Lessons learned. Again!

I've been looking forward to this weekend for quite some time. To start with, I am home. High School and Junior High School basketball seasons are over. And except for a little paperwork I don't have to work this weekend. So as the week wound down yesterday I packed the essentials in my trusty camera backpack and headed out. Three days of photographic bliss. Almost.

I've been hiking for about forty years. It started in the Boy Scouts where I learned to be prepared. Their motto. I embraced it. I am always prepared. So as I decided on equipment to take last night, and which backpack to carry it in, I was satisfied that I was ready. No. Prepared! Within two hundred yards of my car I realized that I wasn't prepared. I had forgotten an essential piece of equipment for a photographer that was hiking out on a trail to catch a sunset. A flashlight. Forty years ago I carried a flashlight, but all Boy Scouts know the pride of hiking through the woods with no light to guide them. I also carried one in the Army. But for tactical reasons we seldom used them. Last night as I crawled over basketball sized rocks in my trail to the lakeside, I realized that I was just a little too old to do that at night without a light. I also realized that I had not told anyone where I was going. Once the sun went down I would be blind. And the search party wasn't coming. I had visions of a stubbed toe turning into a broken face, or elbow. Me lying there, moaning, hoping some hiker would find me on this obscure trail that I found on Google Maps. Lesson learned, buy another flashlight. Put one in each backpack and leave it there. The light was on my mind all evening and I left the lake earlier than I wanted to so I could make it off of the trail before it got dark.

I live in the desert. The Sonoran Desert. I'm surrounded by giant saguaro cactus, among other varieties that may be smaller but still prickly. So when I get around a body of water larger than my pool I am entranced. The sun or moon reflecting off of the water slowly easing the tensions of the week. When I got to my selected spot last night I set up my tripod. Took a few pictures. Checked my composition. Then sat down to enjoy a semi-cold soda that I had brought with me. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of something, an old water line. Piles of driftwood at the level the lake once rose to. As I turned to look at it closer I noticed a big beautiful hill full of saguaro cactus. Glowing orange. I tried to adjust and take a few photos but the water held my attention. Lesson learned, turn around. I should have done a 360 once I got to my location. While I enjoyed my little lakeside break I would have been even happier capturing the hill with a better composition.

While I was setting up my tripod last night I took special care to select good flat and solid places for it's feet. The limestone rocks covering the hill weren't friendly to tripod legs. As I was turning around to enjoy the view of the saguaro filled hill I learned my next lesson. I am always very careful when I move around my tripod. Deliberately moving my feet so they won't come into contact with the legs. I had already watched this tripod, with my brand new camera and a very long lens, hit my cool deck. I was in my back yard taking some photos of the moon. My wife came outside to say hello so I sat with her for a few minutes. She also brought our very old, and apparently very blind, dog. Pepper ran through the legs of the tripod. Before you could yell "fetch", the tripod and camera were set in motion. Have you ever seen a movie where the action occurs in slow motion? My camera hit the deck in slow motion. Me yelling a long and deep "nooooooooo". At impact time rushed to catch up as the lens and camera separated from each other at the speed of light. Parts scattering across around the yard. Lessons learned that night, anchor your tripod and insure your equipment. That was two years ago. Last night, as I turned to look at the beautiful, glowing hill, I noticed that my camera was moving. Immediately my brain knows that this object that I cherish is inanimate. Self propulsion is impossible. With no comprehension of the laws of physics, my camera had set out to smash itself upon the rocks. I willed my hands to move into the path of movement, taking care not to hit the tripod and rush the process of destruction. I stopped it. All is well. I had been too lazy to anchor the tripod. And I almost payed for it. But the real lesson I learned, if you set your tripod up on a rock no bigger than a dinner plate, take care not to step on that rock.

I love being outside. Being a photographer takes me to some beautiful places. I once read a blog that another photographer had written stating that the best photos are always taken within one hundred yards of the road. No hiking required. I think that there is something to be said for getting away from all of the other photographers. So get out there. Take a little hike into the back country. It's good for your heart, and good for your soul. Just remember to take a flashlight.

Rekindling the passion.

I began my love of photography back in the 1970's. On my way to becoming an Eagle Scout I worked with a local photographer to earn my Photography merit badge. To earn that merit badge one of the things he had me do was to make a pinhole camera. I took a roll of black and white photos with it experimenting with exposure times in different light. I kept a journal of the 12 photo I took. He guided me through developing the roll of film in his personal dark room. Then we printed them and hung the photos to dry. I was hooked and for the next 10 years I did everything I could to take even more photos.

