Photos from Glacier National Park

Moose enjoying a morning dip.

Continuing on my photo publishing kick. Here are a few from our trip to Glacier National Park.


I've posted the albums both to a Flickr album as well as another Facebook album.


I hope you enjoy them.

Photos from our horseback trip

Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch

I've posted photos from our horseback trip to a Flickr Album and to a Facebook Album (you have to be a friend to view these) for those with a preference for either technology.

These are from our trip to the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch in May. It's on the Rocky Mountain Front and was our first experience in that area of the state. It was tremendous and it's very likely that we may go back from a return trip.

A consolidated camera kit

I have finally completed a consolidation of my camera equipment that's been in progress for the past 18 months. At one point I owned 3 separate camera systems including a Canon 50D with assorted lenses, a Nikon D90 with three lenses, and a Pentax K-7 with a handful of prime lenses. I really enjoyed each of the systems for different reasons but obviously I had to make some smart decisions about what to keep and what to sell. In the end, I decided to return to Canon for one very specific reason: affordable long lenses.

I made the transition official by selling my Nikon and Pentax equipment and using the money to purchase a used Canon 5D Mark II. Of course I don't need 21.1 megapixels, but the other alternatives were the older Canon 5D (which I previously owned and was frustrated with because of dust issues) or the big-boy 1D-series cameras which I simply can't afford. After deciding on the camera, I ended up basically breaking even on my camera purchases which made me feel pretty good.


A lot of people are lured by the claims of full frame cameras being better than cropped sensors and this is partially true but mostly an over-hyped marketing ploy. The real advantages of full frame are for photographers who got used to specific focal ranges and hate having to covert (I'm definitely in this camp) and those who have lenses designed specifically for full frame for their coverage (which I was also a camp member of). In the end, it's not the camera but the photographer taking the photos. You really have to figure out what system makes you want to shoot photos.

We have a wildlife photography trip / horseback riding trip to the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch in May and I will be putting this kit into serious shooting for the first time. Shooting photos around town is much easier than dealing with everything while in the field. I know I'll have a much better understanding of my equipment once this trip is behind me.

Updates to the photo equipment section on my website...

I finally got around to upgrading my photography equipment section of my website. I've been overhauling my lenses and camera body over the last 18 months, going as far as purchasing three different camera systems to ensure I was making the right choice.

It amazes me that we live in an age where you can buy photography equipment, use it for a while, and sell it for less of a loss than you would take to rent it for a week or so. It's a great way of testing equipment without having to take a huge hit when trading it in to a camera dealer. I have tried the Nikon D90 and the Pentax K-7 and eventually returned to Canon with the purchase of a Canon 50D. I ended up breaking nearly even throughout this entire exchange with perhaps a couple of hundred dollars lost here and there when reselling. Phenomenal!

Anyway, I've updated my website with the new equipment. I'm looking at purchasing either a 5D Mark II or perhaps settling for a 5D for landscape shooting and will update my page once I've made a decision. This will come after selling my 300mm f/4L IS USM and my Nikon D90 with 18-105mm, 70-300mm VR, and 35mm f/1.8G lenses. This will basically cover the cost of even the 5D Mark II so I am hoping to make this happen before our first wildlife photography trip.