Tangier Island in Photos

Tangier Island In Photos

I love photography, though I go through periods where I take very few pictures - and then others when you always see me with a camera around my neck.  Sometimes I feel like living in such a small area I have taken a picture already of everything there is to capture on Tangier Island.  But then I take out my camera, and am reminded I am wrong.  I find it very interesting how things that we see everyday and pay no attention to, can look quite interesting through the lens of a camera.

I love the Picasa picture editing and storage program that is free (FREE !) through Google.  I highly recommend it.  I have been sorting through some of my more recent albums on there and chose a few photos of mine to share to give you a peek at everyday life on our island.

And now some camera recommendations from me...

Contrary to what some camera enthusiasts and most camera shops will tell you, you do not need a huge $800 DSLR kit to take amazing digital pictures.  What you do need is a decent camera and lots of practice, practice, practice!  Take time to learn the features and special programs of your camera like sunset mode or backlight mode ---they are your friend.  Always use your flash when taking pictures of people outdoors to help remove shadows on their faces caused by the sun and objects over head in the foreground.  Just because a picture looks "bad" in the camera doesn't mean you can't fix it up to be a winner in a photo editing program like Picasa.   

None of the pictures taken above were shot with a big DSLR.  And I am also going to surprise you and say that Canon and Nikon are not my first choices for a camera, although I have had a few.  My favorite brands for digital cameras right now are Sony (my #1 pick), Panasonic Lumix, and Olympus. I've taken some great pictures with Samsung and Fuji cameras too.  I have bought and sold many cameras on ebay.  If I see a camera I want, I always check there first for a used model.  The savings can be incredible.  Many people just don't use a camera as much as they thought they would, or don't take the time to learn all the features, and so decide to sell theirs.  And, I have found most people on ebay to be pretty honest in their selling, though I have ended up with a few (very few) duds.

Camera research is the key to getting a good camera.  Check out cameras on amazon.com and read the reviews.  People also post example photos there.  Look at the camera finder portion of flickr.com.  Click a model and see example pics taken with it.  Through personal experience I have found that if most people on amazon say a model is a dud....it's a dud.  If most people say they love their camera, and you see some really good example photos posted that "real people" have produced....then go for it.

Here are links to three camera with reviews on amazon that I have owned and had very good pictures from. You can pick these up, used, fairly inexpensively on ebay.  All of these can be had for around $100 or less.  Not dirt cheap I realize, but if you are going to put $100 in a camera, much better these than what you can get new with the money.  And, the top two cameras linked are a bit like mini DSLRs, with lots of nice features.  Amazon.com sells used cameras as well, with no bidding required.  KEH.com is a good online used camera dealer too.

SONY CYBERSHOT H-20

LUMIX FZ-28

SAMSUNG HZ15W

A Tour Of Tangier Island ( With Recipes ! )

A Little More Information About Life On Tangier

A few years back I took an online course for teachers on making and using slideshows in the classroom. For our final project I made a show using pictures I had taken of Tangier. If you'd like to learn a little more about Tangier,  please take a few minutes to watch this.

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Tomorrow I will start back to school for the beginning of my 25th year of teaching.  I have taught all my years at Tangier Combined School, the island school.  Our school belongs to the Accomack County Schools system of Virginia.  We are the only combined school in Virginia that offers grades K-12 in the same building.  

A look across the marsh at our school

Our school population is dropping from when I first moved to Tangier.  Many young families now move away from the island.  It is becoming increasingly hard to make a living here, due to economic factors and the many strict regulations that have been put on the commercial fishing and crabbing industries.  When I began teaching the average class size was about 10 - 12.  Now average class size is about 4 - 5.  This year I will be teaching 8th grade, all subjects.  Our 8th grade is part of middle school and does not change classes except for a computer language course and a career introduction course that are taught by one of my fellow teachers.  I am responsible for the SOL (Virginia Standards of Learning) subjects English, Writing, Pre-Algebra, Physical Science, and Civics & Economics.  This year I will have 3 students.  Yes, you read that right.  There are just three girls in the 8th grade.  Next year, if I teach 8th grade again, there will be only 1 student - a boy.  Several teachers in our school have combined classes where two grades are taught in the same classroom.  I expect this to continue.

A new student?

A Taste Of Tangier

If you saw my Tangier Homecoming post, you saw my picture of a fried soft crab sandwich (so Yummy!) and I thought some readers might be interested in some Tangier style recipes.  So here are a few to start us off.  I am going to try to cheat and take pictures of the recipes so I don't have to do all that typing.  

This first lot of recipes will be crab recipes from the "Food For My Household" cookbook, put together by the Methodist Ladies of Swain Memorial Church (seen above by the school) in 1986.  There's a lot of good food in this book, and my copy is well worn.

Now lets cook some crab!

There's still more to come, but I'll save them for another time.  A friend with a blog has themes where she does certain things on certain days of the week.  Maybe I'll make Tuesdays recipe days. Thanks for reading!