Click, Click, Click…

So here it is…

Working with the 4x5

So Proof positive that Film is Not Dead… totally… yet!
It was nice to see this camera in use, especially with Models.  A few shots with His 4×5 and then Leonard Peterson, the camera’s owner/photographer  from Milwaukee went to work with his Digital SLR, and ring flash.  This image of me above was shot with that ring-flash setup. Gotta love that minimal shadow effect too!

So When I wasn’t busy watching this camera in use, or having my portrait shot with it, I was working pretty hard to produce some wonderful select art myself.

Cambriea

Anticipation...

Faith in the middle of becoming a Human Twister Board!

Anrylka and her Bird of Paradise

And so it went on all day, I clicked away at a number of models, including a few male models that dropped by for a while…

"I Said... I would be Back!"

Needless to say, This Was indeed a fantastic shooting event and I am glad I decided to partake in this colorful affair.

I Want It All!

I am finding myself to be more selective of the shots I am actually taking, both the subject matter and the setting.  Now that I have comfortably gotten back into shooting models along these lines, I have resolved to shoot what I like and what works for me. Although, if you ask me nicely I may shoot something You like!

Lot’s more,but those I can not just put up here due to some more adult content rating.  Check out my other galleries for these lovely images.  I am still playing catch up working through recent shoots… and I am Still out there looking for a New Job!

Cheers!

All Images Copyrighted © 2009 michael T. sedwick
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Three Weeks…

That’s all I have left before I depart on my road trip out to Yellowstone for Spring.  Our 1st ever visit during Spring.   I Loved our Adventures during February and the Winter Wonderland Workshop we attended with all that beautiful SNOW, and I especially always love being there during Rut Season in the fall.  So we are looking forward to the place coming back to life from it’s winter hiatus… and as Diane says, “All the Babies!”

Grand Tetons Panoramic in the Fall

Big Blow!

This should be an extra special trip as well, since we will be taking a Yellowstone Virgin with us this trip… Scott Gillis will be joining us for these adventures!  I’ll be driving out with all the hiking and camera gear and picking them up at the Idaho Falls Airport.  Grand Tetons in the morning, but since they are getting in somewhere around 22:30 or 23:30 on Thursday, I don’t think we will be making it out for Sunrise though.  Sunrise is scheduled for 05:46.  Somehow I just don’t see any of us getting up early enough to make it to the Tetons for that Sunrise…  Maybe I can sneak out alone & go back and get them for Lunch?  

Since I’m driving out there, we are going to be taking some extra lights and try our hand at something we 1st participated in during the Winter Wonderland Workshop we were part of back in February.  Light Painting was a cool endevour during that workshop, so we are going to give it another try on our own one night during this trip.  So I’ll have a couple of Bright lights in the SUV someplace too…

I know thee the of us are looking forward to seeing lots of wildlife as things come out of their winter rests throughout the park.  Baby Elk, Baby Bison, Bear Cubs, and so much more are on the wish list!  I know there is a large group of American White Pelicans that seem to migrate through in May/June at Yellowstone Lake.  I am hoping we can catch these as well.  

Bison in the Road as the Sun Sets in Yellowstone

We will certainly keep you up to date as to our adventures.  We are staying IN the park again this trip… so we will have No Internet connectivity again, but we will be logging better notes… time permitting.  I’ve gotten more time to become more familiar with my Canon EOS 5D MKII.  Anyone want to rent me the 800mm Prime Lens for this trip???

All Images Copyrighted © 2009 michael T. sedwick
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Just a quick update to share what has been going on, and where I’ve been.

Shooting the Morning Mist and Frost around Mt. Moran

 
A lot has happened over the last week, which can be called Life Changing of sorts.  I still have a lot to write about here from recent photographic adventures.  Complete the Series on our Winter Workshop in Yellowstone, a Classic 40’s/50’s/60’s Pin-Up shoot, migrating American White Pelicans, more Bean Images at Sunrise, and the impending start of the 2009 CVO Autocross season less than 2-weeks away.  

CVO Autocross Event (2008 Season) 001

So now my primary activities have been and will continue revolving around  gathering copies of records, etc. from on-line resources before I loose that access, getting all my experiences documented and of course obtaining another IT position as soon as possible.

CVO Autocross Event (2008 Season) 002

Renee's in the Army Now!

Until I have proper time to get all these additional posting up and shared, I have included a few images here to enjoy, and wet your whistles to come back and visit when I do get them up.  Feel free to share your comments below.

—Cheers!

"Please wait while I connect Your Call"

  

Playboy Records

   

The Bean with the Sun just above the Horizon at Dawn

Migrating American White Pelicans resting over at Nelson Lake Marsh

The Cute Samantha at MLP's Racine Studio

All Images Copyrighted © 2009 michael T. sedwick
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The Photo Adventure Continues!

About this Adventure

Part II

Day Three

Time to Pack the `children`...

[03 Feb. 2009]

We had pack 97.3% of our non-camera gear up last night and loaded it into the truck.
Up again before dawn with a much better looking Sky!!!
A quickie breakfast, plenty of water and other liquids… and we’re almost out the lot… Wait, Diane Brown asked if I had room for a bag in the Truck… No Problems.  Loaded up again, we are all off and leaving Jackson Hole for a week…  Tonight we rest our Head in Yellowstone!!!

