Category Archives: Random Thoughts

Even More Random Thoughts

Disco ball at Dressler’s Metropolitan, Charlotte, NC

Why is it that the people who insist on walking on the wrong side of the hallway – and who you invariably almost run over while rounding a corner – are the ones carrying a bowl of soup or a hot cup of coffee?  Wouldn’t that be a good reason to walk on the right side and to make sure you didn’t run into someone?

Why do the people who only visit a restaurant during Restaurant Week or when there’s a Groupon complain when they can’t also get their free birthday dessert or half-price appetizer?

Someone recently posted an article on Facebook about a new app of some kind that allows you to apply “creative effects” to your iPhone photos in “seconds” instead of the “many minutes” that it takes for some other app to do the same thing.  So now we can see even more lousy iPhone photos.  You’ll be spending less of your time processing them, so I guess that means you can post more.  But I still get to ignore them.

Why do the people who creep through the neighborhood at 24.9MPH (speed limit is 25) feel that it is OK to not bother stopping for stop signs?

I went to a meeting the other night where they had a ‘Swap Table’ for people to sell their used camera gear.  I took in a Ziplock bag with a bunch of stuff I was going to throw away, dumped it out on the table and put a big FREE sign on it.  I didn’t keep track of specific items, but the bag was just as full when I packed it up as it was when I brought it in.  I guess nobody else wanted my junky stuff either.  Maybe they put stuff in?  It’s in the trash now.  I should have just put it there to start with.

Besides the fact that it looks ridiculous, do the people who parade around in their cars with their Poochies on their laps ever think about what would happen to “Poochie” if they got in an accident and their airbag went off?  Do they realize that they’d have a Poochie Pancake?

 

Different Strokes

No Trespassing

Three conversations over the last several days have gotten me thinking about the things that influence our preferences and perceptions. Bear with me while I elaborate.

Scenario One:

Kathy & I enjoy dining out, and this past Friday and Saturday nights were no exception. Friday night we went to a restaurant we have only been to a couple of times but have really enjoyed, and on Saturday night we went to a restaurant we had never been to before but had wanted to try.

The Friday night restaurant experience was exactly what we expected based on previous visits. The place has more of a sports bar/pub atmosphere and is generally a lot noisier than we prefer, with lots of televisions, this night showing NCAA basketball. Definitely not my idea of the ideal restaurant experience, but it is close to home, the food and service are good and the prices are reasonable, so we are willing to overlook a few less-than-ideal factors.

309

Fast forward to Saturday night. The place was a restaurant we had never visited before, but they had good reviews on Yelp and UrbanSpoon, so we figured it was worth a try. The restaurant’s website confirmed that the chef had lots of experience in other restaurants we have previously enjoyed and suggested that his approach mirrored our preferences and we went with an expectation of an excellent and enjoyable meal.

It wasn’t terrible, but a number of missteps left us with a very mixed first impression, to the point where I’m not certain we’ll return. They didn’t have a table ready for us despite having a reservation, the first two bottles of wine I requested were not in stock, despite being on the list, and my steak – one of the “features” for the evening – was tough and undercooked and my vegetables were practically raw. I know from well-proven experience that there are not many places that can do steak to my satisfaction, but I ordered it anyway, and the result proved my rule. On the other hand, Kathy’s dinner was good and she ate every bite.

Wrought Iron Diagonal

Afterward, our discussion centered on how our prior experiences and our own biases influence our first impressions. We have been to some very good restaurants over the years, and while we are certainly not snobbish or opinionated, we generally know what to expect. And I’m not talking just fine dining – we have had excellent meals from casual diners to fancy, high-priced restaurants. Are we spoiled? Perhaps we are, but there are noticeable differences between a good restaurant and an average restaurant regardless of price, and there are enough good restaurants that there is little reason to bother with the average ones.

To be fair to this place, however, I recognize that had I ordered something different I might have had an experience that was 180-degrees opposite from what I had, and I may have been able to overlook the miscues. And had there not been the miscues I might have been more able to overlook a disappointing meal. As it turned out, a lot of little things contributed to a disappointing experience. We concluded that, considering the price and knowing the many other options available, this place would not be high on the list of restaurants to return to.

