Tiny Companions

Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, there is a chance that you might find yourself traveling with an infant, and in this case, there are many things for you to consider.  Traveling with an infant is unlike traveling with a small child, or even a toddler, so whether you are a parent or a babysitter, it is important to be prepared, especially if it is going to be a longer trip.  Though it is easy to get anxious and concerned about this situation, the truth is that many people travel with small infants and if they remember to take the proper precautions, the trip can actually go quite smoothly.

The important thing to remember is that an infant, just like everyone else, has things that need to be packed and day to day needs.  Of course, the first things to remember are the day to day hygiene supplies.  Diapers, diaper rash cream, wipes, and a reusable pad to change your baby on are all basic things that you will find in your normal gear, so remember to pack these.  Look around for travel-sized bottles of baby wash, baby lotion and disinfecting hand gel to make sure that you can keep everything tidy, and don't forget to bring a good change of clothes, especially ones that can easily be washed clean.

As a general rule, remember that blankets in the car are usually a good idea; you can cover yourself when nursing, keep your baby shaded or cushioned as well provide a soft and clean place to sit down if your baby wants to roam a bit.  Remember extra pacifiers, and if your baby is on solid foods, remember baby food and an easy to carry and clean plastic feeding set.  Take a look at everything your normally use to feed and water your baby, from formula to juice to sippy cups to plastic nipples, and bring those along as well.

If you are going to be on the road for more than one night, a few things can make it easier for you as well.  Take some time to find a good nightlight, to make sure that you won't be stumbling blearily around your hotel room at 3 AM, and just in case of bumps and contusions, remember to pack a first aid kit.  If you are going to be going some place where you are going to be walking a great deal, remember that a snuggle sack will help you keep your hands free for other things.  For your own convenience, you may wish to think about purchasing an inflatable tub, a collapsible stroller or a travel playpen to keep your child occupied.

Traveling with an infant can in no way be considered lightweight, but rest assured that if you take the proper precautions, it will not turn into the disaster that you might fear.  When all is said and done, don't forget the digital camera, either; can you imagine how cute he or she is going to look?

Making Memories

When you are driving through the mountains somewhere, & you notice a automobile parked half off the road & some guy leaning to the left to avoid a branch with his Rebel 2000 camera in the act of focusing, you have met a hot shot. To a hot shot a trip isn't fulfilling unless they have preserved that beauty for posterity. I'd like to share a quantity of the techniques that make scenic photography such a wonderful art form - simple, yet elegant.

First off, equipment. As much as the cheapo disposable camera beckons, get real. These cameras have fish-eye lenses or "spam" lenses. It crams everything in, with equal blurriness & boringness. Nice photos are sharp, unless you use blur for artistic effect. Sharp comes from an adjustable lens. It can be a fixed lens or a zoom, but it must focus specially for each picture. Fixed lenses are limiting for scenic pics, where to frame the shot you may require to move long distances. Imagine using a fixed lens on the Washington Monument, when you are half a block away! Zooms is best, even though we often don't have as wide an aperture, which limits their capabilities in low light situations.

Practically speaking, an SLR is the absolute best. we are lightweight, & can be used with top quality lenses. Film SLRs tend to be less expensive, but have the limitations of film, meaning you have to get it developed & so forth. Digital SLRs are VERY expensive, so for the budget-conscious either go with a film SLR or a high quality basic digital camera. With digital, resolution is also a critical factor, so look at the specs before you buy.

OK, we have got the camera, emotions are jogging high, & that's great, but not  great! sometimes we find a spot that's so wonderful, We start shooting like a madman, only to be disappointed by the pics. What happened? Emotions. When you experience a place, there are sounds, aromas & breezes as well as the visuals of the spot. Needless to say, you cannot photograph all of these elements, only the visual. When overwhelmed by the spectacle of a scenic hotspot, we are often overwhelmed by all of these elements.

