Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

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USS Arizona Memorial

When I recently scanned some photos from a 2003 trip to Oahu, I couldn’t find any prints from my visit to the USS Arizona Memorial. I was pretty sure I took photos, but they weren’t in with the other prints. Later I realized I took the images on black-and-white 35mm film (Ilford Delta 400) and developed the roll myself, so the negatives were in with my other old darkroom work. I scanned a few of the negatives so I could see what I shot – easier than looking at the contact sheet thumbnails. While I had fun learning how to develop film, I wasn’t awesome at it, so a lot of the negatives are grainier than they should be. Or maybe we’ll just call that a purposeful creative decision. Yes, that’s it!

If you’re on Oahu, it’s certainly worth a visit to the memorial. I rented a car while on the island so that I could explore while Chris was working during the day. The drive to Pearl Harbor was easy, and only about 30 minutes from Waikiki beach where we were staying. I went during the middle of the week in the morning without a reservation, and I don’t remember having to wait for admission, so depending on the day/time of your visit you might be able to do a walk-in without advance tickets. We watched a documentary film before heading over to the memorial site via boat, which was a beautiful opportunity for photos. My visit took around 1.5 hours, and I remember being most impressed by the manner in which other visitors conducted themselves – everyone was appropriately solemn and respectful. It’s a place of great honor, so I was glad to see it being treated as such.

Morning seemed like a decent time to beat the crowds and get good lighting for photos. I wish I had shot at least a few color images, but I only brought one camera loaded with b&w film. Maybe the mood of the b&w is fitting anyway. Here are a few of those scans.

July 16, 2014
Somewhere Old or Somewhere New?

When Chris and I brainstorm the place we’d like to visit next, we tend to pull from our master list of must-see countries, but every once in a while we do wax poetic about places we’ve already been. Okay, in truth it’s probably more whiny than poetic when it’s coming from me. I’m sure I’ve said, “I want to go baaack to the Cayman Islands” in a pouty voice at least two dozen times since we came home from Grand Cayman. (I may have also stomped my feet a bit; I don’t recall.) St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands is also one of our favorites because it’s an easy trip – a short flight, we know almost the whole island, and it feels comfortable and familiar. Plus we’ve had some incredibly amazing trips to the Caribbean, and who doesn’t want to recreate amazingness?

And then there are places I’ve been like Italy where I’ve only seen a small percentage of the country and I definitely want to return someday. That said, I flip-flop between, “Should we go somewhere completely new, or return to a place we’ve already been?” Lately the answer leans more toward seeing something new. I like the idea of slow, thorough exploration of the world and even rediscovering places I’ve already seen, but I also want to visit at least part of every place on our lengthy must-travel list in my lifetime, and then hopefully we can go back to the places we loved to do further exploration.

Here are my own top five reasons to visit new places.

1. Personal Growth

Embarrassing confession: for some reason I am slightly awful at remembering historical dates, names, and facts. (I’m good at remembering song lyrics, so perhaps my brain is simply too full with tunes?) It’s something I’d like to improve about myself. I’m in complete awe of people who are able to commit these details to memory, namely my Dad and my friend, Casey. Please don’t ever quiz me on all but the biggest events in the world because I admittedly won’t be able to recall the facts. I know I learned them at one time in World History classes, but it just doesn’t stick. I was pretty good at studying for exams so I was able to get good grades, but after the test…poof! The info is mostly gone except for fuzzy details. When I travel to a new country, however, it does seem to help me remember a few things, and I hope that if I keep traveling and seeing and photographing every corner of the world that I can reach, maybe I’ll commit more facts to permanent memory.

2. Geography Lessons

During my travel planning, I tend to study Google maps obsessively almost to the point that I can sometimes navigate our trip (in general) without map or GPS assistance. And then seeing the location in person just burns that geographic information into my brain, so hopefully one day I can identify nearly any country on a blank map. That would be a pretty cool party trick. Unless I was at a party full of geographers where that knowledge would impress no one.

3. Expanding the Comfort Zone

Sometimes travel requires a bit of courage. I constantly find myself in situations on our travels where I’m literally staring a fear right in the face (and I can use the word ‘literally’ there since ocean creatures have faces), but afterwards I have that awesome that wasn’t so bad feeling. I feel like that’s an important feature of our travels, since I might not have the opportunity to face those challenges otherwise. Also? Spiders. Traveling seems to introduce me to larger and larger spiders and other creepy critters every time, so perhaps I’ll eventually overcome my greatest fear and just be like, “Oh is that a tarantula in the room with me? No big deal.” I have goosebumps just from typing that sentence, so I’m definitely still quite a ways off from overcoming that fear. Doing an Amazon Rainforest tour to see Macaw parrots sounds amazing, but I’ll have to work on that spider thing first since the region is home to over two million insect species. Greaaat.

4. Language

I love different languages, dialects, and accents, and I really enjoy trying to learn common phrases and greetings. Even just pronouncing cities and street names properly is a fun challenge for me. I took French for all four years in high school and then a few semesters in college, and sadly I haven’t traveled to any francophone regions yet (well, other than parts of Switzerland). Someday soon I’ll visit France and see if I can still parler Français.

5. Change of Scenery

A change of scenery is often just what the doctor ordered for nearly anything. Seeing new places is a humbling experience for me and always provides an inspirational perspective on life. The most stressful problem in my own life can all of a sudden feel completely miniscule when I think about what a teeny tiny speck I am on this planet amongst billions of other specks, and I appreciate that reminder. I also feel more alive when I travel, and I say if you can find something that makes you feel alive, do it! (Unless it’s harmful or like, a criminal activity. Don’t do that.)