Exit/Enter Pull

Scenario Two:

During our lunch in Salisbury last weekend, Paul, Earl & I talked about why we write and what we hope to get out of our blogs. We talked about the mutual followers we have and talked a lot about the number of photography blogs we enjoy and how those writers have a similar philosophy and approach to their photography that we have with ours, and how they often commented on our blogs, just as we comment on theirs. I was not too surprised to find that there are a few blogs we don’t especially care for. There is one blog in particular that we mutually dislike (“despise” might not be too strong a word) for a number of reasons, and that discovery led to a rather amusing conversation, as we all felt that this blog was the antithesis of our own blogs and those of our friends. Also interesting was the common observation that most of the people who follow that blog – or at least those who comment on it – had similar philosophies to the writer and were not the type of people we would find commenting on our blogs. It was an interesting discussion.

My take from all that is that people of like minds tend to gravitate toward each other, and the people who take an alternate or opposing viewpoint tend to stick with each other too.

Magnolia House Shadows

Scenario Three:

I spent some time on Sunday afternoon working with a good friend on getting some prints made of his photographs. This person is a long time friend and I admire his photography. His photos have traditionally been very quiet and introspective. But lately his images have taken on more on an “urban decay and chaos” theme, and the difference is fascinating. The particular photographs we were printing were from an old store that he has been photographing. The store is long closed, but the photographs show an interior with lots of clutter and chaos. This friend has had some chaos in his life recently, and it seems that he is expressing this through his photography. I wonder if he realizes it?

Coincidentally that same day a number of other friends had been posting photos on Facebook from several other another outings, and Kathy & I had an interesting discussion about how those photographs often reflected my view of the personality of each photographer. We speculated about how or whether a person’s subject matter reflected their profession, their current emotional state or some wished-for or desired outcome!

Stakes and Window

So what do these three scenarios have in common, other than friends and food? For starters we have an exploration of why we feel like we do about things that matter to us. Our prior experiences determine how we react to and feel about everything, from meals in a restaurant, to which photographers we follow to why we write what we write and why we photograph what we photograph. And a lot more, these are just a few examples.

Secondly, our reaction to what we see and what we experience shows in our work. Whether it shows up in the choices we make about what we do for fun, in the photographs we take or in the words we write, how we feel about things drives what we do. If we’re generally happy and positive, I think that shows in our work. If we are calm and at peace, our photographs reflect that. If our lives are filled with chaos and confusion, that is going to come out in the words we write.

Stone House and Flowers

Last but not least, we gravitate to those subjects, experiences and relationships that most represent our own feelings and share them with those who most appreciate them. We photograph things we have some kind of connection with. We go to restaurants that provide the kind of food we like and deliver the level of service that makes us return. Mostly, the friends we make and the people we share with are typically those who we like to spend time with and those who appreciate what we have to say as much as we cherish what and who they are.

Church Window

A Few More Random Thoughts

Random photos in uptown Charlotte on a chilly Saturday in December

– Do people really buy the stuff that is advertised on those hand-written signs at intersections? “Microfiber Sofa & Loveseat $499” “We Buy Houses” “Carpet Cleaning – 3 Rooms $79” “Computer Repair $20” I guess they must, otherwise we wouldn’t see them.

– I find it interesting – and this is from recent first-hand experience – that when you go to a car dealer’s website, are interested in a specific car that their website shows they have and is in stock, you click the button that says “Click Here for Your EPrice!” and you never actually get a price. Never! You get automated e-mails telling you to call them for a price, sometimes the message says “please call to let me know the specific car you are interested in.” Then they send you e-mails you can’t reply to, and when you e-mail to tell them you are no longer interested they don’t stop calling!

– Is it just me, or does all the peripheral gear required to turn an SLR into a movie camera make people look like a dork? Seems to me if you need an auxiliary viewfinder, a contraption to hold the camera still, a special tripod head and all that other stuff that the camera isn’t really designed to shoot video, even though it can.

– How come so many nature photographs look so unnatural?

– How come whenever someone posts a really nice photo online somewhere, someone always has to ask either “where is that?” or “what were your exposure settings?”

– Why do some drivers feel it is necessary to drive on the grass or the berm, just to get into a left-turn lane where the light is red? A few seconds of patience and you could be there anyway!

– I recently read a Q&A in a photography magazine where someone wrote in to ask, “what settings should I use to photograph in Antarctica?” The answer person was much kinder with his answer than I would have been. Not to sound arrogant, but if you are planning to spend the money that a trip to Antarctica costs, shouldn’t you know what settings to use?

