1500 Days to Freedom

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Thursday Anti-Rant: Show me the World

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I’m way too negative. My Thursday Rants are a symptom of this. Lately, I’ve been trying hard to be positive. I find that 90% of the time when I worry about something, it turns out just fine.

So today, I take a positive diversion from my ranting. I hope you enjoy it.

My goal
My goal

I’m a really frugal guy. I’m not opposed to the occasional dumpster dive and I love shopping at the thrift store (I know, cue that song). A couple of my favorite shirts came from the Goodwill. However, there are two things that I’m not afraid to spend money on, beer and travel. Life is too short to drink cheap, thin beer. I also want to see the world. This post is about the latter.

Growing up, we hardly ever left our home state of Illinois. Sometimes, we made it up to Wisconsin and that was quite a treat. However, even as a young kid, I wanted more. I’d open encyclopedias and gaze at pictures of far away places. I must see this some day!

When I began my first real job, I started traveling and haven’t let up since. There is so much to see; so many people to meet. The world is filled with beauty and wonder. I know I won’t be able to see it all, but I’m going to do my best to experience as much as I can before my body hangs up the Closed sign.

I also like to take pictures. I’m not a great photographer and don’t have great equipment yet, but if you take thousands and thousands of picures, a few are bound to turn out good. Before I show you my pictures, here are 4 simple tips that improved my photography greatly. While these seem obvious to me now, they weren’t when I first heard them:

  • In most pictures, the sun should be at the photographer’s back. Exceptions are sunrises and sunsets.

    Fill the frame!
  • Fill the frame! Whatever you’re taking a picture of should take up most of the frame. It drives me nuts when I see pictures where the people or animal are little specks in the distance. Unless you’re taking pictures of mountain lions, skunks or your mother in law, get close to your subject.
  • Take pictures durng the golden hours; the hour after the sun comes up and the hour before it goes to sleep. Pictures taken during this time are magnitudes better than pictures taken at other times.
  • Have a camera with you at all times. You never know what you’re going to see…

Now, I’d like to share some pictures from some of my adventures.

When we lived in Madison, the sky did this after a huge storm. Never seen anything like it before and probably never will again.
When we lived in Madison, the sky did this after a huge storm. Never seen anything like it before and probably never will again.

P1040001

Cocoa Beach
Cocoa Beach: I love what the wind did with her hair. Please ignore the trash and butts in the background.
Waimea Canyon
Waimea Canyon
This is what the golden hour will do for you.
This is what the golden hour will do for you.
Florida Keys
Florida Keys
Little-Sister
This isn’t a travel picture, but one I took while goofing around with the younger daughter. While it wasn’t planned at all, it is one of my favorites.
Maui
Maui

Do you like to travel? Do you like to take pictures? Where should we go on our next vacation? How can I improve my photography?

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Comments

  1. Beautiful pictures! My husband and my dad are both into photography, and from what they say I think you’ve already discovered the key to continuing to take great shots – never stop clicking that shutter. Keep practicing, keep playing around, and once you’ve taken a thousand pictures you might have one that’s fantastic. People are always amazed when they say stuff like “I took 500 pictures at the party,” but they do that so they might get 10 good ones. And it’s so awesome that dSLRs make great photography possible – imagine having to try and develop all that film! But again, I think your pictures are wonderful, and hope you share some more with us in the future! 🙂
    Kali @CommonSenseMillennial recently posted…What NPR’s Pledge Drive Can Teach Us About Increasing IncomeMy Profile

    • Thanks Kali! I could learn a thing or two from you.

      “People are always amazed when they say stuff like “I took 500 pictures at the party,” but they do that so they might get 10 good ones.”

      Digital photography is just a spectacular invention. I remember the old days. Take 24 pictures. Drop the roll off somewhere. Get them back and they all stink. Arrrrgh!!

      Amazingly, I still know someone who refuses to switch from film! I want to yell every time she brings it up!!

