Yellowstone January 16th - 18th

PHOTOS NOW ONLINE

I am finally up to date on all of my personal editing. To all who have been waiting I am sorry for the delay.

My January trip to Yellowstone was much like December and November... very slow. Day one I took 4 photographs, day two was under one hundred, day three was going to stay under one hundred until, on my exit drive, I decided to give a bachelor group of Bull Elk some of my time so I could come home with a few more images.

The temps were oddly warm, for Winter in Yellowstone. I actually camped both nights as I could not see spending money on a hotel when it was nice out and I was not making many images.

The Northern Range of Yellowstone has been short on snow, so the Elk have not been forced down to the valleys, that has kept the Wolves up with their prey. The lack of snow has left the Bison that are in the area valleys less than ideally photogenic too. I hope my February trip will provide more to photograph; but if not... oh well I am sure to find great folks in the park to keep me company.

Enjoy

iPad for Photographers

When I work on a blog post I tend to search the web to be sure that someone else has not already written something very similar. This is another time where The Luminous landscape has taken the words out of my mouth.

I have been very open about the issues I see with the iPad, and while it has shortcomings it will change things as to how the average person reads books, newspapers, and magazines. So it changes how I, as a photographer, must be prepared to deliver content.

The full essay by The Luminous Landscape is here.

Enjoy

Two Weeks in New Mexico, December 2009

FULL TRIP ONLINE

I had a great time over my two week trip, I had some great company from friends who joined me for parts of the trip. I chose to drive from Billings my Subaru did a great job for the 4,355.9 miles averaging some 25.9 miles per gallon. I stayed around Socorro, New Mexico for the bulk of my trip. I did make a side trip to White Sands National Monument, a few hours south of my "home base." Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Reserve was where I did the bulk of my shooting; but I did make a trip to Bitter Lake National Wildlife Reserve. A trip to Albuquerque provided great opportunities to photograph Wood Ducks at a few locations. Bosque del Apache is one of many National Wildlife Reserves in New Mexico and I did visit and have success photographing at a number of them.

My bird list from the trip was over 70 species, I was going to post it; but I just don't feel like typing that much :)

I stayed in hotels and did some camping. I ate lots of camp food, some fast food, and enjoyed a few nice dinners at local restaurants.

For those who visit the area I can give a big thumbs up to the Socorro Springs Brewing Company.

To all of the photographers I met on the trip... I hope you got home with great images, it was a pleasure to meet and photograph along side you.

I took almost 20,000 image and after picking through them with a little editing, made easier by Adobe Lightroom 2, I narrowed them down to a little over 1,700 images. I also shot a some video; but it will be some time before I have time to edit it and get it online.

If you have questions about the trip, where I went, etc... Ask away.

Editing Progress... Finished

PHOTOS NOW ONLINE

As the gallery is over 1,700 images I would suggest that, if you have been following along, you skip to the end and work through backwards.

I have added another 170+ images, and I have finally finished editing the photos from a great trip.

The images from December 15th were shot on my final sunrise in New Mexico. I had the great luck of coming across two flocks of Gambel's Quail and a Greater Roadrunner after shooting Sandhill Cranes at sunrise. I then started the long drive back to Billings, MT.

I'll write a wrap up post in the next few days; but I had a great trip and I am grateful for the ability to see so many beautiful birds and to capture them in a way that I can share with all of you.

I hope you enjoy.

Editing Progress... Day 10 of 11

MORE PHOTOS NOW ONLINE

As the gallery is now over 1,600 images I would suggest that, if you have been following along, you skip to the end and work through backwards.

I have added another 180+ images. Days one - ten are now edited and online, in the order they were captured (or close to it). This represents photographs from December 5th - 14th of my trip.

Day ten was my last full day in the area before heading home and then to Yellowstone. The stand out part of the day was spending significant time with an American Bald Eagle. The day was also filled with nice conversation with my fellow photographers.

I hope you enjoy.

Clash: Encounters of Bears and Wolves

The video is online here

Bob Landis has a new nature film out, and it is another good one. As with the recent BBC special I love that many of the special moments in the film I was able to experience first hand.

I hope all of you take the hour to watch this online or on your local PBS station.

You will enjoy this one.

p.s. hats off to Bob and Nature on another job well done.

Editing Progress... Day 9 of 11

MORE PHOTOS NOW ONLINE

As the gallery is now nearing 1,500 images I would suggest that, if you have been following along, you skip to the end and work through backwards.

I have added another 175+ images. Days one - nine are now edited and online, in the order they were captured (or close to it). This represents photographs from December 5th - 13th of my trip.

Day nine started with a dud of a sunrise at my starting location; but after racing to my fall back I was rewarded with some very pleasant colors. I spent much of the morning shooting cranes in flight with cloud cover keeping the light relatively soft. As my long trip was nearing an end I spent the middle of the day resting (I was very tired) and then headed out for a rather slow evening shoot.

I hope you enjoy.

Editing Progress... Day 8 of 11

MORE PHOTOS NOW ONLINE

As the gallery is now well over 1000 images I would suggest that, if you have been following along, you skip to the end and work through backwards.

