What Santa Sees' Hey Everyone! I hope today is a great day for you. As this is the first Blog of the new year I thought I would take time to talk about making plans for this year.  Now is the time. The earlier the better.  I think that planning is a big part of success to travel or just photo or camping trips. For me spur of the moment things usually don't work out as well as a well planned trip does. I am in the process of planning my year and it is a big year for me as I just retired from my day job and have plenty of time. Just not plenty of money. LOL Thats how it goes when you have money you don't have the time and when you have time the money has dried up. Now being on a fixed income now I really have to plan out my larger trips in advance and put away money for them. The shorter more spontaneous trips mid week I can do a lot easer now that I don't have a full time job to go to.  Planning early saves time money and organizes your trip.

Where to go? Well that's a big question for anyone.  And everyone has a different answer.  For me this year my big trips will be New York City and the Fall trip with the camera club.  But I plan to have smaller trips in-between to fill up the gaps. A good rule for me at least is take a trip per month. Now this doesn't have to be a big trip or even an over night trip but maybe a day trip to a city or park that is near you. Believe me it can be done I visited all of North Carolina's state Parks in one year by just planning ahead and I wasn't traveling all of the time and still had time for my full time job. There were 42 parks by the way.  My New York City Trip will be with my Wingman Robert.  We plan on taking the train to NYC and public transportation from there.  We plan on going in the springtime. We are also planning a Low Country trip from Savanna back to NC this will probably be a long weekend with camping on the way.  Where to go is the first question.  When is the second question.

When to go?   Setting firm dates on when you are going somewhere helps in the planning.  Questions like do I need to take Vacation?  How many days do I need to take. Making reservations in advance usually is cheaper and you can usually guarantee vacancy.  If you are going to national parks you may need permits putting in for these as early as possible can almost guarantee that you have the right permit on the right day of your trip. Last year on our Utah road trip we had to have permits for a few of the parks that we had to enter into a lottery system but being early we got the dates and times we wanted.  If you are flying making reservations early is great to make sure you have a seat and by doing this you have already paid for you're trip before you even leave then all you have to pay for is incidentals why you are there.  But say you are not traveling far maybe you want to go to a festival of some kind you need to know the dates and if you plan on staying over night you may need a hotel.  If you're planning a camping trip reserving camp sites is a must especially if your going to stay over the weekend.  Since COVID the parks have been packed and making reservations through Recreation.GOV or ReserveAmerica.gov can be hard to do.  Once you've planned your trip with reservations then its what will you need for your trip.

What to take?  Whether its a camping trip or a Photography trip bringing the right gear is essential.  Taking what you need and leaving home what you don't need can make life a lot easier.  Clothing that is suited for the weather that you will encounter on your trip is crucial.  Comfortable footwear is a must. Nothing is worse that having to walk through a big city and you have blisters on your feet because you brought cute shoes that didn't fit well or were not broken in. If you plan on staying a week or more only take enough clothes for 4 days and find some where to do a load of clothes. No one cares if you ware the same outfit more than once on a trip.  This will keep your pack lighter. If your taking camera equipment with you on a long trip don't take everything you own.  Think about the situations that you will be in most of the time and take the equipment that will handle those situations. When I went to Utah last year I had my landscaping kit with me and when I went to Boston I had a totally different kit with me.  Choose the right tool for the job at hand. Keeping gear lightweight and manageable will make traveling through terminals much easier.

Planning in advance makes the year go by easier. If you have a full time job and you have your year planned out you have something to look forward to.  You can say to yourself in two weeks I'll be in Boston or wherever you see yourself being.  If you have a multi-day trip planned make an itinerary. Itineraries help you organize and make the most of the time you have for your trip. You don't have to wander what your suppose to do next its in your itinerary.  It makes a good outline of what you'll be doing you don't have to be a stickler to it but its a good start.

So get set and start making your plans for this year.  I hope to see you on your travels. Until Next week get out and shoot.

Hey Everyone! Hope you're doing great! This week I want to look back at my photography of 2022 . It has been a big year for me.  I have traveled more than I usually do and have got some great photo's. I have taken two photography trips that included a plane ride which I haven't been on a plane in a long time. I did a lot of it with my Photography Wingman Robert and we have some trips in the future planned as well. So I'll go through the trips in order as they were taken.

New Years day shoot at Mount Mitchell NC the highest point east of the Mississippi. Robert and I had Mt. Mitchell Sunrise planned this one well in advance and drove to the mountains and shot the sun coming up on the first day of the new year. We also got to witness a young couple get engaged while we were there which was cool. We got some great shots on the way down from the mountain. It was a great start to the new year.

New Jersey. Our next road trip was to New Jersey where Robert had some family that we were going to stay with. I had never been to New Jersey before so this was all new to me. We drove and stayed at Norfolk the first night went to the ship yards and the next day went to the Naval Museum we had the place to ourselves and it was awesome. We then drove to stay with friends of Robert and had a nice visit there. Then it was off to Jersey and Asbury Park where the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi got their start. We got to see lots of cool places but it was COLD. On the way back we stopped in DC at the Iwo Jima war memorial to take some photo's. Great trip!

Congaree National Park. Robert, Mike and I went to this National Park in South Carolina. None of us had been there but it was Nice .  We had good food and fellowship.

Pawleys Island.  Now this wasn't much of a photography trip it was my 40th anniversary but I always have my camera with me so I got some shots and we stopped at Myrtle Beach State park while we were there and may go back in the future.

