Divine Pine Gathering 2026

Divine Pine Gathering Photography

There are times when I feel like an archeologist, or one of those National Geographic reporters who delves deep into the Amazon rainforest to discover a long-lost tribe.

For instance, I often go to heavy metal concerts. If you’ve seen me, I tend to stick out like a sore thumb. Maybe it’s all in my head, but I’m the average guy in the crowd who’s not covered in tattoos, chains, or sporting a mohawk haircut. 

After photographing Abby Dawson for my Artists In Jackson project, I learned that she, her husband Phil, and her friend Gracie host a bi-annual festival called the Divine Pine Gathering:

Divine Pine Gathering is focused on traditional skill shares, ancestral knowledge, healing, arts, live music and movement.

DPG is as much a retreat into nature as it is a chance to connect to and learn from others. Divine Pine shows the power of love and community that results from gathering in an intentional way.

I love music and the arts, but for the rest of that description, I’m a newbie. So I came to this festival to take photos and learn something – another chance to be a relative outsider looking in. 

And don’t get me wrong: I love this kind of experience. Since everything is new, everything is interesting, and I love using my camera to discover new ways of living. Of being. 

And Divine Pine offered newness at every turn. 

First, the land. Phil and Abby’s property in my hometown of Brooklyn, Michigan, was amazing. And huge. The festival sprawled across fields, under trees, up hills, and around wetlands. 

I got my steps in walking from how-to classes to concerts to sound healing sessions.

Second, the people. Everyone was there for love and community, to learn and to live, and you could feel that in every concert, every talk, and every gathering that took place. 

The vibes were everywhere, and those vibes were great. 

I offered to take photos of the event in exchange for tickets to attend. This opportunity highlights that having a camera and offering your services will give you access to new experiences.

Selfishly, I wanted to be there, and if trading photos for tickets was the method, then I was up for it. 

On Friday and Sunday of the festival, I brought along my Canon 6D with the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 as my general walking-around lens. It was flexible for most situations and, looking over the photos, did a bang-up job. 

On Saturday, I brought along the rest of my family, so I traveled light with the Canon EOS M6 and mostly used the Viltrox 56mm f/1.4 for the reach. Sometimes I would switch to my kit zoom EF-M 15-45mm lens for extra flexibility.

In both cases, I made the right call. I got what I needed and never felt hampered by my photography gear. 

What I came away with was an awesome new experience, some reconnections with old friends (and a few new ones), and a series of photos that I’m proud to share.

Those photos will help Phil, Abby, and the event team promote their next event on the Divine Pine website and social media. 

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Rifle River

2026 Vacation: Hale, Michigan

For the last leg of our summer holiday, we traveled down to Hale, Michigan, to stay with my dad.

We try to do this every summer. My dad has an RV on his property, which helps us feel like we’re camping out, and we join my sister and other family members for a big get-together over the long summer weekend.

For the first part of our vacation, it was just us five – driving around Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula, going hiking, venturing out to see new places. Now, it was a big, noisy crowd of family. A capstone on our two-week getaway.

We went swimming and kayaking in the Rifle River Recreation Area, on a remote, wild lake. We grabbed the paddle board and paddled around Long Lake. 

It was one of those #PureMichigan settings – the ideal version of what a vacation should be.

The sad part was that we’d be heading home after this was over.

But before that? We’d enjoy every minute of it.

Summer’s not over yet, after all. 

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Ironwood, Michigan Cabins

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Some bonus photos of the cabins and buildings near our Ironwood, Michigan, rental property.

Shot on the Canon EOS M6 and EF-M 22mm f/2.

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Lake of the Clouds

2026 Vacation: Upper Peninsula, Michigan

Our usual summer holiday includes sticking to one spot, with a few exceptions.

This year, after we left Door County, we wandered around the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for a week – first in Ironwood, then in Escanaba.

It was a vacation spent living out of our suitcases, constantly on the go.

First, Ironwood. We picked this little city because of its proximity to the Porcupine Mountains, an ancient volcano system weathered down to our present modest range of basalt and conglomerate. 

