LATEST ADDITIONS

If you want the world to see your images, one of the easiest ways is with a free photoblog from Tumblr (www.tumblr.com). Free or low-cost templates give your blog the look you want. As a fan of Micro Four Thirds system cameras, I started a new blog (http://mirrorlessmusings.tumblr.com) to pick up where last year’s Picture-a-Day blog left off with a spin aimed at mirrorless photography. Using a free template, I had the blog up and running in 15 minutes, and you can, too. Tumblr is interactive so you can have a two-way conversation with admirers of your work. Don’t, as the parable goes, “hide your light under a bushel basket.” Sharing images is what makes photography the universal language and Tumblr makes it easy.

Starting with the 2014 CES trade show, held at the turn of the year, and continuing through press time for this issue, we’ve seen a goodly number of new products come to the fore. All this is only the start—this being a photokina year we’ll see a whole new round of products, including CMOS-sensor medium formats, with prices to match, coming our way. I trust that this report will give you a good sense of what’s here and what’s coming down the pike. So, here are my quick picks of those products that caught my eye, plus a snapshot of some of the trends.

Beauty is as beauty does. A Leica M with a 50mm APO Summicron attached is the iconic archetype of modern digital cameras with retro design. Using it is a prodigious experience comparable to, let’s say, playing a concert Steinway grand piano, or maybe setting the hands on a Patek Philippe timepiece. I’m only guessing here, ‘cause I’ve done neither. But I did use a Leica M and 50mm APO Summicron for a week. Did they perform? Read on…

The roads I follow as a travel photographer mostoften lead me to landmarks and landscapes, festivals and events, people and cultures. But not always. As you can see from the photos here, I consider photographing wildlife one of the requirements of a successful travel photographer.