camera gear

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Whether you’re going for fun, to visit family or to break out of your everyday normal routine, we all want to create memories that will last a lifetime while traveling. Capturing images with your camera is the best way to relive those memories and share them with loved ones when you return home. So grab your mobile camera or a DSLR, these are some of my best tips to make sure you come away from your travels with images you are proud of. And you don’t even have to be a professional photographer to capture them. It may take a lot of preparation work, but in the end, it will all be worth it.

Plus photography is super fun 🙂

1. Scout Photo Locations From Your Computer

One of the best ways to start preparing for your trip is to start planning all the beautiful sights you want to see before you leave. But if it’s your first time visiting a new place, all the options and maps can get a little confusing. Scouting out various photo locations and points of interest before you leave will help reduce stress. It will allow you to not waste time on your vacation and you could hit the ground running as soon as you arrive. Plus if you’re going to a very popular tourist destination, you can be prepared by obtaining tickets and plan for events in advance and not have to worry about lines.

So here’s what I like to do before I even leave on my trip,  I like to begin my research on social media.Click here to read more

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So this was a fail. But I thought it would be a good idea to share it with you.

It did not occur to me that while we were out camping, we would see stars. I don’t know why. It’s just something that completely slipped my mind. I think I was too worried about the actual camping part to even consider anything else.

So after the sunset on our first day in the woods, I was kicking myself for not bringing my 14mm lens. It’s so much faster and I specifically bought it to take more night images like this. *Facepalm x2* So I tried to do best with what I had.

My camera settings for this image is F4.0 at 13 seconds and ISO 5000 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm. I did not have a tripod with me so I did my best by balancing the camera on this big log we were sitting on. I think the colors are really cool in the image. I just wish it were sharper and I know I could have done that with my 14mm.

Oh well. Next time!

Which will be soon because Andrew and I will be traveling to Norway next week! I can’t wait. Neither one of us have been there before and I’m really looking forward to capturing the fjords, waterfalls and the night sky! Don’t worry though, my 14mm is the first lens I’ll be packing in my camera bag. We’ve booked places to stay that right along the water and am really looking forward to just checking out the scenery. I’ve been on pinterest like a madwoman planning out this trip and reading other people’s experiences. I couldn’t sleep the other night because I was just so excited. So if you’ve been to Norway, please let me know. I’d love for any tips or advice.

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I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, I am so grateful for the DC creative community. I’ve learned so, so much just by meeting up with various photographers and taking pictures with them. Just seeing how they work and how they “see” things inspires me to want to create more than just my typical sunrise shots. Whether it’s street, portraits, or whatever, I am grateful for everyone being so open and willing to share their ideas.

This is definietly the case with my friend, Birch. She has always been a photographer I admired on Instagram. Her point of view is so interesting but we hadn’t connected offline until the beginning of this year. Once we finally met, I feel like we became instant friends. Not only did she have a lot of the same ideas about creativity and photography as I do but we have a lot of the same interests besides art. So since our initial meeting, we’ve been getting together to take pictures quiet often. You can find us talking about the latest audiobooks we’ve been listening to, working out, or even bucket list travel destinations.

What I love most about her photography is how simple she makes everything. For the most part, she’s only carrying her 70-200mm whenever we go out shooting which is so different than me! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a photographer with a whole bunch of gear in her backpack but I’m usually with a wide angle lens and a zoom lens and that’s it. But with her 70-200mm telephoto zoom lens, she’s able to capture so many things that I usually would not even notice.

When we first met, I told her that I wanted to get a 100-400mm. I’ve tried it out since then and to be honest, it’s just kind of a big boy lens to be carrying around on casual photowalks. Maybe sometime in the future. But last week I purchased  the 70-200mm sony lens, inspired by Birch so that hopefully I can see things in a whole new way. Be prepared to see things a lot more close up. LOL.

This image of the row houses is also inspired by her. I loved the way she captured them in Capitol Hill so last time I was in Georgetown, I thought I’d try something similar . Thanks for being such an inspiration, Birch! If you haven’t already, definietly follow her on the gram 🙂

The settings for this image is F8 at 1/160th of a second ISO 800 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm zoom.

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Lately I’ve been getting more and more dm’s on instagram asking me about the camera lenses I use. To be honest, I don’t have very many. But I have plans of adding to my collection soon.

But if you’re at all interested in knowing, I have listed all my sony lenses and even my canon lens gear here. *If you didn’t know I used to shoot canon before I switched to sony about 3 or 4 years ago. So if you’re a canon shooter, check out this link. My friend, Andy asked me about my old canon wide angle lens and compared them to other canon wide angle lenses. Pretty interesting how he laid it all out.

For this image, I used my 16-35mm zeiss wide angle lens. It was the only way I would have been able to capture this entire scene in just one frame. I love the way the cherry blossom tree branch is reaching towards the bench and then spikes all the way up. It’s like the craziest 90 degree angle in nature I’ve ever seen. But I also love how that first branch is just arching right above, framing the bench so nicely. I’m sure I’ve walked passed this scene a million times but I’m so glad I saw it during cherry blossom season. The fluffy pink flowers just fills the scene so much more and adds a lot of color to an otherwise dark image.

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1.3 seconds at ISO 800 shot with my Sony A7II. I don’t remember if I captured this with my tripod or not but I’m assuming it’s handheld. Otherwise the ISO would not be that high but to be honest, if it was handheld, I’m surprised I was able to hold my camera steady for 1.3 seconds.