Panama City, Panama.

Last week, I showed some specialized equipment for the ongoing maintenance of cruise ships while they carry passengers. On our overnight stay in Panama, I stepped out on our balcony and saw another important operation in progress, the taking on of fuel. The process is called bunkering and usually takes place through a ship-to-ship operation. A smaller bunker barge, specifically designed for the purpose, moors alongside the receiving vessel. The bunker barge then pumps the pre-ordered fuel into the receiving ship’s storage tanks.

Probably the biggest environmental impact of large cruise ships is their use of fuel. Over the years, improvements in cleaning the ship’s exhaust and in providing cleaner fuel options have reduced the environmental impact of large ships, cruisers, freighters, and other marine vessels.

Most cruise ships use a special type of diesel called marine diesel oil (MDO), which is made specifically for marine vessels. While diesel does have adverse effects on the environment, it is a far better alternative to the heavy fuel oil previously used in the industry. In addition, cruise lines are working towards improving their diesel consumption and exploring other alternatives. Some of the newest ships use Liquified Natural Gas which has emerged as a more environmentally friendly alternative energy source for cruise ships. For example, Port Canaveral in Florida is the first US seaport to provide LNG bunkering services. On June 9, 2021, a cruise vessel bunkered LNG at Port Canaveral for the first time. It was the inaugural visit of the Mardi Gras, the first cruise ship in the Americas powered by LNG.

Another important environmental improvement is the introduction of shore power. Even when cruise ships are docked, the engines continue to run to provide services to the passengers and crew. Though operating at a lower speed, they still need fuel. The latest cruise ships now have a shore power connection that allows the ship to connect to the city’s electrical grid for power, allowing them to turn off their engines. Though there is still an environmental demand, it is far less than the demand for the continuously operating diesel power plant onboard the ship. Very few ports are currently capable of shore power, but many large cruise ports are in the process of adding the facilities.

About the photo: One of the few times we’ve overnighted in a port, on our journey through the Panama Canal in 2023, the Norwegian Bliss docked at Panama City to await their canal entry time assignment. When I stepped out on the balcony to capture some night images of the city, I noticed the bunkering operation in progress. I thought it would make for an unusual image for Cellpic Sunday. The blue line at the bottom of the photo is the deck railing on the Promenade Deck that circles the Norwegian Bliss. As that deck is wider than the side of the ship, the starboard (right) edge of the bunkering barge is hidden. I used my Samsung S23 in Pro mode to get a DNG file for processing in Adobe Lightroom Classic and Luminar Neo.

I let the camera meter the exposure and made sure the ISO was high enough that a slower shutter speed would be fast enough to freeze any possible movement by the barge due to wave action. In Luminar Neo, I tweaked the Accent AI, added just a touch (about 5) of Structure AI, and sent it back to Lightroom Classic for final export.

Some may ask why I bother running everything through Lightroom Classic rather than working only in Neo. The truth is that I am very comfortable with the Lightroom Classic catalog and I use Lightroom’s post-processing exports to add a watermark and other administrivia. I also use an AI tool that works within Lightroom Classic that is called Excire Search. It uses AI to add keywords to images and makes finding specific images easier using keyword searches in Lightroom Classic. I did a review on an earlier version of this tool some time ago, but they’ve added some new features that I will share with you in an upcoming post.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s acceptable as well. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, and, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

When we first started cruising, I noticed cruise ship maintenance was ongoing. As guests, we’ve seen many paint touchups and on the Norwegian Bliss, we saw welders adding pieces to the decking in front of the observation lounge. Many crew members have little or no interaction with the passengers, and whose only job is to keep the ship looking its best. This worker’s job for the day was to touch up the paint on the superstructure that extends outward above deck 14.

At Coxen Hole, Honduras I stepped out on the balcony for a few moments to capture a photo of the island port and was surprised to see this piece of equipment and its operator in front of the balcony in the next cabin. Previously, I’d noticed a yellow cable running along a tray that extended slightly from the floor of our balcony structure. I’d wondered what it was for. Seeing this specialized piece of equipment turned on that lightbulb in my brain. The cable is part of the propulsion system that moves the structure along the track. As the carriage moves toward the bow or front of the ship, it rolls up the yellow cable and lays down a black cable behind it. When going back toward the stern, it rolls up the black cable and lays down the yellow cable again.

