A gear review published in my recent newsletter. If you havent checked it out yet, click here.
When I found out that I’d be heading out to the Seychelles, I knew I would have to make an upgrade in gear. My immediate need was a new camera body. Up until this trip, I had shot all my photography with one camera – a Canon 30D. It’s a great camera, but it was time beef up the body. After much debate between a Canon 7D and 5D, I decided to purchase the 7D. Other than the price, the feature that influenced my purchase was the AF system in the 7D. It’s a smarter system than that of a 5D, which I prefer for shooting underwater images.
A GOPRO mounts perfectly on the top of this housing to capture a cool point view.
With the types of underwater images I shoot, it’s rare that I’m able to look through the viewfinder. Not only do I have to know the lens I’m shooting, but I must heavily rely on the AF system to do it’s job. With the 7D’s advanced AF system, particularly zone selection, I can trust that I’ll have a higher quantity of sharp images. An issue I’ve always fought is the camera’s tendency to focus on the waterline in split shots. Often times in this situation, the subject in the lower portion of the image is out of focus. I found that the zone selection really assisted in solving this problem. Another convenient feature I love is the quick control (Q) option. With one push of a button, I’ve got access to virtually all camera functions other than shooting mode. This makes it incredibly simple to make changes on the fly. Overall, I’m very happy with the decision I made and I look forward to the future I have with this body.
With intentions of shooting underwater images with my 7D, I had to replace my old housing, which was specifically designed for a 30D. My Ikelite housing was a great piece of equipment, but honestly a bit of an overkill for what I do. It’s a housing designed for diving, which meant HEAVY. It was a complete beating to carry around. In comes Aquatech. They’ve pioneered underwater housings catered specifically for the action sport photographer. What you have to realize is that these are not designed for divers, which is why it’s depth rating is only 33ft. With the CO-7 model, I equipped it with a 50mm extension ring for my Canon 10-22mm lens, as well as their LP-3 8” dome.
After installing my camera (so easy), the most exciting feature was it’s overall weight. The housing alone is a slim 3lbs. Next, is the large handle. While marching out to the reefs on St. Francois, this handle was a life-saver! All around, it’s construction is incredible. The housing design is simple and ergonomic, making it super easy to handle while shooting. It’s simplicity allows for quick assembly and easy cleaning. Both the extension ring and LP-3 dome are constructed of high quality, super lightweight aluminum. The threading is machined to perfection so you can count on a snug fit every time, ensuring a safely enclosed camera. After putting this housing to the ultimate test, I can’t say there is a single flaw. I commend and thank Aquatech for offering such a great and high quality product. The only regret I have is not purchasing one of their great sport shields! For more info on these great housing, please visit www.aquatech.net
I’m pretty bummed that I can’t make it to the annual air show at Alliance Airport this year. My brother is getting married and well, I guess that’s more important. I did however make it last year and it was awesome. It happened to be my first air show to shoot photos at – it was difficult.
A friend, Tim Romano recently posted some photos of an air show he just covered and it inspired me to get off my butt and post some pics from last year. What I love about Tim’s photos is that he had subject matter other than the sky to incorporate into his photos. It makes such a difference. I’m fairly pleased with how mine turned out. Either way, I always love going to these shows. Simply amazing.
I’m super excited to announce my first sponsorship! I have partnered up with AquaTech, a company that specializes in camera housings, sport shields and other photography accessories. These guys build their products with adventure photographers in mind and I can’t wait til I get my new housing in. What initially caught my eye is their attention to detail when it comes to housing accessories. The winner for me is the ability to fire the camera remotely by using their Pocket Wizard housing. I have been sitting on all sorts of ideas that require a housing and firing the camera within it remotely. Now that I have access to that, I can’t wait to see what creative shots I can come up with. I leave for the Seychelles in two months and when I return I’ll write an extensive review on both my new camera body (Canon 7D) and the new housing (AquaTech CO-7).
If you’re a entrepreneur/information junkie, like me, you will dig the sites below. As an entrepreneur, I am constantly surfing for quality information, inspiration and more to learn as much as possible about the business world we live in and how to build a successful one. If you consider yourself a creative and run a small business, or a large one for that matter – these sites will provide you with some great material to feast upon.
1) Think Vitamin – this site is a great resource for web designers as well as entrepreneurs. They cover html 5, CSS3, php, business, and much more. While you can learn a lot by simply reading their blog, you can also pay for the membership to gain full access. Click here
2) ProBlogger - Darren Rowse is the master behind this incredibly successful blog. He teaches everything you need to implement a strategy for turning your ordinary blog into a money making one. Are you ever in a blogging slump? He’s got you covered. If you have a blog, you need to read his. Click here
3) The 99% – This is a site run by the Behance Network. Their sole purpose is to help creatives take their ideas and make them happen. The 99% focuses on topics such as leadership, email strategy, self-marketing, collaboration, organization, and much more. Click here
4) MarketingProfs – This is the all time website when it comes to marketing. They cover everything from branding to email marketing. I make it a point to read through their articles daily and I’ve learned so much already. Click here
5) Action Method – One more site by the Behance Network. I’ve written about this site once already and have to mention it again. This is one application I truly can’t live without. Since first using it a month ago, I have become more organized and efficient in all my projects. It’s incredibly easy to use, and it’s free up to 50 action steps (after that it’s $12/month). Click here to get organized.
