Carrie from Sex & The City had a thing for shoes. I have a thing for camera bags (and what goes in them). I’m on a seemingly never ending quest to find the perfect one.

Doug found the perfect street shooting bag when he got both of us a Domke F-XB Rugged Wear bag. I love that bag and I still cannot believe that it will hold so much gear and has such a small footprint. It’s an amazing “big” little bag! I got a mid-sized bag for our trip to North Carolina-a Think Tank Urban Disguise 35. It was a great size for the “puddle jumper” airlines traveling from Sarasota, FL to Asheville, NC and it held both the Canon 5D MII and the Canon 7D with the Canon 24-105 f/4L, the Canon 70-200 f/4L and my Lensbaby Composer and all of the optics and accessories. Think Tank makes a well constructed bag, well designed bag! I added a vertical laptop messenger bag as my personal carry on for the computer, Kindle, Canon S90 and personal gear and I was good to go.

This is "most" of my camera gear

Now I’m on a quest for the Holy Grail of “Kitchen Sink” bags for our upcoming California trip. I was going to try to be good and just take the same stuff that I took to North Carolina but I missed some good bird shots when I left my Canon 400 f/5.6L at home and I really want to take the Canon 85 f/2.8 for street shooting in Chinatown. The problem is that backpacks that hold serious gear are made for guys. Have you seen camera bags designed for women? Yes…there are some nice ones out there for wedding shooters but I have not yet found one that “comfortably” carries my gear for a lot of hiking. Google “camera bags for women” some time and see how many tiny pink bags pop up. I decided to try a different search and tried “camera backpacks for women”. I actually got one hit that showed a relatively serious looking backpack with a review by a woman “photographer” who had taken a shot of it with her gear (two apples-NOT the computer kind-a small DSLR with a kit lens, her handbag (yes-the entire  big handbag!), reading material, sunglasses, a drink….I could go on but I won’t. I will spare you!

This is my current line up of camera bags

(Above is my ancient Tamrac Adventure backpack (a workhorse of a bag but not well designed for a woman), my small Tamrac sling pack, the Think Tank Urban Disguise 35 (a superb bag but won’t hold the mother lode of gear), a Lowepro shoulder bag and a Domke F-XB Rugged Wear…the perfect street shooter bag.)

What I did find while I was looking was that there are a lot of women out there making do with camera backpacks designed for men or trying to take regular backpacks that ARE designed for women and outfit them to make them into camera bags with inserts and the like. Some have some of the smaller backpacks that they like (that my gear won’t fit into) and others are still on the search like me. Men’s backpacks are cut too wide and when you aim your camera with your arms tucked in to reduce camera shake you end up with the straps cutting into your shoulders and makes for a miserable day. The balance is aimed more at men having more strength in their upper body and I end up with most of the weight at the top of the case and not lower  where that I can carry it more easily. So the search continues.

It’s narrowed down to these two for the moment: The Think Tank Streetwalker Pro and the Lowepro Flipside 400 AW are still standing right now with a bit more stress on the Lowepro. They will both take the glass I’ll be carrying and they “appear” to be possibly designed more in the direction I need. Think Tank and Lowepro both make excellent bags. I’ve heard good things about some of the Mountainsmith bags having a good design for women. I love Think Tank’s modular belt pack gear but it’s one thing to run around all day and night for the 12 Hours of Sebring race with gear clanking all over your body and another thing to get in and out of vehicles while shooting nature with all of that.

So I search and research and yearn for the Goldilocks of camera bags that is “just right” for our upcoming trip. How about it ladies? Do any of you carry a goodly amount of gear into the great outdoors in a backpack that you can’t live without? If you do I’d love to hear about it!

I love photography. But I also love tinkering with images in Photoshop CS5 to see if I can turn a good image into something better. Photoshop filters and third party filters like those created by Nik Multimedia and Topaz are also great for rescuing well composed, but otherwise mediocre images. l never discard a well composed image from a shoot. After I edit my four and five star images in Lightroom, I right-click the image and choose the option to edit in Photoshop CS5.