During our first full day in Ironwood, we woke up for sunrise over the Lake of the Clouds. 

There’s nothing the kids love more than to wake up at 3 AM to go hiking in the woods – except for just about anything else. But the view? Totally worth it.

After a bit more hiking down to the lake, we stopped by the Lake Superior shore to grab lunch and look at the rocks along the beach. 

I took just a few minutes to stop along the road, on the way back, to grab shots of the local businesses. 

Our cabin sat alongside the Black River, which empties out into Lake Superior. Along the way, you can hike down to a series of waterfalls along the river.

What I loved about this section of our trip was the hiking. We didn’t get a lot of forest bathing in Wisconsin, but here we had woods a-plenty, and it was good for all of us to hear nothing but birds and the strong river running.

For these hiking trips, the Canon EOS M6 – with its portability and light weight – was perfect: small and capable. 

After a few days in Ironwood, we drove down to Escanaba, Michigan, along Lake Michigan, for a different view of the Great Lakes. Here, we found a beach on Sand Island that was great for swimming and sunbathing.

We also explored a bit of downtown Escanaba and a dam that sat outside our cabin on the Escanaba River.

That was it for the Upper Peninsula portion of the trip. From here, we headed south across the Mackinac Bridge to Hale, Michigan, to meet up with my family and finish up our summer vacation. 

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Sturgeon Bay - Door County, Wisconsin

2026 Summer Vacation: Door County, Wisconsin

It’s time again to return to Door County, Wisconsin.

This year, we kept things super simple: fewer trips up and down the peninsula, more time on the lake, more quality time together.

Apart from the no-see-ums, which made our kids look like they had chicken pox, we accomplished our goal. 

Before we left, I told my wife I was debating whether to take my Canon 5D classic or the go-to travel camera, the Canon EOS M6. One was an ol’-reliable DSLR, the other was the light and svelte mirrorless option. 

“Why don’t you just take both?” she said. 

Take both?

I hadn’t thought of that. The M6 was my default travel option, but I knew the Canon 5D would help me capture those special moments down by the water.

I also took it on our hike through Potawatomi State Park, where we climbed the observation tower to look over Green Bay:

We stuck around Sturgeon Bay for a week, then loaded up the car for the second week of summer holiday in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. 

As always, Door County felt like home away from home. 

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Wildfire smoke in Jackson County, Michigan

Hazy Shade of Summer

The Canadian wildfire smoke rolled into town yesterday.

Wednesday, we went to bed with clear skies. Thursday morning, I took the dog out in the morning, and there it was: a terrible smell, a yellowish haze, and a dramatic decrease in air quality – so much so that many summer events around town are getting delayed or canceled. 

After work, I drove around town to get a sense of the situation. It was dramatic at the Jackson County Airport, where they shut down operations because of the air quality.

Around our own neighborhood, it looked like a foggy day all day long. The farther you looked in the distance, the more haze you could see.

My girls popped outside to do some quick squishy gluing, but other than that, they stayed inside – a bummer for summer, when they should be outside playing. 

Global weirding is real. 

Shot on the Canon R50v and Canon 5D (classic!). 

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Rifle River - Hale, Michigan

On Vacation

For Americans, we mostly think in terms of a week of vacation – summer vacation, Christmas break, whatever. Few of us take more than a week off work to go somewhere.

Europeans, however, often take up to a month. I know this firsthand, as many of my EU colleagues disappear in July and August.

For the past two years, our family has met those cultural norms square in the middle: two weeks away on summer holiday. Last year, we did Nova Scotia and Maine, while this year, we did a tour of Wisconsin and northern Michigan. 

To some of my friends and colleagues, our two-week leave is a shock. “Must be nice,” they’ll say. 

Here’s the thing: in the middle of summer, everyone’s gone. Much like the week after Christmas, late June through early August is summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. Leaving for vacation is what people do. 

While our summer holiday never seems long enough, the two weeks of the break are restorative and relaxing. Yes, we go on adventures and work hard, climbing mountains and paddling around large bodies of water. We also get to rest our brains and enjoy where we are and who is with us. 

