So, I'm going to blog about the trip that I've just returned from: twelve days of photography in the American Southwest, centered around Utah and Arizona. What a fantastic trip, and a great opportunity for me to get out with some experienced photographers to see this country and try to capture some decent photographs! Up front, I'd like to give a huge 'THANK YOU' to my photographic host, Rick Decker. Rick organized this trip (italics used intentionally), and it was a complete blast. We were joined by Kendall Gelner for some of the trip, and I really enjoyed having him around for the few days he could make it. Thanks also go to Laurence Matson and Chunsum Choi, who provided some vitally needed equipment (I've got some degritting to do...), as well as Sigma for supplying some lenses to try out (that 70 mm Macro is S•H•A•R•P!).
For me, the trip started Friday, May 14. No images were taken (no pixels abused), but Rick and Laurence gave presentations to the Nevada Camera Club in Las Vegas. The presentations were excellent (if long...). Rick did a beautiful job discussing some of his work, experiences, and philosophies around photography. Laurence discussed Foveon and Sigma technology, as well as presenting a number of very nice, large prints. Sigma provided dinner, door prizes, and lenses for those Canon and Nikon shooters to try out. It was a lot of fun, and very well attended (at least 120 people by my count).
The photography would start tomorrow…
Perhaps the most important event of this day happened at the rental car lot: after asking for a 4WD SUV and being told there weren't any, we pointed to a Jeep Wrangler and asked about that one. They said, "yeah, that'll be OK", and we were sent on our merry way without any upgrade charges. The Jeep heavily factors into our trip: it allowed us access to places that we couldn't get to otherwise. I had never been in a Jeep on 'trails'—now I have a profound respect for the things that vehicle can do. And Rick did a great job of navigating over and crawling through some really rough/tough terrain.