The Traveling Widower

Category: Photography techniques

  • Getting Organized (Finally) / Greatest Hits (Part I)

    December 10th, 2026

    A computer monitor displaying an editing software interface with an image of an animal on screen, surrounded by a wooden desk, a keyboard, a mouse, a lamp, a coffee cup, and various office supplies.

    I did not make any New Year’s resolutions this year, since I usually forget about them by the following morning. But, I do maintain a task list on Google Tasks of all the various financial, travel and general things I want to get done sometime in the future, which I actually do try to follow. One of those tasks has been to consolidate all my photo libraries and archives. As Jan’s dad always used to say, I need to get organized. So, with another full month at home before my next major trip, I’m spending a lot of hours on the iMac, trying to do the impossible – get organized. 

    First on the list was to go through all the images from the Antarctica trip – I finally made it through the initial culling process, and then marked ones worth curating, with the potential for printing and/or submitting for competition. That leaves me with 192 images to play with. A lot easier to deal with than the initial 3000 that I started with. By the time I get through the next review, using Adobe Lightroom to cull through the images, I’ll hopefully just have four or five dozen images at most to work with. Some of which I’ve already posted on the blog. 

    As for my storage and archive tasks, that’s going to take some time. I have one 4TB disk drive attached to the iMac which is my primary archive – I copy all the images from the camera SD cards to separate folders, one for each trip, and then work through each to cull out images I’ll never use. Unfortunately, I rarely get around to going through them all….until now. I also have two 4TB SD drives which I use for image archives – that’s a lot of terrabytes. So my plan now is to go through all the images from the past year, cull that down to a reasonable volume, and then copy those to the two archive drives. That should give me enough backups. And somewhere along the way, I intend to replace the disk drive with a large (8TB) SD drive, for my primary archive. 

    Phew…..that’s a lot of work.

    A man sitting at a desk with a laptop, surrounded by numerous photographs of wildlife and landscapes.

    The final task I’m hoping to complete before I start accumulating more images, is to create separate folders for competition and print images, and a “Greatest Hits” folder. At the moment, I have copies of the images that I’ve used in competitions or in the blog, scattered across SD drives and in multiple folders on my iMac, iPad and Macbook. Time to centralize all of that, and then post the best-of-the-best on the blog.  Here is a first, partial pass on my greatest hits. Once I finish going through ALL of my images from the last year, I’ll do a separate post which includes these. I’ll probably have even more to post depending on when I get this review completed.

    I have started printing some of the curated photos, sending a few off to the two companies I use for glass/acrylic prints. We had started replacing the our framed photos with acrylics before Jan passed, and now I’m slowly filling open spaces into photo galleries. I don’t have a lot of open wall space – I might have to move. (No!)

    A cozy living room corner featuring a beige armchair, a lamp, and a small wooden table. Three framed artworks depicting penguins, a landscape, and a sunset are mounted on the walls.

    Greatest Hits From the Traveling Widower Part I

    This is a first pass – I’ll turn this into a new post, once I’ve completed my review.

    Alaska

    A group of sea lions resting on rocky shoreline, some interacting while others are lounging in the sun.
    A scenic view of snow-capped mountains under a blue sky, with a foreground of calm water and forested islands.
    A serene lake scene with mountains in the background, featuring calm water and a single bird in the foreground.
    A sea lion basking on a rocky outcrop next to two seagulls, surrounded by calm water and a clear sky.
    A serene view of calm waters reflecting the sky, with distant mountains shrouded in clouds and small rocky islands in the foreground.
    A serene view of calm water reflecting the sky, surrounded by distant mountains under a clear blue atmosphere.
    A serene landscape featuring tranquil waters surrounded by mountains and mist, with floating icebergs visible in the foreground.
    Two sea lions resting on rocky shorelines with moss and water in the foreground.
    A tranquil seascape featuring calm waters with several islands and distant mountains under a cloudy sky.
    A bird skimming across the surface of a calm lake, creating ripples in the water.
    A serene view of a glacier reflecting in calm waters, surrounded by rugged mountains under a clear sky.
    A group of sea lions lounging on rocky shores, with several sleeping and some sitting upright.
    Black and white landscape of mountains with snow-capped peaks and a calm body of water in the foreground.
    Scenic view of snow-capped mountains rising above a calm ocean, with rocky formations in the foreground.

