let's go digital
Prepare
TO HAVE FUN
It’s a great time of year for photo trips and
I’m about to head off on a few myself. One
of my destinations is the Triple “D” Game
Farm in Kalispell, Montana. If you’re a regular
reader of the magazine, you’ve probably
noticed that I have a penchant for wildlife
photography. Triple “D” is a veritable candy
store for the wildlife photographer with a
variety of animal species available to photograph
that you would rarely, if ever, see
in the wild. I thought it would be useful to
share my routine for preparing for a trip of
this kind.
My first step has nothing to do with
the upcoming trip and a lot to do with
all my past photographs. I make sure that
I back up my files and update my off-site
backups. I'm sure you've developed a
plan for regularly storing a copy of your
photographs off-site too, right?
Next I'll do some thinking about the
type of photography I'll be doing on my
trip and mull over the gear I'll want to
bring. Will I need my 500-mm for small or
distant wildlife or will my 70-200mm and
a 100-400mm suffice? Will I need teleconverters,
extenders or filters? What about
charging my gear? Will there be power
where I’m going or will I have to rely
on my portable solar panels for power?
When going somewhere special I pack an
extra camera body, just in case.
Depending on my destination, the equipment
I'll be bringing and my method of
travel, my next step is to venture into
my camera bag room to make a decision
about a bag for my gear.
Unfortunately, no bag is perfect for every
occasion and I've accumulated quite
a collection over the years. Am I driving,
allowing me to bring one of everything,
or am I flying and need to fit my gear into
the overhead storage and pack according
to the airline’s weight restrictions?
If I’m flying, I no longer have to worry
about the x-rays damaging my film as digital
memory and cameras are immune to
their effects....
By Paul Burwell
Contributing Editor
To read more from Paul’s column please....
BIO
I took a circuitous route to professional photography.
As a six year old, I used my mother's box camera with 120 films. Two Christmas's
later, I received my own 110 point and shoot camera. At fifteen, I
purchased a Pentax K-1000 single lens reflex camera - a wonderful
manual camera with which I learned the concepts of exposure. Every
setting needed to be made by hand.
I borrowed photography books from the local
library, studied them intensely, and learned that it was possible to
develop film and pictures by myself using relatively simple equipment
and chemicals. My father had some unused darkroom equipment consisting
of an old black and white enlarger that was missing a lens as well as
some developing trays, film development canisters and a darkroom light.
I took it upon myself to set up a mini darkroom in the closet of my
bedroom. This was hardly an ideal place for this activity as the closet
only measured two and a half feet by six feet and took a lot of work to
make completely dark. Eventually I had a space I could work with. After
convincing my father to help me find a lens for the old enlarger, we
took a trip to McBain Cameras in downtown Edmonton and managed to get a
good deal on a used enlarger lens that someone had traded in. Together
with the required chemicals, I purchased the enlarger lens and spent
the last of my accumulated savings. At home, my father helped jury-rig
a mount for the lens to the enlarger.
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