One-Year Ago (23-November-2011) — New Jersey

Black Friday: Nikon 1 V1 Mirrorless Camera.

One year ago (23-November-2011),  I got my Nikon 1 V1 camera. My image database indicates that I have taken over 50K pictures with this camera, and this doesn’t count video. Granted, about half of the images were when I used the camera for taking time-lapsed images while driving on a road trip to Florida last year and New Mexico this year. It is a great travel camera being significantly lighter than the DSLR cameras I use. It does have its idiosyncrasies. I don’t like the location of some of the controls/dial, the propensity for the rear mode selection dial to move/change — I have lost images because the camera  was not in the right mode (mood???). I did get the adapter to use Nikon F-mount lenses, the GPS adapter, the flash adapter, and the remote adapter. I really would like a wider lens for the camera. The field of view for the 10 mm lens on this camera is equivalent to 27 mm on a FX (35 mm sensor) DSLR. A 6 or 7 mm lens would be nice (16-19 mm equivalent). For wider landscape images, I end up taking multiple images and stitching them together in post processing.

Five-Years Ago (23-November-2007) — Hawaii

Gone to See Hawaii. Big Island Photography Workshop with Thom Hogan. Day 6: Kona.

Five years ago I completed a photography workshop on the Big Island of Hawaii with Thom Hogan.  While on the way to the airport to catch our return flights, we stopped at Lighthaus Camera. Coincidentally, it was “Black Friday” and everything was on sale. We noticed that the store just received their initial shipment of the newly released Nikon D300 camera.  Three or four of the workshop participants purchased the cameras on the spot. I have to admit that mine was an impulse purchase. Over the next four years, I took nearly 55K images with the camera (2007: 3164 images; 2008: 20371 images; 2009: 29355 images; 2010: 919 images; 2011: 628 images). This was my last Nikon DX sensor camera. Since then all of my Nikon DSLR cameras had full frame FX sensors.

The last shooting location for the workshop on that day was at Hawaii Tropical Gardens. I reprocessed an image Onomea Water Falls using Nik Silver Efex Pro.

Onomea Water Falls, Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 105 mm f/2.8 macro (ISO 100, f/11, 1/1.6 sec). Image processed with Capture One Pro 6, PhotoShop CS5, and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. (David J. Mathre)
Onomea Water Falls, Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 105 mm f/2.8 macro (ISO 100, f/11, 1/1.6 sec). Image processed with Capture One Pro 6, PhotoShop CS5, and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2. (David J. Mathre)

Thanksgiving (22-November-2012) — New Jersey

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. This is an image of three young wild turkeys in my backyard earlier this year.

Young Wild Turkeys. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 800, 500 mm, f/4, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)
Young Wild Turkeys. Summer Nature in New Jersey. Image taken with a Nikon D800 camera and 500 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 800, 500 mm, f/4, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)

Monday (19-November-2012) — New Jersey

Photography: Working on 10,000 hours to become an expert.

In 2006 on my “Gone to See America” road trip I took my first DSLR (a Nikon D200, recommended by my brother Erik). I got the camera a few days before the trip, and by the end of the trip knew that there was a lot I needed to learn. One of the resources I found on the Internet was Thom Hogan and his Nikon Camera Guides. His D200 Guide really helped me get my head around all of the options, features, and controls on the camera — much more than the Nikon supplied manual. The following year while working part-time in Boulder I saw that Thom had a late opening for his Hawaii workshop. I signed up right away. By the end of the workshop, I was hooked on digital photography. I not only learned a lot, but realized that I needed to practice every day in order to get better. This goes along with my belief that you always need to take on new challenges and learn something new. Thom and others have commented that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at a subject. I am still working on those 10,000 hours.

Five-Years Ago (19-November-2007) — Hawaii

Gone to See Hawaii. Big Island Photography Workshop with Thom Hogan. Day 2: Kailua Kona.

One of the first pictures I took while attending a workshop with Thom Hogan in Hawaii five-years ago was this small yellow bird in a palm tree. The workshop group was sitting outside at the hotel getting an orientation for the next few days. Ultimately, I was able to identify this bird as a Saffron Finch — which turns out not to be native to Hawaii.

Saffron Finch in a Palm Tree. Kona, Hawaii. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/8, 1/640 sec). (David J. Mathre)
Saffron Finch in a Palm Tree. Kona, Hawaii. Image taken with a Nikon D2xs camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 400, 400 mm, f/8, 1/640 sec). (David J. Mathre)