Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Art Walk in St, Augustine, FL

Art Walk is held the first Friday of every month in the Historic District in downtown St. Augustine, FL. Stroll from art gallery to gallery sipping wine and enjoying snacks while meeting artists and their artwork. It's Free!

This Friday is the first Friday of the month and the perfect time to celebrate Fall and enjoy the Art Walk in the cooler weather.

Come stay with Friends at The St. Augustine Hostel, Casa Yallaha

Friday, September 25, 2009

Is Bing the Next Big Thing?

I read a post today from Krista Pappas of Microsoft Bing Travel that said Bing will be using a lot more visual-style in their search. In other words they will be using pictures and images so you will have a better idea of whether you are interested or not.

I was curious so I clicked the sample link. It came up and said I had to install Microsoft Silverlight in order to use Visual Search. Not knowing what Silverlight was, I passed. Still curious I looked up Silverlight. Here's what Wikipedia had to say.

"Silverlight provides a retained mode graphics system similar to Windows Presentation Foundation, and integrates multimedia, graphics, animations and interactivity into a single runtime environment."

Microsoft has gained some ground with Bing but have not quite gotten back to where MSN was back in 2006 when they had 10 percent of the search. They continuously lost ground from 2006 through 2008 when they only had a little over 4 percent of the search.

Since their debut of Bing and all the advertising they have been doing, Bing now boasts over 9% of the search traffic. They definitely have gained ground. The question at the end of their post asked "Is this a Game Changer"? Is it? Google gets over 70% of all search traffic, Yahoo 17%. I suppose it is possible they could continue to gain ground, but a game changer? I don't think so. Google is very progressive and will no doubt match whatever Microsoft is doing. What do you think?


Wednesday, September 23, 2009

What Causes Red Eye in Photos?

I found an interesting article on what causes red eye. Obviously, I knew it had something to do with the flash, but did not know exactly what happens that causes red eye.

Here's what I found: Red eye is actually caused when the light from a flash is bounced off the back of the eye at an angle returning it toward the camera lens. When the flash is located close to the lens, the reflected light goes directly into the lens, resulting in red eye. Interesting! As a result, it is difficult to avoid red eye with many point-and-shoot cameras where the flash is located very close to the lens. Even cameras with a flutter flash, designed to eliminate red eye do not always work.

With today's digital photography, you can just load your pictures into the computer and correct red eye with digital tools quite easily.

For a great place to take pictures come to America's oldest city, St. Augustine, FL. Stay with Friends at the St. Augustine Hostel Casa Yallaha

Sunday, September 20, 2009

travel



Obama Olympic travel eyed: Advance: The Swamp
Before any presidential trip, the White House advance teams need time to size up the security situation and make arrangements for accomodations -- even for travel the president doesn't end up undertaking.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Should you let Swine Flu Keep You from Traveling?

If you are sick with the flu, of course you should not travel. But should you let the fear of catching Swine Flu keep you from traveling?

Not according to mathematician Dirk Brockmann of Northwestern University. In an interview with Popular Science Magazine, he says "even if we reduced total human mobility by 60 percent, we would slow the virus only slightly".

Bottom line, if you or your family are sick, stay home. But if you want or need to travel, it is important not to worry about it and enjoy yourself.

According to Popular Science the four keys to containment of the H1N1 virus are vaccines, tracking infections, thwarting mutations and medication.

Coming to Florida, stay with friends at The St. Augustine, Casa Yallaha

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

5 Ways to Take Photos that Truly Capture Your Journey

Taking beautiful photographs in exotic, far-flung locales is a surprisingly easy thing to do, once you’re there. But really showing a place—its ins and outs, its people and its surroundings—is a much more difficult pursuit.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed, to find yourself walking around wide-eyed, your camera still lost somewhere at the bottom of your bag; or, conversely, snapping off rapid fire shots of anything that moves (and many things that don’t), only to find when you return home that you haven’t captured anything meaningful or worthwhile from your journey.

A pretty landscape is one thing, but a collection of images that work well together and truly show a place will have people coming back to view them over and over again. Below are five things I try to do before, during and after any trip; I’ve found they help me get the most out of my photographs.

