_MSP0311 Hi Photo Buddies!  My last blog was about my photo trip I took to Washington DC with my camera club on our annual Fall Workshop.  This was a different trip in that we were dependent on public transportation and would be carrying all of our stuff that we were bringing for the trip, so packing and planning was a must.  There are many ways to plan and pack for a trip, and this is just my version. 

I know after years of backpacking that weight matters!  So one of the first considerations was how heavy were my bags going to be and how many of them would there be.  So I decided on my backpack with photo gear and another bag that would have my clothes.  I decided early on that I wanted a backpack that was not a camera bag looking kind of bag. IMG_1534  I didn't want the traditional bag like a black LowPro bag that looks like a camera bag.  One reason for this is security.  A big guy with a regular backpack is not as an appealing of a target as a big guy with a camera backpack with thousands of potential dollars in it is.  The other reason is that photography backpacks are designed to carry only gear, and there is not much room for extra stuff like coats, sweaters, and souvenirs. So I got a 25-liter smallish bag to carry my camera gear in with an insert that I got off of Amazon to keep my gear safe, much like I do with a MountainSmith bag that I use for a shoulder bag with an insert.  So with this, my camera gear in this took up about one-third of the space, which left enough room for other things that I would need to carry on a daily basis like rain gear, umbrella, water, and a coat.  Also I wanted a small backpack because I learned if you get a large bag you will fill it up!  So keeping a smaller bag keeps the weight down.  My other bag that I was going to use is a roller bag that you would use as overhead luggage.  But one of the days we had to wear a sports coat and there wasn't enough room for the sports coat, extra slacks, and shoes for that day, so I got a larger roller bag to accommodate those items. But, as with larger bags, I did fill it up!  So those were my two bags: my backpack and a roller bag.

_MSP1594 Now that I have the bags, what to put it them.  Let's start with my camera gear.  If you have read my blogs, I used to shoot full frame Nikon with all the fast glass.  And don't get me wrong, it was excellent quality gear but heavy.  I started using a Sony mirrorless system for hiking and backpacking and eventually switched completely to a Sony crop sensor system.  My first thought was to bring camera body and three lenses:  one for wide angle shots, one for midrange shots, and a telephoto for long-range shots and that would be my kit.  My wide would be a Sony 10-18mm f4 (full frame equivalent 15-25mm) and that's what I took.  My telephoto would be a Sony 55-210mm f4.5-6.3 kit lens (full frame 80-320mm).  I chose this one because of size, and I have a good copy that is sharp so that's what I took. IMG_1558  My midrange is where I had my problems making a decision.  I have a Sony 18-105mm f4 (full frame equivalent 24-150ish mm) that is a good lens, but it's large and heavy.  It's bigger than the 55-210mm that I'm bringing for my telephoto shots.  So I decided not to bring that one.  I decided to take a Sony 35mm f1.8 (full frame equivalent 52mm) as my midrange and then I bought a Rokinon 24mm f2.8 (full frame equivalent 35mm), so I decided to bring that.  Now I'm at four lenses and a body.  And I stuck with this for a couple of months shooting with this combo.  I went to Savannah, Georgia and this is what I took and got great photos.  I took this combo to all of our monthly workshops, and they worked great.  But in the back of my mind, I'm thinking I sure am changing lenses a lot.  I would love to just have one mid-range zoom lens.  I considered buying another zoom, a 16-70mm Sony/Ziess lens. But it's an expensive lens, and I couldn't make myself buy another midrange zoom just for this trip.  So I had my setup: the Sony A6300, Sony 10-80mm for wide shots, Rokinon 24mm, Sony35mm for midrange shots, and Sony 55-210mm for telephoto shots.  Well, until I started packing.  Remember I said if you get a larger bag you will fill it up?  My large roller bag was really bigger than I needed, so at the last minute I stuck the Sony 18-105mm in just in case shooting and changing lenses from a backpack got really cumbersome.  So that was my camera IMG_1459 gear:  all the lenses mentioned above, my trusty Sony A6300, some filters that I never used on the trip (but would still bring), a small Jobe table top tripod, and a travel-sized tripod.  I carried the Jobe tripod all the time, and the other travel tripod I brought just for nighttime photography.  I just went into Lightroom to see the lens breakdown of my winner/rated shots from our trip, and out of 309 photos that I considered my best, my 10-18mm took 21shots, 16-70mm (yes, a member let me use his for part of the day) 5 shots, 35mm another 30 shots, 55-210mm 82 shots, 18-105mm 26 shots, and the most was the Rokinon 24mm (35mm full frame equivalent ) at 145 shots. So well over half of my shots came from the mid-range primes and not the zoom.  To be fair, on our museum day I did only take one body and one lens, the 24mm, and shot that all day because of the security at IMG_1562 the museums.  It was just easier.  And to tell you the truth, I really didn't notice while I was shooting that day that I didn't have the other lenses with me and I did just fine.  Another piece of kit I took was a GoPro Session, which I used it once and it never came out of the bag again.  We had a guy that was videoing the whole workshop.  I was just too lazy to do video and stills at the same time, so I stuck to stills and took the GoPro out of my backpack the first day, put it the suitcase, and it never saw the light of day again.

