Always Have a Camera With You by Mark Toal

Panasonic's Luminary team in Sarasota this summer

Intro by Skip  Cohen

Here's a perfect example of one of the things I love about the photography industry. It's all about the friendships we share and this guest post by Mark Toal is perfect to make the point.

While Mark and I have known of each other for a lot of years, we had never actually met or spent any time together. This past summer Panasonic brought their annual Luminary meeting here to Sarasota, and it gave Mark and I a chance to talk.

Right out of the blocks he mentioned we share a good friend, writer, artist and educator Joe Farace. In fact, I just shared a terrific giving-back idea thanks to Joe earlier this week.  Well, since that first meeting Mark and I have been catching up to each other regularly, and we're hoping to grab dinner one of these days when he's here in the area.  

We're all part of an incredible industry. And, it's relatively small with each of us overlapping friendships and networks all based on a foundation of passion for imaging!

I know cell phone technology is pretty amazing these days, but nothing beats a real camera when you're traveling. I love this post from Mark, written last Spring, and his point is timeless. He's shooting with the little GF6 with the 12-32mm lens kit. He's never without a camera, and the benefits are obvious with what he shares in this post.

You'll find more of Mark's posts at "Mirrorless Photo Tips - Exploring the Soul of Photography". In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this short post and follow Mark's lead. The tagline for Panasonic's LUMIX line is "Changing Photography" and that's exactly what they're doing.

Check out more about LUMIX with a visit to the Lumix Lounge where you can follow each Luminary. This is an amazing group of talented, creative and diverse artists!

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by Mark Toal

Since writing my first one camera, one lens trip blog a couple of years ago I have followed my advice in many of my travels. This trip was back to Las Vegas for yet another trade show for Panasonic.

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The reason I say “show up and pay attention” is that most people aren’t very good at this. If you’re a photographer you need to be looking around you and talking less. Staying in the present moment is not an option if you want to capture your environment. Think of it as a version of walking meditation. Pay attention to your environment and be in the present. Stop talking about what this reminds you of and experience it in a new way.

On this recent trip I decided to take my smallest camera and lens, the Panasonic GF6 and 12-32mm kit lens. The photos here were taken as a group of us walked to a restaurant for dinner.
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I frequently get asked, “where did you see that?” by other people in the group that I was with when I took the photo.

Images copyright Mark Toal. All rights reserved.