The Munchkin's Notebook

Old Morish Castle as Seen from Penna Palace Today we got up at 7:00 AM and had breakfast downstairs, then prepped for day’s tour.  The tour company hired us a private car to drive us to Sintra to see Penna Palace.  The only way to really get to Sintra if you are tourist is if you are on a tour, have a driver, or take the train then catch a taxi to the palace.  Since we had a private car/guide, they were able to drive us up to the palace and guide us through the entrance.   We had “fast pass” tickets to the palace plus transfer tickets.  The transfer tickets let you ride the small bus up to the top of the hill where the palace is located, without making the 15-30 minute walk up the hill.  Trust me, the transfer is worth it.  Once at the actual place you make your way through the hoards of tour groups to find the entrance where they take your ticket.  Now the ticket says skip the line, but it is a lie, you still have to wait in line till your t...

View from the hilltop in the old part of the city Today we got up at 07:00AM after sleeping for about 12 hours.  I will say the bed in the hotel is comfy and is a normal king-sized bed, not that fake king-sized you sometimes get.   We had breakfast at the hotel, since it is included.  Breakfast included a buffet of bread, pastries, fresh fruit, cheeses, sliced meats, yogurt stuff, and then your choice of eggs made to order.  I had scrambled with bacon and Jim had an omelette.  The bacon was very thinned sliced and possibly a relative of prosciutto and had a hint of sage to it, tasty.  We also had a tiny Pastel de Nata (egg custard tarts), which are found everywhere in Lisbon.  To drink, we had black tea, and I had a glass of orange juice, and Jim had one of their morning breakfast drink which was green and might have had cucumber in it.   Then it was back to the room to prepare for the morning tour. Our tour guide met us at the hote...

May 18 and May 19 were basically travel days.  We arrived at Dulles airport around 1:20PM for a 5:20 PM flight.  While I pre-paid for parking in the garage so I would have a spot, I didn’t pay for an actual reserved space, so we took about 20 minutes finding an open space that wasn’t labeled reserve.   The check in process while smooth, was not up to what I would consider British Airway standard.   We were in the business class line, since that was what we were flying, and the ticketing agent for that business class ended up opening up all lines and wrangling economy passengers.  So, we were left hanging until someone noticed.  They also didn’t have our pre-check information because the online form never asked for it, so we went through regular security.  Though the regular security line was way shorter and faster than pre-check, it took us about 5-10 minutes.  From there we went to go hang out in the British Airways lounge, which does...

On April 11 th , I did a cosplay session with Kawa to test a new graphic backdrop, in the style of an ornate white wall. Kawa chose Oscar from the Rose of Versailles for this shoot which complemented the backdrop due to its palace wall feel.   For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Westcott FJ400 Strobes 2 c-stands 2 Rectangular Soft boxes 1 Bell Reflector w/ barndoors & Grid 1 Backdrop stand 1 Graphic Backdrop Sandbags Clamps Spyder color checker Laptop Teather cable 2 Gold flower stands 5 Gold flower planters Spring flowers (daffodils & tulips) Styrofoam Tiny table Silver velvet fabric Chair Fake candles The set up My goal for this shoot was to see how the ornate white wall backdrop would photograph.  I have a dark ornate wall backdrop that works well because of ho...

This the first image is of On April 19 th , I attended the Costume & Camera event at Rust Manor House , in Leesburg, VA.  Rust Manor House is part of the NOVA Parks system and hosts weddings and events.  I thought the manor was lovely and the number and variety of rooms available to us was good.  Also, the manor had lovely grounds, so we were not limited to shooting indoors.  I particularly liked the location because it was local to me, and very easy to get to. For this event I used: Canon R6 24 - 105mm lens Cannon speed light Mini-square soft box Light stand Camera Settings: This shoot had a variety of mixed lighting conditions, depending on what room I was in, inside the manor or if I was shooting outside.  While the sky was beautiful clouds and the sun were not behaving that day thus, I was really adjusting settings on the fly while outside. My ISO ranged from 100 ISO to 500 ISO with the most common ISO being ISO 200.  My aperture...

On March 21st, I did a spring-themed session with the lovely Anastasia. I have had this set up in my head for months, and needed to execute it, so I could move on to other thoughts. For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix Strobes 2 Cannon Speed Light 2 c-stands 1 Backdrop stand 1 white backdrop Sandbags 2 umbrellas Clamps 2 Pink gels Spyder color checker Laptop Teather cable 2 Gold flower stands 2 Gold flower planters Spring flowers (daffodils & tulips) 3 Trellises Astroturf Styrofoam Posing block The setup The image in my head was of a garden full of daffodils and tulips with a trellis.  I don’t have access to a garden like that, so I made my own with fake flowers, a trellis, and astroturf. Note, all the materials were from earlier shoots, because I repurpose and reuse, espe...