Author: David Mathre

I am a scientist by training (Eckerd College, BSc; Caltech, Ph.D.). I worked for 27 years as a Chemist in the Pharmaceutical Industry developing processes to manufacture medicines for human and animal health. I now spend my time as a photographer and world traveler. My interests include the natural world, wildlife, landscapes, sky, and seascapes, travel, and astrophotography. I look for unique ways of viewing the world and presenting my images. I have traveled to over 55 countries in six continents, often on Semester at Sea voyages. While at home in New Jersey, I spend time on home renovation and expansion of a wildflower garden/meadow.

Tuesday (21-August-2012) — New Jersey to Canada

Travel Day – New Jersey to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

For this trip, I arranged for a car service to take me from my home to the airport. The Newark airport long-term parking has a 30 day limit (which can be extended as long as you call the day you leave the car in the lot), but would have ended up costing more than the car service.

I got a call from the driver about 45 minutes before he was scheduled to arrive at my house. I had a hard time understanding him, but it sounded like he wasn’t even in the right county. I provided some directions, and he finally said he would pull over and check the address on Google Maps. Ultimately he showed up about 10 minutes late, but then got me to the airport in record time. Normally, it takes me about 2 hours to get to the airport, park in long-term parking, and ride the shuttle bus to the terminal. It took the driver just over an hour to get me from my house to the terminal. The driver was not speeding – he just got the traffic right once I directed him to I-287.

The flight was out of terminal A. I breezed through check-in and security, ending up at the terminal gate 2 hours early. As soon as I sat down I received a text message that the flight was delayed for 1 hour, so ended up waiting 3 hours for the flight to board. The flight was on a commuter jet where I barely had room for my camera/computer bag. The flight itself took less time than getting to the airport and waiting to board the plane.

We arrived at the Halifax airport just after a jumbo-jet from London. This meant long lines at passport control. It was interesting to see how many college age folks with parents were on the flight. I wondered how many would be joining the Semester at Sea voyage. The Canadian immigration folks did detain several folks from the London flight for extra questioning. The ones being questioned appeared to be from India or Pakistan. The passport control official made a comment that I appeared to be the oldest student coming into Halifax to board the MV Explorer. The taxi ride from the airport to my hotel in Halifax cost $53 Canadian. As soon as I checked into the hotel I walked about 6 blocks down to the harbor to find something to eat and take some pictures. There were lots of young folks checking out the restaurants and bars in the tourist area near the harbor. I was surprised how many tourists were in town being that there were no cruise ships in port. I found the location where I needed to go for boarding the MV Explorer on Wednesday. The MV Explorer was not yet in port. I stayed in the harbor area until sunset, and then went back to the hotel. The bars near the hotel were busy until well after midnight, and it didn’t get quiet until 02:00.

Norway Memorial in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (ISO 125, 13.6 mm, f/4.7, 1/80 sec). The image includes the reflection of the photographer, Halifax Harbor, and a sailboat. (David J Mathre)

Canada Sea Fishing Boat on the Halifax Harbor at Sunset. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (ISO 400, 13.6 mm, f/4.7, 1/80 sec). Image processed with Capture One Pro 6, Photoshop CS6, and the Topaz Painterly filter. (David J Mathre)

Monday (20-August-2012) — New Jersey

Packing Day. Semester At Sea Fall 2012 Voyage.

Everything packed and ready to go. I tried to pack light, but still ended up with a suitcase weighing just under 50 pounds, and a Think Tank “Street Walker – Hard Drive” camera/computer bag at 35 pounds. I am going with a lighter camera kit for this trip, but added several 1.5 TB Seagate external drives with my photo library. As the trip proceeds I will mention items I forgot, and wish I had with me, as well as items I took and never used.

The camera kit for this trip includes the following: 1) Nikon D800 camera with a 16 mm f/2.8 Fisheye lens, a 17-35 mm f/2.8D wide angle telephoto lens, a 50 mm f/1.4G lens, and a 70-300 mm f/3.8-5.6 VR lens; 2) Nikon 1 V1 camera with a 10 mm f/2.8 lens, a 10-30 mm VR lens, a 30-110 mm VR lens, and a FT1 adapter; 3) Leica X2; and 4) Leica V-Lux30. For all of the cameras I have chargers, extra batteries, and extra memory cards. One nice thing is that both the D800 camera and N1V1 camera use the same battery. I also have a small Gitzo travel tripod and a SB-910 flash. I plan to do most photography when off the ship with the lighter Nikon 1 V1 camera and the Leica X2 cameras. I always have the Leica V-Lux 30 with me, and now the camera in my new Nokia Luma 900 smartphone. I have never really used the camera in a smartphone before, so it will be interesting to see what type of images I can get.

As mentioned above, I am traveling with a copy of my entire image collection with the plan to spend time key-wording images. I still use both Lightroom and Media Pro as my digital asset management (DAM) databases. I am curious about the DAM that Camera Bits (Photo Mechanic) will be releasing this year.