Now for the clothes I took with me.  Let me start by saying I'm not a fashion type of guy and I like what I like.  I want it to be comfortable, lightweight, and an earth tone color so I can mix and match anything in my bag and it looks okay.  I like to take clothing that is quick drying material so if I do get wet it dries quickly, and when washing it dries quickly too.  The clothes I take are the same if I'm camping or doing a street shoot.  Pants are hiking convertible pants, ones that the bottom part of the leg zips off when it's hot and you have shorts. They are lightweight, usually cargo pants with lots of pockets but can also be plain.  Shirts are hiking or fishing shirts that are made out of the quick drying material as well.  They may be long or short sleeve, but most of mine are long sleeve and they can be rolled up if it gets hot.  Undershirts and pants are made out of stretchy, quick-drying material.  T-shirts can be many colors so if I get hot I can take off the outer shirt and still look okay.  Now you know the type of clothes I take and how many.  For this week  Eastern MarketEastern Market in Washington DC, A good place to photograph. -long trip, I had planned on taking three pants and three shirts I could wear more than once or wash one daily and could mix and match so I don't look like I'm wearing the same thing every day.  Well, that didn't quite work out the way I had planned because of the larger bag (you know where I'm going with this).  I packed more stuff.  I had planned on washing clothes while on the trip, but I had enough room that I just took extra socks and underwear and just wore pants and shirts a couple of times so I didn't have to wash.  But normally I wouldn't and would wash clothes.  I usually have a hat of some kind to keep the sun out of my eyes.  I wear glasses and have a hard time without a hat or sunglasses.  I carried a puffy jacket that packs down small and a fleece type of sweater.  I took gloves, a wool cap, and a neck scarf that I never used on this trip but always goes with me even in summer camping when it gets chilly at night.  I also had a rain coat that I think I used once.  I took one pair of comfortable hiking shoes that I already have broken in well with good inserts in them.  I had no foot problems at all, and we walked 50 miles that week.

