Venice Within The Frame will spend the entire week exploring Venice, allowing us to absorb and to experience the majesty of this special place in order to better photograph Venice. This won’t be a rushed tour. We’re going to linger. We’ll photograph the highlights of Venice and incorporate the masked Carnival participants into our photographs. We will also escape the tourists in search of the Venice that continues to thrive through a culture of its own. We will have group time to discuss photography as well as one-on-one assistance to improve our photography. We will enjoy great food, wine, and the discussion of photography, our vision, our craft, etc.

Clicking on the graphic below will open this photographic adventure’s mini-site where you will find the itinerary and details. For additional information or questions, please email me by clicking here.

There is no photograph with this post. It’s simply an invitation to all of you to go out and create your own perfect day. Again and again.

Fuji X-E1 posing in Liguria. (Sorry; not so great iPhone photograph while waiting for the light.)

I’ve been searching for the right light (ie, not heavy; not actual lights!) setup for years. Every so often something came to market that seemed promising, but there were always compromises that left me waiting. So I just stuck with my iPhone as my ultralight camera of choice and my Nikon DSLRs and lenses as my heavy but otherwise optimal setup. Until now.

The Fuji X-E1 is the heart of my new light setup. It’s a fun little camera that produces extremely good raw files. It doesn’t replace my Nikons, but I’m “playing” with it for these two weeks in Italy for Liguria Within The Frame and then Venice Within The Frame. I’m impressed.

In addition to my two favorite lenses for this camera (the 14mm/f2.8 and the 34mm/f1.4), I’ve completed this setup with with a very petite Gitzo tripod (the GT531). It’s really, really small. And light. It’s almost funny how small it is. However, it is remarkably sturdy for its size. It certainly has no problems with the weight of the X-E1. However, the photographers near you might snicker a bit when you pull it out of your bag (but you can snicker back at how much bigger — and heavier — their bags are). I put a Really Right Stuff BH-25 ballhead on the tripod. I like the ballhead, but the lever on it is a poor design. It extends below the bottom of the ballhead. So in this case it hits the tripod. Fortunately, you can pull it out (spring loaded) in order to keep tightening (or loosening) it; so it works fine, but that really is a foolish design. The camera has a Really Right Stuff plate on it. And that’s a Singh-Ray Vari-N-Duo on the lens (with a 52mm to 77mm adapter ring). The manual cable release is borrowed from somebody beautifully dear (I love you Wendy).

I’m becoming a huge fan of this light setup, but there are a few quirks. For example, I love the return of an aperture ring on the lens, but in this case it moves too easily. It, like most of the controls, are too easily moved on their own with a light brush of the hand, bag, etc. The little rubber hood for the 35mm/f1.4 really has no intention of ever staying on. I’ll lose it before too long. It’s what it desperately wants. I won’t be able to prevent it that freedom. And it’s cumbersome to have to use two fingers on two hands to change the focal point selection. But these aren’t deal breakers. It’s a fun camera that produces a very high quality raw file. I’m having a great time with it. It’s not going to replace my iPhone for ultralight nor my Nikons for… hmm, well, maybe in part it will. It’s really that good. And it’s fun.

While these adventures occur in very different areas of the world, they are united by some similar cultural traditions. If you are interested in the manifestations of cultural traditions and human celebrations, then one of these (or both!) might be a photographic adventure for you.

The first is to Oaxaca, Mexico to experience and photograph the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) celebrations at the end of October and beginning of November. This an important traditional holiday in Mexico. We will photograph markets, parades, altars, and a variety of cemeteries during these festivities, which are both somber and festive.

Lalibela Within The Frame will bring us to the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia, during Orthodox Christmas in January. It’s an incredible celebration, which feels a lot like traveling back in time. Tens of thousands of pilgrims walk for days, weeks, even months to arrive in Lalibela in time for the celebrations. They read holy books by candlelight. They sleep out under trees and cook by fire. They make pilgrimages to the monolithic rock-hewn churches, which even without the pilgrims would be incredibly spectacular on their own. It’s a place seemingly out of time. Or where there is no time.

