Erich's Photo and Travel

We really, really, really need to get a grip on our photography hobby.  Buy a camera, sell a camera to downsize then end up buying another one for travel or indoor or to "lighten the load".  The excuses go on and on.  We are both bad at this mind you.  Probably the best part is that we pay cash for the most part.  The items we sell are sold on eBay and I am getting pretty good at getting a fair price.  My seller rating is staying at 100% satisfaction.  That being said,  I will probably never buy anything on eBay.  I don't trust a lot of people.  Especially strangers.

Meet the new members of our photo equipment family:

Lumix DMC-LX100
My first and hopefully not one of many Lumix Cameras.  I bought this for low light photography during our trips to museums as well as our international travel for light (photo) flow days when I don't feel like lugging my Nikon Z-6 around.
Speaking of Nikon Z-6:

My first (and once again, hopefully not one of many) full frame cameras.
My a…

Wow, I am surprised to win another photo contest at Mike's Camera!

Michelle and I submitted some photos for this quarters photo contest and I received a call last week stating that I had one.  Well, it was really a bad connection and I couldn't tell if the lady said I won or Michelle one. I sent Michelle a text stating that she won but that was not the case.  She didn't even place in the top five.  I feel bad that I told her she won.  Michelle told her co-workers that she won too.  Ugh...

Well, on the bright side, Michelle took the exact same photo as mine so technically we both won.

The prize is a $50 gift card for Mike's Camera.  Mike's is our second home and Michelle has been eyeing a really nice tripod with a kick ass head.  I'll end up using the gift card for that purchase.

Here is the winning shot:

Winter Sucks!

Colorado is too damn brown in the winter.  Everything is brown, the trees are bare, the ground is frozen and there is a frozen dog shitsicle on my lawn.

Luckily we found a hiking area last weekend that was within an hour or so drive that we had not been to before.  Red Rock Canyon Open Space (RRCOS).

RRCOS was an old rock quarry that was turned into an open space for hiking once it had shut down.

Our hike started out as another Lee ND Filter Test but quickly turned into a hike as the area is not too picturesque due to all of the brown.

Don't get me wrong, we did take some pictures.  Just not a lot and not too many good ones.  Our hands were freezing and we failed to put on our  Yak Tracks strap-on shoe spikes (he said strap-on).

Finally stopped procrastinating and bought some Lee ND Filters.  Neutral Density (ND) Filters allow you to use longer shutter times on your camera.  Why would you want to do that you ask?  Well, have you ever seen a milky smooth waterfall or a landscape picture with ethereal  clouds?  Sure you have so basically you have a stupid question.

I will admit that Lee Filters are not cheap.  There are cheaper ND Filters out there but I rarely settle for subpar cameral equipment (aka crap).

The only bad thing at this present time is that it is winter which means no waterfalls or running rivers.  In addition, we are a land locked state so taking a long exposure at the beach is also out of the question.  Insert DAMN here.

To get a feel of our filters, we went to Roxborough and Golden Canyon State Parks for a test drive.

Here are the results:




Stay tuned for summer photos.  Coming this summer.

One good thing about macro photography is the fact that the cost is relatively inexpensive.  Let me elaborate here.  Yes, it can get expensive if you want to buy a good quality macro lens.  Shit, you are looking at good $600 to $900 macro (or micro in Nikon terminology).  However, macro photography can cool but I really don't do it that often.  My Nikon is definitely capable of producing great macro photographs but the photos in this blog post were created using my Lumix DMC-LX100 camera without a tripod.  A tripod is highly recommended though.
The inaugural task for the Lumix was shooting macro photos at the Denver Botanic Gardens.  Mind you, options are rather slim in December...