Tag Archives: photography

Nothing says amazing like capturing an amazing view while suspended way above air looking down on a beautiful canyon. Amazing is capturing a beautiful woman standing in front of a romantic scene of a giant waterfall. Amazing is clicking away at a beautiful secluded beach scene that you will only see a few times in your life. Amazing is capturing a culture that you have never experienced and sharing it with everyone else through photography.

Parapante Through Chicamoche - Colombia

The Travel Photographer

Photography is amazing. Travel photography is even more amazing. The job of a travel photographer is to tell a story about people and places to entice others to visit. And although I am no expert at it, I try my best to entice others to travel. Why? Because it is hard to pass up the experiences and views that I have come across. It is amazing when others can also experience what I have seen and done. That is why I created this website to begin with. I want other to explore the grandiose waterfalls of Iguazu. I want people to know how it is to experience the extreme passion when dancing Salsa in Colombia. I want and enjoy the friendly nature of the people of the Philippines.

Funny Paniki - MacArthur Philippines

The Beginning

How did I start off? Well I never thought I would have gotten into photography. I thought I was not artistic enough or even could learn to use a camera. Aperture? Shutter speed? ISO? It seemed so sophisticated and complicated to me. What are all those dials for? Why are there so many buttons? I am certain I was not alone. I know you are saying some of the same things or said some of those same things at one point.

I started off with simple point and shoot digital camera at the age of 19. Nearly every year I would upgrade to a slightly better one. I have always been a fan of Olympus and always went with them. That then is when it happened. My girlfriend at the time invited me to visit her in India. I seized the opportunity and said HECK YA. Travel way across the world to be with a girl I loved and experience a new culture? It was a no brainer. But I figured my point and shoot camera would not due for this trip. I wanted to document it and with a higher quality photos than the snapshots I was taking with my point and click cameras. So that is when I purchased my first DSLR. It was a Canon Rebel t2i. I had ditched my Olympus (and recently returned back to Olympus) for a Canon DSLR. I wandered India grasping shots of the experiences I was having through out the land. I was documenting the faces and people I was meeting and framing to the views around. I tried to get the artistic shots of beautiful places like the Taj Mahal, but I would have to admit, the photographs were mediocre at best.

Early Photography Taj Majal Minaret - Agra India

Persistence

Most of my time was spent trying to learn my new camera and at that time I had no concept of photography techniques. After my trip I found that my photography was lacking. I was studying Graphic Design at the Academy of Art University at the time and was learning a lot about space and shapes and how people perceive communication. At this time I was also noticing how my photography was lacking. At this time I found that it was time to learn more about camera techniques. I taught myself my camera through Youtube videos and posted my photography on travel photography websites and asked for feedback to help me improve.

Indonesia, Korea, Hong Kong and India again, I started pushing my technique more and more. I forced myself to travel on my own, with friends and meeting people who invited me to their country. I took photos, not just a few but A LOT. Same shot, different angles, experimented with the lighting, settings and tried some new dials on the camera. I was gaining new insights and different skills. All of this was self taught with no schooling in photography at all.

Second trip Korean Folk Village (still Learning)- Yongin

The Break

I was visiting my ex-girlfriend in India, the girl who was my girlfriend the first time I was in India. We were to visit the town of Ladakh. To make a long story short, she had to leave and I was on my own to travel to Kashmir. Her family set me up with a guide. Kashmir is rarely visited by most Americans, due to the bad press it gets. But there I was in Srinagar, in one of the most beautiful places in the world. There I documented story of an amazing area that many have no experienced outside of India or Pakistan. When I returned I entered the photos into a contest. I did not win, but I did get noticed. At that time man contacted me from a publishing company asking to purchase the rights to some of my photos. This was a break into the industry I was looking for. They bought my photography and it was published in a new magazine. From there other started contacting me do some work for them. I was now starting to get paid to travel and to photograph.

