My brother, Greg, was first to be completely consumed by photography.  Greg’s photo trips were huge affairs, in several different countries using very technical and expensive equipment, and typically arranged and lead by Light and Land Ltd out of the UK.

I on the other hand had a very happy point and shoot life.  I liked my photos.  My family liked my photos.  People wanted copies of my photos.  Photography?  Easy.  I wondered, what would happen if I upgraded to a real camera.  One with knobs, dials, buttons and lenses.  What if I started shooting landscape photography rather than vacation snaps of family?  It couldn’t be that difficult, could it?

Well, I bought the camera, a Canon EOS 40D with EF-S 17-55 mm lens, and in the time it took to unpack, I was thoroughly overwhelmed.  Not only did I not understand the knobs, dials, buttons and lenses, I also remember not being able to read the user manual which seemed to be printed in 4 pt font on postage stamp sized paper.  And did I mention the new vocabulary?

Eventually, and at Greg’s insistence, I finally accompanied him on a Light and Land photography tour to Tuscany.  After getting over the nervousness of being with such acclaimed photographers, I was hooked.  Since then, my wife, Dianna, and I have attended photography tours in Santorini, Umbria, Slovenia, Devon, and Zion – all but two with Light and Land tutors Clive Minnitt and Phil Malpas.

Through this learning experience of ours, we found ourselves “behind the curve” when it came to the equipment and techniques of landscape photography.  The internet provides a plethora of information on this subject, but most of it is just way too detailed.  It was obvious that this was going to be a case of “practice makes perfect”.  So, here we are, a mere four years after conversion from point and shoot to DSLR.  We are still photography tenderfoots, but we’ve had excellent instruction, and I feel we can help other beginning photographers through our website.

In addition to sharing some of our favorite images with you, our goal with this website is to provide some basic guidance on techniques and equipment for landscape photography.  In the event we have inspired you to make similar visits, we have also provided details and commentary on our photography trips.

Regarding our naming of this website, we found that all photography-related terms, both obvious and obscure, had been claimed for domain names.  This was a major issue for Dianna and I as we wanted something unique and photo-ish for our first ever website.

Our website is largely about landscape photography, so why not name the site after one of the most popular focal length lens for landscape photography?  In an attempt at being clever, we converged upon a Roman numeral version, XXIVmm.com.

We hope you will enjoy our website as much as we had building it.

Dianna and John also travel to Man ‘O War Cay in the Bahamas and Garmisch-Partenkirchen in southern Germany, where they enjoy day trips for photography.

Unlocking Mysteries for Intermediate Photographers

Eventually, Dianna and I would grow into Canon EOS 5D mkii full frame cameras and a nice selection of EF lenses.  And if you become as enthusiastic about photography as we are, you will want to carry a full complement of filters including polarizer, graduated neutral density, and neutral density.  Should you build your filter set gradually, we recommend purchasing them in the order listed.  In addition to your filters, you will want to carry a solid tripod and head.  More on these topics and more below.

Welcome to our website!

John and Dianna
August, 2016