For reasons lost to me now, I stopped taking photos in the mid 1980's. I thought about it a lot over the years but other things in life seemed to get in the way. Until one day a few years ago. My family and I were at a Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game. There was a family sitting a few rows in front of us and they had a DSLR with a pretty impressive lens mounted on it. In casual conversation I mentioned to my wife that I would like to have a good camera again.

That casual conversation has changed my life. The next year for Christmas my wife gave me a nice Nikon kit. For those of you that know me, you know that the gift set off an episode of OCD the likes of which were never before seen my mankind. My wife, bless her, thought that the kit would be everything I would ever need. She was a little hurt the first time I wanted to add a new lens to the kit.

It took me a long time to convince her that it wasn't just a camera that she gave me that year. She gave me back a passion.

Thank you Hoodman Corporation!

In a previous post I mentioned the Hoodman Corporation Hoodman Loupe as a preferred accessory. I have the HoodLoupe 3.0, their model # H-LPP3. I was cleaning mine a week ago and noticed that one of the screws that should hold the hood to the eye piece was missing. The unit still seemed put together pretty well so I looked at Hoodman's website and found a sales contact email address. I explained what I had and what was missing. I asked if it would be possible for them to send me a screw. The next business day I received a response from one of their sales administrators stating that they would be happy to send me the part.

While I was traveling this week the part arrived in the mail as promised. Today I installed it.

It's great to see an organization willing to provide good customer support. My thanks to Regina, and the rest of the folks at the Hoodman Corporation.

Photography Gadgets

I am a gadget guy. That keeps me on the lookout for the next thing that will either improve my technique or just make my photo shoots more fun. When you do finally leave your home or office you can only carry so much equipment in your bag. Every once in a while I empty the bag. If I haven’t used something lately it stays home. Keep in mind I am primarily a landscape photographer. If I make a trip to do something other than landscapes I may add or subtract something. But for now, here is what I feel I can’t live without. These gadgets are small, easy to carry, and priceless when you need them. Except for a couple of items I am not recommending brands. What you decide to use, and who makes it,  is your preference.

Giottos Rocket Blaster – This is not really a gadget, but it something you really must have in your bag. Use this to blow that dust off of your lens, camera and sensor. I use it on the camera before I change lenses. I also use it before I wipe a lens. Try to get as much dust off of the glass as you can before touching it with a wet cloth. If your camera supports mirror up sensor cleaning lock that mirror up and blow some of the dust off of the sensor.

Hoodman Loupe - If you’ve never seen one of these, you place it over your LCD display to allow you to see the display without outside light and interference. This is a great tool for daylight shooting when it i shard to see that LCD screen. It really helps to view the image and allows you to better check your composition. Recently I used it at night and I loved it then too. From now on it will be around my neck whenever I am serious about a photo. When you get one you will wonder how you lived without it.

Wireless remote control -  When shooting landscapes your camera should be on a tripod. Releasing the shutter without touching the camera is the only way to go. Whether it’s made by your camera manufacturer, and infrared, or another manufacturer and radiofrequency this is a must have. Being able to control the shutter without touching the camera means a more stable tripod mount and less shake. That equates to a photograph with less motion blur. It also allows me to take the occasional photo of myself when I am at a great location.

Right angle viewer - This device fits over your camera’s eye piece and allows you to look at it from above, or one of the sides. I had been looking at one of these for a couple of years. I finally got one this year and I love it. It is kind of a specialized piece. You really only need it sometimes. But for those low to the ground shots it is irreplaceable for a guy with a constant pain in the neck.

Wireless interface for the camera – Right around the time that I acquired my new camera late last year my laptop stopped working. While the timing was bad financially, it was a blessing as I really needed more processing power for the larger photos. To get the best computer possible on my budget I decided to go with a desktop model. That means I can no longer process photos while I am on the road. As a landscape photographer this isn’t a problem as time is rarely an issue. However I do like to share a photo while traveling and with the wireless interface Nikon makes I can do that right from my iPhone.

So these are the little things in my bag. What gadgets do you consider a must have?

The beginning.

Hello. After several years of fumbling through the world of digital photography I have decided to share some of the things I have learned on my journey to where I am today. I suspect that my posts will rarely occur in chronological order. But I hope that they will be both entertaining and insightful. For now let me say thank you to my wife. Mrs. Brandt reintroduced me to photography after quite a few years absence. She changed my life, again.