The Munchkin's Notebook

This year was good year for photography for me even if Iceland was disappointing from a photography perspective.  So, at years end, I reviewed my photo statistics and found that I edited 2,871 images (that is the number of edited images sitting in LightRoom not the number of photos I took); my most used focal length is 28 mm, with a shutter speed of 1/125s at an f8 aperture, and ISO 400. I also looked back at the photos I posted this year and determined my three favorite photos in Cosplay, Travel/Landscape, and Animals.  Then looked at my website and determined which photo was the most viewed. The photo really was not a surprise because overall, the cosplay was great and the photo turned out well.  It was Maleficent from Katsucon, it had over 1300 views.    Cosplay Travel/Landscape Animals Most Viewed Photo That is my wrap up for the year. I am looking forward to a great 2016, working with awesome people, and traveling...

On December 6, I participated in Star Wars Cosplay Photo Shoot hosted by the DC Cosplay Group at the National Building Museum , which is a great location to shoot in, due to its grandeur.  The meet up consisted of several cosplayers and photographers.  The rules for the shoot were simple no blasters inside the museum, but light sabers were ok, and photographers could not use light stands or umbrellas.  Thus, this meet up was perfect for photographers practicing for Katsucon. At the shoot, I used a Cannon 70D with an 18 - 200mm lens and an external 600EX-RT on a stick held by my assistant, who is also my husband.  Using an off camera flash, was good because it allowed me to get different angles of light.   I took over 200 photos, however only kept 136 photos mostly because several were repeats poses.  My camera was set ISO 400 with an f/8 aperture, which is the sweet spot form my lens.  My shutter speed varied between 1/20s to 1/200s, with ...

The Holiday season has officially kicked off.  As we leave Thanksgiving behind and make that mad dash to prepare for Christmas, by decking the halls, making cookies, shopping for gifts, and wrapping presents.  We make lists, check them twice, and stress out about all the little things.    I took a moment today to think, because someone asked me what I want for Christmas. I thought, “What do I really want for Christmas?”  Sure, I could ask for world peace like a stereotypical pageant queen or something selfish like million dollars or a heated back massager. (Cannot lie all those would be nice.) But, honestly what I would like is a phone call from friends and family to just catch up and discuss things going on in the world. (If you are wondering why, I do not call; it is because I feel like I am interrupting when I call. If you are wondering, why I do not text instead, it is because I hate conversation by text message.) Alternatively, I would love people to ...

I am considering this AnimeUSA 2015 a success.  I had ten photo shoots scheduled but only did eight due to cancellations.  Overall, I thought most of the shoots went well, however the construction going on at the venue limited some photo opportunities outside in the garden area.  I found that early Sunday morning is the best time to shoot in the “fancy” area of the venue including the long brick hallway.   Because the area was empty, I was able to get some nice reflection shots using the mirrored walls in that area of the venue.  Also the other area that I enjoyed shooting in was in the upper levels of the venue near the elevator bays, were they have a sitting area with curved couches. Aurora by Cassimonee Cosplay Daiya by Lina Lin Cosplay Now every year I have some lessons learned, and this year is no exception.  Again, pre-shoot questionnaire really helped with the shoots, allowing me to plan the...

We got a Pixelstick about three weeks ago, thought it would be a fun thing to add to the gear collection and possibly use at anime conventions.  The pixelstick is a narrow 6-foot strip of colored LEDs that will go off in a pattern, and as you walk with the stick, it will form a light trail or picture based on the loaded program.  Most people use it to create abstract light art or do light painting ; however, it can also be used to create a background for a photo or add effects like fireballs and ghosts. Last night I did a few test shots with the stick.  I did some light painting first.  Which is interesting, but I think I need to have a specific pattern in my head or be working around interesting objects and/or people.  I also determined we might need to get the attachment for the stick, which bends and smooths the light to form better curves.   Overall, the light painting turned out okay. However, I need to work on my timing for the moon. But th...

In honor of my photography Facebook page reaching a 100 likes, I ran a contest to give away a 100-minute photo shoot with digital images and a 5x7 print.   The winner of the contest was chosen at random from those who commented on the contest post.   The winner of the contest was Sara Cosplay , who does historical versions of the Disney princesses.  Snow White in the Wood She choose to do a combined outdoor and studio shoot for her historical Snow White cosplay.  We did the outside shots in a local park, which had a waterfall feature and a trestle area covered in ivy.  For the shoot, I used my standard 18-200 mm lens, using an ISO 100 with a f5 and smaller aperture, with various shutter speed, and an external flash.  The flash was used because the waterfall photos were taken in a heavily shaded area and it allowed for the me light the subject properly and separate here from the background.  My husband used his 70-200 mm lens with ...

