#15 of the Challenge Interview Series
Hi, I’m Marsha Ingrao and my blog is Always Write. Welcome to the Challenge Interview Series.
In addition to meeting the hosts of writing and photo challenges, this series also includes some of the wonderful participants who make the challenges successful.
Today I want to introduce my friend, Lens-Artist Photo Challenge player, John Steiner. He loves to travel and participate in photo challenges.
The Interview Process
I sent John a list of questions that I often ask Challenge hosts and their participants. He studied the list then we spoke for over an hour by Zoom, which we both recorded. The result is that what you see in quotes is really a paraphrase written by me, reviewed and accepted by John.
This is a wonderful tool for interviewing because as he spoke, we both would go to different posts on his website and scan them as we talked. Since I always spend about two or three hours on the interviewee’s website anyway, this was like getting the free guided tour.
I am linking different some of my favorite posts to his name if you’d like to check out his blog. You will also find links to the host challenges he plays.
Please welcome John Steiner, better known as Photo by Johnbo.
My son started me blogging in March, 2013. We wrote guest posts for each other. One of my most viewed posts to date was one that he wrote in 2016, Changing the Face of the American South. I don’t know why it’s so popular, but I get about five views per day.
When I started blogging, I wanted to write about our travels. I started participating in Photo Challenges in 2014. That gave me some fun focuses so that I could blog more than once a week. I started with the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge, and then I stayed with that when it went to the Lens-Artist’s Challenge. Mostly I follow other photographers, and see what they post and learn skills from them.
A few years ago I started posting Cellpic Sunday which I used to highlight my travels. I used to invite people to join me, but it didn’t catch on. I still post it anyway.
I notice you have a lot of “But I Digress” posts. Did you intend “But I Digress” as a challenge also?
No, it’s not. But I digress… means that I’m writing about something other than travel. For example, after Josh wrote the highly popular post about Siler City, I followed up with But I Digress… Siler City’s Improbable Tie to Hollywood. This post highlights the history of the career and retired life of Frances Bavier, the character actor who played Aunt Bee in the Andy Griffith Show.
I loved the post on how to do twirls. John, after we talked, I was so stoked I had to follow your step-by-step illustrated instructions and try it for myself! This post opened my eyes to all the possibilities of editing you can do in Photoshop and more importantly to me, Photoshop Elements.
As anyone who has ever tried to do it, writing directions is very difficult. Here’s my attempt at twirling after reading John’s excellent instructions.
Of course the main benefit I get from photo challenges is getting acquainted with people. But I also have a place to share the things I love, traveling and sharing what I am doing and what I know. I learn skills from other photographers I follow.
Of course, I organize everything by location. If I go to a destination more than once, I add a date to differentiate between the two. I used to get on my teachers for not backing up things. (John chuckled – I’m a teacher) Primarily I keep three copies of my pictures: one on the computer, one on an external back-up drive, and one online. I use Code 42 online, which is $10 per month.
I do all my processing and organizing in Lightroom 6, which I purchased as a stand alone program. Lightroom has great macro tools and records data like the camera used and the date. This helps when I’m processing photos for my website.
Organizing my challenge photos is a challenge. I like Lightroom because I can add keywords to my photos. That helps me search for them. For example I might use the keyword “details” to identify my recent Lens-Artist Challenge photos. That gives me another way to find those “certain pictures.”
I like to avoid subscriptions. I also use Luminar 4.
Note: You can’t buy stand alone Lightroom 6 software anymore through Adobe. I did find some DVDs available through Ebay for about $127. So if your DVD lasts for more than a year, you save money. The subscription for both Lightroom and Photoshop costs $10 per month.
I get that, John. I was a teacher. I back my photos on the computer, online using both ICloud and OneDrive. The external drives I used – both of them are corrupted. I have some photos on a thumb drive as well, and some on Google Photos. I’ve still managed to lose quite a few photos.
Mostly I participate in the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. I look at Cee’s Photo Challenges as well, but I don’t usually participate in them. I follow quite a few photographers so I see the challenges they participate in.
I use my Samsung S20U cell phone and my Nikon D500 with a Tamron 16-300 zoom lens. It is pretty clear. I just purchased a drone. I’m in the Civil Air Patrol and we take drone pictures, so this should help me get better at taking pictures. I don’t do videos because they take so much time to make them really good. Jez Braithwaite uses a lens ball, so I’ve asked my wife to get me one for Father’s Day.
I post on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. The rest of the time I’m looking at other people’s posts. This is one I posted for one of Cee Neuner’s Challenges.
I’ve already mentioned Photos by Jez. Another one I like is Chris at Milford Street. I also enjoy Hien Nguyen. One person who doesn’t blog, but I found him on Flikr is Fred Mast. He is an excellent photographer.
(The link goes to one of his pictures that I like.)
J. P. Cox writes about WWII and the war in the Pacific. I enjoy his posts.
The last person I’d like to mention is Rules Of Logic writes about classic and high performance automobiles.
Yes, I create a weekly theme and publish a picture each day on Facebook and Twitter. My theme last week was Rodeo. Of course, Facebook also publishes my blog. The number of followers stays pretty constant, but I want to give them something every day.
Biography
John loves to travel, write, and take pictures and he found the perfect outlet in blogging. When he was young, John was a photo fanatic, even processing his own color prints.
Eventually life got in the way of his photography hobby as he worked as an IT person for a school district. After he retired he considered working at photography as a profession, but now mostly gives his photographs to friends and family.
