Oly Goes to the Canyon (and doesn't fall in!)

While it wasn't originally part of the plan, our Disneyland / Las Vegas itinerary was altered slightly when Carrie learned that I would be going to the Grand Canyon in February. After years of living in Albuquerque, NM, you see, I never made it up to the canyon. Carrie had also never seen the Grand Canyon, so we decided to make a slight detour to see it together for the first time.

Oly Goes to Vegas

I know the scheduled trip is still a few months away, but I couldn't resist the urge to go out west and get a preview of what's to come! Actually, my wife and I already had a trip to Disneyland and Las Vegas booked before the Route 66 trip was born (or at least before I know about it). From a photographer's point of view, Vegas was overwhelming for the first time visitor. There are so many sights, that you simply don't know where to point your camera next.

Route 66 Trip Planning: Lodging and cars

Keith Mendel and I pooled our resources and came up with the itinerary and accommodations for our adventure along Route 66 in New Mexico and Arizona next February. We decided to avoid chain hotels and stay in more appropriate route 66 lodging when possible. We found our hotels along the route mainly through TripAdvisor.com. I started with the town we wanted to stay in and cross-referenced the hotel reviews with what I knew to be the old Route 66. Glenn Taylor recommended the Globetrotter lodge in Holbrook, AZ. I believe he found it through TripAdvisor as well.

  Our first night will be in Albequerque, NM at the Monterey Non-Smokers Motel (yep, that's really the name). The motel is on the old route 66 (Central Ave) near the Old-Town district. It has good reviews on TripAdvisor and I believe a single room is around $50.

  Our second stop will be in Holbrook, AZ at the Globetrotter Lodge. The hotel is on the old route 66 across the street from the Wigwam Village. They were very nice on the phone and gave us 10% off of the regular $50 rate for booking eight rooms.

  The third night will be at the Bright Angel Lodge inside Grand Canyon National Park. While the Canyon is not actually on route 66, I would not consider a trip to this area without a visit to this wonder. The lodge is a historic building right on the rim of the canyon. Single rooms are <$100.

The Hilltop has been around since 1954

  We'll be back on the old route for our fourth night. We're staying at the Hilltop Motel in Kingman, AZ. We got a group rate for booking the group, and the owner, Dennis, was very nice on the phone. In fact, his wife is a photographer and may join up with our group and show us some out-of-the-way places to shoot.

 Our last stop is the Stratosphere tower n Las Vegas, NV. It may not be the latest and greatest thing on the strip, but they gave us a nice deal. We got a group rate for our rooms, and free access to the tower and observation deck is included with your stay.

  There was a bit more trial and error involved with finding our rental cars. We found the best prices by going to each company online and checking rates. This ended up cheaper than sites like carrental.com and orbitz.com. Alamo was the cheapest option for car rental by far. We are picking up the full-size SUV's in Albequerque and dropping them off in Las Vegas five days later for just over $400!

Handheld? Why Not?!?

So, I was stuck today shooting waterfalls without a tripod... that's a problem, right? Not with modern technology. You see, one of the benefits of the Olympus E-P3 is built in image stabilization. The shot above was taken with a Panasonic 20mm lens at f/8 which gave me a shutter speed of 1/5 for that silky water effect (go ahead, click the image -- it's sharp!). The old rule of thumb for shutter speed would say I needed 1/40 for a sharp frame given the 2x crop factor of the E-P3, but rules are made to broken... thank you image stabilization!

A Walk Through the Mall

For those of you that know me, it should come as no surprise that this post will features images snapped with my shiny new Olympus E-P3. I am very excited about this little camera, and it really does inspire me to shoot. This, of course, is also a relevant place to discuss my new u4/3 camera, because our club, DphotoA, will be using this space to document our exploits during our upcoming Route 66 trip this February!

News Flash: Great Light makes better photos

Sounds simple, right? In this age of higher and higher ISO and cameras that can shoot in the dark I think it's easy to forget that. My Nikon D3S can shoot in relative darkness with ease and make beautiful files. The Olympus PEN E-P3, not so much. The Oly makes a decent image in lowlight, but it is not the camera's strong suit for sure. For me this is not all together bad news...

We're hitting the road

As a member of the Digital Photo Adventures camera club in Atlanta, GA I have had some great times and great shooting over the last year. We meet once a month to shoot anything from waterfalls to fashion models and everything in between. Next February we're going to kick it up a notch.
We are headed west to see what there is to see along the "Mother Road" in New Mexico and Arizona. We are going to fly into Albequerque on Thursday, February 16 and fly home from Las Vegas on the 21st. There are definitely some sites in New Mexico that we will miss, but we have to start somewhere.
There is another "event" happening within our group right now. Three of us (so far) have purchased Olympus micro 4/3 cameras lately. Brett and I have the new E-P3, and Mike has an E-P1. We have been so impressed with the images from these little cameras that we have been talking about only bringing the Pens on our Route 66 trip. We all have professional Nikon or Canon DSLRs, but the portability of an Olympus Pen and a bag full of lenses cannot be overstated. Maybe us Pen users will decide to bring our "pro" gear, or maybe not. I know we will be shooting a lot between now and then, and sharing our experiences here.
I thought I would set up this blog so we can share our experiences with the planning and execution of this trip. One of the hardest parts of this endeavor has been getting the ball rolling. What do we want to see? Where should we stay? We don't want to miss the "must have" shots, but we want to make our own way and find our own vision of Route 66.
We have found some guide books and websites that have helped so far. We'll let you know what has helped us and what has not. Think of this as a Route 66 travel blog and a Micro 4/3 review site. Makes sense... Right?