Moose News Blog

What a morning! I’m incredibly fortunate that Bill Pekala & Carol Fisher at Nikon NPS have made it possible for me to shoot with a D3 right now and OMG! I mean, OMG!

The DLWS gang spent their first morning shooting at Fishtown and what a subject rich environment, perfect for my first run with the D3. The camera just rocks! If you shoot with a D2Xs, getting comfortable with the D3 takes seconds. The large viewfinder and FX sensor is just to die for. Shooting again with a 14mm at 14mm brought tears to my eyes. The AF system is awesome, the metering and dynamic range is better and 9fps is simply the sexiest sound in the world! The new color engine and AWB are really nice and the dual card CF works beautifully. If I wasn’t in the middle of teaching, I would go on and on and on and on about the D3. It’s SO much more than a high ISO stud! I’ll keep posting D3 images as long as I can produce ‘em. Can you tell….I’m dam excited!

Photos captured by D3, 14AF on Lexar digital UDMA film

The countryside of the MI Pennisulas is simply delightful! The folks are so nice and helpful, and curious just what this white van full of photographers find interesting in their backyard. The answer is lots! Here’s a couple more examples.

Spider Lake is a small boat launch tucked way back in the middle of nowhere. We pulled up and I instantly saw the dock, shoreline and the clouds as this amazing merge of line and texture. Lens selection was a no-brainer, a 10.5, straight shot.

The bottom image is of Old Mission Lighthouse which is just a really cool place. On our visit to it yesterday it was pouring rain. The clouds started to part this afternoon so we made a run hoping to find a great sunset but instead, nearly bald skies. With the turn of the clouds, it was a high contrast B&W image which I achieved using CS3. I’m really looking forward to returning to the lighthouse to see its other moods.

DLWS starts tomorrow, no shooting but we’ll be back at it hot and heavy on Monday so I’ll post new images than. Have a great weekend shooting!

Photos captured by D200, 10.5 & D2Xs, 17-55AFS on Lexar digital film

The DLWS Staff woke up and started out in a gentle rain heading up the coast to Elk Rapid. The rural landscape, barns and villages are so inviting and the land just sucks you in. In the top photo, we ventured to a great preserve that runs along the lake where some kid made this cool pattern. It was real easy to stroll out into the water and make the first capture. The B&W was even easier in Photoshop again using B&W Adj Layer with an additional Contrast Layer. The bottom image was taken along the Rapid River and is a simple straight capture. Walk up, click and continue to enjoy the grove. It was a great morning!

Photo captured by D200, 28f1.4AF on Lexar digital film

My good friend and DigitalPro creator David Cardinal has for a long time told me how gorgeous this region of the US is (and he leads workshops here) but not until today doing our scouting for our upcoming Great Lakes DLWS did I discover this for myself. This is a gorgeous, gorgeous place to come and shoot! We had a great time today cruising around, exploring, shooting, playing tourist and of course, finding all the good food in preparation for our start on Sunday. All I can say is, wish you were here!

Besides keeping track of our photographic pursuits on my blog this coming week, please check out other photographic visions of the same opportunities on Laurie blog and my assistant Josh’s blog. I selected my images to blog prior to seeing what Laurie & Josh posted just because I too wanted to see how we photographically communicated the uniqueness of the same locales. It’s what makes photography so special!

In regards to these two images, the top image was shot with a 10.5 because I had seen how the waves were breaking. They were curving up towards me kinda looking like a smile. To accentuate that curve, capture that vast, great sky and the expanse of Lake MI, the fisheye was the only lens to use. The horizon is straight because I kept it dead center in the frame. I than converted the image to B&W quickly using the Black & White curve in CS3. The lower image, I just happened to have lucked out to be in the right place at the right time when a spotlight of sun hit the farm. It was only present for a few minutes.

Photo captured by D200, 10.5 & 17-55AF on Lexar digital film

Those who have been shooting with me of late know that my 200VR, 200-400VR & 600AFSII are all covered in the black LensCoat from LensCoat. Many have asked where I got though the cool “Hoodies” or better known as lens caps for those lenses as well as those on my 28AF and 14AF. They all come from LensCoat and they are VERY cool! They work really great and I highly recommend them. For example, those of your who own the 200VR know what a pain the factory lens cap is, especially when the shade is in its stored position. Well, their one Hoodie (Large) fits the shades when stored or in use and slips on and off with one hand tied behind your back.

I apologize for grabbing the screen shot from the LensCoat website, but I’m writing this from O’Hare Airport and I forgot to upload my product shot (this one doesn’t do this cool product justice). I can tell you though that Scott has a great product YOU should buy. I do know that Scott is right now working on the LensCoats for the new Nikon VR telephotos (might even switch to Nikon because of the D3(sorry Scott, just had to say it)) and he made a custom coat for my treasured 28AF which is great.

You want to take care of your gear and keep the eagle crap from getting in the cracks, this IS the way to go!

In follow up to many emails in regards to if I’m going to upgrade to the new 600VR. The new 600VR focuses 3 feet closer than the 600AFS II, that in itself makes it a must to me! The fact that my good friend Joe McNally says it’s a whole lot faster has me digging through the couch for pennies (and all my neighbors couches too!). Yeah, I plan on having the new 600VR & 400VR as soon as possible!