  2. I actually don’t think there’s anything really negative about ranting unless you sound pissed off about whatever your subject matter is. Most of the time, we can just jab at people or things that seem ridiculous to us. It just reinforces our common values.

    Another photography tip: Overcast provides optimal lighting for taking portraits.
    Johnny Moneyseed recently posted…Case Study #1 – Operation: PMI EliminationMy Profile

    • Thanks Johnny. Perhaps I perceive myself to be more negative than I think I am.

      Great tip as well. Shooting with full sun isn’t fun.

  3. Those are some awesome pics! I’m no photographer, but my sister runs her own photography business. One of the things my IT background has helped her with is the editing side of things. Using some of the modern versions of Photoshop (I have CS5.5) I can totally remove random items from the photo and it blends together like it was never there. For example, I could remove the cup from the beach and the sand would look like there was never a cup there. Crop out the people at the top and voila! It makes almost-perfect photos perfect.

    Thanks for sharing a positive rant!
    FI Pilgrim recently posted…What’s Your Favorite Halloween Candy?My Profile

    • You can do that pretty easily in lightroom 5 as well for a lot less money 🙂 Adobe finally added it to the latest version.

      • Thank you for the compliments and suggestion. I don’t do a lot with editing yet. All of the pictures in this post were untouched.

  4. We travel a lot. We try to go somewhere international each year. Of course that is going to get a little hard since we will have to start paying for our little guy’s plane tickets after June 3.

    Just learn to use your camera. If you have a DSLR there is a good chance there are youtube videos to show you better techniques. Or you could go old school and take a class or three. The camera shops around here off them all the time. Like Kali said above, DSLRs have made it so you can be a volume shooter and then just post the great pictures and not the crappy ones. I do this all the time with the amateur sports I shoot around town.

    • Ahh, I remember the day when our kids turned 2 as well. After that, we started taking a lot more roadtrips.

      “Just learn to use your camera.”

      This is a great suggestion. Even with a little $200 point and shoot, there are a lot of things you can do. I like to grab a tripod and fool around with the exposure setting for night shots.

  5. Nice pictures! Portrait photography is one of my side jobs, so it is always fun to talk about 🙂 Couple thoughts based on your article and reader comments.

    1) Filling the frame is a good rule of thumb, that touches on the key point of focusing on the subject or story your picture is trying to convey. You usually can’t tell the story about a bird if it is a tiny bit of the picture (unless your story is the greatness of something else compared to the subject). If there was one thing I advise “new” photographers to do is to play around with cropping of pictures to experiment with different ways to “tell the story”

    2) Lighting is really really really important. Johnny is close that overcast can be better than direct lighting (as it is much more diffuse), but evening or reflected light is almost always better than overcast. Golden hour rule is pretty much to get a good balance between diffused light you can to avoid harsher contrasts but enough to create some contrast. Not home so don’t have my library on me, but i could easily show you a big difference between a good picture in overcast sky and a great picture with evening light that has softer edges but still has much better contrast. Most of my cloudy day pictures of people look much flatter then i would like.

    3) Shooting RAW and having a quality software program to edit in has made a huge difference for me. I use adobe lightroom which is far cheaper than photoshop and can be purchased as a standalone program (at least this iteration – i think it retails for $130). Workflow or going through tons of pictures, having auto presets that i can build, auto lens distortion correction, intelligent auto fill brushes, etc. . in addition to the added dynamic range and ability to correct white balance you get from RAW pictures is pretty great.

    Couple suggestions for your pictures (not sure on the gear you have which determines your options), but I will offer these anyway.

    1) play around with a circular polarizing filter on outdoor pictures. This (along with potentially a high stop neutral density filter) are the two main filters that you can’t accomplish via digital editing and can help you great a huge increase in the wow factor of outdoor pictures (particularly anything with sky in it).