Click on the graphics below to visit the minisites to learn more about each of these photographic adventures.

Swayambhu — Kathmandu, Nepal

This morning the Kathmandu Within The Frame group went to Swayambhu (aka, “The Monkey Temple”) in Kathmandu, and I think that these monkeys might have been pissed at Apple. They weren’t bothered at all by my giant Nikon, but when I decided that I’d prefer to use my iPhone to make this photograph they reacted. Maybe they’re Android fans. Or maybe they were actually envious and wanted one for themselves. Maybe they even wanted mine! No idea. I do know, however, that I managed to put my iPhone very close to monkeys and still have it at the end of the experience — certainly not a guarantee (nor something I should recommend).

Each of these are one-week long photographic adventures. Liguria Within The Frame will begin in Genova and then visit both the famous Cinque Terre and the less-famous but WTF participant-favorite area of Camogli (and Portofino). Venice Within The Frame will spend the entire week exploring Venice, allowing us to linger and absorb the majesty of that special place. Neither of these are rushed tours, and they’re not traveling classrooms. We won’t be telling you where to place your tripods and at what to point them. David and I will work organically and one-on-one with participants. Then we’ll all gather for image discussions, meals, glasses of wine, and/or maybe cups of espresso to discuss photography, our vision, our craft, etc.

Clicking on either of the adventure graphics below will open that photographic adventure’s mini-site where you’ll find the itinerary and details. For additional information or questions, email David and me by clicking here.

PS — We still have spots available for Lalibela Within The Frame and Maasai Mara Within The Frame. Ready for an adventure?

Trading internet access, a cellphone connection, and electricity for a paddle slicing through the water, the crackle of a campfire, and the chatter of central-propane lighting in a cabin is not necessarily easy at first. We tend to be very “wired.” We keep our cellphones close in case somebody special or important calls or texts. We check our inboxes to see, well, who knows what will end up in it. Sometimes my inbox is extremely functional. Sometimes it’s just full of opportunities of which somebody my age really shouldn’t need to avail himself.

We all take electricity for granted — until a thunderstorm, snowstorm, or perhaps an unfocused driver causes it to briefly disappear and our lights, TVs, etc. to go dark. Even in remote locations in the jungles of Asia I now see shacks with electricity — and often a TV! So, no, it’s not necessarily easy to give up these comforts of the electrical, internet, and cellphone grids, but it can be extremely relaxing if we do.

I’m just back from a trip off-the-grid in the backwoods of Maine. The purpose of the trip was to relax with some extremely special people (whom I now miss more than a reasonable person could ever miss “the grid”). I wondered at first what emails were piling up while I wasn’t monitoring my computer. I wondered if the automated response sent to emails that arrived in my unattended inbox would frustrate people accustomed to quick personal responses. (I don’t actually know the answer to that, but nobody sent back a nasty email telling me to get my behind back onto the grid!) I quickly found it very relaxing to be off-the-grid.

Although I have to say that even off-the-grid isn’t truly always off the grid. With the luck of the Irish and the balance of a gymnast, one could stand on an Adirondack chair (albeit not in the Adirondacks), hold one’s cellphone up to skies, and sometimes receive an elusive signal that although weak would occasionally work. I saw it done, but I didn’t try it. I was more than happy to embrace the lack of communication. (Or maybe I was just afraid of falling off of the chair and into the fire.)

There was some photography on this trip (including tripods that made it out of their bags and were actually used), and after having returned home late Monday night I’ve downloaded photographs off the card and onto my backup platform. I haven’t gone through them yet. Those who have photographed with me know that I tend to let some time pass before working on my photographs. I just pretend that they’re slides that I’ve had to send out to be developed — like I had to do for years. I did, however, have my iPhone in the cabin. So when the light looked interesting and/or the mood struck I also got it out and created a few memories. The one above and these below are some of those memories. All were created by walking just a few steps out of the cabin — at more-or-less the same time of day. Those who know me can probably guess that it wasn’t morning.

