I have this need to do a new wallpaper periodically. Sometimes I post them, sometimes I keep them to myself. This one looks like one to share. Taken over Labor Day weekend in Swan Quarter, NC. It’s a place I return to often, and there’s something about these boats that attracts me. Sometime maybe I’ll need to talk one of the captains into a tour. And maybe a fishing trip.
Kathy & I spent an extended Labor Day weekend visiting eastern North Carolina, generally the towns of Belhaven and Washington, NC. We’ve become friends with Andy & Karen Fisher who own Belhaven Water Street Bed & Breakfast in Belhaven, and we like to get out there a couple of times a year. We checked our records when we got home and realized that we’ve been going to Belhaven and staying at this B&B since 2007. And I like to joke that, even though we are friends with Andy & Karen they still charge us to stay there! Of course I am completely joking – it is worth every penny, plus I think she does give us a discount.
Other friends James & Yvonne McKelvey operate Wine & Words…& Gourmet in Washington. Just like it sounds, they operate a wine store with used books & music plus yummy food items. We make the trek to Washington a few times a year because James specializes in good wine at good prices. Our palates are very similar and we can count on his recommendations being spot-on. It’s a long way to go for wine, but it’s just another excellent reason to head out that way.
Another reason I love to visit the Belhaven area is that I have a number of favorite photo spots. I’m a firm believer in re-visiting places, and there are a number of places in the area that we visit every time we are there. This time, I had some new equipment to try out, and what better place to try new equipment than a place I have come to know and love?
We usually spend at least part of a day walking around downtown Belhaven and Washington, and this year was no exception. While much of the scenery doesn’t seem to change much, every so often I come across something new and interesting. And sometimes just the change in light and shadow creates something I haven’t seen before.
Another place we like to visit is Swan Quarter. While known to most people as the place to catch the ferry to Ocracoke, we’ve come to know it as a place with interesting fishing boats. About the only time we visit the ferry terminal is to use the restroom, because there aren’t a lot of alternatives in that area! Swan Quarter is home to Hobo Seafood, and a number of boats dock there. There seems to be something new every time we visit.
Another place we enjoy returning to is Englehard. It is home to several fish houses and has a fairly good size harbor with a lot of boats. It is often a good spot in the late afternoon, but this time we were there closer to mid-day. Fortunately it was a day with good clouds, so with good timing I was able to make some photos I am happy with.
Something new for us on this adventure was a visit to Aurora & Oriental, across the Pamlico River from Bath & Belhaven and accessible by road or ferry. We took the 30-minute ferry ride over and back. It is a fun way to travel and a nice break from driving. Plus the ferry itself always has a few photo ops! While we were there we came across RE Mayo Seafood in Hobucken, NC and another batch of fishing boats. We had lunch in Oriental and spent a little time exploring, but decided that we needed to head there for a whole day when we had more time. So it is on the list for a return visit!
I’ll write later about my thoughts on the Fuji X-T1, but suffice it to say that I am very happy with this little camera and have no regrets at all about making the switch. I’m still learning the ins and outs but every time I use it I feel like I’m working with an old friend.
Just when you thought we were done with Colorado photos, I came across this collection that I had held back from the Fort Collins photos to do a separate post on our tour of New Belgium Brewing Company. We had a great tour leader and he told the story of the history of the company as well as a lot about the current plans for expansion and new products. It sounds like a great place to work!
It’s about time I wrap up the Colorado posts and move on to something new. I think this pretty much takes care of the highlights from our visit to Colorado, so unless I come across some other gems or find something that is appropriate for another topic this will just about do it.
I’m always a bit disappointed in myself when I realize that for all the time I spend walking around a town, I’m always paying attention to the “Tom” shots but I forget about the “tourist” shots! I did a better job in Grand Lake and Estes Park, but I don’t have a single “street scene” from Fort Collins, and it was my favorite town that we visited!
I did end up with a pretty nice collection, and I know someone will say that I did a good job of capturing what I saw. But I also saw a lot more, but I can’t prove it because I didn’t take any pictures!
So anyway, tourist photos or not, please enjoy this tour of Fort Collins.
It’s been nearly two months since we got home, so it’s about time to be done processing and posting photos, and time to move on! Alrighty, I’m on it! 😉
These are a few lingering photos from the “East” side of Rocky Mountains National Park. It’s easy to see why the Estes Park side of the park gets a lot more visitors than the Grand Lake side. There are a lot more “destination” places on the east side than there are on the west side (so named due to their relationship to the Continental Divide).