    2) start trying various depth of field and angle of view settings to isolate subjects (ie blur our the background). Looks like most of your pictures are with a smaller sensor camera (which has really high depth of field), hence why your “fill the frame” works better then trying to control the aperture. larger sensor cameras make it much easier to create a shallow focal area which greatly enhances to focus on the subject (it makes it a whole lot harder to focus correctly though and you end up with a lot more out of focus pictures). Another trick you can do though is to move back and zoom in on the subject (creating a narrower field of view behind the subject). This is only going to work outdoors with a point and shoot camera though as their light gathering ability isn’t strong enough to work indoors.

    3) Play around with as many manual options as you have available on your camera (particular the exposure and shutter speeds if available). Try some extended exposure pictures or under/over exposures for effects 🙂

    4) software upgrades – at least check out the 30 day free trial of lightroom. I know i am advising on spending money, but it really made a huge difference for me both time and quality. if you are just doing a picture here or there GIMP works well especially if you add some of the better plugins (UFRAW, G’MIC (noise reduction and good filters), Vignette , Lomo, National Geographic , Split Tone, etc. . ). I primarily use lightroom, but my wife uses Picasa for basic non destructive crops and edits as it is easier for her and better integrated into our Google account.

    Maybe if i get a chance i will shoot you some of my fun pictures. But in any case keep up with the photography and having fun with it 🙂 If you ever need advise on digitizing old family pictures I have spent a significant amount of time doing that as well (20000+ slides and negatives) so have some experience there as well.

    • Great tips Lucas! Now I have another item to add when I retire!

      Seriously though, I really appreciate all of the tips.

  6. Traveling is my favorite thing. I credit my Dad for instilling the bug when my sister and I were kids. He dreamed of traveling as a kid too, so he pursued a job that would allow him to explore the world. I’m so fortunate to have benefited from his massive frequent flyer mile account and wanderlust spirit.

    Your “that song” comment made me chuckle. Shocked and awed you heard it months after it became a chart topper.
    Broke Millennial recently posted…Using Halloween to Teach about Taxes (aka Candy Tax)My Profile

  7. We didn’t travel as a kid. The farthest away we went was to Houston, five hours away from where we lived, & Dallas, three hours away from our small town. I want to travel as an adult. It was one of my goals growing up. I would grow up and travel the world. I have 2 more vacations planned for this year, then next year I have a list of places we’re going to hit up. Traveling is going to be on my yearly goals. I love it. It provides me a different perspective and it allows me to get away from grown up life.
    SavvyFinancialLatina recently posted…Back from Monterrey, MexicoMy Profile

    • Dunno about you, but I can’t sit still. Travel is one of the great pleasures in life if you ask me.

  8. I love to travel, although my parents did as well, just within the US . My mom never went overseas until I took her on a European tour when she was 65. We lived on the border with Mexico, so we were constantly traveling across the border, and we were always on road trips it seemed. I got to see a good bit of this country from the over-cab bed in a motorhome my dad drove. I wouldn’t mind owning/renting an RV and taking our family around the country 🙂
    Mom @ Three is Plenty recently posted…More decluttering, donating, and sellingMy Profile

    • “I got to see a good bit of this country from the over-cab bed in a motorhome my dad drove.”

      That makes for a pretty cool image in my mind’s eye.

      “I wouldn’t mind owning/renting an RV and taking our family around the country.”

      YES! How cool would that be? When our girls are out of school one summer, I’d like to hit the road and not come back until the end of August.

  9. Traveling is one of my bigger goals. I didn’t travel much as a child; there’s only about two vacations I took with my parents that really stand out. One to Disney and one to Niagara Falls. I’d love to see more of the US and go overseas.

    I like taking pictures, but sadly I’ve resorted to using my phone most of the time. My dad got me a nice camera years ago when I mentioned I wanted to get more into photography, but I never found the time. Poor excuse. My dad really liked photography when he was younger and his pictures were hanging from several places in the house. It’s a hobby that warrants more exploration and learning. Thanks for sharing your pictures – they’re lovely!
    E.M. recently posted…Moving On from A JobMy Profile

    • You know what though, phone cameras are getting better and better. And this could be my 5th photography tip. The person operating the camera is much more important than the camera itself…

      • Phone cameras are getting better and better, but the laws of physics haven’t changed, so there will always be some serious limitations on what you can do in that form factor. You can not create a shallow depth of field with a small sensor and small lens – there is no way to do it. There is a reason that you can still use SLR camera lenses from 50 years ago (with the right connection adapters) because the physics is still the same. Hence the advice to invest in lenses because the camera bodies change but the lenses are pretty much constant.

