"For Me, Another Definition of GOD
 is "Great Outdoors"
- Johnny Cash

"Your life is what has happened to you while you were busy making other plans."
 

"It seems to me that we all look at nature too much, and live with her too little"
- Oscar Wilde

"That's the thing about Mother Nature - She really doesn't
care what economic
bracket you're in."
-Whoopi Goldberg

"You can gauge a country's real wealth by its tree cover."
- Richard St. Barbe Baker

"I like to think that one of the best brews is the one handed to you by a new friend"
~ Mark Stephens

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?

The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

"....I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move."
~ Robert Louis Stevenson

A Birth Certificate shows that
we were born
A Death Certificate shows that we died
Pictures show that we lived!

Pat's February 2012 Blog 

If this is your first time here, you might want to start from the beginning of our fulltime Journey with our Past Blogs

If You Don't Know Me Yet, Click Here to Read My Bio

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Monday February 1st 2012 - Getting some Shooting Practice

It seems our last few weeks have been a non-stop blur of activity.  I was jonesing to get some time behind the camera but we're too busy right now to take a day off and head out on the water.  Although we've both promised one another that we're going to try and make that become a weekly thing.

A motel guest had checked out and left a bag full of crackers, bread and various chips to be thrown away.  Rather than just toss them in the garbage, we usually pitch the contents off the end of the dock so the birds and fish have something to eat.

I figured I could take a few minutes away from work and get some images out on the dock.  The morning sun was perfectly behind my back to provide really good lighting, so I asked Cindy to be the thrower while I'd take 25 minutes to fire off a few photos.  Just to quench that thirst for some new photos to look at.

Plus, it keeps me sharp and allows me to practice on moving objects and trying to follow something that is flying at a high rate of speed.  This is much harder than one might think it is.

This is one of those secessions almost anyone can sit in their back yard, the beach or in the park and accomplish.  You don't need any special equipment and you certainly don't need a high powered zoom, just an assistant to toss the bread or crackers and you need to know what settings to have your camera set to so you'll get keepers. 

I had my camera set so the shutter speed was very high (1/4000th of a second), a mid-length depth of field (f/5 so the entire bird would be in focus, but the background would be blurred) and the camera itself was set in the Al Servo Focus mode.  This mode allows the lens to maintain a focus on a moving subject.  That's the trickiest part of this type of secession.  If the bird happens to land, the focus will usually shift to something in the background or the water moving behind the main subject.

You'll need enough light to be able to set your cameras shutter speed to something really high; most of these were shot at 1/4000th of a second, so it stops the wings completely without any blur.  This is why the low angle of the sun at my back, it was early morning (10am) worked out perfect for these shots because it put the birds just above my head, but the sun lit the underside of the wings so I didn't have any harsh shadows and there was no need to use a flash which will sometimes scare the birds when taking photos at a close range.

The only thing you need to be sure of is to keep the sun at your back, and you'll be golden.  I also liked that there were some soft clouds in the background rather than just a solid blue sky.  I think this helps make the Gulls pop out of the image, but I'd like to know what you think?

Something else Cindy and I learned is if she holds the food up in her hand right beside the camera, you'll get the birds flying directly at the front of the lens.  When they get really close, almost too close to focus, she'll toss it up above my head so I can follow the flight path while the wings are flapping.

Word to the Wise:  Put a hat on so you don't get poop in your head or hair...LOL  Not that this happened, but Cindy kept saying "You know I love you if I'm willing to sit here risking these birds pooping on my head just so you can get some practice."

We also got an email I felt I'd share with our readers.  Emails like this really make me feel good about our website and all the work we put into it.  Thanks Lance!

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Just got caught up on your blog, and couldn't stop crying

Pat and Cindy, I’m so sorry to read about Lucy, it’s very difficult to lose a loved member of the family. I miss my dog still after all these years, but a good dog is a gift to good people like you two.

Fast forward to later this afternoon to Monday’s post about the boat adventures and you had me crying again. My wife came in asking what was all the laughing about and proceeded to crack up laughing also.

We very much want to come relax at Low-Key Hideaway, but will have to work out our schedule. We are desperate to see some sun, as you know Ohio is a little on the cloudy side.

Thanks for your all your posts on your blog and the inspiring trip reports. You two are very talented with a gifted eye, what a team you make. You'll be on our stop in Baja in the future.

Thanks
Lance

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Tin Can Tourists Visit Cedar Key - Adding to my love of Polished Airstreams

This past weekend we had the annual Tin Can Tourists visit Cedar Key.  Sunset Isle RV Park fills up with vintage travel trailers with many being pulled by classic trucks matching their arrival date on the market.

We all know my love of Airstreams.  I've had a fascination with these since early childhood.  Cindy and I had looked at them when we first were looking at campers, but we couldn't justify their cost, especially when we weren't even sure if we were going to be lifelong Trailer Trash or we'd just use ours for one long trip and get ride of it.

My goal is to have a 23' Airstream Flying Cloud Travel Trailer.  I'd have the aluminum skin polished to a mirror like shine, and travel North America positioning the camper in scenic locations.

Rather than take images of the camper in these locations, I'd make images with the scenes reflected in the campers mirror like surface.  At the end of our adventure, we'd put together a Coffee Table style picture book of this adventure.  It would be soooooo cool!

If anyone knows anyone who works for Airstream, or anyone knows someone who has an older Airstream they'd like to part with for this project, feel free to Contact Me so we can work out the details!

The Tin Can Tourists are a great bunch of folks.  They all love to show off their rides and most are open to tour through.  We even met a few campers that said "Hey, are you Pat & Cindy from Every Miles A Memory? You're the people that got us into camping!"  It's always a great feeling to know that our blogs and photos pushed someone into making that leap to start RV'ing and living a simpler lifestyle.

The interior of this Airstream was all maps!!!  How Cool!

Entire Tin Can Tourists Gallery can be seen Here = LINK

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Photo Gear We Use  -  Solar Tips, Fact's and Trick's we've learned while on the road 

Camper Check List - A list of things we do before leaving camp.  Again, this isn't gospel, but its a good start for those who might not already have a list made up.

Every Miles A Memory