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Back in Las Vegas, another meeting, another Casino Hotel. I enjoy the conventions, catching up with co-workers, and friends, and clients you only see once a year, but this town……… Nothing about this place is real. It’s a place people escape to with the promise that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”, but it doesn’t. Wherever you are, and whatever your behavior happens to be, you must take ownership of it. Just because no one back home knows what you did, that doesn’t mean you don’t know. It certainly doesn’t mean God doesn’t know. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not being judgmental, people are people,and people will do stupid things, I’ve done stupid things, but I’m at a place in my life now that I don’t desire to come to this place and do things I hope know one will ever find out about.

It is a big lie, from the enemy, that we can quote, “get away with things…” You never get away with anything, if no one ever finds out, you know, and over time, anything that must be kept a secret, will damage you. Driving in from the airport today in the cab, I saw a very large billboard
advertising a hotel, it display a alluring woman in lingerie, the message was, “A Good Amount of a Bad Thing.” Suggesting that there is a right amount of a bad thing. I’m probably sounding a lot like a prude at this moment, but I’ve seen what a little “innocent fun”, that wasn’t so innocent at all, has done to relationships of friends. Many a broken marriage has been ship wrecked on these kinds of “innocent things”. I think what I dislike the most about this place is how blatant the suggestions are. I know I’m from the Bible belt and nothing like that would ever stay on a billboard for more than an hour back home, but it seems strange to me that a place like this has to exist. Hey this can me a great place, good food, good shows, pretty lights, but the rest doesn’t appeal to me at all.

O.K. said it, got it off my chest, will try to find something positive to say on Tuesday!
Sometimes it’s good to rant if it’s for a good cause.

the pilgrim

*Photo Note: D7000 24-120 @ 24mm, F16 @ 30 seconds.

When was the last time you saw balloons rising into the air? I’ll bet it was a birthday or retirement party. Balloons are associated with celebration. The morning I shot this image at Sun n’ Fun air show in Lakeland, Florida I was celebrating something very special, another day. It never ceases to amaze me how few people, relish every day as a celebration! I know what you’re thinking, if I had your job I’d feel celebrative too…. Well give me a minute to explain this to a little deeper level.

First, I’m here, on this side of the grass. Yes I’m celebrating being alive, I love life, I love everything about being right here, right now. Last night my son Wesley brought our two grandchildren over for a short visit, my grand daughter Abigail was sitting next to me at the kitchen island, in the middle of her playing with Play-Doh she reached over and patted my arm, leaned her precious little head against my chest and said,” I love you papa”. Enough said.

Second, I’m not afraid of death, not in the least, I have much to look forward too upon that day.
While life is wonderful, death means an eternity with my Lord, how could I be afraid of that. I know many have a lot of trouble believing in an afterlife, I’m not one of them. I’ve been assured by my Lord that it is so, and that’s good enough for me.

Third, I’m married to the woman, I never thought I could marry. She is beautiful, intelligent,
a great friend, a wonderful mother, and grandmother. She is my best friend, the person I most want to spend my life with. If that were not enough, she loves football, and puts up with me.

Fourth, I work with a great group of friends. While we are all different and have our own lives when we are together we make the most of every experience. I truly admire all their talents and skills, but more than that, I really like them as people. I’ve learned from each and every one.

Last, and most important, by grace and only grace I’ve been forgiven and given a new life, for here and for eternity.

How’s that for a list?

Now, over the weekend start making your own list and then when you see just how great you have it, let some balloons go……

the pilgrim

*Photo Note: Nikon D700, 24-70 f2.8, f16 @ .7 seconds, ISO 200.

What is a basic system? If I run to the car to go out and shoot for the day and I’m not sure what I will run into, I need a basic kit that will cover all the bases. I want to shoot wide, medium range, pull subjects in from far away, or crop tighter. I want to make nice portraits with nice out of focus backgrounds, and I definitely want to move in and do close-up to around life size reproduction ratio. I also want to carry as little gear in the smallest package and lowest weight possible and still fulfill those stated goals. As a photographer I’ve spent a lifetime trying to work out this little puzzle. I’ve changed the solution from time to time as new cameras and lenses are released.
As of today, February 17th, 2011 this is my latest answer to the riddle.