Out we head from town, heading North along US 191/89 – ’til we got to the Glacier View Pull-out.  We pulled in just in time to get tripod’s set up and catch the Sun breaking across the top peak, and then spreading.  5-vehicles, 18 photographers mass exodus and spread out with gear quickly.  These peaks do look so different in the middle of Winter than in the Fall when we have always been past here in the past.  What a Beautiful Sunrise we had on this cold morning.  Fresh frost hanging on everything.  

Sunrise Breaking Across The Grand Teton's

This panoramic has been stitched together from  4-5 images shot with the 5D MKII.  The original PSD file is 1.4GB in size… and 12,399 x 5,555  might just make a sweet wall print!   Here’s a shot from last year in the fall: Teton’s Fall Panoramic  as a seasonal comparison.

Fog across the Frozen Hidden River

So after shooting here for a bit longer, we all loaded up and headed down the road to our next stop… Ox Bow Bend!  Until George told me, I could not have guessed that that was the pull-out we stopped at.   Again what a difference this place looks like with a fresh blanket of Snow, Frost, and Fog covering it all.  Plenty of that fog still low in the valley and wisps across the front of Mount Moran off in the distance.

Mount Moran and Morning Frost

We shot around here a bit more before loading back up and heading off for Flagg Ranch located about 2-miles outside the Yellowstone Southern gates.  We really were blessed with clear Blue sky’s today!   

Our Surprise rides for 45-miles to Old Faithful Snow Lodge

So we arrive at the Flagg Ranch site and pull around into the parking lot where we will be leaving our vehicles for the rest of this adventure.  We’re all thinking we are hear early as we don’t see the `really big snow coaches – ten passenger vans – not the little Bombardiers` to quote George back in mid January.  So folks wandered inside to use the facilities, grab a drink or other nourishment.  We get back outside and find out Tom and George are a little upset we are NOT getting the vans, but they have actually sent 2 of the Bombardier for 18 peoples.  So these smaller yellow snow transports which fit 6 -7 peoples comfortably are suppose to be our rides for the next 45-miles into the park to our lodging at Old Faithful  …at 25-35MPH!

Let’s review, this is a group of 18 Photographers…  we packed:  

a)  clothing to allow us to be outdoors all day – for a week;
b)  camera gear… lots of camera gear, including 18 tripods (or more);
c)  electronics like laptops and hard drives for storing all those pictures.

Moose Falls from the bottom of the `Slide`

All our regular luggage could be packed up onto the racks on top of these Bombardiers, and that was going to be pretty tight for 18 folks.  Laptops went on a shelf behind the heads of those in the back seat of the vehicle.  That space was tight as it was, and there were at least 1/2 dozen if not more laptops!  Tripods were forced in that space too.   Now all we had to do was cram 9 persons into each Bombardier AND all their camera gear.  We sure got to know each other quite well during this first ride out to Moose Falls, our next shooting stop.  And this was just a quick short ride since this falls is less than 1.5 miles into the park from the South Gate.  Xanterra, the operators of these vehicles was going to send down a third Bombardier to try and ease the load.  We might see this 3rd ride by the time we reached Lewis Falls, our destination after Moose Falls. 

Moose Falls turned out to be a good stop for us all to release some of the stress of the tight ride.  One of the best spots to shoot the falls was reached from sliding on ones butt down to a lower level shooting platform.  We needed to take turns as this spot was tight, and with the snow cover you could not be exactly sure where the real edge was… and landing in the water below with $5,000 worth of camera gear in your hands was not the way to find out.  I took this shot with a slower shutter speed to smooth out the water some.

Morning Light Breaking Through over Moose Falls

I did take some close-ups and more detailed shots here as well.  After some brief discussions with Tom, I also ended up shooting some higher ISO shots here including ISO 1600 and 3200 just to see how that would look, since we were still in some shade from the rising sun.  I’ll post those later in another blog entry I was working on about additional 5D MKII Observations.

By the time we were All done shooting around this falls, the light was getting brighter with little area still hidden in shadows.  The weather was getting nicer and warmer now, were were at least in double digits somewhere.  Warmer from the single digits we had before the sun rose over at the Tetons.   Back into our tiny cans and off to our next shooting spot…

Lewis Falls shot from the River under the Bridge

Lewis Falls, one of the spots Diane and I have shot several times before, just during the fall season.  Just about everyone else set up along the bridge someplace.  I took a look and made up my mind that I was going to try and get to the spot I love to shoot this falls from… Under the bridge!  I took a look over both sides of the road, and took the less dangerous looking side.  The Snow was deep, and getting deeper as I went down closer to the shore.  At it’s deepest, it was waist deep.  Now that may not sound too bad for untroddened Snow… but trying to light your leg/foot to make that next step can become pretty difficult.  You really get a good workout, and I was going down.  Once under the bridge though I was able to get right to the water and shoot directly over the water towards the falls.  Sun was getting higher now… close to noon while we were here, but some nice shadows and details were still visible making for interesting scenes.  

I took shots in both directions from under the bridge.  Standing in the water towards the falls, and down river in the other direction.  I was glad I brought the two cameras  down here with me.  I could have used the tripod, but that would have been even harder to carry given the climb down.  Even though I had two different lenses on these cameras, it was giving me good reference shots to compare and understand the 5D MKII even more.  With the sensor differences of a 1.6 crop factor on the 40D and the full frame of the 5D MKII.  I have clearly noticed the difference when using the Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L IS USM, mostly in the reach range.  But I can also use this more in close range situations as well.  70mm isn’t too far from 50mm with a full frame sensor, and our eye sees at roughly 50mm… forgetting the peripheral vision factors though.  Even my 1D MKIIn has a 1.3 crop factor  by comparison.  It will be interesting to see how well this new camera performs on the 500mm lens later this week.