  10. I used to fool around with my old Nikon FM2 and found “F8 and be there” to be helpful advice. I’d fool around with the knobs too much and miss out on shots, or simply just not get out there enough with my camera to take shots. If I carried it around, actually got out of the house (or, traveled like you recommend), and just snap with an F8 aperture, it keeps things simple and I don’t have to mess with being super accurate with focus.

    Great shots, too. I like the shot of Mt. Rushmore a lot.
    Done by Forty recently posted…Net Worth, No Auto October, and No Ad NovemberMy Profile

    • “I would love to be a travel photopraher!”

      I know, how friggin’ cool would that be? I’d give parts of my body (not saying which ones) to be able to work for National Geographic!

    • Thank you for the kind comments about the daughters and also the rants! I just think I’m too negative. Maybe the rants aren’t as bad as I think they are…

  13. I was really hoping this was going to be a post about good beer. Oh well, maybe another day. Those pictures I really beautiful. That’s at least the one bonus with having a smart phone. It might not be the greatest camera, but you have a camera with you at all times. I actually plan on bringing it with me when I run the marathon in Birmingham. There are always interesting things to see over a marathon and I want to get some of them on film..er hard drive.
    Micro recently posted…How credit cards workMy Profile

    • Ha, I promise one on that in the near future. I’m in Colorado and people here are nuts for beer. We have 4 microbreweries and more opening soon just in my little town.

      Smart phone cameras are getting better all the time. I still like the photos that my old-ass iPhone 4 takes. I can only imagine how good the 5S is.

      Best of luck with your marathon!

    • If you just want to get into SLRs my advice would be to pick a major brand (canon/nikon), get their entry level SLR($300-400) and the 50mm f1.8 lens ($100) that goes with it. The lens is actually the most important part.

      Canon Rebel T3, or Nikon D3100 would both be great starters. The 50mm lens though is a must. None of the kit zoom lenses that go with these cameras are that great and the 50mm 1.8 lens has been a timeless staple of great photography for 50 years, and is a real steal for the price. Yes it isn’t a zoom lens which people get “annoyed with” but zoom lenses have to make major quality tradeoffs vs fixed focal prime lenses which can optimize for a given setting.

      I personally have a Pentax k5, Pentax 50mm f1.4, Tamron 70-200 f2.8, Pentax 16-50mm f2.8. I went with Pentax because of the in-body image stabilization (vs in lens), but if i had to pick again starting over i would probably go canon or nikon at this point (even though the K5 is a great camera).

      • Lucas, thanks again, you are a wealth of knowledge.

        I’ve been eyeballing some of the 4/3 (mirrorless?) cameras. Any thoughts on that format?

        • http://www.dpreview.com is a great sight for all questions photography related. Here is a great link on discussing the mirrorless camera format:
          http://www.dpreview.com/articles/0344780582/mirrorless-camera-buying-guide

          They are getting much better than when they first came out, so i would say they are definitely an option. Biggest issues are still :
          1) focus on moving subjects
          2) worse low light performance on smaller sensor and focus in low light
          3) larger depth of field then larger sensor
          4) less progression path with equipment if you ever want to get more serious about it.

          If these are ok with you then the advantages of smaller size/weight/cost combined with constant live view vs viewfinder might work great. They also tent to be a little more seamless with video usage vs traditional SLRs. For a professional the mirrorless format doesn’t make any sense (at least at this point in time).

          4/3rd system is interesting as well. Although at this point i feel more limited again by the sensor size and would rather go from a DSRL to a full frame DSLR with an even larger image sensor (something you can do if you go with Canon/Nikon/Sony (i think) but not pentax/olympus/panasonic.

