Hey Everyone! Hope you have had a great week! This week I want to talk about how you recharge your electronics and batteries. It seems like with all of the electronic gadgets that we have ,we have to do a lot of recharging. It could be GoPro batteries or your watch or almost anything else. But how do you do it. Do you just search the house looking for an empty wall socket to plug your stuff into? What about all of the adapters that come with all of your gadgets that you have to recharge? As you may know if you follow my blog I am a organizing freak and I love to have everything just so. So as with my Camera bags everything must have its place. My batteries as well. I have come up with a system for home and travel to help me with this problem.  Too Many Gadgets and not enough sockets. I have created charging stations. I have two in my house one is for my computers and one is for my batteries. They are very simple to make and with no particular way of making them but it gets all of your stuff in one  place.

At home charging station. This can be put anywhere. On top of a counter cabinet or even in an unused drawer. Now I have two charging stations one for my Laptops and iPads. And one for camera batteries. For laptops I have work and personal ones so multiple machines. The first charging station is set up on a plastic shelf that I keep saying I'm going to replace with a more permanent one but I never do.  I use a power strip surge protector that also has USB ports in it. So My LapTop charger can plug into one of the sockets and iPads, Phone (work phone), watches and almost anything else can be charged conveniently beside my workstation which is just a old fold out table made into a desk. I also have a wireless charger for my work phone and ear buds. I try to keep all of the cables wrapped up as neat as possible but they always seem to be spaghetti on a pile on the top of this small shelf.  I would like to get a more permanent cabinet with a drawer that I can put everything in. But for now its this plastic shelf.  I also have a separate charging station for all of my batteries.  This includes camera batteries , of which I have three types . Four if you count the GoPro batteries. So four different chargers. Also have lots of AA rechargeable batteries that I like to keep somewhat charged up . I use these for Flashes and Strobes. I have built this charging station up in the same way I did my iPad charging station with a power strip that has sockets and USB ports for all of my stuff.  I have a big shelf that I keep all of my camera gear on and this power station resides there and on the table beside it that I use for Photography. I can also use the power strip to plug constant LED lights that I have when doing tabletop photography. 

Having these charging stations helps keep my batteries and devices at home charged. If I'm out on a photo shoot when I get home I can go right to the station and take my used up batteries and plug them in without hunting and looking for the correct charger because it is already hooked up to the power strip or is nearby.  Very convenient. The same with my laptop that I use around the house. It stays plugged in until I need it. But what about on the road what do I use?

On the road Charging station. When I travel I take a small power strip it has only 3 sockets on it .  I have two power bricks made by Anker that have 2 USB ports in them. So that will give me 4 USB ports to use for battery charging and phone charging and one port left over for a laptop if I bring one. I only bring the chargers of the electronics that I'm traveling with. All of this is stored in a small bag that I can shove almost anywhere in my luggage.  When I get to a hotel or an Air B&B I make a little charging station that I used to charge batteries and phone or iPad. So just like at home when I get back to the hotel I can take my spent batteries and right away put in a charger so they are ready for the next day. I know this sounds pretty simple but it keeps me from hunting for power sockets when your in a hotel room for all of your different devices and helps you from loosing cords and cables when traveling because they are always in one place.

So what does this all cost? Well that's the cool part. You already have all of the chargers, Cables, batteries and anything else you would need. So just a Surge Suppressor Power Strip is all you need. You may already have one or you can pick one up for 15-20 bucks and assemble your own charging station. If your a neat freak like me you may want to get some sort of wire ties that will keep all of your cords in check. But that's it. Well that's enough for this week until next . So Get out and Shoot!

Hey everyone! Its Max again with my thoughts on photography.  Hope you had a great week.  This week I want to talk about Landscape photography and what "I" think the lenses you should be using. First of all you can use any type of lenses to take landscape but these are the ones that I think you should use. I have three lenses that I use for landscape photography. Before I get into what lenses I use first lets talk about the different types of lenses.

First there are prime lenses. These lenses are sharper (debatable ) they are lighter have a wider aperture and are cheaper. So why aren't everyone using them for landscape photography? They are of one focal length. You can use them and there is nothing wrong with it but they aren't as versatile as zooms. When your out in nature you can't always get to the right distance you want because of the terrain that you're in.  So when using a prime only there will be a lot of times where you just can't get the right perspective because of the limitation of the one focal length of the lens you are using. Now you can make the argument that Ansel Adams only used primes and you would be wrong. A lot of the photo's he took was with a bellows type of lens that lets you change the focal length and also vertical perspective like a tilt shift lens would. So he was using a type of zoom lens in the field on a large format camera.

Zoom Lenses. These lenses are sharp, heavier , not usually as wide aperture as primes, and are expensive.  So why would you ever use them? They are more versatile in this environment than primes.  Zoom lenses let you adjust your focal length to the situation that you have. Most people for all types of photography are using zooms whether its portraits , sports, or landscape. Primes aren't used much for anything anymore because the zooms now are so good.  They are expensive and in photography you usually get what you pay for.  A good zoom if cared for can last forever and is a good investment.  You can get zooms in aperture as wide as f2.8 but they are expensive but the variable aperture range lenses are good too.  To tell you the truth there aren't many bad lenses made anymore. So Zoom lenses are the choice for Landscape. But which ones?

If you are a landscape photographer I recommend 3 to 4 lenses. The fourth being a macro lens for close up shots of plants, bugs and things. But the first of the Zooms I recommend is the wide zoom. Somewhere between say 16-24mm.  This lens will let you take wide landscapes and get all of the scene in the frame. It's also good for closed in situations say like on a trail or in a forest.  They are great for waterfalls and almost anything that you want to get all of it in.  They do not have to have a wide aperture of 2.8 but if you got the money.  The one I use is a constant F4.

