Category : Pilgrim’s Chronicles

Last night I had a rare pleasure, I got to sit at the hospital and wait for a baby to be born. My friend Brandon Pratt and his wife Whitney got the greatest of God’s earthly gifts a new baby.
Lucas Tyler Pratt was born at 7:06 p.m. and one of the largest family gatherings I’ve seen in a long time all gathered in the waiting area erupted with joy. I was there to offer the only service I have the talent to give, make some pictures for him, Whitney and his family. I’m late posting because I spent a lot of the day working on images to distribute to all the grandparents and great grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends. Brandon has a terrific family, but then our country is filled with families that deeply love one another and are so proud and happy at these most wonderful of occasions. Sherelene and I have three adult children all married and they have brought us the great joy of six grandchildren. I’m proud to say I was at the hospital for all but one of the six. I am not a part of
their family but after almost
four hours of visiting with
them I kind of feel I am now.
Good people that care
about each other and have
found the sweet spot in
life. Being involved in the
lives of others and less
hung up the capital “I”.

I’ve had a rough couple
of days trading emails back
in forth with some people
I use to work with. Turf
battles, one upmanship,
staking out who will be the winner. They can have it. I really don’t care about that kind of stuff anymore, and really never did. Give me people that live a simple life, work hard, go to church, love their families, and stick by each other through thick or thin. Fame and fortune looks mighty dull if you compare it to devotion, steadfastness, sacrifice, and love. Give me what the Pratts have any day over what the world says we need. The world got it wrong…….

Father, bless this family, watch over them, guide them and protect all their little ones, especially the newest member of the clan, Lucas Tyler Pratt. Amen

Take a deep breath and look close around you, and behold the treasure God has placed at your right hand.

the pilgrim

Photo Note: D7000, 50mm f 1.4 and P300.

I’ve spent the last 42 years trying to figure out what to carry and even more importantly, why?!
I’ve always thought that before you can solve a problem you need to define it. So here goes, when you go into the field to make photographs you need to have everything you might need to make said photographs, that you are capable of carrying. If you work for National Geographic
you can take 800 pounds of gear and hire three people the shlep it. I don’t work for National Geographic, though I once had a subscription to National Geographic…….

I soon learned that my limit of weight to carry without hurting myself was around 20 pounds. I also knew that I needed lenses that covered everything from pretty wide, around out to 18 mm, and long glass that went out to around 400 mm. Since Wide Angle zooms and telephoto zooms would cover that range, I knew something would have to cover the middle range. Over the years I owned and used a lot of lenses in each of those categories. As of July of 2011, I have found the two wide angle zooms that work best for me. Why two? I use both DX and FX bodies and in the area of wide angles, they require different lenses to get the widest focal lengths. DX 12-24 AFs f4
and FX 16-35 AFs VR f4. The mid range zoom was not as easy, I’ve used the 28-70 f 2.8, the older 35-70 AF f2.8 and the newest 24-70 AFs f 2.8. The only problem for the way I shoot is all of them often had to be removed from the camera to get something longer. When Nikon released the 24-120 AFs VR f4, I got one in my consignment, I decided to give it a try. I fell immediately in love with this lens, it covers a great range on either FX or DX and is tack sharp, maybe a hair less so than the 24-70, but with the addition of VR it is more useful. It also focuses very close and with a diopter, can almost serve as a Micro lens.

On the long end there are many choices and all of them have great merits. Since I don’t shoot a great deal of available light, the 70-300 AFs VR f4.5-5.6 is very, very sharp, and on the DX is the equivalent to 105-450. Since I don’t have a fast lens for those low light moments, I picked up the 85mm f 1.8. It is very sharp, compact, and less than one fourth the cost of the fabulous but very
bulky 85 f 1.4. For most close-up work I use any of the longer lenses with a diopter and or, automatic extension tubes.

I use polarizers a great deal, and always carry a good tripod, head, and cable release.

Is this all I own? Nope, I have a number of other lenses, mostly collectables and back-ups,
and just for fun. One lens that I do use a lot for serious, dedicated close-up work is the 200 mm Micro Nikkor. The point is to make virtually every image I want to make with a minimum of gear.
By simplifying my gear, I don’t think about gear, I think about images. Photography is to important to waste on thinking about anything but the image…….

I could have been any of a number of things, but God allowed me to be a photographer. I will never stop thanking Him for the sheer pleasure of doing what I get to do. God is truly good.

Blessings,

the pilgrim

It’s all about the image……..

Photo Note: All images made with the equipment listed in the post.

Yesterday I had lunch with Jim Begley, and he shared RC Concepcion’s new book with me which has a piece on his work featured in it. It brought to mind just how fortunate I am to count such wonderful people as friends.

First, RC, wow what a talented man and what a great warm human being. I never spend time with RC that I don’t think how fortunate NAPP is to have him as part of the team. He is one of the most giving, considerate gentlemen that I know. In spite of his enormous talent, he is so unaffected by it.
RC is a real joy to spend time with. By-the-way, his newest book, The HDR Book, is a must have if you are into or thinking about getting into HDR. It is, like all his books, easy to read, and filled with great information. Congratulations RC, well done my friend.

Second, Jim Begley. Ever since we met a few years ago at a church photo class I was doing, we have become great friends. He and Chuck Summers, (coming up next), have become spiritual mentors, and wonderful photography buddies. Jim has an incredible eye and has worked hard to become a technical master of his craft. Jim’s HDR work takes a back seat to no ones. As hard as i’ve tried to capture the feeling in Jim’s work, I’m still miles away, and know I will never catch up, as I see his talent continuing to grow exponentially. More than all of that, Jim is a real friend, a man I admire and a person I know I can count on. Speaking of people you can count on…….

