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An Epic Dubai Vacation!

April 11, 2019 by Prem Leave a Comment

Traveling to the Middle East, I never expected to say that Dubai was probably the safest and cleanest city I’ve ever been to and there was more amazing things to see and do here than anywhere else I’ve ever traveled to. Here is a short highlight video that really shows off the trip:

4/1/19

We had a long day of flying connecting through Amsterdam and arrived at our AirBnB at 2:00am.
The first thing I did was checkout the view which was incredible!!! Seeing the Burj Khalifa at night is a jaw dropping site!

The next morning, I got up just after sunrise again to check out this view. During the day, you could even better appreciate the 30 acre lake they created at the foot of the tower.

After waking up, we walked over to a grocery store 5 minutes away and got some food to stock our refrigerator. It was then time to go for a walk and check out the area which of course led to some more images of the Burj Khalifa.

We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t actually go inside the tower unless we paid a lot of money to take an elevator to the viewing platform at the top.
We then walked around the Dubai Mall which had all sorts of interesting artwork and sculptures.

We were fighting a bit of jet lag so we went back to our apartment to relax for the afternoon, let the boys swim, etc.
During the day, it gets really hot and there aren’t a lot of people out, but at night, it’s hopping and was way busier!
We walked back to the mall to have dinner and watch the water show which starts at 6:00pm and runs every half hour.

At night, we went back up to our room and watched the water show from our balcony.

4/2/19
The next day we drove out to Abu Dhabi in the morning to check out the Grand Mosque which is absolutely breathtaking architecture.

Later that evening, I did some more images from our balcony at the apartment and then we headed back out to the mall and to see the water show again. This time we took one of the boat rides around the lake to really experience it up close.

4/3/19
Today we were transferring to another airBnB. Before checkout, went to the Miracle Garden which was a jaw dropping display of flowers.

In the afternoon, we made our way over to our second AirBnB which was right on the Jumeirah Beach Marina.
We went for our walk around the area, had dinner, and walked back along the beach at night.

4/4/19
This morning we went over to the beach which was an interesting experience. There were some women that were covered head to toe for their beach wear and right next to them would be a woman in a thong bikini.
And there were also camels…so that was different!

This evening we did a dessert safari trip. It had it’s pros and cons but it was definitely a unique and fun experience which included dune bashing in a 4×4 vehicle, quad biking in the sand, along with dinner and some shows including belly dancing and fire spinning.

4/5/19
Today we went to the Wild Wadi water park which was a great time. It was not nearly as crowded as we had expected. It was a small park and probably overpriced for what it was but we had a great time and it had amazing views of the Burj Al Arab which is another beautiful piece of architecture.

In the evening we went to Jumeirah Public Beach which was absolutely insanely crowded.
I had the chance to do some beautiful pics of the changing light with the Burj Al Arab.
The boys played soccer on the beach with some other kids.
After that we went to Souk Madinat Jumeirah which is an indoor/outdoor mall with lots of shopping and restaurants. It reminded a little bit of the San Antonio river walk. We had a wonderful Italian dinner with a warm breeze on the terrace. We talked a bit with our waiter who was from Uzbekistan. He said that the 95 degree days right now are perfect but in summer it will be 125 degrees. Ugh!!

4/6/19

This morning we went to the aquarium in Atlantis. It was enjoyable but very small compared to the Bahamas counterpart.

In the evening we went to Global Village which is a 364 acre park that represents different cultures from all over the world. It’s a melting pot of cultures in an open air mall blended with a theme park.
Each section of the globe included shopping and food from that region. There was a large carnival section, a stage where every 15 minutes they had dance performances from different countries, a live stunt show and so much more.
It was truly unique!!

4/7/19
Today was departure day and it was be a long day. Our flight wasn’t until 12:40am so we needed to occupy 14.5 hours. The boys took advantage of the pool with a late checkout time.

After that, we headed to the Emirates Mall and visited Ski Dubai. This was probably the only regret that I had from the trip because it was really expensive and since the boys hadn’t skied before, they would not have been able to pass the ski test required to actually go on the slope so there wasn’t much for us to do there. We still had fun on the toboggans and tubes and stuff.

In the evening we went to the Dubai Glow Garden which was the largest in the world. It was really pretty and fun to walk around at night. From there…off to the airport!!

On our way home, we had a long layover in Amsterdam so we decided to explore the city. Shortly after sunrise, we walked around downtown to see all the canals. We also made a stop at the home of the famous Anne Frank which was a great history lesson for the boys. One of my favorite things to see was all the bikes! BIKES EVERYWHERE!!

Next we took an Uber to go visit the Kuekenhof Tulip gardens which were blooming. Unfortunately we only had about half an hour left so it was WAY too short!!