For today, my everyday go to FX sensor camera of preference is the D700. I love the D3s and feel it is the single best camera overall, but it weighs a lot more than the D700, which is close to it in performance. The D3s is far better at High ISO low noise, but the D700 works great out to the ranges I need most often. Just for the record, not pictured, I always carry in a separate bag, the new Nikon 7000 DX sensor camera so I can extend the range of all the lenses by a factor of 1.5.
I find the image quality from both of these cameras to be absolutely superb.

So let’s go through the new members of the traveling bag.

(1) The bag is the Lowepro Stealth Reporter AW 400. It’s a great size shoulder bag that when fully loaded with the system pictured above weighs in at only 14 pounds. If I’m flying I will travel with all this plus laptop and hard drives in the Think Tank Airport Security 2.0 or the Lowepro Pro Runner AW X400 for slighter smaller loads of gear. Once on site at assignment where lots of walking is involved I use the Think Tank Component belt system.
(2) Nikon D700 camera body.
(3) Nikon 24-120 AFS VR f4 Nikkor mid range zoom lens. Replaces the 24-70 f 2.8 because it has great range, is slightly lighter, and has VR. It will act as a 36-180 range on the D7000. Even though it is fractionally less sharp than the 24-70, it is still razor sharp. (the 24-70 is the sharpest midrange zoom ever made by Nikon)
(4) A set of automatic Extension tubes for close-up work.
(5) Nikon 16-35 AFS VR f4 Nikkor wide angle zoom lens. In my opinion the sharpest wide angle zoom made today.
(6) Nikon 70-300 AFS VR f4.5-5.6 Nikkor telephoto zoom lens. My favorite long lens in the system because of it’s size, weight, and extraordinary performance. With the D7000 it serves as a 105-450 equivalent focal length lens, in terms of images size.
(7) Nikon 85mm f1.8 AF Nikkor, moderate telephoto lens. I’ve long loved and prefer the 85mm f1.4, but it costs four times as much as this lens and is much heavier and bulkier. The f 1.8 version is super sharp, and much easier to pack, and only 2/3rds of a stop slower. In out and out performance the nod would go to the new 85 F1.4 AFS, but this little fellow will meet my needs fine.
(8) 67mm polarizer to fit the 70-300.
(9-10) 77mm Polarizers to fit the 24-120 and 16-35 lenses.
(1) 77mm Diopter close-up lens for use on the 24-120 (not shown but packed is the Nikon 5T Diopter in 62mm size that can be used on the 70-300 with a 67 to 62 step down ring. As a side note Nikon used to make four extremely high quality diopters, the 3T & 4T (52mm) and the 5T & 6T in (62mm). If you can ever find some buy them up, they are rare and worth the purchase price. My 77mm diopter is not made by Nikon (Nikon has not made a 77mm diopter yet, fingers crossed!, but is of very high quality.
(2) Nikon Remote Electronic Release, Model MC-36.

* Note shown, but always there are: Lens shades for all four lenses, a Swiss Army Knife, Micro Fiber cleaning cloths, lens cleaning swabs, extra batteries, spare memory cards, lens pen, eye drops and Extra Strength Tylenol.

* Also not shown, stored with the backup D7000 body is a Nikon 12-24 AFS f4 lens. Actual combination used to shoot the illustration above.

I own a number of other lenses and accessories for specialized work, but that’s another Tech Someday?!

This exercise may seem a little over the top, but it is an important part of how I work, the less I have to think about ht equipment the more I can think about the image, and after all that is what photography is all about…….

God Bless,

the pilgrim

First, sorry for the pun! But I had this shot and wanted to use it. Having introduced the old saying
what does it mean?

grasping at straws
Fig. to depend on something that is useless; to make a futile attempt at something. John couldn’t answer the teacher’s question. He was just grasping at straws. There I was, grasping at straws, with no one to help me.

Well life without the Lord is grasping at straws. Today’s lesson will be short, sweet, and to the point. If you choose to go through life on your own strength, wits, and good looks, then your in for a rough ride. Your strength will fade away, your wits may not be as formidable as you think,
and looks, well I don’t know about you, but for me that ones really off the table.

Come on guys this one is really simple, with Him you win, without Him you lose……..

blessings,

the pilgrim

*Photo Note: D700, 200mm Micro, f25 at 1/1.6 seconds.