Vision is seeing what others miss.
Sep 12
by FotoMonkey in travel 0 comments

Mercutio – Day 5

We woke up to another cold morning. The wood stove died down overnight so there was a chill in the cabin. I got it going again and the warmth is starting to radiate. Sitting at the table, enjoying some coffee and more conversation, we looked out the window to find a bald eagle riding the wind right outside the cabin. The wind is still steady out of the west putting a nice “walleye chop” on the lake. After breakfast I think we’re going to brave the cold and head out to the bass spot. We’re all itching to catch some bass but are also looking forward to more walleye. It proved to be a mostly cold day on the water. I was definitely glad that I kept my down puff jacket on. This fishing wasn’t quite spectacular but we did manage enough for dinner.
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Sep 11
by FotoMonkey in travel 0 comments

Mercutio – Day 4

Another day is upon us. The deck is wet so it must’ve rained overnight but I slept right through it. It’s brought in a deeper chill and the temperature is in the low 40s. It’s damp and the air is heavy. The mist can be felt and the cloud ceiling is low. Today is September 11. 9/11. Spent a little time in the solitude thinking back to that day so many years ago. Breakfast appeared in the form of eggs, sausage, and English muffins. It was small but hearty and set the stage for the rest of the day. The drone of a float plane could be heard in the distance. The noise grew louder as the bright yellow Cessna crested the tree tops and settled down on lake. The pontoons cut through the chop as the young pilot pointed its nose to the dock. The arrival of more ice, minnows, and food supplies was welcome. The pilot also got our water heater working. We’re all looking forward to a hot shower after several days. Morning turned into afternoon and the weather still looks iffy at best. The mist eventually morphed into a steady rain and it looks like this […]
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Sep 10
by FotoMonkey in travel 0 comments

Mercutio – Day 3

We started today off with a nice pancake and bacon breakfast. Real Canadian maple syrup certainly hit the spot. We debated whether to head out for a morning fish or to wait and the afternoon won out. Edward went for a walk along the shoreline while Jerry took the canoe out for a nice, solo paddle. Looking outside, we noticed another woodpecker. Could it be Chip? He was clinging to a nearby pine tree with his head tucked in. The sun was on him and the morning was colder. It seemed like he was taking the opportunity to soak up some of the warm rays. A bit later he was huddled on the ground and as the morning wore on we’d spot him in various spots of sun. Just like yesterday, he was oblivious or uncaring about our presence no matter how close we got to him. Unfortunately, things weren’t well. I was intrigued by him and kept watch over him. That’s when I realized that he was struggling to keep his head up and I knew that he wasn’t well. At one point, as I observed him from the deck, I noticed that his head just rolled over to […]
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Sep 09
by FotoMonkey in travel 0 comments tags: canada, mercutio

Mercutio – Day 2

The day didn’t start too early, though most of the guys are early risers. We took our cue from the White Otter and ended up having a nice breakfast of coffee, bacon, and eggs around 10am. We decided to head out for a morning fish but it wasn’t quite as productive. I managed to pull in a handful of fish along the shoreline not far from the cabin. It was a unique opportunity fishing under the watchful eye of a majestic bald eagle. The morning was very still. The surface of the lake was mostly glassy. This might have led to some of the challenges we had. Normally, you want to fish with the “walleye chop” so there’s some light wind chop but we didn’t have that at all. We returned to the cabin with a less than spectacular haul and sat around talking and catching up. The woods around the cabin are too thick for exploring so we spend our time on the deck at the picnic table or around the dock. After lunch we headed back out and had another good day of fishing. We had quite an interesting and unique experience. Stepping out of the cabin in […]
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Sep 08
by FotoMonkey in travel 0 comments tags: canada, mercutio

Mercutio – Day 1

7am arrived early. We’d planned on grabbing coffee and breakfast before heading to Canoe Canada. Here’s some important information…There’s nothing in Atikokan, Ontario. The Outdoorsman restaurant was closed (theoretically until October). The White Otter advertised breakfast but the sign on the door said 10am. With no other options, we headed to the Esso gas station where we were at least able to get coffee and what resembled a cream cheese danish. We returned to the motel, packed our bags, and hopped in the van left for us by Canoe Canada. We arrived at their location a couple of hours early but this allowed us time to fill out our boating license and go over the maps. We eventually hopped in the van and they drove us to the seaplane base where we had ourselves and our gear weighed so they could load our two seaplanes. We met with Jeremy, the owner, for another review of the maps and hot spots. Things were a little backed up so we had to wait a couple of hours for the planes to tend to ferrying other passengers either to or from other cabins. It was finally our turn and Joey, Gary and I […]
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Sep 07
by FotoMonkey in travel 0 comments

