Hey Everyone! This week is about trip planning!  I am currently in quarantine due to Covid symptoms so I have plenty of time to plan.  Don't worry I'm feeling fine just have to take a test today and I should be cleared.  But while I was at home I had plenty of time to plan for an epic photography trip ( to me anyway) out west to Utah.  There are a lot of decisions to make when planning your trip.  First when are you going?  What is the main objective for the trip?  How will you get there?  Where will you stay?  Transportation? Permits?  So many questions.  My first suggestion is to start early!  We are 4 months out of our trip and I think this is almost too late.  The earlier the better. I am making an itinerary that I know we will not be able to follow to the letter but it is a good guide line to our trip.  I know that we must be flexible when we are on our trip and some of the best photographs will come from this.   But I like to know things especially where I'm sleeping.

When are you going?  This is a big decision.  We had to make plans that would not interfere with work or family things.  All of our other decisions will depend on these dates.  Weather is another decision to consider will it be too cold or hot when you go.  Will school be in session?  The crowds will be less if school is in session. So after this time frame has been set then you can start all of the other planning.

What is the main objective of this trip?  Is it photography like ours is.  We are taking a road trip of sorts in the west where photography and hiking is the main purpose. Getting to see something that I have never seen before and a pre curser to when I retire I would like to travel and see the west more being from the east coast.

How will you get there?  If its not too far a way a car might be your best bet.  Or even a train oh how I like a train to travel.  But for us going to Utah a plane is our choice.  Its cheap (especially with the price of gas) and  its quick.  Quick is really a big deal.  The less time you take traveling the more time you'll have on your adventures.  For our trip we will be flying into Las Vegas NV. and leaving from Albuquerque NM.

Where will you stay?  Another hard choice.  Can you stay in one spot and take day trips to everywhere?  Thats a great choice.  This won't work for us as we are taking over a 1000 mile road trip.  We will be staying at 4 strategic locations.  Being that these places are such a popular places booking in advance is a must! Share a room if you can to cut cost!  A 200 dollar a night room sounds expensive but if you have two paying its not as bad.  Remember that you will be just sleeping and showering there if you're like us.  We will be exploring all day so you don't have to get a lavish place to stay.  Simple and Clean is what you want.  These can be Air B&B type places or hotels.  We went the hotel route just for simplicity and location.  For where we were going it was the right choice but in other situations Air B&B might be right one.

Transportation?  How will you get from point A to B?  Some trips I have use public transportation like the subway or trains.  For this trip its a car .  We will be traveling over 1000 miles in remote places so we will need transportation to get there.  So we have to rent a car.  What type?  Economy car will be small and not as comfortable as a larger one but it will be less expensive and take less gas to operate.  Terrain also makes a difference if you are going off road you might need something with clearance that a small car wouldn't do. Then there is where you pick it up from and drop it off at.  We will be doing the Airports that we use.

Permits?  If you are traveling to National Parks as we are you might need permits for things you do.  Don't wait till the last minute or you might be too late. One of the hikes that we want to do you have to have a permit to do it with and to get one you have to enter a lottery.  If you wait too long you might miss the time to get permits.  We will also need a car permit for a small National Park to keep it from over crowding.  These are things that you must think of in advance.

As you can see there is a lot that goes into planning a trip whether it is a short over the weekend trip or a long trip that can last a week or more.  I used apps like Expedia and Hotels.com to help me with reservations. I used Recreation.gov to secure permits.  Plan ahead and be flexible when you get there and you are assured to have a great time on your trip.  Explore and plan for your next Adventure!

Hey Everyone! I hope that you are doing well and are healthy today.  This weeks topic is Roadside Photography.  What is Roadside Photography? Well its pretty simple your driving and see something you pull off of the road and take a photo.  Sounds pretty simple.  As a landscape and travel photographer most of my photography is just on the side of the road.  You don't have to be the big explorer to get great landscape or travel photo's.  You don't have to trudge through the woods or forest for miles to get that great landscape composition.  Although it is a great way to get something unique.  I would say that 90% of all of my photo's are taken a 5 min. walk from the roadside.  If you go to National Parks most of the most iconic scenes are right beside the road on some sort of overlook or pullout just so you can get that photo.  Sometimes these shots are just 5 min. from your house.  Let me give you some helpful hints on how to get Blue Ridge Tree some great Roadside Photography shots.

-Stop the car.  One of the biggest mistakes is just not to stop for that photo.  In my experience not stopping for whatever reason is the biggest mistake you can make.  If I see something that I think will be a great photo and I pass it maybe I saw it at the last min. I will immediately do a U-turn and go back.  I don't know how many times I have seen something and I say to myself I'll come back to that later.  And I never do. Or if I do come back its not the same , the light has changed or something just isn't right.  So first tip is Neuse River Clouds to stop the car.