– I was talking to a real estate agent about the various methods used to market real estate these days. She told me that one of the things they do for the “less tech savvy” is mail out postcards. She then told me that the postcards contain a QR code so that the person could scan it with their smart phone and it would take them directly to a website with information about the property. Scuse me, but if someone knows enough to scan a QR code with their smart phone, they probably don’t need a postcard in the mail. Just a thought.

Thinking and Driving

"Digital Holga" Traffic in Huntersville

This is one of those topics that could easily turn into an angry rant, but it’s something I truly find amusing and I want to have some fun with it so I’ll try to keep my commentary on the light side and I hope you will agree. This is not about photography, so bear with me.

Every morning on my drive to work, between dropping Kathy off at the bus stop and arriving at my office I pass 12 intersections with traffic lights (careful to not say that I go through 12 traffic lights!). The pattern of the lights is pretty predictable, and you sort of know which ones are going to be red when you get to them and which ones might stay green depending on traffic, etc. And the amount of traffic is pretty consistent unless there’s an accident on one of the freeways. While it is a 4-lane road it’s not like the interstate where there is a “slow lane” and a “passing lane.” Both lanes move along at about the same speed. I’ve learned in my nearly 2 years of making this commute that it takes just about the same amount of time every day. When school is in session it takes 15-20 minutes, and when school is out it can take 12-15 minutes. Not a bad drive either way, all things considered.

For the most part a group of cars moves from one light to the next. Some people turn off, some cars get through the next light while others don’t, and some people enter from side streets. But for the most part you just go, and you just get where you are going.

While I’m driving I pay attention to what other cars are doing around me. I often observe behaviors and “project” an imaginary scenario on people based on how they drive. Most drivers are content to just drive, while others drive like they are on a personal mission to get to work faster than everyone else. Maybe there’s a prize, I don’t know.

Some common behaviors and general observations:

– Coming up to a traffic light, people from the right lane make last-minute moves to the left lane, and people from the left lane make last-minute moves to the right. I guess it’s like choosing the checkout line at the grocery store. It’s an amusing dance.

– If there’s a truck in the right lane, everyone moves to the left lane until there is no one behind the truck, then the left lane gets so long that people start switching to the right lane behind the truck, figuring that they will find a spot to jump back into the left lane in front of the cars in the left lane. In reality it makes very little difference because inevitably someone who moves to the left lane won’t go any faster than the truck.

– Coming up to an intersection in the left lane, someone will inevitably move to the right lane, pass the person in front of them, move back into the left lane then make a left turn. The reverse happens too – right lane to left lane.

– People seem to hate empty space. If a car in front of someone changes lanes or turns, leaving a large gap between them and the next car, they speed up to close the gap then slam on the brakes. They don’t seem to understand that they can’t go any faster than the people in front of them, but they evidently like to try.

– I saw a car with the license plate “WHATEVA.” I thought that meant the person was laid back and casual, but their driving was anything but. I guess it meant they didn’t care what anyone thought about their driving!

– At one of the intersections approaching work, I have the option to make a left turn, make a big loop that is about 3X as long as the regular way but comes at my office from the opposite direction. Since this avoids waiting through the final two lights, I always thought this “short cut” was faster even though it was longer. But one day I timed it – exactly the same.

– You can almost always tell who is looking at their phone by how much room they leave in front of them at red lights. Then they take a few more seconds to get moving when it turns green. Look out for the ones that don’t stop when the car starts moving – they have a hard time staying in their lane!

– People frequently make left turns from the right lane and right turns from the left lane. I figure they must be using GPS. Anyone who was actually paying attention would know their right from left.

I often wonder if I should have been some kind of behavioral psychologist. I find the study of humans fascinating. I always wonder what (if?) people are thinking about and what makes them tick. It’s a lot more fun than fiddling with the radio dial, checking e-mail or sending text messages. The observation of other people is great entertainment. One of these days I’ll figure out how to make a photography project out of it!

See, I did find a way to tie this in to photography!

Focus

Random photos walking around the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Charlotte Convention Center in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina

I uninstalled the Facebook app from my phone yesterday. It feels good. It’s been a year since we ditched the television. I don’t miss it. When people find out I don’t have a television they look at me like I’m nuts (I’m used to it) and usually ask, “so what do you do?” To which I reply, “anything I want!”

