daphne31's photostream  

Broadway at night

Broadway Blvd, Tucson, AZ, while waiting to make a u-turn. This is some kind of restaurant chain, imitating real Mexican places. Considering that Tucson is practically on the border with Mexico (it's about 60 minutes north of the border, to be exact), why would anyone go to a made-up Mexican restaurant is beyond me. There are so many fabulous and authentic Mexican restaurants in Tucson. But I liked the lights as I waited in my car, and I tried to take the photo with a long enough shutter speed to get trail lights. So I was pleased. :-)

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Uploaded on May 24, 2009

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This is part of the Aperture Nature Photography Workshop.


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Left to right:

1. Gary Hamburgh. I had the pleasure of spending most of the first full day with Gary, photographing in Lamar Valley. He is one of the kindest and nicest people I have met. He is also a very, very talented photographer with a fantastic eye for landscapes, color, and composition (see his website). He and I talked a lot about photography and life in general.

2. Steve Simon. Steve is an award-winning documentary photographer. I spent two days with him photographing in Yellowstone (and with Cathy Chung, who organized the logistics of the trip and assisted with everything for the group). Steve is a true documentarian. He has an intuitive appreciation of the human condition. And he can make himself invisible while he is quietly observing. Sometimes you know you are in the presence of someone really special. He also has the funniest sense of humor. Steve brought me to tears at least twice on this trip: I was deeply moved by his photographs, especially the documentary Empty Sky about the aftermath from 9/11 in NYC, and Heroes&Heroines in Africa (see his website), and another time because he made a joke that was so silly and funny and perfectly timed that I was choking from laughing. (He also took pictures of all this, naturally ;-) Steve is an extraordinary person.

3. Scott Bourne. Scott is the driving force behind the Aperture Nature Photography workshops, and much, much more. He co-hosts the Photofocus podcast. He has a personality larger than life. He is knowledgeable and smart, not only as a photographer, but also in the business of photography. He also entertained us with his experience as a radio host from many years ago, told us stories from when he did wedding photography, and showed us a beautiful set of photos he took during 6 months he spent raising orphaned baby wolves. His main passion is bird photography, though he is planning to go to Australia soon to dive and photograph sharks.

4. Frederick Johnson. Fred is multi-talented. He spent 8 years in the military as a combat photographer before returning to civilian life. He has worked at Apple and Adobe and now works for Drobo and does portrait photography. As many people know, he is co-host of the TWIP podcast. He is funny and smart and really wonderful to be around.

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Uploaded on May 24, 2009

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trio

I rented these three lenses for my Yellowstone trip from Lensrentals.com, after talking with the wonderful Roger who helped me in choosing among many, many options. (Also, my good Flickr friend mausgabe had provided tons of info - and temptation - for many lenses before I narrowed down my list.)

The Yellowstone set has tags showing which lens was used in each case.

The Nikkor 14-24/2.8 (left) is a pretty amazing lens, but I did not have a chance to have a complete love affair with it - I merely flirted with it. It's a lens one needs to get to know much better without other distractions. I have a strong preference for wide angle lenses and this is supposed to be the epitome. One thing I discovered is that you have to be very careful when choosing how you angle the focus plane. A tiny change goes a long way (even when compared to my beloved Nikkor 17-35/2.8 at the same focal lengths, e.g., having both lenses at 17mm).

The Sigma 150/2.8 Macro (middle) is a very easy lens to like. It's sharp and focuses fast. It's a pure joy to use. I did not expect to like it as much as I did. I used it a lot.

Finally, I had debated whether to rent the Tamron 200-500 at all. But I decided that if I am ever going to try a super tele, this trip to Yellowstone would be the time to do it. On the other hand, I did not want to lug a humongous (and heavy) tele. So I compromised and rented this Tamron. It's not super fast (max aperture is f/5.6 at 200mm, and f/6.5 at 500mm), but it's light and not too large, considering that it goes up to 500m. It's a great choice for hiking. I did not use it a while lot, but it was needed for the trumpeter swan set and it worked out great for that.

Not shown here: some of my own lenses that I decided to take to Yellowstone: The Nikkor 17-35/28, the Nikkor 16/2.8 Fisheye, and the Lensbaby Composer.


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This is part of the Aperture Nature Photography Workshop.

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Uploaded on May 23, 2009

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A quick snapshot of my gear backpack. It is the Kata R-104. I used it to transport all my camera gear plus my Macbook. I left the laptop in the hotel room when I went shooting in Yellowstone.

I found this backpack to be good for comfort and for protecting all my gear. However it was not good for the little commuter turboprop plane i had to take to fly into Bozeman, MT. This backpack did not even come close to fitting in the overhead compartment. It barely fit under the seat in front of me (it actually took up some of the leg space of the passenger next to me, and I was lucky that he did not have carry-on).

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This is part of the Aperture Nature Photography Workshop.

All rights reserved

Uploaded on May 23, 2009  |  Map

9 notes / 7 comments