Where We're At

An iPhone shot of the field from last week. Not a
bad place to start most days from.

This morning I set up my tripod in the fairground area across from our house for what is likely the last time I shoot a landscape in Europe. It wasn't in a famous location or a spot that is particularly remarkable in the German countryside. Instead, it was to shoot a view of home. It's a view of a big hill on the other side of the river with the fairground field in the foreground. This field is where we've been walking our dog for the last 3.5 years. The view of that unremarkable field and the unremarkable hill across the river has been the view from our house, a view we've had in our lives longer than any other. It was important to me to capture it during a sunrise. In a month we'll pull away from this house and our street and this town and we'll probably never see that view again, at least not at that time of day. I think we often take these types of places for granted and sometimes we see them so much we forget that there might come a time we will never see them again and then we may forget them. I've lived in a lot of places and I have photographs from all of them. But, they're mostly all snapshots. It wasn't until we moved to Europe that I thought to document the towns and homes we lived in with a little more care. So, this morning I officially closed out my European photographic journey with shooting a place that means a little more to me than some bright city or sweeping landscape elsewhere. It isn't that exciting compared to all those other places I photographed, but every time I looked out a window at home at this view or walked The Dog in the field, I said a little thanks for being given time to live in this beautiful, simple place.

After I came inside this morning, I packed up most of my equipment. Saturday morning we're flying back to the US. We're going for a week to finalize our housing in Akron and take care of a lot of logistical stuff. We're also taking The Dog back and he will be hanging out with my parents who graciously offered to care for him until we finalize the move at the end of next month. That way we will be able to take Cats 1 & 2 in the cabin with us on that last flight instead of putting them in the hold. The Dog will be riding under the seat on Saturday's flight and my computer, backup drives, all of my cameras, lenses, and other misc gear will be riding under the seat next to him. The "powers" that be in Washington are threatening to make passengers check their laptops on flights from Europe to the US like they did earlier this year with flights coming from Muslim majority nations. I want to get my laptop out of here before that goes into effect. We have a moving company shipping nearly all of our belongings, but I certainly don't want my equipment crossing the ocean on a tanker or in the hold of a cargo plane. So, it all has to come back under the seat on Saturday. No important equipment will be checked, of course. All that will remain in Germany to use during our last few weeks here is my X70 and a Gorillapod.

These next few days I'm going to be cramming in as much editing from our trip to Zermatt as I can and I'll probably continue to work on that while we're in Akron next week. But, we have a lot to get organized for the move too and time will be tight. Whatever I don't get to is going to wait until we are done with the move. I'm not going to have my computer for 3 weeks! So, there's a good chance this will be the last blog post for a while, but I'm hoping to keep posting with my tablet right up until the end. There's definitely going to be a lull in new photograph uploads to the website, though. I hope you'll bear with me!

After we return next weekend, we'll be in Germany for three more weeks. They will be shipping nearly everything we own right after we come back from Akron so we'll be sharing an air mattress on the floor with the Cats and eating a lot of carry out on paper plates. It's going to be like camping in someone else's house because it won't feel like ours anymore. In fact, it doesn't feel like home anymore now. All the art is off the walls, we have piles of stuff everywhere- some for the boat, some for air cargo, some to take back next week, some to donate/throw out (massive hassle on that front, by the way), and some to keep here. It's a mess. International moving is like regular moving except about ten times more stressful. Every single thing has to be kept track of, accounted for, and organized- right down to the toilet paper and cat litter. It's hard to believe that by the end of Summer this will all be behind us and we won't have to move again for hopefully a very, very long time.

So, just wanted to touch base, but I really need to get back to editing. Time is short.

Wow.

Project: #GlimpsesofHome

Tomorrow morning my husband and I are boarding a flight to the USA and will be back home in Northeast Ohio for about two weeks.  We usually do this once a year to see family, visit the dentist, see our GP, touch base with our banker, and catch up with friends.  It's a hectic time, no matter how we try to make it as un-hectic as possible.  As the years pass, and this December will mark 5 years in Europe, our home leave trip grows in importance.  Even though we often travel to a new and exciting location once a month, that visit to humble Northeast Ohio is our favorite journey of the year.  For us, the day before the trip has the excitement of Christmas Eve.  Touching down at CLE airport, getting in the rental car, and swinging onto Rt. 480 E is like descending the stairs on Christmas Day.  We can barely contain our excitement.

For those that have never lived abroad for a long period of time, this probably doesn't make much sense.  Isn't living in Europe a dream come true? How can your grungy hometown with its abandoned factories, strip malls, high crime rates, and blighted neighborhoods compare?  Sure, on paper Akron falls short when stacked next to the picturesque village on the Main where we've been living for almost three years.  But, you know what?  It's Home.  Home, no matter where that is, will always have an edge over the most beautiful places on earth.

