Saying Goodbye to an old friend

Most photographers I know are gearheads. As my friend Bret put it, we "..worship at the alter of gear." We all understand and accept that there is no perfect camera bag, no perfect tripod and head combination, and no lens that is perfect for every situation. I suspect that, like me, all photographers tend to get twitchy if we go too long between buying some new gizmos. We've even been known to barter and swap equipment sometimes for no better reason than to satisfy our jones for gear.

But this is not to make excuses for gear envy or anything. This is merely goodbye to a lens that has served me well for a long time. I'm speaking of my faithful old Canon 100-400mmL IS lens. I was the original owner, having bought the lens not too awfully long after I left my job managing a photo equipment rental business. I no longer had unlimited access to several hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment so I had to start acquiring my own gear and the 100-400 was the first serious lens I bought.

We made some excellent images over the years, this lens and me. Elk in Colorado, Bears in Wyoming, Whales in Washington, more Whales in Alaska, Deer just about everywhere. The list goes on and on. But I've not been shooting a lot of wildlife lately if you exclude the trip to Yellowstone. And I haven't shot sports since my son was about 12. So maybe it was time to find a more useful piece of equipment.

The first feelings of disatisfaction started to creep in during my trip to Yellowstone in May. Don't get me wrong, the lens performed well as always. I got some wonderful images with it but I just wasn't happy. Call it frivilous, crazy, self centered. Call it what you will. But in Yellowstone I more often than not had the smallest lens around. I couldn't really put my finger on it but I began to feel a bit unhappy with the 100-400.

My thoughts turned to other lenses. How could I shake this feeling of wanting more? Then I had a vision while driving home from work. What about a 70-200? It would cover a focal length range that I didn't have. It's among the sharpest lenses Canon has ever made. And I could probably swing some kind of trade for my lens and some cash which I could use to buy more gear! Man, this is getting better and better! I mentioned the deal to my friend Richie V and he said I could borrow his 70-200 for a long weekend to Taos to see if I wanted to do the deal. It was a spectacular weekend and I got some wonderful images with Rich's lens. I decided to do the deal but it wasn't as easy as I thought. I composed a good ad for craigslist but couldn't bring myself to push the button. Pre sale seller's remorse I guess.

Finally, though, I was able to rationalize to myself why I should go ahead with the ad. What the heck, there probably isn't anyone out there who wants to make the trade I'm proposing so I posted an ad saying I'd sell my lens outright or trade for a 70-200 f2.8 straight across or for a 70-200 f4 and some cash. I wasn't concerned about IS since I shoot most everything on a tripod. So I posted the ad thinking I wouldn't hear anything about it.

Well, the best laid plans....I had 3 replies in less than an hour after posting, all wanting to swap. The first responder said if I didn't want to trade for his lens he would pay the cash. So we made arrangements to meet and agreed to a period of time where either of us could change his mind and swap back no questions asked. It was difficult but I went through with it and after a 3 day trip to Roswell I'm not sad. I'm now the new owner of a Canon 70-200mm f4 L IS lens and as a bonus I also have a new Canon 1.4x tele converter.

There are 2 images at the top of this blog. The one of the trees was shot Thursday morning near Roswell, NM with the 70-200mm and the Bighorn Ram portrait was shot in May with the 100-400. It's tough to tell from the image of the trees and because of the way this blog uploads images, but the shots I did with the new lens are razor sharp. I'm not disappointed in the least with the lens or the trade.

So Goodbye old friend. Enjoy your new home and make me proud.

Musings on leaving Roswell and New Mexico in general

Roswell, in and of itself, really isn't that attractive. Once you get past the alien stuff it's pretty bland. No spectacular scenery, no fantastic waterfront...the landscape is pretty flat and boring. It can get beastly hot in the summer and pretty cold in the winter. We've eaten at quite a few different restuarants there over the years and none has proven remarkable enough to seperate itself from the pack. I suppose, now that Heather is done with school, I may have put Roswell in my rear view mirror for good. I may pass through there on the way to somewhere else but as a destination there's not much there.

I left there yesterday morning with a grandiose plan that included photographing some locations and scouting others and was partially successful but when 4pm found me sitting in Blake's Lotaburger in Santa Fe I realized I was dramatically behind schedule and the weather was closing in so I pointed my nose north and headed home. No wildflowers for me this year I guess. But I did have a lot of time to consider New Mexico and my travels there and here is the list:

Roswell...been there, done that, probably not going back.

Lotaburger is just another average burger (sorry Lorenzo, I know it's your favorite)

Taos-a nice place to visit...once or twice. I've been there 3 times and it's pretty much same old, same old now.