We then went back to the airport and flew home to Detroit.

Family Trip to Las Vegas and San Diego

January 22, 2019 by Prem Leave a Comment

At the end of Christmas break this year we took a family trip out to Las Vegas and San Diego to explore a different part of the country.
Based on our flight times, we had 5 full days which was perfect for what we wanted to do.

12/30/18

We had a smooth flight to Vegas and arrived after dark so after getting our rental car we drove up the strip to enjoy the lights and colors.
After that we had dinner and then checked into our hotel for the night.

12/31/18

We started the morning with a drive out to Hoover Dam which is always an impressive site. It was too early for any of the tours so we just got to enjoy the area together.

Next, we drove to the Mojave National Preserve through a fresh snow storm which was really pretty to see the lifting clouds over the mountains.

Next we drove to the Kelso Dunes where the kids could run around and have fun.

With the government shut down, the bathroom and garbage situation was pretty bad. There was a group of hikers in a pick up truck that came and emptied out all the trash which was really neat to see.

Kelso Dunes are 45 sq miles of sand and 600 ft tall which is pretty impressive!

Next, it was on to Joshua Tree National Park. Joshua Tree is a really beautiful dessert park.

The boys did rock scrambling near Skull Rock and LOVED it there. We then went for a nice short hike around Hidden Valley.

1/1/19

First thing in the morning, we drove to the Salton Sea. We were surprised just how dumpy the area was. Lots of garbage and abandoned buildings with graffiti everywhere.

We then went up into the mountains to the old mining town of Julian. It was straight up winter there. There was ice everywhere which made walking around the town a bit treacherous. We really struggled to get the car out of our parking spot which was parallel parked on an icy hill…yikes!!

After that we drove down to sunny San Diego. I was shocked at how cheap the hotels are here. I was expecting everything to be super expensive but we are staying at the Hilton for $100 per night with a beautiful view of the Coronado bridge.
Our first adventure in San Diego was to explore the USS Midway. It’s pretty amazing that this ship was still in service in the early 90s. One of the best parts about it is that they have lots of vets on board who give talks about different parts of the ship.

1/2/19
Today we had some perfect weather and decided to spend the day out at the San Diego zoo which is one of the best zoos in the world.
The animals were out and about and it was fantastic!

That evening, we went over to the coast to catch the sunset at the Sunset Cliffs. A wonderful finish to a wonderful day.

1/3/19
Today we had to drive back to Vegas. On our way back, we stopped off at the Calico ghost town which was pretty cool to see. It was restored back to its original condition and very neat to see all the old buildings and train and mining stuff.

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We arrived at the Palazzo Hotel mid-afternoon. The Palazzo is attached and connected to the Venetian so it was fun to just walk around and see the beautiful architecture and design.

We spent a few hours out, then got a break and headed out again at night to see the buildings all lit up at night. Ceasar’s Palace, The Bellagio Fountains, Paris…all amazing!

1/4/19
This morning we started the day exploring the Neon Museum.
It was pretty neat to see but it was much smaller than I expected. There were basically two small rows of signs and you could walk through it in just a couple minutes so paying $85 for the family to go through was a bit much.
After that we headed over to Fremont st and had a walk around and some lunch. Then we went to Circus Circus to catch the quick Ladderman show.

This afternoon we went to the Forum shops at Caesar’s Palace. Absolutely amazing design and architecture and some fantastic photography galleries.
We caught the Atlantis show at the end. That was super cheesy but fun for the kids.

Earlier this year, Cheridy and I had gone to the actual Trevi Fountain in Rome so it was neat to compare the two.

Our last night in Vegas, we saw La Reve at the Wynn hotel.
That was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
The physical abilities of the performers is mind blowing but what is equally amazing is the engineering that went into it. The moving platforms that made the pool go from 1” down to a pool deep enough to dive from 60’ up was crazy. I’m not even sure how many different pieces there were but it was a lot. The lights, the fountains, the acrobatics and aerobatics were mesmerizing.
The theater was also incredible. With only 13 rows of seats in a circle, everyone got an amazing view. We paid a premium for our seats to be in the back row which also included tv screens which gave us behind the scenes views for the prep work before the show along with many different camera angles that showed us what was happening from up in the rafters down under water. It was really neat to see how the scuba team was assisting the performers from underwater.
I had never heard of La Reve and some of the other cirque shows we looked at were sold out so we are very thankful to have been able to do that.

1/5/19
We flew home and had an uneventful flight back. Desert, mountains, ocean, and cities, it was a packed 5 days!!

