Santa Monica Pier

After we settled in to our hotel room yesterday afternoon, Theresa and I ventured out for a walk. We were just minutes from the Santa Monica Pier, so we headed west.

November is a great time of year in Southern California, especially on the coast. The sky is blue and the air is clear (at least by S. Cal standards). The late afternoon sun cast a warm glow on the buildings around us.

I packed the Sigma DP2 Merrill compact camera in my Walking Man Shoulder Bag, plus a windbreaker. The jacket didn't stay in the bag long... as soon as we hit the beach I needed it.

After a bit of exploration, the sun began to set. Theresa and I were heading to the Del Frisco Grille for a cocktail and flatbread with roasted tomato. The sky was lighting up behind us. I noticed that the ferris wheel on the pier had its lights on. I knew there was a good shot there somewhere.

"Do you want to go back and take a picture?" she asked.

"No. I'm good."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

We crossed Ocean Street and seated ourselves at a wonderful table facing the sunset. Our cocktails tasted so good, and the warm flatbread was the perfect compliment. We stayed longer than we had planned, in part because we were enjoying the moment so much. It's already a great memory.

I definitely made the right decision.

-Derrick

Road Trip

My family is spread over Southern California. I'm the only one who lives in the northern part of the state. So at least once a year we pack up the car and pilgrimage south for a visit with the clan.

That's right, the family road trip.

Normally on these adventures, I don't get to engage in much photography beyond snapshots.  Except when we're actually on the road.  

My good news is that Theresa loves to be behind the wheel. Fine with me. I get to play navigator/window seat photographer.

I'm the shutterbug version of a dog riding shotgun: head out the window with a big smile on my face and a camera in my hand. If it's cold, I have to shoot through the glass. (An ardent request from the backseat inhabitants.) That's OK, I clean my window before we leave. This is much better than those messy airplane portholes that are rarely up to my optical standards.

Road trips are my opportunities to play with new cameras I'm testing, try out those built-in creative filters that never seem appropriate during "serious" photography, and experiment with slow shutter speeds and special effects. The longer the trip, the wilder I get.

In my opinion, if you always insist on driving during family vacations, you're missing out. Let someone else be in charge. Riding shotgun with a camera case at your feet is where the real action is.

-Derrick

I Hate Checking My Bag

I met my friend Mikkel Aaland last night at Oracle Arena for a Warriors game. We hadn't seen each other for a while, so I thought a rendezvous in Oakland would work out great. And it did.

Mikkel lives in San Francisco. So he took the BART train to the Arena. I drove down from Santa Rosa. We met in the Budweiser Club for a drink before the game.

I had my Walking Man Shoulder Bag with an iPad mini (the new one!), Canon PowerShot N, a few personal items, and a Stephen Curry bobble head that we each received on entrance to the arena. Everything fit great in my shoulder bag.

I was reading the SF Chronicle on the iPad when Mikkel arrived. He didn't have anything on him. Just his iPhone. I later learned that his backpack with Nikon and lenses had to be checked by Security. It was too big to be allowed in the arena.

I was able to keep my shoulder bag on me the entire evening because it was so light and was never in the way. Even when I was in my seat during the game it rested nicely on my lap.

We had a great evening, even though the Warriors lost in overtime. As we parted to separate exits, I couldn't help wondering if Mikkel would remember to get his bag on the way out. And if so, were the contents intact?

What messy thoughts. I hate checking my bag.

-Derrick

It's What You See That Counts Too

I was just reading a good post by John Martellaro about the iPad mini with Retina display kerfuffle. If you haven't read the news yet, its color gamut is narrower than that of the iPad Air, Google Nexus 7, and the latest offering from Amazon.

Basically what Martellaro says is that consumers generally care about a few key features, and the breadth of color gamut isn't one of them.

Actually, this notion of "spec peeping" comes up all the time in photography. We read a lab report that states that a new lens is 10 percent sharper than the one we own, and suddenly we start questioning our previous investment.

What I gently remind people of during our workshops is: "let your eyes be the judge of that." In other words, if you can't see a difference, who cares what a lab report says? 

Don't get me wrong: I love detailed reviews. And I think they make a good starting point for purchase decisions. But for the final decision, I look at all of the features.

With the iPad mini, I arranged four devices on my worktable and displayed the same colorful picture on each of them. I then took a picture of them and posted it on The Digital Story with the latest podcast. 

If you look at that picture and decide that you should pass on the iPad mini with Retina display, then I consider that a far more reasonable judgement than solely going off a lab report. You can do the same thing at the store with a variety of devices in front of you.

We're photographers. We should trust our eyes.

-Derrick

After the Workshop Is Over

It's a bit like the morning after a big party.

The studio is a mess. I don't care, but the cat doesn't like things out of place. So my first order of business is to wash the dishes, put away the tables and chairs, and restore organization to TDS Headquarters.

While I'm doing this, I should be thinking about the publishing that I'm behind on. Instead, however, I'm still mulling over the conversations from the weekend.

After a few years of leading workshops, the one thing I've learned is that photographers don't get to spend enough time with other photographers. And unless this is your passion, it's hard to understand the balancing act between technology and artistry. Because photography requires both sides of the brain.

That's why the conversations are so interesting. Topics bounce from lighting, to cameras, to travel, to personal history, and then careen off from there. If you're a photographer, this all makes perfect sense. If not, it's probably a lot of blah, blah, blah with a few juicy tidbits.

And that's why we need each other. If you're a photographer, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

-Derrick