Once I get the image into Photoshop, I duplicate the layer. This gives me the power to apply a filter or texture, and apply a blend mode to the layer. When I apply a texture, which is a photo of a textured object like cement, paper, or wood, I use the Overlay or Soft Light blend mode. When I apply a filter in Photoshop, I experiment with the different blend modes until I see a look I like. If you bring an image into Photoshop from Lightroom, it comes in as a 16-bit image, which is fine for the filters from Nik Multimedia’s Color Efex Pro suite and Topaz filters, however, many Photoshop filters only work with 8-bit images. You can quickly convert an image to 8-bit by choosing Image | Mode | 8-Bits/Channel. After you change the image to 8-Bits per channel, you can experiment with Photoshop filters like the Texturizer or Artistic filers. I often work with many layers until I see something I like. I vary the layer opacity to further fine-tune the effect. But wait, there’s more…

When you experiment with an image in Photoshop, you have 20 levels of History. This gives you the option to backtrack to a specific step. It also gives you the option to use the History Brush to paint in parts of a previous image state. But you’ve only got 20 levels to work with. You can increase the number of history levels, but this gobbles up memory. The alternative is to create a snapshot of a stage of your editing where the image looks pretty cool. The snapshot is added to the top of the History panel. No matter how many steps you perform, you can go back to the way the image was when you took the snapshot by clicking the snapshot in the History panel.

Creating snapshots gives you another option. You can save each snapshot as a new document. Simply click the snapshot you can to use as the basis for a new document, and then click the Create new document from current state button. This gives you a new document.

Here are three iterations of a recent experiment I did in Photoshop. Each image is a new document that was created from a snapshot in the History panel. The Photoshop History panel is a powerful tool.

Cheers,

Doug

Snapshot 1

Snapshot 2

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

We’re back home and somewhat into our regular routines. The trip to Asheville was a blast. We got lots of great photos and learned a lot about traveling on an airplane with camera gear. The most important lesson we learned was to be organized. Thanks to Roxanne’s research, we were. Everything in our carry-on luggage and camera bags was neatly segregated so the TSA employees could readily identify what was in the bags without having to open them. The only pieces of tech gear we had to take out of carry-on bags were our laptops. If you’re searching for a messenger bag that you’ll travel with, buy one that has a separate compartment for the laptop. If you can, purchase one with a compartment that will fit a laptop encased in a sleeve. TSA regulations allow you to send a laptop within a sleeve through the conveyor for x-ray examination. The second lesson we learned is not to trust any baggage handlers or TSA employees. Roxanne’s luggage was trashed and a couple of items turned up missing. Our luggage was equipped with TSA approved locks, so TSA employees are the only people who could possibly get into the luggage. We seriously suspect Roxanne’s new suitcase fell off the baggage cart while at speed. We have a claim in with the airline to be reimbursed for the luggage.

We finally got a chance to edit our images. We got some great shots from our travels on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We also got some awesome shots of flowers at the home we stayed at. Here are a couple for you to enjoy.

To bee or not to bee?

Shot with a Lensbaby Composer using the Double Glass optic.

Giving my Lensbaby Fisheye Optic some Exercise

Yesterday afternoon we needed to get out and do something with our cameras. It was late in the afternoon when we ventured out. And there were nasty looking clouds everywhere. We’re drip-dry, but our cameras are not, so we drove toward Sarasota, which had considerably fewer clouds than those looming over our humble abode. When we got to Sarasota, we parked and started walking in one of our favorite districts for “street shooting.” With the chorus from the Rolling Stones, “Street Fighting Man” ringing in my head, I started taking some pictures with my Lensbaby Composer. The Stones’ chorus was quickly replaced by the delicate sound of thunder. Then the song about raindrops falling on my head started playing an endless loop. It was a good time to quickly seek the shelter  of the Green Phantom, my gracefully aging Nissan 240 SX.

