Last Minute

It's the moment we have been waiting for. The night before the big Yellowstone trip.The work week is over for all four of us! We are packing last minute items in bags that are already filled to the brim. Next is loading the Acadia. As of now we are planing hitting the road at midnight and getting the badlands sometime near 8am.

We will be posting video and photos along the way!

Yellowstone Gear

Here is some of the gear we are going to be bringing along. Needless to say we need lots of cargo room in the vehicle...

Nikon D90 bodies (2)
Tokina 12-24mm f/4
Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8
Nikon 50mm f/1.4
Lensbaby Composer
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8
Nikon 70-200 VR f/2.8
Nikon 80-200 f/2.8
Nikon 300mm f2.8
Nikon 500mm f/4
Nikon TC14 Teleconverter
Nikon SB-800 flash
Gitzo 1325 Tripod
Induro CT414 Tripod
Induro BHD-2 (2)
Wireless shutter release (2)
Flip Ultra HD video camera
Flip Underwater Housing
An assortment of Sandisk SD memory cards
Lowepro Photo Trekker bag
Lowepro Micro Trekker bag
Tamrac Expedition 7 bag
MacBook
HTC EVO 4G
iPhone 3G
Droid Incredible
(Yes phones count these days!)

Gearing Up for Yellowstone!

Derek and I have been making many last minute plans, preparations and changes to our gear, all for whats coming in five days! That's right, finally, it's time for Yellowstone!

The Yellowstone 20, 10 chant has been going for a few years now. Now that we are less than a week away, we just don't want to forget anything. We will be heading out Saturday morning and spending about a week between Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. We will have photos, videos and blogging from the road.

Within the next couple of days I'll give a run down of the gear we're bringing...

Making Old Photos New Again

I haven't been out shooting too much lately, but I heard about a new plugin called Pixel Bender for Photoshop CS5. At first, I didn't think about it too much until I was bored one night and tried it on a few photos.

What the plugin does is make a photo "look" like a oil painting. Here are a few of my favorites. You can look in the gallery for the original photo.

Grasshopper Sparrow

Last weekend I was in Chad's neck of the woods shooting Indigo Buntings. Let's say they weren't as cooperative as I had hoped. However, the I found a Grasshopper Sparrow that was will in to play. He didn't sit still very long, but long enough.

Summer Storms

Last weekend the Twin Cities got hit hard with heavy rain and a couple tornado's. So naturally, I grabbed my camera and headed out west of Maple Grove. I drove nearly 40 miles going up and down dirt roads until I found what I was looking for!



Click the image to view it larger.

Nature Photo Contest

Last week I entered a couple photos into the Eastman Nature Photo Contest in Elm Creek Park Reserve. I entered a Trumpeter Swan photo that I took in Monticello last winter. To get that photo I spent 5 very cold mornings along the river and took over 1,200 photos. I am pleased to say that my patience paid off. The swan photo took second place in the wildlife category.

2nd Place!


I entered a second photo in the contest for the landscape category. This photo was taken last month at Cascade River State Park. Again, I am pleased with a 3rd place ribbon!

3rd Place