We interrupt the broadcasts about photography for a food break. There will be a Part III of the Now, What? series, but only after a discussion about what’s been haunting my dreams of late.

For my birthday I asked to climb a mountain…  just me and a guide. I stated out-loud that I was going to climb Grand Teton. Then I made it very public by discussing it here. Grand stands at 13,770 feet and is a technical climb.  I’m scheduled to summit over a two day period sometime late August/early September, depending on weather conditions on the mountain.  By that time I will have devoted 4 months of my life to this pursuit. I’m a non-athlete. This is a big deal.

While I’ve been eating, actually more than usual to fuel my workouts, all sugar and fried foods have been deleted like a sad regret at the computer.  When Beth Whitman at Wanderlust & Lipstick asked me to guest post for her Wanderfood Wednesdays, never wanting to miss writing opportunities, I agreed. True to my penchant for self-torture, I’ve made and posted about the things I’m craving.  Like fried potatoes, szechuan green beans, and now Scandinavian Almond Bread.

You can see why. The bread is sweet, fragrant, dense, buttery, and pulled from the refrigerator is as refreshing as a glass of lemonade on a hot, humid Oklahoma day.  What’s interesting is I didn’t know it existed until my son fell in love with Joie Sherman, a North Dakota girl of Swedish descent (and soon to be guest cast member on AMC’s Mad Men). The love affair happened even before I accidentally discovered Kansas’ Little Sweden (Lindsborg).

While Joie describes Scandinavian food to be “white and bland”, my experimentation has not confirmed that.  White, largely. Bland, sometimes. Delicious, always.

Upon returning from my solo road trip to the Dakotas, I ordered a case of lefse from Freddy’s Lefse in Fargo.  Grocery stores here don’t carry such northern delicacies. Our loss.

Scandinavian refers to the food, customs, products, and peoples of the countries of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark.  It seems the Swedes have the market cornered on recognizable food items, but lots of familiar products are rooted in these countries.

Swedish pancakes. Swedish meatballs. Swedish rye bread. Swedish ostkaka (cheesecake). Lingonberry everything. Swedish pepparkakor (ginger cookies). The Dala horse. Spritz cookies. Glogg. Schnapps. Lutefish. Kuchen. Lefse. Almond cake. Pippi Longstocking!?

Thank you Joie for introducing me to Almond Bread!  Since I couldn’t eat the loaf I made for this post, I gave it away to my neighbors. I only have one thing to say about that — Uff Daaaaaaahhhhhh!!!

Scandinavian Almond Bread

1 1/4 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 1/2 tsp almond extract, 2/3 cup milk, 1 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 stick melted better, Blend all with a hand mixer. Bake in a buttered & floured pan at 350 degrees for 50-60 min. or until a toothpick comes out clean. It will be VERY brown on top. Cool completely in pan before attempting extraction. Very refreshing when put covered in refrigerator.

You read your manual, right?  Okay, but you’re going to, right?  As discussed in Part I of how to get great photos from whatever camera you’re currently holding in your hand, reading the manual is crucial. You may not learn a lot about photography from the manual, but knowing what the buttons and dials do will go a long way in helping the end result. And the cheaper the camera, the more you need to know about its operation. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s proceed.

Sadly, I’ve had several regretful moments with my photography. Regret in the sense I didn’t take a picture of something that on hindsight was a monumental highlight either during a trip, or some event that would never be repeated. Such as, you ask?  Such as the time I negotiated for 2 days with a carpet factory owner on the 6,000 year old Silk Road in Kashgar, China for a hand-tied silk rug, and left without a picture of the three of us – me, him, and the rug.

The rug now hangs in my study. It’s stunning; the back almost as beautiful as the front because of the tapestry effect created by all those tiny knots. I’ve got the receipt from the purchase. I’ve got the story of the owner inquiring of my hotel information from the tour guide my son and I were with that day and contacting me directly at the room (would NOT happen anywhere else in the world).  And how my son and I negotiated like we’d done it a thousand times before. And how we had to accumulate enough cash for the purchase over a 3 day period and then used most of our U.S. dollars in the end because we ran out of time. And how we traveled to the factory that day with 6,300 Yuan on us, stuffed into every nook of our backpacks and clothing. And were 1,000 Yuan short and knew we’d have to negotiate like our lives depended on it, or head to our next destination with all that cash.   I have all that.  But I don’t have a picture of kind, sweet “Andy” who hadn’t seen a tourist in months, whose family was depending on that sale from the Americans for sustenance, whose face indicated we’d reached his bottom-dollar when I told him all I had was 6,300 Yuan (at that point, I actually wished I had more to give him). I missed that opportunity. Maybe I was just so thrilled to be the owner of a future family heirloom with such a great story behind it. I’d told myself I’d be purchasing nothing, that the trip itself, with my beloved son, was enough. Maybe we were in a hurry to catch the train to our next destination since we’d checked out of our hotel. Maybe I was just relieved the exhilarating and exhausting process was over and that I had the rug and Andy had a sale.  Maybe, maybe, maybe.

My advice in this post is simple: Don’t let regrets happen.  Shoot a LOT.  Don’t allow anyone to make you feel guilty or silly for taking a lot of pictures or for always having a camera on you. Those family gatherings where no one wants to pose for more than 1 second?  Make them stand still for longer. This is not to say there are times when a camera is disrespectful or inappropriate, or downright not allowed. I’m not talking about those times.  Trip that shutter a lot.  If you do that, you’ll reduce the regrets, and guess what? Your photography will improve.

