Monthly Archives: January 2019

5 years, 2 months ago 5
Posted in: Uncategorized

This weekend I will be attending and speaking at the Southeastern Photojournalism Conference in Nashville, TN.  I’m always thrilled to attend this conference and this year I get to be a part of something very special  a Lifttime Achievement Award for Dr. Charles Stanley!  We will also be    joined by Ricky Skaggs who will also make a presentation!!!

 

I will share images and news from the conference over the weekend!

 

What a blessing,

 

the pilgrim

5 years, 2 months ago 10
Posted in: Uncategorized

 

Boy, did I get emails!!!!!  Fair enough, let me address them.  Am I a member of the bag of the month club?  You bet, in good standing too!  I thought you used a rolling bag, do you?  Yes, when I travel by air and have to walk through airports, you bet, a rolling bag is the easiest to mange. What are the Donke bags for?  Glad you asked.  I love the Jim Domke inspired canvas bags, they are such a part of my heritage as a shooter.  When I was a photojournalist, long long ago in a galaxy far far away, I used the famous Domke F-2 bag to carry two Nikons and four lenses, almost everybody did.  It was actually the official bag of the White House Press Photographers Association, of which I was once a member!  That bag is still a mainstay for photojournlists using mostly Nikons and Canons, (translation big bulky DSLRs and lenses).

 

When I went to the Fujifilm X System (mirrorless) I need smaller bags with smaller compartments to match my new lighter and smaller system.  I was thrilled that some of Jim Domke’s smaller bags were a perfect fit!

 

Why a three bag system.  Let’s clear this up, when I travel in my SUV which is by far, by way far, my favorite way to travel.  I prefer smaller bags that I can actually carry if I need to.  These Domke bags are perfect and I have broken them into three catagories;

 

Domke F-6   Field Work Bag   (Range 15mm – 200)

Most coverage regardless of  bulk and weight.

 

X-H1 body

X-T3 or X-T2 body

10-24 f 4

18-135 f 3.5-5.6

16mm f 1.4

60mm f 2.4 Macro & Ext tubes

 

 

 

Domke F-5XB   People/Speed Bag   (Range 35mm – 85)

Avaialble light, people and low light work.

 

X-Pro 2 Body

23mm f 2

56mm f 1.2

 

 

 

 

Domke F-803   Travel  Bag   (Range 27mm – 300)

Most coverage at the least bulk and weight. Small and portable.

 

X-H1 or X-T3

27mm f 2.8

18-55  f 2.8-4

50mm f 2

55-200 f 3.5-4.8

 

By having these “systems” pre-packed I can grab the one that suites where I’m going and packed with what I know I will need.  Of coure any of this can be altered if the assignment, most of mine now are self assignments,  changes.

 

I still using rolling cases for air travel, and I still have special bags when the need arises, too many in fact, but this is a system that I think will work for me!

 

What about the beloved 100-400  It in a very nice padded Think Tank lens case all to itself, and it will always be be in the SUV with me!

 

Food for thought, please chime in your ideas, thoughts and questions!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

5 years, 2 months ago 11
Posted in: Uncategorized

 

 

I love collaborations!  Domke and Fujifilm have teamed up to release a few camera bags celebrating the X-Series of cameras and lenses. When the X-H1 was released they offered a Domke F-803 Messenger bag with leather accents devoted to Fujifilm!  I missed the chance to get one but my fairy godmother at Fujifilm was able to locate one for me!  Thanks so much, my friend!!!!

 

My relationship with Domke goes all the way back to when Jim Domke, a former Philadelphia Enquirer photographer acquaintance of mine had a camera bag made for his needs.  Other photojournalists saw it and clamored for him to make them one too.  The rest is history, the Domke bags, (there are many models now), are treasured by working photojournalists across the globe.

 

This is a beautiful sand colored, waxed canvas bag that should hold up to long hard use. It will be perfect for trips that I don’t want to carry a lot of gear but “just enough”!  Strangely after all these years my most used lenses for this kind of trip are still my 18-55 and the 55-200, both compact, cover a great range and are tack, tack sharp.  I’ve added the 50mm f 2 Fujicron, (X-users slang, not an official Fujifilm term!) which has become one of my favorite compact lenses!  The X-T3 is, now,  my go to body and it is at the zenith of the X bodies!

 

The Domke bag has beautiful leather accents on the interior flaps and a leather I.D. holder plus a good sturdy, slip proof, strap the goes all the way around the bag! That’s the way all bags should be made!

 

 

 

 

Loaded up with the gear mentioned above plus 4 extra batteries, a charger, filters (polarizers & closeup diopters for the 50mm), and lens wipes weighs in at 8 lbs.  Just right for walking around!

 

 

 

 

This bag is still available on Amazon for $199. which, in my opinion, is a great deal for a bag of this quality and utility. I will be using this bag on my trip to Nashville for Southeastern Photojournalism Conference and to Old Car City for a X-T3 sample shoot!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

5 years, 2 months ago 8
Posted in: Uncategorized

 

In my days as a Nikon NPS rep I called on the Orlando Sentinel and met a great columnist named Charley Reese.  This was his last column as he retired recently.  This is a must read!

 

READ, WEEP, PRINT AND KEEP!

 

This should be on the front page of every newspaper.

 


Charley Reese’s Final column!

 

A very interesting column. COMPLETELY NEUTRAL.
Be sure to Read the Poem at the end..

 

Charley Reese’s final column for the Orlando Sentinel… He has been a journalist for 49 years. He is retiring and this is HIS LAST COLUMN.

 

Be sure to read the Tax List at the end.

 

This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be. The article below is completely neutral, neither anti-republican or democrat. Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day. It’s a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!

 

545 vs. 300,000,000 People
-By Charlie Reese

 

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

 

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

 

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

 

You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does.

 

You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

 

You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.

 

You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.

 

You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

 

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

 

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

 

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

 

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

 

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.. ( The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.)

 

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. ) If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to. [The House has passed a budget but the Senate has not approved a budget in over three years. The President’s proposed budgets have gotten almost unanimous rejections in the Senate in that time. ]

 

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

 

If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.

 

If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.

 

If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it’s because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan

..

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.

 

There are no insoluble government problems.

 

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

 


Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

 

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power.

 

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees… We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

 

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

 

What you do with this article now that you have read it… is up to you.


This might be funny if it weren’t so true.

 

We, the 300,000,000, are responsible for fixing this, please start the process and spread the word!

…..and happy retirement Charley, you left us with a real gift in this one!!!!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

PS I was alerted to this by my dear buddy Richard Small!  Thanks Richard always enjoy your great emails!!!