-Add Time to your trip for photography.  This kind of goes hand in hand with the tip stop the car.  If you are in a hurry to go somewhere you will more than likely not stop you will pass by a great shot because you don't want to be late for something.  If you know your going to be on a scenic highway like the Blue Ridge Parkway plan extra time into your trip because you know you want to pull over and take some photographs.

-Keep Camera Gear Handy and Ready.  This tip can be useful in many photography situations.  But in Cades Cove Tree Roadside Photography it is extra handy.  You want your gear at the ready to take that photography.  I usually have my camera and lenses combo's ready to go and set up.  So if I see a deer on the side of the road I don't have to fumble for camera gear and lens they are already set up and I can grab them.  If I have two bodies with me I will have a long and a wide lens set up so I can grab what is needed for the shot.  This also includes having filters and tripod ready.  You might not know when a waterfall might pop up.

Lake Wackena Sunrise HDR -Plan and Prepare.  If your going on a planned trip to a park do some research. Maybe there is a scenic road that you can take to your destination.  Get on the Google Machine and see what photo's others have taken on the trip you're going on.  I'm planning a trip right now and that's what I'm doing to get ready for that trip.

The whole point of this blog is to let you know that you don't have to be a world class explorer to get great landscape and travel photography photo's .  Most of them are just a drive away.  So get out and do some roadside exploring and get some great photo's just a few feet from your car. And get outside and shoot!

Price Landing Hey Everyone! Hope today finds you well and safe.  Today is another soap box day.  Just an old guy griping about days gone by.  I know, I know you've heard it before.  But here we go.  Things are much different now than they were for my Father or Grandfather.  We are overwhelmed with information.  We get it from our big screen TV's, Computers, Laptops, Tablets and phones.  Information coming from everywhere.  The news is not news anymore now it what you choose to listen or believe.  We pick our own news depending on how our beliefs are.  If your on the Right side of politics you watch Fox News if your on the Left of things you watch CNN.   And who knows what is in between. Life was much easier when you only had 3 channels to pick from and they all had the same stories. When Richard Nixon got in trouble everyone agreed.  It didn't matter what side of the isle you were on. But not now a days?  And don't worry I'm not going to get political.  I'm more worried about the system we have now not the _MSP2011_Luminar2018-edit politicians.  New papers and most magazines are gone.  The print news is a thing of the past. The internet has taken over most print things from books, to Newspapers.  Applications like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter shape the way we think.  Because we are still used to believing what we read or what we see in the news we think its real. And its not.  What we read on the internet and what we see on the news is formed and shaped by the Sponsors of the shows or the show's audience.  And don't get me wrong I am as addicted to screens and the internet as much as anyone.  My job keeps me in a laptop all day.  Right now I have six screens with in arms reach. There seems to be no time that I don't have a screen with me.  And of course the same story that my dad would talk about is how much things cost.  And Sunrise Kayak of course the prices do go up and never come down.  That's just life.  Things are just expensive.  I could go on and on about things that I don't like but you get the idea.  But one thing has stayed the same from when I started playing around with camera's.

When I'm out and about taking photo's everything shuts off.  I get tunnel vision and all of my worries and things that were bothering me go away.  I just look for photo's and concentrate on what I'm doing and of course it has a screen on it. LOL  But when I'm doing a sunset and I get there just in time for blue hour and wait for the sun to come up I am so relaxed.  The same can be said for sunsets and waterfalls I just get wrapped up in the moment.  I don't think too much about settings just enough to get it right in camera.  I try out new techniques like focus stacking and that has me consumed.  That's why I love photography so much I get lost in it.  Of course I love the gear and I do have GAS. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome.)  But I love learning new things that might make my photography better.  Be it from a new noise removing app to a new version of Lightroom.  Photography excites me like no other hobby has.  I have had many and just should have stayed with photography.  I have done everything from Bass Fishing including having a Bass Boat. Skeet shooting to include reloading my own shotgun shells.  To playing golf where I had my handicap down to a 4 at one point.  But nothing gives Wine glass Splash me the peace that photography has.  I have tried all sorts of photography from Wedding , Portraits , Street , Landscape, Astro, to Travel.  The ones I keep going back too are Landscape , Street, Travel. I do like to take portraits of my family and friends.  (Mainly because I can play with strobes) LOL  So when I'm out on a trail or by a waterfall I am in my own little world of photography.  If I'm walking down the street I'm looking for angles and shots that will be interesting.  I'm thinking about anything but screens, news and all of the injustices there are in the world because I'm in my little world. Even when I'm not doing photography I think about it but its nothing like doing it.  I have gone from old manual 35mm film cameras to the mirrorless age of photography and everything in between.  I have even dabbled in video. 

Well I'm going to jump off of my Soap Box and say how much I love to get lost in Photography. So until next week get outside and get lost too!