Fisherman on Dal Lake - Kashmir India

The jist of this story? I am not a trained photographer. I never knew I was going to be a photographer. Heck my schooling is in Architectural Engineering and Graphic Design. What made what I do happen was devotion and persistence. I then started this website. I wanted others to accomplish their dream. To be a photojournalist, journalist, traveler, photographer… what ever it is. This is why I am starting to make a new commitment to this site. I will start to be offering more articles of photography. To help those learn the skills, become persistent and accomplish their dream. Look towards the beginning of next year for classes on photography and tools for photographers.

Why?

Why did write this article? I want to let you know the following:

I started off not knowing what I was doing as the most of us do.
Persistence with a passion to improve is a great way to accomplish a goal.
I love traveling, I love photography and I want others to love them too.
I want to let you know I am here to help you accomplish your goal to travel and photograph.

So what is a dream you want to follow? What goal have you added persistence to? Did you ever get a lucky break? I want to know. I want to share you story. Leave a message below, send me a tweet on twitter, or post on my facebook. Heck even send us a message. Let me know, we want to share it with others.

Brrr! Heated Bus Stop in Seoul Near MOCA

It was only 8 degrees outside. And kind of warm in the bus stop.

Under the Pier of China Camp

China Camp pier in San Rafael.

This Little Piggy… Sonoma County Fair

This Little Piggie - Sonoma County Fair

Goodbye Canon, Hello Olympus OMD E-M5 - Switch to Mirror-less for Travel Photography

The heat beats down on me through the blue heavenly skies above me as I climb. I climb up the mountain slowly with many steps to go to reach 400 meters above sea level. It is 90 degrees outside and the humidity is 85%. One step is fine, but as they add up the weight starts to get to me. My friend Jessa says to me “Come on Erick, lets keep going” as she climbs the stairs with ease. We are climbing the mountain to Hanginan, Maasin in Southern Leyte, Philippines. Each step becomes heavier and heavier… I am being literal here. You see, I am carrying ALL of my camera gear and it is weighing me down. You know that feeling? 2 bodies, 3 lenses, filters, tripod, a strobe, trigger, other gadgets and some food all in one backpack? At this point I am ready… I am tired of it. It is time for something different. It is time… for a new camera system.

Backpacker’s Strain

For about 5 months now I have NOT been shooting with my Canon system setup. I used to run around with a 60D and 7D set up. The 7D stopped functioning due to water damage so I fell to exclusively using my 60D as my back up. The 60D then stopped working as I was testing it for a photo shoot I was going to do in Colombia. I was desperate to get a replacement camera. I was looking at the newly released 6D, but then I thinking back to the wonderful time I was having when climbing the mountain in Maasin. Maybe it was time to make that switch I had thought of back then. I had always toyed with the idea going to a mirror-less camera system. Mirror-less you ask? Why would a professional photographer want to downgrade?

The mirror-less systems are smaller and much lighter. Also very cheap and the quality is amazing. It is perfect for a travel photographer. I find it to be more of an upgrade than a downgrade.

OMD E-M5 Silver

The Choice? Olympus OMD

I did a lot of research after my experience in Philippines in late 2011. I had felt I had armed myself to make a well informed decision. The mirror-less camera I decided to choose was the Olympus OMD E-M5. Why did I choose this camera? Well I won’t lie, I chose it because it looked like an old film camera. I also chose it for the fact that it received the award of Camera of the Year in 2012 by DPReview. I also chose it because the camera is using a Micro Four Thirds system. Olympus and Panasonic have both embraced the Micro Four Thirds system and it’s benefits, which means that you could use either brand of lens. Sigma and other lens companies have also designed lenses for this system as well.

The Weight and Size

The weight and size was the largest factor though. Hands down the weight of the Olympus OMD is way smaller than my 7D and 60D. The 7D weighs 29 oz., the 60D 27 oz. and the OMD 15 oz. making it nearly half as light as the 7D. My favorite lens for the Canon system was a Canon 24-70mm ƒ/2.8 which weighed 34 oz. For my OMD the 17mm ƒ/1.8 and 45mm ƒ/1.8 both weigh just over 8 oz. combined.

OMD E-M5 vs 60D

Because the weight is less and there is smaller parts it is easier to carry. I used to carry a backpack to carry the gear around for photography. The backpack would be packed with 2 lenses, the body (with lens), blower, strobe, remote, battery charger, 4 filters, remote, lens pen, other gizmos and gadgets and snacks..