Steamy and colorful pool

By the time we all gathered to move onto our next destination, we had a 3rd Bombardier to utilize, so now we could put 6 peoples per vehicle, a lot easier to deal with for comfort and moving gear in and out at each shooting stop. 

West Thumb  Geyser Basin would be our next stop and shoot before we make that last leg trek to the lodge at Old Faithful.   Took the short route around this basin area, I think others went around  other paths to see even more or different stuff.  There were some really beautiful pools at this Geyser Basin, but with the colder weather, all that steam can play havoc on trying to get those nice colorful shots like this one where you can make out some good details, textures, depth, and color of the features.  Just have to pray for a quick breeze and be ready to rapidly adjust focus and fire off that shot!   This was a quiet and serene place during this visit too.  Diane and I both sat on one of the benches and just soaked in the beauty, and the silence of Mother Nature in this spot.  I had finally made it to Yellowstone during Winter, and we had made it back to one of our favorite places to photograph.  Enough of that… time to return to the Bombardier & head into the lodge at Old Faithful.  Passing a boat load of snowmobilers on the path, a ritual we would repeat all week long…

Heading out from West Thumb, we did spot a lone Eagle with his back to us off to the right.  I did manage to grab a few shots before he took off away from all the peering lenses.

We pulled up in front of the Old Faithful Snow Lodge where pretty quickly folks unpealed themselves from the interiors of the Bombardiers, and the Xanterra folks jumped all over unloading the tons of gear from the top of the vehicles.  George, Tom, and Marilu took care of all the paperwork, etc. at the front desk, which they quickly turned around and passed out the previously set up packets to us all.  We were all located up on the third floor.  Oddly enough, Diane and I had a room overlooking the front of the hotel, with an easy view of our daily rides, etc.  The room was Warm… we quickly opened up the window (after we figured out how to unlatch it!) to cool things down… a Window which was opened nearly the whole stay there. 

Diane Enjoying the Sunrise over the Grand Teton's

Nice rooms though.  No TV… but we have grown used to that when we come up here.  You are busy enough during the day, that by the time you are done with dinner and all anyhow… you are pretty much ready to crash.  We did have cell phone service here (as expected, and experienced in the past), but I Swore we were suppose to have Internet access…  How was I going to blog daily about our trip adventures without internet access?  So without TV, Radio, or internet… we were pretty much not exposed to events in the world outside of Yellowstone.  Unless someone said something to us during any brief calls back home we may have had.  Which really was OK, since we were here to have fun, photograph wonderful things, and share these experiences with other folks in this workshop with us.

Showers… change, and then dinner.  Wait!  Set up and plug in all those batteries so we are ready for tomorrow!  I brought my octopus extension just for this so we would have enough plugs for everything that needed charging.

Moose Tracks in the Snow at Ox Bow Bend

I don’t know if we took a photo of this or not, but I think it must have drove the maid nuts daily as we had the camera battery chargers plug in, the phone chargers plugs in and all laid out across the bed. OK… Now we can go to Dinner.  I guess we were late as somehow we missed understanding that we were all meeting together for dinner down in the restaurant. This became the nightly ritual.  Good selection of items for dinner on the menu, and this was included in our packages, we just paid for any alcohol we might consume with the meal.  We even got desert!   Shortly after dinner we would meet up on the second floor and have a quick discussion about some topics or events of the day, critique some of our photos, and review any pertinent information about the next days events, And have the daily prize drawing.

Back in the room, layout  cloths for tomorrow… charge all batteries that are still left, and complete downloading images to both the Mac, my external drive, and Diane’s external drive.  Three copies should ensure these images make it back home safely!  

Off to bed… tomorrow is another leg of this adventure… and another part of this story.  This is enough for now as we did quite a bit today just getting from Jackson into Yellowstone.  See You in Part III.

All Images Copyrighted © 2009 michael T. sedwick
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Ah… The Trip has Arrived!

E-mail Announcement about this Adventure

Road Trip Departure

Friday Morning… The truck was loaded, all the gear in the bed, except for those camera’s which were nestled safely in the back seat with pillows for their comfort.  (ok, so this sounds too much like a holiday story… let’s get back  to reality)
Off we left early Friday morning and even though we were heading south on I-88 we really didn’t have a whole lot of traffic.  For most of the drive it was pretty moderate traffic.  I think the longest slow moving period was when we got caught up behind some very wide equipment being transported, and No One wanted to move around it down the side.  Honestly, I think the fact that the police were escorting this with their light on intimidated a lot of folks… finally one brave soul in another pick-up moved past, and then things began to trickle through.

Getting From Here to there... even with a change in the middle!

So the Original plan for the day way to drive from home to Lincoln, Nebraska and spend the night there.  Somewhere along the route with Diane my Trusty Navigator monitoring things… we changed our over-night destination from Lincoln to… Ogallala, NE.  Still right on I-80, but about another 278 miles.  Which in reality turned out OK, since there was some slight miscalculations about the midpoint of travel and we ended up passing through Lincoln at about 3:30 in the afternoon as it was.  None the less, we were in Ogallala shortly after dinner, but with the Timezone change, we still had plenty of time to find something to eat.  A good nights rest and off again in the morning.  Dinner Saturday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming!