Usually during these trips I take a lot of pictures.  I generally don't do much with them except to document another magical home leave trip.  Last year, I did manage to get out a couple of days for some more traditional shooting which you can see here and here.

This year, I've decided to do a photo project during the trip.  It's part personal project, part documentary.  Every day, like always, I'll be taking photographs, but this year I'll be sharing many more with you!  As long as WiFi permits, I'll post two photographs to Instagram a day- one of my usual images that are posted daily, and one under the tag #GlimpsesofHome. Images under that tag will be of something or somewhere that is unique about Akron (or a location nearby) and it will probably have a little story with it too.  The goal of the project is to highlight what makes Akron and its environs so special to us, and why that area is worth visiting just as much as the other locations I've photographed in Europe.  Obviously, the biggest draw personally is the relationships we have there.  But, there are countless things about Northeast Ohio that make it special and worthy.  I'd like to show you some of them.  They won't all be scenic, so I ask you to bear with the variety of images I'll be posting.  Home is where our culture comes from.  It's people, food, music, common ground, language, art, and environment.  Our home is a typical small American city.  It's had its struggles, heck, it still has struggles.  But, it also has a lot of magic.  Slowly but surely, that magic is growing and things are changing.  We see it every year.  The place has soul.  Through this project, I'd like you to get a glimpse of that.

So, tune into Instagram to follow my #GlimpsesofHome project for the next two weeks!  Too often we focus on where we've been or where we're headed to next.  Sometimes it's best to turn our attention to where we're from.

Closed In and Up Close

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted something on the blog, so I've already broken my resolution to get something up here once a week.  Things got a little crazy around here, and after that adventure in Belgium last month I haven't gotten out to do any scenic shooting.  My husband has been in and out on one business trip after another, I was transportation-less for about a week, and then the weather was just wretched.  Then, to top it off, one of our cats (the esteemed Cat 2) had to have emergency surgery.  His brother, Cat 1, has dealt with skin cancer off and on since we moved to Luxembourg, and we were upset to discover a similar looking lump on Cat 2.  He also managed to break a tooth pretty badly that was getting infected.  So, the vet took care of both concerns and he's been home taking it easy in a private room to keep him from overexerting himself or pulling on the stitches.   That means we've all been shut ins for about a week and we still have 5 days to go before his stitches come out.  He's doing really well and healing quickly, and it has gone a lot better than it could have.  Unlike his brother, Cat 2 is really sensitive to just about anything disturbing his routine and he hasn't been sick a day in his life.  So, we thought surgery and recovery would be a major trauma for him.  Turns out though, in spite of the indignity of wearing The Dog's shirts, he's kind of enjoying all the special treatment.  We're still waiting on the test results, but I'm holding out hope it was just a benign thing and this is the only time he'll have to go through that.  Thanks to everyone who've passed on their best wishes.  He really appreciates the love ;-)

So, most of my photography has been confined to inside the house for the past couple of weeks.  I've added three new additions to my X Series family, the XF 35mm f/2 R WR lens, the MCEX-11 macro extension, and the MCEX-16 macro extension.  Why have two 35mm lenses?  Well, I view the lenses as companions, not competitors.  Obviously, the 35mm f/2 is weather sealed, so that was the biggest attraction for me.  I like to carry one of my cameras on me at all times and preferably with the 35mm f/1.4 lens because it was the smallest and brightest lens in the fleet.  But, the older version isn't sealed, meaning I wasn't shooting too much when we'd head out in the rain (which is a lot).  I'm pretty paranoid about water damage.  Also, the f/1.4 has pokey autofocus.  I was missing a lot when walking around taking candid street shots.  So, since the newer version is so inexpensive, I decided to get it.  I'm mostly keeping it on the X-E2 as an everyday carry since that is the smallest combination, but if I'm heading out in wet weather I'll switch it over to the X-T1.  I opted for the silver version only because I like the aesthetics.  I've been shooting indoors with it almost exclusively and I have to say I'm really impressed with the performance.  That doesn't mean I'm going to get rid of the f/1.4 version though.  It is still a fabulous lens and particularly adept at portraits and product photography thanks to being f/1.4.  And if things aren't moving around too much it is also good for those very low light moments.  So, the f/2 is my street lens and the f/1.4 is my interior lens.