After we exited the ship, I looked up to see there were two such powered carriages. The lower one services deck 14, our deck for the week. The taller, thinner upper carriage appears to be for maintenance of the highest superstructure on the ship. My first thought is that the specialized cart outside our balcony could be moved from deck to deck. From the ground, I could see that these carts only service the areas just above those tallest decks.

While we went ashore, workers on the ship were busy doing their jobs, cleaning, maintaining, and even upgrading features on the ship.

About the photos: All of these images were captured with my Samsung S23U in pro mode. I use pro mode more often as it gives me a DNG file and a JPG file for each image. When I import the files into Lightroom Classic, the software is smart enough to ignore the JPG file and only import the DNG file. The file is larger than the JPG file, but it contains so much more data. Lightroom Classic and Luminar Neo can extract a wider dynamic range and improved details from those DNG files. I didn’t use the pro mode on my S20U as it was much more work to extract the DNG files than on the S23U. I am now using much more of the capability of this camera and the images I download are the better for it. All three of these images are posted in 2K HD on my Flickr site in an album here. You can also click on any of the images above to pixel-peep it specifically.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s acceptable as well. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, and, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

Norwegian Cruise Line’s theater is a popular venue for musical and theatrical entertainment. I’ve never before shared images from a performance because almost every performance is prefaced with a warning that photography and videography are expressly forbidden. On one occasion, however, not only was photography allowed, but also permission was given to share on social media. That production is the British Comedy “The Choir of Man”.

Even the opening of the play is unusual. As the audience wanders into the theater, the set features a scene from a British public house (pub). The place looks closed, with chairs on tables and the set relatively dark. About 15 minutes before the scheduled start of the show, a “bartender” shows up and starts prepping the bar for opening. Then another player comes out and starts removing the chairs from the tables and wiping the tables down. Once the pub was ready for opening, and before the scheduled start of the production, the bartender began a short soliloquy and concluded by inviting the audience to come up on stage for a beer. Many of the surprised audience members started lining up in the aisles and headed toward the stage.

If I were a reviewer, I might write something like The Choir of Man is a theatrical experience packed with energy and heart. The production is a British musical created by Nic Doodson and Andrew Kay. Set in a traditional pub with a real, working bar that includes pouring drinks for the audience!

The musical features several multi-instrumentalist singers who take various places in the pub and a three-piece band that is at the top of the stairs. The music is a lively blend of pop, rock, and folk songs, arranged specifically for the show. A few audience members are picked at random to join the group on stage to improvise as customers in some of the numbers.

As a reviewer, I might go on to say that the uplifting and infectious atmosphere is guaranteed to have you tapping your feet and singing along. The play is a celebration of male friendship and connection, exploring various emotions and experiences through song. The diverse range of musical styles, from Queen and Paul Simon to Adele and Sia, ensures something for everyone’s taste.

The unique theatrical setting blurs the line between audience and performers, creating a sense of camaraderie. But enough about the play, other than to say that I give it two thumbs up or five stars, and it received a nomination for the British theater’s Olivier Awards in 2022. One of the advantages of cruising is that entertainment like this is included in the cruise fare.

About the photo: During the show’s pre-open, most of the audience members lined up to get a beer from the pub. Taking advantage of permission to photograph the performance and with most of the audience in line, I stood up from my seat to capture the image with my Samsung S20U cell phone. Back home again, I imported it into Lightroom Classic to catalog and crop, and then I exported it to Luminar Neo for simple tweaks of exposure, highlight reduction, and Enhanced AI. The last thing I added to this image is a slight tweak of the Magic Light tool. This feature in Luminar Neo added small starbursts to all of the stage lights at the top of the image. To pixel-peep the image in 2K HD on my Flickr site, click on the image.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s acceptable as well. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, and, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

This week, Tina hosts the Lens-Artists Challenge. She writes, “Like many of us, I’ve been fascinated by the people I’ve encountered throughout my many travels, although I’m a bit shy about photographing strangers. So this week, our challenge is to share images of the people we’ve captured along the way.” You can read her entire challenge post here.