If you’re like me and have a billion different tasks within 20 different projects and need a way to organize and efficiently execute those tasks, this post is for you! About a month ago I stumbled upon a task management tool called Action Method. In the past I had always toyed with I phone apps, but they were far from user friendly. After trying Action Method, I can honestly say that it is the most user friendly, clean, and feature rich task management service I’ve seen yet. Best of all, it’s FREE!
Action Method is a sister company to the Behance Network, a very very robust portfolio website for creatives across all industries. Whether you are on the computer or on the run, this service is accessible both online and through their iphone app. You can create tasks, projects, ect. on either and they will both sync with one another to make sure everything is up to date.
Features I love:
- Action Steps – these are what tasks are called
- Projects – basically a way to organize or collect a group of tasks - Events – the milestones or occasions you or your team is working toward. Events are a way to organize all your action steps - Backburners – A place to store ideas that you’d like to work on at a later time. For me it’s a great place to organize all of my thoughts from my brainstorming sessions, or a place to list ideas I don’t want to forget about. - Discussions – This is a place to share all thoughts with the individuals or groups you are working with. File sharing is available here as well. - Delegations – With delegations, you can create tasks and delegate them to whomever is involved in that particular project - Alerts – iphone app
For those of you that are Costa fans and have seen the new ad campaign by McGarrah Jessee, here is a short video on how the sculptures were put together and photographed.
Last week a friend of mine invited me out to his ranch out in East Texas to do some bass fishing. Although the heat was maxing out at a little over 100 degrees, we opted to try and catch a few fish. It was a bit slow, but it’s always awesome to get out of the city to do some fishing, and of course photography. If you plan on getting out in this heat, all I have to say is drink a ton of water!
I just returned from the Palometa Club in Punta Allen, Mexico on the northeastern end of Ascension Bay. Tailwaters Fly Fishing put together a group of 12 great guys for a week of hardcore permit fishing to end the season for the club. With total of 19 permit caught (many of which were in the 20-25lb range), the trip was a monumental success.
Once again, I traveled as Tailwaters’ staff photographer. After hearing so many wonderful things, I was stoked to finally arrive in Mexico to start shooting and experience what the Palometa Club has become known best for – permit fishing. While fish and underwater photography were a high priorty, I really wanted to capture the prized asset of this operation – the Palometa Club’s guides. These guys are what make the difference and it shows. On Thursday (the last day of the season), the Palometa Club wrapped up the season with a benchmarking 159 permit. Incredible! You might also remember that they hit permit #500 back on April 14 of this year. Such an incredible accomplishment for only it’s 6th (6 month) season.
Hunting Permit
The Difference
The Palometa Club’s success is a direct result of their approach to permit fishing and their family like atmosphere at the lodge. Having two sets of trained eyes is always better than one, which is why they use a 1:1 guide/angler ratio. This is not to be confused with one guide serving as a boat driver and the other acting as a “head” guide. Both are professional and are equally skilled. When a permit is spotted, guide #1 will position the boat with his push pole. The other guide and angler will then slowly step out from the boat and begin to position themselves to intercept the fish. While both angler and guide are in the water, guide #1 is continually feeding information to the guide next to you – making sure they are both on the same page. When it’s time to present the fly, your guide is right next to you explaining exactly what to do – all while managing your line so it won’t tangle. It is truly an incredible approach that increases your confidence and chance at landing a permit.
Guides at Work
Permit release
While most anglers visit the Palometa Club to catch a permit, those that seek variety, other species are available to catch. Tarpon, Snook, Bonefish, Cuda, and even shark are all plentiful. That being said, we had three gentlemen Grand Slam (permit, tarpon, and bonefish in one day) this past week. A 40lb lemon shark, and a monster toothy cuda were also landed. Yes – there are permit, bonefish, tarpon, ect. from Ascension Bay down into Belize, but the difference between a good trip and the trip of a life time is the unique operation the Palometa Club has to offer.
To add an extra spin to our trip, the entire group was eagerly anticipating the Mavericks vs. Heat playoff games – games 3, 4 and 5 to be exact. Being that we were in the small town of Punta Allen, our viewing options were limited. For games 3 and 4, we ended up in a small, “hole in the wall” joint. It’s walls were piled high of empty beer boxes, the lights were dimmed, and there was a single 19″ tele to scream and cheer at for hours on end. For game 5, we were a few minutes late and were lucky enough to see the 4th quarter. The only legitimate bar in town – equipped with a 50″ flatscreen, was showing the Mexico vs. Cuba futbol game. Luckily, Mexico was slaughtering Cuba 5-nil, and with a few free rounds of beer the locals granted us access to the tv. I’m now proud to say that the Dallas Mavericks are NBA Champions after an incredible journey. GO MAVS!
With all the recent weather insanity, I’ve had the opportunity to go out and attempt capturing some lightning. These past two storms in particular had high amounts of cloud to ground strikes as well as in cloud strikes. With my tripod, cable release, and camera I’ve managed to capture a few that are worth looking at. By no means are they great, but it’s a start. I look forward to the rest of the stormy season and hope to capture some more.
Just going through some photos earlier from my past years in Alaska. I’ve been playing around with split toning lately and really like the look of it. For those of you that aren’t in the know, split toning is simply applying one color to your photographs highlights and another color to the shadows. This can easily be done by using the hue/saturation adjustments in Photoshop and then using blend modes to tweak the overall look. By no means am I a pro at this. I’ve only begun to explore the split toning world and am loving it so far. I can only continue to experiment and learn to hopefully come out with a great image on the other end. Here are some shots from Unalakleet, Alaska…
