So, it is 2019 and one of the things that I would like to improve upon is simply saying, ‘yes’ more frequently. Like most people, I think, I tend to stay in my lane and will rebuff opportunities that require me to take a path less traveled. Simple example…
I've just returned from a brief visit to the Adirondacks, where I was able to spend some quality time hiking and shooting a ton of photos. No real goal in mind other than to relax and create.
Somewhere along the way, it became apparent that in order to really capture some of the more breathtaking scenes, my wide angle Fujifilm 10-24mm wasn't going to get wide enough. Thankfully, some releases ago, Lightroom integrated their Stacked Panorama feature, which greatly streamlined merging images, allowing for easy panorama creation in post.
The world spins, faster and faster every day. For the better part of my life, I have embraced the building momentum with technology, gymnastic scheduling and an overarching desire to be part of it all. From time-to-time, however, we all need to carve out some time to recharge or gather ourselves. Generally, you will hear me drone on about forests, trees, nature and generally being outside as my chief source of recharging. What I might overlook in these sentiments is quite literally the place that we have chosen to live though.
I am always struck by springtime. In the span of a few weeks, a seemingly lifeless landscape bursts forth with new life and color - bringing with it a sense of renewal. No matter how many times I experience it, I can't help but feel energized by the transformation.
To my mind, every year the trail racing season only really starts when Mort says "Go" at the Muddy Sneaker Trail Race. It is a classic race with a long history that ends up being a family reunion of sorts. It is a place where everyone shakes off the winter, breathes fresh air and enjoys the upstate NY scenery as they beat themselves up across 12 miles of hilly terrain.
I don’t often work in black and white. It isn’t that I don’t like or appreciate it, but it just rarely occurs to me to either shoot or process in monochrome. After seeing so many striking monochrome images from other Fujifilm X-shooters in my Instagram feed, I decided that for a week, I would limit myself to only black and white to see what I could learn. Here are the results.
This week marked the return of Astronaut Scott Kelly from his 340+ day stay aboard the International Space Station. This momentous occasion, coupled with my own trip to the Kennedy Space Center a few weeks ago, has really reminded me of just how important exploration is to humankind. When I see all of the chaos, anger and dysfunction in the world today, I need only to look to pioneers like Captain Kelly and his brethren to find hope.
Carl Sagan once said that, "the sky calls to us" and I couldn't agree more.
Art, history, and science are all tremendously important fields of study for me - arguably the most important. The order of importance is nearly equal between them, but at the end of the day I believe that those three fields represent humanity's best. Each brings their own perspective, naturally, but together they ultimately coalesce into one unified snapshot of mankind.
What we create, what we have done, and what we are striving to discover - respectively.
Just because I am primarily a Fujifilm shooter doesn’t mean that I don’t love to experiment with other products. GoPro for example has consistently been offering cameras that have been interesting to me. They serve a niche, but within that spectrum they clearly seem to excel. Given that I love (and shoot) action sports, their products have been on my radar for years. I just needed an opportunity to branch out into the GoPro world. This Christmas, Christy gave me that opportunity by gifting me a GoPro Hero 4 Black.
I’ll let you in on a secret. I don't love flying. It's not so much the act of flying that gets me or even the taking off or landing, but just the lack of personal control in what is largely a Boolean experience. Once an aircraft is flying, it is either flying or it is falling, (arguably it could be both) and just being along for the ride is disconcerting to me.
Last week I was invited to take part in an event in New Orleans, which I was thrilled to do. The thing that was interesting to me - besides the content of the event - was that the choice of location and timeframe coincided with Mardi Gras. Since I had never experienced Mardi Gras before, it sounded like a great opportunity to try out some street photography techniques.