Her challenge allows me to share some photos explicitly processed for this post, though more images will be featured in a future Travel Tuesday post. Last November, we were invited to a special tour aboard the Norwegian Bliss. Regular readers are familiar with our love of cruising. We’ve sailed many times on NCL Cruise Line, and as a perk, we were invited on a “Behind the Scenes” tour. My challenge response features photographs of the people who make cruising special yet are seldom seen by cruise ship guests.

The Norwegian Bliss is a floating hotel with a capacity of over 4,000 passengers who are served by over 1700 crew members. The ship’s laundry can handle all the hotel, multiple restaurants, and crew laundry requirements. In addition, the laundry offers laundry and dry cleaning services to the guests. In the opening image, a manager and crew member review a passenger’s personal laundry order. In the image immediately above, two crew members load freshly washed sheets into an automatic folder. Crew members on the other end of the large machine stack the folded sheets for distribution to housekeeping crew members.

The manual laundry pressing equipment is in the background in the opening image. On our tour, one of the laundry managers demonstrated the robotic shirt press. Ship’s officers are always sharply dressed in uniform shirts that are labor-intensive to press. In this demonstration, the shirt is loaded onto a form, and at the push of a button, it disappears into the black housing, where it is steamed and pressed in only moments. A crew member then puts the shirt on a hangar for return to its owner.

When we go on a cruise, we interact with many crew members from all over the world. During this tour, we learned that most of the crew members on the hotel side of the ship start in the laundry area. They can work on their English language skills at Norwegian Cruise Lines and eventually work in positions involving interaction with the guests.

We also visited the special kitchen area, where they prepare meals with allergen-free ingredients. People with food allergies have options that ensure they don’t accidentally receive food that might cause discomfort or worse. Nut, dairy, and gluten allergies can be fatal to some. Cruise kitchens take special care to serve meals free of specific allergens.

On Norwegian Cruise Line, a person with a food allergy notifies the cruise line before their cruise. Once aboard the ship, a dedicated dietician is assigned to meet with the cruiser. On the day before each restaurant meal, the cruiser reviews the next day’s menus at their chosen venue. There are allergen-free offerings on the regular menu each day, all made in the allergen-free kitchen. If the cruiser prefers something more to his or her liking, a pre-order of the guest’s choosing is set up. Allergy sufferers can select from choices not found on the regular menu within available options. At the meal, the waiter confirms and retrieves any pre-orders made in the allergen-free kitchen.

Thanks to Tina for this week’s challenge. Many people work behind the scenes in cruise ship hotel services, engineering, theater, food service, and ship maintenance. I am sure that I have left out categories of workers necessary to support so many guests. We seldom interact with the background support staff in these giant floating hotels.

Last week, Patti encouraged us to share so many beautiful posts from cities worldwide. Next week, Sofia will lead the challenge on Saturday at noon EST. Follow her at Photographias so you don’t miss next week’s challenge post.

New to the challenge? Find out how to join in here.

John Steiner

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

On the north coast of the Dominican Republic, Puerto Plata, also known as San Felipe de Puerto Plata, was our first destination on the Norwegian Escape in early 2023. Puerto Plata, which translates to “Silver Port,” hints at the shimmering beaches that greet visitors upon arrival.

Puerto Plata’s history dates back to the early 1500s when Spanish colonists carved out a small settlement in the region, quickly turning it into the island’s primary commercial and maritime hub during the early years of the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo. This strategic location made the city a key player in trade and exploration, shaping the island’s future in the centuries to come.

I couldn’t find much information online about the large gorilla at our port stop. Just a short distance from our ship, the Taino Bay area is the first place visitors see when departing the ship. The one quote I noted from a cruise reviewer stated, “The large gorilla sculpture at Taino Bay in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, is quite the sight! Officially named “King Kong” but often referred to as “Gorilla Island,” it’s a 20-foot tall, brightly colored fiberglass sculpture that has become a popular landmark and photo op for visitors.” We continued our walk through the port shopping area and found our tour group meeting point. We then boarded a bus to tour the city.

On our tour, we visited the Fortaleza San Felipe, a 16th-century Spanish fortress. According to Wikipedia, construction of the fort began in 1564 under the reign of King Philip II of Spain and was completed in 1577. The thick walls, cannons, and strategically placed towers served as a vital defense point protecting the city and its harbor from pirates and privateers. In the 19th century, it became a prison and is now a museum and major tourist attraction. I captured the opening photo of the Norwegian Escape from the shoreline at the fort. Its strategic location was instrumental in protecting the harbor at Puerto Plata.

