Photograph by Tony Rogers

 

It was Mark Twain that said, “The thing about garrulous old people is that they come to a certain advanced age and then climb up on their soap box and tell the rest of us how they got  there!”

 

I plead guilty, but it is with the best of intentions!  Yesterday I turned 78, and it has me thinking…… so if you will give me a minute to crawl up on the soap box, I’ve got some things I want to share!

 

It seems to me that after almost 8 decades of living, I have come to some truths I want to share with you.  Accept them or reject them, at least give them some serious thought before you discard them.

 

5  Things You Need to Have a Meaningful Life:

 

1.   Faith in something bigger than yourself.  You don’t have to live very long to figure out that you don’t have much control or maybe even no control over the things that happen in this life.  If you can’t count on yourself, then who do you count on?  Sorry, but your friends and family are no better qualified to figure all this out than you are!  Face it, there is a God and He made you, loves you more than you could ever understand and cares about where your life here on earth is going!  Trust Him, He will never let you down.

     

 2.  The path to peace is forgiveness.  We’ve all been hurt by others and it is easy to hold on to the hurt and develop grudges and often, if left long enough, turns to bitterness and hate.  Hate does not only kill the one we hate, it kills us too. If you want to shed baggage that is hurting you and others, forgive them. 

 

3.  If you love yourself more than you love others you will never find joy.   Joy in life comes from the love of others.  Healthy self worth is good, consuming love of self is a fatal trap.  You can never truly be an advocate for others if you place your self interest above them.  When I was young and immature, when I met a better photographer than myself ,(which was often),  I was threatened by them and held it against them, over time I came to realize that other’s success did not subtract from mine and that I could be genuinely happy for them and their success.  Life became so much better when I let go of too much self love!

 

4.  One of the most endearing qualities you can have is being appreciative.  You should spend much of your day thanking God and others for their acts of kindness.  Few of us realize how many people have contributed to the lives we enjoy, thank them, they deserve it!  It will make their day…..and yours too!

 

5. To have a few real friends, be a good friend to them.  It is often said that in life we rarely have more than a few truly great friends, many acqaintances, but just a few real friends.  A real friend is a treasure to enjoy.  If you are lucky enough to have one, be a faithful friend to them.

 

Well, that’s about it for today, I hope these ideas connect with you and that they make your life better, that’s the only reason I do this!

 

Blessings,

 

 

the pilgrim 

 

 

 

 

 

Kirk and I are please to announce a new Maine Lighthouse Tour for Fall of 2024, check out his video to learn more!  Learn more with the links in this video!

 

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

A few months ago, I watched a Youtube video of a talk Scott Kelby made at a B&H event in New York.  He spoke on using the iPhone as your second camera and how well it had worked for him.  His images, the talk and the information were all excellent, which comes as no surprise!  Scott is one of the very best instructors in the business!  In fact I’m currently using my iPhone 12 Pro Max as my back up camera and he’s right it works fantastic!

 

This morning my wife asked if I would make a grocery shopping run, also called a good way to blow a couple of hundred bucks, but that’s another story.  I was happy to help my very hard working wife out and headed up to London to buy an index card’s worth of grocery items.  I took my iPhone in case she thought of something we had left off the list, a common occurrence.  It was very cold this morning and very overcast so I wasn’t really thinking about making images, but did see the painted wall above and made a mental note to stop and shoot it on the way home.  I shot it with my iPhone and while getting back in the car saw the image below of a water main cap, and shot it too!  It’s digital, after all, no added cost!   😉

 

 

I lay my iPhone on the passenger seat so if I see anything that requires quick action I can grab it!  A few hundred yards up the road at a stop light I saw this car with a guy and his dog, and his handicapped sticker created a cross between them!  I loved it and I was fortunate that the light stayed red long enough to get off a shot!

 

 

World class images?  No, but images I probably would not have made if getting out a camera bag,  putting a lens on and setting up my tripod had to be done and they would have never gotten made!

 

Found images are fun, and it’s easier to react to these kinds of situations if grabbing your phone is all the is required!  I honestly doubt if I had shot them with my X-T5, they would’ve been made, and if they could, would not have been any better!

 

There is something about owning a few bodies and hand full of lenses that makes you think otherwise, but we all have to remember that getting the shot is the most important thing, if you never make the shot, you’ll never have it!

 

So, I get it, this is one more tool in the kit that will help you sometimes, just get the shot!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

I love teaching photography and I love sharing the joy of the craft!  I am preparing lessons for an upcoming class I will hold in Corbin, January 20th.  In preparing the new lessons I reviewed a lot of my images made in the last 12 years with digital photography!  I wanted to do a sound synch with 30 of my favorite images both technically and aesthetically.  After picking 30 of my favorites I checked the exif data and was shocked to learn that all 30 had been made with cameras at least 10 years old and all with 16 mega pixels or less.  The vast majority were with the Fujifilm X-T1, a couple with the Fujifilm X-E1 and one with the X10.  I still have 2 X-T1s, and the X10, since I no longer have a X-Pro 1,  I  have substituted the X-Pro 2, (which has 24 mega pixels). All of these are big steps down from ,y current main camera the X-T5 with 40 mega pixels.)

 

One of my favorite quotes which I use a lot in my classes is from Rod Planck, who said “Technique beats equipment every time!”  I know that is true and since I have become enamored with the advancing technology in cameras, I have bought the latest and greatest ones over the past decade.  I believe after this shocking revelation of my favorite images that with great technique these 12 year old cameras can still perform admirably!

 

So For the first 6 months of 2024 I will do all my imaging with the three cameras above;  Fujifilm’s X-T1  (16 mega pixels), the X-Pro 2 ( 24 mega pixels) and the X10, my first fujifilm camera that has with 12 mega pixels.

 

I will post images I’m making, with technical details, over the 6 month period and we can judge together just how well they can perform!

 

The images below are some of the images that convinced me to do this project!

 

Shot with the X-E1 and the 18-55 lens.

 

Shoot with the X-T1 and the 60mm macro lens.

 

Shot with the X-T1 and the 18-135 lens.

 

Shot with the X-T1 hand held with the 55-200 lens and Nikon 5T diopter @ ISO 6400!

 

I can’t wait to see what can be done with this gear and strict use of great technique!  Please follow along for the fun!

 

Blessings,

 

 

the pilgrim