          In general dpreview has great camera reviews and their lens profile reviews are a great help for me as well in understanding how to achieve the sharpness that i want out of my pictures. check out something like this and play around with the aperture settings and focal distances:

          http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/widget/Fullscreen.ashx?reviews=36,51&fullscreen=true&av=1,1&fl=50,55&vis=VisualiserSharpnessMTF,VisualiserSharpnessMTF&stack=horizontal&&config=/lensreviews/widget/LensReviewConfiguration.xml%3F4

        • Thought a little bit more about my response. I guess the main reason i don’t see a place for mirrorless at the moment is that it doesn’t solve the main problem with a DSLR which is that you can’t fit it in your pocket so you don’t always have it readily available. I definitely see a place for any camera that you readily have with you (cell phone or point and shoot that fits in a pocket), and a higher quality camera that you take with you when you want to. But to go half way in between with quality but not solve the key problem of portability doesn’t make a ton of sense to me.

          Then again they are obviously selling 🙂 so i could be totally wrong on this.

    • Hi DB- Oh, Oktoberfest in Munich WILL happen. Dunno when, but it will.

      Portland is also an awesome place to sample some fine brews…

  16. There was 3 things in this 1 post that resonated with me;

    1) 90% of the time when I am anxious about something it turns out fine.
    I constantly tell myself to not assume. Not sure if it is nerves or some low form of paranoia. This is where most of my misery comes from, and it felt really good admitting it. Thanks.

    2) Why drink cheap beer?
    In the last year I stopped buying dirty 30’s of Busch Light and started buying local beers. I figure I can spend 60% more since I drink 90% less than I used to.

    3) Fill up the picture.
    I am “the guy” that points and shoots with the camera. I never even had tried to hear any photography rules. These all make perfect sense to me. I just had twin girls and I have a 3 year old, so I am going to have to start being on camera duty a lot more.

    Great pics btw. I especially love the cutie in the Hello Kitty taking up the whole shot. Adorable!
    Brian recently posted…Treat Life Like A GameMy Profile

    • Hi Brian-

      #1: glad I could help! I worry about nonsense all the time. Thinking back, I can’t remember one instance where the worse case scenario actually happened. Worrying is a waste of time.

      #2: Busch Light, ha! Yes, in this case (get it, case?), less is more. I like to savor a couple good beers on Friday or Saturday. The older I get, the more finicky I get. This is a good thing though.

      3) I hope my tips help. One of my friends always insists on having the best of everything including cameras. Good equipment certainly helps, but it’s much better to focus (there I go again) on the fundamentals. Once you have those down, you have my permission to spend $800 on a camera.

      Thanks for the kind compliments!

  17. You are hysterical. I’m glad you’re not giving up the blog. The pictures are great, too (ignoring butts and trash).

  18. That’s my boy! Travel and beer – and in combination, they are impossible to beat.
    We love to travel and we are finally in position to take this desire seriously. We love to take pictures, but cannot help you take better ones. Yours are fab, man. Big Bend National Park is a real boss, 1500. The Hoombahs think the 1500s would love the hiking and the sites. Marathon is a funky little town in which one can stay on the way in or out too.
    cj recently posted…How and When to Speak to a SquirrelMy Profile

    • Oh man, I’ve been wanting to go to Big Bend forever! You are correct; we would totally dig the hiking. I seem to remember that there is an observatory near there as well (MacDonald?). I’ll bet the sky looks pretty awesome at night. Someday soon…

  19. I adore travel and taking pictures. When I’m feeling down, I’ll just flip through one of my albums of amazing adventures. I’m gonna have to recommend an Asian destination. I spent 7 months traveling China, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore with work and to this day it remains the most amazing experience of my life. Once you get over there, everything is super cheap! (except Singapore)
    Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life recently posted…Part Time Work and Unemployment. Is it Worth It?My Profile

    • Thank you! I still can’t believe the first one. I don’t use filters or touch up photos. That is what it looked like!

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