Say Hi Gabe!

Some say it’s the gear, some say it’s the person behind the camera but in my years, I’ve come to appreciate the positive influence friends make on my photography. This is my bud Gabe, some of you might have seen him at various events like NAPP Training but he’s the guy at B&H who takes damn good care of me (like getting my my D4!). He introduced me to the skies of Manhattan and the delicious pastrami at Katz Deli. Thanks my friend!

And my favorite shot from the flight. The difference from the other images is the direction of light and the elevation the shots were taken. What a morning!

Copper Hill

You might remember a few weeks back my looking for and finding an easy and inexpensive way to clean my sensor brushes. Well, during that process I went looking for other sensor cleaning solutions. My current MLP Ed sent me a great product shot he had done of Copper Hill brushes so it made me think about their products. I contacted them and while I was in Dayton, their box arrived. I just got to FL and my first opportunity to work with them. THEY ROCK!!! First, their brushes are gorgeous and really inexpensive. Next, their cleaning swabs are killer (seen pictured here)! You use a “common handle” over and over again, simply swapping out the cleaning cloth. This is not only environmentally friendly and really inexpensive, its the same basic system (but not the tools) Nikon uses to clean sensors. I can carry the one handle and a tone of cleaning swabs for pennies and no space with the Copper Hill system. So while I love Visible Dust, I’m switching to Copper Hill!

iPad BT Journal – 1st Back Issue Released!

We’re getting better! Our latest issue of the iPad BT Journal was accepted by iTunes the first time and we’re excited to bring it to you. We worked hard to greatly expand this incredibly popular issue of our Journal. Brent was constantly asking for more images, more images which he inserted into this issue. When he went to my Triple Scoop account and got some music and my huge video library and grabbed a number of segments, I was getting really excited and he does not dissapoint. This is a great issue waiting for you!

Your response to the iPad version of the BT Journal has us working on more and more issues. Now this issue is a “back issue” and can be purchased singularly. If you bought a subscription, you can simply click and get it. All of these things you can do in app.

BT Journal Premiere Digital Issue - FREE!Ipad version released 03.30.12 – FREE! (click on icon) Subscriptions like anything iPad is purchased through iTunes. At this time, subscription to hard copy will not include digital copy. Back issues and issues released before the start date of your subscription not included.

Moose on Pawn Stars?

Yeap, this week you could see not me but you could see my photographs. Check it out this weekend, will rerun in some parts of the country

Might be Spring, but it’s Snowin Here

Yeap, this is what it looks like out our window on this friday. Put out the D4 with 24f1.4 and shot some vid of the fun….enjoy!

SLWPC Is Rock & Rollin!

oh yeah baby, rockin is an understatement! We blew past our minimum in 24hrs so we’re good to go. 7-8 July up in the Sierra, we’ll be holding our Short Lens Wildlife Photography Course and lovin every minute of it! Just what kind of “stuff” might you be learning at the Course? Well, did you see this video? Or, you might be asking why there’s a photo of a Bald Eagle in this post? That’s because the photo was taken with a 70-200 lens. You should be asking, “How can that be?” Well, come to the course and I’ll teach you how to do the same thing. The price is only $395, gear is minimum at best and the possibilities are endless. Give us a call at 661.204.1506.

2 Openings for the Taking

We just had in one day (what is it they say about Mondays?) two hardship cancelations for our upcoming FL K&M Adventure at the end of this month (25-30 April) and our SD K&M Adventure (16-21 May). We’re talking birds and boat ride, pronghorn and baby bison. We are talking landscape and digital darkroom, we are talking good ol fun! If you can make it, give Sharon a call 760.924.8632.

The Fear Factor

Photoshop World to me is the greatest event to ever come along and twice a year a celebration of what it is to be a photographer! It is also the scariest venture I know about. One of the miracles of www is a world getting to know me without meeting me personally. One of the worst things in the world is everyone getting to know me through the www without every meeting me personally. I often talk about reality and perceptions of photography and my huge fear is that the reality of Moose doesn’t match the perceptions. This comes to a head when I have a class to present at PSW. There is some bloody amazing talent on stage at PSW, much of it very young and explosive. Take Jeremy Cowart…wow! Then there is me and my critters, landscape and avaition photos.