Now, if we were a tad dishonest in saying that you cannot capture all of the elements of a scene. You can hint at them. For starters, motion. Yes, even in a still picture, there's motion. Something happened before, during & after your picture. In a mountain vista scene, you may find something that hints at motion, whether it be a branch of a tree that has been swaying in the breeze, or a river flowing through the valley below. These add a sense of motion.

So what to do? Look through your camera. The viewfinder does not lie (usually). Try to see what you are looking at as the finished picture. Most people perfunctorily take pics, hoping that somehow the shot will come out great. If you wonder how the pics came out when you are on the way to the drugstore to get them, you are doing something wrong. At the moment you click the pic, you should know exactly what you will get. (Of work with digital, that's not a trick!).

Then there's the "rule of thirds." When you place the main object of the picture smack-dab in the middle, it is static & boring. Place it one third of the way from either side, & you IMPLY motion. Put the horizon in a landscape photo a third of the way up or down, not across the middle.

Remember, when a person looks at a picture, their eyes move. You require to frame your photo to help that movement. If you can find some lines in the scene, such as a skyline, cloud formation, path through the forest, etc., use it interestingly, & with the rule of thirds to draw your viewer's eyes into the picture.

Avoid "summit syndrome." You get to the top of Mount Washington & shoot the majestic vista. Great. The pics come out .. boring! How? No PERSPECTIVE. Big vistas will be flat unless you have an object in the foreground, such as a rock or a tree, to give them perspective. Then the eye  grasps how big this scene is. People enjoying the view is a real winner, because the viewer may identify with their emotions, giving the image real impact.

Cheese! Yes, you do have to take the family photos. it is obligatory. But when you do, make sure that we show the location of the photo. Otherwise, you might as well do it on your driveway. Frame the scene in context, with landmarks as part of the picture. Find a way to tell as story in the picture, such as little Sara climbing up the rocks by the waterfall.

Finally, any element in the picture that hints at more senses than  the visual will make it remarkable. Actor headshots for example, tell a story about the subject. You can  hear them saying their next lines. If you photograph a garden, the viewer may experience the aroma of the flowers. A tourist street with an accordion player on the corner may have your amazed friends whistling "Dixie."

In summation, picture taking on travel is recording the experience in a satisfying way. Use motion, perspective, sensory, storytelling & so forth, to bring your photos to life. Oh, & needless to say, make your job easy & go to great places! See you at the overlook!

Las Vegas Adventure - Skydiving

Las Vegas adventure skydiving is among the most adrenaline rich adventure sports experiences you will find there. Adventure sport of all persuasions has become a popular past time for thrill seekers of all ages. The adrenaline junkie is no longer a crazy person with a death wish, he or she is your everyday adventurer. Skydiving is the most death defying, most rewarding and the most exciting way to fulfill your adventure sports ambitions.

As you stand awaiting your jump you begin to appreciate the feeling of security and relative safety inside the plane. Outside the air rushes with incredible force and the earth is a blur of colors below. It seems inconceivable that you are about to leave the safety of the plane to leap into a free fall that will take you thousands of feet closer to the ground at an electric pace. But you do it anyway and there is nothing on earth like the feeling of complete freedom.

It is that feeling that adventure sports junkies crave and it is that precise freedom that adventure skydiving provides. Adventure skydiving is like any other sport in that you are consistently pushing the boundaries and refining your skills in order to achieve results. Some of the boundaries being explored by adventure skydivers are the free fall time. Free falling is the supreme rush and skydivers want to do it for as long as possible. This means that jumps are taking place higher and free fall time is significantly increased. The higher they go the more challenging the jump is but that only seems to entice jumpers more. 

Another area of the sport is formation diving. This is when a diver or a group of divers perform various maneuvers and are given scores for precision and execution. These maneuvers are performed during free fall so you can imagine how difficult that would be. Falling at alarming speeds whilst trying to execute a mid air maneuver. This is a popular and challenging sport that has caught the attention of the skydiving community, read more information on Las Vegas skydiving and adventure in Nevada at Andrew's website.

