A couple of weeks ago I lost a very dear friend and brother, Gus Clouse.  I wrote a blog entry about how much I loved and appreciated him.  As loss always does, it has caused me to do a lot of soul searching.  It brought me to a troubling conclusion!  I’ve spent the better part of the last fifty + years traveling all over the world to make photographs of many subjects that for the most part that are, truthfully, fairly insignificant.  Yes they were beautiful and interesting, but, they did not matter to me near a much as my family and friends!  Above, top left Jim Haverstock and his late wife Sue, Jim Begley, bottom left to right, Carl Turner and his wife Monica and Jack Graham. I have well over 500 images of waterfalls but very few of these people!!!  I realized this when I tried to find images of Gus!  I have more images of Sherelene and my children and grandchildren, but I’m with them all the time, but then I’m with these people a lot too!!!

 

So what am I going to do?  I’m going to try to make more photographs of the people I love!  I’m sorry that I’ve dropped the ball of the ability God has given me, I need to use it to magnify Him and the ones I care so much about!  This group at the top are among my closest and most dear friends!  Jack Graham has been my teaching partner, friend  and brother and we’ve gone though lots of trials together, He’s a true friend!  Jim and Sue are two of the dearest friends I’ve ever had, and I really miss Sue, but she is with our Lord!  Jim is God’s guide to me in my spiritual life!  Jim Begley is not only a great photographer, but also a dear friends with whom I’ve shared many great adventures, he’s wonderful Christian man and friend!  Carl Turner is one of the most God loving men I now, he truly has God’s ear, when’s the chips are down he’s the one I pray is on his knees lifting me up to our God!  Monica is one of the most Holy Spirit driven Christians I’ve ever known!  These kinds of friends are priceless!  I don’t deserve them, but I’m thrilled to have them in my corner!  I love doing portraits of our students in the Missionary Baptist church in Cades Cove, one below, I promise to try to do better!

 

One of my favorite workshop guests!

 

I promise to work hard at it!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

It’s time to sell off some of my gear.  These are my least used lenses and a body.  All are in Mint condition or Mint-.  All but the X-T1 have lens hoods and the original box plus all caps.  I take great care of my gear and all of these are lightly used.  If you’re interested you can email me @:   [email protected]. First Come First Served.

 

 

Blesssings,

 

the pilgrim

 

 

 

I’m getting ready to share my thoughts on camera gear and I need to establish that I have enough experience to do so.  I watch tons of Youtube videos where photographers wax on about their thoughts on equipment and they show samples of their work, which makes their opinions seem a lot less reliable or trustworthy.  Don’t get me wrong many Youtubers are very fine shooters and I respect both them and their work, but frankly a lot more are not as impressive!  I’m not bragging or boasting, I just have spent a very, very long time learning a lot about the camera industry and their products.  Let me establish my credentials:

 

I bought my first serious camera in 1969, a Nikon Nikkormat FTN, that was 55 years ago!  Since then I have bought at least two of every succeeding model from Nikon; the Nikon F, F2, F3, F4, F5 and lastly I had a Nikon F6 while working for Nikon Professional Services.  I owned a number if the lesser models in their line as well!  In addition to all those bodies over the years I’ve owned almost 50 Nikon lenses and a few third party ones as well!

 

Somewhen around the F2 days I had a “Photographic Affair” with a pretty little Konica FS1 and some Hexagon lenses, but it as a very short fling and didn’t last! In 2011 I had rotator cuff surgery and during a long recovery I had my second affair!  Actually I was working for Nikon but the big full frame cameras and lenses were to difficult for me to deal with, I slipped off at photo show an saw the Fujifilm  X10, a very high quality, (poor man’s Leica), tiny rangefinder type camera.  I fell in love with the beautiful Fujinon lens, and the quality of work I was able to produce with a camera  that was easy too carry and hide, remember I was still a Nikon Rep!!!!!  That led to another full blown affair, but this time it stuck!  By the time I retired two years later, I owned, very privately, a couple of Fujifilm cameras, the XE-1 and the X-Pro 1 and a half dozen of their wonderful lenses.

 

That affair has lasted ever since and I still own a number of Fujifilm bodies and a lot of their excellent lenses!  I’ve owned every X-T model, X-T1 to XT-5, and have used the GFX System of Medium Format cameras as well.   My wondering eye has not settled down and I now , additionally, own an Olympus E OM-1 Mark III and a Panasonic Lumix GX85 plus 7 Panasonic and Olympus Micro 4/3rds lenses.  These do not replace my Fujifilm system, but they are an enjoyable system for when carrying the lightest gear possible while still being able to make images that meet my very high standards!

 

O.K. I’ve said all that to make some statements about camera gear that I believe, based on my many years of experience, to be true.  As always you are welcome to disagree if you so desire, as I said these are my opinions!  I would welcome your comments on any of the observations!

