Marketing Travel Photography

I was browsing around photo.net this morning because I hurt my back yesterday and I figured I would spend some "down time" while I get better catching up on some of my photography reading.

I stumbled across two interesting and well-written articles about breaking into the Travel Photography business, although the principles of the articles can definitely be applied to many (if not most) other types of photography.

Definitely worth a read if you're a photographer and are interested in finding new ways to market yourself and your images. In this age when everyone has a camera hanging around their neck and more people than ever are trying to sell their pictures through an increasing number of avenues, you need an edge.

Part 1: Marketing Travel Photography
Part 2: Marketing Travel Photography: Four Essential Steps

Snow tubing!

We've been getting some good snow up this way the past two weeks that's created some great winter fun! You're never too old to slide down a hill and have some good laughs...

First, we went up to the Hunter Mountain snow tubing park (this link has a good picture of what they look like). If you've never gone snow tubing, it's a blast! You get pulled by a rope-tow to the top of a large hill where there are "lanes" for you to select from. Pick a lane, jump on your tube, and away you go! You pick up some serious speed on the way down, so much so that they aim you up a hill at the end of the lane to slow you down. Here's a short video that I took while I was actually going down the hill (I passed Nicole on the way down in the next lane over from me).



We got some more snow last night, so we broke out our own snow tubes for another round of slipping and sliding in the back yard today. Great fun! Below is a small video of the action, including Janice almost taking out both kids!

If On A Winter's Night

Many people dislike winter. Snow, ice, cold, wind, bare trees, etc. They spend every day of winter wishing it was over instead of enjoying the season for what it can bring.

I'm just the opposite. I like winter. After the fun and long days of summer and the changes of autumn, winter is my time to settle in for a few months and reset myself. Slow the pace down a bit. Take care of things around the house, pursue my indoor hobbies, read some books, make some nice long fires, and watch snowstorms out the window with a good glass of wine (which, coincidentally, is exactly what I'm doing right now).

Yesterday, it was about 15 degrees in New York and the wind was absolutely howling. Some of the strongest winds that I've ever seen up where I live. Trees were swaying about 8-10 feet in each direction with the sustained winds. I went for a hike in the woods (and froze my ass off!), but it was cool to get to the top of the mountain near my house and experience these winds that sounded like a freight train coming up the hill. Impressive!

My thoughts about winter were reinforced when I first heard about Sting's new album called "If On A Winter's Night". I bought the CD and read the liner notes, and Sting was basically saying the same thing about winter as I was. I'm sure many people share the same sentiments.

His new album is not a Christmas album, it's a winter album. Yes, there are some holiday type songs on there, but more than anything the album creates a mood of winter and starkness. It's an interesting listen and it fits the season of winter perfectly.

Sting speaks about the new CD in this interview. Check it out...

Happy Holidays!

I hope this blog entry brings you some Christmas cheer!

I took this simple photo last year after I decorated the front of our house with Christmas lights. When I was standing back to check out how it looked, this one red light seemed to jump out at me for some reason.

For a moment, I was totally lost in thoughts of Christmas past. As I stood there in the snow, I remembered fond memories of when I was little watching my Dad out the window hanging up our lights (just as I was doing now for my family decades later). I remembered playing with my toy trains and race car tracks at Christmas time, decorating our tree as we listened to Christmas music, the sweet smell of gingerbread cookies baking, the smell of the Christmas tree, our visits to New York City to see the holiday lights, the sound of presents tearing open on Christmas morning, playing in the snow with our new sleds, and so much more!

Memories generated from looking at just one little light...

It reminded me of the joy in my kids' eyes when we had all of our Christmas lights lying on the floor in our house as we were getting ready to hang them up, and I plugged them in. The room was suddenly flooded with colorful light and my kids smiled from ear to ear! I remember my Dad doing the exact same thing when I was little....and I remember be equally as happy to see all of the colors.

The message of this post is: "Enjoy the simple things at holiday time"! Everyone gets so caught up in shopping, rushing around to find a sale, planning parties, worrying about finding the right gift, etc. I think it's wise to slow things down a bit and simply relax and observe the season. Light a fire, grab a glass of wine, and sit on the couch doing nothing except listening to a Christmas record. Don't do anything else...just sit, listen, and enjoy.

