I’m a little late to the party here, but I enjoyed your post and what you had to say about going to Alaska. We are going in July, and a lot of what you did can help us plan. We’re doing a boat stay up along Katmai to find bears. Looking forward to that. Thanks again.
Billy Dream
December 14, 2017 12:43 am
Thank you for a wonderful article, Robert!
Lindsay
November 26, 2016 7:37 pm
I have enjoyed reading your wildlife photography blogs! They are neatly done, and thoroughly explained. The only confusion I have is ISO. Almost everything I read says to keep ISO low. But I see with your photos, you shoot with high ISO and your photos are still sharp. How do you prevent it from looking “grainy”? I always read, the higher you go, the more noise you’ll have. Btw, I’m new to photography :)
Judit
January 5, 2016 3:30 am
I have just read this (now that Part 2 is out), great article. I found the details very interesting!
Thanks for sharing the story of your trip. I like that you prefaced your article by saying that “This is what I bring and what I do, and it works well for me, take from it what might be useful to you and leave behind whatever you find non-informative.”
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve received so much criticism. With that in mind, I wanted to share an observation I’ve made about people who leave critical comments. To quote a former colleague, most of these people “couldn’t shoot their way out of a paper bag.”
I’m sure you’re well-aware that there are a lot of people out there who get their the bulk of their knowledge from websites, books and reading about other photographer’s experiences rather than from behind the camera. They don’t realize that this doesn’t really translate into the ability to make compelling pictures. As Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” To me, as a photographer, this means that what you do with the knowledge you have is more important than the things you’ve memorized.
I frequently run into these “know-it-alls” on Flickr, and wanted to share an amusing story which for me, really puts this issue into perspective.
Like you, I rely heavily on the Nikon 200-400mm f/4G lens, as I do a lot of sports photography. I mentioned in a forum that one of my criticisms of this lens is that it really isn’t an f/4 lens and that I agreed with Thom Hogan’s assessment — that in practice, it’s really around t/5. One member — who clearly spends more time reading and performing lens tests than making pictures — replied by saying that I shouldn’t worry about this unless I was shooting video, completely missing a very basic concept in photography: exposure. I was making the point that relative to my other lenses, I had to open up 2/3-stop to get an equivalent exposure and that losing this amount of light can really be a problem at some of the events I go to. With all of his “extensive knowledge” of photography, cameras and lenses, he completely missed this.
Keep in mind that this is a person who rarely posts pictures to his photostream or to any group photo pool. I have yet to see a picture from him that I actually like. It’s my personal opinion that people like this are actually scared to show their pictures and fear being criticized themselves. Some of them may be attacking others as a way of building themselves up.
I hope that you continue to share your pictures and experiences on this site. I personally enjoy what you have to say and believe that there are people here that will benefit from your stories.
I can handle most criticism, its when it gets to be a personal attack I get annoyed, people have no idea how hard we have worked to get where we are. Anyways photography is an individual journey, but I sure could have used some guidance and help when I started out. It might actually have saved me a lot of money and put me on a faster learning track. I try to be honest and share my experience in an honest and candid manner in such a way that if there is something to learn then cool, if not that’s cool too. We try very to get photos that we personally found challenging to get and we know how hard it can be to get some images, not many images come to you so easy.
Anyways thanks for the kind thoughts.
Rob
polizonte
October 8, 2015 7:14 pm
A refreshing article with beautiful photos – nice to see such interesting work from a Granite State photographer!
you know NH is the “Live free or die state” right ? – LoL – I think I get into photography so much when on vacation, I could make that live free statement come true for just those few days. Thanks for the positive feedback.
At my age, trying to be free could lead to dying. Last winter I paddled my kayak down the Piscataqua River with a D800 – no contest winners but it is fun. In past years I have photographed an ice covered 2KR Buoy in January but ‘not sure I can do it again this year.
Oscar
October 8, 2015 4:50 pm
Thank you for sharing such valuable and fascinating information, Robert. I always look forward to your articles. Please don’t refrain from posting them as they really are helpful and enjoyable. I wish I could afford a D4s, but I’m pretty happy with my D7200 (although I often regret not buying the D750). In terms of the lenses, have you tried the new 200-500 lens from Nikon? If so, any impressions on how it performs for a wildlife photographer (with or without a teleconverter)?
Your photographs are outstanding, as always. I appreciate the work that you put into them.
I’ll keep on visiting Photograph Life regularly and, hopefully, we’ll have many more of your articles to read.
You are welcome, and thanks for the kind words and support. I haven’t tried the 200-500mm yet, my friend in Anchorage just had one delivered. Without having used one or even seen it, I can make one contributing thought, there are many times, for whatever reason I find myself shooting in extremely low light and in those situations F5.6 might be too slow. As far as bang for bucks, it sure opens the door to many photographers and gives them the ability to have long reach.
I will be writing part two soon, which will cover costs, places, difficulties and other info shortly on our Alaskan trip, I also hope to do more articles on locations like Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.
Regards Rob
jjciii
October 6, 2015 4:38 pm
I sure hope you don’t stop sharing. I sure liked your review of the practical things when shooting and transporting
I will try not to stop, thanks for the positive feedback, even though I am not a writer, I do enjoy sharing and hope what I write can help someone out there :)
Rob
Lois Bryan
October 3, 2015 6:42 pm
Glorious images. My husband was born in Alaska and he keeps saying he wants to head back for a visit … an article like yours makes me eager to tag along!!!!
At one point we were the ones dreaming of such a trip, and next thing we are actually doing it. Keep dreaming and then try to make that dream happen :)
I’m a little late to the party here, but I enjoyed your post and what you had to say about going to Alaska.
