Jim and April's Roadtrips

Well, this post is a bit later than I had planned, but here it is! We all had a great time attending the 2013 Pearson Family Reunion in Springfield, Ohio. As you can see from this group photo we had a pretty good turn out this year and hope for an even better one next year.

We decided that it will be in Springfield, Ohio again next year, but at a new location which is yet to be decided. The date has also been set so those that want to mark their calendars the next reunion will be on June 22, 2014 beginning at 1pm.

It was great to visit with cousins and Aunt Jean to catch up on a lot of what everyone has been up to since we last got together! Everyone got to meet their newest cousins from Kentucky, Xavier, Elaina and Damion! Hope more of the family can make it next year as we all had a great time and plan for an even better time next year.

Anyone that knows Kentucky music or thumbpicking has heard of Eddie Pennington. This past weekend they had their annual festival in Princeton, Ky where Eddie lives and I took a short road trip, about 30 miles, on Saturday to hear Eddie and his family play. Of course I wasn’t disappointed as I’ve been a fan of him and his music ever since I attended my first concert in the woods at his farm. We at the paper have done several stories on him and so we’ve know each other probably almost as long as the 17 years I’ve been working for The Messenger Newspaper in Madisonville, Ky.

Anyway, I made my way there yesterday afternoon and shot several video clips with my Nikon D800 that I’ve strung together into a 30 min video that I’ve posted below that I thought our viewers would enjoy.

Well, sis and I are on the road again for a two week trip to the east coast and back to attend my Combat Camera Reunion in Charleston, SC starting on the 27th. As usual we’re taking a couple weeks and making a road trip to visit people and places along the way.

The first stop of our trip this time, after visiting my niece Tracy in Richmond, Ky, was the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We’ve been here before, but there’s always something new to see or photograph, even when you’ve been there before.

I bought the iPhone App called Slow Shutter Cam for this trip as I wanted to capture some slow shutter speed images of waterfalls and streams that I could post on this blog and Facebook without having to worry about spending time editing and formating the images I’m shooting with my Nikon D700 while I’m on the road.

While the app is by no means as good at capturing the smoky water effect I wanted to get as I could with my D700, it really did a pretty decent job for me. Slow Shutter Cam brings new life into your iPhone’s photo toolbox by letting you capture a variety of amazing slow shutter speed effects that you only thought you could get with a DSLR.

The settings screen allows you to tweak everything from the shutter speed to the f/stop that you want the camera to use or you can of course use the camera in automatic mode.

There’s also a setting called Light trail which I understand is for shooting night cityscapes that include moving cars and such. This is one feature I haven’t tried as of yet.

For the most part the two images I’ve included that I shot here in the Smokies, (I shot more of course) were taken with the camera on Automatic mode.

It’s pretty obvious that if you’re going to use this app then you need to do so on a tripod of some sort for the shooting or brace it against something and hold your breath. I used a small Gorillapod for my tripod of choice and a iPhone tripod adapter to attach it. There’s a wealth of different kinds out there, just do a google search and find something that you like.

 

by Jim Pearson

Yesterday my sister, niece and some friends braved the 102 degree heat to attend the Kentucky Renaissance Fair in Eminece, Ky. It was only short road trip, but a fruitful one to say the least.

We have attended this fair on numerous occasions over the past few years and I must say that it’s not the largest I’ve ever attended, but is by far one of the friendliest for photographers that I can recall. Every time we’ve been there all we had to do is ask one of the participants or visitors in costume to take their picture and without fail everyone was happy to pose for us.

When we went earlier in the year during our family reunion weekend I did all my shooting for the most part with my Nikon D700 camera with a Sigma 24-70 zoom lens. Of course it did an outstanding job, but for having a fun time and to concentrate on the art of just taking pictures, it was a bit much than I really wanted and I don’t feel that I got what I was really looking compared to last year when I shot only with my iPhone 4.

I do love the simplicity of taking pictures with the iPhone. I upgraded to the 4s this year with the higher resolution sensor and I’m really liking the results that I am getting. The more I shoot with it the more I like shooting with it. Now, admittedly I don’t crop a lot or zoom either when using the camera.

For the most part I just shoot the picture the way I want to see the final picture look like. Sometimes it’s with the built-in camera and sometimes it’s not and that was the case this weekend. Also, the act of shooting with the iPhone seems to put subjects more at ease also as they’re not as intimated.

This time I did all my shooting with an app called 6×6 that captures square pictures, much like the 120 roll film cameras that I used to use what seems like forever ago now. It’s simple, easy to use and the settings are all right at your fingertips for adding a border, switching from color to B&W along with other options.

For 99 cents it’s a great buy and if f you are a classic buff when it comes to square medium formatted photos, then the 6×6 camera app is for you. It is fast and   includes a twin-lens reflex feature which gives you a mirrored preview just like a classic 120 camera, but you can also turn that feature off.

Other cool features include: Full manual focus/exposure controls, full EXIF data – including location-tagging, option for a grid no grid, 6×6 grid or 3×3 grid screen, dynamic color and dynamic black and white option and audio feedback for switches, buttons and flash recharge sounds are optional. Click on the icon at left to visit I tunes for more information.

Below is a gallery of some of the pictures from yesterdays trip.