Kayaking - in history

Kayaking is like canoeing, only better. They were originally invented by the Inuit in Alaska and used for hunting (the word means “hunter’s boat”). The defining characteristic of a kayak is the way the boater sits centrally in a long, thin boat and gets along using a paddle. Today they are used for sport. Kayaks are made differently to handle different boating environments, such as calm seas and whitewater. There are also special racing kayaks, designed for speed.

Sea kayaks are long, stable boats with steering mechanisms that can keep a straight path through the water. They are larger and more dependable than other kayaks, but this comes at the cost of manoeuvrability. They are also often big enough to hold more than one kayaker, unlike whitewater kayaks.

Whitewater kayaks are smaller, sportier boats. They are very easy to steer precisely and quickly, but they are not very fast. What speed they do have comes from the way they are designed to harness the energy of fast-flowing rivers. If you go on a kayaking trip, the chances are that this is the kind of kayak you will be riding in.

Racing kayaks, on the other hand, are neither slow nor stable. They are expensive, lightweight boats, built for speed and nothing else, and barely even wide enough to hold a person. It is these kind of kayaks that you will see in the Olympics and other kayaking competitons, as what they lack can be made up for by highly-skilled boaters.

When considering kayaks, a general rule is that the longer the kayak is, the faster yet less manoeuvrable it will be, and vice versa. However, this is not the only factor, as the overall shape of the kayak will also have some effect.

There are also some unusual kinds of kayaks. The inflatable kayak, for example, is often used by casual hobbyists, as it can be transported so easily. They used to be only suitable for calm waters, but design advances have made them suitable for some reasonably fast-flowing environments such as the sea.

Airsoft Or Paintball?

This question is bound to stir debate and controversy amongst the most ardent of airsoft or paintball fans.

Both airsoft and paintball are both hobbies based on replica firearms and wargames. Is this unhealthy? That depends moreso on the person themselves rather than the hobby. An interest in pursuing a hobby that involves weaponry only becomes unhealthy if taken to extremes - which is true of most things in life. Paintball and airsoft are not morbid hobbies and only run the risk of being dangerous when participated in by dangerous people.

Paintball itself is a more mobile sport. It requires a certain level of physical fitness, mobility and skill - if you paintball then you gotta be able to move fast. The weapons themselves are functional and are only designed to serve the purpose of the sport as opposed to looking good. Paintball rifles are designed to take a real beating when it comes to their use. Paintball fans fall into the 'extreme sport' category and enjoy the pure adrenaline of each paintball match and are driven by the desire to win.

Airsoft is a somewhat different sport. The guns used in airsoft are both conversation pieces and are also functional sports 'weapons'. Airsoft rifles and pistols are capable of firing both small plastic pellets and paint filled pellets so are useful both in the sport itself and also for backyard target practice.

The major difference is the power of the guns themselves. Paintball guns are driven by high powered gas cylinders whereas airsoft guns fire projectiles either through springs, electronic firing mechanisms or with compressed gas. The issue is that most airsoft guns lack the range and accuracy of the larger paintball guns simply because they were never designed with long range fire in mind.

Conversely airsoft guns are available in a huge range of styles and models. Everything from a Glock handgun to a sniper rifle to a CAR15 assault rifle. Airsoft guns are equally at home hanging in your livingroom or at use on the airsoft playing field. You can even go as far as buying an airsoft minigun. Many airsoft fans simply collect the guns and never get involved in airsoft wargames at all. This is the much the same as many sword collectors - they display the weapons at home but don't go running around waving them at people.

The truth is that neither airsoft nor paintball is superior. They're both a case of personal preference. If you're the extreme sports type then paintball will suit you more. If you're more of a collector then airsoft will be more you thing.

Regardless of whether you're a paintball fan or an airsoft fan it's essential to take proper safety precautions when using these guns. Proper eye protection in the form of safety goggles should always be worn and suitable protective clothing to cover your neck and upper torso should also be worn. Even though some people see these as guns as toys they are capable of causing injury either through accident or even deliberate malice.