    Baja (2025)

    A whale breaching the surface of the ocean with mountains in the background.
    A panoramic view of mountains in the distance, featuring rugged peaks and layered rock formations, with a calm body of water in the foreground under a clear sky.
    A vibrant sunset over the ocean, with a golden sun dipping below the horizon, casting warm hues of orange and red across the sky and reflecting on the water.
    A scenic sunset over the ocean, with vibrant orange and yellow hues in the sky and the sun setting on the horizon.

    Bryce Canyon

    A close-up view of layered red rock formations in Bryce Canyon, showcasing intricate ridges and hoodoos.
    Tall rock formation, known as a hoodoo, with a balanced capstone atop a slender base, surrounded by other reddish rock structures and trees, against a backdrop of layered mountains.

    Donner Tunnels

    A dimly lit tunnel with arched ceilings, featuring walls covered in colorful graffiti and a gravel floor.
    Interior of an abandoned structure featuring colorful graffiti on the walls and a gravel floor, with beams overhead and rectangular windows allowing light to filter in.
    An empty, dark tunnel with rough stone walls and a glowing light source at the far end.

    Moss Landing

    A whale's tail fin breaking the surface of the ocean with two birds flying above and a sandy coastline in the background.
    A bird in flight with its wings spread, soaring over a green landscape and distant mountains in the background.
    A brown pelican flying against a clear blue sky

    Antarctica

    A stunning view of icy mountains and glaciers reflected in calm blue waters under a clear sky.
    A large flock of Adelie penguins gathered on a rocky shoreline, with many penguins nesting and interacting across the area.
    A group of Adélie penguins on rocky terrain, with one penguin prominently in the foreground looking towards the camera.
    A large iceberg rising out of the calm ocean waters under a clear blue sky, surrounded by snow-covered mountains in the distance.
    A towering iceberg stands majestically in a clear blue sky, surrounded by smaller ice formations floating in the water.
    A group of four Gentoo penguins walking on a pebbly shore near the water.
    A scenic view of a calm ocean surrounded by snow-covered mountains and icebergs under a bright sun and blue sky.
    A group of Gentoo penguins standing on a snowy landscape with icy waters and snow-capped mountains in the background.
    A dark-colored whale surfacing in icy blue waters near a large glacier, with intricate ice formations in the background.
    A large blue iceberg floating in calm waters under a clear sky with scattered clouds.

    Whale Watch (2025)

    A group of seals swimming and splashing in the water.

    Zion

    Scenic view of Zion National Park showcasing towering sandstone cliffs under a partly cloudy sky.
    A colorful waterfall cascading down a rocky cliff surrounded by green trees and blue sky.
    A scenic view of Zion National Park featuring a prominent red rock mountain under a blue sky with scattered clouds, foregrounded by dry vegetation and a leafless tree.
    A panoramic view of a mountainous landscape featuring red rock formations, green vegetation in a valley, and a blue sky with scattered clouds.
    Scenic view of red rock mountains with green vegetation under a blue sky, featuring a fallen tree in the foreground.
    Scenic view of red rock mountains under a blue sky with fluffy clouds.
    A panoramic view of Zion National Park featuring towering cliffs, green vegetation, and a blue sky with scattered clouds.

    Hummingbirds

    A colorful hummingbird perched on green leaves, showcasing its iridescent feathers against a blurred natural background.
    A hummingbird perched on a flowering plant against a blurred green background.
    A small hummingbird perched on a green leaf with a blurred green background.
    A colorful hummingbird perched on a branch surrounded by green leaves and red flowers.

    More to come….

  • More Antarctica Photography

    December 18th, 2025

    A majestic snow-capped mountain rises against a clear blue sky, surrounded by calm waters with floating icebergs in the foreground.

    After two full weeks of puttering around the house, I finally dedicated a day to go through the two 500GB SD cards that I used for the Sony A7 cameras (A7IV, A7RV) on the Antarctica trip. Most of the images I have posted so far on the blog or Facebook, were captured with my phone, with a smattering of images from the cameras from a cursory pass I made of the SD cards while still traveling. I’ve just been lazy, putting this task off until yesterday. 