It’s liberating. No more “pokes” in the middle of dinner, no more 7 ½ minutes of commercials waiting for a weather forecast, no more political commentary while getting ready for work, no more 40+ comments about the hurricane that didn’t even come close to you interrupting me at work. When I have time to sit down and look it’ll all be there. In the meantime I can relax and enjoy being in the moment with whatever it is I’ve decided to do. What’s not to like?!

Among the tributes to Steve Jobs over the last few days was this quote, from a 2008 interview but about when he returned to Apple in 1997 to discover that the company was in disarray, suffered from way too many products and lacked focus:

People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the 100 other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of many of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done.

We spend far too much time today living other peoples’ lives, worrying about what other people think and trying to please other people. Generally we do it in a well-meaning way. We do it because we care, or at least we think we do, or that we should. The reality is, most everyone else is doing the same thing, and they’re too busy to even think about us or notice if we do something nice for them.

My work day is full of distractions, most of them are even work-related. It’s part of the deal and one of the reasons they have to pay us to do the work. If it was fun and easy we would do it for free, right? When I get home, the last thing I want is more distractions. I want quiet time, creative time, time to think, time to breathe.

I recently had a couple of friends over to the house, and one of them had some photographs we made prints of. The photos are really, really nice and they made very nice prints. He appreciated me taking the time to do it. We had a great time, spending a couple of hours talking about and discussing photography. I’d rather do that than just about anything. But if any of us felt like we had to leave to go watch a race, a football game or some talk show, it never would have happened. It’s great to set aside time to do something and actually get to do it without interruption.

When I go out to do my photography, I like to go off by myself or just a small group of friends. Ideally they are friends that think and shoot like I do and will go off on their own and leave me alone to do my thing. I’m happy to do the same for them. I turn the phone off and leave it in the car. Yeah, I know there are tools for my phone that will help me figure out where the sun is or when it’s coming up (although it’s usually pretty easy to tell), depth of field charts that will tell me where to focus, and if I don’t know where I am I can always get directions. But if I have the phone along I get distracted, and then I can’t do what I set out to do.

We’re going to the beach this weekend, and I’m looking forward to sitting in a chair and watching the waves. I’m going to read a couple of books. I’ll probably take some pictures. We’ll go for a walk, probably several a day. Hopefully the distractions will be limited to the occasional swim or lunch break. No phones on the beach. It’s a rule. Could we be doing something else this weekend? Sure, but this is what we’ve decided to do. We could have booked a trip to Vegas, jumped out to wine country for the weekend or maybe even taken a cruise, but we know we’re never going to get to do everything, so we try to pick and choose those things that will best allow us to accomplish whatever we want to accomplish. And sometimes that means sitting my butt in a beach chair for a few days!

Canon’s coming out with a new camera soon and I’m not buying it. Well, I might. But I’m not scouring the rumor sites, breathlessly awaiting any and all speculated details about megapixels or sensor sizes or whether it has a mirror lockup button. I’ve got a camera that works. I actually have several cameras that work, and even the oldest ones are still better at taking photos than I am. I laugh when I see people speculating on the latest lens, or whether a camera that isn’t even out yet will take good pictures. Did the camera you have suddenly stop working? Get out and shoot! Relax and enjoy!

Everyone has to make their own choices, and whenever possible I like to be able to make mine. Being bombarded with distractions makes it difficult to decide what my priorities truly are. We can’t make that decision while we’re being pulled in all directions by what are essentially other peoples’ priorities. The main thing is that, whenever possible, I want to choose. I want to answer e-mail or comment on a photo or “Like” someone’s post. But I don’t have to do it while I’m driving home from work, or eating my lunch or sitting at the beach. When I’m out photographing I want it to be about photography, not distractions. When I’m on vacation I want it to be about the vacation and not about what’s happening on television. Do whatever works for you, and hopefully you can have the freedom and flexibility to do what really matters, once you are able to figure out what that is.

