Dear Photograph
DearPhotograph.com is the coolest site I’ve seen in a long time. Old photographs overlaid on top of modern photos, fusing past and present.
Around the World with 40 Lonely Planet Bloggers!
I’m so honored to be published alongside 39 other amazing travel bloggers in Lonely Planet’s free E-Book “Around the World with 40 Lonely Planet Bloggers!” It’s something that’s been in the works for a couple of months now and I’m ridiculously excited that it’s now live. It features some absolutely incredible photos from ridiculously talented travelers, covering every corner of the globe.
You can download it here. Once you do, though, I can promise two things:
1) All of my photos will look pretty mundane compared to the amazing shots from the other 39 bloggers;
2) Your wanderlust will be kicked into high-gear and you’ll want to go explore the world right away!
I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks! My camera is the Canon S90, which is a tiny little camera but one filled with awesome manual controls. I absolutely love it; here’s a love letter written by David Pogue of the New York Times’ to the S90’s sister camera the S95. While I’m sure there are some times where I could get a much better photo with an SLR, the thought of carrying a camera that doesn’t easily fit in my pocket just does not appeal to me in the slightest. It’s absolutely true that the best camera is the one you always have with you, and with a great camera the size of a deck of cards, I’m all set with the S90!
iPhone HDR
Since I’m such a huge believer in always having a camera in tow, I’ve been thrilled with the photography improvements from my two-year old iPhone 3g to the new iPhone 4. And now, with iOS 4.1, Apple has introduced in-camera HDR capabilities.
What’s HDR? The quick answer is that it combines multiple exposures to create an image more like what your eyeballs see, so instead of typical photos where you might have super dark shadows, or a sky that is white instead of blue, you get a more dynamic, colorful image.
So how does the iPhone do? I’d say the results are pretty good! Here are some photos I took at Rose Park in Georgetown.
Exposing for the bright blue sky:
Exposing for the grass and trees:
The iPhone HDR result:
Guttenfelder’s iPhone Photos
Further proving that it’s not the camera it’s the photographer, check out this photoset by AP Photographer David Guttenfelder. He took all of the shots, including the one below, with his iPhone — resulting in one of the most captivating series I’ve ever seen. Not bad for the device I send text messages and play shuffle board on.
My 10 Favorite photos of 2009
Jim Goldstein’s travel photography blog recently posted an interesting project, asking readers to create a post on their own blog of their favorite photos from 2009. It provided a good opportunity to look back on my shots from the year and choose a few I really liked. I took more pictures in 2009 than in any other year, mostly because I always had a pocket-camera with me. Check back on Goldstein’s blog next week, as he will post a list of all of the participating blogs and their respective favorite photos. There should be some great ones out there!
Obama’s Inauguration at sunrise
Georgetown basketball from the student section.
Washington Monument at Night
The colors of India
Coaching kids’ ultimate frisbee in India.
The Taj Mahal, 5:45 AM
Wandering in San Francisco
Arriving at National Airport, DC
Hello, Los Angeles
Echo Park, LA.
Rule #1 of Travel: Always Carry Your Camera
Like a face filled with the wrinkles of time, my camera’s scratches evoke a life well-lived. My trusty Canon Powershot camera has been with me for multiple years, on multiple continents, and across state borders — tucked away safely in my pocket. It’s survived drops, falls, and the occasional guy in India yelling at me to put it away. It’s not the fanciest, priciest, or most high-tech camera out there, but because it fits in my pocket and is always with me, as photographer Chase Jarvis has famously said: “the best camera is the one you have with you.”
Indeed, always having a camera with me has become my number one rule of travel. The beauty of travel is that it opens up your eyes to new ways of seeing even the most mundane things in the world. Having a camera with you — and as a result thinking of what could make an interesting shot — refocuses your mind on your travels allowing you to better connect with your surroundings. I’ve found that as much as I enjoy reliving my travels through my photos in which I took the time to compose a shot, often-times the spontaneous snapshot — the dog bathing itself in a tub of water following a rain storm, or a ridiculous sign in Russia — bring back the strongest memories. Indeed, it’s because of this that I eschew the big SLR cameras, preferring, instead, to rely upon a model that can be taken anywhere at anytime. Besides, traveling around with a huge black camera is a good way of drawing unwanted attention to yourself, and, afterall, a great photo should be all about the subject, not the means of capturing it.
So, before sharing a few of my favorite serendipitous travel photos with you, I implore you: bring your camera with you!
A dog cooling off after a rainstorm in India:
Somehow a cat wandered past airport security in India…and no one seemed to care
After randomly deciding to buy these Costa Rican candies, about 5 minutes later we happened to serendipitously walk by their advertising car!
Apparently if you walk up this hill in Moscow…you get decapitated?!
Thanks to Sosauce.com for publishing this article on their blog!
Budak's Tumblr: From SF, but living in DC. Social Entrepreneur and Travel Writer. I like adventures, roadtrips, photography, California and empanadas.
