You’re planning your year, we can tell, the phone ringing asking where we have spaces. Here’s the score card as of today of our available spaces.

These are workshop that we offer directly. You click on the link and you can find out more information about a particular workshop. I’m and each and everyone of these events, there to share what I’ve learned in my 32yrs with anyone wanting to listen. I hope you can join us!

Unique University is making possible a really unique opportunity! I want to thank them for bringing me back and making this really cool opportunity possible for us. At the height of spring, we’ll be permitted into “closed to the public” areas of the Meadowlands for what promises to be AMAZING bird photography. I simply can’t wait! This page just went live and I’m told it’s nearly full already. I’ll be speaking the night before for a few hours and then we’ll be shooting together on Saturday. I sure hope I cya out there!

Dec 31, 1997 a pelican case arrived at the office. I opened it up to see what at first appeared to be a familiar friend, an F5 body but it wasn’t the same F5 I was use to. It was a Kodak DCS 620, the first “DLSR” that I shot with. Back in the day, we’re only talking 15yrs ago, Kodak was the big player in digital photography from sensors to projectors and everything in between. They’ve now filed Chptr 11 and we have to ask ourselves why and what can we learn from it that which applies to our own photography?

The two product shots of the camera were taken with a Coolpix 900. Nikon had provided me a “black box” to shoot with to be one of the three shooters to introduce Nikon’s entry into the digital age. The Coolpix produced a 1mb Jpeg and the 620, it created this three file thing you had to combine with their software to get a Tiff (can you say painful!). The results though were enough for many of us to realize the potential of digital photography. Kodak had one helluva track record of producing some amazing products. With a little technology and a lot of imagination, photography progressed to what we enjoy today with the D4 being an amazing leap from the 620 of just 15yrs ago. Why didn’t Kodak keep up though to ride the way they help generate?

When I first heard that Kodak was filing, I thought back to a Jr High project where I got an A because I invested my “money” in their stock and it made the best showing during the semester. Then I thought back about the photographers who told me that digital was a fad like the disk camera or APS (remember those from film days?). Some of those shooters are now long gone, no longer shooting and a couple like myself who embraced digital are still out there clicking. What can we learn from this short look at our history? Here’s my lonely $.02 on the matter.

(photo of my light table filled with the latest project at the time, taken with the Kodak DCS 620)

There’s this thought that gear isn’t important, the photographer is. There’s this thought that the photographer isn’t important, the gear is. Personally, I don’t see how you can divorce either from the other in a creative world of visually communicating.The human spirit drives both, the photographer and the gear. At least, that’s how I see it. I know in no uncertain terms that the D3 obtained for me a photograph NO OTHER way possible until it hit my hands. The GEAR made the photo but the PHOTOGRAPHER had to recognize the problem and realize its solution. It was a MARRIAGE between the two that made the one image possible and when it came to the Greater Sage Grouse project, it was pivotal in the solution! The solution required both photographer and gear, neither one could do it alone.

My involvement with Kodak digital ended around 2002 so I’m not sure all that occurred since then to lead up to the filing, but we had the feeling back then that the connection between gear and the photographer was being missed. In the beginning of digital, most everyone missed it but as we know, history has shown that digital ain’t all that bad. I have to admit when I heard the D4 was being announced, I said to myself, “Here we go again.” Much to my great surprise, the upgrade in technology has been for the most part embraced and not criticized! While I now have over 2200 emails with questions about the D4 to answer, they are all boil down to the basic question, “How will this technology improve my photography?”

And to be honest with you, alone I don’t think it will. What I do think it will do is open the doors to your imagination permitting you to go places you might not have realized you could have gone without it. The D4 in itself is not the game changer. You, yourself are not the game changer. It is when the two come together, the spirit and the technology, that’s the game changer will occur. Personally, I know that many of the photographs I’ve taken in the last 15yrs with digital I could have done with film. I also know there is one image, one very important one that change the world for a species, that could only have made with a D3, digital. It’s that one, that one possible click that constantly pushes me to embrace new technology.

You’ve gotta take risks in every form as a photographer to move forward. You often fall down and you have to pick yourself back up and learn from that fall. You don’t and you will fall again. But if you do, you’re up an running. For way too many, these are tough times which saddens me as photography is just to joyous of a life pursuit to have that pressure. For those, thinking about obtaining a D4 just isn’t possible but don’t let that stop you from moving in that direction. I often hear, “Got to learn what my camera can do now before I upgrade.” It’s not what your camera can do, it’s what you can do with your camera! The last thing I want you to do is go Chptr 11 on your photography so push yourself to push your gear! Shutter speeds and apertures are still the exact same as there were 100yrs ago. Light will always be a mystery we chase. Wrap them up in your spirit and you won’t go bankrupt. Our photographic future is awfully damn bright, go out and click and share never forgetting, YOU with your camera can change the world with a photograph!

“Why did you go that way?” Damn good question for lots that I have pursued with a camera over time. The Cockpit Panos we’ve posted seem to be the cause of a lot of work time spent lost goofin with them. At the same time, questions keep coming in with this being the latest. Why? The answer was pretty simple when you look at my early cockpit portraits. OK, light is OK and the clouds so so but then what? You really can’t get a feel for the cockpit since you don’t feel like you’re sitting in it. You can really read any of the instruments. It’s, just there! Thought shot with the same 16Fish, you the viewer don’t really get much an experience from it and that’s the whole idea.