When we arrived on the east side of the park, we stopped at the Fall River visitor center and asked a ranger for advice on some of the less traveled areas of the park, since while we wanted to see the highlights, we also wanted to see some quiet places. While he indicated that there weren’t many truly “un-busy” places there were a few.
Most of these photos are from the Bear Lake area and the Grand Basin area. We found, just like in most other parks, the farther we got from the parking lot the fewer people there were. So that’s probably the secret – assuming you can find a place to park, find a trail and go!
Here’s the story on the Aspen photo – a little embarrassing but here goes. I had been on a bit of a quest for photos of Aspen, and I had a vision of what I was looking for. I wanted a good motion blur shot, but I also wanted a shot that showed the trunks against the green background. Since we weren’t there in the fall for yellow leaves, that would have to do.
I saw this tree and knew that it could be what I was looking for. I took two shots with my camera, checked the LCD and was convinced that I had gotten what I wanted. We had been hearing thunder for a few minutes and it was just starting to rain, but at the last minute I took out my phone and took another shot of the tree.
As it turns out, I hadn’t checked the settings on my camera and forgot that I had adjusted it for slow water photos. The two camera photos were shot at 1/15 and 1/25 second and are a little soft, too soft for my standards – a rookie mistake! Fortunately my phone saved the day and I ended up with a pretty decent photo. I may even try to print it!
I guess I kind of knew it at the time, but I didn’t carry my camera at all while we explored the town of Estes Park. Mostly we were there in the evening, and when going to dinner I didn’t want to lug around a camera. But I had my phone!
Here are a few representative shots of downtown Estes Park. Nothing terribly artsy but it does give a good flavor. And yes, there were a number of salt water taffy shops…these are just a few of them!
Just a little change of pace for the desktop, for those so inclined!
This post began as a comment to Cedric’s post on his own blog, but as I thought about the subject it turned into a full-fledged blog post of my own. I summarized my thoughts in a comment on his blog but thought I might as well pour out the whole bucket of goo in my own blog post.
In his post, Cedric ponders the need for constant upgrades, lamenting as many of us do that it’s not enough simply to buy a camera and have it serve our needs for years to come. It can be done, but it can be very difficult. There are many factors at play, but for the most part cameras are just one thing in our daily lives that seems to be caught in a perpetual cycle of upgrades.
A lesser but very important point that Cedric made in this and the subsequent post is related to how the pace of technological change has diminished our appreciation for the technology itself. I think that may be true to some extent, but I also think that for people who didn’t experience things in the “good old days” they can’t imagine how things could be different. I and others within a few years of my own age have seen the internet, computers and technology in general explode, much more so in the last 10 years than in the 100 before it. Without the context of time beyond about 20 or so years ago, today is the norm to younger people. Compared with how things were when our parents grew up the change is unimaginable.
Our pace of technological advance has quickened so much in recent years that things do greatly improve in ways that were unthinkable 20, 30, 40 or 50 years ago. It used to be possible to buy a good camera body and a couple of lenses and spend ones entire career shooting with the same gear. Cameras were built to last and for the most part they did. The only thing that changed was the film, and that upgrade happened incrementally.
When we use the same camera and lenses for a long time we do tend to develop a bond with them. Much of that bond stems from familiarity, and a familiar tool in many ways becomes an extension of the user, and the more we use it the less we have to think about it. Cedric suggests the idea of a camera having a “soul.” That might be a little strong, but the point deserves consideration, because I believe we can be inspired by our experience with a camera as a tool. Maybe a better way to put it would be that a camera can have an influence on our own soul. That might be a subject for further explanation!
There is a certain “upgrade mentality” related to all sorts of objects and devices. Much of this mentality is marketing driven, but much of it is driven by real advances in technology. What we have to decide is whether and to what extent we choose to participate. Some things matter, many do not. I personally do not need to drive the newest and most expensive car, but to many people that seems to be a priority. A good camera is important to me, and that means a more sizeable investment than many people would consider reasonable. I have polarizers that cost more than many people would spend on a camera, but I know people who spend more on golf clubs than I would spend on a new lens. I would rather drive a 12 year-old car but have a newer camera. I spend money on vacations but other people own a boat or a motorcycle. It’s all a matter of priorities.
