When Words Aren’t Enough – Take a Picture!

Day 46, Grand Asia 2017

Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017 – At Sea

I’ve been on the hunt for SD cards for my Sony camera, but generally when I find them on shore, they are more than I want to pay. This is causing me to rethink my photo travel strategy.

I love taking pictures, and it’s not unusual for me to come home from a trip with a couple of thousand. None of them are National Geographic quality, much to my disappointment. But they serve their purpose in reminding me of my trips and illustrating my blog posts.

Within a year or two of returning, I usually put together and order a printed photo book on Apple’s iPhoto (I’ve been slow to upgrade to Photos). It takes me a long time because I have so many photos to sort through, and I import all of the finalists into Photoshop to improve the quality. Sometimes a cruise project for sea days is putting together the book from an earlier trip.

I used to carry a Nikon digital SLR camera and two or three lens – a short-distance zoom, another telephoto to 200mm and on trips with wildlife a zoom to 300mm. I loved the camera, but not the weight of the total package. So a few years ago I switched to a Sony NEX-6, a mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses. I can still choose between manual controls such as speed or aperture priority. Best is that it is significantly lighter than my Nikon. I brought both my lenses (16-50mm and 55-210mm) on this trip.

I’m surprised to report that the 16-50mm lens is the only one I am using. For days I carried the larger lens on tours, but the couple of times I paused to switch, I found it zoomed in too much for the scene. I’ve quit carrying it ashore.

My iPhone 6S is my second camera. I take about a fifth of my shots with my iPhone, mainly around the ship and sometimes ashore. The Word Press app makes it very easy to upload iPhone photos to my blog. I’m not ready to upgrade to a new smartphone yet, but when I do it might become my primary camera as the technology continues to leap ahead.

The Amsterdam’s photo gallery is hosting a contest for the best cruise photography, but it costs $5 for each entry. I think that puts off a lot of people, who see it as just another money grab. You do get an 8×10-inch print of each entry, so if you want the print it’s a good deal.

The ship’s photographers are on hand to take pictures as we disembark at each port, as well as during gala nights, but I don’t see many takers. Fellow cruisers say it is the price – now $20 per 5×7-inch print. I remember the days when they were $5 each and we would eagerly await the display of new photos to see if we liked them. The photo gallery seldom has any business that I see on this trip.

About those SD cards: I bought some at Costco and forgot to pack them, so I’m close to filling those I keep in my camera bag. I like to have my photos in two places – on my laptop and on my SD cards. I also brought some thumb drives, so I’ll use those for backup and reformat my SD cards to use again.

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Today is the first of three sea days before we get to Cairns, and I’m enjoying the slower pace: Watercolor class, a lecture or two, perhaps a nap and a great dinner. No cooking, cleaning or laundry. Life is good.