For some reason, I have a thing for ropes and knots. I can’t tie a decent knot to save my life (even my shoes!) but I do like photographing them, especially those along docks and on boats. This is a small collection of photos from our recent cruise plus time in Florida.
We spent an afternoon doing a walking tour and generally exploring this wonderful town. Our group stopped for drinks at a little cafe and enjoyed some of the local tasty treats!
This will be the last of my postcards from our river cruise on the Danube. Anyone interested in more photos can check out my Adobe Portfolio site, where I have posted a bunch of photos in several galleries.
The journey continues with a photograph from Linz, Austria. We stayed in Linz until late in the evening, and I was able to capture this scene just after dinner. The building on the left is the Lentos Fine Art Museum, and on the right (blue in this photo – it changes) is the Ars Electronica Center, a museum of technology.
I’ve got a few more postcards to share while I catch up on my processing, so stay tuned!
I was looking through my news feed earlier and saw a headline titled “New fast-casual turkey leg restaurant called Jive Turkey Hut opening in north Charlotte.” Out loud I asked “why does Charlotte (or anyone) need a restaurant that serves turkey legs? To which Kathy answered “because there are more of them than there are of you.” 😉
According to the article, they are known for their “stuffed, smothered and sauced turkey legs including a shrimp alfredo turkey leg and a crawfish macaroni and cheese turkey leg.” A location in Houston typically has lines wrapped around the building.
I realize I live a sheltered life and that we don’t frequent many restaurants, but I can’t imagine.
I’m several days behind in postcards, but have posted some (way too many!) unedited photos to an Adobe gallery. We start for home at 0 Dark 30 tomorrow, so I’ll be processing photos once we’re home and sitting at a large screen.
I recently cancelled the subscription to my last photography publication. Once upon a time I subscribed to all the usual physical magazines – Pop Photo, Outdoor Photographer, Shutterbug, etc. That I happened to hang on to Lenswork has no significance other than I had not bothered to cancel it previously. Realistically I could never figure out how to cancel it, until one day I happened to be on Paypal and found that I could cancel my recurring payment through Paypal. It just so happened that it was the day before the day they were planning to send the renewal payment!
At one time I found the articles in all these various magazines to be informative and inspirational. For an aspiring photographic rookie who had never processed film in a darkroom, went to school to be a banker then spent 40 years behind a desk, these publications were a source of information that helped me build the inventory of vision and inspiration that I have today. The “old school” magazines (are they even in business?) slowly became a collection of advertising disguised as articles, with even more and more actual ads and very little inspirational content. Lenswork is a fine publication, and of course doesn’t have any advertising, but listening to Brooks’ ramblings and looking at endless sepia toned photographs just wasn’t doing it for me. It was past time to move on.
So where so we get inspiration these days? Once upon a time I was an avid listener to several excellent podcasts, where I learned about the history of photography, the creative side of photography and the craft and vision of photography. Sadly those podcasts have gone dormant or their owners have gone a different direction, and they have been replaced by endless camera reviews and videos about the latest software or newest Photoshop trick. And let’s not get started on all the non-photography shows with people shouting about all the things we should be scared of or peeved off about.
I’m sure there are still quality shows out there, but – ironically – I haven’t been motivated to look for them. I follow a lot of photographer’s blogs, and have a very closely curated list of photographers – and nearly only photographers – that I follow on Instagram. I’d much rather read a book than watch videos so I don’t spend a lot of time on YouTube, but I’d be interested in suggestions of quality sources of inspiration and motivation. I don’t even mind paying for content if it is worth it – this isn’t about the money although there is a limit to my generosity. I don’t really want to deal with another so-called social media platform, but I’m open to suggestion. Let me know in the comments if there are any recommendations.
We’re off on another adventure shortly and I may have a few postcards to toss out along the way, so stay tuned!
Kathy & I are spending a few days in International Falls, MN in order to visit Voyageurs National Park and get to the Northernmost Point of the Contiguous United States. We went to the Northernmost Point today.