So when you have a class that starts at 08:15 when the parties ended at 02:00 you just gotta wonder, will anyone show? I like to get to my class early, I want to be all set up, make sure everything is running long before the first person shows up. I walked past Dave Black’s room and see folks lining up outside and it’s almost an hour before class time. Wow! I walk past Russell Brown’s room and I see folks streaming in. Yikes. I get to my class and find the first set of doors locked. I walk to the next set of doors and they are locked…not a good sign! I get to the third set and they are open. I walk in to find at least 30 folks already sitting in chairs in front of the screen at 07:20. I was not only feeling very honored, but then very nervous. I walk up to the stage and top photo is my view. It’s very intimating! Then I started to play a couple of videos of San Joaquin Kit Fox before my main show just set the stage for my presentation. I can handle all of these presentations, they are in my public speaking comfort zone because I’m telling stories, both verbal and photographic and I feel real safe with that. While I never fill the room, the couple of hundred folks who do come are passionate and that makes it all worth while to me.

It’s the Art of Digital and closing ceremony presentations when my stomach migrates up to my throat. That’s when the fear factor hits me. Now there are two thousand folks in those chairs and some did not come to see my work or hear me speak, but came for one of the other amazing presenters I’m so honored to be panaled with. It’s then when I have to put out a short presentation that not only gives me credibility as a photographer to be seated on this stage, but also an opportunity to touch a new heart with my images. That’s when I’m so nervous I can barely speak. And this time to push my discomfort zone even further, Scott asked me to present a aviation piece at closing ceremony rather then my traditional landscape piece. Fear Factor on steroids! And in the end, it all seems to work out (even though I never say what I had rehearsed in my mind) and from the amazing response we have received, that’s the whole point. It’s you, the folks who come to PSW who I do it for and who in the end tell me that what I presented was alright. When ladies come up to me (even a few guys) with misty eyes and then after a few moments need an embrace because my images so moved them, I know my fears were worth while. I just want to thank all of you for telling me the perceptions and reality of Moose’s work. It’s always enough to screw up the courage to do it all again in a few months. Thank You!

“Abe”

Photoshop World is a biggie to me, it’s just so much fun! The Precon is how it all starts for me so I try to make it as much fun as well as good photography as I can when I start planning it. This spring’s PSW in DC was great with a group of Civil War reinactors. I’ve written many times about my association with Russell Brown who many of you know as Dr. Brown from Adobe. I use the term association because, well, the things we’ve done in the search of an unique photograph goes way beyond friendship and this PSW, we proved ourselves.

When I told Russell some time ago what I was planning for the Precon, he naturally asked, “You need a Abe Lincoln?” In my mind, I could picture him making a great Abe Lincoln and as you can see, he did! The real funny thing was, he was really nervous sitting with the “confederates.” I tried to tell him it was 2012 and he wasn’t really Abe, but it took hours, literally, to get him to sit down to make the photo he went to Precon to get. Of course, I should have known that “Abe” was just to sedate for Russell. We no sooner got off the bus for Precon and Russell is dawning this outfit he commissioned be made for him. Only Russell would come up with this costume!

All of these photos were taken with the D4, a camera I’m coming to like more and more. This is just my gut feeling, but there is more to the D4 then what the sales brochure lets on. I have still not done any formal testing but just shooting with it, there are two things I’m pretty sure of. The files the D4 produces are gorgeous! I’m really liken what I’m seeing on my monitor. I can’t wait to get back to the office and print them up. I’m also pretty darn sure the D4 does have a greater dynamic range. How much more and how we take full advantage of it I’m still working on. The AF system in low light is superior to what we’ve had before, that I am sure of. Have a bugger the holds 74 Nefs on one blast simply kicks ass. And today I shot my first real video with it and it’s sweet! I’m working through my base settings and should have those for you in the next couple of days.

A side note on processing. The top “Abe” shot is a D4 Nef processed in ACR 6.7 which doesn’t recognize the D4′s Standard or Vivid (or new Landscape) mode. So I’m not pulling the full potential out of the file when processing. The image was then finished in PS CS6 using Nik’s CEP4 Detail Extractor and Glamor Glow. Then that was run through Silver Efex Pro. The middle went through ACR and then Silver Efex Pro > Old Time setting. The bottom photo was shot on the Wescott shoot on the PSW exhibit floor and is an out of the camera shot. Many are stopping me and asking me how I like the D4. I like the D4. I will be honest with you like I am them. I think the D4 has some evolutionary and revolutionary advances that will require me to rethink and advance my approach to exposure. The increased dynamic range is exciting to me.