Safe and dry, we drove to what we call the “Egg Building”, which is actually the Sarasota Herald Tribune building. I switched to my Lensbaby Fisheye optic and started taking pictures. The lens has a 12mm focal length, which works great on any digital SLR, but works best on a full-frame camera like my EOS 5D MKII. This optic gives you the classic fish-eye distortion. I shot quite a few pictures with it under cover of an awning. Then it was time to break for dinner.

The problem with the Lensbaby Fisheye optic is the vignette. You actually see the sides of the lens chamber instead of a solid black. I have a cure for this when post-processing in Photoshop. Here are the steps:

1. Create a selection around the circular part of the image using the Elliptical Marquee tool.
2. Feather the selection. I used a value of 20 pixels for the 21 megapixel image from my 5D.
3. Invert the selection.
4. Add an Exposure adjustment layer.
5. Decrease the exposure until the vignette around the image is solid black.
6. Deselect the selection.
7. Crop the image to square proportions.

Here are a few images shot with the Lensbaby Fisheye optic with post processing in Photoshop as outlined above.

Cheers,
Doug

Store window reflections shot with the Lensbaby Fisheye optic.

Reflections from a restaurant window.

We planned. We prepared. We planned some more. We packed. We packed more. We weighed what we packed. We unpacked and reweighed. Finally it was time to hit the road for our vacation to North Carolina in the Asheville area!

Doug had some wonderful impressions of the entire travel experience but he was kind enough not to mention that I am a less than gutsy air traveler. It’s not as bad as the dentist chair but it’s in that realm for me-although I can manage not to look like I’m going to bolt when I’m going up through the cattle chute boarding the plane. It’s that fear of heights thing I have going on (yea…we were going to MOUNTAINS for a trip!) But we made it despite the duct-taped appearance of the puddle-jumper-looking prop plane that took us on the leg from Charlotte to Asheville.

We landed without mishap….if you don’t count that they completely trashed my new piece of luggage and TSA was kind enough to open my little TSA approved lock and rumpled my clothing so badly that it looked like scrambled eggs. We carried all of our camera gear, laptops, Kindles, cell phones and such as carry ons-thank goodness! The only gear that we packed in the bags were our Gorillapods as the airline official said no-go on carrying on any tripod-like device. They didn’t mind the guy with the tennis racket or the kid with the hockey stick…so I guess they think photographers are an unstable bunch as a whole.

Blue Ridge Parkway

Clouds Over The Blue Ridge Parkway

I fell in love with the mountains despite the fact that the higher we got the more clouds drifted past the window of the Honda Element . I chewed off what nails remained on my hands after the air travel during the cloud travel by road. Despite being up in the clouds it was amazing!  We stopped at a lot of the lookouts and made good use of the Joby Gorillapods (we have the Focus with Ballhead X). If you need to travel light with need good support for your camera they are absolutely fabulous!

During our drive through the mist (and a downpour one day) I discovered a way to (sort of) keep my mind off of the possibility of plunging over the edge of cloud banked curve…..shoot it! I had my trusty Lensbaby on the Canon 7D and I shot as we went through the curves. Somehow it was easier looking through one area of the view finder than to see the big picture!

Trees In Motion

Stonewalling

I Think I Can-I Think I Can.....

Of course all was not long and winding roads….Asheville was a wonderful city and we’d need way more than a week to really take it all in. We did manage to capture a bit of local flavor.

The Weary Traveler

Midday Music

I spent a lot of time trying to capture shots of the delightful hummingbirds at our friend’s house. I have one suggestion-LONG LENS! I left my Canon 400 f/5.6L at home….just could not fit it in the bag-and I tried! So I was shooting with my Canon 70-200 f/4L which is a great lens….but not the lens of choice for birds not much larger than a Texas mosquito. Finally one lit on the end of a delicate evergreen bough and I was able to grab some shots.

