Travel Photography

A break was needed or least that is how I thought of it.  Perhaps a little history first.  My journey in photography began at the age of 12.  A few years went by using my father’s Retina IIa.   At first I started photographing races at Laguna Seca race track, then some work on the high school newspaper.  After a stint in the Army, I became much more interested and involved in the craft.  Which resulted in building my own darkroom and buying my first Nikon SLR camera system in 1973.

Later on after going to a photographic institute in California, I made my way to Los Angles to work in the commercial photo studios there with the intent to open my own someday.  It was not to be for a number of reasons and I eventually made it back to the San Francisco Bay Area.  Where I immediately got some work doing location scouting for the film industry.  San Francisco being a much filmed at location. At first I thought this would be temporary, but then twenty years went by before  knew it.  As it turned out, it was the right job for me.  No studio overhead to worry about.  Travel not only around California, but to most of the western states and much of the eastern seaboard.  Photographing places, things and people and getting paid for my efforts.  Luck has been with me in this regard. Now I find myself living in the Netherlands, teaching photography courses and shooting a few weddings a year. Back to that “break” I needed.  Prague the capital of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia, happens also to be, much like San Francisco a city favored by film makers.  So I decided to go there on a self invented assignment, harkening back to the days of my old job. The difference though was instead of two or three Nikons bodies and assorted lessons, I was going to go “light”.  This is where the Fuji X Pro 1 came in.  In addition there was the decision on which lenses to bring.  The choice was eventually narrowed down to the Fujinon 35mm f/1.4, an old Contax/Zeiss 90mm f/2.8 and my latest acquisition, a Voigtlander 50mm Nokton f/1.5.  A lens that I will be doing a later review on.  The whole kit, including accessories and camera bag (see photo) came in at 2.4 kilos /5.3 pounds.

A break was needed or least that is how I thought of it.  Perhaps a little history first.  My journey in photography began at the age of 12.  A few years went by using my father’s Retina IIa.   At first I started photographing races at Laguna Seca race track, then some work on the high school newspaper.  After a stint in the Army, I became much more interested and involved in the craft.  Which resulted in building my own darkroom and buying my first Nikon SLR camera system in 1973. Prague is beautiful!  Sort of like being in Yosemite Valley where every where you look, there is another picture waiting to be made.  However it became immediately apparent that I was not the only person who thought so.  Here it is in the end of February, minus temperatures, snowing and every where there are tourists.  Oh well so much for my deserted streets look…..

See more great pictures on gambofoto.blogspot.de