rich_furman
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Posts posted by rich_furman
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SLR in Pelican Case in Bulkhead. You'll want it on land. For a P&S, I recommend a Pentax 90WR. You'll find it either on closeout or used and its more feature rich than its successor, 105WR. Also, check a pddling shop for something called an UltraClamp (NOT Bogen's SuperClamp). It is a C Clamp with a weird little ballhead. I would clamp it to the cockpit coaming. I will say this in favor of the New T4's though: with their waist level finders, framing a shot should be easier.
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John Shaw's Field Techniques book recommends many of the same techniques your newspaper article describes. In many ways photography is about exercising control over light. That is its essence. I am unable to make a moral distinction between manipulating the background with a wide aperture or a T-Shirt. The big rule is "do no harm."
I have never had an ethical problem with anything Shaw has said. But I have read other books that have advocated baiting animals. (The Complete Idiot's Guide to Photography, but I guess the name says it all; see my feedback in dead trees).
It sounds like you are going after sort of a camera hunting ethic; stalk the perfect shot and take it when it comes.
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End of May mosquito and blackfly population should be relatively low. Avoid navy blue clothing, blackflies seem attracted to it. Khakis are better. I don't think full battle armor is called for. When I go to the BWCA, its usually early or late in the season. June, July and early august are the worst.
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You live near some really great places to get started. With Harriman
and Bear Mountain state parks to the north, you'll have lots of great
views. For stuff more local, try a book called Short Walks on Long
Island, which is chock full of some really great day hikes.
<p>
As for the fire, you're a photographer. You're there to take
pictures, not chop wood. Build one once, the making of it will
provide you with the chopped wood to photograph, the fire itself may
make a nice subject. Then decided it was too much trouble to
repeat. The time you invest in building a fire will typically be as
sunset approaches; why waste prime shooting time on it unless it is
going to be a subject.
<p>
Get hooked up with the ATC (Appalachian Trail Conference) they have
lots of events that will afford you great photo-ops
<p>
Books: Boundary Waters Canoe Camping with Style. Although it focuses
on camping from a canoe, you will find this chock full of techniques
for camping. It covers everything from equipment and food
recommendations to firebuilding techniques. Also, visit a photo-shop
and look for a book with a title like Backpacking for Nature
Photographers (I don't know who wrote it, or the exact title)
There's also the book by John Shaw that Atkins recommends.
<p>
Finding out the rules is best done at an info booth or ranger station
near the park entrance. In general, if camping is allowed, if you
heed everything in Jacobson's book and refrain from building a fire
you should be well within the rules in any New York State park -- his
book is written to the much more stringent rules imposed by the
Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
<p>
Read the Ethics threads here if you want not to make an ass of
yourself. The camera may tempt you to go off trail, bait wildlife,
etc. These threads will impart a moral grounding to protect you from
these temptation.
<p>
Oh, and if you don't want to die, stay out of Forest Park in Queens,
its not a place to be with pricey gear.
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As a four-eyed computer geek getting back in touch with my inner
photographer, I find this all very interesting. The best point made
is that these guys should stand up for their art, because it is not
photography. Photography and Digital Imaging are not different
enough for a photographer to take a self-righteous stance merely
because silver halide is the imaging agent throughout the process. A
lot that is done digitally can be (and has been) done in the
darkroom. Sandwiching negatives and masking prints can all be used
to make a picture of an elephant fighting a polar bear in a snowscape
with penguins looking on. Silver Halide can lie too.
<p>
Digital imagers are fairly typical examples of a postmodern
aesthetic, where existing images are drawn together into a single
work that may show a jarring juxtaposition, or else may be a
simulacrum of reality.
<p>
Photographers are fairly typical examples of a modern aesthetic,
where images are created and manipulated technologically. It is the
absence of the act of creation that divides the postmodern from all
else.
<p>
Postmodern art is derivative. Photography will never die (though
silver halide might) because a derivative art form needs a creative
art form as a source of material. The number of original
photographic images in the world, though vast, is finite. And a
consumer may realize that the bear fighting the elephant is the same
pose of the same bear catching a salmon in another picture.
<p>
The answer: This isn't a fight. It is a new medium. It does need to
identify itself as such, both to protect photographer and to
highlight the skills of digital imagers. They are not are friends,
they are not our enemies. They are the people we will need to seek
as allies in the face of issues like censorship and copyright. We
should encourage them to distinguish themselves, not by saying "Hey,
you're not one of us," but rather "Hey, that's really cool let the
world know how you did it."
<p>
Remember that to the artificer, the "hand of man" is a value-added
feature. A "Found View" will never be more than a snapshot to an
artificer, because hey, you didn't MAKE that image, you just found it
and took a picture.
<p>
The real danger, I suppose, is that images that are art and images
that are portrayals of reality can become conflated. But that is
something that has always been possible with the photographic medium.
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If an individual animal is a member of a small population I would worry about "stressing" it. Otherwise I would understand that that "stress" is an animal's natural response to something unfamiliar in its environment. However, it is essential that we take pains not to harrass or feed a subject. Harrassing them will prevent them from doing what they need to, like caring for eggs or young, and feeding them -- well that was well covered in "baiting animals." Its a big Bad.
<p>
To get a shot in as non-obtrusive a fashion as possible should be a universal goal. This means that the wildlife photographer should rely on tracking skills to enable them to photograph the animal going about its daily business.
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Taughannock Falls flows toward the lake (I can't remember its name).
A USGS Survey Map can help you to surmise which way water flows. The Topo lines point upstream. This works really well when you have a gorge like the one downstream of Taughannock Falls.
K1000=additional lens or better body
in Nature
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