Selfishly, I get a chance to take a ton of photos in new and interesting places, too. 

As Americans, it’s easy to envy Europe’s summer holiday schedule. And I’m well aware that not everyone has the time or flexibility to be away that long. The secret is that you can take a little bit of that Continental spirit and apply it to your own situation. 

I recommend it. 

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Agfa RSX ii - Canon Picture Style

Canon Agfa RSX II Film Simulation Review

The latest stop on our Canon Picture Style voyage: Agfa RSX II.

One (of many) limitation of Canon’s Picture Style system: a lack of control over highlight and shadow tones. White balance is up to the camera, so you don’t have much control over color grading. Individual color HSL settings, levels, contrast, and sharpness – that’s about all you can adjust.

Unlike Fuji’s more fine-grained approach to film simulations, Canon’s system lacks both the film legacy and customization options.

What you end up getting is slight variations on a theme. 

Agfachrome RSX II is a diverse positive film, a little soft and dreamy, but with a punch of contrast. The colors are vivid and true-to-life without being overwhelming, which made it a versatile choice across different subjects (it’s been discontinued for years now).

On Canon cameras, this Agfa Picture Style is…fine? It works. There’s nothing offensive about it. 

But like many of these Canon film emulations, there’s nothing special about it, either. You don’t look at it and think, “Wow, that’s an accurate, useful positive film emulation.”

It’s nice that the skin tones are good, it has a touch of contrast, and yet it retains the slightly warm, soft look that the classic Agfa RSX II had. Muted greens. Saturated reds.

This Picture Style has been another all-purpose one for me (much like the Kodachrome Picture Style): flexible enough to fit my style and applicable in most situations. If you’re a JPEG shooter, you could use this as a reliable film emulation.

But like all these Canon Picture Styles, don’t expect Mastin-, RNI-, or VSCO-levels of film emulation.

Get this Agfa Picture Style in the VW collection, and check out my reviews of other Canon film emulations.

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Pentwater, Michigan

Pentwater, Michigan

For our family, summer means trips to Lake Michigan. In two hours, you can be right next to one of the world’s great bodies of fresh water.

Summer also means Pentwater, a little west coast town in Michigan that we frequent – either visiting family friends or participating in our church’s summer camp. 

Pentwater is a classic Lake Michigan town: busy during the summer, but unlike some of the towns to the south, it retains its small-town charm. 

And then, just outside of town, you get these quaint Lake Michigan beaches and fish stores – perfect for a family picnic.

You can’t miss when visiting these little western Michigan towns. Just ask all the Chicago residents who travel this way in the warmer months; their Chicago Bears bumper stickers give away their hometown. 

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Courtesy Pete Mustaniemi

Photographer Interview: Pete Mustaniemi

I try to follow a variety of photographers (and styles) on social media, Flickr, etc. 

Sometimes, I’ll find a photographer whose style is similar to my own. Pete Mustaniemi from Finland is one of those photographers, so I thought I’d get to know him and his work better.

Where are you, and what do you do?

I’m Pete Mustaniemi, a photography enthusiast and elderly millennial from Finland. Professionally, I work as a web developer at a digital marketing agency.

How did you get started in photography?

I’ve been into photography for as long as I can remember, and I’ve owned my own cameras since my high school days. For a while, music took center stage, and photography had to take a back seat.

But over the last five years, photography has come back in a big way, and I’ve started taking it a lot more seriously.

What do you enjoy about your photography, or about photography in general?

For me, photography is about practicing creativity and a bit of artistry. Wandering around alone with a camera is also a kind of therapy. It helps me step away from everyday life for a while. In my own style, I really enjoy the joy of finding things, stumbling onto subjects and shots without having planned anything in advance.

In general, I like it when a photograph stirs up some kind of feeling, something you can’t quite put into words. And of course, the cameras themselves are part of the hobby, too.

I enjoy the variety in your photography: seaside, plants, sunlight, and winter scenes. How do you approach the subjects of your photography? How do you decide what to shoot?

Since photography is a hobby and a creative outlet for me, I can shoot whatever I find interesting in the moment. I don’t feel boxed into one specific genre. For the most part, my focus is on everyday scenes, still life, and nature, rather than people.

