White Bay & My New Camera

I have a new camera: a Canon PowerShot G15. If you've seen my post about my cameras you might be wondering why I needed a new point and shoot since I already had a Canon PowerShot G12. Well the operative word here is "had".

My journey to my new camera began while I was visiting my sister in the Virgin Islands at the end of November. As part of an excursion we made to the BVI we stopped at White Bay on the island of Jost Van Dyke. Jost Van Dyke is relaxed and relatively untouched with only a few hundred residents on the island. In fact the island has only had electricity since the nineteen nineties.

White Bay is gorgeous. The sand is pristine white and the beach is lined with low palm trees and sea grapes. There is one catch, however; there is no dock. It's a wet landing so in order to get to the beach you have to swim in from your boat.

My sister had been to White Bay several times and I had been once before as well so we both knew the drill. On a previous trip I had swum to shore with my old Canon Digital Rebel over my head so I didn't think much of swimming to shore with my smaller G12 over my head. Below is the last picture I took with my G12 from the boat before disaster struck. I zoomed in and got this shot of my sister swimming to shore with our clothes in a bag over her head with Soggy Dollar Bar in the background.

I got in the water and started swimming a backstroke with one arm and my camera over my head to keep it dry. I had two issues, however. First, all of the spots to moor that were close to shore were taken so our boat was pretty far out making for a fairly long swim. Secondly, soon after I got in the water a wave caught me and I swallowed a bunch of water. If I had been swimming with two arms it wouldn't have been a problem but with just one arm and trying to get my breath while coughing up the water I was struggling a bit. One of the staff from the boat had fins on and was towing people to shore with a buoy. She saw that I was having a tough time and towed me in the rest of the way in. I was embarrassed but happy for the help.

When I got to shore I was feeling really sick from the salt water I had swallowed so I tried to throw it up in the bathroom with no luck. I ended up grabbing a soda and sipping on it to settle my stomach. I tried turning on my camera at this point and found out it was dead. When the wave caught me it must have also gotten my camera which was a big bummer. Luckily the shop behind Soggy Dollar Bar had some disposable cameras for sale so I bought one and my sister and I took a walk along the beach. The pictures aren't the best quality but not bad for a disposable camera.

In the middle of the beach where we came to shore is the famous Soggy Dollar Bar. It got its name because due to the wet landing the money that people use to pay at the bar is usually wet. Many of the people that come ashore stop here so my sister and I decided to head further down the beach where it was less crowded.

The walk along the beach was amazing. It was a perfect day with a brilliant blue sky and turquoise waves gently breaking on the shore.

Halfway down the beach we decided to sit down and relax at Gertrude's Beach Bar & Grill, a quiet little place with only a handful of people which was a nice change of pace from Soggy Dollar's hustle and bustle. I had a few more sips of soda and we watched the waves roll in.

We continued down the beach soaking up the sun and enjoying the beautiful views.

At the west end of the beach is a cute place called One Love Bar and Grill. We didn't have much time to stop, but I loved all of the buoys decorating the outside and couldn't resist snapping a few pictures.

At this point we headed back towards Soggy Dollar, meandering up the beach while I used up the rest of the film on the disposable camera.

We got a dry bag at Soggy Dollar to put the cameras and clothes in for the trip back which my sister swam with. Using two arms and having my lungs clear I had no problem getting back to the boat. I used the camera on my phone to snap a few more pictures from the boat before we pulled away.

Despite my camera mishap we had a lovely time at White Bay and if you are in the BVI I would definitely recommend stopping there. There is nothing like relaxing in one of the hammocks there under a palm tree. I might suggest getting a dry bag prior to your visit, however, to make bringing any cameras or clothes to shore easier. I definitely will next time!

As for my poor little G12, well, it was toast. Back at my sister's apartment we covered it in rice to try to dry it out but it didn't fix it. I think that it might be because I had tried turning it on earlier. Luckily my SD card was fine so I still had the pictures from my trip.

With my camera dead I decided to replace it. Since the newer Canon PowerShot G15 was fifty dollars less than the G12 I thought I would get the G15. It is a nice little camera and perfect for my needs of having a small point and shoot when I don't want to take my SLR with me. 

I've had it for about a month now so I thought I would share how I feel it stacks up with my old G12. Both have the capability to shoot in RAW format and have the ability to change settings manually to have more control over the camera than a typical point and shoot.

I really like that the G15 has a larger aperture lens (f/1.8–2.8) than the G12 so that I can take better pictures in low light. Since I take a lot of photos in dimly lit restaurants with my point and shoot this is great for me. The G15 has a 12.1 Megapixel sensor compared to a 10 Megapixel sensor for the G12 and the continuous shooting speed on the G15 is also a little faster which is nice.

