weekend to waste a little ink and paper.
"7"
Conclusion
So far my only complaint about the camera is that I haven’t had enough time to enjoy it! In just a few short weeks though I’ll have a nice two-week vacation to Alaska and California, giving me plenty of time and lots of subject matter to finally put this camera to the test, and I’m really looking forward to that. Hopefully between now and then I’ll be able to make some more photos, work with all of my lenses and settle on the equipment that is going to make the trip. I change my mind every day (Kathy rolls her eyes) but eventually I’m going to test-pack the bag and see just how much stuff it will hold.
Rocks and lichen, Hawksbill Mountain in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia - Canon 5D Mark III
Kathy & I spent the Easter weekend in Shenandoah National Park, meeting up with our good friends Bill and Cathy from Ohio. We stayed at Skyland – which they now call “Skyland Resort,” presumably to appeal to the upscale Washingtonians – that is actually an historic mountain lodge operated for the National Park Service by Aramark. The rooms are rather rustic, but the restaurant is decent and reasonably priced. It’s a beautiful location for a weekend or a week, as it is one of only two lodges in the park, and the only one open this time of year. Big Meadows Lodge is our favorite, but it doesn’t open for the season until May. There are miles of hiking trails accessible from right at Skyland or within an easy drive.
Kathy & I have stayed at either Skyland or Big Meadows numerous times over the years, and I traveled there with my family when I was a kid. I have numerous fond memories of the place from all of our visits there. One of the things we have always liked the most is that once you are in the park you have always been pretty much removed from civilization. At the lodges there are no room phones, most of the rooms don’t have televisions and until recently the cell phone coverage was non-existent. Both lodges have managed to add wireless internet in the main buildings, but there is no coverage in the rooms and cabins. For many this is a huge inconvenience, and I saw a number of people schlepping their iPads and laptops to the dining room at meal time, but it was exactly what I hoped for. Kathy refers to this as being “off the grid.” I call it the way to take a vacation!
Spring color along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia - Canon 5D Mark III
I made sure that my iPad had plenty of reading material on it – not a problem since I have managed to accumulate quite a backlog – and spent the entire 5 days in “Airplane Mode.” I did have my phone with me, so I was able to get my e-mail when I wanted it, but since most of the places we went either didn’t have cellphone coverage or were places I wouldn’t want to be talking on the phone anyway, I just left the phone off until we got back to the room. I left the laptop at home, figuring that I had plenty of memory cards and knowing that I wouldn’t be taking the time to work on any photos. I spent some time reading some technical papers on some of the new features of my camera, as well as looking through the manual for things I might have missed. Interesting stuff, right? Scoff if you will, but there is sometimes some good information to be found in the manual!
View of Skyland Resort from Stony Man Mountain in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia - 5D Mark III
This wasn’t a photography weekend per se, as it was arranged as a way to meet up with our friends, Shenandoah being about equidistant for both of us. But being a guy with a new camera there was a fair amount of photography to be done. I didn’t get up early or stay out until sunset, and for the most part the skies were crystal clear blue and it was very windy, so it was not ideal for the kind of shooting I usually do, but I did manage to put a few shots on the new gear.
When I got the new camera, my first shooting opportunities involved conditions that allowed me to try out the stratospheric ISO capabilities, so for this trip it was nice to slow down into a “normal” ISO range of 100 or 400. I used the tripod for a few shots but mostly carried the camera and a single lens while we hiked, shooting random nature shots along the trail. I also carried the X10 for a few shorter hikes, since it is ideal for those times when I don’t want to carry a bunch of gear but want to have a camera with me.
Gnarly tree, Hawksbill Mountain in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia - 5D Mark III
Most of all, the weekend provided me some time to get familiar with some of the basic functions of the camera. It’s got a new (to me) focusing system and a few new controls to get used to. It’s actually pretty intuitive, since I am familiar with the Canon menu layout from my previous cameras. I got used to it pretty quickly and now feel like I am almost to the point where I can use it as intuitively as my older cameras. While the new 5D has some interesting new features, I tended to stick to the basics, preferring to learn how to use it in “regular camera mode.” There will eventually be plenty of time for playing around with the in-camera HDR, multiple exposures and picture styles, but for starters I just want to be sure I know how to take pictures with it!
Early spring along the Rapidan Fire Road in the Big Meadows area of Shenandoah National Park, Virginia - Fuji X10
Now that I am back to “reality” I have been working on trying to get up to speed on processing the files in Lightroom 4. I’m finding that a lighter touch is required in the new process version in general, and while the files from the 5D are very nice, I am trying to figure out how to get the new process version set up to produce files that look the way I want them to look and that I am happy with. All of my old presets are essentially obsolete, and simply duplicating the settings from the old version end up way too contrasty, oversaturated and – interestingly – too dark. I’ve been playing around with a custom Tone Curve that, when combined with some other settings, tends to get the files back to where I want them. I don’t think it’s a matter of the camera underexposing the files as much as it is just that the standard settings are somehow darkening the files, especially in the mid-tones. I haven’t had a lot of time to search the usual message boards, so I don’t know if this is just me or if it is a common issue. It’s probably me.
Anyway, I’m back in gear for a few weeks, getting ready for the next big adventure. By then I expect to have my workflow up to speed with all of the “bugs” worked out of my processing. I’m teaching a Lightroom class on May 5, so I definitely need to be up to speed on Lightroom 4 by then. I think a little more work will just about get me there.
Wood grain in a fallen log on Hawksbill Mountain in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia - Canon 5D Mark III
For those of you who I forced to spend a few extra days in March…sorry. The weekend got away from me and before I knew it, well you know.
One of my favorite sunrise locations at any time of the year is Pounding Mill Overlook, on the Blue Ridge Parkway just south of the junction with US-276 that runs between Brevard and Waynesville. It’s either hit or miss here, but generally speaking if you aren’t socked in with clouds you’ll get something worth pulling the camera out for. Fog in the Pink Beds is always a good bet, and a nice golden glow from the rising sun makes for a doubly special sunrise.
Things may be a little quiet here for the next week or so as we head out on our next adventure, but with any luck I’ll come back with some nice shots of the Shenandoah National Park area. They had a little snow at Big Meadows this morning, so you just never know what you might run in to!