The Elusive Hummingbird

Our friends also had the most marvelous garden that I’ve seen. It was a feast for the senses and Doug and I could be found each morning with camera in hand and one of their dogs by our side on a mission to capture some of the beauty to bring home. One of our favorites were the Coneflowers and I also loved the beautiful pink striped flowers on the vine….I think maybe they were in the Clematis family…but not certain. I got to know the pink ones quite well as that was where the hummingbirds zoomed in to hover at a nearby feeder.

Coneflowers

Hummingbird Haven

We are home now and there is much editing to do. But we have a photo trip planned in October out to California to San Francisco, Point Reyes (where we will be shooting with a photographer friend of ours, Laura aka DrMarm), Yosemite and we hope to visit the ghost town, Bodie as well. So we’re planning and preparing and will soon be packing for that trip. I need a bigger camera bag because I’m fitting that 400 lens in there for that trip!

Great light and good shooting!

Roxanne

Our last full day in Asheville was IMHO the best. We spent the morning photographing flowers and what-not at the place where we were staying. After lunch, we took to the highway. We went south on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Fortunately, this time there was no rain, but there were a lot of heavy clouds. We drove through the tunnels to Pisgah Mountain and made several stops at scenic overlooks. It’s amazing what you can see when it’s not all socked in. Even though it’s Summer, the visibility is impressive when the clouds aren’t on the highway. Then we stopped at the outpost store to pick up some goodies.

We meandered further down the Blue Ridge, stopping at Looking Glass Rock,  and several other points of interest. Then the clouds started rolling in. But it didn’t rain. We found our way to Richard Balsam overlook, the highest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway. By then the clouds were thick. But it was so serene. The clouds muffled all the noise except for the occasional passing car. The quiet and solitude really gives you an appreciation for nature. We spent a long time there photographing the mist shrouded trees and flowers. The clouds drifted in and out like a silent shroud.  Then we drove a little further and it started drizzling, so we turned around. On the way back, we stopped at Graveyard Fields again and shot a few more pictures.

Roxanne took the helm for a while to get a taste of driving on mountain roads, and to conquer the mountains once and for all. Did I mention that Roxanne is a very determined lady? At any rate, it was a very enjoyable day. I was going to barbecue some pork when we got back to our home base, but first we had to continue a tradition we started on this vacation: dessert before dinner. We drove into Asheville and navigated to the Marble Slab Creamery. Parking in Asheville is a major ordeal on Saturday. After circling the ice cream parlor a couple of times, we drove to a parking garage. Yes, we do like ice cream. And this ice cream was heavenly. We both had a scoop of cheescake and key lime ice cream; bliss in a waffle cup

Sunday we flew back home. When we got to the Asheville airport it started pouring, and there were loud booms of thunder. And our plane was late in arriving. But they turned it around in time for us to catch our connecting flight in Charlotte. The last leg of our trip was an uneventful and fairly enjoyable flight. We watched the sunset as we flew from Charlotte to Sarasota. Roxanne’s luggage sustained further damage. I’m glad we carried our gear with us on the plane. If you’re a photographer and plan on traveling anywhere by plane, buy reinforced luggage and carry your gear as carry-on luggage. Here are some shots from our last full day in Asheville. Enjoy.

Cheers,
Doug

Heavy clouds, but no rain!

High on the Blue Ridge Parkway

I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles. Oh yeah!

Misty Mountain!

Serenity and bliss on the Blue Ridge Parkway!

We’ve managed to pack quite a bit of diversity into our trip. On Thursday, we stuck close to our home base and photographed wildflowers, and dogs. In the late afternoon, we drove to downtown Asheville and explored the historical village. There was lots of interesting subjects for Lensbaby shots. Then we drove through a town called Biltmore Forest. It was a beautiful area with lots of wonderful homes.