Oh Canada

It’s time for another trip with the guys. This year is a repeat for them but a first time for me. We’re headed to the wonderful wilderness of Canada’s Ontario, just spitting distance to the Quetico. The day started early at 4am to make a 7am flight. Security wasn’t too bad and the wait for departure went by pretty quickly. I met up with one of the guys in Atlanta and the entire gang finally came together in Minneapolis-St Paul. It was great to see almost everyone again after several years of missing our outings. We boarded a smaller jet for the only flight into International Falls that day and made the last leg of our journey together. Unfortunately, this is where we had our first snag. As the gates to the lone baggage claim were closed, one bag was missing. It hadn’t made the plane. It took a while to sort things out since the Delta crew had to turn the plane around for the return trip before they could assist. Welcome to International Falls. We met up with Bob from City Cab Company and loaded the van with all of our gear. We headed through International Falls and […]
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Aug 06
by FotoMonkey in film-recipe 0 comments tags: recipe, x-h1

Florida Summer

I’ve been working on my own recipe for the Fujifilm X-series camera and finally got to use it in its intended environment…bright beach vibey scenes. I took a recent trip to Key Largo, Florida and was able to run the recipe in various scenarios. I wanted something to bring forth that summer vibe and what better place to test it than the Florida Keys? This sample gallery includes a selection of images ranging from sailing, to kayaking, some random street shots, sunsets, and a few pics of Key West. Overall, I think I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I think it worked well in its intended settings and I’m looking forward to trying it out around town for the remainder of the summer. Recipe Let me know in the comments below if you use this. Better still, tag it in your social media with #fuji-florida-summer.
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Aug 02
by FotoMonkey in techniques 0 comments

iPhone Night Mode

I got a wild hair to do something I’ve never really done. I walked around at night with just my iPhone and a tripod. Things die down at the Key Largo resort pretty early and aside from a couple of workers heading home for the day I had the property to myself. The entire beach and marina areas were clear. The pool was all mine. It was an excellent evening. Even the breeze cooperated! I’ve been experimenting a lot on this trip. Not only am I trying to push the most out of the Fujifilm X-H1 but I’m also trying to build my confidence and artistic results with the iPhone. I always have the phone with me and I really want to do more than just grab quick snaps that are uninspiring. This deviates a little since night photography is obviously going to be better with a tripod but I wanted to try out the phone’s night mode on the tripod before going handheld. Overall, I think the results are pretty amazing. It doesn’t work 100% but when it does it’s very nice. When you’re working with long exposures (upwards of 30s) you have to expect some motion blur. In […]
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Jul 29
by FotoMonkey in travel 0 comments tags: key west, kodachrome60s, sooc, travel, x-h1

Key West

Had a great day sailing today aboard bluQ with Honest Eco Tours. We actually got under sail which was a surprise for July. I was glad we didn’t have to motor the entire way. We explored several areas around the Key West National Wildlife Refuge. Our stops included a kayak trip around a mangrove island where we enjoyed seeing a number of frigatebirds. Our next stop was a sponge garden. The sponges filter the water at a rate of 10x their body mass every ten minutes! No wonder they make for a great indicator about the water quality. While snorkeling around the garden we enjoyed the sights of large hermit crabs, a yellow spotted stingray, numerous lobsters, and many fish. While we were underway, we also got to enjoy a few dolphin encounters. The most exciting was a family with mom, dad, and about a 3-month old baby. After exploring the water, it was time to explore a little of Key West. The heat was a scorcher and we couldn’t muster the gumption to head over to Duval Street with the main Key West activity. Instead, we stuck around the historic seaport. The photos in this gallery were taken with […]
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Jul 24
by FotoMonkey in general 0 comments

The Keys to Planning

Ok, so this post’s title is a little play on words. You see, I’m planning all of my photography stuff ahead of the first vacation of the year. I’m really looking forward to leaving work behind for a bit and heading to Key Largo. With any luck, there will be some good exploring of the many Florida Keys between Largo and Key West. I’ve spent the past couple of weeks trying out a variety of recipes for the Fujifilm X-H1 and I think I finalized the list tonight: – Fujica Half– Florida Summer– Kodachrome 60s– Zero Hour– Bad Ink– Kodak Ektar 100– Default Florida Summer is my own recipe. I’ll be posting about it soon once I finalize it. Still tweaking it a little. Default is a standard Provia recipe with no tweak when I want a “clean” look. The gallery shows the five main recipes in order. I don’t have any with Kodachrome 60s yet, but it’s included as it’s part of the latest challenge for the Fuji Recipes Facebook group. I think it should give me a good mix of subdued vintage, beachy colors that pop, gorgeous night scenes, black and white, and nostalgic looks.
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