Saturation

Morning light from the US 99 bridge over Pungo Creek near CeeBee Marina west of Belhaven, North Carolina

A long, long time ago as a pre-teen I use to be – like most other guys my age and older – really interested in cars and racing, and I spent a lot of time looking at Hot Rod, Car Craft and other magazines. I have always remembered a photograph in which a particularly shapely young lady was wearing an appropriately fitted T-shirt that was printed with the saying “Some is Good, More is Better and Too Much is Just Enough!” I’d like to think I would have remembered the saying on its own merits or even on a less-attractive T-shirt, but regardless of how I have managed to remember that saying, it has stuck with me for a long time.

For better or for worse, that seems to be the theme by which our society operates these days. We have noise and visual clutter everywhere. You can’t walk through Lowe’s now without being inundated by televisions blasting information about the latest in toilet technology or peel & stick wallpaper. You can’t go to a restaurant without being surrounded by 800 big screen televisions broadcasting everything from sports talk shows to 8 different versions of “Breaking News.” If people don’t have enough drama in their own lives they can participate in others’ drama through social networking, (un)reality television and TV talk shows. There is literally something to entertain and possibly to offend everyone.

So what does this have to do with photography?

In my own jaded, old-school pre-geezer opinion, it has everything to do with photography. I see it in how photographers promote themselves, how they process their photos and how they present and share their work:

• HDR, Infrared, specialty lenses or other techniques without regard to the quality of the underlying or resulting photograph. Some is good….

• Hyper-realistic processing to the point that “looks like a painting” is no longer a compliment. More is better….

• Constantly posting comments and articles on blogs, Facebook, Twitter and (now) Google+. And it’s not enough to just publish a post, we have to feed our comments from one site onto all of the others so we see the same comments 4 or 5 times. Too much is just enough!

It seems that we no longer have any idea what a good photograph is supposed to look like. We see the “stars” using software and assume that all we have to do is use the same equipment and software they use and our photos are good too. Not so fast. Learn how to make your photos good first, then use the tools to express your vision. Too many times I see these tools misused as substitutes for good light, good timing or just good photography.

Good photography should pretty much promote itself, assuming you can get the right people to look at it. Unfortunately, a lot of people are using social media to beat us over the head with it. Take good photographs, put them out where people can see them, then stand back. You don’t need to shout at me. In fact, if you do I’ll probably move on to someone else. Sorry, but I’m not interested in that!

I realize that this post has fallen dramatically outside of my usually happy and positive self, but it was on my mind and I just had to get it out. I feel better now, thanks!

Scheduled Maintenance

Morning fog along US Highway 264 near Pungo Creek Road west of Belhaven, North Carolina

Just this morning I experienced one of the less-pleasant rites of passage into the realm of approaching-old-agedom. It wasn’t a lot of fun but as it turned out the anticipation was far more difficult than the reality. In the course of answering all the questions and giving my name and date of birth for what seemed like a dozen times, one of the nurses mentioned something about my age and said something like “we don’t usually see men under 60 in here unless there’s a problem.” I hadn’t given it much thought other than to wonder how many people actually follow their doctor’s advice, and I guess her comment kind of answered my question. Sometimes you just have to do something even though you really don’t want to because it’s the right thing to do. So I did, it’s done, everything is fine and I couldn’t be happier.

Arnold Palmer used to do a commercial for Pennzoil where he talked about “taking care of the old equipment.” He was primarily talking about using the right motor oil, but the implication was that the right maintenance was important regardless of the actual “equipment” being referenced.

We change the oil in our cars, check the air in our tires, change our furnace filters and (sometimes) clean out our refrigerators. And that’s all fine, but don’t forget to first and foremost take care of yourself. Do the scheduled maintenance.

This has been a public service announcement.