For some extra fun, try spying on your kids and listening to their conversations about Christmas when they don't know you're listening. They wonder how Santa gets down the chimney with the big bag of toys. They wonder how he makes it all the way around the world to every family in just one night. Great stuff....

Enjoy the holidays!

Harold Davis

One of the great things about pursuing a hobby on the Internet is the capability to get great exposure to what you like quickly. In my pursuit of photography, I've easily found several hundred great web sites and I follow several dozen of them on a regular basis.

One of those sites is photo.net, and there's a set of articles on there now by Harold Davis about "Becoming a More Creative Photographer". He has written many photography technique books over the years, and this great series of articles on photo.net is something that I encourage people to read if you're looking to improve your photography or if you're already a seasoned shooter but just need a jump start out of a rut.

The good thing about these articles is that each one of them has assignments at various points within that "lesson" that serve to drive home the points that Davis is making. They're simple, fun, and make you think. You might be surprised by the results of the exercises when you do them. Well worth a read!

Ian Plant - Dreamscapes

I read a great article in Outdoor Photographer today called "Dreamscapes" about the photographer Ian Plant.

There are two quotes in the article that really resonated with me about what he's trying to achieve with his photography:

1) "I strive to create images that move beyond the literal, transforming subjects into something unexpected for the viewer by rendering the familiar in an unfamiliar way".

2) "Artists should impose their vision on the scene, not the other way around. I’m always looking for ways to create an image, rather than just record one".

Great thoughts! Particularly the one about "creating" instead of just "recording". This is precisely what I was getting at in my post on this site called Active Photography.

This guy has a great portfolio. Check out his web site.

PhotoPlus Expo - New York City

Today, I attended the PhotoPlus Expo photography conference in New York City for the first time. I've had free passes for this event for many of the years it's been in New York, but something always came up the week of the show that prevented me from attending. This year, I made the time and went.

You can click the link above to read all about the show, but suffice to say that all of the major camera manufacturers were there as well as a large selection of photographic industry supporting businesses (i.e., manufacturers of flash units, papers, books, accessories, tripods, camera cases, lighting equipment, wedding albums, printing services, photography schools, photo services, etc).

It was great to see all of the current photography wares under one roof at the Javits Convention Center. It was also good to see a major presence from companies like Sony, which is trying to make a major push into the DSLR industry. Competition is a good thing!

I left with four distinct impressions:

1) The newest mid-range DSLR's (i.e., Canon 7D, Nikon D300s) are fantastic and far superior to their siblings from just 2-3 years ago. The features and performance of the new Canon 7D makes my Canon 30D seem like 20-year old technology, when in reality it's only three years old. The new pro level Canon and Nikons are also certainly very impressive machines.

2) Inkjet printers have become so sophisticated that their output is almost unbelievable. You have to see if for yourself to believe it. I'm planning to buy the new Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mark II printer, and the prints that this machine was printing out were nothing short of stunning in quality. No printer artifacts whatsoever like the earlier photo printers. Just clean, smooth, sharp prints on any paper size from small 4x6" prints to massive posters printed on paper rolls. Incredible!

3) The Gary Fong Lightsphere Collapsible Flash Diffuser is one of the greatest (and cheapest) flash accessories that I've seen in a long time. When attached to an accessory flash it produces a nice, even, soft flash effect without the harsh shadows associated with shooting bare straight-on flash. Great tool for softening up the harsh light from your flash unit.

4) The internet has made it possible for a photographer to run a full blown photography business with comparative ease versus five years ago. You can buy or find a service for anything to do with the photographic industry online. Print houses, photo album and book printers, media companies, marketing assistance, specialty photography web site hosting, software to do almost anything, etc. Everything is just a few clicks away. A truly fantastic use for the internet, and a great benefit for photographers!

Click the image below to see a few pictures from this year's show...

PhotoPlus Expo - New York City

Transit

I've been reading an interesting book lately called "Transit" by the photographer Uwe Ommer.

This is not just another photography book. It's part photography book, part scrapbook, part cultural sampler, and part epic journey. It's also giant in size, not only physically, but in page number as well (720!).

The genesis of "Transit" was another book by Ommer called "1,000 Families" in which he traveled around the world for years to photograph portraits of 1,000 families showing life and values in different countries.

The "1,000 Families" book was the expected outcome of that major effort, but it seems that "Transit" was the unexpected outcome. You know how some DVD packages come with the movie and then an extra DVD about the making of the movie? Well, "Transit" is about the making of "1,000 Families".

