March of 2022, our friends Brad and Kate set out to hike the Camino Frances route. They generously let me tag along for the first 5 days and film them.
"I Worried", a poem by the late Mary Oliver, read by Kate.
Music licensed by Music Bed.
Cameras: Sony a7rii / Sony a7iii
Lenses: Voitlander 15mm 4.5 / Sony Zeiss 35mm 2.8 / Sony 85mm 1.8 / Sony 70-200mm 4
Filters: Lee Circular Polariser / Lee Big Stopper
Software: Lightroom / Mastin Labs Presets
Prints available here.
This image is available for print here.
I don't feel qualified to write anything about photographing Ireland. We were only there for a week and saw such a small portion of it, but alas - here are some photos and some thoughts.
Here's where we stayed along our route:
Dublin
Kinsale
Kenmare (just south of Killarney National Park)
Ventry (near Dingle)
Dublin
-Neal
First of all, you’re gonna need a car.
This is Sharon, she was very kind to us and deserves all of our thanks for helping us learn how to drive on the left side of the road.
Be sure to have a credit card with a huuuuuge limit though - the morning we left for the trip I franticly called our provider and asked if they could change it (totally didn’t work, I ended up having to pay an extra $300 bucks or so for better insurance)
I’ve heard of people taking buses to the bigger tourist spots, but it seems like that is the only viable option for public transit - we didn’t see a single train while we were there, but maybe weren’t looking hard enough.
Sony a7rii | 35mm 2.8 | f11 | 30 sec | ISO 50 | Lee Big Stopper, Circular Polarizing Filter
The Rock of Cashel was first constructed in 1100 and they let you walk around inside (8 Euro entrance fee if I remember correctly). Full of tourist though, even with a 30 second exposure I had to take out some humans with Photoshop.
It’s was not too far off the road we took from Dublin to Cork area (M8 motorway)
Sony a7rii | 55mm 1.8 | f11 | .25 sec | ISO 50 | Lee Circular Polarizing Filter
Killarney National Park is probably a 2-3 day size of park that we did in 1.
There is some good history (Ross Castle), insane gardens, and obviously great views.
This is Torc Waterfall. It was a 5 minute walk up to here, but there’s a loop that you can continue on for anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.
Sony a7rii | 35mm 2.8 | f10 | 4 | ISO 50 | Lee Circular Polarizing Filter
Sony a7rii | 55mm 1.8 | f11 | 1/80 sec | ISO 50 | Lee Circular Polarizing Filter
The Southern side of the park was full of crazy vistas and a few sheep on the road.
This image is available for print, click here to order.
Sony a7rii | 35mm 2.8 | f11 | 175 sec | ISO 50 | Lee Big Stopper, Circular Polarizing Filter
This is a composite image, one of the water and sky from the frame using the Big Stopper, and the other from one without for the land portions.
I was super excited about this composition and location (Lough Leane, accessed by car park in the Southern portion of the park) but the light just didn’t come through the way that I had hoped
Sony a7rii | 35mm 2.8 | f11 | 1.6 sec | ISO 50 | Lee Circular Polarizing Filter
Dunquin Harbour
This image is available for print, click here to order.
Sony a7rii | 35mm 2.8 | f11 | .8 sec | ISO 50 | Lee Circular Polarizing Filter
This image is available for print here.
Sony a7rii | 400mm 5.6 | f6.3 | 1/80 sec | ISO 200
From Dingle onward the weather was almost entirely rainy and windy, so even though there were a lot of good opportunities for compressed landscapes with the 400mm, they weren’t an option because of shake.
Here’s one of the few that wasn’t blurry near Dingle.
Sony a7rii | 85mm 1.8 | f11 | .4 sec | ISO 50 | Sony Smooth Reflections App
Western Coast of the Dingle Peninsula
Sony a7rii | 55mm 1.8 | f13 | 1/30 sec | ISO 50 | Circular Polarizing Filter
Taken from a beach near Cloghane on the Northern coast, looking South towards Conner Pass.
Sony a7rii | 55mm 1.8 | f11 | .6 sec | ISO 50 | Circular Polarizing Filter
This image was taken from the car at a lookout point on Conner Pass, as the wind was coming up over the crest of the mountain way too fast for a tripod.
