July Wallpaper Calendar

This month's image is one of those where I knew I had something when I made the photograph, but it got lost in the shuffle and just recently got rediscovered. This is an early morning shot along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Waynesville, NC. It was shot last summer while on a workshop with Les Saucier. I've been wanting to get back to these images for a while and just managed to get one worked up in time for this month. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I do!

Simplify

I was just reading a post on Kirk Tuck's blog about gear choices for going on vacation. The usual dilemma - how much stuff does someone need to take on whatever kind of trip they're taking. And since I'm going on vacation - yes, again! - in just a few days it's a subject on my mind. I've had this internal discussion before, and have managed to get myself down to a nice small kit that doesn't take up much room, gets me the pictures I plan to get but doesn't involve carrying my 40-pound ThinkTank roller through the airport, only to to have to check it on the jetway.

When I was shooting film I had a Mamiya 7 with the 50, 65 and 150, which roughly equates to a 24, 35 and 75 in 35mm terms. And I rarely used the 50. I long to regain that simplicity in a digital outfit, but it finally dawned on me that a body and a reasonable zoom would just about cover me. So until I decide to spring for an M9 and a pocketfull of Leica glass I've been traveling with my 40D and 24-105. It's a little clunky but it's what I've got. And it fits in the little shoulder bag that I used to carry my Mamiya in. Why the 40D? With "only" 10 megapixels there's little to no chance I'll fill up all my cards in a week, so I can leave the laptop at home and enjoy cocktail hour actually doing cocktails instead of backing up files! It's the only camera I have with built-in sensor cleaning so I don't have to worry about taking all the cleaning stuff with me. Lastly, the "crop factor" of the 40D gives me enough reach with the 24-105 that I'm not tempted to bring the 70-200, which seems to help me avoid the inevitable "as-long-as-I" syndrome. As in "as-long-as-I'm taking the bigger lens I'll need the bigger bag and as long as I'm taking the bigger bag I might as well take the..." You get the idea.

One camera, one lens. Maybe the 17-40 if I think I'm going to miss the wide end, and the G9 and a Ziploc bag for going to the beach. Cards, batteries, chargers and a polarizer and I'm there. For support I'll always take my T-Pod, and if there's room after I'm done packing clothes I may throw in a monopod. If I'm really lucky and have a couple of pounds to spare I'll take my tripod, but probably not.

And none of that daily posting to Facebook stuff. I'm on vacation - that can wait!

SoFoBoMo 2010

SoFoBoMo stands for Solo Photo Book Month, and is a fun way to motivate yourself to do a project. I participated last year and am doing it again this year.

During any 30-day period between June 1 and July 31 you take the photographs, lay them out in a book format and publish them as a .PDF book and if you wish as a print-on-demand book through Blurb, Lulu or one of the many other POD publishers. Lulu and Blurb seem to be the most popular. Last year I published mine on Lulu and someone actually bought one!

I had come up with a really good idea for this year's theme but my plans didn’t work out so I’ve decided to hold that thought for another year. What I’ve decided to do should still be interesting. I’m excited about it and looking forward to giving it a go.

Kathy & I leave July 3 for a cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas. What I’m planning to do is photograph people taking pictures. A cruise should offer plenty of subject matter! I’ve got some ideas about how to make that interesting, so we’ll see how it goes. The primary thing for me is the exercise of shooting and creating a project. I’ll do my best, and regardless of the outcome it will be a lot of fun and a great learning experience.

Look for my book on Blurb some time in early August!