I find this book interesting because of it's massive scope of travel, the storytelling approach of the the narratives, and the funny anecdotes that can only come from a modern day around-the-world adventure into sometimes not-so-modern-day places. And that's what this trip was....an adventure!

But more than anything else, it clearly shows the importance of the family unit in every corner of the world. Every family and culture is different (which this book clearly points out), but in the end everyone just wants to be happy, to enjoy life, to give something back, and to be with their family in their environment. It's a compelling story...

If you're interested in travel, family, culture, photography (or all of these things), I would suggest checking out this book.

I'll end my part of this post by putting up the description of "Transit" from Amazon's web site:

"Around the world in 1424 days: the epic voyage behind the making of the book 1000 Families. Part travel journal, part scrapbook, "Transit" is a unique book that traces the four-year, 250,000-km journey of photographer Uwe Ommer during the making of TASCHEN’s 1000 Families. Called a "family album of planet earth," 1000 Families is a vast collection of portraits taken by Ommer in over 130 countries in all corners of the world. Naturally, a voyage of such epic proportions bears its fair share of anecdotes, adventures, mishaps, and souvenirs, and Transit traces the experience via stories and images. From closed borders and broken bridges to late rainy seasons, curious customs officers, thieves, coups d’état, raging fevers, and a far from "unbreakable" Land Rover, Ommer found truth in the maxim "just about everything that can go wrong, will."

This amusing and original compilation paints a vivid picture of what it’s like to travel to the most remote corners of the globe for four years, meeting countless people and observing the great cultural and social similarities and differences that mark the human race".

Canon 7D

Canon Professional Network has posted a lengthy overview of the new Canon 7D on their web site.

In my opinion, this is the first truly innovative camera to come from Canon in quite a while. The 20D, 30D, 40D, and 50D DSLR's were just minor steps up from each other. The 7D is a major revision and unleashes a fury of new and truly creatively useful technology.

The one thing I disagree with is the continuation of Canon and Nikon's race to cram increasing numbers of megapixels on APS-C sensors. I keep wondering when the megapixel marketing race will end and Canon and Nikon will figure out that most photographers would probably prefer to have 12-14 really clean megapixels at high ISO with no noise over a 19 megapixel APS-C sensor with noise and tons of noise control. I personally don't give a darn about having 19 megapixels. Just give me a clean shooting camera...

Life blogs

Sometimes life or work (or both!) beat the ever-living crap out of you. You're totally worn down, you lose perspective, and the smallest things become a big deal. You're off balance.

Those are the times to reset, pursue one of your hobbies, take a breather....and/or check out one of the better blogs about living a simpler life and focusing on what really matters.

That's all the introduction I need to give to these three great blogs. Check them out and you'll get the drift real fast. Good reading!

Zen Habits

Zen Family Habits

Serene Journey

Autumn arrives!

Autumn.

A distinct chill is in the air in the northeastern U.S. as autumn comes sliding in...

The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting colder. You need a jacket in the morning and an extra blanket at night. Our baseboard water heat turned on for the first time the other day and you can "smell the warmth" of it. The kids say "I smell heat". They're right...it has a certain comforting smell the first time it comes on for the season. Makes me want to take a nap on the couch!

I always like how autumn sneaks up on you. Everyone is always rushing to do their last fun activities of the summer, then the kids go back to school, then a few weeks pass and you suddenly realize that the leaves are changing color! Fall is here!

I remember the morning I took the picture above. It was about 6:30am and the grass was heavily frosted from overnight. I had just cut it the day before so it was all clear of leaves except for this one red leaf that fell right in the middle. I thought the contrast against the frosted grass would look nice. I was right! :-)

Take some time to enjoy this season. Take a long meandering drive through some mountains to see the scenery. Watch how the sun cuts through the trees in the afternoon to make them explode with color. Go to a local farm to pick a pumpkin, have some apple cider and a donut. Make a fire and just relax and watch it burn with a glass of merlot. Listen to the wind as it blows the leaves from the trees. And take some pictures!

Autumn is a season for the senses. The first taste of the holidays will soon be in the air. Enjoy it!

Adobe TV

Adobe has updated and improved their Adobe TV section of their web site, which offers good video tutorials on many topics related to photography. Check it out.

The use of video has really changed this area of online support and education. It's often much more effective to watch someone do something than to read about it. A picture (or video) is worth a thousand words!