_MSP2507_Luminar2018-edit_Luminar2018-edit Now my computer that I took I discussed in detail in an earlier blog, the 13-inch MacBook Air.  I took a 250gb SSD drive with me that I put all of my photos on and my Lightroom catalog made special for the DC trip that I merged into my large catalog when I got home.  I had cables and chargers for all of my gadgets like phone, camera batteries, external battery (to charge my phone while out and about), and of course a laptop.  I took a little surge protector plug so I could plug all of my things in without taking up all of the sockets in the room I was in (I had roommates that had a lot of electronics also).  I took enough SD cards for every day and changed out daily so the SD card was one copy of my photos.  My daily routine after shooting all day when I would get back was first of all to start charging all of my batteries.  I had the ability to charge three at a time (mirrorless uses lots of batteries).  Next, I would pull my SD card out and refresh with a new one, download to an external SSD drive photos of the day from an SD card, put the SD card in safe place (card holder), and at night when I slept I would charge up external battery and phone.  While we were out shooting, I would plug in my laptop and let that charge so when we got back to house I wouldn't have to have a cord hooked to my computer.  When I traveled on the train I had enough room in my backpack to hold my computer so it was safe place with me not in my checked luggage. I didn't have any issues with electronics.

So these are some of my thoughts on how I packed for my DC trip.  Have fun and keep shooting!

_MSP2011_Luminar2018-edit Hey everyone! Its been a while since I've written a blog sorry for that but we had our yearly fall workshop with my photography club (Goldsboro Area Photography Club) a couple of weeks ago and I'm just getting caught up with Honey do's and work stuff.  Let me start by saying that our trip to Washington DC was Fantastic and we had a blast.  There is so much to see and do there and I think we just scratched what the photo possibilities could be there.  For street photography this is truly a target rich area and you could have spent a whole week just shooting street scenes .  There is a lot of touristy things to see and do and history stuff too.  We were hoping for some more fall colors but we didn't get any and it seems like the fall colors have been a couple of weeks late this year.  But the excitement and hustle and bustle of a large city more than made up for it. The MetroCommuters waiting for the Metro in Washington DC. We had 10 people that went to the workshop we had 12 scheduled to go but some family crisis kept two home and they were sorely missed.  Most of our days started before the sun came up and ended well into the evening .  We rented an Air B&B house that was one block from the Metro and a couple of blocks from a Drug store and Grocery store. We made a couple of meals at the house but mostly ate out which could be fairly costly. I have been doing a lot of preparing for this trip for it was very different than most of the trips we take.  Being lightweight and nimble as possible was the goal when packing clothes and Camera equipment.  In all of our other workshops we drive to our destination so what to carry with us on a day to day basis was pretty easy, you bring everything and leave in the car what you don't need.  But here we were traveling by Metro (subway) and were hauling everything on our backs, to include rain gear, coats, sweaters, and of course camera equipment.  And going all day with what we took that morning so planning was a must. What I used on this trip and the packing of my gear will be another blog because I just have too much to say about the trip itself for this one.  We were very lucky to have a couple of members that used to live in DC that gave us a great resourse of what to do and where to go and honestly it would have been way more difficult to just go on our own without our in house tour guides.

_MSP1594 Our trip began with a train ride.  I like half of the members have never used the train (Amtrak) to travel before and was very curious on how the trip would be.  We decided on this mode of transportation because of the traffic and no parking situation in DC.  And I think we made a good decision. Except for a few hour delay at the beginning (because of state fair stops) the train was a wonderful way to travel. Plenty of room , you could get up and walk around and the dining car was really a great way to travel.  The conductors were nice and courteous .  There was no problems with luggage or carry on bags.  It took us about 4 hours of travel and we arrived in Grand Central Station Washington DC. We collected our bags and made our way to the Metro side of the station bought weekly passes and got on a Metro for the first time.  It was a chore with the luggage and making sure everyone was together but we made it to our station got off and found our way to the house we had rented.  This was the most difficult time on the Metro it was easy and all down hill after this initial trip.  We got settled in and went out to eat a couple of blocks from the house with a recommendation from a couple of DC's finest.  And let me say we stopped many times to talk to the local police and they were very courteous and friendly and helpful.  _MSP1839

We had all of our days planned out on what to do and where to go and we stuck to the itinerary for the most part making decisions on the fly if there were any changes to be made. Like where we were going to eat.  The first day we spent at the east mall area to include the Eastern Market, National Arboretum, Capitol Hill, Supreme Court and then that night we went to Old Town for a Night shoot. It was a off and on rainy day but not too bad.