 

Sensor Size and Quality:  Generally speaking the bigger the sensor the higher the quality of the results. all things being equal, larger sensors allow larger pixel size which helps produce lower noise and better color fidelity.  However recent improvements in sensor designs and camera processing firmware have reduced, substantially, the advantages of the larger sensors.  If your goal is the absolutely highest quality, go bigger, if the size and weight of your system is critical, (if you are elderly or hike and climb in extreme conditions), the small loss in quality may not be an issue.  In the early days of digital photography, noise was a real issue at high ISO on smaller sensors, today things are much better plus new software that reduces noise almost eliminates that concern.  Still,  for extreme pixel peepers, bigger is still better!

 

  Fujifilm APS-C Sensor – 16 mega pixels

 

How many mega pixels is enough, is more always better?  Let me give a practice example.  I did a very deep dive into my files recently to pick out the images over the past several years that I thought were my best images, the sharpest, best color, the ones I was most proud of!  I selected 30 images, all digital files, sorry my old film stuff doesn’t hold a candle to these in technical terms!  After getting all of them into file folder I looked at the exif data for each, to my shock 28 of the 30 were with the ten year old Fujifilm X-T1, a ten year old, 16 mega pixel camera, 2 were with the old 12 megapixel X10, even older than the X-T1.  Not 1 was from my newest XT5 a 40 mega pixel camera!!!  My conclusion is simple while mega pixels are nice, they don’t have a lot to do with making wonderful images!

 

16 mega pixels

 

Camera brand is very important.  Nope, most of the major makers of cameras today all make models that are capable, in the right hands of making exceptional images!

 

 iPhone 12 Pro Max

 

You should always use lenses from your camera manufacturer, avoid third party lenses!  That would have been true 25 years ago, but not today, makers like Tamron and Sigma both make exceptional lenses, and a number of the up and coming Chinese companies have select models that are great bargains.  Always test a lens so you may return it if it Dows not meet your standards, but there is more good glass today than ever!

 

Mike Moats image shot with Tamron Macro lens!

 

Which is more important, technic or equipment?  Rod Planck said it best “Technique beats equipment every time!”  Using great technic will do the most to improve your work and learning to see and slow down will make you a much better photographer!

 

This image by Jack Graham is the result of perfect timing,  It was shot with modest equipment, but Jack knows what he is doing and it shows!!!!!!

 

If I could only have one lens, which focal length would it be?  A 35mm equiv. with good speed, either a f 1.4 or f 2 widest aperture.  It is the most versatile lens I own and can work for a lot of different situations!

 

The 35mm has a very normal perspective!

 

Well, hope you enjoyed that, and I hope you will mix it up with me in the comments sections!

 

Blessings,

 

 

the pilgrim

 

 

Amish families walking in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains N.P.

 

First Happy Fourth of July!   Now I’m about to really get in the weeds on a faith based topic.  If you are one of a few atheists or agnostics that come here for time to time, thank you, but you might want to walk away on this one.  It might trigger you and that is not my intention, I just want to give some thoughts to those that really want to do what the title says!  Please feel free to come back I value your readership, you’re always welcome!

 

O.K. serious questions deserve serious answers.  So here goes.  

 

1. Know your subject.  If you want to share meaningful things about our Lord and Savior, really get to know Him.  Read his word, pray and talk with Him, listen for His voice.  Ask Him to help you with your most difficult moments and your greatest victories too!  Never be afraid to ask Him, anything, after all, He willingly gave his life for you!  Ask him to use the Holy Spirit to guide you as you reach out to others in His name.
2. If you ask him, He will answer.  Whenever you ask for His help, you will hear from Him. He will make it very clear how to take whatever action you’ve asked him about.  Now comes the hard part, Obey Him.  When you know in your heart the directions He has given you are truly from Him, do them without fear.  If He sends you, He will equip you and give you everything you need to complete His task, after all it’s not you. Christ is doing the mission, it is Him, you are His agent earth. Trust that no matter how you think things went, He is in control and He will bring the result He desires.  In other words when we are obedient, we have not failed, and never will!
3. Always remember that this life is not about you!  To follow Christ we must use His walk on earth as an example.  He was always concerned about others, he was looking outward, not inward.  The world tells us that we are number 1 and that we have to take care of ourselves, trust that to Christ, who never fails, and the world always fails.  If He loved you enough to die for you, don’t you think He will watch over you, His precious child.
4. Forgive everyone that has ever hurt you or mistreated you.  This is a tough one, but oh so necessary!  The biggest wall that stands between us and a deep abiding relationship with Jesus is our unforgiveness, of others and ourselves.  When we forgive others it opens the door to more joy and peace than you’ve ever known and it draws you even closer to your Heavenly Father.
5. When you have great victories, and you will when you start truly serving Him,  ALWAYS give the Praise and Honor to Him.  It’s far more satisfying than trying to take credit for yourself, please believe me on this one!
6. Treasure and love your family and friends, bothers and sisters in Christ.  The greatest joy in life will be those wonderful relationships that will continue on in heaven for Eternity!  These are some of God’s greatest gifts to you, honor and treasure them!

Forgive me for preaching to the choir, I know than many of you are already doing this every day, but if you haven’t yet, start today to have the best life of service you could ever hope for!  Thank you for letting me share what’s on my heart, after all, God gave me this assignment!

 

 

Blessings,

 

 

the pilgrim