Monterey Jazz Festival 2014

Well, it's over again for another year. A great time, and an amazing list of world class jazz performers. Next year will be our 20th year!

Normally, I take a couple of big cameras and long telephotos to capture some of the action, but this year I picked up an Olympus Stylus 1. It is an amazing little camera. Fixed lens that provides 35 - 300mm (35mm equivalent) at a constant f2.8 through the entire range. The camera is built well, but can fit in my pocket. The night shots I shared over the last 3 nights were shot at ISO 1250 and they are virtually noiseless. The 300mm range and f2.8 lens gave me what I needed to shoot action night shots.

The camera has all the features of a full-size DSLR at a fraction of the price and it can go along without encumbering. I'm very happy to finally find a quality fixed lens, pocket-sized shooter that does the work of a much more expensive and much larger DSLR.

Highly recommended!

The sheet of art under the tickets in the picture was a collaborative effort by Julie and me while visiting a health provider booth. They provided a stationary bicycle that was hooked up to a belt system that spun a plate with a sheet of paper on it. I pedaled and Julie got creative with paint as it spun. Very fun!

Until next year...