2014 Year In Review [Long Post]

I am now reflecting what a crazy year 2014 has been for me, both professionally and personally. I know I traveled too much away from home, and I say this every year. The single most difficult part of running my business is balancing the time needed at home with my needing to travel in order to earn and income. Since I plan my schedule 12+ months ahead, 2015 is going to be similar to 2014 with the quantity of travel, yet my 2016 year will likely have less travel for me. I absolutely love what I do for a living, and am looking for a better balance so I can stay healthy (mentally and physically).

Camera Equipment

2014 was the year that I sold 100% of my Nikon 35mm equipment. Yes, all of it. As I wrote in an earlier blog post this year, I have moved to medium format gear from Phase One. The first half of the year I was shooting with their IQ280 80 megapixel digital back, and mid-year I switched to their new 50mp CMOS chip product. I am now able to shoot a much higher ISO’s (up to 3200), have better control of my depth of field and also have more frames per second. We aren’t talking 35mm speed, but good enough for me.

International Travel

I started off the year with a safari in Kenya, during its off season time of the year. These off season months are my preferred times to be in the Masai Mara, due to the few vehicles and abundant resident (non migratory) wildlife. The plains have very few vehicles out and about, and thus game drives are much more private. In April I spent the entire month in Namibia, guiding a pair of overland landscape workshops. Namibia never disappoints, and these overland trips were no exception. We had dramatic weather, great light and fun people to travel with. Since 2006 I have logged more than four months of time shooting in Namibia, and I still feel like I have only scratched the surface. I may decide to return in 2016, and if I do it will likely be another overland trip to some destinations that rarely visited.

June found me in the Galápagos Islands, a place that I have visited many times before and always enjoy. I chartered a private motor yacht for the group and we visited most of the islands in the eastern side of the archipelago.

In August I guided a pair of trips in East Africa, beginning with my Great Apes safari to Uganda and Rwanda. We trekked with wild chimpanzees in Uganda for three days and then trekked for mountain gorillas in Rwanda for another three days. It was my first trip with the new Phase One IQ250 digital back, and this meant I could use it in low light situations, hand-held. At the conclusion of the Great Apes trip I co-guided a safari in Kenya’s Masai Mara with good friend and über guide Grant Atkinson. After I finihsed up in the Masai Mara I then headed over to Amboseli National Park region to photograph herding elephant with Mount Kilimanjaro as a backdrop.

To top off the year I was down in the southern ocean, photographing penguins and icebergs. The 20-day expedition visited the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica. The highlight of the trip was South Georgia, which hosts the largest king penguin colonies on our planet. We had hoped for one really good landing, and in the end we had landings at 3 of the 4 largest colonies. High fives all around.

2015 is going to be a fantastic year, filled with new destinations! Here is a quick roundup of my year:

• January - Private safari in the Okavango Delta of Botswana
• February - Tanzania wildebeest migration
• March - Scotland’s Isle of Skye
• April - Moab Behind The Scenes
• May - Tigers of India
• September - Mountain Gorillas and Chimpanzees, The Ultimate Great Apes Safari
• November - Botswana: The Premier Photographic Safari (two of them)

My Office

The Boss

Masari Mara, Kenya

Intrigue

Masai Mara, Kenya

Intimacy

Masai Mara, Kenya

The Open Plains of Amboseli, Kenya

Stare-Down

Amboseli, Kenya

Elephant Migration

Amboseli National Park, Kenya

Drinking Elephants

Amboseli National Park, Kenya

Chimpanzee

Kibale Forest, Uganda

Chimpanzee

Kibale Forest, Uganda

Chimpanzee

Kibale Forest, Uganda

Chimpanzee

Kibale Forest, Uganda

Silverback

Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda

Silverback

Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda

Namib Naukluft Park, Namibia

Namib Naukluft Park, Namibia

Aerial Photo Over Sossusvlei

Aerial Photo Over Sossusvlei

Aerial Photo Over Sossusvlei

Sea Lion and Pup

Galápagos Islands

Rise Above The Rest

Galápagos Islands

Iceberg and Sun

Cierva Cove, Antarctica

King Penguins And Surf

Saint Andrews Bay, South Georgia

King Penguins

Fortuna Bay, South Georgia

Beating Around The Bush, A Found Book From My Grandfather

My mother passed away almost five years ago, and after her funeral service we were going through her belongings in my parents’ home. In that process I found some really interesting things, and at the top of the list were my grandfather’s photographic equipment and books. My cousin had sent these things to my mother before she passed away, but for some reason I never received them. Since I didn’t have much time to do more than sort, pack up and throw out different items, I brought back these goodies and put them in my closet. They sat in my closet until recently, and one specific book caught my eye that required further investigation.

Beating Around The Bush by Clara Lee Brown was the book, and it decribed an extended safari that she had taken with her husband. I opened the book and quickly noticed that my grandfather had highlighted some passages throughout the book. These highlighted passages were obviously a way for him to help in planning a safari that he wanted to take, but never did. This is very poignant for me, as I guide photographic safaris to the same exact locations that he highlighted. My grandfather passed away in the early 1970’s and I didn’t have a chance to know him very well, and through this book I have a connection with him that I cherish. Call this book a baton, of sorts. A continuation of a passion for photography and for travel. I know that he was a Leica man, and I wish that I could have found his collection of rangefinder cameras that he once owned. Nobody in the family can figure out where they went, but at least I was able to possess his Weston light meter. How cool is that? To me it is extremely cool. This latent gift is my best Christmas gift for 2014, as it reminds me of how important family is, whether alive or deceased. And it reminds me to always seek out new experiences and destinations with a camera in my hand.

Pawpaw, I don’t remember you very much, but you have enriched my life more than you will ever know.

1TB External SSD Solution

I have been looking for a 1TB external SSD solution for quite a while, especially with a Thunderbolt connection, however nothing has been available that either could be found or that was ‘affordable’. So I went out looking for a custom solution that didn’t break the bank. If you are looking for something similar, here is how I made it work:

SSD Drive = Samsung 840 EVO (available on Amazon)

Enclosure = Anker USB 3.0 enclosure (available on Amazon)

The Samsung 840 Evo SSD drive is currently $439.99 and the case is only $13.99. This is the fastest, least expensive 1TB SSD solution that I know of. The reason why I need and want an external SSD is that I have recently retired my Mac Pro desktop in favor of using my 15” Macbook Pro as my daily machine. Since my internal drive on the Macbook Pro is only 750GB, I needed more room to augment the internal SSD. I have all of my raw files on an external 8TB G-Tech G-RAID and the Lightroom catalog, all previews and smart previews are on the new 1TB external SSD. Just for reference, I have 191,000 raw files and the entire Lightroom catalog and associated previews (standard, 1:1 and Smart Previews) take up 250GB of space. Since the space is limited on the internal SSD on the Macbook Pro I needed to look for more space. I am also using the external SSD as a Time Machine backup destination.

Samsung 840 EVO SSD drive

Anker USB 3.0 enclosure