I just shipped off a load of used camera gear, and included in that load was my original Canon 5D. It’s the camera I traded in my medium format gear to buy. Talk about a bond! While the 20D was an excellent camera, the 5D replaced it and I have been using it for over 10 years. That camera has paid for itself many times over. I used it as my second camera on our recent trip to Colorado. It was my backup camera two years ago in Nova Scotia, and I thought so much of it that I had it fixed after the mirror fell off! Did I need to replace it? Not really, other than the fact that the sensor is a dust magnet (always was) it functions as well now as it did when it was new.
I didn’t buy the 5D Mark II when it came out, even though many folks regarded it as a worthwhile upgrade. The main thing it did was shoot video, and I never shoot video. In a few months I’ll probably sell off the 5D Mark III and the rest of my Canon lenses. All of the lenses are 10+ years old too, and it has gotten to the place where the next camera upgrade will probably force a change anyway. So as long as I’m changing I’ve decided that it’s the right time to change completely. I’ll be making the change primarily because I feel my needs have changed, not so much because I think I need something better. If I was willing to keep carrying around that heavy gear I wouldn’t hesitate to keep it, because it still does an excellent job of meeting my photographic needs, and probably would for a while to come.
The pace of technology these days pretty much demands upgrades in many areas, but we all need to decide what is important to us. There is a certain level of performance required to do basic things, and as our needs expand so does the requirement for our technology support. If we buy a new camera that makes larger files, we find that we need more memory. If we’re using a 7 year-old computer we might find that it won’t run the latest software that we need to handle those files. There’s an upgrade cycle, and like it or not that’s part of the cost to participate. Our choice is to play or not play, but once you’re in, I think you need to keep up. I’m not always thrilled about that, but that’s the way it is. It’s been easier for me to avoid the marketing-driven temptations since I gave up television and “nagazines,” but I still like the tech part of things. The key is to make a change when it matters, not just when a camera company decides it’s time.
My son Kevin at 29 is very tech-savvy but also shares a philosophy of life that is similar to mine when it comes to spending money on technology. We have had a number of discussions about this very subject, most recently with a discussion about phones. But the discussion holds true for many things, including cameras. Kathy and I had phones that were 4 years old. Kathy’s phone was working just fine, because all she uses hers for is texting, email and the occasional phone call. Mine was chewing through batteries like candy, because while I’m not a “power user” I do tend to download and use many of the latest apps. The older phone wasn’t designed to do all that and was starting to tell me so. My son’s guidance was that for certain things we need to accept the fact that if we were going to use our phones like I use mine, they were not going to last more than a couple of years. The improvement in performance and battery life is noticeable – to me but not so much for Kathy – at least not yet – so the upgrade was worthwhile.
Kevin doesn’t care much about cameras, but he is a heavy phone and computer user. It is much more important for him to have current devices. As far as computers go I am strictly a user, but my needs for handling camera files dictate that I have a computer that is up to the task.
Up to this point all I have done is unload some surplus gear. I still have a very useable and excellent camera to use when I need one. I’ve already accomplished one major goal, which was to have less stuff to carry around! With no big vacations in the immediate future, the camera I have will continue to meet my needs perfectly. Once I have some cash in hand I’ll be able to start looking at ways to spend it. There’s a slim chance that I’ll decide to spend the money on new lenses for the camera I have, and it’s even less likely that I’ll just hang on to the cash. But it’s far more likely that I’m going to use it as seed money toward a new system. Something smaller and lighter is my ultimate goal, and I feel is sufficient reason for an upgrade.
Trail Ridge Road is the road through Rocky Mountains National Park. I had been looking forward to this drive since we started planning our vacation, perhaps even more than the idea of driving to the top of Pike’s Peak. Cresting at over 12,000 feet, you truly feel like you are at the top of the world.
We spend parts of several days on Trail Ridge Road. I took a lot of photos during our drive, but for the most part the time was spent behind the wheel. I’ve posted a few shots that give a bit of the flavor for what it was like, but like a lot of places in the great outdoors, photos hardly do the scenery justice.
Parts of the road have no berm and no guardrail, and the consequences for distraction can be pretty dramatic. Kathy took quite a few photos through the windshield and I took a few with my phone, but they are mostly record shots and not really worthy of publication. I may try to post a gallery of phone photos from our trip at a later time.
In general I don’t have the inclination or patience to make “proper” photographs of animals. But knowing that we would be in an area known for wildlife, I wanted to be prepared. Most of these are snapped from alongside the road, in less-than-perfect lighting, but I got what I got. Not much to say, other than “enjoy!”