Saturday evening we pull into Jackson Hole from the South.  The 49′er Inn on Pearl Street is right off the main drag and was easy to find.  Nice place, friendly folks behind the desk.  We had requested an upgrade from the `normal` room, after Diane see-sawed over a gas burning fire place… Interestingly enough, this put us over in their 2nd building, and that is where as a group, we would be holding our meetings the next few evenings.  So we ended up just two doors down from this conference room.  After we turned OFF the Heat and Opened the Window, we relaxed from the journey and checked out stuff to do before the Big Meet-up on Sunday.  The Gas Fireplace was really nice too.

Sunday Morning Window shopping, Diane trying things over at the Fur shop, T-shits and vests… Quick stop at the grocery store for some supplies.  Back to the room in time for the start of the Super Bowl Game… Go Steelers!  The game started such that Halftime started just as the GAPW meeting was kicking off.  So I got to watch that much.  By Halftime folks were starting to gather down the hall for our first meeting.   I thought this little get together Before we all headed out was good, not only because we would get some good info… but we would begin to recognize the other folks in our group before we were all busy out in the field.

Day One

Get together time… we all gathered into this conference room, in pairs… two to a table. George Theodore and Tom Bol were just finishing getting stuff set up, and began with introductions.  We had 18 folks total, including both instructors.  Based on folks professions, we would be pretty covered for just about any medical emergency.   Two classmates were missing as we had just learned of a near tragic accident they had with a semi truck in town.  Both would be OK, and join us later.  Then we all threw our names into a bucket which would be used for nightly drawing of prizes leading up to a Big Finally on the last night in Yellowstone.  As Tom and George were covering logistics and a little about what to expect for the next week, Tom stopped to introduce a Guest spot… hum?   Diane got up, walked up to the front… picking something up on her way, only to discover while she was out picking up a few food supplies… She had picked up a Cake.  (brat!) See this whole going on a trip came about as part of my 50th Birthday celebration.  I was originally going to Antarctica this year, but due to some unexpected expenses and important Implant surgery we had to put off that trip for a few years… and Found this Great adventure into Snowy Yellowstone.  So now everyone here knows…  Thanks Diane!  (I mean that too!)

We eventually took a break form slides and discussions. Upon returning… there was about 3-1/2 minutes left in the Super Bowl game on the TV in the conference room…  Majority rule, we left the game on until the end… Watching the Steelers Crush the failed hopes and dreams of Arizona!!!!!   Some more discussions, and planning for breakfast and morning meet to head out shooting.  Then just before we broke for the evening, the first Drawing for the week….    Ta Da… Diane Won!  How lucky is that?  She got a 2 or 4GB Flash Drive.  Very Cool!  We also had a chance to meet with Margaret, a very nice lady from Houston, originally from Scotland.  Comments had been circulated about car pooling for travels around until we got to Flagg Ranch, and then returning as well.  I had offered space and Margaret had E-mailed asking to ride with Diane and myself.  So we had a nice cosy group for the week.

Day Two

Well up and ready before sunrise… little light breakfast and we are all on the road towards the pull-outs around the front of the Teton’s for a shoot… Only one thing, No one bothered to tell Mother Nature of our plans and it was such an overcast cloudy morning that we really could not see much of the upper halves of those beautify peaks, not to mention the Sun didn’t peek it’s head out.  

Moose on the loose in the Teton area

I think it forgot to get it’s Jimmy Deans Breakfast! (picture the TV commercials)

So while we didn’t bother to stop and shoot the mountains here, we went looking for Moose.  Found one, but she was alone, slightly off for great detailed shots, and there was a lot of ground clutter between her and all us photographers.  But we all got out and got off a number of shots… Heck by the time we left there must have been 4-5 other vehicles that had stopped for some photo’s too.

I had accidentally (like I would do it on purpose) dropped on the icy asphalt the lens hood for the 500mm, Didn’t notice then, but the spring clip to hold this hood in the channel on the front of the lens had popped out… Good thing I saw it before we left our vehicles to head into Yellowstone… I keep a roll of Duct tape under the drivers seat in the Truck… Always comes in handy.  

Solitair Bull Elk keeping vigil...

A few thin slices wedged between the hood & the lens, a slight twist… and we’re locked in place for the rest of the week!

We were off for Breakfast back in town at The Bunnery.  Oh, we all ate well, as the food was good and plentiful.

Happy Sleigh Rides through the Elk Refuge.

"Just look at those fools in those red boxes being paraded past us..."

After Breakfast we started to head out to the National Elk Refuge but seems 3/4-1/2 the team ended up in the Mountaineering store just a few doors down from the Bunnery.  Eventually we got to the Visitor Center for the Refuge where we are loaded onto a coach bud to take us out to meet the sleighs which will take us out into the refuge and closer to the huge herds of Elk.  This is pretty Cool, as the Elk seem less spooked by the folks in the Sleighs, but it’s not like when you are on the ground in the park where you can move around to get the composition you want, or a better one.  We ended up in a sleigh pulled by Trixie and Dixie, 2 Belgium draft horses.  These Ladies were Huge and quite powerful too.  There were few Elk off on their own, and so many of the images are clustered groups or have busy animal backgrounds.  But we got in  close…  And I think just about everyone came away with a Decent Christmas Card shot for next year! 

I think we shoot out there for around 2 hours before we packed it in and headed back towards the visitor center.  From there it was back to the hotels to clean up, change, etc. and then meet later for dinner together.  Dinner was at The Gun Barrel Steak & Game House. Quite a nice place out here in Jackson Hole.  They sat us upstairs practically in a room to ourselves.   The food was Excellent here, and we were pretty stuffed by the time we were ready to leave.  Margaret really wanted to buy Diane and myself dinner for driving this leg of the trip.  She really was sweet.