Monday we were in for a treat. One of our members used to work at the White House and had connections to get us a tour of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House Grounds.  We had to have a background check weeks before and there was a lot of coordination between our guy Robert and the people in the EEOB.  Everyone had to dress up with guys in sports coats and gals in business wear and of course it was raining in the morning when we had to go but we didn't get too wet we had breakfast at a bagel shop and went through security of the White House to get in.  And it was pretty Awesome.  The guys that gave us the tours were very informative about the building and all of the stories behind the different rooms we went into.  We got to see the White House from a view that most people don't and even got to see Marine one come and pick up the President.  We presented a photo from a photo contest that we had to thank the guys at the White House.  This part of our trip surprised me the most and I really enjoyed it.  After that we had lunch visited some more sites and went to the house.  We made Supper and had a former White House Photographer David Bohrer come and have dinner with us. Very nice guy and told us his story on how he became one of the White House Photographers and stories about the job.

_MSP2056 Tuesday was Arlington Nation Cemetery and  Sunrise and Sunset at the National Mall and as you can guess this was a long day. We started well before sunrise and went to the Vietnam Memorial and shot sunrise at the Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.  We went and had breakfast and went to Arlington National Cemetery  a very moving place to be with acres of tombstones and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Got lots of good shots at the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Later that day we Went back to the National Mall with the intention of shooting sunset and night time of the monuments.  But there was something we weren't expecting and that was bus loads of Kids coming to the Mall with their schools.  I shot a little at the Lincoln Memorial but then went to the the other end with the WWII Memorial and Washington Monument where there wasn't as many people.  Did get some good shots though. _MSP2238

The Next day was the Georgetown area where we shot the downtown area had lunch and then went to the National Cathedral.  This was my first experience with UBER and UBER drivers.  And I must say all the UBERs that I took on this trip were pleasant rides no problems at all.  The National Cathedral was huge!  I have been to smaller Cathedrals like Duke Chapel in Durham NC. But compared to the National Cathedral is was tiny.  Lots of great art and a good view from the top 7 stories high of the Washington DC area.

Thursday was Museum day Now I din't mention it before but Sunday with the _MSP2366 rain that we had we did go to one Museum and it was the Natural Science Museum which was awesome!  The first stop this day was the Library of Congress.  And let me say that this was one of the top places on my whole trip.  Lots to see from architecture of the building to all of the exhibits that are on display th ere.  A must see if you are in DC. Museums in DC are Fantastic and you could spend a couple of weeks just looking at Museums So we just picked out a couple for this trip because some of _MSP1970
our members aren't museum people. But I certainly am! This day we went to the Art Museum and the Portrait Museum and both were stunning with lots to see. But of course there were bus loads of other people there too. That night we went to China Town to shoot and to get us some good food and we got loads of both.  It is a small China Town but it is very colorful and full of good restaurants !  We had a good night there and got some good photo's.

_MSP2390-HDR Friday was our last full day in DC and we decided to shoot the National Zoo and then we could split up and shoot whatever.  Some of our group went back to Arlington National Cemetery and to the Marine Corp Monument. Others like myself went back to town to the Newseum. The Newseum was the only Museum that we had to pay to get in but it was well worth it .  And it's a museum about News. It covers all types of news from Print, Radio and TV .  Pulitzer Prize winning photographs and their story behind them are there also.  This is a very powerful and moving place. They have an observation deck that you can get a real good photo of the Capitol Building.

The last day before we got on the train home a few of us took an UBER _MSP3067 to the City Center and photographed around that area then we came back just in time to go with the others to catch the Metro to Grand Central and an Amtrak home.  We did a lot of walking and the average weekly mile/steps between everyone's fit bits was about 50miles walked and 140,000 steps taken.  So when you go wear comfortable shoes. I had been to DC a couple of times before but it was always for work and I hadn't really seen the sights before and I really enjoyed this trip.  If you haven't been to our Nations Capitol please do so you won't be sorry.  I can't wait to go back! There is a link below to a Video of our trip by Robert O'Sullivan its Awesome please watch.