Santa Fe-Definitely holds some possibilities. The Old Town area looks fascinating for shopping and there is a well respected Photographic Arts training facility there. Might warrant a long weekend sometime.

Albuquerque-So far I've only been here on a "passing through" basis. It's a nice halfway stop on the trip to visit Erin in Phoenix. I recently learned that my Great Grannie Bean lived there the last part of her life and my cousin is there now. As soon as my sisters and I can coordinate our schedules we'll descend on Patsy for a lesson in family history.

So much for the cities. But there are a lot of locations I need to photograph more extensively and some I haven't visited at all. The images above are from yesterday's trip. I detoured to Three Rivers Petroglyph Area and later visited Gran Quivira Ruins. I was at both locations during the harsh light period of the day and would really like to be at both places during the magic hours.

I've never been to Bisti Badlands though it's near the top of my photographic bucket list and the same for Chaco Canyon and Canyon de Chelly. I spent one morning shooting at White Sands so some extended shooting time there would not be out of the question.

So while New Mexico has a lot to offer, Roswell....not so much.

The Eyes Have It...(Or Not)

Please forgive me for posting the same image on 2 consecutive blogs. I don't usually do that but in this case it's appropriate and I'll explain in a little while.

Considering my background in Photography a lot of my friends come to me for advice on what camera to buy. Usually they are looking for a point and shoot, a market I don't really pay much attention to. The technology changes about every 90 days so my knowledge of specific models would be outdated by November. For these reasons the answer is usually the same...cameras are designed by computers and built by robots so if you stick with one of the major brands it's pretty tough to get a bad camera. Mostly it's a matter of which one fits your hand and your budget being the best camera for you.

There are 2 things I do mention, though, when I answer the question. I think it's important to have an optical viewfinder and the maximum amount of optical zoom you can get. These are two critical features in my opinion. But there's a problem. If you sense a rant coming on you're right but not just yet. Just now I'm camera shopping for my wife and trying to take my own advice.

About 7 or 8 years ago we were at a family reunion in northern Nebraska. My brothers in law and I decided it would be fun to take a canoe trip down the Niobrara river and I wanted to take some photos. Having been in canoes before and knowing their propensity to tip over sometimes I asked if I could borrow the spousal camera, a nice little Canon Sureshot film camera. The question: "Why can't you take your own camera?" The answer: "My camera and lens is worth over $1000, yours is a little over $100. If we tip the canoe over the math doesn't make sense." With logic like that it was an easy sell so me and the Sureshot headed out for a canoe ride.

Along the way there was some discussion about who would drive the canoe. I mentioned I'd been in canoes quite a bit when I was younger so I was nominated to steer one of the canoes. I neglected to advise them that the last time I was in a canoe was about 1963 but it wouldn't have mattered. So there we were, getting the canoes in the water, arranging the coolers and cold drinks, and pushing off. I thought I'd be cool and jump in the stern after pushing into a little deeper water and that's where my judgement came into question. Forgetting my canoe experiences I neglected to jump in directly from the stern, choosing to approach from the side. An instant later the canoe was upside down and I was sitting in 3 feet of water with just my head above the surface. Worse, Judy's camera was hanging around my neck and to my dismay, it didn't swim very well. In fact, it drowned instantly. After much explaining when we got back I promised to buy her a new camera, relishing the opportunity to get her away from film and into the digital world.

Two weeks later she was the proud owner of a Canon A75 digital camera. It was 3.2 megapixels, a lot for that time, had an optical viewfinder, and wonder of wonders, allowed her to shoot video which she did in profusion every time Heather was competing in Special Olympics. After much whining and groveling she even allowed me to borrow it for a trip to San Francisco. (that's why the same image is posted on 2 consecutive blogs. This image was shot with that camera before being altered in Photoshop) It's been a great little camera and has served her well for many years. But now it's dying. The LCD no longer works for viewing so you can't see what you're about to shoot or have just shot. So I'm camera shopping. LET THE RANT BEGIN

In attempting to heed my own advice one of the critical options of a camera is an optical viewfinder. After shopping a few stores, though, I'm learning that those options are becoming more and more difficult to find. In fact, the local Best Buy didn't have a single point and shoot camera on the shelf with an optical viewfinder. Ditto the local Costco. What the bleep is wrong with the camera manufacturers? Do they think people never shoot photographs in bright sunlight? Is it their opinion that all photographs are taken indoors? What the bleep? When I bought my Canon G10 last year it seems there were a lot more cameras with optical viewfinders. Of course, the G10 and it's replacement G11 cost about twice what I've been authorized to spend.