Sony a7rii | 85mm 1.8| f4 | 1/125 sec | ISO 50
Dingle Harbour at (misty) sunrise.
This image is available for print, click here to order.
Sony a7rii | 55mm 1.8 | f10 | 1/13 sec | ISO 50 | Lee Circular Polarizing Filter
The Cliffs of Moher are definitely a thing. The road there is tiny and far from straight, and it was almost 10 Euros per person to park (apparently you can make a 2 hour walk and get in free though)
Sadly we missed prime Puffin time.
Moo boye.
I have very few things to say about Dublin.
1. My food related recommendations happen very rarely, so this is a big deal for me to type - Brother Hubbard is somewhere you should consume food into your body. 13/10 recommended.
2. Trinity Library is worth the moneys.
3. I have zero photography recommendations, whoops.
Courtney Susan and I went to Moab with some pals for spring break this year.
I hadn't been to any desert regions of the US since before I was taking photos, so it was cool to get to experience it with a camera this time.
There's 2 National Parks in the Moab area:
Cool. Let's look at some photos.
-Neal
Sony a7rii | 15mm 4.5 | f10 | .5 sec | ISO 50 | Smooth Reflection Sony App
Double Arch. One of the well known arches (pretty much all that we saw were), only a 5 minute walk from the parking lot. It would be a cool location for astrophotographers.
Sony a7rii | 15mm 4.5 | f10 | 1/30 sec | ISO 25
This scene was on the way back from Double Arch. I am bummed I didn't set up and take a proper photo, because it's one of my favorite compositions from the trip but I took it handheld at f/4.5 so the background is a bit out of focus. Life is hard.
Sony a7rii | 85mm 1.8 | f2.8 | 1/320 sec | ISO 250
Sony a7rii | 35mm 2.8 | f11 | 1/13 sec | ISO 50
Turret Arch, on the other side of the parking lot as Double Arch.
Sony a7rii | 55mm 1.8 | f11 | 8 sec | ISO 50 | Sony Smooth Reflections App
Ta-da, it's sunrise now. In about an hour this rock formation gets lit up by the sun and is the subject of many a photo.
Sony a7rii | 35mm 2.8 | f7.1 | 30 sec | ISO 400 | 5 image stitched panoramic
This is looking the opposite direction than the last photo of turret arch. The rock face at the very left is where you climb up to to get the next image's viewpoint (but you'll most likely have to get lucky or Photoshop out some tourists + photographers who are standing where I am)
Sony a7rii | 35mm 2.8 | f14 | 1/6 sec | ISO 50 | 5 image stitched panoramic
While I was up here I heard a lady yell at someone on the other side "it's just rocks, like everything else we've seen this week", so that's a thing.
Sony a7rii | 15mm 4.5 | f13 | 1/10 sec | ISO 50 | Composite of 2 images for sky/foreground + humans are Photoshopped out
Be warned that if you are hoping to get this angle at sunset you may get yelled at by angry photographers on the opposite side of the bowl. Also, be warned if you're an angry landscape photographer that it seems like an unhappy way to enjoy a view.
The hike up is not necessarily difficult, but if you are bringing photo gear up know that it isn't the easiest of hikes.
This image is available as a print, click here to order.
Sony a7rii | 400mm 5.6 | f9 | 1/1250 sec | ISO 1000
This area is prime time for telephoto abstract lines and shapes (notice the bikers on the first curve)
Sony a7rii | 85mm 1.8 | f11 | 1/60 sec | ISO 400
Green River Overlook. This is another super accessible vista, not very far from the entrance of Canyonlands NP.
Sony a7rii | 55mm 1.8 | f11 | .5 sec | ISO 1000 | 10 image stitched panoramic
This is the biggest pano that I've ever stitched, and the computer hated everything about it.
The storm in the distance was pushing in some crazy strong wind, and the tripod wouldn't stand up very well on it's own so I had to handhold these, resulting in a higher ISO.
This image is available as a print, click here to order.
Thanks for reading/looking with your eyeballs! If you enjoyed this format and think it would be helpful for other people wanting to get images in Moab, sharing it on the interwebs and social media is always encouraged.