This was taken with the 35mm f/1.4 on the X-T1 combined with the MCEX-11

Now, about the macro extension tubes.  I'm fascinated by macro photography.  In fact, I'm fascinated by the whole concept of photography showing us things about the world in a new way, a way we can't see with the naked eye.  I've been interested in playing around with macro for a while, especially when I come across an image in nature that I want to explore, well,  more closely.  Fujifilm does make a macro lens, the XF 60mm f/2.4 R Macro, but I don't want to purchase it since I don't shoot macro very often.  But, the two extensions are very inexpensive and a much more effective solution for my needs.  It wouldn't require carrying around the weight of a lens that wouldn't get used very often, because they basically turn any lens into a macro.  I only have two primes, both 35mm, so I can't give you a comprehensive review of how they perform in general, but I have found the most pleasing results come from a fixed lens over one of the zooms.  When it comes down to which 35mm lens works best, I choose the f/1.4.  Those extra stops goes a long way to making an interesting image, especially since the primes have such a shallow depth of field.  With the extension tubes on, you are basically able to bring the camera closer to the object.  Hoods get in the way and need to be removed.  Camera shake comes into play here quite a bit, so I've found using the eye piece instead of the rear screen helps reduce the shake when shooting handheld.  Also, it's best to switch over to manual focus than rely on AF.  The brighter the conditions, the more pleasing the results.  Here are a some shots I've taken in the last few days.  I neglected to write down which tube I was using for each shot, but they both do the same thing.  The 16 lets you get closer than the 11, and you can stack them allowing you to get right down on top of the item.  Sometimes getting that close throws a shadow over the subject which can make focusing a bit tougher, so as I said, the brighter the conditions, the better.

Seal on a replica glass onion bottle.

Whiskey glass.

Bicycle chains

Decorative doodad.

Book spine with fraying jacket.  I loved how this picked up the fibers of the paper.

I'm definitely going to throw one or both of these extensions in the bag from now on when we're heading out on the trails.  I'm really looking forward to getting outside and capturing the coming of spring up close.  The only downside to these is that they don't come with any caps.  I'm just as paranoid about dust and hair getting inside my gear as I am about water, and with no protection the tubes could easily transfer such things to inside the camera.  So, I bought two sets of extra lens and body caps when I ordered these.  Those are super cheap, so it wasn't that big of deal.  Speaking of extra things I had to buy, I also bought a different hood to go with the 35mm f/2.  The one that comes with it is a total joke and it really bothered me that it was black when the rest of the lens is silver.  Thankfully, I was able to pick up a €5 metal hood in silver that is the spitting image of the much more expensive LH-XF35-2 by Fuji.

They say winter is the best time to experiment and learn more in photography.  If you can't get out and shoot, it gives you the time to try out other things.  I've taken these several weeks to not only experiment, but also to learn.  Like I wrote last time, I've been feeling very compelled to take my study of photography a bit further and delve into the history and heritage of the field.  So, for the past four weeks I've been participating in the Seeing Through Photography course offered online by the Museum of Modern Art.  I'm almost through it and only have one more quiz and the final project to go.  I'll be filling you in on that whole experience once I'm finished and have been awarded the certificate (barring I don't fail the project or something).  For now let me just say I've been challenged and blown away repeatedly over the last several weeks.  The course hasn't been easy or bug free, but it's been exactly what I was after.  It's also the reason why I haven't been able to post on here.  There is a ton of homework!

Partly because of what I'm learning and partly because I'm stuck in the house, I've started up a couple of side projects.  One of them is, obviously, messing around with macro photography.  The other is a personal project about the time I've been cooped up.  I've been spending 95% of my time, day and night, in my office where we've set up Cat 2.  We have to keep a pretty close eye on him while his incision is healing and he can't be left alone very long (he loves that).  I've been shooting a lot in that office, and not just cat photos.  My camera has been basically attached to my wrist, and I think I've shot more in the last 5 days then I do on a typical trip!  It's kind of a way to document the weird and surreal experience of being voluntarily locked in a small room for 10 days, and also to explore the concepts of space and objects in that space.  Watching the light play on the walls, seeing the exact same views from the windows, fixating on things in the room- the texture of the wall, the lampshade.  Part of it includes some macro work, but most is just with the 35mm f/2 on the X-E2.  I'm not sure if I'm going to upload all these images anywhere or print them or what.  We'll see.  Photography is relevant to every aspect of life and I've become more and more interested in including it beyond the obvious, spending more time with the camera, enjoying it, and seeing more because of it.

Chip Out of the Wall, 15:23, Tuesday.

Or maybe I'm just loosing my mind.  Ha.  Anyway, the cat get his stitches out on Monday and we'll both be free.  Shortly afterwards, we (my husband and I, not Cat 2) will be hopping on a plane to Reykjavik and then we'll be in a huge wide open space and socializing instead of alone in a tiny room.  It should be interesting!