Now that you’ve shaken off the cloak of darkness created by the “cheap camera myth” and are ready to either learn photography with the camera you have, or improve your current skill set, we can move forward.

The whole point of the last post, Great Photos from Really Cheap Cameras was to cheer and encourage you to shoot with whatever camera you own. It’s not about the camera. Let me repeat that, It’s Not About The Camera!  Put any camera in the hands of someone with a trained eye, and the results will please.

A lot of the skills I use today with my not-so-cheap camera were learned on a disposable one. Thanks to Kerrin at My Kugelhopf for her story about her Granddad capturing some of the best photos taken at her wedding with a $5 disposable camera! To that, I say EXACTLY. To quote her, “nuff said.”

Assuming you’re shooting with anything other than a disposable camera, here’s the most important tip in the universe: Read The Manual. Oh! I know, you were expecting something more profound! Take comfort in this: there isn’t anything profound in learning photography. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Don’t have your manual?  Check out Craig Camera, or do a search online. Several years ago I located and ordered the manual for my 1957 Yashica and finally figured out how to change the battery. I’ve never claimed to be mechanical.

When I began in earnest to train my eye, with every shot I mentally repeated two things:

• If it’s not interesting, you’re not close enough. – Robert Capa.

• Don’t put the object of interest in the middle, a rule commonly called the Rule of Thirds. Offset the focal point, is easier to remember.

3 additional tips that will help add interest to your captures:

• Change your perspective. Get higher, go lower, or walk around to see what the scene looks like from a different angle.

• Look for symmetry of objects or a repeating theme (one of my favorites).

• Develop your eye to search for reflection. Reflection can be created from water, mirror or glass, the cone of an airplane, a pair of reflective sunglasses, a rear view/side mirror, or someone’s retina.

Perspective

Sitting next to them at first for the milk cow transaction, I stood up and realized the better shot was from above.

Rolling around on the ground at Mt. Rushmore netted this shot.

Reflection

Reflection (water) AND Symmetry (skipping rock)

Symmetry

So you think you need an expensive camera to get good photographs?  Crappy camera = crappy photos?  Does your old, cheap camera have you convinced you can’t pursue photography with the passion you know you have? If so, you’re a victim of the cheap camera myth. Read on.

Your camera has nothing to do with your ability to LEARN photography. So if you read no further, arm yourself with a cheap camera and get out there!

The photo above on the Li River near Guilin China was taken with a $50 camera called a Diana. The Diana is a medium format film camera (now available with a 35 mm back) with a plastic body AND plastic lens. That’s right PLASTIC. Not Zeiss. The vignetting is inherent. The photo is SOOC – straight out of the camera.

I liken the Diana to Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates — you never know what you’re gonna get. Every photo is a surprise — and I like that. While dependability is critical when you need to count on the outcome, the point here is that even with a $50 camera, the potential exists for something you’ll be proud of.

P.S. this is more of a Rah! Rah! session than a lesson. Sometimes motivation is the required pre-requisite.

I don’t consider any of my equipment “cheap”. Although much of it was inexpensive (some even free), every camera in the SRT arsenal is capable of taking great photos, even artistic photos. And who says you have to have new?  All my equipment has been purchased USED or given to me by friends in lieu of a garage sale death.

The cameras are different, with results that span the photographic spectrum from the full framed digital workhorse, the Canon 5D, to the dreamy, you-must-be-high-on-something appreciation that comes out of the Polaroid SX-70 land camera. That’s right, an instamatic film camera that was introduced in 1972 as the first “instant SLR”. And great fun at parties.

A cheap camera, an old camera, an outdated camera, an outdated cheap old camera is NO reason to not pursue your interest in photography.  More visual aids, please!

The two above were taken with the Diana. Inherent light leaks and vignetting mean unpredictable results — a  beautiful thing if you’ll just cut the tethers to the digital it-must-be-exactly-as-presented-in-real-life standard.

So you say I had exceptional scenery/characters for the photographs with the Diana?  Here’s one taken over July 4th with the Polaroid SX-70.

Stepping up in price range, the Sony DSC-T100 Cyber-shot at $400 is my favorite camera for trips to the grocery store, and for macro shots. With a Zeiss lens, the photos produced are hard to beat. After viewing this photo again, the results are hard to beat. Period.

If you’re still unconvinced photography can’t be pursued with a cheap camera, shoot with one for 2-3 weeks and report back.  Sometimes it’s the simple exercise of carrying the camera around and tripping the shutter that overcomes our excuses.

Check out the Lomography website if you’re interested in exploring film cameras.  And “Lomo” is simply a term for experimental analogue photography — nothing more exotic than that. The prices range from $50 for the Diana, to $350+ for the Lubitel 166+.  If you’ve fallen for the “cheap camera myth”, start with the $50 Diana.

a voyeur. twisting around the tangle of the plane’s arms and legs to watch. holding my breath with expectation. the wind is a new lover’s touch skimming the wings in tender urgent collision. finger tips of gentle pressure cause indentations to ripple the taut fabric. anticipation reined in with labored patience follows soft, lingering hesitation. tempered desperation. the wheels leave the ground with no announcement. free, the plane strains for the ecstasy of the air. it is the relief of walking onto a quiet veranda from a stuffy room. a bit nauseated from too many people. too much to drink. i can breathe now.

the view from an open cock-pit biplane

Sadly, it’s over — both my ride and the Bartlesville Bi-plane Exposition. After 23 years, the Nat’l Biplane Association voted to discontinue the Expo after the June 2009 event.