Lalibela during Orthodox Christmas is like traveling back in time. Tens of thousands of pilgrims walk for days, weeks, even months to arrive in Lalibela in time for the celebrations. They read holy books by candlelight. They sleep out under trees and cook by fire. They make pilgrimages to the monolithic rock-hewn churches, which even without the pilgrims would be incredibly spectacular on their own. It’s a place seemingly out of time. Or where there is no time. It was an incredible experience, and I can’t wait to go back. The photographic opportunities are truly unlimited, including on Lake Tana where we will spend a couple of days after Lalibela. If the idea of photographing friendly pilgrims, rock-hewn churches, or island monasteries on the lake appeals to you, then Lalibela Within The Frame might be the right adventure for you.

A photographic safari in Kenya’s Mara is an extremely different kind of experience but equally spectacular. While Lalibela, particularly during Orthodox Christmas, is a cultural experience to rival any other on this planet, the Maasai Mara is a natural experience of equal grandeur. The Maasai people are warm and friendly. The grass of the Mara hypnotizes as it dances across the vastness. The acacia trees stand as beautiful statues to welcome sunrise. And the wildlife simply leaves one in awe. If photographing lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, etc. in the wild, the trees and grass of the Mara, or the Maasai people appeals to you, then Maasai Mara Within The Frame might be the right adventure for you.

We’re not going to repeat these every year. We have a lot of other ideas for exciting adventures, but we just had to return to both Ethiopia and Kenya this coming January. If you think that one (or both!) of these might be the adventure(s) for you. Then click on the graphics below to visit the minisites for each. We’d love to have you join us.

If you’re dreaming more about Asia than you are about Africa, we still have a couple of spots available for Kathmandu Within The Frame this November. And if you were thinking about joining us for Burma Within The Frame, please note that we had to reschedule that adventure (until December 2013; yes, 2013). While things could always change (and often do), those are the only two Within The Frame adventures that we have planned in Asia for the next 18 months. We will, however, have a number of other adventures in Europe and the Americas during that time (plus these two in Africa and, of course, Antarctica).

We photographed nomads on horses, archers competing at bowling (you’d have to see it), sand dunes, cliffs, gers, big skies, small plants, camels, goats, sunrises, sunsets, each other, etc. There was a lot of photography, but there was also so much more. We bounced around together for hours on end in the 4×4s that we both hated and loved. We wondered if we would ever see a tree again. We huddled around fires in our gers to keep warm and dry after a torrential downpour. We shared wine from Argentina. We survived loud Italians and lack of both water and electricity in a fancy ger camp that left us nostalgic for the more rustic ones. We bargained for generator time at ger camps that don’t understand that photographers don’t want electricity only during sunset. We laughed. A lot. We joked about food and added hot sauce to everything. We tried to figure out the culture and intricacies of Mongolia, and (at least) three participants had done a lot of research before arriving and were a wealth of knowledge. We sat around and talked. We listened to an eclectic selection of music. There may have also been some Mongolian vodka. We had great drivers and a truly personable, knowledgeable, and friendly guide, whom I now consider to be a friend. I look forward to meeting up with him again to share Mongolia or music. (But probably not Mongolian music. Well, OK, maybe.)

Friendships are not usually what one plans to take away from an adventure like this. However, I saw some strong friendships form. There was a lot of talk and planning of other trips that the participants will take together. David and I are even planning a WTF that will involve one of the Mongolia WTF participants. I know that I will visit some of them. (I should warn all future WTFers to never invite a traveler to visit unless you actually desire for them to visit as we will indeed visit.)

This was a fabulous group of people (as so many Within The Frames are). Nobody even jumped out of the vehicle when I decided to drive through the Gobi. (What a blast!)

This was my first trip to Mongolia. It had been on my list for years. I expected to like it—to really like it. But it beat my expectations. I’ll be going back to Mongolia. Perhaps often. It’s a large country. Our drivers told us that we saw about 5% of the country. That leaves a lot left to be explored. Bring on the head-crushing bouncing and dust!

Here are a few snapshots I made along the way with my iPhone. (My DSLR photographs are still all in camera.)