The only downside for me is that the G15 has a fixed screen and I loved my articulating screen on my G12. As someone who is short and travels alone a lot the articulating screen was an awesome feature. In crowds I could hold the camera above my head but swivel the screen down so I could still see what I was shooting. Also, when taking my own picture by holding the camera out in front of me I could flip the screen so that I could see that I was actually in the picture and not cutting off my head. It is definitely something that I miss about my G12, but all in all the G15 seems like a great camera and I have enjoyed using it so far.

This has turned into a pretty long post so I will wrap things up with a quick summary: White Bay = gorgeous, sea water + camera = bad news and G15 = great point and shoot.

Have you ever had any camera disasters? Were you ever any place gorgeous with only a disposable camera to take pictures? 

A Little Splurge

Wednesday I came home from work in the evening to find a package I had ordered on my front porch. After coveting a wide aperture lens and an external flash for a long time I finally bit the bullet and had decided to buy a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Camera Lens and a Canon Speedlite 430EX II Flash.

This past month I had a pretty rough schedule at working a ton of overtime to meet deadlines for my job. I was exhausted mentally and physically and I needed a little pick me up. Normally I am not one for retail therapy but in this case I decided to do it for a few reasons.

First, this was not an impulse purchase but instead something I had been thinking about for a while. Second, it fit into the budget I have set aside and save up for myself to buy fun things. Third, although the reality is that it is better to take photos in natural light I really don't have a chance to work on projects much outside of evening hours. I wanted to be able to take better pictures when I am working on things at night and I am hopeful this will help me do it. Fourth, after pulling a seventy hour work week a girl just needs something to look forward to and I felt a little splurge could be justified.

Now that I have the lens and flash I couldn't be more thrilled with them. I have been having fun taking pictures around the house and my neighborhood just to try them out. Next week I plan to post some pictures and results using my new set-up.

I can't resist sharing one photo now (this is just with the new lens, no flash) so here is a picture of a purple kale in my front yard. I have a lot to learn about using this new equipment, but I think it is going to be fun.

Have you splurged on anything recently? Have you ever rewarded yourself after a stressful patch at work?

10,000 Pictures

While I was in Japan I hit a milestone. As I was wandering around Gujo Hachiman in the rain I snapped this picture along the banks of the Yoshida River.

It's far from the best picture I've ever taken but it is charming in its own way with the forest of bamboo and cedar on the mountainside behind the cheerfully painted homes. As I was taking the photo I was balancing my umbrella, camera and bag trying to get the picture without getting soaked. I got my picture but I didn't stay very dry.

What is notable about the picture is that when I was looking at my photos later I notived that it is the ten thousandth shot that I have taken with my Canon EOS 7D.

I love taking photos and while many are not that great they are all mine, my memories frozen in time. Here's to another 10,000!

Fun With Instagram

I'm in Ontario, Canada for work and despite being absolutely exhausted after two incredibly long work days I couldn't sleep last night. I've been meaning to try out Instagram for a little while and so I decided to sign up and play around with a few photos that I took on my phone this past month. Yes, I realize that it is mostly pictures of food. What can I say? I love to eat!

All of the fun Instagram filters are awesome and I think I may be addicted. If you are interested in following me on Instagram my user name is "homeandawaywithlisa". 

Are you on Instagram? What is your favorite filter? What is your user name?

How to Mount Photos

While I was mounting the photos from my giveaway to celebrate my six month anniversary of blogging I thought I would share how to do it. Pictures can buckle when the mount board, mat board and picture expand and contract at different rates when the temperature changes. By hinging the mat board to the mount board and hanging the photo from T-hinges you keep the picture as free to move as possible and minimize the chance of warping.

To mount a photo you need a mat board and mount board that are the same size and some linen tape. Start by laying your mount board face up with the mat board face down and align their edges. If the thicknesses of the mat board and the mount board aren't the same put something underneath the thinner one so that they are level. Cut a piece of linen tape the width of the boards and then lay it along the seam between them to make a hinge. Flip the mat board down and so that it is right side up.

Now that you have hinged the mat and mount board the next step is to mount the photo. Place your photo under the mat board and adjust it to the position you want. Once you have it where you like it, place a paper weight on the photo to hold it in place and then flip the map board back. Cut two short pieces of linen tape. Carefully lift up the top corners and slip the tape halfway under with the sticky side up. Cut two more pieces of linen tape and then place them sticky side down over the previous pieces of tape. The picture will now be hanging from the two tape T-hinges. To complete just remove the paper weight and flip the mat board pack over the picture. Your picture is now ready to frame.

Digital Photo Storage Organization

Back when I used a film camera I used to organize my photos in chronological order in photos boxes and kept my negatives in binders. When I switched over to digital back in 2003 I had to find a good way to sort and deal with all of the digital photo files I now had.

