Many lifetimes ago, I commercially tied flies to pay for my fly fishing addiction in high school. I tied thousands of #22 Blue Duns! I’ve always enjoyed creating something from feathers and presenting it to a fish and fooling it into taking a bite. There was a time I even illustrated my own recipes I had created for local lakes in the Eastern Sierra. Jake caught the bug at a very early age and has flown past me in skill and presentation. I so enjoy and it’s great fun when we get to fish together like we are this weekend and I can watch his art. This weekend we’re trying our hands at the Skwala, a first for both of us. I have no flies for this hatch so I went to tying bench to tie a bunch. It’s then my conversation a month back with Nikon Tom came to mind. He was giving me a bad time on his marvelous podcast about my not doing macro, in particular bug photography. If I was quick, I would have thought of this to dig myself out of a hole on the podacast. I know this is not the kinda bug photography Tom was thinking about. But now I can say I do bug photography with this photo of my Oswald’s Rastaman Stonefly (as well as part of my wet fly box below, flies I all tied) pattern I tied for this weekend. I’m sure Tom was talking about living bugs and not imitation bugs, but for me, this is my kinda bugs photography!

thinkTANK has reimagined their small pouch organizers making them more efficient and secure. I think they are awesome! The CF/SD case is perfect for the Z 30 holding a spare battery and SD card small and compact just like the Z 30. The AA Battery Holder works AAA as well and I have one in my luggage and one in my ProFoto kit, brilliant! The one I really, really love is the new Secure Pixel Pocket Rocket! As you can see, I have a bit a memory I carry with me and beside the pockets able to hold two cards each, there is a zipper so even klutzy me can’t accidentally drop and loose a card (or two). Working in swamps, marshes, rainforests this is a true blessing! Did my old thinTANK wallets wear out the reason why I upgraded? No, they did not but the innovation in these warranted the upgrade and I’m glad I did, they are awesum!

You might be saying, “that looks like a toucan” and you’d be saying the same thing I did the first time I saw the Collared Aracari last week in Cost Rica. It is not, its a Aracari and they are quite the characters. Perhaps half the size of a typical toucan, they forage in the under-story below the toucans. They hop along the branches as if sneaking up on the hanging fruit and then grabbing them. Looking up through the canopy with the naked eye, they are very hard to see even with those colors. But when you did, you could watch them after grabbing their food, what seemed like, playing with it. I believe, and I could be wrong, they were getting the fruit off the big seed and it was the seed they seemed to be juggling, like a clown would. I personally found it very entertaining helping some of the lulls in the shooting go by with a smile, the canopy clowns.

It’s been a few years so we’re heading back to Monument Valley! The timing of the Adventure is to take advantage of two events, one for sure and the other, almost for sure. The rooms we stay in afford us killer photography this time of year right from the balcony as the sun works its magic right behind the mittens as you see above. The other reason is for the monsoons which bring an entirely different level of magic to Monument Valley!

We will be taking 6 shooters. The price is $2050 and includes transportation (from either Phoenix or Flagstaff), 2 guided tours into the valley (in closed areas), A Slot Canyon trip, preAdventure packet & zoom, education, and entertainment.

If you would like to join us, please give my sweet bride Ms Sharon a call 406. 240. 3503