Great Western Loop Road Trip -- Distribution by Lens
Nearly every time I return from a trip, I'm asked about which lenses I used to capture the images. At the end of a trip, I like to look at the distribution of shots by lens. Here's how it looked for my most recent "Great Western Loop Road Trip":
I used just one camera for the entire trip--the Nikon D800. More than 75% of my photographs were captured with one of Nikon's "Holy Trinity" of lenses--the 14-24, 24-70 and 70-200. Before leaving on this trip, I upgraded my Nikon 70-200 VR lens to the most current version. I was so impressed with the quality of this lens that I am now considering upgrading my Nikon 24-70 as well!
Initially, I wasn't going to pack the massive Nikon 500 VR for this trip. I didn't expect for that lens to get much use. But, I'm glad I decided to bring it. In the end, I used the lens to capture 88 photographs--and they were some of my favorite pictures of the trip. It came in handy for some wildlife images as well as landscape pictures (particularly from the summit of the Steptoe Butte in eastern Washington). Here are a few of the 500mm images from this trip:
Steptoe ButteThe Palouse from the summit of Steptoe Butte in Steptoe Butte State Park near Colfax, Washington on July 25, 2017
Snow Leopard KittenSnow Leopard kitten at the Triple D Game Farm at 190 Drake Drive in Kalispell, Montana on July 21, 2017
Sea lionSea lion at La Jolla Cove at 1100 Coast Blvd in La Jolla, California on August 2, 2017
Comments
Yes, at the time I was staying in Livingston. For several years I spent my summers in & around Yellowstone, plus numerous meandeings throughout the Northwest. I'm back in Florida now but contemplating another cross-country trip soon.
This time, thanks to your inspiration, I will plan my stops better!
I start building an itinerary a few months before leaving on a trip. I use various resources to identify subjects. One of the first places I go is to the Trip Advisor website. I always look at the list of top attractions for each city on Trip Advisor. I enjoy photographing architecture--so I will usually make sure to visit some historic churches, the city library, and the city hall. I also try to stay for at least a couple of nights in each place. That way, I have a better chance of catching some good light...and I usually get a second or third chance to get a good picture of a subject. During the day, I do a lot of scouting...and a lot of walking in cities.
I find the "Photo Sundial" to be a very easy application to use for forecasting how the sun will light subjects at different points in time. I purchased "Photo Pills" for that purpose as well--but I need more experience with that application.
I still do some "Prius camping" on these trips--but usually only when visiting national parks. This past trip included two nights of Prius camping--both of those nights were in Crater Lake National Park. Outside of that, I frequent Hampton Inns.
Thanks for taking the time to view my photographs and for leaving a comment on my blog! I hope all is well with you. Glenn
PS – I’m the guy who talked with you once about 5 years ago while photographing Yellowstone Falls and you were sleeping in your car.