Photo books

Here is a good article from Shutterbug.com called "Self-Publish Your Photo Book" that summarizes the most recent state of the art web sites for publishing your own photo books. The prices have come down considerably, and now most serious photographers have good self-publishing options within their grasp.

One book printer left out of this article is Photo Book Press, so I figured I would include them here.

ACDSee Pro 3 - No!

I've been using ACDSee Pro for quite a few years to manage my photos because it's fast, easy to use, and helpful. However, even as I've remained a fan of this software for years, I've also always thought in the back of my head that it just wasn't as good as it could be in the areas of functionality, organization, features, workflow, etc.

I stuck with ACDSee Pro through various upgrades primarily because Adobe Bridge CS4 is such a dog on my older machine. It's so slow that I just can't use it on a regular basis for photo management. I return to Bridge periodically only because it has implemented keywording in a great way. So I keyword each new month of photos that I take, and then don't return to Bridge again until the next month.

So....Out comes the new version of ACDSee, which is Pro 3. This version of the software seemed to correct almost every complaint I ever had about it, but after using it for a few days I discovered that the 'Process' mode workflow is so deeply flawed that it's almost unbelievable. Seeing how this mode functions (even when editing simple JPEGs) , I would have to say that people need to take a careful look at this software before deciding if its workflow scheme would suit your needs. It's a great photo browser, but in my opinion, the editing capabilities have been ruined due to the workflow it forces you into.

The new interface is constructed around modes named Manage, View, Process, and Publish. These modes structure you into an organized workflow when you want to manage and edit images. Much the same way Lightroom does...

But more importantly than the new structure of the application is the vast suite of editing tools that it now contains that are all-encompassing, easy to use, more efficiently organized, etc.

The problem with all of this is the Process mode. This is the area of the software that you enter when you're ready to edit a photo. Process mode is broken into two halves; Develop and Edit. Each of these two subsections has a logically grouped set of editing capabilities within it. So far, so good. The major problem is that if you make some edits in the Develop mode, and then move to Edit mode to continue with the next set of tools, you can't go back to Develop mode again to tweak what you originally did there without losing everything you did in Edit mode. This is so unbelievably silly that I triple-checked to ensure I was seeing this right. This is indeed the way it works. Terrible!

The other problem with Pro 3 is its implementation of keywording. You can keyword photos, but the interface to do it is cumbersome and outdated. It's a sadly overlooked part of this software and has been since the first version. All ACDSee has to do is implement templated keywording like Bridge has and this would be a huge improvement. It's a shame that they still can't get this aspect of their software right.

Maybe I can overlook the outdated implementation of keywording, but the Process mode is so fundamentally wrong (especially for JPEGs) that it immediately turned me off to this software.

Try the free demo version of Pro 3 to see what you think.

Active photography

When I was in college I took a class called "Introduction to Music" as one of my liberal arts electives. The class was about learning all the different genres of music, their history, etc. I've been a fan of music my whole life but I had never studied it, so I thought it would be interesting.

On the first day of the class the instructor explained the principle of "active listening" to the class. The main theory of it is that when you really want to appreciate music in a more engaged way, you don't just put it on as background sound and go about your business. To actively listen you have to sit down and pay attention to the start, middle, and end of a piece. You listen to the instruments, which ones are playing when, how they're playing, what they're contributing to the piece, how they interact. Listen to and appreciate the nuances of the music. You get the point...

I had never really thought about music that way. I appreciated it and certainly understood what was going on, but I don't think I can really say I was an "active listener" in the sense described above.

The instructor went on to explain what our final exam would be. We would need to listen to a twenty minute symphony performance, identify what time period it was from, identify the instruments playing, how many of them were playing, and describe the milestones of the performance (shifts in mood, who was instrumentally controlling the piece at what time, etc). I thought he was out of his mind! I thought it would be impossible.

So, guess what. I went through the whole semester, learned what he was talking about, and really enjoyed it. I took the final exam and got an 'A'. Imagine that!

The reason I tell that story is to draw a parallel between "active listening" and "active photography".

Many people will never take more than snapshots with their cameras to capture a moment. And you know what? That's fine if that's what they want to do. To each his own...

But other people want to take photographs that have a very intentional composition and convey a story, a message, a purpose, etc. Some people want to make other people think about an image. They want it to linger in someones memory. I remember pictures from 20 years ago that seem like I saw them yesterday. Those are photographs!

