Showing posts with label WorldHeritageSite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WorldHeritageSite. Show all posts

Sunday, August 24, 2025

The Camera You Have With You

Photographers are frequently asked:
What is the best camera?
There are at least as many answers as there are photographers, but without getting into a long back and forth discussion such as ...
"well, what type of photography do you want to do?"
"how will the photos be used? printed?(how big?), posted online???"
"what's your experience level?"
"what's your budget?"
"have you tried some camera's out to see if you like their feel, menus etc?"
"do you plan on using software such as Photoshop/Lightroom to process your own photos?"
and so on.

And then some people buy an expensive (to them) camera and become reluctant to take it out...it's too big and heavy, it's too noticable, it might get wet, it might get sand in it, it might get stolen or maybe I'll get robbed...

And so the common cliché response is:
"The one you have with you!"

And it's true to a great extent. If you don't have a camera, you can't take a photo. These days, most people have a cell phone that can take nice photos in most situations. I have an iPhone 15. I am now in the habit of making sure I take a photo with it when I'm dealing with difficult lighting, even when I am primarily shooting with my DLSR. My iPhone takes photos that are generally good enough for posting online. In many difficult lighting circumstances, it does better than a DLSR if you're not willing to use a tripod and spend some time on the computer to process the images.

So that is generally my answer to the question.
"What is the best camera?"

Below are 4 photos taken pretty much at the same time, a landscape orientation and a portrait orientation from both my Canon 6D DLSR and my iPhone 15. All have been processed to some extent using Lightroom.

Cade's Cove, Canon 6D Portrait Orientation



Cade's Cove, iPhone15 Portrait Orientation



Cade's Cove, Canon 6D Landscape Orientation



Cade's Cove, iPhone15 Landscape Orientation

Saturday, November 23, 2024

Great Smoky Mountains and the Tremont Institute

The Tremont Institute offers a variety of programs right in the Great Smoly Mountain National Park. Their "mission is to deliver experiential learning for youth, educators, and adults through programs that promote self-discovery, critical thinking, and effective teaching and leadership."

I've been there now three times for the photography workshops. They offer a "Springtime in the Smokies" workshop (generally a weekend around mid-April) and an "Autumn Brilliance" workshop near the end of October - beginning of November. Next year's dates are already set, April 11, 2025 - April 14, 2025 and October 31, 2025 - November 3, 2025, respectively. The workshops are a great chance to get away from it all, learn something about photography and have a good time with other like minded photographers.

This past year they added a Writers Conference which sounds really interesting. A 2025 conference has its dates set too. Check out their page to see if any of their programs are of interest to you.

In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite photos I took during this November's "Autumn Brilliance" workshop.


Spruce Flats Waterfall




Rushing Water and Rock




The Swirl




Ruins




Brilliance in the Fog



Friday, January 24, 2020

In a Previous Life

We used to go to places like this with some regularity.

Dubrovnik, Croatia - 2007, 13 years ago this week


Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Everglades Part 3

The last for now from our trip to the Everglades April 2013. I took a lot of swamp photos, especially reflections. Here are some of my favorite...plus a bird photo I missed earlier.

Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida


Sunday, March 25, 2018

Everglades Part 2

More from our trip to the Everglades April 2013. Here are photos of some other creatures from that trip. The alligators were everywhere, once we pulled over for me to take a photo of something and I realized an alligator was right under my car door... I moved the car up a bit. I thought the turtles looked like little aliens from another world.

Dragonfly - Everglades, Florida



Alligator - Everglades, Florida



Alligator - Everglades, Florida



Turtle - Everglades, Florida



Alligator - Everglades, Florida



Turtle - Everglades, Florida



Alligator - Everglades, Florida



Alligator - Everglades, Florida



Alligator - Everglades, Florida



Alligator - Everglades, Florida


Everglades Part 1

Everglades April 2013, here are some of the bird photos from that trip. I'll post some other photos later.

Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida



Everglades, Florida


Saturday, September 26, 2015

Return to Jurassic Coast


I at least finished one of the longer hikes I wanted to do after first seeing it a couple years ago. It was a beautiful day for hiking the Southwest Coastal Path from Lulworth Cove to Weymouth. My knees and a blister prevented a second hike a couple days later near Tintagel. And now the blister from hell is still in the process of healing....a full week later. Here are just a few of the photos from the hike.

Southwest Coast Path
Top of the First Hill, with Many to Go



Southwest Coast Path
Boulders Broken Off the Chalk Cliffs



Southwest Coast Path
Looking Back at Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove



Southwest Coast Path
Another Chunk of Chalk Ready to Fall



Southwest Coast Path
Paths at the Edge of the World


Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Stonehenge


Been very busy between work and visitors...so in the meantime, here is an obligatory iconic shot of Stonehenge. I was there for the first time with some visiting friends and will be returning again soon with another group of friends.


Stonehenge - Wiltshire, England


Thursday, June 26, 2014

Qutub Minar (Urdu: قطب مینار‎),


By the third day I was smarter, and tired of heat. The last major thing on my list was Qutub (aka Qutb, Qutab) Minar, the last of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Delhi. I planned pretty well and at this point I realized why some of the things opened at 6 am. So I dragged my butt out of bed and took a taxi out to Qutub Minar, getting there before 6:30 am, before any other visitors, and before the heat. As I walked up to the gate there were multiple big signs "No Bags, Backpacks" but the gate attendant took one look at my pale face, the huge camera and just waved me through past the metal detectors. Most of the time I was the only visitor there. Here are some of the photos.

Qutub Minar Soars 73 Meters - Delhi, India



Quwwatu'l-Islam Details - Delhi, India



Alai Minar - Delhi, India



Qutub Minar- Delhi, India



Qutub Minar- Delhi, India



Quwwatu'l-Islam - Delhi, India