The Beauty Around Us

Thanksgiving Day Drive

By Linda G. on November 24, 2016

I begin this blog post with information that will seem as though it doesn’t apply to the subject at hand.  This information does apply, though, as you will soon find out.

For some time now I have contemplated the purchase of a point-and-shoot camera for everyday photography, especially while riding the motorcycle, bicycling and taking pictures of our granddaughters. After much contemplation, I narrowed my camera choice to one of two cameras: the Olympus Stylus Tough TG-4 and the no-longer-manufactured Olympus Stylus XZ-2.  Among my considerations in the purchase of a new camera included the following:

• camera reviews (some of which compared the TG-4 and the XZ-2);
• a recommendation by a photography friend; and
• the back and forth conversation with myself as to how important having GPS and WiFi capabilities, being waterproof and being shockproof were to me (all TG-4 features).

After careful consideration, I hit the buy button this past Sunday for an Olympus XZ-2 camera.  I chose image quality and advanced shooting capabilities over the TG-4 features. My new camera arrived on Tuesday.

Today we went for a drive to and through Allegany State Park, located near Salamanca, New York. We made three stops in the park.  We stopped at Quaker Lake, alongside Red House Lake and at the Thomas L. Kelly covered bridge.

Quaker Lake
Bob stepped into Quaker Lake to see if his boots were really waterproof (they are).

Red House Lake

We have driven through Alleghany State Park many times over the years.  We stopped at this point along Red House Lake for the first time.  You can see the Red House Administration Building across the lake.

Thomas L. Kelly Covered Bridge

I have photographed the Thomas L. Kelly covered bridge many times.  This picture, however, is from a different perspective than pictures I have taken in the past.

I think we would have made more stops had I remembered to insert a memory card into my camera before leaving home. I am thankful that my new camera, which I took to familiarize myself with its use, has internal memory. The internal memory stored five JPEG images.  Oh, yes, now you can see why I began writing this blog post by telling you about my new camera purchase.

On our way back home from Allegany State Park, we stopped at Bent Run Falls for a short hike. Bent Run Falls is located about 15 miles from our home.  Bob purchased two walking sticks earlier this year.  Those walking sticks were a great help on the hike as the entire hillside was littered with wet leaves, wet boulders and wet tree roots.  Here are the last two images that were stored on my camera’s internal memory.

Bob at Bent Run Falls

Bob at Bent Run Falls

I am very happy with my new camera purchase.  I may use my iPhone camera less and this new camera more.  My Olympus OM-D E-M1 camera may see less use for a while too!  I hope not to leave home without a memory card the next time. As soon as we returned home, I placed a spare memory card in my camera pouch!