For those people, I believe that you have to get actively involved in your photography to achieve your purpose. There's little chance of achieving these types of goals if you walk up to something and simply go "Click!" to take your picture. You have to become engaged, find a good angle, find good light and proper exposure, emphasize the subject, set your depth of field, and ensure that these things combined will achieve your goal. You have to pursue "active photography". Like active listening, it's a lot to think about and it takes time to learn.

The next time you're out somewhere taking pictures and you see something that you stop to take a photo of, try to practice active photography. Think about the subject and message of your picture and what you can do to emphasize and achieve it. If you put some thought into it, the first few times you succeed in this type of advanced photographic goal and "get it right", I think you'll be startled by the results. This kind of realization is what will draw you deep into the hobby of photography. Enjoy!

100 Things

Well, it's been a fun (but wet!) summer. I'm getting back to preparing some posts for this site because I haven't done much writing this summer. I've been out and about with the family traveling, taking pictures, and having fun.

I don't often link to other articles on this site, but I might do some more of that because I've been reading some stuff lately that has been useful, amusing, or just worth reading for some reason.

I found this link interesting, funny, true, and worth a read. It's called "100 Things I've Learned About Photography" on the Digital Photography School web site. As I read through the list, I found myself saying "Yes.....Yes.....Yes" to many of the items and realized that I've had many of the same experiences and thoughts. Maybe you have too! Check it out...

Mainz, Germany (with photos)

I've had several chances to travel to Germany on business over the last year and they've been interesting experiences that I wanted to share here.

While I've done extensive traveling around the US over the years, I haven't done much traveling outside of North America. For that reason, I was approaching these trips to another country, especially one where I don't speak the language, with a mix of excitement and a little bit of trepidation as well.

The fact that I was going on business and would be meeting my colleagues while I was there helped me feel more comfortable. But until I arrived in Germany and got into the swing of things, I was thinking that I was going to feel very alone (which I indeed did). Someone told me that everyone under forty in Germany speaks English. I don't know if that general statement is true or not, but I also found that somewhat comforting. I did my best to learn a few key words in German before I went.

Destination:

Here is some information about Mainz from Wikipedia just to set the stage for this story:

Mainz (French: Mayence) is a city in Germany and the capital of the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It was a politically important seat of the Prince-elector of Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire. Up until the twentieth century, Mainz was usually referred to in English as Mayence.

Mainz is a city with over two thousand years of history. It is located on the river Rhine across from Wiesbaden, in the western part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Region; in the modern age, Frankfurt shares much of its regional importance.

Mainz is located on the west bank of the river Rhine, opposite the confluence of the Main with the Rhine. The 2008 population was 196,784 , an additional 18,619 people maintain a primary residence elsewhere but have a second home in Mainz and it is also a part of the Rhein Metro area consisting of 5.8 million people. Mainz is easily reached from Frankfurt International Airport in 25 minutes by commuter railway (Rhine-Main S-Bahn).

The summary above highlights one of my interests in seeing Germany....The history! The US is a "baby-country" in age compared to the countries in Europe, where long and interesting histories have shaped the culture and people.

Airports:

John F. Kennedy Airport in New York is the main hub for Lufthansa Airlines in my area, so off to the airport I went...Speaking of which, the New York airports really suck. Not to get into airport-bashing, but come on. These airports have been in a state of disrepair and constant renovation for at least twenty years. I can honestly say that any other airport I've walked into anywhere that I've been is nicer than those in New York, which is supposed to be one of the gateway cities of the world. New York has to put some money into them and get the job done right once and for all!

On the contrary, Frankfurt Airport is nice and the landing and customs processes were smooth. The airport is huge and therefore the layout is slightly confusing, but pretty much any convenience you can want is there. Restaurants of every type, interesting shops, etc. Plenty to see while you're waiting around. The driver of my limo was very late to the airport, and that created some logistics problems getting my luggage. It was a little nerve racking finding my way around to retrieve it and finding my limo, but all ended up fine.

Flights:

The flights over and back to Germany were mostly uneventful and were on time. I don't want to jinx myself, but I've been lucky in that regard....having almost never experienced flight delays during my travels over the years.

I was able to talk myself into the Business Class lounges of the airlines, so it was nice to sit in the quiet in there to get some work done for the trip and relax for a little while.

