We're back from the trip to Turkey, and what a wonderful trip it was. Turkey now tops my list of great overseas photo trips.

Istanbul, as you read in the last post, was wonderful. We spent a day and a half there on arrival, visiting the old areas around the Blue Mosque. On departure we had another day and a half, and this time we saw a different part of the city, staying in a newer section of the city, on the other side of the Bosphorus. This narrow body of water divides Europe and Asia, so it's easy (cross a bridge) to move between two continents, which is pretty cool.

Between our visits to Instanbul we traveled in the middle of the country. There we had a chance to visit the ancient sites of Ephesus and Aphrodisias. Having grown up in the U.S., I'm amazed by things older than a couple of hundred years. In Turkey, we had a chance to walk through places that began over three thousand years ago. It brings perspective to world history. It's hard to imagine how they could support a city of 250,000 people in those times. And while it's a story of the growth of cultures and civilizations, it's also one of war and conquest, often making the same mistakes through the centuries.

Of the various natural (not man-made) places we visited, the lands of Capoddocia were the most eye-popping. Volcanoes domninated this area long ago, and the results of that are a landscape that's been shaped by erosion of that activity. If you've ever had the good fortune to visit the southwest and seen areas like Bryce National Park, you'll have some idea of the spectacular nature of this region. Water and wind have created other-worldly shapes out of the rock, making a dreamscape for photographers. It's a great place to take an early-morning balloon ride, which we did. And early people to settle the area realized that the soft nature of much of the rock allowed them to easily hollow out living spaces in the stone. Caves dot the area, from small simple spaces to what would pass as luxury aprtments today. And they do. There are many homes and businesses that are built into the rock. We visited huge caves being used as restaurants, pottery shops and other businesses.

We tried whenever possible to schedule travel time for the middle part of the day, so we could take better advantage of the nice light in the early and late parts of the day. One way to do that is plan any craft demonstrations or store visits for then. That's how we managed to visit and learn about the history of past and present weaving there (we can tell you how silk is collected) as well as some of the unique pottery and designs from past and present. And those provided good opportunities to buy high quality gifts or momentos that had some background to them. When you've met the people making the rugs or ceramics, sat and had tea as they explained how generations of their family created those works, they have much more meaning than simply buying them from a stall in the bazaar.

Throughout it all, the Turkish people were the highlight of the trip. They were, almost without exception, friendly and courteous. There was no begging, and the vendors were polite and courteous. If you've traveled much, you've had the experience of being chased down the street by people trying to sell you things. This didn't happen once the entire trip. And again, almost without exception, everyone we asked to photograph was willing, and often happy, to oblige. And this is something I stress on every trip - always ask permission. It's no wonder people in some places are offended by tourists taking pictures. Those tourists treat the local people as if they're animals in a zoo. Instead, walk up, smile, ask if you can photograph them by miming the action. They'll nod yes or no. It's the way to be a good traveling photographer, not a rude tourist. And offer to show them the photos on the back of the camera. In some places that's a real treat for your subjects. If you spend any time with them, find out if there's a way to send them some photos. Think about yourself as an ambassador not just for photographers, but for Americans in general. We could use more international goodwill these days.

As far as equipment goes, I went fairly light this trip. A pair of cameras and a few lenses that gave me a rang from fisheye (Nikon 10.5) to 300mm. The two most pleasant surprises with that gear were the Nikon D90 and the 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 zoom. I'd managed to get my hands on a D90 (thanks, Nikon) the day I left New York for Turkey. It's a very nice improvement over the D80, adding more menus and features from cameras like the D300 (the other camera with me). I love the compact size, it handled well and image quality was excellent. The Live View feature is easier to use than the previous version, and I had a blast shooting video (yes, that's right, video WITH audio, with the camera. That feature is way cool, and I had to keep reminding myself it was there.

The other surprise was how much I liked the 70-300. For the last decade I've been in love with first the Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 zoom lens and now the 70-200mm f/2.8 VR. It's one of what I call my "bread and butter" lenses that I use all the time. The only downside is that it's big and heavy (oh yeah, it's expensive too). I'd heard great reports from friends about Nikon's 70-300 f/4.5-5.6 VR lens and at the last minute decided to take one along. I'm sure glad I did. For what I'd call a "consumer-grade" lens (translation - lighter, less expensive), it's extremely well-built and very, very sharp. Much smaller than the 70-200, it also has more reach, going out to 300mm. I was so happy with it that I only used the 70-200 once, on an evening where we went to photograph dancers indoors (actually, in a cave). So I'll be using that lens much more. And, since it's not a DX lens, I plan on pairing it with my D700 as well.

Bottom line on the trip? Great locations, great people, great group, great gear. Hard to beat. next up? China in April of 2009. But Turkey's set a very high bar that will be hard to beat.