    This turned into a significant effort:

    1. Each card had at least 1300 separate images, each with a JPEG and RAW version. You can shoot a lot with 10 frames-per-second.
    2. I first went through each of the JPEG versions, deleting duplicates or images that I knew I’d never do anything with. Digital cameras are wonderful – unlike film, it costs nothing to take a lot of lousy shots. But if you take hundreds of images, you still have to review each one. 
    3. After going through the JPEG versions, I used the list of remaining JPEG’s to compare with the RAW images, and delete the same files. Once that was done, I then did a backup of the remaining images to my two archive drives. I will probably need a new, dedicated archive drive sometime in the near future. More toys. 
    4. Phew!  That was a lot of work. I decided I needed a glass of wine after that. 

    The end result of this process is about 650 images that need a more detailed review – still a lot, but much better than 2600, and all of them are pretty darn good. Some are amazing, and really capture the vastness, magnificence and beauty of the ice covered Antarctic landscape. And of course, there were more fun images of penguins. 

    So now I have to work on the remaining batch images, and determine which ones I want to submit for club competitions, print on acrylic (I’m turning my house into a photo gallery), or just share with friends and family (and everyone else) on the blog. I’ll probably take my time on this, but will eventually wind up with about 50 or so, “keepers”. Maybe more. A lot more. I might wind up just putting together a digital photo book for the trip, and post that on the blog.

    I have also started reviewing some of the videos I shot with my phone and the Sony A7IV camera. I have just started dabbling with video this past year, first with the GoPro, and just recently with my latest Pixel phone. I had never used the slow motion or time lapse feature that are available on both iPhone and Android cameras – fun stuff. I also tried out video on the Sony camera once or twice on the trip, since it is supposed to be one of the best features of this camera. I intend to post one or two of those in the next day or two.

    And finally, since this post seems to have evolved into another discussion on photography, I’m buying myself a Christmas present today – a new camera lens. I mentioned before that I really want to reduce the amount of gear I bring along on each trip. The camera backpack I lugged around in airports this past trip weighed in at 20lbs. That did not seem so bad on the trip down to Ushuiai, but seemed to weigh even more on the way back, as I dragged my tired body through seemingly miles of airport corridors. I also want to avoid having to carry two cameras on hikes if at all possible. It was really difficult managing two heavy cameras/lenses while stumbling around on the snow and ice when we were visiting the penguin colonies – we were not allowed to put anything on the snow, so I had to have someone hold my pack while I switched cameras. Awkward at best. 

    I’m hoping that the Tamron 25-200 lens will become my go-to for most on-shore activities, and only travel with that and the 150-500 lens. And then there is the Baja trip in February – we are limited to 6.5 pounds for carry-on, and 30 pounds for the checked bag. The Sony A7R5 weighs 4.5 pounds with a lens, and my smallest camera bag weighs 2 pounds. I will likely only bring the new lens for this trip, and one camera body. Ouch. The GoPro will fit in my pocket, or in the duffel bag. And I will have my phone as well. If the grey whales do what they are supposed to (come up to the boats for a back rub), then I should not need the long lens.

    OK, enough geeky camera stuff. Here’s a couple of images from my recent review. Oh, and I will have a post or two before February – I’m heading off to the coast in January, to visit the elephant sea lion colony at the Ano Nuevo State Park. They have docent-led walks to watch the huge males fight during mating season. No penguins though.

    A since I mentioned it, short video clip, as we cruised through an ice field:

    And maybe a few images:

    A group of penguins walking on snow-covered ground, with a few scattered in the background.
    Two Gentoo penguins standing on snow, with others in the background.
    Three birds in flight against a clear blue sky.
    A whale's tail emerges from the water in front of an iceberg under a clear blue sky.
    A group of penguins swimming in icy waters beneath a glacier, with icicles hanging from the ice above.
    A whale surfacing in calm waters near a large glacier, with white and blue ice formations in the background.
    A serene view of an icy seascape with floating icebergs under a bright sun and a blue sky, reflecting light on calm waters.
    A snow-covered landscape with a large ice glacier in the background and several seals on the ice.
    Two Gentoo penguins standing on a rocky shoreline near the water.
    Two Gentoo penguins interacting on rocky terrain with patches of snow.
    A group of Gentoo penguins standing on rocky terrain, with some penguins vocalizing and others looking around in a snowy environment.
    A snowy landscape with a group of people in the distance and a lone penguin in the foreground.