In September, we were up in Ohio to attend a wedding.  The weather that weekend was mostly dreary and rainy.   Coyote in a barrel The Friday we arrived, it was cloudy and looked as though it was going to rain any minute, but we went to the Akron Zoo anyway before dinner with family.  The Akron Zoo is a small zoo that makes you feel you are up close and personal with the animals in the zoo.  However, the zoo does feel like a bit of a maze.  Overall, it is a nice zoo.  I have upgraded to a new camera, a 70D and my husband has upgraded to a 5D.  I used my typical 18-200mm lens while my husband used a 70 – 200mm with 1.4x converter.  I kept my aperture around 8f, since it is the most versatile for the environment, while my husband varied his f-stop.  We used various shutter speeds with ISO around 200 and up depending on the exhibit.    We got a couple nice shots, plus lucked out and got to see the snow leopard try to ...

Londrangar Now that my trip to Iceland is over, and I had time to reflect on the experience and edit all my photos these are my final thoughts on the trip.  In general it was a good vacation, have I had better yes; was it an experience, definitely.   Over the course of the trip, we found Iceland is not ready for an influx of tourists, and in not a luxury destination. We found many of the accommodations outside the two major cities were basically bed and breakfasts, which backpackers would consider luxury accommodations. I’m sorry but having to squeegee the bathroom floor because there is no shower stall, does not say upscale or classy accommodation to me.  I’ll grant many of the rooms were nice, it was always just little things that would catch you off guard, like the squeegee.  I also recommend getting use to the smelling like sulfur after your shower, because most of the hot water in the smaller locations smells heavily of sulfur.  Also, be prepared ...

Today was our last day in Iceland, we fly home tomorrow.  We capped the trip off with an hour snowmobiling ride on a glacier.  We were picked up at the Gullfoss visitor center, by a Mercedes off road van, it had really big tires. Think jacked up pickup truck with monster tires. It was a thirty minute drive on an “F” road (mountain dirt road requiring 4 wheel drive, actual 4 wheel drive not AWD).  They are serious about the “F” roads, regular passenger cars on them can get fined, they don’t really plow them, and the snow can be several meters deep.  So after the bumpy thirty minute drive we arrived at the shack to suit up into snowsuits suits and get on the snowmobiles. We had new four stroke, bright red snowmobiles, the handle bars were even heated to keep your hands toasty. When we started I was leading then was passed by my husband because I wasn’t going fast enough. It was interesting riding because there was a thin crust with snow underneath, very differen...

Husafoss Today we traveled from the northern area of Iceland past Reykjavik to the Golden Circle area.  It is about a 4 to 5 hour drive without stops, but we made several stops along the way.  Our first stop was at Husafoss to see two waterfalls. One of which comes out of lava rocks from underground rivers.  The second stop was at a point of interest which had a bunch of little cairns. The third stop was at Þingveller, which is a national park and was the location of the Viking Althing. We did a little bit of light hiking there, to a waterfall.  Then we headed up to Geysir, before heading to our hotel.  The Geysir was not as impressive as I hoped, especially after being at Yellowstone.  The Geysir area is small little cluster of geysers with one that erupts about every 10 to 15 minutes.  It was cute. Little Cairs before  Þingveller Waterfall at Þingveller Our hotel seems rather old; at least the furnishings make it feel that ...

Today we slept in, if you call sleeping till 7:30 AM sleeping in, and took our time to eat breakfast and leave the hotel.  We still left by 9:30 AM that gave us several hours to kill before we could check into our next hotel or go horseback riding, which were only about an hour and half away.  We are determining the route could have been better spaced or activities better timed. So we to fill time we stopped at almost every information and point of interest point along the way.  We also tried to take a ferry out to one of the islands but they don’t run in the morning on Sunday.    Some of the points of interest were good, others were busts. The most interesting one we stopped at was the sod homes at Glaumbær along route 75.  Those were interesting, but the two busloads of senior citizens on vacation overwhelmed the place.  We also stopped at a point of interest which had a statue of a fisherman looking out to sea, and another stop were there ...