The morning of Friday the 13th, we went to downtown Asheville again and explored the Riverside Cemetery. The cemetery is on a rolling hill and the final resting place of many famous people including the author Thomas Wolfe. It was a great spot for Lensbaby photography. I experimented with the Fish Eye optic and got some interesting photos. One area of the cemetery was the burial place of many soldiers. The headstones were laid out in an exact pattern with military precision. I am humbled by the fact that many of these people gave their lives so we can live in freedom. But it would be so wonderful to imagine a world without war where everyone can live in peace.

We were going to visit the Thomas Wolfe memorial before lunch, but the place gave tours on the half-hour and you could not take a self-guided tour. We like to explore at our own pace, so we just strolled around downtown Asheville. When we walked by the Masonic Temple, we noticed they gave tours on certain days. Roxanne wondered if we could just walk in and explore. And that’s what we did. We were greeted by an enthusiastic man named Ron, who looked to be in his early 80s. He gave us a tour of the place. The temple was built in 1913 and many parts of the building had been restored to their former glory. It was a marvelous glimpse into a different era.

That afternoon we wanted to visit the poet Carl Sandburg’s home. Roxanne had programmed the address into her GPS along with other places we wanted to visit. That’s when we had our first Friday the 13th episode. When she flicked the switch to power up the GPS, nothing happened… zilch… nada. We thought about relying on old-fashioned technology, a paper map. Instead we hopped on the freeway and headed in the general direction. That’s when Friday the 13th Episode 2 happened. There was lots of construction on the freeway and traffic was moving very slow. So we decided to visit Hendersonville.

Hendersonville is a nice town, but looked like way too much of a tourist trap. I went to the visitor center and a nice man gave me directions to some nearby waterfalls in a place called Dupont State Forest. Hooker’s Falls was the first waterfall we visited. The hike was fairly easy, but it was hot. The falls were crowded with bathers who were frolicing in the cool water. We grabbed a couple of shots, hiked back to the van, and drove to the next point of interest.

Roxanne opted to stay by the van while I took the hike to the waterfalls. Samurai Photographer has new hiking boots. Samurai Photographer likes new hiking boots and wants to break them in. I didn’t hike all the way to High Falls. If I had, I wouldn’t have been able to fit the entire waterfall in the picture. So I took some photos from the trail and walked to the covered bridge that was nearby. After photographing the bridge, I hiked back to the van. We then drove to Hendersonville and had dinner at Mean Mister Mustard’s Cafe, which is a must for any Beatles fan visiting the area. But of course no dinner is complete without a good dessert.

That was when Friday the 13th Episode 3 happened. Roxanne used her iPhone to find an ice cream parlor in Asheville. She found one with good ratings and got directions to the establishment. The directions were fairly obtuse. We finally got to what we thought was the area, and drove around for about twenty minutes without finding the ice cream parlor. We settled on some Hagen Das,which was purchased from a local grocery store.

Friday the 13th Episode 4 came when Roxanne’s laptop computer didn’t recognize all of the installed memory. She opened the case, took the memory out, and put it back in again. Then nothing happened. It appeared that both sticks of memory decided to expire on Friday the 13th.

Now it’s Saturday the 14th. Roxanne’s computer is fully functional. She hooked the GPS up to the laptop and it looks like it’s working perfectly. Maybe we should have worn cloves of garlic around our neck when we visited the cemetery. After all, it was Friday the 13th. Here are some photos from downtown Asheville and Dupont Forest. Enjoy.

Cheers,
Doug

Lenbaby psychedelia.

Thomas Wolfe's final resting place

Imagine all the people, living life in peace...

Stage in the Asheville Masonic building

Hooker's Falls

High Falls

Post Road Covered Bridge

We started the day by shooting in the city of Asheville. We ended up in a cool place called “River Arts Center.” The place is filled with interesting art galleries in old brick buildings that were once warehouses. But it was very hot so we only spent a short, but enjoyable time there.