The city square or Parque Central dates back to the early 16th century when Spanish colonists founded Puerto Plata. Initially known as Plaza Mayor, it served as the city’s main gathering place for public events, celebrations, and trade. In the 19th century, it was renamed Plaza Independencia to commemorate the Dominican Republic’s independence from Spain in 1844. The ornate gazebo in the center of the square is a popular landmark and often features local musicians playing traditional Dominican music. Several statues pay homage to historical figures like Gregorio Luperón, José María Pérez, and Gregorio Rivas, all of whom played significant roles in Dominican history.

The building that we might call City Hall in the United States is located on the Plaza Independencia. The structure is a beautiful example of 19th-century architecture and houses various city administrative departments.

Our next stop included a visit to an amber museum. It was interesting to learn about amber and its history. Amber is a fossilized tree resin millions of years old. Dominican amber, prized for its beauty, and clarity, often contains perfectly preserved insects and other inclusions and is considered some of the finest in the world.

Our next stop included a walk about town. We started at Calle San Felipe, also known as “Umbrella Street.” It’s a pedestrian-only street adorned with colorful umbrellas suspended overhead, creating a whimsical and picturesque atmosphere. The rows of colorful umbrellas suspended above the street add a playful and artistic touch, transforming the ordinary street into a visual delight for locals and tourists. The umbrellas create a kaleidoscope effect for pedestrians walking beneath them.

As we explored the downtown area, I noticed as I looked down a hill that even though we rode a bus around the port city, we were but a short walk from our cruise ship. Of course, it isn’t a direct walk, even though it looks to be. Soon we boarded our excursion bus and headed back for an afternoon relaxing on the ship.

One of my favorite photos was captured on our way into port that morning. Near the fort, the lighthouse stands tall to warn ships of the island coast in inclement weather. The golden light in the early morning gave the water a violet hue. The image reflects probably the most beautiful sunrise on our Caribbean journey.

Taino Bay and Amber Cove are the two major cruise ports in the Dominican Republic. The original cruise port at Amber Cove opened in 2015 and Taino Bay opened in 2021. Vacationers who wish to spend more time in the city can opt to stay in one of the several resorts that cater to tourists who visit the island nation. To view my gallery of images in 2K HD on my Flickr site, click here.

John Steiner

Miami, Florida.

I was up early on disembarkation day. We like to pack light and take our luggage off the ship, skipping the overnight pickup and the timed departure for picking up our stuff at the pier. It’s simply easier to walk off the ship with our luggage as soon as the ship clears customs and we “walk-offs” are allowed to leave.

We got ready for one more breakfast on the ship and I stepped out on the balcony. We were already docked when I awoke and around 6:30, I captured this image of the sunrise. It was still technically the blue hour as the sun hadn’t yet broken the horizon line and the long cruise ship causeway contained many ships getting ready to disgorge their passengers and accept a new cadre of guests.

About the photo: I captured the image with my Samsung S23U in pro mode, so I had a DNG file to work with. I’ve been using pro mode on this camera much more often as it is easier to extract the DNGs from the camera than in my previous Samsung. I loaded the file into Adobe Lightroom Classic to catalog it and use the geometric straightening tools. I also cropped the right edge. A cruise ship bow and our ship’s superstructure blocked my capture of the brightest area of the sky and those details didn’t add anything to the image.

From the basic adjustments, I sent it off to Luminar Neo for final processing. First on the agenda was noise reduction in the Noiseless app. Even at a high reduction setting, the left side still exhibits some noise artifacts, but Neo’s treatment removed most of the noise. An overhang from our ship blocked the upper right corner of the sky so an application of Luminar Neo’s Gen-Erase tool removed the obstruction. It did a nice job of recreating the sky in that area. A slight difference in shading could easily be attributed to that thin cloud layer just below the area I modified with one of Neo’s latest AI tools. Only a slight tweak of the Enhanced AI tool finished the image to my satisfaction and I was ready to share it here. Click on the image above to view it in 2K HD on my Flickr site if you want to pixel peep.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s acceptable as well. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, and, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

As usual, I am writing my posts in advance, so I can never be truly sure when I write things like, “Today we are boarding the Norwegian Breakaway at New Orleans.” Being the positive person I am, that is my story for now, anyway. For the rest of this post, I will write in the present tense as if it were February 4, 2024, even though the present hasn’t yet happened. >grin<

Today is boarding day in New Orleans. It is a new port for us as our travels have brought us from January in North Carolina and in mid-February, we will be in Scottsdale Arizona for the rest of the winter. We decided that sailing out of Florida would add extra driving time, besides, it’s been a long time since I was in New Orleans to explore the city.