Today we woke up to sunshine and blue sky, the first time we seen those on the trip.  We then grabbed a quick breakfast and headed down to Myvatn to go caving.  Entrance to Cave Our guide picked us and eight other people up at the Myvatn visitor center for the hour drive, on very rough terrine through the lava field to the cave site. Once we reached the cave site we had about a 30 minute hike across the lava field to the cave entrance. Once at the entrance we descended down some stairs and then put on the special cave boots and rain or waterproof pants.  The boots were basically those trendy galoshes people like to wear, except these had little metal studs in the bottom so you could walk on ice.  This was required because the whole floor of the cave is ice.   To enter the main section of the cave must climb up about 7 feet then crawl on your belly through an opening that is 1.5 feet tall and 6 feet wide, while executing a turn to flip your feet in ...

Today we drove out to Asbyrgi to hike and then were supposed to drive down to Dettifoss, the largest waterfall in Iceland.  It was a two hour drive from Akureyri to Asbyrgi in overcast and cloudy weather.  The Asbyrgi visitor center, for the national park, is nice and is the trailhead for several trails of varying difficulty.  We took a red trail, which is medium difficulty and marked by sticks with yellow paint on them. The hike was about 7 or 8 km long.  We hiked to the top of the basalt wall, granting us a good view of Jokulsargljufur canyon below; we also hiked through some birch woods and moorland.  After lunch, we hiked down to a small waterfall and pond.   We then were supposed to travel down to Dettifoss and hike in that area, however the both roads leading from Asbyrgi to the falls were closed, thus we could not get there today.  We are hoping after tomorrow’s excursion through the lava tubes and caves near Myvatn, the road to Dettifoss ...

Today we made the two hour drive to Akureyri.  When we left the hotel in the morning it was raining/snowing, which the hotel owner said was very unusual for this time of year.  She said they had a longer and colder winter then in the past and by now it is usually warmer and not as wet.    The journey to Akureyri was uneventful; however we encountered two unique tunnels.  The tunnels which were 4 kilometers and 7 kilometers long were one car wide with pull offs for cars going in the opposite direction.  We were going in the direction that had right of way.  It can be nerve racking watching for headlights and hoping they move over into a pull off before you get to them.   Akureyri from the whale watching boat We arrived in Akureyri around 11:00 AM, it is tiny for being a major city. So after checking into our hotel, where we will stay for a few nights, we went to find lunch.  We at a place called Serrano, which is Iceland...

Today we left Hellnar today and drove around the Snaefellsnes peninsula all the way to Lonkot, which is an eight hour drive.  We made very few stops along the way, and the few stops we did make were very short.  The first stop we made was in Hellissandur to get gas. Getting gas involved us going inside to figure out how the gas pump works because you have to prepay by guess how much gas you will need, but the system will only charge you for the amount used. The other hard part was estimating liters instead of gallons.  Our next stop was Kirkjufell, outside of Grundarfjordur to photograph a waterfall.  Several people were stopped at that water fall taking pictures.    We ran out of paved road about 22 kilometers past Grundarfjordur, at that point it turned into a gravel and dirt road.  Yes it is still a main road and even indicates on the map it turns to gravel and dirt.  The gravel and dirt road lasted for approximately 66 kilometers. ...

Today we picked up our rental car, an AWD Ford Kuga, and traveled from Reykjavik to Hellnar on the Snaefellsjokull peninsula.  The drive was a little over two hours including stops at a roadside café for lunch and at Yri-Tunga for seal view.   Lunch was vegetable soup with bread, fairly simple but tasty.  Unfortunately, the stop at Yri-Tunga did not yield any seal sighting, however there was lots of wind, beach, and crashing waves.  I was sad there were no seals but we have a second chance for seals later in the trip if we stop at the seal center.  After that we continued to, we’ll be nice and call it a town, Hellnar.  The Hellnar hotel is located on a nature preserve and is fairly tiny. We are in a very tiny room (10 x 14 foot) which is part of four room cabin.  We will need to squeegee the floor after we take a shower, classy. The photo on the left is our room, taken at 16mm. There is a door on the bathroom it is just behind my husband wh...

We dropped of our dear dog Teddy at the pet sitter early on Sunday morning. He was all excited; because he thought he was going with us, but sadly no.  He looked sad when we left him at the sitter, but at least he’ll have a friend to play with there, another lab mix.  After the drop off we headed out to Dulles Airport.  We arrived at the airport before the Iceland Air ticket counter opened, thus had to wait about a half hour, but we were first in line.   We then had time to kill in the airport, because the security line was unusually speedy, for Dulles.   We got lunch at Five Guys then sat around till boarding at 1:30 PM EST.   The flight left on time and arrived in Reykjavik around 11:30 PM GMT.  We exited the airport in record time, because we were basically first in line for passport control, our luggage was already going around the conveyor when we got to baggage claim, and breezed through customs. So we gave the process a smi...