Flying in business class on Lufthansa was a big help (and a treat!) because the seats go almost completely flat, there's plenty of room between the seats, and I was able to get some sleep on the eight hour flight. I'm 6' 3" tall, so sleeping in coach for any length of time is almost impossible. On subsequent flights I had to fly coach, and that sucked and was really uncomfortable for a tall person. On those coach flights, I couldn't wait to get off the plane!

The flight to Germany up to the halfway point was OK, but after that it seemed excruciatingly long. I slept, read everything I brought to read, listened to my iPod, ate, drank....and still there were three more hours to go! Ughhhhh. The flight home was slightly better because I was looking forward to seeing my wife and kids.....That made the time pass faster.

With regard to the airlines in general...I now try to fly Singapore Airlines to Germany whenever I can. They fly Boeing 747's as opposed to Lufthansa's Airbus A330's, and the 747's have slightly more room between seats in coach. I'll take every inch I can get! The 747 is still such a nice plane, despite having been in service for over 30 years!

One more important thing that made me move away from Lufthansa was an awful flight that I had to Germany the second time I went. The plane was filled with a bunch of families apparently traveling together, and the kids (and adults!) were completely rude and out of control. The cabin crew could not settle them down, and it turned an already crappy flight into misery.

On the contrary, Singapore's operation runs like clockwork. You can almost feel a certain air of "travel respect" when you get on a Singapore plane. The crew is in control and everyone is taken care of. People seem to respect the travel experience a little bit more. Very nice...Ready to lift off!

On the ground:

Once out of the airport in Frankfurt and in the limo heading to the hotel in Mainz, I was immediately struck by the landscape once we got out of the airport area. I liked the way many of the towns in the Rhine valleys that I saw in the distance from the highway were situated in a way where they hugged the edge of the hillsides and crept slightly up them. For some reason I like that connection to the mountains....It's kind of a European landscape characteristic. You typically don't see that kind of layout of towns in the US.

We made our way our way along the highway, sometimes at high speeds, to arrive in Mainz.

One thing I regret about these trips is not taking more photos. I brought a variety of cameras on the trips, but I was so tired most of the time from the travel and the 6-hour time change that I wasn't particularly inspired to take photos. I was just mentally wiped out. I have to shake that off next time and make sure I take more photos!

Mainz:

The hotels that I stayed at in Mainz and Weinheim were nice but stark in the their interior styling. Rooms were decorated in a functional way, but there was not much in the way of additional decorations to make the hotels more visually comfortable. There were few paintings on the walls, few pillows anywhere, etc.

I found Mainz to be a charming town. I made sure that I took the time to take several walks down to and around the old town section. I went to the Marktplatz (e.g., town square or town center), saw the historic buildings, the Mainzer Dom, many shops and smaller buildings, and just generally took in the architecture and surrounding community and people.

Most towns of any significant size have a Marktplatz and Dom/cathedral of some kind, so always check where you're going to see the most significant sites.

The Mainzer Dom is spectacular. The only thing I can compare it to is St Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, only the Dom is larger and certainly much older. I took many photos inside and around the outside. The architecture is magnificent.

A traditional farmer's market took place in the Marktplatz while I was there, and it was great to see all of the vegetable and fruit stands, people gathering at the market to shop, eat, talk, and relax with a cup of coffee. I was glad to catch this...Very nice.

This little bit of exploring around Mainz and learning the history of the area really sparked my interest to explore Europe more in the future. I think the combination of the history, architecture, beautiful historic sites, the people and culture differences, different foods/wines/beers, etc, is a great thing to experience. I have specific interests in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. We'll see what my time (and budget!) in future years will be able to accommodate...But it's a life goal that I would like to fulfill.

In Germany, one thing I definitely want to do is take a trip to Heidelberg to experience the history there and to take a drive on the "Fairytale Road". Heidelberg is one of the towns in the area that was not heavily damaged by bombing during the war so the architecture is mostly original. Sections of many towns in Germany were rebuilt after the war with replica architecture that matches what was there before, but isn't original.

Fairytale Road is a section of road in southern Germany that passes about 100 castles as you travel along it. Some of them are in ruin, but many are open to the public and you can go inside and explore. Some have even been gently converted into hotels and inns where you can stay the night. My daughter would love to stay in a real castle! The towns where these castles are located are supposed to be quaint and a treat to explore.

