I put together a more complete video slideshow from my Africa trip for a presentation I did last week. It has a lot more images than the previous one. It lasts just over 13 minutes. It sure brings back some great memories and feelings from that trip. I've got to go back some day. Again I suggest right clicking on the video and selecting "Watch in HD on Vimeo". (Go to full screen mode and turn off Scaling).

It's hard to believe that I've been home for almost a month from Africa. The planning and waiting went on for over a year, but the trip was well worth it. The group consisted of myself and three friends. One of whom had been to Africa ten years previously. For the rest of us it was our first time. We stayed at five different lodges or safari camps for two to three nights each located in Tanzania, Kenya, and Botswana. A typical day started about 6 am with a knock on the door and someone bringing coffee and hot water for tea or cocoa. Then there was breakfast, two or three game drives, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and rarely some time to take a short nap or download images. I'm planning on writing an article on things that worked out well for us and give some more details on the planning and the places we stayed. Just one example of how amazing Africa is: Imagine sitting in an open sided Land Rover within 25 feet of six or eight lions, just watching them as they pretty much ignore us totally. In addition to shooting over 5000 frames with the Canon twins (1Ds Mark III, and 1D Mark IV) I shot over 3 hours of video with the Mark IV. I've posted two short videos on YouTube ( Africa-Lions of Duba and Africa Elephants ) and have just barely posted my images on the web site. There were a few teasers posted a couple of weeks ago on Facebook, but they are all here now. I've got several additional videos planned and I also plan on putting together a book of photographs from the trip. I'll keep you updated on those. Here is a video slide show of some of my favorite images from the trip. I recommend right clicking on the video and selecting "watch in HD on Vimeo" to see it in HD.

The images are in the Image Catalog. I broke them down into five groups. Favorites, Animals, Birds, Landscapes, and People. I hope enjoy them. I'd like to hear what you think.

Jeff

I've been secretly drooling over the Pentax 645D ever since I first read about it. A number of things worked together so that in January 2011 I was able to purchase one of the few available at that time here in the US. I had purchased several used 645 autofocus lenses in the time leading up to that. In February I took the camera with me on a trip to Southern Utah that was primarily to fly radio controlled airplanes, but the weather made it a great time to try out the new camera. (Fresh snow in Zion National Park) I've still got a lot to learn to be as comfortable using it as I am with my 1 Series Canon's, but for a first effort I thought things went well. Here is one of the images from that trip.

Zion Panorama
To see more images with the 645D from this trip check out my Image Catalog under Southern Utah Feb 2011.
I also have a page about the 645D that I'll be adding more to in the future.
Jeff

One of my images has been selected as one of 10 finalists in the Americana category of the Smithsonian Magazine's 2010 Photo Contest.

Cape Royal Sunset - Grand Canyon National Park

You can go to the contest site here: www.smithsonianmag.com/photocontest/8th-annual/8th-americana-5.html#IMAGES

If you feel inclined, please vote for the people's choice award. You can vote once a day until the end of the month. The winners should be announced in April.

In January I was able to get away for a long weekend with my friend, Larry Calof, to Yellowstone NP. Our goal was to do mainly wildlife photography and whatever landscapes we could find. We had arranged an all day privately guided snowmobile trip to the Old Faithful area one day and then were going to join a group guided snowmobile trip to the Canyon area on our second day. It turned out we were the only two on the group trip so we basically got two private trips. I think starting that second morning at about -10 degrees F. helped discourage any others. We certainly welcomed the warming areas. We left each morning about 8:30 am and got back to our lodging between 4 and 4:30. It made for some long days. The hand, thumb, foot and seat warmers were helpful both days, but were really indispensable on the second day. We saw lots of bison, some elk, a number of birds, a long long range coyote, and the highlight was this little guy below.

If you get a chance for a winter trip to Yellowstone, I highly recommend it. (But make sure you bring plenty of warm clothes.) With one rider on the sled I was able to strap my photo backpack on the back of the second seat and tie a duffle bag across the second seat. That held my Canon 300mm f/2.8 with the 1.4 extender as well as a Gitzo monopod. I was also using a new Canon 70-300mm L lens on my 1Ds Mk III which I carried zipped inside my outer shell. (Great for quick handheld shots, like the fox above). Larry had his 1Ds Mk III strapped across the back seat of his snow machine. Neither of us had battery problems. Those big Canon batteries were still going strong at the end of the day. The images from this trip are in the Image Catalog in Yellowstone January 2011.