Across the Southwest / Adam Schallau

Ever since I got my first ’serious’ tripod, a Bogen 3001, I have been wrapping my tripod legs with foam pipe insulation and black duct tape to add a little padding for when I’m carrying it over my shoulder. I’ve recently made the switch to a Gitzo GT3540LS Series 3 Systematic 6X carbon fiber tripod (wow, that’s a mouthful) and the first thing I did after drooling over it was add the foam, giving it a nice ‘Mad Max’ look. I also make one other addition to my tripods that I’d like to share here on Across the Southwest.

I commonly use a remote release in my photography so I don’t have to actually touch the camera to fire the shutter, which provides me with a more stable shooting platform. Even though I live in the desert-southwest I often find myself shooting with the tripod in the water, whether it be a mountain lake, or the Rio Grande River. Several times now I have discovered my remote release dangling an inch or two above the water, and it’s gone swimming once. What I needed was a place to stick my release where it couldn’t go swimming (again) while I’m composing my shot.

My solution was to adhere a piece of 1/2″ Velcro around one of my tripod legs with a small piece of Velcro on the back side of the release. Now I’ve got a place to stick the remote release that will keep it out of the water, and out of the way when composing a shot.

If you find this tip useful or have one of your own that you would like to share, I’d love to hear about it.

I have a few new images to share from my outing to the Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve, and the southern tip of the San Luis Valley. The weather was less than cooperative for most of the day with strong wind and some smoke from wildfires in New Mexico and Colorado.

At Great Sand Dunes, Medano Creek has begun to flow and was creating some very interesting patterns in the sand. With the wind blowing sand everywhere I elected to shoot with one lens to avoid lens changes and introducing sand into the camera body. For the two shoots presented here I used the Canon 24-70 f/2.8L which allowed me to frame compositions from wide-angle to short-telephoto. I had planned on photographing at the dunes all day and staying for sunset, but the wind continued to get stronger and I quickly grew tired of getting sand blasted.

After leaving the dunes I headed for a spot that I have photographed once before, the Lobatos Bridge over the Rio Grande River near the Colorado - New Mexico state line. I spent the afternoon hiking along the river looking for petroglyphs and enjoying bird watching. Near sunset I moved up into the San Luis Hills just west of the river and scouted a location to shoot across the hills looking back towards the Latir Range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Mother Nature cooperated and provided me with nice clouds, some sweet pink light, and the wind subsided for a few minutes.

After sunset I packed up and started the long drive across the desert back to Taos. Along the way I had to cross back over the Lobatos Bridge just as the moon was rising over the distant mountains. With my headlights illuminating the bridge and the moon ahead I had to stop and create one more photo. This last image was shot with the 24-70mm lens, ISO 100, and the exposure was 30 seconds at f/11.

All things considered I think it was a successful day. I love to hear what you think.

On my recent river trip down the Rio Grande River through Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park I carried with me my Canon 5D along with 4 lenses, the 17-40mm f/4L, 24-70mm f/2.8L, 70-200mm f/4L IS, and the 300mm f/4L IS. In addition I had numerous filters, extra batteries, and of course memory cards. My biggest concern on the trip was water. I was going to be surrounded by it for three days navigating through rapids and hopefully I wouldn’t capsize the canoe.

The guide service that I hired would be providing dry bags for my clothing, tent, and sleeping bag, but I needed something more to protect my camera gear. I contacted Lowepro and told them what I was going to be doing and they graciously provided my with a DryZone 200 AW camera bag.

If you’re not familiar with the DryZone series of bags let me give you a quick run-down. The DryZone bags are soft sided camera backpacks that feature a waterproof inner compartment known as a drypod that is sealed with a TIZIP™ zipper. This bag will float even when fully loaded! Continue Reading »

Canon Powershot G9, 120mm equivalent, hand-held

I walked around the streets of Taos today playing with my Canon G9 looking for ’southwest lifestyle’ scenes. I discovered many great subjects but this door and and wall caught my eye. I love adobe for its warmth and texture, but most of all for its character. Continue Reading »

Living in the desert southwest my camera equipment is exposed to harsh conditions. The air is dry and dusty, the two worse elements for a DSLR sensor.

Over three years ago I made the leap to digital and quickly learned that sensor cleaning can be a pain, and down right scary if not done properly. I’ve tried several different methods including brushes and swabs, but nothing felt like the right solution. Many of the products on the market right now are not approved for air travel while those that are (because they don’t require air or liquids) just didn’t get the job done. My biggest problem was that sensor cleaning just wasn’t something that could be done effectively in the field away from a clean environment. Continue Reading »