In general the food was good, but be careful where you eat because a lot of smaller restaurants don't take credit cards. Several people I work with got burned by this because they didn't find out until after they ate. I had one of the best meals of my life in a tiny restaurant with only seven tables on a side street in Mainz. The funny thing was that the waiter/owner brought me tiramisu for dessert even though I mentioned that I didn't like it. I figured that if he was pushing this dessert like this then it must be something good that he's proud of, so I accepted it. It was one of the most delicious desserts I've ever had! Just goes to show you...Keep an open mind!

Speaking of food....What goes along well with food? Beer! I can safely say that every glass of beer I had in Germany was great. All different types of beer brewed in the individual towns or even right in the restaurants themselves. Absolutely delicious! I would like them to be served a little colder, but the tradition there is to serve them slightly more room temperature than cold. But that didn't really matter.....The beer was great!

The funny little things:

Before I left, my kids showed an interest in me noting the things that were different in Germany than our home in the US, so I made some notes for them along the way. In some cases the differences were somewhat amusing. Everyone does things a little differently, which is what makes traveling interesting. Learning about other people, customs, and environments.

Some of the things I saw that I found interesting/funny include:

1) Coffee cups are small - Tiny in fact! I had like six cups one night just to get the equivalent of one of my morning cups at home.

2) No cold milk at breakfast - I didn't like this. The milk at the hotel buffets for cereal was warmed. Makes the cereal instantly soggy. My waitress seemed quite surprised when I asked about this.

3) Toilets flush with a flat pad - No handles. The toilets often have a pad about the size of a small paperback book over them that you press to flush. My kids thought that was very funny....I'm not sure exactly why.

4) Not much air conditioning - Finding air conditioning in the hotels, restaurants, or offices is rare (at least during the time periods that I was there). I'm not sure what goes on in the summer (I was there in autumn) but it must be hot as hell in some of those buildings.

5) No speed limits in some places - Of course everyone knows that sections of certain roads in Europe have no speed limits, and this was quite amusing the first time I was on one. My limo driver kept going faster and faster and I found my foot pressing an imaginary brake pedal on the floor because my brain knew I was going much faster than normal in a car.

6) Beds are "not made" - The beds aren't made with the blankets placed flat, like we would expect to see in the US. They're rolled up almost like sleeping bags (see photos below). The first time I saw that in my hotel room I thought my room hadn't been cleaned. I laughed at that...

7) Hotel doors have no peep holes - Several people knocked on my hotel room door. There are no peep holes!

So.....This post got longer than I thought it would, but it's hard to summarize trips like this in only a few paragraphs. I enjoyed the trips I took to Germany. Missing my family and home while I was away weighed heavily on me many times during the trips, but it was an experience worth having because as I said above it really wet my appetite to see more of Europe....hopefully with my wife and kids so we can enjoy it together!

Click on the image below to see a few photos from my trips to Germany...

Mainz, Germany

Photographer's Eye

Over the years, I've read more than a few books on photography composition, graphic design, improving my photography, etc. Some of them are very good and I reference them frequently to refresh my memory on certain topics. Others have gone on the shelf after the first read and haven't been touched since.

This post is centered on a book called "The Photographer's Eye - Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos". The author, Michael Freeman, should scratch the word "digital" out of the title because this book is about photography, not just digital photography.

Here is a video about the book.

This book is so good that I would highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in gaining a better understanding of photography and the basics of visual design, photographic elements, compositional techniques, and how to utilize all of these concepts to design better photos.

When I first started to read this book, I got a little stalled due to what I perceived to be the complexity of the subject matter, or the way it was being presented, or both. It seemed like Freeman just dove right into the meat of the book without setting the table enough for me. I put the book aside to read some other books on my list, but soon returned to "Photographer's Eye".

The second time around I reset myself a bit, read the table of contents, re-read the intro, and with that new grounding I now find the book to be excellent. Examining the table of contents was particularly helpful because it gave me a good idea of where Freeman would be heading, and why.

The writing is clear with many well illustrated examples to support the text, and of course many good supporting photos as well. Looking at the photos and illustrations makes it easy to connect with Freeman's concepts.

Freeman walks through:
1) The Image Frame
2) Design Basics
3) Graphic and Photographic Elements
4) Composing With Light and Color
5) Intent
6) Process

Suffice to say, there's a lot of information, techniques, and concepts here. But the key thing is that it all fits together so well. You can almost make each chapter a study on its own and go out to shoot the techniques discussed to learn everything and connect with it. There's way too much to digest on a casual read...You really need to spend some time to absorb the great content in this book.