Travel Kit. Suitcase and ThinkTank "Street Walker - Hard Drive" camera bag. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (ISO 200, 6 mm, f/3.6, 1/60 sec + flash) (David J Mathre) — Travel Kit. Suitcase and ThinkTank “Street Walker – Hard Drive” camera bag. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (ISO 200, 6 mm, f/3.6, 1/60 sec + flash) (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (15-August-2012) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature in New Jersey: Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Kermit the Bull Frog in a Pond. Assignment One – Part Two.

This week Thom Hogan is posting some photography assignments. Assignment One: “Here’s your first shooting assignment: pick the absolutely worst lens you own and go out and take pictures using it. Not just any pictures, but the best possible pictures you can. Learn to use whatever liability that lens has to advantage.”

I decided to do a variation of this. Instead of going back to the Sourland Mountain Preserve with a big telephoto lens, tripod, and 36 MP camera, I decided to go light, but still wanting to take close-up images of butterflies and other wildlife. I took a Nikon 1 V1 camera with the FT1 adapter with the 70-300 mm VR lens. This kit is almost 20 pounds lighter than the high end kit I was going to take. The following five images are of a bull frog at 70 mm, 100 mm, 135 mm, 200 mm, 300 mm. The field of view equivalent for this camera vs. a 35 mm sensor camera is ~190 mm, ~270 mm, ~365 mm, 540 mm, 810 mm. These are the full images (not cropped) although reduced to the 600 pixel width of the photo blog.

Bullfrog in a Pond at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 70 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec) and monopod. [FOV Equivalent to ~ 190 mm on a 35 mm image sensor] (David J Mathre) — Bullfrog in a Pond at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 70 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec) and monopod. [FOV Equivalent to ~ 190 mm on a 35 mm image sensor] (David J Mathre)

Bullfrog in a Pond at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 100 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec) and monopod. [FOV Equivalent to ~ 270 mm on a 35 mm image sensor] (David J Mathre) — Bullfrog in a Pond at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 100 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec) and monopod. [FOV Equivalent to ~ 270 mm on a 35 mm image sensor] (David J Mathre)

Bullfrog in a Pond at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 135 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec) and monopod. [FOV Equivalent to ~ 365 mm on a 35 mm image sensor] (David J Mathre) — Bullfrog in a Pond at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 135 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec) and monopod. [FOV Equivalent to ~ 365 mm on a 35 mm image sensor] (David J Mathre)

Bullfrog in a Pond at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec) and monopod. [FOV Equivalent to ~ 540 mm on a 35 mm image sensor] (David J Mathre) — Bullfrog in a Pond at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 200 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec) and monopod. [FOV Equivalent to ~ 540 mm on a 35 mm image sensor] (David J Mathre)

Bullfrog in a Pond at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec) and monopod. [FOV Equivalent to ~ 810 mm on a 35 mm image sensor] (David J Mathre) — Bullfrog in a Pond at the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 200, 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 sec) and monopod. [FOV Equivalent to ~ 810 mm on a 35 mm image sensor] (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (15-August-2012) — New Jersey

Summertime Nature in New Jersey: Sourland Mountain Preserve.

Bumble Bee on Ragweed Bloom. Assignment One – Part One

Bottom line, I did get some good images and was able to hike a lot farther from the trailhead. I was not able to get an image of a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth, although I saw at least four during the day. One problem with this light-weight kit is that it is not as fast to compose, focus, and then shoot the image. Another problem with this kit is that with the FT1 adapter, the VR is on continuously — draining the battery, and you can only focus with the center focus position. I will be adding more images in the near future.

Bumble Bee on Ragweed Bloom. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 + 70-30 mm VR lens (ISO 220, 300 mm, f/10, 1/250 sec) and monopod. [FOV Equivalent to ~ 810 mm on a 35 mm image sensor].. (David J Mathre) — Bumble Bee on Ragweed Bloom. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 + FT1 + 70-30 mm VR lens (ISO 220, 300 mm, f/10, 1/250 sec) and monopod. [FOV Equivalent to ~ 810 mm on a 35 mm image sensor]. (David J Mathre)

Monday (13-August-2012) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Night Sky Over New Jersey.

Perseid Meteor Shower. I know that I said that I was going to go out to get more images of Clearwing Hummingbird moths, but the sky was finally clear last night and I had an opportunity to view the Perseid Meteor Shower. I set up two cameras on the back deck — a Nikon D4 camera with a 16 mm f/2.8 fisheye and a Nikon D800 camera with a 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens. Each was set to take 30 sec images (ISO 400, f/2.8). With the D800 camera and 14-24 lens I took the time to take a set of images to find out where I got the best focus for stars at infinity. For the 16 mm fisheye lens I just used infinity on the lens. This was a mistake. The images I got with the 14-24 lens where I spent the time to test the focus were a lot better, especially with the 32 MB sensor on the D800 camera.

The first image below is a single exposure with a meteor trail using the D800 & 14-24 mm lens. I really don’t understand the physics of other images on the internet of the Perseid Meteor Shower that show long exposures of the night sky (1-6 hours) that show multiple meteor trails where both the stars and the ground/landscape don’t move.

I have included several ~1 hour star trail images that are composites of the 30 second images (using the Startrails.exe program). The sky in New Jersey is not that dark, and the glow in the bottom of the image is the light from Princeton and Trenton. If you look close, several do show 1 or more meteor trails that were visible in New Jersey.