See how an iphone XS compares to a professional camera for landscape photography

January 22, 2019 by Prem Leave a Comment

I get asked ALL THE TIME, “what camera should I buy for my upcoming trip” and I always tell people to just bring their Iphone.
Ultimately the best camera is the one that you have with you.
Most images never get used for anything beyond social media so the image size/quality does not need to be great. For people that do print images, an 8×10 is usually the biggest they will go.
But…WHAT IF you actually wanted to print larger.
I decided I needed to test it to see just how well the iphone can hold up so I partnered with Black River Imaging (www.blackriverimaging.com) to do an experiment.
I had a few images that were taken with both my Iphone XS and also my FUJI XT-3.

Watch the video to see the results:

At the end of the video I said “iphone Xr”, but I meant “iphone Xs”

Iphone XS
Pros:
-Small and always with you.
-Does incredible as long as the image is well lit and well exposed properly.
-Very easy to take photos and edit photos via apps.
-Motion blur photos can be captured hand held with no tripod using the live view mode.

Cons:
-Quality drops off significantly in low light. (still looks good for social media but not for print)
-The minimal zoom makes it nearly useless for wildlife photography.

Professional Gear
Pros
-You can get the best quality images in every situation.

Cons:
-You have to carry a camera and multiple lenses and often even a tripod.
-Editing the photos usually requires downloading and processing which is time consuming.
-Motion blur photos require a tripod and cable release to do properly.
-Much more difficult to learn the settings and features.

Keep in mind, that regardless of what camera you have, you still need to learn how to use it it to get the best results. People think that phone cameras are just point and shoot but to really utilize them properly you still need to learn basic camera functionality and find the apps that can give you the best options and results.
If you do decide to print your photos, Jason, the lab manager at Black River, recommends to not change the resolution of your images unless you are an advanced editor and know how to properly sharpen images based on the image resolution.

What it really comes down to is that there are images that I’ve shot on my iphone XS that I could enlarge and sell and nobody would know they were taken with a phone. THAT’S IMPRESSIVE!!
I’m looking forward to printing more images now that I don’t feel hindered by the quality.

This is the iphone XS image

This is the FUJI XT-3 image

Here are some of the other images used in the video.

It’s amazing to me that this first image which captured the motion blur of the water was taken hand held with the iphone

The dynamic range here to be able to capture the detail in the highlights on the clouds to the detail on the backlit tree is amazing.

The color captured by the phone is so vibrant!

Here are a few other iphone captures. Just like anything I post and share, all my images were retouched. Most of these were done with Adobe Lightroom Mobile.

1800 mile road trip for fall color in Maine

October 21, 2018 by Prem Leave a Comment

Every year my friend Ben and I try to connect somewhere in the country to do a photography trip. This year we decided on Maine for fall color and it did not disappoint.
These photos are a combination of images shot with my Fuji Xt-3 and my iphone Xs.

Day 1
We had some night flights which got us into Portland Maine around 11:30pm.

Day 2
We started our day at 6:00am at the Portland Head lighthouse which is one of the most famous lighthouses in Maine. It was windy and rainy and cold but the location was really pretty. We knew we wanted to come back when the weather was better.

As the morning continued, the rain got worse so we stopped off at Walmart to buy umbrellas.

We then drove to the Sunday River covered bridge which was a beautiful old wooden bridge. By this point, it was raining really hard so we didn’t venture too far from the car and just explored the areas around the river banks.

We then started driving towards the Appalachian mountains. We found a nice spot to take photographs of the mountains in the mist.

The next stop was Screw Auger falls right off the road. It was very easy to get to and Ben and I took turns holding an umbrella for the other so we could setup our cameras and get some good long exposures of the waterfall.

Step Falls was our next spot that we hiked in to. Hard to get a good view of the falls. It was raining really hard and the rocks were slick like ice so we didn’t feel safe to get out on the rocks for a better view.

The next stop was an Overpass bridge near coos canyon followed by Coos canyon itself which had beautiful color. The trees had vibrant reds and the river was lined with yellow and green.

Our next stop was Rangeley Lake state park where we didn’t see much but still got some beautiful road pictures with yellow trees.

We then moved on to Smalls Falls which was another nice little waterfall that was easily accessible.

We had a couple more waterfall stops to make but decided to skip them and move on to Greenville Where we were going to stay the night and hopefully get sunrise in Moosehead Lake.

Day 2
Unfortunately that plan didn’t work. There was no sunrise because it was heavy clouds.
We took a few photos from the parking lot at Kelly’s Landing.

We then started a long drive up to Baxter state park. We took the shortest route which was the western side but we didn’t realize that 1/2 of our drive was on dirt roads and with all the rain, they were a mess and slow to navigate.
When we arrived we hiked to Katahdin stream falls which was a gorgeous waterfall. The weather was still pretty grey which is actually great for waterfalls.
The parking area also had some beautiful trees.

