Below you'll find a list of all posts from 2010
Yesterday's sunrise over Resurrection Bay, Seward, Alaska.
I always feel a bit guilty when I can grab a photo of a scene like this without even leaving the home / office – seems like I should have to get up early, travel far, and hike a long ways to “earn” the photo. But, it does all balance out – I was up until 2:00 a.m. last night hoping to find and photograph Northern Lights to no avail.
Aerial photo of Aialik-Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.
I’m trying to get caught up on my editing going back to last August! Here is a little different view of Aialik Glacier taken from a helicopter with the door removed a few months ago. If you look close, you can see waves in front of the glacier – it must have just calved.
Yesterday afternoon along Fourth-of-July-Creek, Seward, Alaska.
What camera do I use has to be the one question I get more then any other, so it makes for a perfect Ask Ron subject.
First, I thought I would add, I think it is a great question. Unfortunately, for some reason I often see this question ridiculed on on-line photography forums with responses to the effect of ” no one ask Michelangelo what kind of brushes he used?” As you might notice, photographers can have big egos, although in most cases I don’t think that they are really intending to compare themselves indirectly with Michelangelo. But it really isn’t a good analogy as I have a feeling that today’s digital cameras make up a far greater percentage of most people’s discretionary income – far more so then a paint brush. For such a large purchase, I think you should be asking what others use, what they like / dislike about the camera, etc. – I know I do. And, it certainly is possible that people did ask Michelangelo what kind of brush he used – I bet he had tried a lot of brushes in his day and probably knew as well as anyone as to which worked and which ones didn’t. But I digress.
So for me, for the last few years I have been using the Canon 1Ds Mark III. Great camera. When it was released it had just about all the latest features and the large full size sensor produced a wonderful, low noise, high quality image. The thing was incredibly weather proof and built like a brick – unfortunately it weighed about as much as one too.
But, now that a couple of years have past, the features on the Canon 1Ds III were not nearly up to date – I really missed not having HD video. The slow frame per second rate coupled with the slow auto focus made it less then ideal for wildlife, and about worthless for things like birds in flight. I found the weight to be a pain at times as well. So this September, before leaving on our last photo trip I decided to sell the 1Ds III and replace it before a new version was released and the value took a further hit. I replaced it with two cameras, the Canon 5D Mark II
The Canon 5D II gave me an everyday camera with the same sized sensor as my 1Ds III, but in a much lighter body and with cool new features like HD video. I used to own the original 5D, so the new version felt very familiar. The 7D gave me a very good wildlife camera with its super fast auto-focus and frame rate, with pretty much all the latest bells and whistles including some cool features like the electronic level – no more hot shoe mounted bubble level! It also has the identical control layout as the 5D Mark II – an important consideration when working with two bodies.
So how do I like the change? So far I’m very happy with both cameras. For one, I like having two bodies – most of my career, even back in the slide film days I have had two bodies, unfortunately that wasn’t possible with the 1Ds III because the thing was so expensive. Two bodies not only give me a back up camera, but it allows me to keep a “wildlife setup” handy at all times even if I’m working on landscapes – a real plus in places like Denali.
As far as the individual cameras go, I think I will follow up with more specific thoughts on each one on a couple of future blog posts.
Winter mountains, Seward, Alaska.
Since I haven’t had time to write anything lately for the photo blog, I thought I would mention a few blog posts I wrote back in 2006 that seem applicable for this season. Back then this blog had very few followers, at least compared to today, so it is very possible that these will be new to you, and since they are are a few of my most linked to and commented on posts, they just may be worth checking out!
First is one on winter photography entitled Winter Photography, 8 Great Tips. Here you will find some suggestions that you don’t always read about thanks to my many many winters in Alaska!
This is also a great time of year for northern light photography. Although it has been another slow year for the northern lights (aurora borealis) as we are just beginning to climb out of the bottom of the solar cycle – I didn’t realize just how good we had it back in 2000 to 2004, I wish I had taken better advantage, but there are still opportunities, especially if you can travel North or East of Fairbanks.
So the first stepping is finding out when and where the Northern Lights will appear, and this post should help: Finding Northern Lights.
Then, here are tips for photographing the Northern Lights: Photographing the Northern Lights.
A shop keeper sweeping in front of a store last month in Truckee, California
Finding the right gift for the photographer can be tough – we all have a million opinions on what’s good and bad, and often have special needs based upon our existing camera gear / brand, etc. I thought I would throw out a few ideas of items that might be appreciated by just about any photographer. So here goes:
Petzl E99 PG Tikka XP 2 Headlamp.
LED Keychain Micro-Light
Leatherman 830039 New Wave Multitool There is a reason you see these on the belts or in the pockets of many Alaskans – this all around tool comes in really handy! I have been carrying mine in my camera bag for many years – this is the new and improved model of the old one I have. I have gotten so used to having it in my camera bag that I made the mistake of leaving mine in my bag as I went through security at the airport – whoops!
Little Hotties Hand Warmers 40 Pairs 
Reflectors and defusers
Digital frames
An Anza-Borrego photo workshop with me. Hey, why not?
Handheld GPS
iPad
Books. I can’t own enough books, I’m running out of room to store them all. I have books on particular animal species, books on locations, and books on photography. Here are some of my favorites:
Outdoor photography
Galen Rowell’s classic book Inner Game of Outdoor Photography
I haven’t seen this book, but know most of the contributors so feel fairly safe in recommending: The Ultimate Guide to Digital Nature Photography
I have always loved photography books, and although I haven’t purchased one in some time, here is a list of 4 Star rated books on outdoor photography at Amazon.
Location Guides
These can be very helpful and provide a nice running head start for any location. I like to try to find my own “hot spots”, but there is nothing wrong with getting some help finding the existing ones. Except for the Oregon book, I have used, enjoyed and relied on these location guides:
Photographing the Southwest: Volume 1–Southern Utah (2nd Ed.)
Photographing the Southwest: Volume 2–Arizona (2nd Ed.)
Photographing the Southwest: Volume 3–Colorado/New Mexico (Photographing the Soutwest)
Photographer’s Guide to Yellowstone and the Tetons
The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite
Photographing Oregon (Phototripsusa)
Autumn colors and the Sneffels Range in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado
We are offering free priority mail shipping on print orders over $100 again this holiday season! I think this is a really popular promotion – well, we always sell lots of prints this time of year, I don’t really know if the free shipping has anything to do with it, but I don’t want to find out! Shipping on International orders will be half off. This is a Colorado photo, but we have photos from pretty much all over the Western U.S., Canada and Alaska.
If you are one of the people that put in an order on Wednesday or Thanksgiving – don’t worry, we will apply free shipping to those as well.
To access our online shopping cart, make sure you go to our main photo website – click on any thumbnail and underneath the larger version of each photo you will see a link the says Buy A Print. Click there and away you go. Also, you can always call us directly if you prefer.
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