One of the best things about living in Finland is the changing seasons. They completely transform the landscape, so the exact same spot looks entirely different in winter than in summer.

My approach has actually evolved over time. I used to do more nature photography with long telephoto lenses, but recently I’ve found my interest shifting toward wider frames and urban environments, especially scenes that show signs of human presence.

Courtesy Pete Mustaniemi

You mention the Elliot Erwitt quote about “the things you see and how you see them.” How do you see the world? Where do you find beauty or interest? 

It’s hard to say exactly what grabs my attention, but in general, I pay attention to light, color, and shapes. Anything slightly out of the ordinary catches my eye, and I like finding things that please me and my own eye in everyday situations.

A sense of calm and quietness is also something I try to bring out in my photos. And anything too perfect is just boring to me.

I see you shoot with a Canon 6D (one of my favorites!) and the OM system. Talk about how you select your gear, and what you use most often.

I have a long history with Olympus and the OM System, and over the years I’ve built up a fairly complete kit. That’s my main setup most of the time.

The Canon 6D is a fantastic camera too, though, and it’s often my pick when I’m shooting at home. I also occasionally get the itch to shoot film, so a lot depends on the mood I’m in.

Any upcoming projects or photo shoots that you’re working on?

At the moment, I’m not working on any specific projects, beyond photographing daily life around my home and neighborhood. I do have a couple of ideas bouncing around in my head, though.

They’re still very much in the early planning stages. We’ll see where they end up.

Follow Pete on Instagram, and check out his website.

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The Sparks summer open house

Sparks Summer Open House

This weekend, I attended my first artist expo at Jackson’s The Sparks summer open house.

Jen Dixon from my Artists In Jackson 2 project asked me to join. A free table around a bunch of artists and community members provided a great opportunity to promote my portrait projects and sell a few prints.

And that’s exactly what happened. I sold my Musicians In Jackson book and some select photo prints, talked to a bunch of great people, reconnected with some of the artists from my project, and added a few more subjects to the to-do list.

All in all, a good day filled with music, art, and self-promotion.

Shot on the Canon EOS M6 and EF-M 22mm f/2.

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Strawberry Season

Strawberry Season

And these aren’t those white-inside strawberries you get in a store. No, these are red-all-the-way-through Michigan strawberries.

So we made pie and I froze some to make some mead.

Shot on the Canon 5D (classic!) and EF 100mm f/2.8 macro.

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Abby Dawson - Divine Pine Studios

Artists In Jackson: Abby Dawson

When Abby Dawson and her husband Phil decided to convert the back room of their Brooklyn, Michigan property into a ceramics studio, they ran into a minor structural reality: someone had built the room around a hot tub. 

“We had to chainsaw the hot tub into four pieces,” she says, laughing, “and get it out.”

It’s a good starting point into how Abby works. To her, obstacles are just logistics. 

The studio that replaced that hot tub room now sits surrounded by old spruce trees on land she describes, without irony, as divine (hence the name: Divine Pine Studios). It’s where she throws, hand-builds, glazes, fires, and occasionally drops a finished ceramic platter on the floor on purpose.

That last bit is all part of her process.

Abby Dawson - Divine Pine StudiosThe only way out was demolition.

“I’ll have these videos of me doing slow-mos where I just take a huge platter, one where I put 10 hours into it, and I drop it and just watch it shatter,” Abby says. “You just have to be okay with things not working out.”

Sticking With Ceramics

Abby grew up in Boynton Beach, Florida, moved to Michigan as a high school junior, and eventually landed at Adrian College, where she majored in psychology and art with a focus in art therapy. 

Ceramics was the medium that stuck. 

“The more you learn about it, the more you feel like you don’t know anything at all. It reminds me of yoga or religion: the deeper you go, the more you realize you are really still just a beginner,” she says. “And I find that genuinely exciting.”

Her ceramics work ranges from rainbow-blended mugs that sell out in minutes, to birch bark cups made with a broom-end tool that leaves tree bark-like marks, to mushroom bowls, sculptural wall hangings, and big platters with organic edges. 