The next Zoom I would get is the mid-range zoom. It will be somewhere 24-70mm.  This is a great lens and probably the first one I would get. If you've got the money I would get this one at f2.8 aperture if you can afford it. This is the focal length that I used the most. Its my bread and butter so I got the best one I could afford for my kit. I recently went on a fall colors trip and this was the lens I used 90 percent of the time if not more. Its always attached to my camera and seldom comes off.  It has always been my favorite zoom and focal length.

The last Zoom is the Telephoto Zoom.  The big boy.  This one can be a variable aperture and these lenses can be expensive. I would suggest buying this one used. As a matter of fact I would buy all of them used. But use a friend or a established company to buy them from. The range of this zoom is say 100-400mm.  This will let you zoom in and isolate different subjects in a large scene. If you're photographing a large canyon you can get the wide open shot first then take this lens and isolate different aspects of the scene. Work the Scene! This is a great lens for this and can also be used for the occasional wildlife shot when you don't want to get close like a bear.

So these are my suggestions for Landscape lenses. Three Zooms.  A wide Zoom, Mid-Range Zoom and a Telephoto Zoom.  I would not recommend a all in one zoom like a 24-300. These large range zooms usually aren't as good in quality as the specific zooms I mentioned above and you won't be satisfied with the quality. Also a macro lens.  I personally don't have one at the moment and am searching for one to add to my kit but I think the macro is the least important of the kit and would be used the least.  Well there you have it my thoughts on Landscape Lenses and what I think you should have in your kit. Until next time Get out and shoot!

Goose Creek Grass Hey Everyone! Hope you had a great week. This week I want to talk about a trip I took last weekend. It was a spontaneous trip for me. Which is unusual. I woke up Saturday morning and wanted to shoot some new to me lenses I had just got and was thinking where to go. I decided that I wanted to shoot a sunrise and the best way to do it where I wanted to go was to camp out and wake up early and head to the site. I got on the inner web and made a reservation at Goose Creek State Park. The reservation was for a more primitive campsite but you could still drive there. Me and Forrest the Wonder dog were going to go camping.  About 10 min. after I made the reservation my Photography Goose Creek Driftwood Wingman Robert sent me a message and was wondering what to do. So I asked him to join me. He said yes. This is a big yes for him he doesn't go camping much or at all. Camping to him is staying at a Motel 6. LOL He even went out and got a tent. I met him at his house and we headed out to the State Park. He was excited and geared up for the trip. He only brought a GoPro with him and he was planning all kinds of stuff. Like a astro shoot which I didn't even think about. But I was game.   We made it to our campsite and set up camp.  He was putting this tent up for the first time and struggled a little but managed to get it set up .  We went for a little walk to a dock that was near by and decided that's where we were going to do the night shooting. He had the Photo Pills app out and knew where the Milky way was going to be and what time.  We made our way back to the camp and cooked or heated up some Chili that he brought and had a good meal. We cleaned up and waited for the sun to go down.  After it got good and dark we headed to the dock with Forrest leading the way.  We got there and he set up and started with the shoot.  I struggled a little trying to get good focus.  I had forgot all about astro photography I haven't done it in a while and I was doing everything wrong and struggling .  I should have had my camera all set up and ready to go before we went to the dock. But I got some shots but no winners with tac sharp stars. They were a little blurry.  But I couldn't tell until I got home and put them on the big screen.  We sat around waiting for his GoPro do do its thing and we saw all of the stars the Milky way and airplanes flying across the sky. Even saw some shooting stars.  It was very cool.

We made it back to camp and hit the hay we had to get up early in the morning and then go to the place that we were going to shoot the sunrise.  I woke up early as usual and went outside and made some coffee and then. Drip, Drip, Drip and more drops and the sound got louder and it was raining! It Rained for about an hour or so I got in my truck and just looked at my phone until it stopped. Robert got up and before too much longer it stopped raining. We headed to the spot that I had picked out. The first photo of this blog was taken there a few years ago. When we got there the sun had not crested the horizon yet but it was hidden by clouds and you could see the lights of a town across the sound where we were at. It was very pretty with Spanish moss hanging from the Live Oak trees were silhouetted with the water sparkling with the lights of the town.  I got my camera out and started shooting. I had Forrest attached by a leash to my belt loop and he was tugging me quite a bit. I tried to put that out of my mind and kept shooting.  I make lots of shots and had fun shooting.  Robert filmed us with his go pro and made a time lapse of the sun rising but you couldn't see the sun much.  After the shoot we went back to the campsite and packed up and drove home. Fun was had by all.

When I got home I downloaded my photo's and looked at them closely. My astro shots were not quite sharp enough I tried running them through a sharpening program but they were too far gone .  My sunrise shots were sharp and well exposed but the compositions just didn't work. I really didn't get any keepers from the shoot. So was it a failure? Maybe in some people's eyes.  But I got to go camping, See the milky way, and witness another sunrise with Forrest. The photo's didn't turn out the way I wanted but you can't be successful all of the time. Failing is part of learning, so what did I learn. Photographically I didn't prepare as much as I did for the camping part of the trip. Being Spontaneous  doesn't always work for me. I sometimes need a little of time to think and prepare. But I did have fun with a Friend and Forrest the Wonder Dog.  So over all a win! Just remember your not always going to have winners and that's Okay.  If you get out and experience life that's the most important thing. So until Next week Get out and Shoot!