Both of these are hand held HDRs, 5 image captures taken at f/2.8 because I was too lazy to get a tripod. That’s because I knew that the end results would be what you see here. What you’re seeing here is the Lone Star Flight Museum’s DC-3, a gorgeous plane you see on the airshow circuit. You’ve got the main cabin and the cockpit here. As the viewer of the image, how are you to get a feel for this romantic period in flight from these photos? (Can you imagine getting our carry-ons on this plane?) It was parked in a hangar when I made these clicks and there sure is a lot more PS craft then camera craft in these couple of images. Since that’s not my style and they really don’t convey the whole experience, I had to find a better what of communicating that experience. That’s how I went looking for what we now call our cockpit panos.

In the Bag
D3x
16Fish
Lexar 32GB UDMA

Yeap, I think my FlightTrack map for February pretty much confirms, I’m on the road a helluva lot. Many are now thinking about their travels for 2012 as well, I know because I get the emails asking what to take and how to carry it. This has always been one of the top five questions emailed to me. A vast majority of my site is devoted to help answer this question. You can find what camera gear I have and what I take on projects on the Moose’s Gear page. You can see what I take for wildlife, you can see what I take for aviation, you can see what I take for landscapes and what I take just around town. Not only is there a list of the gear, but nearly every piece of gear has a text explanation as well as a video. These are not sales pitches, these are just explanations why I have this tools with me. You don’t have to own any of this gear to be successful, it’s just what I’ve found works for me. As for the travel, that’s not necessary for success either. I’m just very fortunate I get to follow my passion to many locales either sharing them with others teaching or posting images here on the blog.

It is really easy for me to pull heartstrings when I throw up a photo of a bunny. Everyone loves Peter Cottontail so it’s easy to hit home. I can throw up some moody shot of a landscape with a little color here, a rock there and clouds everywhere and most of the time it hits its mark in the heart. But throw up a photo of a craft made of metal (or in this case plastic) and grabbing the heartstrings has a whole new challenge about it. It’s been a week of gift receiving with plane owners sending a book they created about the restoration of their aircraft in which I was involved in, an Air2Air Workshop student sending a gorgeous calendar of his images to say thanks, a facility manager thanking me for an article and then the challenge coin. It all comes from a passion for photography AND sharing it!

I firmly believe the #1 person who must be thrilled with your photography is YOURSELF! I’m not suggesting we fall in love with every click but I am saying we must be in love with photography and our photography for where it is at this moment in time. We should be able to grab our own heartstrings with our clicks so that we not only find enjoyment for what we did today, but find the inspiration for what we want to do tomorrow. That’s how you keep the passion alive!

I also believe that this process only succeeds when we get past our satisfaction and start reaching out and touching others with our photos. I’m not talking about those comments you receive when you post your image to some web group, I’m talking about placing your image in the hands of someone and all you see is that smile. You know what I’m talking about, you’ve all seen it, that warm smile that comes from the heart. That’s when you know, you know you are reaching out and saying something with your photograph. Paul wanting to fly with me again was thanks enough, telling me two of my prints hang on his office wall in Houston, that’s over the top! But to come all this way to put that coin in my hand…. And then when the recipient of your photo is so moved by them that they in return feel they need to give you something in return, well, there simply are no words for that satisfaction.

It is truly easy to get wrapped up in the latest gear, newest post product or technique but don’t ever forget that it’s the passion that you put into that click that is revealed with all of that stuff in that final image! While we don’t hit the mark every time, it really only takes those couple that hit the bullseye dead center to keep you clicking to reach that point one more time. While gifts are great and a tangible means of knowing you’ve reached your goal, the best gifts often go unspoken except by the heart. Don’t let f/stop and shutter speed get in the way of the main target of your photography and that’s reaching out and telling the story of your great fortune to others. Remember, heartstrings are the target!

One of the ways I try to push my photography forward is to look at previous images. I routinely do this when I’m about to head out for a shoot. Be it wildlife, landscapes, people, aviation, I find ways I can improve by looking at images I’ve already taken. Just gotta push constantly, I don’t know any other way. Right now, I’m getting my presentations for the next two months prepped and created so I’m looking at my files for teaching images. Looking for images that are before and afters, showing the ying and the yang as it were. It never fails that when I do that, I see a couple of images that didn’t catch my imagination at the time but do now. Ever do that, ever wonder why?

I know for myself, this typically happens simply because of emotions. There are always images that represent for me that moment of shooting which, after the emotional high calms down, other images with subtle impact can be seen. One issue I have is a shoot so much all the time, I don’t afford myself the luxury of time to always go back and look for those images. That’s why I always look forward to and allow extra time when looking for teaching images. I always find those images missed before.

These are just three of the images I came across yesterday pulling images for presentations that fit this category. While what you see is what I saw in the viewfinder when I went click, they didn’t have the finishing polish yet. Looking at “older” images, I tend to look at them with my current digital darkroom finishing eyes. That makes a huge difference because more and better ways to pull out subtle detail (lots of subtle detail adds up to being drama) is becoming available to us like this:

Along with that, Nik’s Color Efex 4 has vast improvements which I like. These three images were all finished using CEP4′s Detail Enhancer & Pro Contrast. Those two filters brought out the subtle detail I was looking for to make them pop. One of the best things about photography is the knowledge that tomorrow, we will be better photographers. The trick is to recognize those little things that do make us better and to keep working on learning from yesterday. Well, I’ve gotta get back to pulling images for new lessons to teach…

In the Bag
D3s
70-200VR2
200-400VR2
Photoshop
Nik Color Efex Pro 4

We are constantly amazed at the growing base of fans of my aviation work has brought us. Thanks! Many had asked a few weeks back about upcoming articles I had coming out. I wanted to let you know about this one because you can download the issue for free on your iPad if you’re not already subscribing to Aeroplane. You’ll want the March, 2012 issue. Enjoy!

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!