Africa is an amazing place to photography birds in addition to the Big Five and all of the wildlife that abounds.  I photographed the following two birds while on a safari in Kenya om 2007.  I think that they are both pretty interesting.

The longtailed widowbird is unique with its tailfeathers that extend about 20 inches!

This is a Bateleur Eagle

Nikon D70s, Nikon 80-400mm lens.  I am so looking forward to owning the new version of this lens for my next safari.

More later...

Historic Berlin Wall to be Removed

I noticed in yesterday's newspaper that another part of the historic Berlin Wall is soon to be removed for a new development in the city.  Soon..more history will be lost.  Thank goodness for our photographs. Lynn and I spent a day in Berlin in 2003 touring both what was East Berlin and West Berlin.  I took a few photos of the Wall as it remained then.  I thought that I would share those here.

This trip was my first using the Nikon D100.  Again...Thank goodness for our photos.  What do you think?


 

Computer Repair Day

Today was spent working on my short list of computing problems that needed to be fixed.  I got a call a couple of days ago from a friend that was searching for my website, Crazy'AboutTravel.com I searched.  He was right...where was my site?  After attempting to fix the Domain Forwarding on my own to no avail I called the domain registy provider...then my site provider.  It seems that my Place Server names with my site provider had changed.  After another attempt and expert help from my domain provider,  Dotster I was back in business!

I also had a problem with messages being sent from my Outlook e-mail software.  This was a problem that just occurred for the first time after Feb. 22.  I have been using Windows 8 for about 6 months, but this was the first problem like this that I have experienced.  I had called my DSL provider, Verizon, a few weeks ago.  Frustrated, they threw me to the wolves telling my that Outlook using Windows 8  had not yet become compatible with Verizon.  After about a week not being able to send messages in the Outlook software I decided to call Verizon again.  This time I got a friendly lady someplace overseas who fixed my problem in a matter of minutes! Hooray!

I decided to celebrate my conquests by spending a little while sorting out some macro shots that I took with my photography friends at the house a few days ago.  Here are a couple of my favorites that I shot in a Smith Victor Light Tent.  Nikon D7000, Nikon 105mm Macro lens.  Enjoy..

More later....

Big Weekend of Mini Events

It was a great weekend to visit and photograph in the Tampa Bay area.  On Friday, a couple of friends and I visited the practice session for the Honda Grand Prix.  It is a great time to take photographs of the drivers as they parade toward their cars.  In particular we wanted to see the Indy drivers and hoped that we could get a photo of the top drivers as they headed toward the track.  Here are my photos of the top 3 drivers.

2nd Place - Helio Castroneves

          

Winner - James Hinchcliffe

3rd Place - Marco Andretti

 On Saturday, Lynn and I stopped by Main Street in Safety Harbor to get a glimpse of the Chalk Art Festival which was to take place on Saturday and during the Arts and Crafts Fair on Sunday.  There are some really talented artists that participate.

On Sunday, we attended the horse races at Tampa Bay Downs.  Our Mercedes-Benz Club sponsored Race 3 of the event.  A drawing determined the names of 4 of our members that were able to go  into the Winners Circle to get their pictures taken with the winning horse and jockey.

The weekend was overcast, but we were never bothered by rain at any of these events.

OMG - 2 New Cameras on the same day!

I arrived home from my local camera club meeting to be surprised for the second time on Tuesday. Lynn told me that another box arrived. Wow. It is my new micro 4/3 Olympus OMD camera. I recently traded my Oly E-PL 3 camera for the new OMD with Gary Farber of Hunt's Photo & Video while at the NANPA Summit in Jacksonville. The trade show at NANPA was the perfect place to look at new gear and to work on my wish list. I also just bought David Busch's guide for the Olympus OMD E-M5. I find reading Busch's guides to be the best way to learn new tricks for my cameras. I have all of his guides for my Nikon, Canon and now Olympus cameras.

Well, now it's time to open that big box..and start up my new toy....  More later...

New Olympus Cameras have Arrived

My new Olympus TG-1 iHS arrived today. It is always fun, but stressful opening up packages with new gear.  I say stressful since I am always afraid that something will be missing in the package and I will be forced to call the company to test their support department. Fortunately that won't be necessary here. Everything was in order.  I popped in the battery and hooked up the charger, loaded the software and registered the camera.  I tested the camera. It works just fine. I bought this compact camera for its underwater ability. Next test....underwater use.  More later...

More on New Gear for Tahiti trip.

For this exotic future adventure to the tropics (Tahiti and the Society Islands) I decided that some new light gear was in order so after doing some research here is what I purchased.  Since so many of our adventures from the ship will have to do with snorkeling I needed some type of an underwater camera. I have never done any underwater photography and I really don't have any plans to get real serious about it in the future so I don't need anything too expensive. I settled on the compact Olympus TG 1 iHS. This camera has been replaced by the TG 1 iHS.  But, like I said earlier I want to spend as little money as possible for this item. I was able to save an additional $100 by buying this camera reconditioned from Olympus. Here is a link to the specs for the TG 1 iHS.

 http://www.getolympus.com/us/en/tough-tg-1.html

More later...

New Gear on the way for Future Trip

We have booked an exotic trip to Tahiti and the Society Islands.  We fly from Tampa to LAX then to Papeete, Tahiti. We will spend 3 days in Tahiti before our cruise on the Paul Gaugin ship. This is a trip that Lynn has wanted to do for he past 4 or 5 years, but it always seems like when the opportunity comes up we are headed to another corner of the world.  Honestly, I didn't really have a clue about exactly where Tahiti was before booking this trip. The Society Islands are in the South Pacific south of Hawaii and west of Easter Island. We will visit Bora Bora, Moorea and other islands.  Reading the itinerary it appears that most of our activities will be in the water. That means snorkeling.  In spite of  of taking a scuba diving class in college and growing up in the Florida Keys I haven't ever scuba dived. Snorkeling calls for an underwater camera. Since I am not skilled in underwater photography I decided to search out an inexpensive  compact camera.  My choice is an Olympus compact that is good to 33 feet underwater. More later...

Still Reeling from a great NANPA Summit

Wow, the stars of outdoor photography were all there at the recent NANPA (North American Nature Photographers Association) Summit in Jacksonville. Keynote speakers Art Wolfe, Clyde Butcher and Ron Balog were all at their best.  Wildlife speakers gave endless tips throughout the 3 days that I attended. Rob Sheppard gave a fresh view of the value and how- to of building an e-book.  Rob always comes up with unique presentations. People with the same passions bonded. Ron Balog shared some incredible photos of the shrinking glaciers of Mt. Everest and in Alaska.  Art told of his non-stop 39 years of travel to all corners of the world. Clyde took us into his world in the swamps of the Everglades. Camera and equipment manufacturers showed off their stuff in the trade show. It was fun meeting gregarious  Gary Farber, owner of Hunt's Photo in Massachusetts. It was also interesting spending a few days along Jacksonville's St. John's riverfront.