We dropped Margaret back at the hotel and headed to the square downtown.  I wanted to take some night shots, especially of the lights in the square with my new Canon EOS 5D MKII.  While there was an initial issue with this camera reported with Black Dots, when photographing lights like these… When I picked up my camera, it already had the latest firmware installed, which was reportedly suppose to mitigate this issue.  I still wanted to test this out thoroughly for myself, as well as play with some night shots.  So we shot in the square for about 30-minutes before heading back to the 49′er.  Well it was straight off to bed after downloading all the images from the day.  We were meeting for a quick breakfast at 6:30am before we tried catching sunrise across the Tetons on the way up to Flagg Ranch in the morning. 

That’s enough for Part I…   We’ll pick up Day Three in the next Part.

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map source: Mapquest.com

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All Images Copyrighted © 2009 michael T. sedwick
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Just a quick bit of humor and jab at those Nikonians!

So here we are, Day-5 of the Winter Wonderland III, 2009 Photography Workshop out in Yellowstone National Park.  We stopped near mid-day at Gibbon Falls for some shooting there.   Diane took this shot of me working to get the composition, focus and exposure just right for this shot.  That’s  George Theodore one of the leaders of this workshop on the far left of the image… I love this shot!  George being a N*K*n User is looking at his camera confused…   

OK, In George’s defense we were all trying out a Special Filter Tom Bol (the other trip leader) had brought with.  So Tom was sharing out a number of Singh-Ray Vari-ND Variable Neutral Density Filters.  These things are weird looking, but can produce some sweet looking images with silky smooth flowing waters dependent upon all your settings.  So like here, in this noon-ish bright sun we were setting up for ISO 100, f/22, for about 10-30 second exposures.  I’d show you one of my images, but as you can see in the image above, I did not put my lens hood back on after setting up the filter… right now, I am less than happy with the images from this location.  But I have some others from later in the week that I think turned out wonderfully.  Since I shot this with my new Canon EOS 5D MKII in Raw… I might do some cropping and see what turns out from there.  Still lots of Details with that long of an exposure.

I have not seen what others ended up with shot yet from this location… so I can’t be too harsh on myself yet.  Plus this was the first time I’ve tried this filter.  It does take some work to get everything set up just right for the shot… But from what I saw preliminary in some of my other shots.  I can say I’d like to try my hand at this filter again!   More images and stories from this trip coming soon… Very Soon!

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All Images Copyrighted © 2009 michael T. sedwick
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Ah, the final week before we start our journey across the Midwest out to Jackson Hole Wyoming, and then into Yellowstone National Park for a Photographic Adventure.

 As I have been writing about over the past few months, The Great American Photography Workshops is presenting their Winter Wonderland III, 2009 workshop.  Or as George Theodore mentioned in an E-mail last week ‘it’s more of a tour because we are spending so much time in the field.’  Which is totally OK with me since I want to shoot shoot shoot as much wintertime wildlife as I can, not to mention capturing Old Faithful during multiple lighting conditions including, hopefully some night shots with a starry sky as a backdrop!  

Bull Elk at Dawn

There was some good, entertaining and friendly E-mail banter that went back and forth last week between a number of the participants… I think this is shaping up to be a Great trip!  Tom Bol is the other instructor, and is sounds as if there are 14 participants… so we should have some good conversations and experiences to share together as well.

 
Between getting my New Camera Body last week in time for this trip, finally having my surgery this week and having that go well, and now possibly finding those extra batteries I need for the Canon Eos 5D Mark II…  I am getting Super excited about the possibilities this trip holds.  Heck, My friend Wendy over at Calumet even left me a message that she might even have a line on the BG-E6 Battery Grip for this camera.  Now, If indeed, the Battery order comes through, I’ll have to wait on that grip, since I might be shelling out for 3-Batteries, which I think I’ll take over the grip for now.  That should get me through this adventure, and then give me 2 full sets of batteries when I can afford the grip down the road again.

Prowling Yellowstone National Park

So between Work, Dr.’s Visits, surgery, recovering, etc.  I have been trying to shoot different things with the 5D MKII to get a good feel for the functionality of this camera.  I did have an opportunity to do a Valentine’s Day themed Model shoot on Sunday.  WoW!  The details this 21.1 MP Full-Frame camera picks up from about 10-12 feet away using my 70-200mm 2.8 L IS USM zoom is scary compared to what I have been used to seeing.

 The studio we shot in was a bit cool, and it was around 17 degrees outside… As we started, the one model had goose bumps… but in reviewing images on the computer later, the details and sharpness show goose bumps on Goose Bumps!  In another close-up it fully highlights the details in the models contact lenses she was wearing.

Bald Eagle at Sunset -- Yellowstone National Park

So noticing the amount of details this camera is picking up has me excited about what more details I should be able to pick up in my Wildlife endeavors.  

Well, I got a little bit off track there but we are now in the final stages of making sure we have all the gear we will need for this adventure.  I feel sorry for the folks at the Snow Lodge in Yellowstone.  Looks like there are a number of Photography groups in there during our stay.  With all of us recharging batteries, phones, etc. in the evening, that’s going to create a bit hefty electric bill…  Clothing wise, Cabela’s can be your friend!
Our checklist looks primarily like this:

• Long underware;
• boot;
• memory cards;
• batteries;
• Charges;
• Laptop with Lots of Storage Space…

What else could we possibly need?  Well, besides the Cameras…
Looks like we’ll have a chance to play cold weather shooting too before we leave.  Sounds like on Saturday we are heading up to Lake Sinnissippi in Wisconsin to watch and shoot some Ice Driving with the Badger Audi Car Club, and a number of local drivers from CVO.   Nothing like standing out on the Ice in Zero degree weather with 20MPH winds!  My guess is by the time we get to the Teton’s and Yellowstone, we’ll be all set for the weather and the beauty around the parks.