On this day one year ago, we left the Norwegian Escape as we finished our Caribbean cruise. Today we begin our Western Caribbean cruise with stops in Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. We are departing on our tenth cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL). We like the vibes on NCL, especially their freestyle dining program which is similar to restaurants on land. The only other ocean-going cruise line we’ve experienced is Carnival. They have also adopted a Dine Anytime program, but they also keep their scheduled dining program in effect so on our few cruises with Carnival, the wait times for their Dine Anytime program seem excessive. We keep thinking that we should try Royal Caribbean or Princess, but in the end, we usually find a cruise on NCL we like. This fall we will try Holland America as it turned out they were the only line that could meet our schedule and destination goal. If you’ve had experience with Holland America, I’d be interested to read your comments.

About the photo: On our excursion in Puerto Plata, we caught a glimpse of the Norwegian Escape docked and awaiting our return. It was only the second day of our cruise and our first visit to the Dominican Republic. Among our goals for the excursion was a short trip to visit the Fortaleza de San Felipe which is located very near the old lighthouse I featured a couple of Cellpic Sundays ago. From the grounds on the fort, our cruise ship was framed by the plants growing near the shore. The natural frame focused on the Escape and another ship, from Virgin Cruises, that happened to be in port on the same day.

I captured this image with my Samsung S20U, imported it into Adobe Lightroom Classic, tweaked the crop, and sent it off to Luminar Neo for Enhanced AI and then I raised the exposure and smart contrast ever so slightly. Click on the image above to view it in 2K HD via my Flickr site.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s acceptable as well. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, and, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

Duluth, Minnesota.

The Vista ships have been sailing Lake Superior out of Duluth Minnesota since 1959. On our visit in September 2022, we cruised Lake Gitchigoomie (the Native American name for Superior) for the third time since our first trip there in 1970. On this visit, we joined the Vista Star for an afternoon cruise. As of this writing, the Star and the Queen are the two ships in the fleet.

The entrance to the harbor at Duluth is usually by a channel that is paralleled by two piers. That entrance is called Minnesota Point though the locals often call it Park Point. On two of our cruises, we exited and returned via that channel, however, there is another harbor entrance at the south end. We sailed that entrance outbound on one of our other cruises. Known as Wisconsin Point, the land mass at the south of that entrance is in Wisconsin. Except for the southernmost harbor area, the harbor is in Minnesota.

In 2022 I featured a story about the lift bridge and its history here, but for starters, the bridge opened in 1905 and was known as the United States’ first transporter bridge. In 1930, it was converted to a lift bridge. That’s enough history for now… check out the link above for more on this historic bridge.

Two lighthouses guide ships to the opening point. The lighthouses have standard navigation colors. The lighthouse on the left has a red light, and the one on the right has a green light. The navigation rule is “Red on right returning.” As a ship heads toward the channel entrance from Lake Superior, the red light is visible on the right. In the view above, we had just passed the two lighthouses on the way into the harbor, therefore the red light was on our left as we sailed into the channel past the lighthouses.

Given modern navigation equipment, in May 2021, the north light was determined to be navigationally unnecessary. In 2023, a nonprofit company took ownership and plans to have tours of the lighthouse beginning in the summer of 2024. The red light is still active but it blinks on and off rather than on in a steady state. You can see the operation of the lights in this YouTube video here.

The channel is flanked by two piers and unless the weather is particularly nasty, there will always be people lined up on either pier to watch the ships come and go from the harbor. In the background behind the north pier, the Tugboat Bayfield is on display for people to see. She was placed on display after she retired from service in 1995.