So I've been shopping cameras. After a quick discussion it's been made clear to me that an optical viewfinder may be one of the things I'm a bit OCD about. With that in mind I'm going to disregard my own advice. By dismissinng an optical viewfinder I can concentrate on sticking with the major brands and merely look for a robust optical zoom. So far I've looked at a Nikon and an Olympus model. And I think we've found one at Costco. Better yet, it's on sale! Boooo yahhhhhhh! Now I'll have one more camera to learn. So what if there's no optical viewfinder? It ain't my camera!

Gimme yo left, yo right, yo left

I've always been a little confused by the Left Brain/Right Brain thing. I took a Psychology class back in High School but all I remember about that is being told that 1 out of 5 Americans suffers from mental illness. After that we all tried to avoid sitting in the 5th seat. I didn't hear about the Left/Right thing till much later in life when I was studying Photography.

They say that most people fit into one of the two categories. Studies seem to indicate creative people tend to use the left side of their brain more while mechanical people are right brain oriented. I don't know if that's entirely true but I accept it and will use that as the premise of this blog entry.

I believe very strongly that Photographers use both sides of their brains equally. If they didn't, most of the outstanding photographic images you see (perhaps even a few of mine) would never be created. Here's why....

There is a lot of discussion about the ability to "see" an image. You can definitely learn all the rules of thumb regarding composition and lighting but a lot of folks believe that you either have the eye or you don't. I tend to fall into this camp. How else can you explain why someone with a bazillion dollars worth of equipment can create some pretty good images but nothing that really moves you yet a person with basic equipment can photograph the same scene and create a very emotional image.

When I'm out on a photographic expedition and searching out things to photograph the left side of my brain is going at warp speed. Is this an interesting composition? Is the light good now or would it be better at a different time of day? When I decide something might make an interesting image and the camera is brought out, how does it look through the viewfinder? Would it look better if I moved my angle of view? Are there any distracting elements in the frame? Any bright spots that will draw the eye away from the subject? Then come the compositional rules. What's attracted me to this image? Are there leading lines? Repeating patterns? Contrasting elements? All the rules of successful composition run through my subconscious at lightning speed. Most times I don't even think about it, the image just "hits" me. The image of the subdued shadow of the cross on the bell tower is an example of just such a "hit." I saw it and even before turning on the camera I knew how I was going to compose and frame the image.

So if we conclude that the left brain is responsible for "seeing" images, where does the right brain come in? Well, there is a lot of mechanical activity in creating a photograph. Once the left brain has found an image worthy of photographing what now? What lens should I use? A telephoto to compress the elements? A wide angle to stretch the perspective? Should I use a small lens opening for more depth of field or a large lens opening to blur the background? What about shutter speeds? Do I need to freeze or blur movement? Should I use a filter to get the desired effect? A polarizer? Neutral density? How bout a graduated ND filter? Most importantly, do I need to correct the exposure readings or will they be sufficient for this subject? And that's not considering post processing. Was the white balance correct? Did I crop the image correctly? What about burning and dodging? Color correction? Come on right brain, give me guidance. What do I need to do mechanically to execute this image the way I see it in my mind?

Now that we've gotten that data out of the way, let's examine how the process is executed for the two images accompanying this blog beginning with the Shadow of the Cross. I was in Taos, New Mexico for a long weekend and went out to San Francisco De Asis church one morning to photograph the church. I'd photographed the church before and have some nice images but when I visit a place I've previously photographed I'm always looking to improve on the existing images. In this case I didn't think about it being Sunday morning. People were showing up for early morning Mass and were milling around on all sides of the church so the grand elevation shots were impossible. I started looking for detail images and when I finally made my way to the front of the church I looked up at the bell tower and this image "hit" me. I saw it before me and in my mind's eye I saw how it would look as a finished photograph. Now all I had to do was execute the image. ENGAGE RIGHT BRAIN! I had a wide angle zoom on the camera but knew I needed more focal length to isolate the view I wanted so I quickly changed lenses and got the camera mounted on my tripod. What about framing the image? I zoomed in and out a bit to find the composition that most closely matched what I wanted to portray. Now let's think about exposure. The majority of the subject is neutral, probably very near 18% grey reflectance value which is what the meter is going to try to do so no compensation is necessary. There is an area of shadow and an area of white but neither is enough to influence the exposure adversely. Now that exposure is calculated and verified, what about the shutter speed/aperture combination? The subject is static so there's no danger of subject movement and I'm on a tripod so there's no danger of camera movement therefore the shutter speed isn't a determining factor. I don't need to blur a background and the subject is far enough from the camera that a moderate lens opening will give me adequate depth of field. Knowing that all lenses are critically sharpest about 2 stops in from maximum aperture I stopped down to f8 and pushed the button. A glance at the histogram on the LCD display told me I'd nailed the exposure and the preview told me the composition and focus was right on so I was done and on to the next image. The left brain "saw" the image and the right brain made it happen.

