The front had been disfigured by vandals so I took a 3/4 rear shot.

Thanks Jerry. Send me your email and I will reply with instructions on how to join in on a trip 2014-15. Steve

Member of a group of 12 photographers led by Steve Anchell on a UN People/Arts Exchange January 2014. No post processing, only cropped to size.

Christ Statue Above Havana Harbor


Havana city at sunrise

It is common to see grave sites throughout the Southwest United States, particularly along known trails once used for settlers moving west. The following two images of a grave site within the Coronado National Forest is off the main trail but in the vicinity of a home build around the late 1800's. The site has been covered over with cement, fenced with an iron railing, and apparently taken care of because the artificial flowers appear new. The images are not post processed.

Image 1


Image 2

Across the valley from Green Valley, Arizona, is the Coronado National Forest. Popular for hiking, birding, or just plain sitting and enjoying in the warm winter sun, the following are the first images taken as we reintroduced ourselves to the wonderful area developed in the pre-Cambrian era millions of years ago, and faithfully maintained today by the National Parks Service and a volunteer group called the Friends of Madera Canyon. Madera Canyon is the main hiking area with trail elevations from 4400' to +/-8000' and trail difficulty levels from novice to expert.

Native Grain Grinding Hole


Bat Houses


Elephant Hear Mountain

Pappy: This is the type of shot either by design or by accident I like to push as hard as I can for contrast in the B and W mode. You have captured a lot of potential here particularly with the exhaust steam, the river, and the apparent neutral sky behind. Good image. Steve

Joe, As you can see, most folks suggest a zoom lens, and today's zoom offerings are generally excellent. Check them out at DPR on the web. The other side of the coin, regardless of your favorite body and regardless of whether it is full frame or less, many folks use a prime that comes close to 50mm as a general walking around lens. The 35mm camera standardizes at approx 1:1 between a 50mm and the sensor, and early on, many cameras were sold with the 50mm as standard. Today's market features many excellent 50mm lens for not a great deal of money. In the long run, it's what you want to do with your camera. You can either zoom with your feet or your lens. Steve

I believe in today's camera equipment market, the major player's kit lens is the same lens you can purchase separately for that particular camera. It may not be their best but the buyer should know that if he/she is interested in that particular brand: The kit lens is in their overall inventory. In days gone by, a somewhat inferior lens may have made up the kit, but I do not think that is today's practice. The Fuji folks have standardized on their excellent 18-55 zoom as a kit lens on the X-E1 and Z-E2 bodies for example. They have no other zoom in that focal length. Canon, for example, attempts to mate up a body with a lens according to price points, not that the lens or body is inferior, but it is suited for a particular buying audience. It's all in the marketing. If you are concerned about a particular kit, go on line and search for an evaluation of the lens. Most of that stuff is fairly presented. Steve

I believe in today's camera equipment market, the major player's kit lens is the same lens you can purchase separately for that particular camera. It may not be their best but the buyer should know that if he/she is interested in that particular brand: The lens is in their overall inventory In days gone by, a somewhat inferior lens may have made up the kit, but

Abby, I like #1 for its composition, but were you intentionally attempting to focus just on the foreground and throw everything else out of focus? This is difficult to do. I wonder if a little more light (+1 stop EV) would really give the shot more zing. Steve

Great shots. Several rivers, the Hudson and St. Laurence among them are governed by Coast Guard navigation rules, and regardless of stated depth on the charts, rivers can vary in actual depth during the year with spring run-off, fall dry spells, etc. So years ago, a set allowable draft was designed by the Guard, regardless of the actual depth at a particular location. On the Great Lakes, this draft is changed with the severe low lake levels, changed so much that some boats may carry a 50% or less load during low lake levels. Its not the lake that causes the problem, its the dock locations and channels feeding into the like that get lower than state draft levels on the charts. Not profitable times for owners.

You have posed an interesting question. I believe there will always be a RAW-type post process of some sort or another, and likewise, there will always be a JPEG OOC which is magnificent as more camera research efforts bend to the public likes of quick images. But I believe the future will hold several steps further in presenting RAW in the camera like Fuji and some others have today. Unlike with film where chemicals and dyes where key to the end result, today's processing is based on algorithms in concert with the with the sensors and lens compatibility: all mathematically in harmony; setting the computer and its software off to the side . . . I think that day is coming sooner than we think. Steve

I agree with the suggestion to purchase Bush's book because the downside of tutorials is that unless you have a photographic memory, remembering all the stuff is really tough. Or you make a lot of notes while watching which later you have difficulty figuring out just what they mean. The Bush book is big, no question about it, but you can read over and over a particular area while you are working with the camera in your hands. Plus, you can carry the book with you while you are out and about making shots. The best price I found when I was looking for this particular book was at Amazon.com. Bush has followed Canon stuff for many years, his comments are easy to comprehend, and you can practice a point until you get it right He assumes you know nothing about the camera in the beginning....Steve

A long time coming . . . .

Further to CPL: It has been my experience that Ops new to filters in general and CPL's specifically, do not take enough time with them to really see what they can and can not do. They buy one buy one because they have read or heard good things about them, go out and shoot one or two shots, look at the end result, and put them back in the bag where they stay for months. A fellow wiser than I told me a long time ago to mount the CPL on my "go to" lens, and go out and shoot at least 50 to 75 to 100 shots of all kinds of stuff, examine each day's activities, and don't take the filter off the lens until I could honestly say, "I understand how this filter works." I did take his advice and whenever I went outside I had a CPL mounted on a med zoom lens. I took about 50 shots within a two week period of all kinds of stuff in daylight: morning, midday and late afternoon in full sun. Boy, did I seen some very interesting things: the colors became more vivid, they sprang out at me on the monitor, b and w was more clear and sharp, the glare was gone from water shots, the sky a deep blue, etc. Since that time, I have a fairly good idea when and when not to use a CPL plus this newly found knowledge helps me plan my shots. Steve