Since 1996 I’ve paddled Potholes Reservoir near Moses Lake almost every year to see and photograph the Western (and Clark’s) Grebe mating dance. Some years, I led kayak birding groups where the paddling was more social then photographic. More often I went solo. Most years I struck out, seeing no dance at all or merely […]
No kayak trips, a couple of backpack overnights, bird photography in May and June and bird photography by kayak in the Fall. A thin year, but one that yielded keepers none-the-less. Oh, and every image here was shot with the tiny Sony a6300, using Canon, Sony or Rokinon lenses. Light in the Forest. I called […]
My backpacking cook set-up is tidy. Not perfect, but I wanted everything to pack inside my 650ml Toaks mug, and that’s done. Everything inside means stove, fuel, wind screen and lighter fits under the lid. I like the simple elegance; it saves space, with one less thing (the fuel bottle) floating about in the pack. […]
Light-weight your three-season backpacking gear to hike farther and higher, and capture the photographs of your dreams. Note: this is an update of a 2016/01/29 post. My ultalight Odyssey took root in a 1995 backpack to the Washington State Enchantments. On day one, we slogged over Aasgard Pass, a 4,550 ft elevation gain. My 55-pound […]
Significantly for 2016, I purchased the cropped-frame Sony a6300 for backpacking, video and added reach in bird photography. I then discovered the image IQ was as good as my Canon 5D III at moderate ISO’s, so I used it preferentially for landscapes. The proof is below, where seven of eleven favorite images came from the […]
The flash of lightning greeted us as we emerged at dusk from a steep climb out of upper Palouse Canyon. My heart raced. Lightning isn’t unusual here, but this was a photo op not to be missed! I sped to the cliff overlooking Palouse Falls, a perfect ringside perch for the ensuing show. A lone […]
Light-weight ideas for tripod, camera case, filters and other tools of the backpacking photographer I researched switching to a mirrorless camera for backpacking recently, figuring the weight savings and comparable picture quality would make the switch from a Canon 5D III a win. A driver of that investigation was that I skipped purchase the 50MP […]
Photographically, September was a good month. In part this was due to The Photographer’s Ephemeris, a free and popular outdoor photographer planning software. I’ve written about Ephemeris before, in 2012. It’s since evolved to be web browser and app-based, no longer a desktop download. Below are two instances where The Photographer’s Ephemeris contributed hugely to […]
The Adventure Kayak Fall, ’15 issue is on-line. I wrote the Launch piece, on paddling the Olympic Peninsula. You can check it out on page 24: http://www.rapidmedia.com/ak/adventurekayakmag_fall15/
Sorry my mouseovers don’t work right now. I’ll fix them soon. Like many photographers, I’ve had some difficulty photographing the night sky with my dSLR. Focusing the lens is an omnipresent concern. It’s dark as pitch when the Milky Way is out in all its glory. Autofocus doesn’t work. Looking through the viewfinder, it’s difficult […]