More Random Thoughts

Spring colors along US 276 in Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, North Carolina
  • Why are there so many more people willing to drink coffee than there are willing to make a new pot?
  • I know they are trying to be helpful, but I wish that the people who constantly post links on Facebook to articles they find interesting would be a little less helpful.
  • There’s a woman who writes a column for Forbes that does a podcast, a blog, an e-mail newsletter and a You Tube channel about cutting clutter and getting organized.  Isn’t that kind of self-defeating?
  • Why do people (when they are driving) worry so much about which lane they are in when they are only racing to the next red light?  I suppose that probably represents the way they live their lives.
  • Do you realize how much more smoothly traffic would flow if people paid just a little teeny bit more attention?
  • My days got a lot less stressful once I decided that I didn’t have to be the first person at work.  I’m happy to let someone else claim that title.  Same goes with the last person to leave.
  • A successful class is one where the students come away with the knowledge they had hoped to gain from the instructor.  A really successful class is one where the instructor learns from the students, too.
  • If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it’s no wonder that photographers are (usually) so friendly.
  • Based on a lot of the photographs I’ve seen lately, Viveza should come with a volume limit.  Only after approval from a pre-determined number of one’s peers should they be able to go over a certain (low!) limit.  A little bit goes a long way, people!
  • How ironic is it that since I moved my blog to a WordPress site I have had to install a filter to block all of the spam comments.  Since March 1 I have received 864 spam comments – all blocked by Akismet – and a whopping 1 legitimate comment.  I don’t do much better on Facebook.  It’s a good thing I write for my own enjoyment!

Trial and Error

Wheelbarrow in field at the Licklog Mill Store near Highlands, NC

I was just reading a post on Kirk Tuck’s blog where he took himself to task for being a Curmudgeon, stuck in his ways and not willing to try new things.  If you follow Kirk you know that nothing could be further from the truth.  He tries lots of new things, and sometimes tries some old things just to see if they are as good now as they used to be.  Usually they are.  But when the money is on the line and he’s doing a job, he is always very careful to select the right tool for the work he’s doing.  Sometimes it means he can use an 8-year old Kodak SLR and sometimes he relies on the trusty 5D Mark II.

The subject of this specific rant was that he had recently allowed himself to use Topaz to process one of his swimming images, and he thought the image was interesting and that “I really like the tones and the colors I ended up with after playing.”

I find myself feeling like a bit of a curmudgeon at times.  I like the way I do things and it’s hard for me to change.  I know that I should probably try new things, if for no other reason than to say that I tried them and didn’t like them.  Sort of like you can’t complain about the election if you didn’t vote, right?  And I suppose it’s good to learn new things, even if it’s just so I know how to talk about it when I’m teaching a Lightroom class.  But I worry so much that the “gear” will get in the way that I tend to not do that.

I think the main thing for me is that I like the tools I use because I like the results I get from using them.  It’s part of the pre-visualization process.  Yes, there is probably some merit to knowing how to use other software, but in many ways isn’t that just like buying another lens?  The more lenses I have the more time I spend thinking about whether or not I’m using the right lens and the less time I spend thinking about whether I’m pointing it in the right direction.

Random Thoughts 4/30/11

Spring colors along North Lakeshore Drive in Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Bryson City, North Carolina

 

– I was reading an article about new cameras, and it mentioned that newer LCD screens are viewable from a “maximum angle of 170 degrees.”  That would be quite a feat.  Yes, I realize that they were referring to 85 degrees either side of perpendicular.

– I was reading another article titled something like “Essential Gear to Make Your Landscape Photography Look Sharper, More Creative and Dramatic.”  It listed a bunch of gear, but the only things they listed that would actually do that were a tripod and a polarizing filter.  How does a bigger hard drive, a new memory card or being able to stream images wirelessly to my iPad make my pictures look better?

– I’m amused by all the ads for these sling/holster devices that show happy photographers running around with multiple cameras hanging from their shoulders and waists.  They look a little like Pancho Villa except with cameras  What are we supposed to do with all those backpacks the gear companies were selling us last year, and where do I hang my laptop and 2TB external hard drive?

– Kathy & recently spent a little time in Cades Cove, a real photography destination.  While we were driving the loop road we saw a tree and said, “hey look, there’s so-and-so’s tree.”  I’m not sure what it says when you can recognize a tree.

– A woman I work with has a photo of her kids as her computer wallpaper.  Right across the front of the image is the Sears Portrait Studio watermark.  I suggested that if she paid for the photos they would probably give her copies without the watermark.  She wasn’t amused.

– Creativity is hard work.  It’s no wonder so many photographers don’t bother.

– I love a quote that I read on a blog last week.  It said something like “If you use only one lens you’ll always have the right one with you.  If you carry more than one lens, chances are good you’ll always have the wrong one on your camera.”

– Kathy has been trying to take a few pictures to see how she likes it.  Eventually she’ll want her own gear but I’ve got plenty of stuff and am happy to share.  Two photographers can share camera bodies, lenses and even filters with no problem.  It’s kinda hard to share a tripod, though.