After lunch, we packed up our gear and headed out on the Blue Ridge Parkway again. This time the weather wasn’t  cooperative. We encountered heavy rain a few miles from Asheville. But being the troopers we are, we pressed on regardless. Soon we were one with the weather, channeling with the weather gods who dipped their ghostly presence onto the highway in the form of a thick cloud. Driving in fog is one thing, but driving through a heavy cloud is quite a different story. Roxanne’s GPS doesn’t have built in radar, so we stopped and waited for the storm to abate. When it finally did, we drove to higher altitudes and learned an important lesson about guide books.

The author of a guide book for hikes along the Blue Ridge Parkway may be a German guy named Klaus who does a few hundred stomach crunches and a power Pilates session before breakfast. So when you read a guide book that may have been written by a buff German, take any description with the obligatory number of grains of salt.

The guide book we had said the trail to Lower Falls at Graveyard Fields (Blue Ridge Parkway mile marker number 419), was moderate. The sign before the trail head noted that the first few tenths of a mile could be tricky because of the steep descent. Factor in a trail slipperier than an ice rink due to the recently ended rainstorm and you have a treacherous, steep descent. Neither Klaus or the sign at the trail head mentioned the end of the trail was several hundred steps down wooden stairs followed by two steep and slippery ramps,  ending with a maze of equally slick stepping stones. Roxanne looked at the maze and decided to wait for me at the top of the stairs. Have I mentioned that Roxanne is blessed with the virtue of common sense? I took the trek to the bottom. By the time I reached the bottom, I was soaking wet due the heat, high humidity, and the rain dripping from the leaves. I starting preparing to photograph the falls. It was then I realized the ring for my Cokin Filter holder was not in my camera bag, which meant the graduated neutral density filters in my camera bag were useless. I improvised with a polarizing filter and set the camera up on my Joby Gorillapod. The Gorillapod worked great and I got a couple of pictures of the falls.

We then went to a place called Black Balsom Knob. We hiked on what we thought was the right trail, but ended up going down instead of up. We took pictures anyway. After a few minutes on the trail, we heard a few rumbles of thunder, followed by more crescendos of thunder that soon became louder. The clouds started rolling in and the temperature started dropping quicker than a 350 pound sumo wrestler free-falling from an airplane. We hiked back toward the vehicle we’ve been using and spent a few more minutes taking pictures while the storm rolled in. I finally found out where the trail head to Black Balsom Knob was, but decided that discretion was the better part of valor. We loaded the Honda Element and started driving to lower altitudes.

We returned to Asheville along the Blue Ridge as the sun set slowly. We finished the day with a meal at a local restaurant that was decidedly Southern in flavor. I had heard of Grits as a breakfast meal, but never with dinner. I never acquired a taste for Grits due to the texture and the fact that I thought they tasted very bland. When I saw Goat Cheese Grits with beef on the menu, I told the waiter  my trepidations and he came out with a sample . After sampling the lumpy gruel, my opinion remained unchanged so I opted for the surf and turf.

In retrospect, I should have hopped off the Blue Ridge and found a different place to shoot when it started pouring. But we’re both stubborn, so we pressed on. I also learned that I need to be more careful when I’m packing my camera bag.  Here are a few shots from the day.

Cheers,

Doug

After a moderately strenuous hike...

Heavy clouds and lots of rain.

Foggy mountains.

Tuesday morning was beautiful. We spent a good part of the morning exploring the grounds of the house in which we’re staying. The property is lavishly landscaped with flowers, bamboos and lots of other beautiful plants; perfect for two photographers armed with a Lensbaby. We spent the rest of the morning getting ready for our first assault on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Lensbaby Duo in paradise!

We’ve got the use of a Honda Element for the week, which we have decided is a near perfect vehicle for photographers. It’s got lots of room and the seats are comfortable. We drove up the on-ramp to the Blue Ridge in the early afternoon. The parkway has been under construction for some time, and was just recently re-opened. We had to stop a few times for paving crews and tree trimmers. The road itself is quite photogenic. I can only imagine what it looks like in Fall when the leaves change color.