Third, and certainly not last is Chuck Summers. Chuck’s and my friendship goes way back. We met many years ago in the early GAPW (Great American Photography Weekend) years. Chuck has been a steady, devoted friend, who has prayed me through more circumstance than you can imagine. Fellowship with Chuck has been a real highlight of my life. Chuck is an immensely talented shooter and a gifted writer. Chuck is a pastor and I’m honored to be part of his flock.
I highly recommend that you visit his blog; http://www.seeingcreation.com it will greatly bless you.
He does Seeing Creation with another great friend Rob Sheppard.

One of God’s greatest gifts to us are friends. I can’t tell you how wonderful it has been to get to work and play with such great people as Scott Diussa, Bill Pekala, Mark Kettenhofen, and the rest of the NPS team. To hold such life long friends as Don Nelson, my brother Homer Fortney, Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski, Charles Stanley, Ricky Skaggs, Jack Graham, and countless others. The joy of new friends like; Jim Haverstock, Snake Barrett, Chuck Barnes, Larry Williams, Susan Scharenburg, Raymond Jabola, Carl Turner, Ron Pinkenburg, Tim Isaacson, and countless others that make me smile when I think of them. I know I’m leaving names out, please forgive me, you know I love you dearly.

I can’t make a list without saying my best friend, and the love of my life is Sherelene. No man ever had a better friend or partner.

God has richly blessed me with wonderful people to share this great life with. Thanks to all of
you for allowing me to be your friend…….

Most of all, what a friend we have in Jesus.

Blessings,

the pilgrim

Photo Note: RC’s book photographed with a D7000 and 24-120 lens.

I’m working on my next Kelby Training class entitled, “Learning to See Photographically”. This is the class i’ve always wanted to build and teach. I have been inspired by the work of many photographers, and one great book, Developing the Creative Edge in Photography, by Bert Eifer.
This book, my copy is filled with highlights and written notes, was a major factor in helping me organize my plan to attempt to become a really good photographer. I’ve taken information from that book, and added some form books by Freeman Patterson, and Tony Sweet to try and construct an outline to base this new class on.

I think the biggest problem I’ve had as a photographer is over-complicating everything. I think it takes age and experience to sort out those issues, and I’ve got plenty of both. My desire is to pass on my sheer enthusiasm and excitement about photography to those I get the chance to share with.
One of the greatest discoveries for me was actually forced on me. Working for Nikon as a tech rep we get a big shipment of new Coolpix cameras a couple of times a year. In the early years with Nikon I would open one or two and try it and put it back in the box frustrated and never use it again. The problem was that early on the shutter lag made it impossible to capture an exact moment and the over all quality of the images fell short of my more familiar DSLRs. Over the years very steady improvements have been made and last year when the P7000 came out it turned out to me the camera I had been waiting for. I found it to operate almost as fluidly as my big Single Lens Reflexes and it made stunningly beautiful images. Then I tried the P300, much the same camera in a smaller package and the S9100 once again very similar but with a super long range zoom reaching all the way out to 450 mm.

I love all these little guys but the P300 has become my take everywhere camera, let me explain why and what a small pocket camera can do for you. Before I get complaints form friends that bought a P7000 on the basis of my rave reviews, I still use it and love it and still have a P7000
of my own, but the P300 works better for me for several reasons which I will explain shortly.

When do I use a small pocket size camera? All the time! I carry a P300 almost everywhere I go because it is truly very small and easy to have with you. Any camera that you do not have with you can’t make images. The P300 is small enough to actually fit in your breast pocket or on a very small holster on your belt.

Why the P300 over the P7000? I love them both, but the P300 has a maximum aperture of f 1.8 which is huge when you want to shoot in low light without flash, which describes a lot of what I shoot with it. It also has a zoom range of 24 mm (yes I said 24 mm) to 100 mm. I would love a little more on the long end, but having 24 mm wide angle makes up for it. If I really wanted more
focal length on the long end I would take the S9100 which goes out to 450 mm!!!!! it also goes to 25 mm very nearly a 24 mm. It is slightly larger than the P300 but not much more so.

What is the advantage of the smaller Coolpix cameras? 1. You always have it with you, so no missed shots. 2. It does not intimidate people you want to make a photograph of. I’m finding most people don’t care it all if you “snap” and image with your “little” camera. Pull out a cinder block size camera and watch how people react. Using the LCD panel on the back ( sure which they tilted ), it’s not hard to shoot way over your head or low to the ground, and you will get shots you would miss with a big DSLR.

What features do you like about them? I love the scanning Panno feature, just set it for easy panorama and shoot an image (either 180 or 360 degrees) and the camera stitches it together and does a fantastic job. All three cameras shoot Hi Definition Video, the P300 and S9100 shoot 1080p with stereo sound recording and the video looks fantastic. The 720p from the looks very good too. The P7000 is ruggedly made and the 28 mm – 200 mm zoom range is nearly perfect, would be perfect if it slipped back to 24 mm. The lens though is super sharp with ED glass.

Which to choose??????? I use the P300 as my everyday always have it with me camera. I use the P7000 when I want to do more precise work and need the extra reach. I would also use the S9100 but I can’t get it out of Sherelene’s purse without her noticing……..

The bottom line is this, photography is about capturing those special moments and those things that really excite us. If you don’t have a camera with you, you can’t make the photograph. Now that the Coolpix cameras have, come of age, I can tackle almost any shot and know I can get a very usable image, maybe even a great one! The thing I love the most is the images below, would never have been captured if I hadn’t had one of my little buddies with me.

Happy shooting, and God bless,

the pilgrim

My Coolpix Gallery

I slipped it out of her purse!