My system has evolved a bit over time, but here it is in a nutshell. On my hard drive I have a folder for every year. Under every year I have a folder for every month and then every activity within that month. I then put my pictures within that activity folder. For the example below I went to Zingermans for dinner in March so those photos are in 2012/March 2012/Zingermans.

That system works well for basic things that happen in a month, but it is insufficient for the photos I take on a trip. On a vacation it is not uncommon for me to snap over a hundred photos in a day and when you multiply that by a week or two it ends up being a lot of photos. To organize trip photos I make a trip folder under the month that the trip occurred and then make sub-folders for each day of the trip with the place that I was on that day. For each day I then make another set of folders about the specific activities/places I saw on that day and then number the folders in order of when I did them on that day. So for the example below, the third thing that I did on March 18 in Rome on my Italy trip was visit St. Peter's Square so those pictures are in 2012/March 2012/Italy Trip/March 18 Rome/03 St Peters Square. Having the sub-folders for each activity on a day is great so that I don't have to try and remember a few years later where a particular photo was taken.

The two exceptions that I have to this system are that I keep the pictures that I take of blog projects in a separate area (but similarly structured) and I keep pictures of my house in folders sorted by room. Overall, I have used my system for a while and it works really well for me to be able to quickly find any photo I am looking for.

How do you organize your digital photo files? What system do you use to easily find photos?

Practical Tips for Travel Photos: Dealing with Bad Weather

When the weather is gorgeous and the skies are blue it really isn't so hard to take some beautiful vacation photos.

If the weather isn't cooperating with your travel plans, however, it can be a little more challenging to capture great photos on a dreary day. Here are a few practical photography tips to make the best of the weather and get some lovely shots on your trip.

Adjust your white balance
Gloomy or cloudy weather can give a cold feeling to your photos if you don't have the white balance set properly on your camera. Find out how you can adjust it on your camera and either manually set it or put it in cloudy mode. Personally, I always shoot in raw with my camera because I love the flexibility of being able to tweak the white balance on my photos after the fact. Having the right white balance can really affect the quality of your picture. 

Limit the amount of blank sky
Capturing a large expanse of sky that is filled with a vibrant sunset or interesting clouds set against a backdrop of blue can make a lovely photo. A picture that is predominately blank, white sky, however, is not so interesting. There is no rule that says the horizon line needs to be in the middle of your photo so try tilting your camera down a bit to minimize the empty space. Another trick is to like up tall things, like trees or buildings, in the foreground your picture to fill up the expanse. You can also try tilting the frame a bit to play around with the composition to find a way to minimize blank sky. 

Creatively add color
Grey days can result in photos that seem to have no color in them. Avoid drab photos by actively trying to add color in. Look around for a patch of flowers, a brightly colored door, colorful umbrellas or a tree with bright foliage and then move around until you can find a composition of your subject that can include it. For me this often means a lot of crouching or standing on tip toes so I can line things up, but it is worth it. 

Focus on details
One nice thing about overcast weather is that you don't have harsh shadows caused by bright sunlight. The diffuse light makes it a perfect time to take photos of details of things, especially items like carvings which have a lot of depth and could get swallowed up in shadows.  

Embrace the weather
Don't fight the weather. It is part of your experience on your trip so embrace it. Take pictures of people with brightly colored umbrellas and raindrops on leaves. Using puddle reflections can also provide fun pictures. Dark, angry, stormy skies make a lovely backdrop for great photos. Also, be on the look out for rainbows after the rain subsides.

 
Best of luck for wonderful weather on your next trip! Happy travels!

Practical Tips for Travel Photos: Introduction

I love to travel and I love to take pictures so naturally I take tons of photos on my vacations. In trying to improve my photography skills in the past I looked up some articles online for advice.

A lot of what I read was geared toward someone who was an aspiring professional photographer or someone who was traveling for the purpose of taking pictures so it wasn't really practical for me. Tips like avoiding taking pictures in the middle of the day and using a tripod just weren't realistic.

Would I have better pictures if I followed these guidelines? Of course I would but photography is something fun I do while I am on my trip, not the purpose of it. I'm not willing to do anything that would significantly change my travel experience for the sake of taking pictures. I like to travel light and a tripod would slow me down. The middle of the day is prime time for sightseeing and I am not going to forgo taking photos then just because the light is harsh. I needed an approach that fit in with my style of traveling and over the next few weeks I am planning some posts with practical tips for taking travel photos that can work for everyday people like me.

The primary purpose of this post is to introduce this series but I thought I would also share my number one travel photography tip: If it means something to you, always take the photo. It's so simple and obvious but also easy to lose track of sometimes if you get too caught up in trying for perfection.