Now let’s  hope we have Wildlife willing to come out and play in the cold with us!

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All Images Copyrighted © 2009 michael T. sedwick
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Jean Keene a.k.a. the “Eagle Lady” has passed away.

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On Tuesday, 13Jan09 Jean Keene passed away in Homer Alaska.

Jean has been feeding the eagles of Homer Spit during winters for over 30 years from the spot she made her home back in the ’70’s.  Many photographers should be in debit to her for providing the opportunity for close up and group shots this provided.  While it was not winter when we visited nor did we see any Eagle there, we did have a chance to briefly meet Jean.

(L-R) Michael, Jean, and Scott in her Garden

I fist spoke to Jean via E-mail back in 2005 while we were planning a trip to Alaska for my friends 50th birthday.

We had spoke about stopping by for a visit. So when we were out in Homer wondering around, Diane kept insisting we find Jeans home and stop in to say `hello`.

(L-R) Diane, Jean, and Scott in Jean's Garden

We eventually came across Jeans place, and she invited us into her garden to sit a visit. She was such a sweet individual with a lot of heart. I have cherished that meeting and the photo’s we have from that visit.

Jean accepting a delivery at her home...

I had also ordered a Biography titled `The Eagle Lady` by Cary Anderson an Alaskan Photographer which both Cary and Jean had autographed. This is a wonderful book all about Jean’s life and adventures in Homer and with the Eagles.

As in life, when it was her time to go, she did it Her way, quietly at home. Near her Eagles. There are over 80 wonderful images in this book which only adds to reinforce memories of our time in Homer and that visit with Jean.

There is a cool and very friendly bar on the Spit, Salty Dawg Saloon.  One of Alaska’s oldest Saloons, just look for the lighthouse.  It’s located just down at the end of the Spit… Mossy on in and have a drink in honor of Jean.  Leave your own mark up on the wall/ceiling too!

Jean Keene’s Memorial Service Info.  Post your condolences.

As Diane expresses: `From the Thoughts of one Potawatomi, You have earned Your Eagle Feathers.`

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We Raise our Glasses to You Jean!

Jean You will be missed!  We hope you find peace.

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A few YouTube related video’s:

The Eagles of Homer-A Story inspired by Jean Keene-
The Eagle Lady – Book
Homer Eagles in a Winter Storm

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All Images Copyrighted © 2009 michael T. sedwick
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Well the Day I’ve Been awaiting… patiently, has arrived!

On Monday Evening I received a call from Calumet saying they had in a Canon EOS 5D MKII with my name on it.  I needed time to juggle monies between bank accounts to spend it, and was dealing with a busted water heater at the time anyhow.

It’s Bigger, It’s Better… It’s All Mine!

New Canon EOS 5D MKII resting at home by the hearth!

So after the plumbing guys came and left today, I took a long late lunch to pick up my prized new camera body.  Took my 40D with, which had my Canon 70-200mm 2.8 L IS USM lens attached.  I wanted to see what the difference would be from the view finder with something I was used to.  This was an easier lens to tote around into the store than my 500mm!  This will really be my first chance to functionally shoot with a Full-Frame Sensored camera, let alone own one.   So I’m pretty excited for a number of reasons.

Front Porch Light -- Close-up

I got to the Oak Brook Calumet Photographic location watching the outdoor temperatures drop along the way.  It was now a balmy 7˚F with a light breeze.  I was surprised the store wasn’t too busy.  Wendy spotted me before I made it to the counter, and went and grabbed the box.  Now was the magic moment. Up until this point I have only seen images and video of this camera.  This was the first time I actually had my hands on one, and it was Mine!  Quickly swapping the 70-200 from the 40D to the 5D MKII I began checking out simple functions and views.  Calumet has their own brand of what they call Pro Series Memory Cards and their ProSpec UDMA 8GB Compact Flash Card is $79 right now, so I asked for one of those to use, I’d buy it and give it a work out.  These new UDMA cards are suppose to write much faster, and with shooting RAW in Burst mode I could use all the write speed I could get.   Shot off a few images about the store as Wendy began processing my order.  I’ll keep those for my test records, since I don’t want to post of images from folks there without asking them.

Wendy did mention that there was already a Firmware Update released.  I mentioned that yes I knew, as a matter of fact I had already downloaded it in anticipation of having this camera before the Big Trip to Yellowstone NP… in just 17-days now, but who’s counting!  Later on in the evening I would discover this particular camera body had already been updated to the latest firmware release.

When I got back home, I had to check in with some work stuff first, and follow up on some stuff I’m working on.  Eventually I did get back to the camera, and began to shoot some more test shots.  Diesel and Buddy, our dogs make some good subjects, so I volunteered them…  Shot a few outside the house too, but it was getting darker especially for some of the Snow test shots I wanted to do.