“Even if I never sold anything, I will always just make art,” she says. “I just want to make as much as I can.”

In her current work, Abby is moving toward mosaic murals and textured wall pieces assembled from dozens of small individually-glazed tiles. The idea is that many tiny things get combined into one larger shape.

An Unpredictable Art

Abby found her kiln, her first wheel, and a stockpile of ceramics supplies on Craigslist around 2016. The equipment was aging, some of it barely functional, and she lost entire kiln loads of work early on before she understood what she was dealing with. 

She learned the hard way that ceramics is an unpredictable art that rewards patience and experimentation.

“You totally have to be okay with failure,” she says. “That’s how it goes.”

Her family’s property hosts the Divine Pine Gathering, a small festival she and Phil started in 2017 that has grown to roughly 600 attendees, 65 classes, 25-plus music acts, a free healing tent, a vendor village, and as many art installations as they can arrange. It runs every other year on their property, the last weekend of July. This year marks the tenth year of the event.

Abby describes running the Gathering the way a curator would talk about mounting a gallery show.

“How do I want people to feel when they’re here?” she says. “How do I want the space to make people feel?”

Stages of Life

Since having two young children, Abby’s studio time has compressed. She stays up late after the kids are in bed, working by the fading light that remains. 

Abby Dawson - Divine Pine StudiosSometimes, she’ll go weeks without touching clay. Then she’ll spend an entire fall in a push to get items done in time for her annual holiday open studio sale. 

But Abby doesn’t complain. It’s all about balance. She understands this is another, different season in her life and studio work – another obstacle to work around.

“I have like 10 things I’d love to do for myself in a day. And it’s like, okay, you can choose one of those things for like 20 minutes,” she says.  “With our current stage and the kids being so young, they’re my priority. So I’ll stay up really late out here in the studio.”

Divine Pine Studios | Follow Divine Pine Studios on Instagram

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Morning in New York City

A few leftover shots from my last morning in Manhattan.

Shot on the Canon EOS M6 and the Viltrox 23mm f/1.4.

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Streets of New York

Streets of New York

My recent work trip to Manhattan included one perfect, spring sunny day – so I hit the streets to do some New York City street photography.

The constant sunlight and plentiful shadows made this a rich environment for my style. 

Everything south of 34th street and west of Park Avenue was mine to explore. While it was a tiny slice of the island, after seeing so much photography done in and around Manhattan, I had my own chance to wander and capture what I saw.

It was a blast. 

I’m not sure when I’ll ever get back to NYC, but for this trip, I made the most of it. 

Shot on the Canon EOS M6 and (mostly) EF-M 32mm f/1.4.

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Tunnel to Towers 5K - Jackson, Michigan

Tunnel to Towers 5k

Our daughter, Riley, took a chance on the running club at school. The culmination of the semester was participating in the local Tunnel to Towers 5k.

So we braved a rainy May morning and watched firefighters, first responders, and about 50 elementary students run through Sparks Park in Jackson.

I took this as an opportunity to try out my new-to-me Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 – an upgrade from my previous Tamron 24-135 f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens.

My review? Pretty good, especially for the $150 I paid for it used. I don’t usually need a full 24mm view, and the extra few stops of light are a nice touch.

Happy Memorial Day weekend, Americans.

Shot on the Canon 5D (classic!). 

 

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Artists In Jackson: Ari Simeone

Artists In Jackson: Ari Simeone

For years, Ari Simeone did not make art because he had learned not to.

As a kid growing up on Prince Edward Island in Canada, art was always around Ari. He drew with his father, who he calls “a fantastic artist,” and grew up in a family where creativity was part of everyday life. 

“My grandmother was a teacher and she taught everything through the lens of art,” he says. “She taught math through art. She taught science through art.”

Then, for years, Ari stopped.

“While my parents were supportive, others in my life basically told me that to appear more normal, I should have nothing to do with art anymore,” he says. “And so I stopped cold turkey.”

Coming Back to It

Ari returned to painting during the pandemic, almost by accident, sitting at home with his daughter and a set of watercolors.