Getting to Northwest Angle, MN involves a 300 mile round trip drive from I-Falls (as the locals call it), across the border into Canada in Warroad, MN then about 40 miles of sand & gravel washboard road in order to get to Angle Inlet. Enroute it is necessary to communicate with Customs 4 times – once upon entry to Canada via a traditional Canadian border officer, then upon crossing back into the US, a stop at a kiosk with a tablet where you enter your appropriate information to be submitted for approval. The return trip requires a phone call (with in our case a 30-minute hold time) with a Canadian customs agent prior to departing Angle Inlet, then crossing back into the US is another stop at a traditional customs station and a US customs agent. Not as bad as it sounds, other than the 30 minute hold for the return trip.
The bartender at Jerry’s Bar, the one bar in Angle Inlet, told us that on 4th of July weekend, Jimmy Buffet had tweeted about the Southernmost Point and mentioned “don’t forget about the Northernmost Point!” They were deluged with tourists that weekend, and the wait for a customs officer was over 2 hours! And what happens if you don’t call? If you get caught, a $1000 fine (according to the bartender) and they take your car!
Technically, Angle Inlet is the farthest north you can drive in the US. But that’s where the monument is, which is good enough for us!
So we’ve now been to the Southernmost Point in Key West, the Easternmost Point in Quoddy Head, Maine, and now the Northernmost Point in Angle Inlet, Minnesota! The Westernmost Point is evidently a little harder to get, but be sure we will work on that in the near future!
And one more thing: we have been experiencing excellent weather and temperatures in the upper 60s and low 70s. Quite a relief from the heat at home that we will soon be experiencing!
I had the perfect opportunity to photograph the sunset behind the Portage Canal Lift Bridge in Houghton (pronounced HOE-tun) Michigan. Once again the clouds cooperated, and even though there were a few raindrops around, it was a pretty nice scene.
I mentioned in an earlier post that Kathy & I had recently visited Bardstown, Kentucky. We met friends Jim & Lisa there, as it is roughly equidistant for them and for us. Kathy & I arrived a day early, visiting Bardstown Bourbon Company and Heaven Hill Distillery before meeting up with Jim & Lisa that afternoon.
The following day, the four of us visited the Kentucky Cooperage (no photos permitted) to see how barrels are made (a fascinating process), then Limestone Branch Distillery and Maker’s Mark.
The following day we visited Kentucky horse park for a whole different set of smells. 😉 Photos from that day will come later.
For those who wish to see more, a gallery of photos from our trip are posted on my Adobe Portfolio website.
I just bought myself a new toy tool. It’s hard to believe it was over a year ago, but I had written in March 2022 about having rented the Peak Design Travel Tripod. I liked it a lot but couldn’t justify spending $600 (at the time – it’s now $650) on a part-time tripod. And I wasn’t sure it was good enough to be an only tripod, so I had lots of excuses to not buy one.
There aren’t too many cases where I really want a compact, highly portable tripod. I had a Gitzo, that while wasn’t designed for travel was sort of portable – it would fit in a large suitcase with the center column detached, but just barely. My only tripod lately has my big and beefy RRS TVC-33 with the matching BH-55 ballhead. An excellent and steady base, but really overkill for my relatively light Fuji equipment. While it is great for car travel, it’s just a little too tough to jam into a suitcase. It was just the thing when I was shooting with the big-a$$ Canon equipment. Of course a too-big tripod to a photographer is sort of like a too-big diamond to a lovely partner. No such thing, right? But I had been looking for a suitable travel candidate, albeit not too hard. I had done a little research and identified a few likely candidates, but the ones I thought would do the job were still a little pricey for comfort.
A couple of days ago I saw a post on a Fuji Rumors site that B&H was having a MEGA DEAL ZONE – 100s OF DEALS TOO GOOD TO LAST! sale. Included in the sale was a “Benro MeFoto GlobeTrotter Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod Kit” on sale for $175, marked down from $365. The ad indicated that it was $300 off, which is a bit overstated, but it is still half the regular price. It was one of the “finalists” that I had on my Wish List, the price was too good to pass up, so I pulled the trigger.
FedEx delivered the package on Thursday, and while I haven’t had a chance to use it extensively, my initial impression is that it is quite a worthy tripod. The build quality appears to be excellent, and I have to say that it appears quite sturdy. Compared to the RRS model I have to wonder why they are so expensive in comparison. The specs indicate that it is designed to hold 26 pounds. I don’t know about that, but even my heaviest lens won’t come close to testing it. I won’t know how good until I have a chance to use it IRL (‘In Real Life’ as the kids say) but I have an opportunity coming up that should let me put it through its paces.