But what about the other image? Well, that one came to be in a reverse sequence. It took shape in the right brain first, moved to the left brain for refinement, then back to the right brain for execution. I was attending a photo seminar in San Francisco a few years ago which dealt with both the process of seeing and creating an image but also post processing techinques in Photoshop. One of the quick and dirty techniques we learned in the morning session was a graphic pen technique. Basically Photoshop converts a photograph to a line drawing image using the graphic pen effect. Then using some Photoshop magic you "paint" the color back in, the result being a graphic image that's a bit surreal, similar to a hand colored Black and White photograph. My right brain communicated the mechanical process to the left brain which "saw" an image of the fishing boats at Fisherman's Wharf which would be perfect for this techinque. During the lunch break I hopped on a cable car to the Wharf, composed the image, and exposed it. (The seagull was a bonus) Then back on the cable car and on my way back to the hotel where the seminar was being held. A quick download from the camera to the computer, the graphic pen effect was initiated, the color was painted back in and there was the image, just as I'd seen it in my mind.

So there you have it. The left brain "creates" the imaginary image and the right brain takes over to mechanically execute it. In my opinion there's no doubt about it. Successful photographers are mentally ambidextrous.

Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment and we'll discuss it.

I Wonder.......

Did you ever ask yourself "Why did I choose to come to this place?" Well, I asked myself that a few times over 4th of July weekend in Taos, New Mexico. Don't get me wrong, I like Taos and it was nice to get a chance to spend some time there.

My first visit was 3 years ago when I drove through on the way to White Sands in southern New Mexico. We were delivering Heather to Roswell for her first year of college and since all her gear required 2 vehicles I took off early and made a side trip to White Sands for a little photography time. Since I had no time crunch I decided to detour through Taos and see if it was worthy of more time. I spent an hour walking around Taos Pueblo before driving through town and on to Santa Fe and points south.

The next visit was a year ago. We picked Heather up in Roswell after the school year ended, dropped her off at the airport in Albuquerque for a visit to Erin's house in Phoenix, and drove to Taos to spend the night. We took the High Road from Santa Fe to Taos and spent some time photographing old mission churches at Chimayo, Las Trampas, and Picturis. It was a grand day and I got some of my favorite images. We had a nice supper in Taos and I was up at sunrise to photograph San Francisco De Asis church in Rancho de Taos. It's easy to see why this building attracted such artistic notables as Georgia Okeefe and Ansel Adams and why it is now the most photographed church in America. After breakfast we spent a couple of hours going through the shops on the Plaza before heading home, vowing to return when we could spend some more time.

So why ask myself "why?" Well, it sounds funny but this had some of the same characteristics of our Alaska Cruise in 2005. On that trip, by the time we got to Skagway we'd seen the same tourist trinkets and baubles in the same kind of stores twice before. In Taos, going through the shops on the Plaza, I got the same impression. Same stuff, different day. So why did we elect to spend 3 days here? An excellent question.

Maybe it was the food. I had Pasta Bolognese at The Trading Post Grill on Friday night and it was really good. And the breakfasts whipped up by Charles at American Artists Gallery Bed and Breakfast were amazing. Veggie breakfast burritos one morning, scrambled eggs with peppers and onions accompanied by turkey sausage the next, blue corn pancakes with blueberries the final morning. Good stuff. And of course the Beef Tenderloin tournados at Lamberts on Saturday night. The service sucked...it was over an hour between the time we ordered and our food arrived but when it got there all was forgiven. It was marvelous. And don't forget Saturday's lunch at Taos Diner. Really good pulled pork bbq sandwich. Yeah, maybe the food had something to do with it.

Probably, though, it is the history and the architecture. I'm a big fan of the historical period of the early to mid 19th century in the West and I'd read about Taos being a very popular spot for trappers and mountain men to winter. Kit Carson and Charles Bent were two of the most prominent citizens of Taos during that period. And I mentioned the church architechture before. Just look at the images contained here.

So while it may be same old, same old as far as the merchandise in the shops, there are a lot of other things to bring me back. And I will be back. Just not sure when.