Papa Ray

16Nov 2022 by Papa Ray

A Gem Long Forgotten

Uncategorized

In historic downtown Cairo, IL (pronounced care-oh) is a weathered old building, a Gem long forgotten by the community and time! The Gem is a theater that sits eerily quiet and abandoned on 8th street. There are no cheers or applause from happy crowds, no smells of fresh buttered popcorn. Just a long abandoned, empty shell of what it once what was. Image provided by elmorovivo compliments of the CC License. At the very Southern end of Illinois one will find a town with quite a past. Cairo has quite the storied past. The town tells it all from famous people such as mark twain, steam boats and even major racism and murder. Through it all, the one thing this town had plenty of was theaters. It had the Opera…

21Oct 2022 by Papa Ray

IC5785 Display Cairo Illinois

Photo Outings, Places To Photo

IC 5785 On Display Cairo, IL IC 5785 Display Cairo, IL The old red caboose is at rest, IC5785 On Display Cairo Illinois. Illinois little slice of heaven located at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. IC 5785 was originally built as IC 9501. After the merger with Gulf, Mobile and Ohio the caboose was renumbered as ICG 199501. We will point this information out again here shortly. The info can be obtained from the link we provided previously. What is a "Caboose"? Before we go to far lets discuss what exactly a caboose really is. The caboose has been called a few different things in the past such as cabooses (or cabeese) and traditionally it was called a way car. There is a general consensus that the…

13Oct 2022 by Papa Ray

PapaRay Photography on YouTube!

Social Media

PapaRay Photography on Youtube Have you heard the news? PapaRay Photography on YouTube! Well, it is not big news but it is in fact news that I have moved PapaRay Photography on YouTube. Originally I was including everything on my main YouTube channel. I decided it was time for a change of pace and to renew my channel and organize things a bit better (I'm sure this won't be too big of a disaster!). No More DjPorkchop? Ahh the Chop remains! But why the change then? I decided to move all photography related stuff to a single channel so I could keep a single channel to a single topic. We all know my back and knees are horrible and I struggled for a very long time. I had a couple…

23Jul 2022 by Papa Ray

Camera Diopter | What Is It and Should You Adjust It

Equipment

diopter Today we are going to discuss a Camera Diopter | What Is It and Should You Adjust It. So what exactly is a camera's diopter? Typically a diopter is a wheel or a slide bar found on most digital type cameras. The diopter controls some lenses in the viewfinder. This action allows the focus of your eyes to be matched up with that of the viewfinder of the camera. . So what exactly is a camera's diopter? Typically a diopter is a wheel or a slide bar found on most digital type cameras. The diopter controls some lenses in the viewfinder. This action allows the focus of your eyes to be matched up with that of the viewfinder of the camera. Do I need to adjust my camera's diopter?…

28Jun 2022 by Papa Ray

Sunset Photography Adventures

Uncategorized

Nikon D3500 70mm w/variable ND Filter Not a bad opening shot for sunset photography adventures! The day was Friday the 24th and it sure was hot out side. In spite of the heat, I really wanted to head out for some sunset photography adventures. I loaded up my camera bag, grabbed my tripod, made sure my water supply was plentiful and out the door I went! I had set out to go walk the trail around Arrowhead Lake in little ol' JC, Illinois. This plan was very short lived. Just about the time I was going to make a left hand turn to head out to the lake, a quick 3 or 4 minute drive, I saw the fire truck and a huge American Flag hanging over the street. Sure…

06Jan 2022 by Papa Ray

Is Your Photography Ethical?

Photo Outings, Uncategorized

Is your photography ethical? Do you think ethics play any role what so ever in photography? I am one of them people who firmly believe that if it is in public it is fair game. Sadly, that is a very true point. However, I also have another belief as well and that is not everything in public should be fair game. let's talk about it and please keep this in mind before we begin, what I am about to say is pure opinion based on my own beliefs. I do not speak for any other individuals other than myself. Image provided by https://pixabay.com/users/tumisu-148124/ What does "Ethics" mean? We already know what public is as well as photography but do we all know and understand ethics? According to Merriam-Webster the definition…

22Dec 2021 by Papa Ray

A Nikon D3500 Fallacy

Equipment

Fact or Fake? You Decide! There is a Nikon D3500 Fallacy running wild across the internet pertaining to external microphones. Today we look at the facts and let you decide for yourself if you will be taken advantage of or not. Does The Nikon D3500 Have a External Mic Input? Are you looking into purchasing a Nikon D3500 for video reasons such a home memories, vacation footage or even Vlogging? One quick question most ask when researching is does the Nikon D3500 have a external mic input or not. That is a very valid question to ask. If you are searching for a true answer and not fallacy, look no more! The quick and easy answer is a 100% positive no. What is the D3500? The D3500 is a entry…

10Dec 2021 by Papa Ray

Black and White or Color Photography?

Image and Video Editing, Uncategorized

The age old question often asked by new photographers (such as myself) is should I shoot in black and white or color photography? In order to know what we wish to shoot in that day we must first know what type of story we want to tell. Do we want a nice warm, relaxing feeling on the inside or a colder tone that tends to evoke a little sadness in us as we gaze at the image? What is the benefit of one over the other? What is the benefit of one over the other you may ask. They both actually have pros and cons. But let's talk color photography first. What is the true benefit of a color photo over a monochrome (black and white) photo? As stated previously,…

04Jul 2021 by Papa Ray

Why Can’t I Use Your Picture For Free?

Uncategorized

Why can't I use your picture for free and what is it really worth? Why do you charge so much? How many times as photographers do you hear them questions? If I had to hazard a guess I would say quite often. I do not hear it as often due to me not being "in the business" yet. I personally am in the hobby side still looking to get "in the business" How much is your image worth? Here is another classic question I often see asked on the internet,"How come photographers charge $400 - $800 for 8 or 10 pictures and only 1 change of cloths? And why do I have to purchase the rights to the images?". These are great questions and thoughts and I suppose are worthy…

24Feb 2021 by Papa Ray

Is My Smart Phone Better Than My DSLR?

Equipment

Today we discuss the age old question, Is My Smart Phone Better Than My DSLR? Let's head on down that rabbit hole and get in this discussion shall we? Is my smart phone better than my DSLR? As we lay here in the grass pondering this what seems to be the age old question anymore, there is someone out there crunching actual facts of is my smartphone better than my DSLR? Let me start off by admitting that I do not have a team behind me gathering facts. For this post all I have is me, myself and I. When I got started I never asked Is My Smart Phone Better Than My DSLR When I got started in the smart phone camera game it was on the Samsung Fascinate…

Author: Papa Ray