Utah Road Trip.  This was by far the most epic of my trips this year. Robert (Wingman) and I flew to Las Vegas got a rental and embarked on a 1600mile road trip which took us through Utah's Mighty 5. Zion, Bryce Canyon, Canyon lands, Capital Reef and Arches. We stayed in 5 different hotels and traveled through Nevada, Arizona, Utah , Colorado and New Mexico. We visited state parks in Nevada and Utah and Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. We SpiresCanyonlands National Park Utah ended up staying in Taos NM and flew out of Albuquerque after going to the top of Sandia Peak which is over 10000 feet high. It was a overwhelming trip and we could have stayed a week or two at each of the places we went to. It was a whirlwind trip.

Shenandoah National Park.  My wife and I took our little teardrop trailer to the Shenandoah National Park to camp for a long weekend. It was crowded but very nice. Even though we were in a big campground we were secluded .  The deer would come right up to within 10 feet of you before they would scurry off. We drove up and down skyline drive stopping at different outlooks. Got a few good shots but really had a good time just camping.

Boston. We took a long weekend and flew to Boston. There were 6 of us that went Me and Robert, Anita Boston Harbor at Night and Caitlin, Roberts son and Eric Caitlins friend. We had a Air B&B at Revere Beach. We used public transportation (Subway's/Trains) to travel around and took one or two UBERS.  Seeing the Sites of Boston was pretty neat. We traveled along the Boston Freedom Trail that takes you to a lot of the historic sites. We had good food and a good time was had by all.

Raven's Roost Va. GAPC Fall Colors Trip. This is usually my big trip of the year. But not this year. But its still a big trip.  We went to an Air B&B in Wintergreen Ski Resort for our home base. From there we went to West Va, The Blue Ridge Parkway, Richmond and other local places. Good food was always had at local restaurants Spring Fall Falls and lots of good photo's and fun was had by all. I think we had 7 of us all together.

Goose Creek overbite Camp- This last one was a small spur of the Goose Creek Driftwood moment trip that Robert and me took to Goose Creek State Park in North Carolina to shoot the night stars and Sunrise. Robert got much better photo's than I did but I had a blast camping in a tent again.

These were the major trips of the year but there was some smaller trips (day trips) That we took to Raleigh, Greensboro, Wilmington, New bern, and Edenton. So this was a busy year for me travel wise and photography wise. I hope I can keep it up next year. I plan on taking some more camping type of trips to places next year as well.  Considering all of the places I went this year and how far I traveled I really didn't spend that much for the fun I had. The money/ fun ratio was good.  What did you do this year? And have you started planning for next year? Start planning until next week get out and Shoot!

Hey Everyone ! I hope everyone is having a good new year.  This week I want to discuss something that happened to me over the holidays and has had me thinking ever since.  While at our Christmas party for the camera club I am a member of one of our newest members asked me about what camera should she get for her first camera. It kind of through me off a little and I tapped danced around the subject and told her about buying used and to do research before she made her decision.  I told her that I could recommend a camera to her but it would be my opinion and to tell you the truth there really is no bad camera's out there. I got to thinking about it and wondered if I helped her at all trying to figure out what camera to get. I don't think so I started talking about sensor size and her eyes started to glaze over. LOL But after long hard thinking over the last couple of weeks I came to a decision on what camera to get. But before I tell you let me go through my thought process with you.

So your first camera is a big decision and one I haven't had to make in over 45 years when I bought my first one from the Sears Catalog! But things have changed a whole lot since the film days. So first I wanted to figure out what a beginning photographer needed in a camera. Not knowing what type of photography She wanted to do . (Forgot to ask that important Question) I'll stick with general photography. To really learn photography you need to be able to shoot in Manual and learn what all of the settings mean. So the camera should be able to shoot in manual and all of the other modes also. It should have a good range zoom on it to keep from having to buy many lenses at the start. It should be fairly affordable .  It should be easy to use. So I got to thinking what camera would fulfill all of those needs?  

The camera that fulfills all of those needs was right in front of my face and in my Backpack. It was the Canon G7X series or similar in another brand. My EDC (every day carry) camera. It fulfills all of the needs that I mentioned above.  Now a days people are used to using their phone to take photo's and that works great but when you want to advance you want something that is more. My little point and shoot does that. It has a 1" sensor which is considerably bigger than the one in your phone. It can shoot in manual or any of the auto modes. It has a 24-100 equivalent f1.8-2.8 Zoom lens on it. It shoots in Raw and Jpeg. You can get an accessory like I did and you can use filters. I have a polarizer and a ND filter that I can use on it. It is easy to use and has a touch screen that works great and is similar to that on a phone. It is a great starter camera! If you decide that you want to go deeper into photography later on you can invest in any system and still have a great backup camera. When I go on trips this is my backup camera.  I should have pulled the camera out of my backpack and put it in her hand she would have fallen in love with it. This is a great camera to learn on and I have won monthly Photography challenges with this little camera.

So Maria this blog was especially for you or anyone that is looking to get a first camera this would be my recommendation . A first camera should be one that you learn on and fun to shoot  this one checks all of the boxes and does not break the bank. It is not suppose to be a professional one. So I think a point and shoot that can do all of these things is the one to get first. Here is a link to another blog that I have done on this camera. MY EDC (Every day Carry)  So until next time Get out and Shoot!