In the Bag
• D4
• 70-200VR2
• 50f1.4 AFS

PSW Precon – WOW!

Today in my mind was the start of Photoshop World as we held our NAPP Safari Precon. As always, I had the honor to teach it along side my good friend Joe McNally. A precon I’d been planning for a year unfold with perfection and man, was it great! The story deserves more photos and text which I just don’t have in my tonight, I’m already toast and I’m not done. But here’s a slight hint of what we did and I shot the whole time with the D4. So, stay tuned, more to come! Gotta say thanks to all the participants and especially our reinactors. You were all great!!!!

B&H – It’s There For You

You might have noticed the B&H banner on the site, the links on the bottom of the posting and were wondering where the 800# / Moose line into B&H might be? Well, we’re putting the finishing touches on the special 800#. In the meantime, using the B&H links on the site will save you some pennies on your orders and while not huge savings, every penny does help. Keep watching, we’re working to bring you more for less so you can shoot to your heart’s content!

WACCO – Moose is Heading East

Yeap, we’re going to be in WI this weekend talking photography and we can’t wait! WACCO is the perfect place to start our spring teaching season. We just heard there are only 2 seat left, that’s way cool because I’m bringing new shows, thoughts, techniques and joke or two. What and I talking about? Wildlife photography, landscape photography, a little Photoshop and aviation photography. Looking forward to being there and sharing our passion with you!

D4 Thoughts

Like many of you, I anxiously await the arrival of the D4 in my office. I have not been fortunate to hold or see one of the IP models that is in the states. I have received no less then just shy of 2000 emails asking me various questions about the D4. I truly wish I had all the answers right now, I really, really, really do but I don’t. I can answer some of the more general ones though like, “Did you sell your D3s (2 of them) in anticipation of the D4?” That’s a duh, having 5 camera bodies is a bit overkill. So that’s a yes, D3s out (all but 1) and D4s in. “What feature in the D4 makes you want to buy one?” It’s new! Sorry, cheap shot. I have a critter project where high ISO video would make the difference between getting the data the researchers need. So that’s a done deal for me. And a personal note, having the metering switch removed from the prism to me is worth the $6k, it drives me nuts on the D3 series! “Will the investment in the D4 make you money?” I don’t know but if it get’s the answers the researchers need for the critter then it’s worth its price 100 fold! “Are you going to get rid of your D3x?” Probably not, it’s what we use for all our cockpit panos. “Do you recommend the D4 to other photographers?” While I understand where this question is coming from, how can I recommend something not in my hands yet. “Do you know when it will be released?” I do not have that information but B&H is saying sometime mid to late February. You can preorder your D4 now and if you want it sooner rather then later, preorder now! Another common question is if I will create a D4 website like I did for the D3? Right now, I doubt it and the main reason is because there are so many other great resources now for that so I can put my time into other educational, informational resources for you in regards to the photographic problems the D4 can solve. After today’s Google+ live broadcast from Scott Kelby and the NPS guys, it is obvious there is a TON of features in the D4 that were left out of the brochure and spec sheet. I can honestly say that now, two weeks after the announcement of the D4, I am excited and anxious to get one. Come on Mr Ups…drop one off soon!

Sketching Light – Speaking of Light

It’s no secret I think McNally walks on water. He don’t, I know he’s all wet but that doesn’t stop me from being his biggest fan. For many years, past, present and I hope the future, I’ve seen him work his magic over and over and over again. What’s magic is he let me watch because what he does is an art, skill and passion with light that as far as I’m concerned, no book will ever contain. Joe though is a very passionate teacher and so wants other to enjoy the fun, frustration and experience of bringing light to your photography passion. You’ll want a copy of Sketching Light on your night stand, desk, camera bag and car seat. You won’t be able to put it down!

View from 2nd Seat

Jake is shooting video now too, here’s the view from his seat of this historic flight.

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