Camera Backpack

Camera Bag 2

Now I can carry small bag with a body, 2 lenses, remote, 8 filters, flash, strobe, lens pen, diabetes testing kit, and snacks. Almost the same amount of items in one smaller bag.

Cost

The size of lenses are smaller making it very affordable as well. The manufactures can make a good quality lens with less parts needed to be able to create cheaper lenses. The whole system costed me a total of $2800, which is the cost of a body, 17mm ƒ/1.8 lens, 45mm ƒ/1.8 lens, remote flash, remote trigger, 2 polarizing filters, 2 warmth filters, 2 UV filters, 2 ND filters. As for my Canon system I have easily have paid $3500-$4000 (although I already had lenses).

There is a drawback on some of the pricing. Some of the OMD accessories are expensive. An example is the battery grip I purchased was $299, which in my opinion is kind of steep, but almost worth the price. For $39 the remote cable release is kind of lacking for the price that it costs.

The Drawbacks

So the only difference between a mirror-less camera and most DSLRs is the that the DSLR has a mirror and prism to preview your photo before taking the shot. I know I am using a micro 4/3 system which is a lot smaller sensor. The biggest argument of this is that smaller sensors have an issue with noise. I would have to say that is not the case with this camera. First shoot I shot with it was in the morning trying to do some long exposures and set my ISO to 2000 thinking I set it to 200. The results are amazing. Here are some examples from that shoot.

China Camp Pier - California

Sea Breeze at China Camp - California

The other drawback people talk about is the Bokeh of a micro 4/3 system. I would have to say that is a drawback. But to most people who are not professional photographers, they can not tell and a good photographer can make bokeh happen (naturally). Here is an example of some bokeh taken with the OMD EM-5.

A Glass of Bokeh

The other drawback is the crop factor, which can be an advantage. The crop factor of a micro 4/3 system is 2.0x. That turns a 45mm lens into a 90mm equivalent for a 35mm. For those who want a better zoom, like most travel photographers this is great. For those who need wide angles, this could be a drawback.

Not a Professional Camera

“The OMD is small and does not feel like a professional camera…” Yeah, that is what someone told me. They were a professional photographer by the way. “…it feels like a toy.” That is a very common perception that a lot of professional photographers have when seeing the camera. Bigger is better? Not really.

The camera is a tool. A good photographer still needs to know lighting, tonal value, composition and color. A lot of photographers believe if that they do not have a BIG camera they coud not be perceived as a professional. I was kind of worried about this myself as I had a photo shoot in Colombia. The model was more relaxed as there was not giant lens in her face the whole time. The shoot was more natural and we see each others as equals.

Catfish Floats - Parque Explora in Medellin

When I was shooting with OMD in the streets people asked me if I was with the press. Everyday people do not know the difference between a DSL and Mirror-less, they just see a camera. On another note the fact that it is smaller is also great because it a lot of times I can take it into places where they ban DSLR. I was able to take my camera into the Explorer Park in Medellin when they banned DSLRs. I got in fine with my OMD E-M5

Even Trey Ratcliff of Stuck in Customs has switched to a Mirror-less camera system from a Nikon system. The Mirror-less system is perfect for some one like Trey and I who are both travel photographers and need to travel light.

Conclusion

So what do I have to say about the OMD E-M5? Well, I love it. I know why it has gotten camera of the year. It has amazing quality, great features (which I have not spoken fully of) and extremely light and small. It the perfect companion for a travel photographer. A more in depth review of the OMD E-M5 will come in the future.

What camera do you use when you are on vacation or travelin? Do you love your Panasonic point and shoot? Do you carry your DSLR or perhaps you stand by your trusty iPhone? I know I do. Let me know what you prefer. Leave a message below, send me a tweet on twitter, or post on my facebook. Heck even send us a message. Let me know, we want to share it with others.

P.S.
This is not a sponsored post. I paid everything out of my own pocket, Olympus did not sponsor me. I also am not being paid by Olympus to promote this camera. I am doing it to better inform those out there.