Some Randomness from India

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I was looking through some of our India pictures, and I was struck by an incredible sense of variety in the day-to-day events unfolding around us. From the people, the architecture, and the daily ebb and flow of life in general. Enjoy!

Importance of the "accessory" camera

This time, my friends, I would like to make a case for an "accessory" camera as an important part of your travels. And not just "any old camera," but one that can take quality photos. And we have such a camera. My wife is usually managing the "accessory," and she is generally the one who takes the "people pictures" in order to document that we were where we said, and didn't just buy the photos. But to be perfectly honest, the accessory camera can be extraordinarily useful, if someone offers to "take a picture of you two," and you'd just as soon not had them something like your digital SLR, where you have to "look through here, and then focus with this knob." You get the picture, so to speak.
Anyway, these were all taken with our little Olympus EPL 1, which does take magnificent photos, but comes to the forefront, especially with the scenario above, or when you would really like to photograph that hole in the ice, but don't want to risk your main equipment. ;)

Just some end of the year musings

As we get ready to end 2012, I just picked out some of my photos to share. Though there was originally no real theme to my selection, I found that I actually did pick out pictures with a common thought. I would ask if you can figure it out, and then in this new year, I'll tell you what my own thoughts were. Anyway, have a grand new year!

Maintaining your focus

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Maintaining focus has always been a significant theme, photographically, for me. But that doesn't always mean that the pictures I take are always crisply in focus, for there are some scenes that you don't want as sharp. Above are some scenes that show both aspects of what I'm talking about. Photos number one and four are examples of "soft focus" on purpose, much as painting for overall effect, without the sharp details. Photos number 2, 3 and 5, however show the importance of crisp, clean focus, for without that aspect, they would just be "pictures." In photo number 6, it's not the camera, but the the scene that focuses on the subject, which, in my humble opinion, makes the photo special. I'd love to know what you think.

A bit of camera fun

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This week I thought that I would do something different again. These photos were all taken on our two trips to Alaska, and were taken six years apart, taken with two different sets of cameras. As some of you know, my newer camera is an Olympus, but my older camera was also an Olympus, just not as sophisticated. See if you can tell which pictures were taken with which camera.

Just some thoughts on perspective

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An interesting post by my friend, Stella, on her blog, Light Colour Shade, got me thinking about perspective, and how I usually tried to avoid anything like perspective on my photographs. But then I realized, as I was looking at some of my own pictures, that perspective really did matter. It may not be the linear perspective, of buildings, lines into the distance and such, but in these photos perspective really does matter. And thank you, Stella.

A bit closer to home

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Today was one of those rare autumn days, when the weather was perfect, I was not working or on call, and we had our granddaughter, Millie Maloney with us.
So I thought that I'd share some of what this day felt like with you, in hopes that you, too, had one of those days this fall. I personally don't know just how much Millie will remember of this day, but I'll treasure it always.