The old School House at Cumberland Gap National Historic Park.

 

I have always loved this shot, it was made with an old Nikon and the 18mm lens.  I love it because it brings back to my memory the last school room I taught in in the early 70’s, the last school room in the state of Kentucky to be heated by a pot belly stove just like the one in this picture! I remember how much fun it was to see those 6th graders learn and get better prepared for life!  That was the last time that what I taught had such an important impact on people’s lives.

 

Almost all my teaching since then has been helping people learn how to be a better photographer!  While that has been rewarding too, it has not been as impactful as what those 6th graders learned!  It is satisfying to see my new students benefit from what I and my fellow instructors are able to share!

 

My current student is Dr. Tony Rogers, my heart surgeon from last year!  I met Tony in the pre-surgery meeting and we have become great friends ever since.  Now that he has retired, he has had time to work on his photography skills!  Tony just did his first week long photo trip to Maine, on his own,  and I’m thrilled with his images.  It is very rewarding to see his great progress in such a short time!  Please allow me to share some of my favorites of his, with you.

 

 

So there you go!  I’m thrilled with Tony’s vision and his skill to bring it all together!  Maybe the joy of seeing people develop new skills is important?  I’m happy that God has given me something I can share!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love October…..football, fall color, cooler temperatures, it’s all great!  Well most of it!  I’m a fan of so much of fall, but not a big fan of Halloween though.  Kids dressing up for trick or treat is fine, a few pumpkins and fall wreaths on the doors, that’s all good, but these demonic decorations, no so much!  I get it, most people don’t mean it the way it appears, but come on folks, some of these decorations while clever and interesting, even give me the heebee jeebies!  Here are some examples from my sub division.

 

 

 

This last one is more my speed!  After all how can you go wrong with Buc-ee from Buc-ees!!!!

 

OK, that’s enough!  I hope your fall its going great, and watch out for scary clowns and skeletons!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

 

The last couple of months have been challenging, four weeks of fighting pneumonia, four weeks of physical therapy for back issues, stenosis, and general recovery from all the above.  Getting old stuff!  I’m better and did manage to make a trip, the first week of October, to the UP of Michigan with, a dozen friends, to shoot the fall color! This year’s color was wonderful and so was the fellowship with great brothers, sisters and friends!  I was a little rusty, but I wanted too share some off my better images with all of you!

 

Some of our group working the color!

 

Tony Rogers

 

Hoper you enjoyed these!

 

Blessings,

 

 

the pilgrim

 

 

 

After all my heart issues in May of 2023 I’ve been working hard to regain what I lost because of all of that.  As the old saying goes “Dying really takes it out of you!”  Having coded twice on Mother’s Day of last year it really has been a slog to get back!  I’m happily back to where I can use my preferred and heavier system for my serous work again!  I enjoy the Micro 4/3rds gear but still prefer the APSC sensors in my Fujifilm cameras!  Plus you just can’t beat the Fujifilm color science with any system other than Fujifilm!

 

The photo above is my new attempt to meet my field work needs and stay under my self imposed 10 lb. limit on the bag and contents!  The key is to have a good enough spread of focal lengths, in the fewest lenses.  I will carry a back-up body in a safe place just in case anything goes down, but honestly in 54 years of doing this I’ve never had a body die on me, except for the one I dropped out of a canoe into a river!

 

I will make two adjustments depending on the kind of trip I’m on;  The constants are the Fujifilm X-T5 body, the 10-24 wide angle zoom and the 70-300 long zoom and the TC-14 teleconverter.  On some trips I will change out the 16-80 for the 18-135 and the 50mm f 2 for the 60mm f 2.5 Macro, also depending on subject matter, I may leave out the 16mm f 1.4!  Either way I’m covered from 15mm to 630mm!

 

I’m thankful to be feeling so much better and ready to get back in the field soon to continue what I’ve loved for half a century, shooting God’s Glorious creation!

 

Blessings,

 

 

the pilgrim