“We were painting and she looks at me and she’s like, ‘Why have I never seen you do this before?’” he says. “It felt like I got caught doing something I wasn’t supposed to.”

He told her he did not paint anymore. She returned with a question: “What do you mean ‘anymore?’ We’re going to fix that.” 

That week, they went to the art store. Ari has been painting ever since. 

“It felt like I was coming home. I remember how it felt when I stopped doing art, and I don’t want to wait for something dramatic to happen to get me to start again.”

Artists In Jackson: Ari Simeone

Painting What Comes In

Much of Simeone’s work begins as translation.

“Everything that would come in through the day, whether it be things I hear or see, I would kind of lock myself in this quiet space in my house, and I would just start painting,” he says. “Everything that came in would come out.”

Ari describes the work as “a visual representation of audio and sensory input,” often building abstract landscapes shaped by motion, sound, and atmosphere rather than fixed, figurative subjects.

He says static days make for stagnant art. That instinct eventually led Ari out of solitude and into public performance.

Painting in Public

Artists In Jackson: Ari SimeoneWhen Ari learned about and entered his first Art Battle, where a panel of artists would compete for votes, he didn’t expect much. The format was everything his process had not been: loud, crowded, timed, and public.

“I thought, this is a neat idea. I would like to watch it, but I’m probably going to hate doing it.”

Instead, he loved it. Ari won his first round, then the next, then states, then went on to compete at nationals in Florida.

Along the way, he found a new way of working.

“Painting in public, there’s always new input,” he says. “There’s always something unexpected or unusual that happens. And part of me just thrives on that.”

Now Ari regularly paints live at festivals and performances, building pieces in real time while musicians play – like at Manchester Underground, at River Raisin Distillery, where he is a focal point of the monthly performances.

“I go and paint the music.”

Doing It Anyways

Artists In Jackson: Ari SimeoneAt Art 634 in Jackson, Simeone’s studio has become both workspace and community space – a place to paint, experiment (he’s working on a creature-building card game), and let people see the work as it happens.

That openness and vulnerability are a result of the lessons Ari learned early on, when he was discouraged from creating.

“One of the thrills I get is from sharing my art and having people be just as excited or more about my art than I am,” he says. “Part of the completion of a piece is also others seeing it. Then my art gets to go out and see the world, too.”

Ari is still nervous making art in public, but that nervousness no longer decides whether the work gets made.

“I’m afraid of this thing,” he says, “so I’ll do it anyways.”

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How Steve Jobs Helped Me Organize My Gear

I’m not rich or famous. I don’t have camera companies sending me gear to test.

But over the years, I’ve built a reliable camera collection that works for my needs. Each of my cameras – two DSLRs, two M mirrorless bodies – has a place and a purpose. Kind of by accident, it reminds me of Steve Jobs’ initial Macintosh product strategy after his return to Apple in the mid ’90s.

To explain it properly, I have to show you how I think about all my gear. 

The Apple Connection

The first Mac I purchased with my own money was an iBook G4 in 2005 – the accessible, everyday option.

Now, I use an iMac. I have since 2010. As my needs and preferences changed, my computers changed, but I never left the ecosystem. I’ve always been an Apple guy, and remain so to this day. 

I’ve done the exact same thing with cameras, and I’ve used an old Apple product philosophy to keep everything manageable.

The Grid 

In 1998, after recently becoming Apple’s CEO again, Steve Jobs simplified the company’s product strategy into a 4×4 grid (above): Professional and Consumer on one axis, and Desktop and Portable on the other.

From there, you could easily understand the PowerMac, iMac, Powerbook, and iBook’s place in the market. What did you need – a desktop? A notebook? Professional or consumer?

Here is the product grid, courtesy of 512 pixels:

Two axes, four boxes. Clarity. That was one of Jobs’ hallmarks after his return to Apple (and the resulting products changed both Apple and the computer industry in amazing ways). 