We are going in July, and a lot of what you did can help us plan. We’re doing a boat stay up along Katmai to find bears.
Looking forward to that. Thanks again.
Thank you for a wonderful article, Robert!
I have enjoyed reading your wildlife photography blogs! They are neatly done, and thoroughly explained. The only confusion I have is ISO. Almost everything I read says to keep ISO low. But I see with your photos, you shoot with high ISO and your photos are still sharp. How do you prevent it from looking “grainy”? I always read, the higher you go, the more noise you’ll have. Btw, I’m new to photography :)
I have just read this (now that Part 2 is out), great article. I found the details very interesting!
Awesome!
Hi Robert,
Thanks for sharing the story of your trip. I like that you prefaced your article by saying that “This is what I bring and what I do, and it works well for me, take from it what might be useful to you and leave behind whatever you find non-informative.”
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve received so much criticism. With that in mind, I wanted to share an observation I’ve made about people who leave critical comments. To quote a former colleague, most of these people “couldn’t shoot their way out of a paper bag.”
I’m sure you’re well-aware that there are a lot of people out there who get their the bulk of their knowledge from websites, books and reading about other photographer’s experiences rather than from behind the camera. They don’t realize that this doesn’t really translate into the ability to make compelling pictures. As Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” To me, as a photographer, this means that what you do with the knowledge you have is more important than the things you’ve memorized.
I frequently run into these “know-it-alls” on Flickr, and wanted to share an amusing story which for me, really puts this issue into perspective.
Like you, I rely heavily on the Nikon 200-400mm f/4G lens, as I do a lot of sports photography. I mentioned in a forum that one of my criticisms of this lens is that it really isn’t an f/4 lens and that I agreed with Thom Hogan’s assessment — that in practice, it’s really around t/5. One member — who clearly spends more time reading and performing lens tests than making pictures — replied by saying that I shouldn’t worry about this unless I was shooting video, completely missing a very basic concept in photography: exposure. I was making the point that relative to my other lenses, I had to open up 2/3-stop to get an equivalent exposure and that losing this amount of light can really be a problem at some of the events I go to. With all of his “extensive knowledge” of photography, cameras and lenses, he completely missed this.
Keep in mind that this is a person who rarely posts pictures to his photostream or to any group photo pool. I have yet to see a picture from him that I actually like. It’s my personal opinion that people like this are actually scared to show their pictures and fear being criticized themselves. Some of them may be attacking others as a way of building themselves up.
I hope that you continue to share your pictures and experiences on this site. I personally enjoy what you have to say and believe that there are people here that will benefit from your stories.
Regards,
Ken
Thanks Ken
I can handle most criticism, its when it gets to be a personal attack I get annoyed, people have no idea how hard we have worked to get where we are. Anyways photography is an individual journey, but I sure could have used some guidance and help when I started out. It might actually have saved me a lot of money and put me on a faster learning track. I try to be honest and share my experience in an honest and candid manner in such a way that if there is something to learn then cool, if not that’s cool too. We try very to get photos that we personally found challenging to get and we know how hard it can be to get some images, not many images come to you so easy.
Anyways thanks for the kind thoughts.
Rob
A refreshing article with beautiful photos – nice to see such interesting work from a Granite State photographer!
Hello polizonte,
you know NH is the “Live free or die state” right ? – LoL – I think I get into photography so much when on vacation, I could make that live free statement come true for just those few days. Thanks for the positive feedback.
Rob
At my age, trying to be free could lead to dying. Last winter I paddled my kayak down the Piscataqua River with a D800 – no contest winners but it is fun. In past years I have photographed an ice covered 2KR Buoy in January but ‘not sure I can do it again this year.
Thank you for sharing such valuable and fascinating information, Robert. I always look forward to your articles. Please don’t refrain from posting them as they really are helpful and enjoyable. I wish I could afford a D4s, but I’m pretty happy with my D7200 (although I often regret not buying the D750). In terms of the lenses, have you tried the new 200-500 lens from Nikon? If so, any impressions on how it performs for a wildlife photographer (with or without a teleconverter)?
Your photographs are outstanding, as always. I appreciate the work that you put into them.
I’ll keep on visiting Photograph Life regularly and, hopefully, we’ll have many more of your articles to read.
Hello Oscar
You are welcome, and thanks for the kind words and support. I haven’t tried the 200-500mm yet, my friend in Anchorage just had one delivered. Without having used one or even seen it, I can make one contributing thought, there are many times, for whatever reason I find myself shooting in extremely low light and in those situations F5.6 might be too slow. As far as bang for bucks, it sure opens the door to many photographers and gives them the ability to have long reach.
I will be writing part two soon, which will cover costs, places, difficulties and other info shortly on our Alaskan trip, I also hope to do more articles on locations like Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.
Regards
Rob
I sure hope you don’t stop sharing. I sure liked your review of the practical things when shooting and transporting
Hello jjciii
I will try not to stop, thanks for the positive feedback, even though I am not a writer, I do enjoy sharing and hope what I write can help someone out there :)
Rob
Glorious images. My husband was born in Alaska and he keeps saying he wants to head back for a visit … an article like yours makes me eager to tag along!!!!
Hehe
You can come next year, we sure had fun :)
Rob
Thanks for the interesting and entertaining article. I can only dream of doing something similar someday.
Thanks Don,
At one point we were the ones dreaming of such a trip, and next thing we are actually doing it. Keep dreaming and then try to make that dream happen :)
Rob