John also loves aviation, hiking, technology and history. Readers will find him exploring these topics as well on his website.
Thank you so much for visiting me, John. It’s been so much fun getting to know you better and learning about how to twirl other than on a dance floor.
NOW IT’S YOUR TURN
Be sure and click on one or two of the links, leave likes and comments, and get to know John and his community better.
Do you or someone you know host a photo or writing challenge? Do you have certain challenge communities that you participate in that you want to share? I’d love to interview you and get better acquainted. Contact me.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
48 responses to “John Steiner Travel Blogger – Challenge Player”
Such a nice man. A great photographer and always a pleasure to follow. Thank you for doing this Marsha.
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Yes, he is a doll. We chatted by zoom for about an hour. It was a fun interview. 🙂
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[…] of time to bringing people together and building friendly communities. Learn how to twill on one of John Steiner’s posts. Or check out Sarah Wilkie’s experiments after she read his […]
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I did warn you I would get addicted 😆 https://www.toonsarah-travels.blog/gallery-twirling-away-with-a-new-photo-effect/
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I love the post. It’s fabulous! 🙂
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[…] the interview of John Steiner the other day? Several of you asked about the twirling process. Click on his name in the caption, […]
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[…] of time to bringing people together and building friendly communities. Learn how to twill on one of John Steiner’s […]
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Great interview and gorgeous photos. Wow!
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Thanks, Kirstin!!! 🤗🤗🥰🥰🥰
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Terrific interview of one of my favorite bloggers Marsha. John’s posts highlight some wonderful photography and his variety of interests is amazing. He’s a terrific guy and I’m so happy to see him getting some well-deserved press!
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Thanks, Tina. He is a great guy.
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Aw, shucks… gee thanks, Tina. 🙂
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Hi Marsha, Thank you for introducing us to John’s blog and photography and linking to #WeekendCoffeeShare. John’s photos of the landscapes and people in action look fantastic. I’ll visit the links you included in this post to learn more.
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Thank you so much. I enjoyed your post as well, and visited two of your links so far.
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Thanks for this amazing chit-chat with John 🙂
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You’re welcome Hammad. We had a great time learning together.
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Marsha, I’ve followed John for a mighty long time and I am happy to see him and his work so well represented here!!
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Thank you so much. We had a great time getting acquainted and going through his photos.
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John has taken some amazing photos. Great to meet him here on your blog, Marsha, thank you 🙂
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Thanks for joining us, Jacquie. I’d love to do an interview on your Photo Challenge experiences.
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I’m not in you and John’s league, lol. Mine are just snapshots from my iPhone 😊
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Most of mine are too, Jacquie. I don’t carry my big camera with me most of the time. I know John used his phone a lot, too.
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Thank you for the compliment!
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i know John basically from the Lens-Artists challenge. His photography always inspires me. What a great interview you had with him Marsha 😀
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Thanks, Cee. He does a lot of looking and studying!
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That’s how I learned photography. It’s a great way to learn 😀
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That’s how I’m learning. It is amazing. OJT!
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Great post. Thank you for the shout out.
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You are more than welcome, Chris. 🙂
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An interesting read – and put together rather differently than my own interview. I’m curious about the twirling effect, especially if it can be done in Elements as that’s what I use. Can you or John tell me more please?!
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If you click on that link on his name where he talked about twirling, there you will find the instructions he wrote for Elements. I followed them and you can see how it turned out. With your colorful pictures they should be beautiful. Also you can go to his blog and search twirling or But I Digress. Either will get you there.
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Thanks Marsha 🙂 I’d bookmarked this to check some of the links later so will be sure to look at those in particular!
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Thanks, Sarah. You will find a wealth of information on his blog. 🙂
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I have done – and am now being totally distracted from what I’d planned to do this evening and am experimenting with twirls instead. Watch this space!
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So funny! I got distracted by it too! It’s addicting!
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And now I’ve included a twirled image in my latest post: https://www.toonsarah-travels.blog/exploring-the-temple-gardens-of-kyoto/
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I’m traveling. Let cell service here. I’ll look tonight. Thanks, Sarah!
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No hurry at all – safe travels!
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Nice interview and terrific images. I’m also interested in that lovely art quilt that was made from one of his photos? I didn’t see a credit. Who made that?
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Isn’t that a fabulous quilt? If you click on John’s name in that location, you can read the post where the pictures originated. Her name is Joan, so you can also go to his site and search for Joan.
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Hi, Janis. That quilt art was created by a Canadian friend of ours. Joan Jennings lives in British Columbia. That art is now hanging in our kitchen as she was kind enough to give it to me and my wife when it was finished.
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She did such a great job. Your photo is beautiful and her quilt is so lovely!
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Marsha,
It was a great way to do an interview, and I really enjoyed our conversation. Thanks again for the invitation to join your august group.
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Thank you, John. It was so much fun. If you notice the comments that are coming in for you, some of them want information on specific things you have done.
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Hi Marsha, it’s great to meet Johnbo and learn about his blog and photography. I would love to spend more time studying up on photography but don’t have the time currently.
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I totally get that, Robbie. No worries. Thanks for reading and making a comment. You are amazing. When you slow down a bit, and after I’ve received and read your book, we should do an interview, if you’d like. 🙂
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Hi Marsha, it is very kind of you to offer to host me. That would be lovely. I hope you enjoy the book.
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I received it today. It will be a good book to take on a trip. 🙂
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