Most of our tour was inside the harbor. The narrator provided lots of information about what goes on inside the harbor daily. We sailed past a Coast Guard Cutter, the Spar. The ship is a seagoing buoy tender and maintains aids to navigation around the ports at Duluth Minnesota and Superior Wisconsin as well as other Great Lakes ports.

In the inner harbor, three tugs were lined up along a dock. They presented a nice composition of working ships for me to capture as we sailed the inner harbor area. Other than the generic job of assisting larger ships entering the harbor, I don’t have any further information about these tugs or their company affiliation.

Minnesota, being an agricultural state, ships products from the state throughout the country. There are many products shipped from the port and many ships call this harbor their home. Iron ore from the northern ports is shipped on Lake Superior.

Probably the most famous maritime tragedy on Lake Superior is the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald and her 29-man crew in 1975. Her job was carrying taconite from mines near Duluth to Detroit, Toledo, and other Great Lakes Ports. Near hurricane-force winds during a major November storm caused her to break into two pieces and sink. Gordon Lightfoot’s story song of the tragedy brought the attention of the world to the Great Lakes and the hazards of shipping.

You can find additional images on my Flickr site here and view the above images in 2K HD there as well. For those who are interested in the harbor at Duluth and the shipping there, YouTube hosts several vlogs featuring the freighters that come and go from the harbor. My favorite is Vibes with Mike’s site here. His post from December 26 shows Lake Superior in a nasty mood. Strong winds and a fierce storm batter the area.

There are several options for cruises from the Vista Fleet. If you’re considering a harbor cruise, you can find their website here. I’d recommend picking a nicer day than you will see if you pick Mike’s video link above. Of course, in weather like that, you can bet the cruise will be canceled. I hate to leave this post with a negative thought about the potential for bad weather. Lynn and I have been on three harbor cruises on the Vista Fleet of ships over the years and we’ve always had an enjoyable experience.

John Steiner

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

We enjoyed our short visit to Rio and saw most of the iconic touristy places, but on Sail Away Day, we arrived at the pier before noon ready to board. After some disorganization in the process, we finally boarded the Norwegian Star. Soon it was time for the party on deck. Of course, I was more interested in the beautiful sunset appearing over the mountains in Brazil.

About the photo: When I loaded the image into Lightroom Classic, I noticed that my Samsung S23U captured too much of the deck and not enough of the sunset. Of course, I can’t blame the camera for my poor choice of composition. The deck was crowded with partiers and there were lots of heads at the bottom of the photo. In Lightroom Classic, I cropped the bottom and right side as much as I dared but there were still a few heads sticking up into the bottom of the image. I used Photoshop’s Generative Fill to remove the distractions. I am amazed at how well it determines what the background should be and makes intelligent attempts at replacement.

Once the removals were complete, I exported the image into Luminar Neo for final edits. There were some wires that were in the image above the cruise ship’s superstructure. Neo’s Powerline Removal tool made them go away. I added just a touch of Golden Hour enhancement and tweaked the structure in the sky to smooth the clouds a bit.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s acceptable as well. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, and, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

Panama Canal, Panama.

Normally, on Thursdays, I post my Lens-Artists challenge response from the previous Saturday. For the new year, however, all of the Lens-Artists team posted their favorite images of 2023. That left Thursday open for me to schedule something different.

In my Travel Tuesday post this week, I shared images from our most recent trip through the Panama Canal. Our main reason for the latest trip was to see the 21st-century locks capable of handling much larger ships. If you missed it, that post is here.

In 2013, we went on what we thought would be our once-in-a-lifetime canal transit. Well, things change and times change. We have since gone on two other canal trips, the second trip in 2019 happened when we were invited to travel along with family who got tired of hearing my stories of our trip through the canal and they wanted to see the canal for themselves. Click on the image above to visit that post and see the images captured then as we transited the original locks on the Norwegian Star.

In 2013, only a few months after starting our travel journeys blog, Lynn and I did our first transit via the Norwegian Pearl. The Pearl and the Sun transited the canal side-by-side, so we were able to see the process from both on our own ship and on the ship beside us. You can click on the image above to check out the post about that 2013 journey through the canal.

In two months, we’ll begin our 11th year of writing Journeys with Johnbo, and we are still traveling. Hopefully, there will be many more years of journeys to interesting places and photographic experiments to share.

John Steiner