It's all about the case...

For the most part, I make a concerted effort to look after my belongings. I personally don't find myself to be super uptight about it - I mean it's just STUFF, right? It can be replaced. But I still like to do the best I can to prolong the life of my favorite things. Including of course, my cameras. Which is why I highly recommend hiring either Pelican or Lowepro to protect the goods, depending on the environment.

I can speak firsthand about the virtues of both these types of cases, because right from the get-go, I've hauled my camera with me in temps ranging from -25C to +40C, in a variety conditions from snow to sand to wind to water. I take my gear out climbing with me, I take it skiing, I take it to the beach, I take it to parties. It's kind of like a child to me... and I have to dress it up differently depending on the situation.

I have a Lowepro waist harness bag and a couple of Lowepro individual camera bags, which work well for skiing and hiking. A small camera bag can be tucked into a backpack if necessary, which is how my camera travelled to Bolivia. It really only has room for a body and one lens however, but on a vacation that is not photography specific, it is perfect. My Pelican case came with me to Costa Rica. It's a 1520 and at the time held everything except a tripod. I found this to be a particularly good choice of container, because when it is closed properly, it is watertight and it FLOATS... what a beautiful thing... since I inadvertently got caught out on a large sandbar that I had walked out to at low tide, but had to swim back from at high tide. D'OH! And most recently, I bought a Lowepro backpack, the CompuTrekker AW model. This thing is the bomb, I'm telling you! Yes, the Pelican keeps out dust and water and is mostly indestructible... but carrying it is cumbersome. The CompuTrekker fits all the gear I own right now, PLUS it has a built in rain cover (hence 'AW' - all weather), PLUS my laptop fits nicely in it, PLUS it can be carried on my back! So far, for travelling, I like it the best. I realize I'll have to be careful about how deep I wade when I'm wearing it... but all around, it is the most versatile case I own.

Oh, I'll still use the others... the Pelican serves its purpose in harsh conditions when I don't have too far to go from the car, and the smaller Lowepro bags are great for taking to events, social gatherings, etc. For now I think I'm stocked for cases, but I'll be sure to let you know if I try something new. Cheers.

Night Lights

Well, I went from ignoring my camera for weeks, to spending three full hours last night trying to photograph one of the most amazing spectacles of Mother Nature I've ever seen. An unbelievably intense thunderstorm lolly-gagged its way over the city in which I live, giving me ample opportunity to test out most of my camera's manual functions. I must have taken two hundred pictures! Of course I ended up keeping only about ten of them... The unfortunate part was that it rained and hailed so hard that I could not be outside; I had to do the best I could through a window. However, it was still a great learning experience.

I shot with a K20D, in JPEG format, which is unusual for me. I always shoot in RAW, but, I figured I was experimenting all around with shutter speeds, apertures, ISO's and focus, and I just didn't feel in the mood for alot of post-processing. I was disappointed with some of the results, as I noticed a couple of 'hot pixels' on a few of the photos. This apparently is a known problem with the K20D when using the 2-second timer. A recent firmware upgrade offered by Pentax was supposed to correct the problem, and obviously it was not successful.

At any rate, it was good to snap the shutter again! I'll be starting a set of two weeks off of work tomorrow night, and I look forward to spending as much of the time I can taking pictures. Did I mention in a previous post that we're heading to Nitinat Lake, BC, for their Windfest 2008? Check out my travel blog (http://www.kidinacandyshop.blogspot.com/) for more information and to read about the trip.

Cheers.

Withdrawal...

I'm definitely not getting out with my camera nearly as much as I need to. I can feel it. I'm anxious. I want there to be some sort of event I can attend - a kid's birthday, a baseball game, anything... I've been working fairly steady for the past two weeks, so all I've really been able to do is come home every day and have a quick glance at my gear, have a bite to eat, get ready for bed - and then remind myself that I'm not taking enough pictures! D'OH!

I went to a few fantastic workshops last summer, hosted at the Banff Centre for Conferences (the schedule can be found on this website: http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainculture/). At one in particular, the instructor made a comment that a person should take at least two dozen photos EVERY DAY. They don't necessarily have to be amazing content. The important part is to stay in touch with your camera - and I've been neglecting mine, big time. Sorry buddy!

However, next week I'm heading to Vancouver Island for Windfest 2008, at Nitinat Lake. I'm looking forward to 6 days of kitesurfing and (more importantly!) photographing other participants. My K20D likely won't be out of my hands for more than a few hours at a time; I can hardly wait!

On that note, I do have a bit of the afternoon left before I have to leave for work. So I think I'll go re-aquaint myself with my camera gear!

Cheers.