Front Porch Light, Full view

One thing that noticeably missing to me is the extended Battery Grip.  Usually I have purchased the grip when I’ve bought the camera.  This time there was such a jump in price and since I’m basically paying cash that was a bit much at this time. (Yes… I actually saved & scrimped  to put away the cash up front for this.  I don’t think I have put any of my gear on credit.) Average prices seems to be in the $270-299 range.  Quite a jump from the battery grip on the 40D, which I paid $189.  When you get used to the body weight and size with the grip on, it’s hard to adjust to the body without the grip there.  Besides, I love the extra power of having 2 batteries extending my shoot time.  Even when shooting in extremely cold weather like the conditions we shot at the Mississippi last weekend.

Sample Test Images

So These are just a few Quickie Test Images I’ve shot within the first Few Hours after arriving back home with this camera. No Tripods, No extensive setup, I just looked for a few things which I could check details, textures, lighting.  Between now and Sunday I hope to have time to play and experiment more. Especially since I am doing a Valentine’s Day Themed shoot with a number of models.  Should make for some sweet opportunities to stretch out the legs of this new camera’s capabilities.

Random Observations

• ISO setting…  While I do tend to check out my setting, and change things as conditions change, I actually Did Not check to see where The ISO setting was when I started shooting things.  Turns out, and these shots shown here and every thing I shot that first day was set at ISO 50.  Digitally I don’t think I have shot as low as 50 before.  I so used to shooting at ISO 400, unless I’m shooting in a highly extreme condition either low light or lots of Sunlight.  I have shoot full outdoor events at ISO 100 when that sun is quite bright and little clouds.  I have done studio shoot at ISO 100 as well when we have high-speed controlled lighting situations. There have been times at Yellowstone early in the morning or evening when I’ve shot at ISO 800.  But like I said, under most normal conditions I’m shooting at ISO 400. 
  

  Diesel watching TV with Gramdma

• Image counter [Shots remaining]  In years past this was not as big an issue since 1-2-4GB Compact Flash cards didn’t exceed a three digit image count.  As an example, on my 40D with a 4GB card I can get ~297 Raw images, and ~947 JPEG images (Fine).  With an 8GB CF Card, I get ~596 Raw and well close to 2,000 JPEG images. And on a 12GB CF I get roughly ~943 Raw and over 2,700 JPEG’s.  I was hopping that given the image sizes this produced, and the video, they would do as they have with the 1D-series cameras and provide us with a 4-digit counter. They did Not!  Why is this an issue?  maybe I’m just being anal about this, but I like to see those images clicking off knowing I’m getting shots recorded, without having to go back to the LCD screen & preview what I’ve just shot.  When I am out shooting Autocross action I shoot JPEG for obvious reasons. (You try shooting a whole day of 7,000+ images and convert those from RAW…  You’ll be at it all week!) On average using two cameras, I shoot anywhere from 10-20 images per car as they make a run, sometimes more.  and the cars are running back-to-back with little if any time between cars.  So I don’t have time to be constantly checking the review screen after every car to know I recorded shots.  To me, seeing that counter run down is an easy quick assurance that things are going well.  Don’t get me wrong, there are moments when I have a lull in the action, and I do check to make sure the shots are looking fine, but that’s more to make sure that I am shooting with the right settings for the conditions and I’m producing good usable images.
• Batteries! No One seem to have Batteries in stock?  What happened there Canon?  Everyone I call either has batteries on back order, or can’t get them.  So You put out a fine camera, you offer a battery grip (which I couldn’t get if I wanted either, it’s backordered!) and we can’t get extra batteries for single replacement use OR to populate the Grip with  So now I have this Great camera, but can only use it for about 800 shots (estimated battery life)
• Memory Card Extremes -The ProSpec CF card temperature specs Vs the SanDisk.  So far to date I have been a big big fan of the SanDisk memory cards.  Reliability, Reliability, Reliability.  They have a fantastic track record, if there is an issue with the card, their service is as good.  But one of the biggest reasons go back to when I was originally planning the trip to Antarctica.  I wanted to only buy cards that would survive that environment, as well as some of the cold weather we have shot out along the Mississippi and Rock rivers with our Midwest winters. Heck, Last time I was in Alaska it was -40˙F when I arrived, and had only `warmed up to` -23˙F by the time I left 2-months later.  So I have been buying the SanDisk Extreme III (I do one 1-2 Extreme IV’s as well) as they are rated to operate from -13˙F – 185˙F.  Not that I plan to be anywhere close to the high end, I know I will easily work within the low end environments.  Oddly after I looked it up since it’s not within the packaging anywhere, the Calumet ProSpec UDMA CF Cards are also rated for that same temp range.  So I see how this fairs over time, since that $79 for an 8GB UDMA card is pretty nice as far as I’m concerned.
• Batteries…. Did I mention I can’t find batteries in Stock Anywhere???

Trying Video

Now I don’t have the budget nor accessories gear pool to use that Vincent Laforet had access to during his shooting of Reverie.  But I am going to attempt to do a little HD video documentation of our Winter Photography workshop out in Yellowstone which we leave for at the end of the month.  If you have Not seen his video, go check it out at the above link, or even his blog. It will be interesting to see what Wildlife HD video looks like shot using the 500mm lens.  I have shot a few <1-minute clips, with the camera mounted to a tripod but nothing worthy of sharing yet… still testing this out. Canon posted a few sample videos as well, I’ll have to find that link and post it here. The one of the bird I thought was rather intriguing since I do shoot so much wildlife.  I’ll have to check out some auto racing video when Autocross season starts up in April.
I had already read some miscellaneous blogs and articles about the quality of the video. But one things that struck me was so many folks think there won’t be problems when trying to shoot HD quality video and hand holding the camera.

