David's Images of the Day Photoblog
White Ram – My New Home. Three interior images of the “White Ram” My new Roadtrek RS Adventurous RV as I prepare to drive to Anchorage, Alaska to attend ANPAT 9 with my fellow Nikonians. All images taken with a fish-eye lens and thus the spaces look bigger than they really are! For the exterior view when I took delivery check out 15-August-2009.
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.
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)](http://www.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000tdjezoKQpIk/s/600/401/N1V1-20120815-110712-C1P6.jpg "N1V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR")
![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)](http://www.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000NYqm2vl3vsY/s/600/401/N1V1-20120815-110720-C1P6.jpg "N1V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR")
![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)](http://www.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000hsfXE07jBAA/s/600/401/N1V1-20120815-110726-01-C1P6.jpg "N1V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR")
![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)](http://www.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000rJFS7_RIfU4/s/600/401/N1V1-20120815-110733-C1P6.jpg "N1V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR")
![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)](http://www.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000CqNPJmmBzHw/s/600/401/N1V1-20120815-110742-C1P6.jpg "N1V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR")
Bumble Bee on Ragweed Bloom. Assignment One – Part One
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 is one of the first images I took — a Bumble Bee in a Ragweed bloom.
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)](http://www.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000_6Kdger9aFs/s/600/401/N1V1-20120815-084008-C1P6.jpg "N1V1 + FT1 + 70-300 mm VR")
Clearwing Hummingbird Moth. I went for a walk at the Sourland Mountain Preserve today. I was looking to see if the thistles are now in bloom. I first noticed a Clearwing Hummingbird moth at a Joe Pye weed bloom. Further up the trail, I did find that the thistles are now in bloom. I saw many Monarch and Tiger Swallowtail butterflies — then more Clearwing Hummingbird Moths. If the weather is good, I will go back tomorrow with a bigger lens and full tripod.
