Not quite Spring.

Felt like it, though.

I spent the first Saturday morning of February walking around Zilker Botanical Gardens in Austin. Around 10 folks showed up for Simi’s PhotowalksATX gathering.

There were a few familiar faces – Greg, George, Ed, Ana – and a few folks I’d not met before – Justin, Derrick, Another Ed, Scott – and some folks whose names I did not get nor hear.

It was a beautiful Winter morning in the garden.

It was a beautiful Winter morning in the garden. A little chilly to start, but by the time folks were heading to lunch, it’d warmed up nicely.

It was my first visit to Zilker Gardens. Beautiful grounds. It has a lot of nice winding, gently sloped, paved paths, for ADA compliance I’m guessing, but there were also steps to use. Thoughtful.

I brought along the Sony RX100 III, my trusty Panasonic Lumix LX100, and it was my first outing with the Fujifilm XQ1.

There were a few paper whites popping out of the ground, and rose blossoms, pansies, and a few other flowers, but since it’s the dead of winter, mostly palms, ferns, and well, just a whole lot of green.

… it was my first outing with the Fujifilm XQ1.

Entrance into the gardens was $7 US for me, a senior, but that included parking. Not bad really.

There was a beautiful waterfall in one section of the gardens that I’m pretty sure everyone got a shot of… my picture was a little off-center, but it managed to catch a little cool lookin’ sun flare.

I was so busy focusing on getting into the gardens that I didn’t notice the front entrance gates, but the Rose Garden Gate on the north side of the property was something to behold. The only reference to the artist that I could find online was Lars Stanley and Louis Herrera.

Lunch was at Schlotsky’s on South Lamar. There weren’t as many folks as on the walk, but it was still a good crowd.

Simi’s photo strolls are always awesome.

Butterfly

Stack-o-washers

Fire

Anna

Ed

Spigot

Cracked

Weathered

Granite Rose

Simi

Symmetry

Moody.

Willie, too.

I made it down to Austin this morning for a stroll with the PhotowalksATX gang. Simi had us meet beneath the sculpture of Wille Nelson, outside the legendary Moody Theater of Austin City Limits fame – attending a show there is on my bucket list – and by 8:30 am we’d reached a quorum of 8.

Besides Simi, I knew Michael and RJ (that’s his Kodak Pony, above) from previous walks, plus Ed, who I know from NAPƒS, showed up. That was pretty cool. George, Ina, Sean, and Timothy were the new folks I got to meet this time around. (I hope I got their names right!)

We started out by walking over to West Cesar Chavez St., stopping to shoot around Austin City Hall.

After that, we slowly made our way west on Cesar Chavez until we reached the Austin Library. We made our way to the butterfly bridge, crossed it then inched our way eastward on 2nd till we ended back at Lavaca Street.

I… found myself shooting in B&W mode. And square. A lot.

I took the GX8 and X100s with me, but used the Panny mostly and found myself shooting in B&W mode. And square. A lot. That’s okay, though. I got a few decent shots.

It was pretty close to 11 a.m. by then, so everyone headed over to the downtown Whole Foods for lunch. We had a hell of a time finding enough chairs to seat all 8 of us around the larger of the two sizes of tables they had, but eventually everyone had a place to sit and we ate then talked for at least an hour.

Great fun. Simi is awesome. If you’re in the Austin area, you should give this once-a-month gathering a try.

I headed out a little after noon, driving up Lamar until a left on 45th then a right on Burnet Road got me closer to my last stop. I finally dropped off the 4 rolls of 35mm C41 at Austin Camera. It’ll all be ready for me to pick up next Sunday. Yay!

 

Jenga

Bare tree

Celebration

Michael

Nun

ONO S

Registered

RJ

Shadows and silhouettes

Willie

One summer morning.

South Congress photo stroll.

I ventured down to Austin last Saturday morning. Precision Camera hosted a photo stroll on South Congress from 9-11 a.m.

Well attended, I’d say there were 20 or more people sporting their favorite camera.

The weather was nice, though a bit warm, even for that time of morning. It’s Texas, y’all!

We walked south from Jo’s Coffee the first hour, then crossed the street at E. Milton Street and headed north, taking advantage of the shade on that side of the avenue for the second hour.

Ending at Jo’s again, this stroll was a bit different from others in that we didn’t gather for lunch and look through each other’s shots once the walk was over. Or maybe that did happen and I didn’t hear about it. No biggy.

I had a blast, met a bunch of good folk, and got a few decent shots.

Jody

Light grid

Revival

Gate

Cosmic dog

Continental

Burro

Greybeard

A+S L+A

Hats

Josh

Four fuzzy leaves

truth

Air bubbles

Ten over ten

Going small.

A tale of two bags.

I’ve been using Courierware camera bags for quite a while – at least ten years.

Specifically the Incognito. I have two, a medium size for my TtV rig and a Mini for my daily carry. Both are great, durable bags that are still in excellent shape for as much use as they get.

The Mini is the perfect size for a mirrorless camera and an extra lens, or a couple of point-and-shoot cameras. These days I’m carrying the Panny GX8 with the Olympus 12-40ƒ/2.8 Pro attached and my trusty old Panny LX100. Plenty of pockets, inside and out, for a small notebook, biz cards, pens, pencils. Both were ordered with plastic clips, not velcro.

Plus, Eric at Courierware was able to sew up a 15″ handle for me, and I added a black fuzzy seatbelt cozy to the main strap. Very comfortable. Happy customer. The Mini gets a lot of use.

I’ve been on the lookout for something new. I wanted an even smaller bag to carry while traveling. A sling that’ll hold two or three point-and-shoot cameras, but not be totally obvious as a camera bag.

I found what I was looking for in the Peak Design Everyday Sling 5L.

The 5L checked off all the boxes: small, light-weight, flexible, adjustable, plenty of space for a small notebook, biz cards, pens, pencils, mobile phone. And at $99 US,  it’s really a decent price.

I like that the strap is not just adjustable, but padded. The 5L has a built in handle. There’s a nifty pair of velcro “FlexFold” dividers that make it easy to cordon off space for lenses or other accessories. Quite trick, this feature.

The bag, with the strap pulled in shorter rests in the small of my back, and it has what amounts to hinges at both ends of the strap, allowing the bag to fit snuggly at any length. Great idea.

Let the strap out longer, swing it around in front and you have easy and secure access to the contents. The flap opens outward from the body creating a ledge of sorts.

And it comes in black canvas. A must.

A test walk this weekend is in order.

There are bunches of reviews on YouTube, if you want to get an idea of what this nifty bag is all about.