A pretty landscape is one thing, but a collection of images that work well together and truly show a place will have people coming back to view them over and over again. Below are five things I try to do before, during and after any trip; I’ve found they help me get the most out of my photographs.

1. Do some research

A pretty landscape is one thing, but a collection of images that work well together and truly show a place will have people coming back to view them over and over again.

First, do some research and learn about a place. We do it before we travel, so why not do it before we photograph? Find out about the history, the culture, the customs and the surrounding towns, regions and countries. This should inform not only what you photograph, but how you photograph.

Obviously, you’ll probably shoot a trip through Thailand’s southern islands or a resort in the Maldives slightly differently than you would a refugee camp in Uganda or displaced Burmese in the Irrawaddy Delta. I like to make lists of the things I want to photograph once I arrive in a place. I tend to forget them otherwise.

2. Take less equipment

Second, pare down on your equipment. I appreciate practicality and mobility above most things, and carrying backpacks filled with camera equipment just isn’t for me. In the end, most accessories hinder more than help when I’m photographing a place, especially if there’s a lot of moving around or a lot of ground to cover. Keep that in mind.

If you’re making your way across Rajasthan in two weeks, taking night trains and buses and generally hoofing it from one desert fort or palace to the next, you might want to be mindful of how much crap you’re lugging along. Bring one lens instead of four. Take off the battery pack. Leave the tripod at home. Learn to photograph efficiently.

I mostly work and travel these days with one full-frame camera, a 35mm lens and a few small off-camera flashes. I also keep a film rangefinder and some gaffer’s tape on hand in case of an emergency.

3. Get off the beaten path

Third, while you’re traveling, get off the beaten track. Spend a day or two just walking through the streets with your camera. Go down alleys. Get lost. Look through windows. Talk to people. Have lunch at a local eatery. Drink a beer by the side of the road.

If I’m traveling with my girlfriend, I always split away from her for a day or two. The photographs I take are much different when I’m alone. I’m more likely to put myself in awkward positions and to impose myself on people when I’m by myself. And this is usually when I get my best photographs. Which brings me to the fourth point.

4. Smile

Smile. Don’t forget that you’re a visitor. With a camera. A smile will get you everywhere. In all my travels, I’ve never met a person who enjoyed being intimidated or lied to. The best advice I can give, particularly when photographing people, is to be honest and open about your intentions.

I tend to walk slowly, with my camera in my hand, pausing often to at least look through the viewfinder, searching for shots. I smile whenever I make eye contact with someone. They almost always smile back. In this way I’ve been invited into homes, fed, given family histories and gotten drunk on local spirits on more than a few occasions. I’ve played volleyball and badminton for hours, been taken out on fishing boats and have even been given small gifts to take away with me.

Other times I’ve just sat there, on a stoop with some older man, watching the world walk by one body at a time. Not everyone will want their picture taken. Respect that and smile when they say no, then move along.

5. Edit your images

The final thing is to edit your images when you get back home. A great slideshow can say thousands of things about a place, but a bad one will have your viewers checking their watches, slurping their drinks or quickly clicking away from your blog. Try to pare what you have down to 20-25 images. Remember that less is more, and that sometimes you have to kill your favorites.

Try to show a good mix of people, landscapes, objects and quirky or interesting scenes that you’ve captured. Have the photographs tell a story. Your story. Leave people wanting more, not less. And then start preparing for your next trip.

About the author:

Aaron Santos moved to Hanoi, Vietnam in mid-2007, where he works as a photographer for a local magazine. His blog, From Swerve of Shore, is filled with beautiful photos captured in Hanoi and on his travels throughout the region.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Win a Trip from The Travel Channel

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to be a travel journalist, you'll want to enter to win The Travel Channels all-inclusive trip for 2 to their headquarters in Washington, DC.

Get Information from The Travel Channel on their Travel Bug Sweepstakes.

Traveling in Florida? Come to America's oldest city, St. Augustine. Come Stay With Friends and stay at the St. Augustine Hostel Casa Yallaha.