Nasturtium

Posted on 17 April, 2013 by Eric

A.k.a Pohe Haole (Tropaeolum majus), brought to you by the Limahuli Garden & PreserveÂ (part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden system) on Kaui, Hawaii:

The Limahuli Garden and Preserve is a neat little place to stop by should you ever find yourself up on the north end of Kauai (get to Hanalei, then continue west until the road ends). Â Beautiful views, lots of great plants and flowers to see and shoot, and you get a bit of history in the mix as well. Â Nasturtium was introduced to Hawaii in the 1800s, so this was shot in the “Plantation era” part of Â the garden.

Assigned

Posted on 3 March, 2011 by Eric

A Red Postman Mimic takes a break on a sign at the Houston Museum of Natural Science’s Cockrell Butterfly Center:

As natural history museums go, Houstons’ one is pretty pricey for what you get. But pricing there is a la carte, so if you’d like, you can get a ticket to just the butterfly center.

Taking a breather

Posted on 29 December, 2010 by Eric

We spotted this little guy along the side of a trail while taking a break from driving through Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada:

I don’t know if he was just resting, or on his way out, but I appreciated the opportunity to at least save a bit of his beauty for posterity.

Backlit poppy

Posted on 13 August, 2010 by Eric

A quick grab by the side of a boardwalk:

Seen at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana — we were headed from one building to another, I’m glad I stopped to get this shot!

Sculptural

Posted on 18 June, 2010 by Eric

Another geological abstract shot from lower Antelope Canyon in Arizona:

If you’re planning a trip to Antelope Canyon and you’re taking a DSLR, you should give some thought in advance to just what lens(es) you should put on your camera body(ies). Fortunately, you’ve got a strong ally in this effort — namely, Flickr.

Before the trip, scan through Antelope Canyon shots that other people have posted to Flickr to find ones you particularly like. Then, when EXIF data is available for the shots, take note of the focal lengths used for the images — this will give you a very good idea of what you want to be taking along on your trip.

In my case, the images I liked best seemed to be taken with focal lengths around 20-30mm (35mm equiv.). So since I have Olympus four-thirds camera bodies (2x crop factor), I aimed for 10-20mm focal lengths in my lenses. So I had a 7-14mm lens on my E-3 body (primary camera) and 14-54mm lens on my E-520 body (backup). Whichever camera wasn’t being used at the time rested in a padded torso pack (ThinkTank Change Up) to protect it from accidental dings. Meanwhile, both camera bodies were outfitted with quick-release plates for my tripod so I could switch back and forth quickly.

Oh, and both camera bodies have lanyards — so whichever one was in use was tethered to my wrist at all times. Particularly important when there’s nothing soft for a camera to land on if you drop it.