Sort of by accident, I’ve applied this product philosophy to my digital camera collection. Here’s how:

  • DSLR Pro – Canon 6D: My paid gig workhorse. Weddings, serious shoots, and most of my portrait project work. I pull out the 6D when it has to be right. Plus: 20 megapixels, my highest MP count other than my M6. The Power Mac in this lineup.
  • DSLR Everyday – Canon 5D (classic!): This almost-20-year-old camera was once my top-of-the-line pro body because it was full-frame. Now it handles family photos and casual shooting. My everyday DSLR option and the iMac equivalent. 
  • Mirrorless Pro – Canon EOS M6: The travel and vacation camera. Europe trips, family vacations, and some project work. The M6 offers more manual control and higher resolution than its predecessor, the OG M. It is like the PowerBook on the mirrorless side.
  • Mirrorless Everyday – Canon EOS M2: The iBook. Still owned, still used, still earns its spot in the front seat of my car and goes just about everywhere, every day, with me. This is my everyday carry camera.

There are a few exceptions, especially on the film side. I get handed film cameras all the time, so I’ve built up quite the collection. But using this model, you could put my Canon AE-1 in the pro/SLR category, and my Canonet QL17 in the everyday/rangefinder category. Plus my little digicam Canon Powershot, plus plus plus. 

Here’s the updated camera version of Steve Jobs’ product grid, based on my use case:

Canon camera grid

All Canon, All the Time

You may notice that I live entirely in one photo ecosystem: Canon Land.

Just like I use Apple products – Macs, iPhones, etc. – I stay pretty loyal to Canon, and always have. EF lenses, muscle memory, system consistency – I like what Canon has to offer, and I stick to it. It works well for me.

Brand loyalty is about knowing what works for you and growing inside it rather than constantly starting over. It’s the same reason I’ve used Apple products since college: when something works, you build on it.

The Grid Is Alive

My system isn’t frozen. It’s changed over time:

  • My Canon T1i used to live in the everyday DSLR spot. It’s gone now.
  • The original 5D was the pro body. After I grabbed the 6D, a worthy upgrade when I bought it 12-plus years ago, the grid had to adjust.
  • The mirrorless M got upgraded to the M6. Again, the grid adjusts.

My gear earns its quadrant and sometimes loses it. That’s the point. And while it’s not totally logical or neat, it helps keep my cameras organized.

Not everyone needs four cameras. I get it. But even two bodies can fit the framework: your “nice” camera and your “bang around” camera. 

By using a system like this, every camera earns its place and has a purpose. Knowing why you own the cameras you own is more useful than owning the best thing – or everything – on the market.

I don’t need the latest and greatest. I just need what works for me.

(Thanks, Steve!)

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NYC Time Square

NYC: Times Square

Count Times Square in New York City as a place I’ve never been to, until a few weeks ago.

I’ve been to New York twice before, but never so close to some of the more iconic destinations: Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, etc. For this work trip, I resolved to fix this and visit Times Square, which was just a few blocks from my hotel in Manhattan.

My flight landed in the evening, so I took the opportunity to get some night street photography done in Midtown.

And? It was fine. Lots of people, cool options for colored lights and silhouettes. Very crowded.

And tons of people with cameras, photo and video, taking selfies. One pair of ladies even had a mini podcast rig set up to livestream from Times Square. “Look where I am,” everyone was saying. 

Street vendors are some of my favorite subjects in the city, especially at night. Food trucks are like little beacons of light surrounded by darkness, and with people always on hand, they make for good photo subjects.

However, one food truck operator – seeing me snap a few photos – came out and called me an “@$$hole.” I gave him a thumbs up and quickly walked away.

I shot most of these using the Canon EOS M6 and the EF-M 32mm f/1.4 for its low-light capabilities and a bit of extra reach (it’s a 50mm-equivalent lens on the M system).

Street photography in a place like Times Square is fairly easy since there are a million people milling around. The trick is to find the quiet ones, or quiet moments, amid all this chaos, and capture that.

That was my strategy, at least, and in the heart of NYC, it worked out pretty well.

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In Bloom

Grabbed some tree blossoms at golden hour, before they disappear for the season.

Shot on the Canon 6D and Helios 44-2 58mm f/2.

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