Well, I need to get off to bed, and ready for work.  Man I need longer days to check out this camera some more and be completely comfortable with it’s knobs and feature locations so I don’t look like a bumbling idiot.  Especially given the average temperatures at Yellowstone during this time of year.  Not to mention the negative temp Highs they are predicting for the Midwest later this week!  Now where did I leave that manual?

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All Images Copyrighted © 2009 michael T. sedwick
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It’s that time of year again when the Eagles migrate down the Mississippi River for the Winter.  Young and old they gather around the Locks and Dams during the cold weather months from Wisconsin to Alton, Illinois.

Me... Shooting the 500mm at perched Eagles at L&D #14

While the weather is cold, freezing or below, the Mississippi is usually frozen over except just before and just past the Locks and Dams where there is open water’s flowing into and out from these dams.  The Eagles take advantage of this to feed and play.  And we can watch their aerial acrobatics as they go about these wonderful flight shows.  Word on the IBET list was there were some high counts this year at the L&D’s so all we needed now was a good Sunny day.

Adult Bald Eagle along Mississippi in Winter 04Jan09 -- L&D#14

On this particular trip out there for us, the First Sunday of the New Year… the weather was suppose to be partly cloudy.  I must admit, the entire foggy and misty drive out to the river, I was getting more and more skeptical as the clouds didn’t seem to be lessening, nor was the fog initially.   So much for seeing any sunrise and catching some eagles at 1st light…    My plan was to try making it out to L&D #13 by dawn…  Now it’s been a few year since we were out there as last year this time, I was off working a project in Fairbanks Alaska for a few months.  So my exact remembrance of getting there was fuzzy… and of course, I didn’t look it up or double check before heading out.  I was pretty sure that one (L&D#13) was on the Illinois side, but we got off track in Fulton (yup, we had gown past the Dutch Windmill and all), but would up driving through some subdivisions.  So as it was starting to get light, we decided to head down stream towards L&D #14.  We did stop briefly for about 8 or more Eagles perched just off the roadside on Rt 67 on the Iowa side, just North of L&D14.  We pulled into the lot carefully as there were a few other photographers in the lot shooting up into the trees.

Diving in for the Catch!

Lights getting brighter now, little sun peeking in and out from those clouds.   3-4 Eagles in the trees here, no clean shots with all the branches.  Seems to be an impatient and belligerent juvenile eagle that was trying to snatch the fish from any other eagle heading for the trees, or even while they were in the tree with that fish.   Frustrating to some but making for interesting flight.  And we sure had a vocal show going on as well.

"Hey I got one too!"

Quite a few birds flying over the river too.  I made my way closer towards the dam along the planked walkway.   Grabbed a few flight shots over the river.   A good number of ducks and a few cormorants down on the rocks along the water.   Did get a glimpse of a Belted Kingfisher fluttering near the shore, but I couldn’t turn myself and the camera quickly enough as I was an a pile of boulders.  Watching two adult bald eagles sitting in another tree hoping one would cone diving into the water, I was soon blessed.    One soon did just that, and right in front of me and my lens!

Diane nailed me shooting above the river at LD#14

We did drive by Credit Island, but were surprised to find it pretty much closed off.  You can drive around to the right for about 300 feet, and to the left side for maybe 600 feet… So there is clearly no easy means to get back to A) where the eagles hang out along the shore line further back, OR B) to the one far corner down the left side where the bird feeder is and all the varying birds that hang out there.

Fly-by Over Head...

Something I look forward to every trip out.  Not sure if this is a budget cutback issue or what, but for all the years I have been coming out here I have Never seen this closed off like this.  Don’t get me wrong now, you could park the truck and hike out there, but with the road un-plowed, snow-covered, and icy… it would not have been an easy hike with the camera gear in tow on un-sure footing…  I was hoping for some more woodpecker shots this year too!

Off back towards LD #13 we headed.  The sky’s were now getting some blue sky clearings and the Sun shining through.  Temps were dropping now below 20, but it was the wind on this side of the river that was really making things harder to work with.  20-30 mph winds right into your face makes things a little harder to breath, the hands get colder in light gloves (ok, so I prefer the lighter gloves as I have problems with the trigger when wearing my heavier warmer gloves!) Even worse, Camera Battery life drops off like a rock tied to an anchor!

"It's MY Fish and I'm Not Sharing!"

Despite the faster frame -rate I have with the 1D MKIIn, I switched to using my 40D on the 500mm lens just for the slightly better reach.  By the time we left the river to head back home, I was on my third set of batteries in this camera!  Thank goodness I have three sets for this body too.  (I have the extended Grip on this camera, which allows me 2 batteries for better performance and life over the default single battery)

We will definitely need the cold weather covers I have ordered from the UK in Yellowstone, since it is generally this cold during the month of February there… Hope those arrive soon.  I think I better get a few more Heat packs just to be on the safe side too!!!

Tight turn right in front of platform LD#13

I’ll post some shots of those in use once they get here and comment on their performance as well.

So here a few more shots from the day’s events between the three Lock and Dams we visited…  Hope you enjoy them.

I’ve included a few that Diane took of me at work…  She likes the ‘Behind the Scene’ type stuff… and I just sometimes like the odd way I look when I’m shooting…

Between work and everything else I have going on over the next month,

I sure hope to make it out to the river a few more times before the spring thaw clears the ice and the Eagles have headed back up North!
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All Images Copyrighted © 2009 michael T. sedwick
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