I have added another 250+ images. Days one - eight are now edited and online, in the order they were captured (or close to it). This represents photographs from December 5th - 12th of my trip.

Day eight started with a mile or so walk to be in location to attempt photographing a beautiful scene at a reserve North of Bosque before sunrise. It is a long story; but it did not work out. After some morning shooting in the reserve I headed up to Albuquerque to photograph the Wood Ducks in a few well known and some not so well known locations. I had some fun with Wood Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks, Ruddy Ducks, Mandarin Ducks, a Hooded Merganser, and a few other random birds. A snow storm was heading in toward town so I left and drove south to Bosque getting there just in time to shoot some Sandhill Cranes with the storm aided fiery sunset.

I hope you enjoy.

Canon 5DII and 7D film SNL

NBC'S SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE SHOOTS OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE IN FULL 1080p HD VIDEO WITH CANON'S EOS DIGITAL SLR CAMERAS

The new season of NBC's Saturday Night Live debuted not only with an a new cast, but with a new look for the opening title sequence as the entire opening montage was shot using the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and the new EOS 7D digital SLR cameras. The concept behind the opening sequence was portraiture as the director and crew looked to capture "living" portraits of the city, the cast and the unique characters that make up the New York City nightlife.

The full press release is here.

EOS 5D Mark II's price just dropped $200

The Landscape camera whose price and image quality I have long loved just got an even better price. If you have been dragging your feet on the 5DII you may want to give it another look.

Editing Progress... Day 7 of 11

MORE PHOTOS NOW ONLINE

As the gallery is now above 900 images I would suggest that, if you have been following along, you skip to the end and work through backwards.

I have added another 40ish images. Days one - seven are now edited and online, in the order they were captured (or close to it). This represents photographs from December 5th - 11th of my trip.

Day seven started waiting for White Sands national Monument to open. The night before we were told that we could get into the park at 7am; but due to some missile testing the opening was delayed until 9am. With the delay I decided to head out to the country side to try and see some of the local Oryx that reside in the area. I only had a brief, very distant, sighting. I did see dozens of Red Tail Hawks and captured some nice Gambel's Quail photographs. I was then off to a reserve near Roswell, Bitter Lake. I added many birds to my trip list; but only a few provided nice photographs. The last hour and a half of the day did provide three different owl species (Great Horned, Short Eared, and Burrowing).

I hope you enjoy.

Editing Progress... Day 6 of 11

MORE PHOTOS NOW ONLINE

As the gallery is now above 900 images I would suggest that, if you have been following along, you skip to the end and work through backwards.

I have added another 140ish images. Days one - six are now edited and online, in the order they were captured (or close to it). This represents photographs from December 5th - 10th of my trip.

Day six started shooting sunrise in Bosque then I took a drive down to White Sands National Monument. The afternoon was spend scouting and shooting a little. When I went to shoot my sunset scene so other photographers spotted me and while trying to see what I getting ready to shoot they walked into the scene ruining it... Oh well... I had a few ideas for backup scenes and had some fun shooting after sunset landscapes (some painting with light too). I camped on the shores of a lake that I pray nothing tries to drink out of as it just felt like it was nuclear :)

I hope you enjoy.

Editing Progress... Day 5 of 11

MORE PHOTOS NOW ONLINE

As the gallery is now at about 800 images I would suggest that, if you have been following along, you skip to the end and work through backwards.

I have added another 150ish images. Days one - five are now edited and online, in the order they were captured (or close to it). This represents photographs from December 5th - 9th of my trip.

Day five was supposed to be only a morning in Bosque then a drive down to White Sands National Monument; but as the extremely high winds had not let up (or so the weather report said) I postponed my trip south for a day. The day started in Bosque and ended at a small reserve to the North.

I hope you enjoy.

New 70-200/2.8L IS USM II

Canon this morning announced a new 70-200/2.8L IS II.

We have all been expecting this lens for some time and Canon has finally delivered. It focuses closer, focuses faster, has better optics, and features Canon's "next generation Optical Image Stabilization" 4 full stops of anti shake goodness. And thank the LORD it still uses the 77mm filter we have all collected so very many of.

The lens is set to ship in April of this year; but I have not been able to find a price yet (I assume it to be around $2.5k)

I have two other 70-200's so I guess this means I will have to sell mine and buy this new one soon :)
That means if you want my recently (December 2009) cleaned/tuned 70-200/2.8L IS or my 70-200/4.0L let me know.

Editing Progress... Day 4 of 11

MORE PHOTOS NOW ONLINE

As the gallery is now beyond 600 images I would suggest that, if you have been following along, you skip to the end and work through backwards.

I have added another 180ish images, so days one, two, three, and four are now edited and online, in the order they were captured (or close to it).

I had a great trip back to the Chicagoland area; but I am glad to be back in Billings. Back to work, and back to working on images from the end of last year. It is now 2010 so I really need to get all the images from 2009 edited and online so I can go on more trips.

Day four was a bit of a lazy day, as the next day I had a lot of driving to do. We all know that even my lazy days get packed with lots of shooting.

I hope you enjoy.