Summer in the Park

Finally made it back to Rocky Mountain National Park last week for a nice hike. Of course, I had to bring along the camera gear as to not miss opportunity. Glad I did!

Love this time of year when the hoards of tourists are starting to go home and the park quiets down. Looking forward to more visits as the fall approaches.

For the camera geeks, details here:

• Fuji X-T3 w/ 10-24mm lens

• 10 second exposure at f/8 ISO

• Lee Big Stopper ND

• MeFoto tripod, no cable release used internal timer instead

• Edited in Snapseed & Affinity on my iPad

The Alps, Amsterdam & the Fuji X100T

Awhile back I wrote a post about my search for the 'Ultimate Travel Camera', eventually purchased a camera after much deliberation, lazily never made a follow up post about it and have since purchased yet another camera to replace the first 'ultimate travel' camera. Whew. The long short of it? I purchased a Panasonic Lumix LX10, didn't fall in love with it and decided to go back for my gut instinct of the Fuji X100T.

So here I am a few weeks into owning the X100T and I've been loving every minute of shooting with it. While I won't dwell on the Lumix (I plan a post about my experience with it soon), I just never fully loved shooting with it. It simply stayed in my bag too often and I was rarely inspired to shoot with it. I should've known the Fuji brand would be calling my name and I'm happy it's my new everyday carry. 

This post won't be a 'review' because there a million such things out there to geek out about over specs & pixel peeping. Nope, just some pics and the simple joy of shooting with a very capable compact camera that produces gorgeous images.

The Alps offer nothing less than impressive views.  

Typical scene around Chamonix.  

Made friends with this amiable bar keep over our shared passion for Fuji cameras. Bummed I didn't get him in focus as I was still getting used to handling the X100T. Good to show failures & successes too. Next time.

Wow.

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Then it was off to Amsterdam for a few days to let the legs recover before we headed home. I wanted to put the X100T through the paces in an urban environment and one I'm more familiar with. Definitely starting to get used to this thing.

Amsterdam is for...

Locals.

Photo Lego Dude checking out the tulips.

Best way to get around town.

Bikes everywhere.

Haarlem.

Photo Lego Dude approves the design of the X100T. [iPhone X]

Delta Airbus 350 at the gate. Goodbye for now Amsterdam and welcome to the family X100T.

Sunset in Crested Butte

No words needed. Love this town.

Crested Butte with a Bit of Luck

One of the axioms in photography is to never pass up an opportunity to make a good photograph. How many times have you had that feeling that you should probably stop what you are doing and snap a photo of that particular scene, didn't & later regretted it? I know I have but this was not the case and I've certainly learned not to pass opportunity up.

As I was driving down the mountain sipping my coffee on my way to a different planned location to the east of Mt. Crested Butte for an early morning shoot I couldn't help but see this scene developing. I knew I needed to hurry up to my planned scene for the morning, but this was too good to pass up.  The fog, clouds and sunrise combined made me stop the car and I'm quite glad I did. Especially since my planned location turned out to be rather dull as the clouds later created a less than appealing sunrise. 

Point of the story? Be flexible and don't let yourself pass up lucky moments!