The long and winding road..

The Blue Ridge meanders through mountains and valleys. There are quite a few switchbacks and fairly steep ascents. I love to drive on a winding road, but must admit I didn’t look over the edge when we got to the highest portions of the Blue Ridge. Roxanne is not accustomed to mountain roads. She was not in white-knuckle mode, but I could tell she was not at ease. And I was driving with due caution. At any rate, we stopped at several beautiful overlooks and took lots of pictures. The scenery is spectacular and there are also some beautiful butterflies in North Carolina mountains.

Little Wing...

I used a polarizing filter and a graduated neutral density filter to cope with the huge dynamic range. I’m pleased with the results I got. Tomorrow we’re going to explore the town of Asheville in the morning, and then take to the highway again.

Cheers,

Doug

The rolling countryside along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Craggy Pinnacle

Winding and climbing to lofty peaks.

Monday morning the pitter patter of rain on the skylight and the distant rumble of thunder rousted me from my sleep hours before I wanted to get up. The energy in the air matched my energy. I was excited. Roxanne and I were leaving for vacation. We ate breakfast, dressed quickly and left extra early because we anticipated problems with security. I mean we were carrying six digital cameras, a plethora of lenses, two laptops, a video camera, and a myriad of cables and chargers. But airport security was simple. We had everything neatly separated in our camera bags and messenger bags so the TSA agents could easily identify everything in our bags.  Other than the hassle of taking our shoes off, it was a breeze.

* A hint for traveling photographers: neatly wrap all cables with rubber band so they don’t look like spaghetti.

After clearing security, we sat in the gate from which our plane would leave. It’s been a long time since I’ve flown. In the old days, you’d see a Dobbs truck packing the belly of the plane with the food we’d be eating on the flight. But that’s a luxury for first class in 2010. Now the rest of us get a complimentary beverage, and can pay $5.00 for a handful of stale trail mix. I imagine the flight attendants can earn extra bucks going to Sam’s club between flights and purchasing bulk packets of trail mix.

Then it came time to get on the plane. Welcome to “Sardine Class.” Imagine trying to get a loaded camera bag and messenger bag down an aisle just slightly wider than a super model without taking out the passengers in the aisle seats. The overhead compartments are slightly larger than a child’s lunch box, a tight fit for a loaded camera bag. To make matters worse, the seats had less padding than a well worn seat in a McDonalds. But at least the first leg of our trip was on a jet.

Welcome to "Sardine Class"

Our second flight was on a prop job. I had a seat near the wing. If it was at all possible, the seats were even closer in this plane, which I think was built sometime before The Beatles got their first hit record. But the seats were slightly more comfortable than the jet. Before takeoff, the passengers were fanning themselves with the safety cards to keep cool instead of reading them.

Airline travel circa 1962 in 2010

I thought I could see duct tape flapping from beneath the engine compartment when the pilot started the engines. At least the engines didn’t cough, sputter, and smoke when the pilot flipped the switch. When the pilot received clearance to take off, he gave the engines full throttle. The din was unbelievable. The plane ambled down the runway slightly faster than a Toyota Prius. I breathed a sigh of relief when it finally became airborne.

Held together by duct tape and baling wire.

When we reached cruising altitude, I wanted to take some pictures. But the windows were all scratched, so I amused myself wondering what might be under the layer of paint when it finally peeled from the engine compartment. Perhaps a painting of Betty Grable circa 1944. Near the end of the flight I looked over and saw Roxanne sketching using a program on her iPhone. She drew a sketch of the engine compartment held together with two band aids.

The airline must have taken offense to her artwork, because when we collected our luggage, Roxanne’s new suitcase had been thoroughly trashed. Maybe next time we should take a train.