So what about you? Do you tend to enjoy sticking to your favorite spots, or do you prefer to venture out and explore new places? Or do you have a hard time deciding like I do?

July 14, 2014
Photo Friday – Carlsbad Caverns

Obviously this isn’t a photo I took, but I discovered it in my photo files and thought it would make a fun post. I’m three years old here, sitting inside Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. I’d love to say this is where it all started, where I found my sense of adventure and was taken by a case of wanderlust, but I honestly don’t remember. There were plenty of trips before this one and so many after. My parents can tell you exactly when I fell in love with adrenaline rushes and thrills (at an amusement park when I was two – I cried in anticipation of a log ride, but then couldn’t get enough of it), but I don’t think there was a big moment where I realized how much I love to travel, so perhaps it was there all along! I hope it’s something I’m able to enjoy for a long time.

Also? Was my big head made for bangs or what? I’m not sure I can get away with that look now, but it seemed to work well for me in 1980.

July 11, 2014
Tourist at Home: The Crime Museum

One of D.C.’s newer museums, the Crime Museum focuses on the history of crime, law enforcement, and forensic science. Chris and I decided to spend a couple of hours there on Saturday afternoon, learning more about the most notorious crimes in history.

Four different admission types offer a customized experience ranging from general/self-guided tours, to audio tours and a family-friendly Top Detective Challenge in which participants answer workbook questions and follow clues to solve a mystery and win a prize. The tour starts on the top floor with the first gallery, A Notorious History of American Crime, dating back to medieval crimes. Then you work your way down three floors moving chronologically through to the Technology of Crime Fighting. The five main multimedia galleries include American History, Punishments, Crime Fighting, Crime Solving, and the America’s Most Wanted studio. Photography is allowed throughout as long as you refrain from using flash. It’s dark in there from beginning to end, so be prepared to use a high ISO and steady your camera if you can! All of my photos are from my point-and-shoot or my iPhone.

On the subject of families, we did see a few elementary school-aged children and there are stations throughout the museum intended for young kids, but just know that the majority of the museum is dimly-lit so it’s a little spooky in places (there are no windows), and the galleries include artifacts such as weapons of all types, an electric chair, a gas chamber, a guillotine, and various medieval torture devices. There’s also a simulated autopsy that would have creeped me out as a five year-old for sure. I suppose, like anything, it just depends on your child and what he/she can handle, and what kind of conversations you’re ready to have. The middle-school kids and high-schoolers seemed to be enjoying themselves – most were participating in the Challenge.

There are a ton of opportunities for interaction and even photo-ops including a mock lineup, a jail cell with an escape tunnel, a police chase simulator, finger-printing stations, and a body heat sensor camera. Chris and I took advantage of those photo-ops, of course. My apologies for looking so inappropriately happy to have my head and arms locked up in a stock. Or maybe I’m just crazy…

We visited on a high-traffic weekend (Independence Day weekend), and it did feel a little crowded. The galleries on the top floor were especially cramped since the space is smaller. Once we reached the lower floors the crowd thinned out and the galleries were bigger, so it was easier to read the information at each display. I picked the subjects most interesting to me (I had fun trying to guess which Coach bags were fake in the Counterfeit Crimes display) and skimmed the rest, and it took us about two hours to complete our self tour. There’s enough material to fill an entire day or two if you’re super interested in crime history, but for most people I would plan 1-2 hours at least. If you are on a predictable schedule, you can buy tickets in advance online and save some money. The tickets are specific to date and time though, so you do have to know approximately what time you want to visit.

Just a funny side note, keep an eye out for typos throughout the museum – there are quite a few! Chris noticed this Glock 22 mistake (there shouldn’t be a dot/period in front of the 22 since it’s a model number, not a caliber) and I wanted to grab a red pen in the forensics room because that’s not how you spell autopsy – oops! They opened in 2008, so maybe they’re still working out the details?!

Chris and I both enjoyed the museum and found the material fascinating. I would compare the Crime Museum to the Spy Museum in size, tone, and price, although when we went to the Spy Museum they didn’t allow photography! Sad face. (They have since modified that policy to allow photography in certain areas.) And the Crime Museum has a lot more interactivity. As far as the layout of the Crime Museum goes, I think I might have been spoiled at the Newseum. The Crime Museum layout felt a little cramped and sometimes it was difficult to read the placards at each station due to the volume of people, whereas the Newseum was spread out over a huge floorplan. But I definitely recommend a visit to the museum to learn a bit more about crime and punishment throughout the ages. It would be a fun way to spend a few hours beating the heat (or the cold), and since it’s near the Chinatown/Gallery Place Metro stop, there are tons of great places to eat nearby.

July 7, 2014
Photo Friday – Dandelion Wishes

Sometimes Chris and I set out with our cameras looking for something to photograph, and sometimes we don’t go much farther than our own neighborhood where we find things like dandelions. They actually make fascinating macro subjects! So here is a dandelion that I photographed with a macro lens – you didn’t see that one coming, did you?

Photographing tall flowers (or weeds in this case) with a macro lens when there’s a breeze can be a bit of a challenge. When you’re focusing at a close distance with a macro lens, the slightest movement can result in a mis-focused image. The best thing to do is to at least steady your camera on a tripod so that you aren’t also moving in addition to the subject, but I didn’t have one with me. So in lieu of a tripod, I steadied my camera over the dandelion by sitting down criss-cross (applesauce) style and propping my elbows onto my knees, camera in hand. Whenever I’m shooting with the macro lens, I tend to take a deep breath and hold it so that I’m not shaking the camera with my own breath. It was a bright day so I was able to use a fast shutter speed. I also overexposed by about a stop since my subject was mostly white.

It reminds me of fireworks, so I thought it would be a good photo for July 4th!

July 4, 2014