How to Photograph America's National Parks

There's a new edition of AAA's National Park Photography, which I've praised in the past. This time it appears to be sponsored by the National Audubon Society. After flipping through it though, it appears to be the same great book. I'm sure there are some updates here and there. In any case, go get a copy.

At a friend's gallery showing last March, a budding photographer asked me how I find the time to visit so many national parks. I told him the trick is to simply visit one national park each year. It's a reasonable and achievable goal if you can budget your time and money for the year. Maybe you'll get great pictures, maybe it will be cloudy, but at least you can say you were there. Simply being there seems to be largest problem most photographers face.

Guadalupe River State Park

Just a quick post to say that if you ever find yourself in San Antonio, take an evening and drive up to Guadalupe River State Park. It's not very large, so you can certainly get the whole experience in a few hours. It's a great escape from the endless strip malls and access roads that seem to plague Texas.

When I was there last March, I took nothing but my Xpan with 45mm lens and hiked the Loop 3 trail with ease. Very enjoyable. Here are the results...

Hurry Up for Robert Frank

So I know this is late notice, but tomorrow is the last day to see Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. I stumbled upon it today while studying the architecture of the East Building by I.M. Pei. A very pleasant surprise indeed.

It's vastly easier to appreciate a photographer's work when properly presented; printed from the original negatives, matted, framed, and properly lit. Sure you can see it on the interweb or in a book, but it's surprisingly better when it's the real deal.

Go see it! Even if you're not all that into street photography, you'll enjoy it. The exhibition is on the west end of the West Building.

More info on Robert Frank

Also, I snagged this shot with my Xpan before going through the tunnel from the confusing East Building to the West Building.

Hold the laptop

Next time you take a photography trip, leave the laptop behind. You don't need it. Go get yourself a Think Tank Pixel Pocket Rocket, pop in ten compact flash cards, and go. Take tons of pictures, relax in the evening, and save the post-processing for when you get home.

Ten CF cards at 4 gigabytes each gives you 40 gigabytes. I shoot at about 10 gigabytes per week with a 5D in raw. Even if you're twice as trigger-happy as me, that still gives you two weeks of shooting, sans laptop.

Ken Rockwell pointed out that shooting film actually forces you to save the post-processing (or any kind of processing, for that matter) until you get home. There's no reason this can't be true for digital as well.

This is especially true on international trips. It's just another juicy target for thieves and customs. The price is not just in dollars either; imagine the amount of personal data that's on your laptop. If you really feel the need to stay connected and browse the web, go get yourself an iPod Touch.

There's also the weight savings. For the weight of a laptop, you could carry another lens or two. Better yet, you could just save those extra pounds and be more mobile.

"The things you own end up owning you." Choose wisely.

As as side note, there may be hope for the 1D Mark II after all...

5D's for Everyone!

And by 5D, I mean the original, Mark I. The release of the Canon 5D Mark II has put a ton of used 5D's out on the market, ready to be grabbed up by aspiring photographers. It is pretty incredible that a full-frame DSLR can be had for a little over $1100 (and dropping).

I bought my 5D new in the summer of 2006 just before my trip to Australia. It proved to be a truly excellent travel camera. There's just no way I could have covered so much ground in Sydney and the Blue Mountains lugging my huge 1D Mark II. It's just the right size for a small camera bag or backpack with a couple lenses (the 17-40/4 and 70-200/2.8 at the time). The charger and batteries weren't a burden either, which is a real consideration when traveling with a digital camera. Have you seen the charger for the 1D?

I was considering buying a 5D Mark II when it first came out, mainly for it's HD video feature and 14-bit color depth. Since then, I've started to lean more toward film as a real option for color depth and resolution, keeping the original 5D as my general camera. I'm also expecting the second generation of video-enabled DSLR's to bring some great improvements.

So before you blow your dough on a 5D Mark II, consider the original 5D as a real option; it still rocks. Instead, spend that money on some sweet glass that you can use for many (more) years to come.

Other 5D Mark I links:

• Panomoto (he also uses a G9 as a backup)
• Luminous Landscape Field Report
• Flying With Fish on the 5D
• Ken Rockwell on the 5D
• The Naked Run Travel Blog (he appears to use a 5D for all his amazing travel photography)