I've been wanting to make more photography-centric blog posts for a while now, specifically when it comes to travel and landscape. The motive is relatively simple: there's some resources for location scouting before a photo trip (Location Scout is an example), and there's waaaaay too many blog posts vying for every tourists ad revenue for just about every place imaginable (which is the majority of sites that come up with a simple search such as "travel photography Salzburg Austria"), but there's not a whole lot of sites that get straight to the point.
So I'm going to try to create blog posts of what I would want to see when researching a place. These are my tentative requirements:
-Neal
AUSTRIA 2018
The Dean and I went to Austria on a whim in March. Because there was essentially zero planning, we tried to fit in some classic locations but did a lot of wandering around as well. We were there for about 4 days, spending 3 in Salzburg and 1 in Hallstadt.
Sony a7rii | 35mm 2.8 | f11 | 8 sec | ISO 100 | Streetlights composited in to sunset photograph
The Salzach runs right through the Old Town, and there are several pedestrian only bridges that cross. This is looking NW from the Makartseg bridge.
Much thanks to my wonderful mother for hanging out in a grocery store while I was taking this photo in the cold.
This image is available for print, click here to visit our store.
Sony a7rii | 55mm 1.8 | f14 | 1/13 sec | ISO 50 | 5 image stitched panorama
This location is about a 10 minute walk West of the Museum Der Moderne Salzburg. I am a bit bummed because the composition is so great but the trees look sad and the melted snow isn't my favorite, so it's on my list of spots to return to in the fall or snowy times.
Sony a7rii | 35mm 2.8 | f18 | 13 sec | ISO 50 | 5 image stitched panoramic
This is a pretty classic view of Salzburg from Museum Der Moderne Salzburg. You can walk here from the Fortress on a few different trails, or take a lift up the mountain for a few euros.
Sony a7rii | 85mm 1.8 | f13 | 1/25 sec | ISO 50
I used the Sony Smooth Reflections App to smooth out the water in this one. The bridge pictured here is the one I was standing on in the first image.
Sony a7rii | 85mm 1.8 | f10 | 1/320 | ISO 100
This is Hohensalzburg Castle, which is touristy inside but is pretty neat (although overpriced). Photo wise I couldn't find any great compositions, but google images tells me that they are out there...
This was from a lookout spot that seemed pretty popular between the Fortress and the museum.
Sony a7rii | 35mm 2.8 | f9 | 1/100 | ISO 50 | 3 image stitched panoramic
Petersfriedhof Salzburg. Once again, this would be a way more eye-catching composition if it was just after a snowfall.
Sony a7rii | 35mm 2.8 | f2.8 | 1/800 | ISO 50
Inside the Catacombs. It provides some neat photo opportunities looking down at the city, but it is a pretty short adventure for 2 euros.
Sony a7rii | 35mm 2.8 | f10 | .6 sec | ISO 50 | 3 image stitched panoramic
This image is available for print, click here to visit our store.
So I had seen some images of Hallstadt in the past, it's a regular on a lot of Instagram feeds, but we did almost no research before taking a day trip out there from Salzburg. A pertinent piece of information is that developers in China built a replica of the city, so loads of tour buses of site seers (spelling?) go there to see the real thing. It was super touristy, and we were definitely not there during peak time.
It takes 2 trains and a ferry to get there from Salzburg. If you plan on arriving for sunrise, note that the earliest train-ferry combo that could get us there (at least during March) left Salzburg at 4am and put us there right as the sun was rising around 7:30, so during the summer sunrise may not be an option.
This church is obviously the well known location, but taking the Furnicular or hiking up to the scenic view is super cool.
Sony a7rii | 35mm 2.8 | f19 | 1/250 sec | ISO 100 | Smooth Reflections Sony App
Sony a7rii | 55mm 1.8 | f15 | 1/4000 sec | ISO 125
There were loads of burd friends.
Thanks for reading/looking with your eyeballs! If you enjoyed this format and/or think it would be helpful for other people wanting to get images in Salzburg and Hallstadt, sharing it on the interwebs and social media is always encouraged.
The Walsten's are now a family of five and we are real excited to share the news!
“Camp Chisomo is a place for kids to be kids; where they learn about God’s grace and the power it gives to live with dignity in the present and hope for the future.”