One thing that we were totally amazed by is the amount of color even on the ground. The leaves had freshly fallen so everywhere we went, there was a carpet of yellow and red. Ben had setup his tripod to get this shot of us.

From there we had a 3 hour drive to Schoodic point which is a peninsula that is part of Acadia National Park. We had a few quick coastal shots.

Here’s a quick behind the scenes photo from the scene above:

We then drove around to the main part of the park To otter point for sunset. When we arrived, the skies cleared up and we had perfect light for an evening sunset.

There were probably 50 other photographers there enjoying this scene.

The park itself was very crowded. Apparently there is the annual marathon happening in Acadia this weekend so it was very crowded everywhere.
We had dinner in the Route 66 restaurant in Bar Harbor which surely had a lot of fun stuff to look at!

Day 3
This morning we woke up at 5:30 to go catch the sunrise At Jordan pond with The Bubbles in the background. It was a beautiful and mostly still morning so we got a nice reflection in the lake. The cloud cover was still very thick which limited the light.

We drove up to Cadillac mountain for views of whole park which was neat to see. I liked seeing the cruise ship docked out in the Harbor.

Next was Otter cliffs where we did some rock scrambling to get some nice views of the Acadia coastline.

You can see a lot of climbers playing on the cliffs…what a great place to climb!

At this point the rain picked back up. We drove to Bass harbor light house. We arrived at the wrong time of day because the tide was really far out so we didn’t get any water in the foreground. It was also grey and rainy so I just took a quick iPhone shot and did a sky replacement on my phone.

We then went to Echo lake but it was raining really hard so it was just a quick stop.

We saw SOOOO many turkeys alongside the road, it was crazy!

Next was Bubble pond in the rain.

After that we drove around to Rockport where we stayed the night. It was raining hard so we checked into our hotel and watched some football. After 1.5 hours, the rain stopped and the sky lightened up. We grabbed our cameras and headed out to catch the Sunset on west Penobscot bay. We found a vacant lot on the water and the tide had gone out. There was deep squishy seaweed, garbage, and lot of mud but that’s where we had to go to get some amazing photos. It was awesome!

Day 4
We started the day at 5:00am. Sunrise wasn’t until 6:45. We drove to the Marshall point light house in hopes of catching some stars over the lighthouse and then we hung around and just enjoyed a peaceful morning.

Next, we drove up Mt Battie in Camden hills state park to get a beautiful view of the harbor and the town of Camden far down below.

We had plans to visit a couple more light houses today but this was our first day of clear skies and sunshine so we decided to drive across the state and head into the White Mountains of New Hampshire as we thought the fall color would look great against a blue sky. The coastal areas were not at peak color yet, but farther inland was definitely at peak! We drove the Kancamagus highway. It was a beautiful drive on a beautiful day. Apparently everyone else thought that too though. There was a two mile traffic backup just to get into one of the overlooks.

Next we were going to hike the Flume in Franconia notch state park. We ended up leaving. I’ve never seen a state park like that. Every parking space was full, every spot on the grass was full, and then there was a 1/2 mile long line of cars along the highway. On our way out of the park we saw a 4 mile traffic jam trying to get in. We ended up driving down highway 16 to the east of mount Washington. We found a few nice places to stop and then we began the drive back to Portland.

A beautiful pond on the side of the road provided a perfect mirror reflection.

One of the things that we noticed about Maine was that many of the really nice coastal areas on both ocean and lakes are all private so it was often a real struggle to find spots where we could take pictures along the water. We were trying to find a good sunset spot on our way back to Portland but all the spots we found on google maps were private. This one was from an overpass overlooking the faraway mountains.

Day 5
Another day to wake up at sunrise. We headed back out to the Portland Head Lighthouse. When we were there early in the trip, the weather was terrible but this morning was just about perfect. There were photographers everywhere!! It was a beautiful sunrise.

Next we headed down the coast for a few other spots. This one was at the Old Orchard Beach pier.

We then found a great spot outside of Kennebunkport which was a little fishing area.

We continued down the coast but the weather turned sour really fast so we ended up heading back to our hotel to end our trip.

Day 6
I had a 5:30am flight back to Detroit.

Outdoorsy Senior Pictures with Courtney

October 18, 2018 by Prem Leave a Comment

We love it when our high school senior clients incorporate their hobbies and passions into their photos! It makes the photos so much more personal, and it makes them that much more fun to shoot! Courtney loves hiking and reading, so we were able to take some awesome outdoorsy senior pictures for her on our 6 acre outdoor studio! See some of her favorites below.