From 2018 to now, we head up to Door County, Wisconsin, for our annual family summer vacation. With no better idea this year, we made our way back in July.
Some familiar sites, some brand new. Just in time for cherry season. And beautiful weather along Lake Michigan and Green Bay. Lucky us.
Greens and blues, reds and browns. Maritime cities and rural countryside. Beach days and quick day trips.
Just this week, I logged into Tumblr to see where it was. The algorithm heard me and presented Yvonne’s video, as if 2014 was calling us all back.
I loved Tumblr. It was a great mix of social and blogging. It was fun, easy to use, easy to post, and for a beginner photographer like me, offered tons of ideas and inspiration as I grew in my craft. Ultimately, I gave it up because of its walled-garden nature, but using the platform was a hoot. I still miss it.
Now, it’s a ghost town – at least the blogs I followed have mostly shut down or moved on.
Yvonne’s video is a great look back at the height of Tumblr-mania and what it inspired in all of us who were there at the time.
Lately, I’ve stumbled on the YouTube photography community, and YouTube channels have, in my eyes, taken over the role of photo blogs.
Gear? Lots of that. How-to videos? There are plenty of those. My favorites include discussions of craft, process, and projects. I want to know more about the work, not necessarily about what camera was used (though I do enjoy some gear-related videos) or a step-by-step instructional video. It’s the same stuff I would want to read on a photo blog, but now the good stuff seems to be on YouTube.
With a YouTube channel, we can hear from the artist directly, see their work, and learn about the behind-the-scenes process that often goes into projects. You can also hear from the photographer directly—which is still possible on a blog, but video makes it a little more personal. And thanks to the Almighty Algorithm™, it’s easy to click from one video to the next and easily find other channels.
A few of my favorites include:
James Popsys – good thoughts on tips, strategy, and composition from a landscape photographer
Teo Crawford – another film photographer in Austria who dabbles in digital (video above)
Tom Calton – more gear-based, especially around smaller budget cameras
Zeek – the king of using the Canon EOS M for cinema shooting
Sean Tucker – good philosophy of photography channel
I’m not switching to YouTube any time soon, and this blog isn’t going anywhere. I like writing and reading. But video is a modern, attractive approach to sharing photography insights that bring a little bit extra to the conversation.
One of my core philosophical pillars is the belief in using older gear to do creative work. And because the OG Canon M is still one of my favorite cameras, seeing it come back to life as a cinema camera using Magic Lantern warms my heart.
FoxTailWhipz’s video series has me exploring this option with my beat-up-but-still-working EOS M. While I can’t get that fancy M-Lite rig anymore, I can invest in a few other pieces of gear to make my M a video powerhouse.
As opposed to Roma, a more modern neighborhood, Coyoacán is pure history to the south of Mexico City.
A few coworkers took us down to explore the markets and chapel and walk the streets to Frida’s house. I also had the best popsicle I’ve ever had: pure, frozen lime juice with a bit of sugar. Amazing. I should’ve bought two.
This place felt like a classic Mexican neighborhood, filled with history and culture. Alive and ancient at the same time.
And just in case anything was stolen, I brought my classic Canon EOS M, paired with the 22mm f/2. She still runs like a champ.
My Mexican co-workers said I had a “Mexican heart.”
But maybe like anyone thrown into a new situation, new culture, new locale – it’s easy to fall in love with the “newness” of it all.
This is my second time in Mexico city in under a year. My employer has a corporate office in Mexico City, and I traveled there in mid May for a few days. I flew in a day early to walk around the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City – the posh, hip borough with lots of trendy shops and tons of Americans walking around. This is the “cool” part of the city now.
Roma gave me a chance to explore something new with my camera, and as before, Mexico City didn’t disappoint.