When I was in Peru in the Fall of 2007 there was a guy in our hiking group on the Inca Trail that was carrying a fancy camera with several lenses and a heavy duty tripod on the four day trek. After we headed off I thought it was a little strange that he hadn't bothered to take a picture all day despite talking about his equipment at length. I asked him about it and he explained all sorts of reasons why the light wasn't any good because of the time of day and the direction of the sun. Although everything he said was technically true, the one reason to still take pictures that trumps all of that is that you will never have a chance to take those photos again.

Professional photographers or people on photo vacations can wait for good conditions or take lots of time to set up perfect shots. For the rest of us we take a brief pause to snap a picture and then move on to enjoy our travels. If you don't take the picture in the moment you won't have it. I've never regretted taking a picture, even when it was a terrible shot, but I have definitely regretted not photographing something. Even when I was broke in grad school using a film camera I always left money in my budget for plenty of film developing. Nowadays with digital cameras there is no reason not to shoot now and delete later. That doesn't mean to go crazy and not be judicious but it does mean to err on the side of too many rather than too few photos.

Plenty of pictures that I have taken are objectively not that great, but that is not the point for me. If I see a really cool building that requires me to shoot into the sun to capture it I am still going to take the picture because I want to remember it. My travel pictures are a visual record of my memories on my trip, and while I want them to be the best I can make them I am not going to leave something out just because I can't make into an amazing shot. In my judgment all that it takes for a picture to be worthwhile is that it means something to me.

When you are traveling, keep in mind why you are taking pictures in the first place, give yourself permission to be okay if things aren't perfect and press the shutter button. You'll enjoy your vacation more and probably end up with photos that are more meaningful and representative of your experience.

Notes: The photo of me was taken by the fabulous Miss Trisha in Saipan, December 2008. Yes, it is true, I am indeed wearing sunglasses while taking a picture. We were on a fast moving boat and I didn't want to lose the shot so I just quickly grabbed my camera and snapped away. 

Cameras Past & Present

I've had some questions about my travel photographs so I thought I would start by sharing what camera equipment I use. Over the years I've used a variety of cameras that I've all really enjoyed and worked well for me.

Canon Rebel (Summer 1999 - Fall 2003)
When I finished undergrad I saved some of my summer internship money to buy myself a 35mm film Canon Rebel with a kit lens in the Summer of 1999. I loved that camera and toted it everywhere with me during grad school. This was the camera that I took on my first trip overseas. The only downside was that with all the pictures I took I was always lugging tons of film around with me. 

Canon Digital Rebel (Fall 2003 - Summer 2010)
After I finished grad school and started working I decided to use some of the money from my annual bonus to buy the original Digital Rebel in the Fall of 2003. Before the Digital Rebel there weren't really any options for an affordable digital SLR so I was pretty excited when it came out. Although I was a little sad to give up my film, pretty quickly I was in love with the flexibility that having a digital camera provided me. Initially I used the EF-S 18-55mm kit lens but then I upgraded to a bigger zoom lens a few years later which proved to be a nice multipurpose lens for me.

Sadly, my beloved camera finally died on me. I took it everywhere including a lot of humid locations. On my trip to Guatemala in 2010 the shutter button started acting funny and I had to press it really hard to take a picture. I was in some rain storms during that trip and when I returned home some of the switches on the back of the camera had stopped working. My Rebel served me well over the years and I took tens of thousands of pictures with it.  

Canon EOS 7D (Summer 2010 - present)
With my Rebel dead I needed to buy a new camera. Since I used my old camera for seven years I decided to get a camera that I really loved and could use for many years again. After investigating a lot of options I ended up splurging on a 7D.

While searching around for a good price I found it was offered among Adorama Camera's refurbished equipment. Adorama Camera is a well known company and its Canon refurbished products are refurbished by the manufacturer and come with a 1 year warranty. Combining that with the fact that buying it refurbished saved me a few hundred dollars I decided that was the way to go.

My 7D has been fabulous and I love the pictures that I can take with it. I also really enjoy being able to capture video with the camera. With my 7D I use a Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens. I find it is a great multipurpose lens to use while I am traveling. It gives me a lot of flexibility in one lens that enables me to pack light.

Canon Power Shot G12 (Summer 2011 - present)
Before heading on my trip to Southeast Asia for three weeks last summer I decided to get a point and shoot camera. After researching my options I decided to get a Powershot G12. I like to shoot in RAW which is supported by the G12 and it also gives me the flexibility to change the aperture and shutter speed which I like.

My 7D is my main camera but I love being able to slip my G12 into my pocket to take pictures when I am out with friends or at a restaurant. I also use it when I am in situations where flashing my SLR around isn't the smartest idea. For example if I am in a crowded market known for pickpockets then I keep my 7D packed away and use my G12 instead. It allows me to take nice pictures in situations where I might otherwise be a little uneasy with using my 7D. I also like having a small backup camera with me on my travels in case something happens to my 7D.

So what kind of camera do you use? What do you love about it? What would your ideal camera setup be?