Jon Sienkiewicz Blog

Thanksgiving is that magical time that happens only once a year. Thank heavens. It’s a time for peace and love and opening our hearts and homes to relatives we normally don’t bother with. It’s the season for vapid overindulgence—stuffing ourselves with turkey (bird meat that’s usually reserved for Club sandwiches, frozen weight watcher entrees and an occasional tasteless, low-fat burger). Football—lots of football—and couch naps are the order of the day, while the exotic foods that are eaten only at this time of the year (marshmallow-encrusted yams, slippery cranberries and that dried-up bread stuff—what is it? Dressing?) vie for domination of our glutted stomachs

Relax; no one is trying to convince you to switch your photo software. We found five fun and powerful digital image editors that range in price from FREE to $99. One of them might help you produce something entirely new. So even if you already have a favorite, you’ll be glad you took a look at these creative options.

You don’t have to be planning a trip to Mount Fuji or a hike through the Adirondacks during the Geminids Meteor Shower to have genuine need for a travel tripod. Their defining characteristics—small size, light weight, easy to deploy—make travel tripods perhaps the most versatile tools in your kit.

You know better than to carry a camera in your trouser pocket, but who wants to look like they’re wearing a goofy fanny pack? Manfrotto offers what is arguably the best compact camera belt pouch ever made. Best looking, too. Want to know why I think so?

IIf you’ve ever wrapped your mirrorless or mid-size DSLR in a baby blanket (or stack of microfiber towels) before snugging it away in your backpack, the Miggo Strap & Wrap is for you. It’s a comfortable camera strap that can convert into a cool case on command.

Camera straps have evolved over the last 50 years from pencil-thin leather strips secured by gaudy stud-like rivets to inch-wide fiber belts that brazenly scream out the name of the camera brand they’re attached to. Oh, I’m not objecting to the flexible billboards that camera makers laughingly call straps and deliver with digital SLRs, but I personally prefer something a bit more civilized—and less ostentatious—especially when it’s going to be hanging around my neck.

My best friend’s daughter just left to study design in Europe and was given the standard litany of safety precautions by her parents. One city she’s visiting is notorious for street thieves—pickpockets and their ilk—so she was advised to be extra vigilant. I won’t name the city for fear of maligning it as a risky place for tourists, but I will divulge that citizens there eat more pasta per capita than anywhere else in the world. Lots more.