The Munchkin's Notebook

Day 6 - May 29 Today was our last full day in the Galapagos. It started with a 7:30 AM pick up to go snorkeling on Tintoreras. We were supposed to do that yesterday but the tour company changed the itinerary on us because they thought doing the volcano and snorkeling in one day would be too much. This change had a domino effect on the rest of the itinerary, because it also changed our flight out of Isabella to San Cristobal which affected the things we where to do on San Cr istobal. So I was picked up at 7:30 AM to go snorkeling. Jim did not go because he was having stomach issues, and just didn't feel like it. Snorkeling around Tintoreras was ok. The water was not as clear as in the other two locations I went snorkeling on this trip. However on this snorkel I got to see sea turtles up close and personal while in the water, swim with a penguin, and have two sea lions swim right under me. I was too slow to get a picture of the sea lions swimming under me. Also the water was ...

Day 5 - May 28 Today we had a 7:15 AM pick up today to go hike the Sierra Negra Volcano. The hike was 17 kilometers (about 9 miles) round trip. We only did the first portion of the hike up the side of the volcano and round part of the caldera, we did not do the second portion into the lava field. We decided against doing the lava field because it was very rocky, my knee was bothering me, and I already fell once on this vacation.  I might have done the lava field walk if we rode horses up, the main trail like one couple from the group did. They met us at the top of the trail.  The cute thing was the one of the horses, was a mom and her little foal followed her all the way to the top. That was one tired little foal when they got to the top.  The hike up the volcano and around part of  the caldera was misty when we started. Due to the fog we couldn't get a clear view of the caldera or across it. Apparently, the caldera is 26 miles around, but the two trails up ...

Day 4 - May 27 Today started out with a 6:30 AM pick-up to go over to the pier to catch our speed boat over to Isabella Island. You have to take a water taxi out to the boat, there is no other way, and they charge you 50-cents per person to get to your boat. The speed boat over to Isabella took about 2 hours. And it was worse than sitting in an airplane, since 25 people are smooshed together with their bags and life jackets in the main body of the boat. To top it off ther e is little ventilation, unless you are sitting in the back of the boat, so the air gets hot and stagnant. Three people got seasick including myself. I was doing really well sitting in the back of the boat with the breeze, until the breeze changed and all I got was boat exhaust. So I got sick with about a half hour left of the ride, thankfully the nice Australian couple next me was kind of enough to give me some tic-tacs after I stopped being sick. After arriving at the port at Isabella, we took another water t...

Day 3 - May 26 Today started off with a 6:00AM pick up from the hotel, to make the 40-minute drive down to the dock to board our boat for our trip out to Bartolome Island. The excursion usually had 20 people, but this group was small and only consisted of 7 people including ourselves. Which was nice, because we could spread out on the boat and not feel crowded. Due to the early pick up time we were served breakfast on the boat which consisted of tea, bananas, yogurt, granola, cheese, bread and butter. Overall it was a nice simple breakfast. The trip out to Bartolome Island takes about 2 hours, including the small detour around Daphne Major. The trip out was relatively smooth, with small 1-2 foot waves. We also saw several sea turtles swimming in the ocean along the way. When we got to the island we boarded the RIB to over get onto the island and walk up the very long path to the top of the island. Fun fact, according to our guide the walkway on the island was put in place by t...

Day 2 - May 25 Today started out good, but ended poorly. We had breakfast in the hotel, which was a decent buffet. I learned from my trip to Costa Rica don’t eat the eggs, so no runny scrambled eggs for me. But they did have an OK selection of lunch meats, cheese, fruit, fried bread, some odd little pancake thing, and regular bread. So breakfast was OK. Our guide met us at the hotel at 7:30 AM to walk over to the meeting point for our tour. We then boarded a bus for  a 40 minute ride to the boat. Once at the dock area we donned life-jackets and got on a rigid hull inflatable boat (RIB) boat to go over to the main boat which took us over to North Seymour Island. We boarded the RIB again to go over to the island and do a guided nature walk. We saw several frigate birds and blue footed boobies. We even saw some baby boobies. We also saw several seals, and land iguanas. The walk took about 2 hours, and it was in the sun the whole time, so it was important you had a hat, sunglasses...

Day 0 - May 23 We flew from Cleveland to Atlanta to Quito on May 23. We left out of Cleveland, so Teddy could stay with his Grandma while we were on vacation. The flight from Cleveland to Atlanta was uneventful. We had a four hour layover in Atlanta so spent part of that time in the Delta Sky Club since Jim gets free entry. The Delta Sky Club had a nice “free” buffet layed out with several types of salads, pulled chicken, and a few other warm sides. We also had free drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic). I felt sitting in the Sky Club, was a much better option then just sitting at the terminal gate. The 5 hour flight from Atlanta to Quito was uneventful. We landed in Quito at 10:30PM Central time and went through customs and immigration fairly quickly. The tour company representative met us past customs, and had a gift for us two Panama hats. (Side note: Panama hats are actually invented and made in Ecuador, but are called Panama hats because they were handed out to the workers bu...

On April 20 th ,  I got to work with Valtinen to shoot a silver headpiece I made several months ago.  This shoot was inspired by the headpiece and a version of the “Lady of the Lake”.  The goal of the image was to be rather soft with a lot of light and silver tones. The post was held back till I found out if I was published. I had eight images from this set published in the May 2019 issue of Jazzy Magazine .    For the shoot I used the following items:  Set Up ·                   Canon 70D ·                   18- 200 mm lens ·                   Strobes with power supply ·                   7-foot re...

On May 5 th I hosted a meet up of the  Dayton-Columbus-Cincinnati Cosplay Photoshoot  group at Oaks Quarry Park in Dayton.  We had a meet up last year in this same location, which turned out well. This meet-up was Star Wars and space themed, in honor of “May the Fourth” and “Revenge of the Fifth.” The location overall is very versatile, and can lend itself to a variety of cosplays. I worked with all 8 cosplayers in attendance, which resulted in me shooting 292 frames. Of the 292 frames I edited 176 images and delivered 128 final images. I shot the whole meet using a light from a single bare off camera speed light on a light stand. I shot with a bare speed light to compensate for the sun. I shot using ISO 100 with an aperture of F8.0.  My shutter speed varied from 1/200s to 1/800s with the most common speed being 1/400s.  Finally, my focal length varied from 18mm to 60mm, with the most common focal length being 18mm. The use of ...

On March 31 st ,   I got to work with Jinx in Wonderland on a gothic princess shoot. The post was held back till I found out if I was published. Most magazines like exclusive work. For the shoot I used dry ice to create fog, which looked like a milk bath, but no one needed to get wet. (If you are going to use dry ice, make sure your model has no breathing issues and it is in a well-ventilated area.   We were running all the exhaust fans and had the windows open.) I also used purple tulle in several of the images to give them a pop of color but keep with the gothic theme. For the session I used the following items: Canon 70D 24 -70 mm lens Strobes with power supply Large square soft box Speed light 30-inch shoot through umbrella 7-foot reflective umbrella C-stand with boom arm Light stand RF-transmitter Tether line Desktop Foam core board (to make a corral for the fog) Dark grey backdrop Black backdrop for the floor Purple and black tulle Dry ice and ho...