This book is so highly recommended because it makes you want to slow down, think about what you're doing when you're out photographing, and design better photos. For $20, this is is a steal! Get it and enjoy it!

Which lenses?

When people see that I'm into photography and we get to talking about it, a lot of them ask me, "Which lenses should I buy"?

You can get into a discussion about this for hours, but my advice focuses on three main points:

1) Buy the best lenses that you can afford. Cheap lenses often result in low contrast, low color, soft photos.

2) Don't buy "crop sensor" lenses (like Canon EF-S and Nikon DX) unless you have a specific reason to do so . Some day, full size image sensors will get cheap enough to make that the manufacturers will probably end up putting them in most of their cameras. If you then buy a full sensor camera you'll end up owning a bunch of specialized lenses that won't work properly on full sensor cameras. Buy full frame lenses unless you have a specific reason not to.

3) For most people, good quality zoom lenses are perfect. Buy a "wide zoom" (17-35 mm), a "normal zoom" (28-135mm), and a "long zoom" (70-300mm). Most manufacturers make zooms somewhere close to these focal ranges. I shoot lenses with these ranges and almost never find myself needing any other focal lengths for general photography. If you have one good quality lens in each range, you're good to go.

For more information on this subject, there's no reason for me to repeat what has already been written in this good article from Outdoor Photographer.

Happy shooting!

Digital frames

I'm always surprised by the number of people who have digital cameras and take tons of digital photos, and have no way of displaying them. The pictures sit buried on their computer hard drives and are only glanced at periodically. Just like all of us who used to shoot 35mm slides and have boxes of them in our closets that rarely see the light of day because it's just inconvenient to take them out, set up the screen and projector, etc.

Part of the fun of digital photography is the concept of freeing yourself from the physical mediums of prints, slides, photo albums, etc, and enjoying your photos easily every day whether they're on your computer screen, emailed to people, displayed on the web, or......displayed in your house in digital photo frames!

I've kept an eye on the digital frame market for about six years, but back then they were much too expensive to justify purchasing. Somewhere around $450 for a good one. Around 2006 they took a big drop in price and the quality jumped way up. In 2008, that happened again. In 2009, you can now buy a great quality large (e.g., 10" or 15") digital frame for under $200, and some have even come down to under $150.

Don't buy a cheap/bargain frame for $50. You most likely won't be happy with the quality of the display and there will be few color controls on it.

The best quality frames from Sony, Kodak, Pandigital and others all have some amount of built-in memory and also have built-in multi-card readers so that you can put many thousands of pictures on a memory card and put the card in the frame to randomly display the photos. The number of photos is typically only limited by the size of the memory card that you put in the frame.

Most good frames have fairly extensive color and tone controls so you can get the look you want on the screen, and they usually come with touch screens and/or remote controls as well.

I'm not sure why, but many frame manufacturers have started making their frames in the 16:9 format that's used for wide screen televisions. They're probably doing it to catch the "wide screen marketing craze" that's sweeping the TV retail business. The reality is that digital cameras typically don't pictures in 16:9 wide screen format, so when you display them on a 16:9 digital frame they will be cropped on the top and bottom. In my opinion, this is very silly....but I guess people are buying them anyway.

Instead, what you want to get is a 4:3 aspect ratio frame. This will display your photos in their native size without cropping, which is what you want.

My favorite frame manufacturer is Pandigital. From my experience, their products are well made, reliable, full of useful features, and most importantly the screen quality is great. Pandigital makes both 16:9 and 4:3 ratio frames, and as I mentioned above, I would get the 4:3 format. One of their most popular frames is this 10.4" 4:3 format frame.

The next biggest thing to hit digital frames in a big way will be wireless capability. Kodak currently makes some frames with wireless, but it's not implemented very well. When a company like Sony or Pandigital does wireless effectively in their frames it will eliminate the need to use memory cards with the frames. You'll be able to stream photos easily and reliably right from your computer to the frame. Fantastic! It should be here within a few months...

Once you get yourself a nice frame, load it up with a ton of your pictures, set the auto-play feature to automatically rotate through your photos, and watch your terrific memories rolling by throughout the day. You'll really enjoy it!