“On September 11, 2017, the reigning Badwater 135 Ultramarathon champion, Sandy Villines, will set off for her greatest challenge yet: to take down the world record for the fastest ever crossing of the United States — on foot — by a woman (it currently stands at 68 days).”
We're big fans of Italy. We love the language, the food, the cities, and especially their slow pace of life. We're also big fans of other people experiencing places that we love - so our hope is that as soon as you are done scrolling through these images, the next thing you do is book a ticket to lo Stivale (the boot)
Click on any image to view it fullscreen. If you are interested in buying travel prints, click here
Our first stop was Blevio, a small town on the Southwest finger of Lake Como in Northern Italy. We chose to make this our first stop so we could spend a few days relaxing away from the tourist hotspots on the lake, and the view from our Airbnb definitely helped. Also our hosts gave us some free Red Orange juice, which is an automatic 5 star rating for the Johnsons.
We took a ferry around Lake Como, and it was definitely worth the 25 Euros. You get to relax on a boat as it cruises around a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains, so there's not much to complain about unless you are prone to seasickness.
Anytime the ferry stops to pick up more people, you can get off and explore the town then hop back on the next available ferry.
Bellagio is one of those tourist hotspots that I mentioned earlier, but everyone says that it's a must see if you're on Lake Como, so we hopped off the ferry and spent about 2 hours walking around "The Pearl of the Lake".
Our last stop in the Lake Como area was the city of Como. We stayed in a hostel called Ostello Bello, and everything was painted yellow so it gets a 5 star rating from Courtney Susan.
We took a day trip up to Brunate, where the Faro Voltiano Lighthouse gives a great view of the Lake.
Next we went down south to San Miniato, in the Tuscany region. This small town was significant in ancient times, sitting right along the Via Francigena - a path connecting Rome and Northern Europe.
Today it's most known for its well preserved city walls and buildings, along with the White Truffle festival that is held there every year.
We lucked out and got to go to their monthly Farmer's Market, which helped the city lock down a solid 5 stars from us.
Cinque Terre has become overrun by tourists in recent years, but it still is definitely worth a see if you get the chance. It's well-known colorful houses are cool, but it's the feeling of being stuck in time that seems to be most attractive to visitors. Cars aren't allowed in most of the villages, so time moves extra slow.
After about 48 hours of insane travel across the pond, our friends finally made it up to Monterosso al Mare at 1 in the morning, and we started the 15 minute trek up the hillside to our lemon grove Airbnb.
Next up was Florence, the capital of Tuscany. There's way too many historic buildings, churches, and landmarks within this city to sum up in a few sentences, so you're going to have to Wikipedia it when you're done here.
One of the last adventures that we got to go on was a wine tour around the Chianti Region. It taught us one very important thing - our Balsamic Vinegar is super fake.
If you are interested in buying prints from this trip or other travel prints, click here
If you liked this post please share with your friends and family at the top of this page - thanks, it really helps us out!
Also, one more thing - here's a home vid that we made while in Italy:
"Deaf Can! Coffee exists to affirm young people in their identity as a Deaf person and as someone made in the image of God. Success is defined as young men and women accepting themselves, believing in their inherent gifts and talents, taking responsibility for their future and becoming a leader in their families, communities and careers. We are an outreach of HarvestCall Jamaica, a not-for-profit organization founded to obey God and love others." [www.deafcancoffee.com]
To see more blogs posts like this, click here.
Here are a handful of photos I took for the Waterloo Center for the Arts at the opening of Wayne Coyne's (of the Flaming Lips) exhibit, featuring "King's Mouth" along with an assortment of other artwork and film by Coyne.
If you live near Waterloo, I would highly recommend going to see this exhibit - simply experiencing the King's Mouth is definitely worth it!
The exhibit is set to run until April 23rd. For more info, visit www.waterloocenterforthearts.org or like the Center's Facebook Page.
If you feel inclined, please like our Facebook Page to stay up to date with all our upcoming projects - it's much appreciated!
For more Photography Blogs like this, click here.
Gear used:
Sony a7s + a6300
Rokinon 14mm 2.8
Canon 24mm 1.4
Canon FD 50mm 1.8
Canon 85mm 1.2