2018 Fall Trip Video

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_MSP1021 Hey Everyone!  I'm sitting here while Hurricane Florence is outside.  As of this point we've had over 11 inches of rain and it's still raining.  So I figured I would give you an update to my Mobile Computing Blog that I posted earlier this year.  As you may remember, I purchased a Lenovo Miix 320 for under $200.  My three criteria for a mobile were inexpensive, small and lightweight, and able to run Lightroom.  And this little laptop did just that.  I have used it most of this year when I go camping or on a trip.  But something happened with an update or something, and it really struggled to run Lightroom and download photographs.  If you have been following me on Facebook or Instagram, you know I recently took a little trip to Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC.  Of course I took my camera and took lots of photos, and every night when I went to import into Lightroom it really struggled.  The first night it locked up a couple of times, and I had to restart my computer.  When it finally did go to download, it took maybe half an hour to download 300 photos.  So every night I would spend an hour or two just getting my photos imported, which is not acceptable.  When I got home, I took off all of the extra stuff that computer companies put on a computer trying to free up some RAM so apple-macbook-air-core-i5-8gb-256gb-mqd42hna-13-inch-hd-18ghz-intel-graphics-6000-laptop it would run Lightroom better.  I went to a small festival in town and took 70 photos, and it took me two hours using the little Lenovo to get the photos downloaded.  Now, I could use the little laptop to just transfer photographs from my SD card to an external hard drive without using Lightroom, but with windows you can't view RAW files without an external program to see the photo.  If it did, that would work, but it doesn't.  I still wish this little computer would work, but it just is too weak to use Lightroom so I can cull and process a few photographs while on the road.  It does everything else I want it to do, but just not that.  So I had to find something else for my mobile computing that hopefully would tick all the three criteria that I wanted.  

I am heavily invested in Mac products and the Apple ecosystem.  And if I had to re-invest in another laptop I wanted it to be a Mac. Windows 10 isn't my cup of tea.  So I went on a search for a machine that would work. Good luck!  I looked at refurbished machines, new machines, used ones, and I still would be spending a lot of money.  So I took my advice and bought the best machine that I could afford to do the job that I wanted.  And that was the machine that I mentioned in the other blog, the 13-inch MacBook Air.  This machine did not tick all of the boxes.  The box that it didn't tick was price.  All of the  2563e370f98e53afa59b4ddfed93f621 MacBooks that I looked at, even the refurbished ones, were well over $500.  So I decided if I had to pay that kind of money, I would get something that I liked and that would easily do the job, so I bought a new one (well, a 2017 one).  It has 8gb of RAM, which is well enough to do what I want to do with this machine.  Remember, I don't want to do heavy computing or editing on this computer, just backup cull and maybe quick processing for posting to Facebook or Instagram.  This 8gb RAM and 256 SSD drive works perfectly for what I want it to do.  It ticks the second box, run Lightroom and backup photos.  The MacBook Air 13-inch is considerably larger than the Lenovo, but the weight isn't much more.  The battery life is great, also a plus in mobile computing.  So it also ticked the third box of being lightweight.  So I am happy with my purchase but do wish the little Lenovo worked just for the cost.  So now all of my personal computers are Mac.  The 27-inch Mac is my main computer, the 15-inch MacBook Pro is my backup and home laptop, and the new addition of the 13-inch MacBook Air is for my mobile computing. 

So I should be all set for my Fall workshop to DC with my camera club (Goldsboro Area Photography Club).  I'm also doing this blog on the new laptop.  What will happen to the Lenovo?  I'm sure my grandchildren will end up with it before too long.  So get out and shoot!