On The Road
"One Week of Work"

 Image #1      Monday ... Some of my time is spent doing speculation work. From the very start of my business I would produce images that I felt might produce income as stock pictures sales. This principle of producing speculation images without being on assignment has paid off significantly over the years and is a very important part of the success formula of my business. Nikon D3, ISO800, 1/160 at f25, Nikon 105 Micro Lens, 3D Focus Tracking with 51 points, WB Auto B3, Picture Control Vivid, Lexar 8 G Flash Card. I have great faith that this image will produce income sometime in the future.

Image #4      Thursday ... Owning a business can sometimes run me ragged. After three days of shooting, Thursday became a much needed office day for me. I had plenty of images to file, burn to DVD and ship out to clients via FTP and FED EX. With my 5:00 pm Federal Express deadline achieved I decided to take a short nap in my office here at the ranch. Nikon D3, ISO2500, 1/13 at f8, Nikon 14-24mm Lens, WB 7140K, Picture Control Standard, Two Nikon SB800 Speedlights each with a "pinched" LumiQuest snoot and power output of -1.0, Two Bogen Lightstands and two Bogen F175 Clamps to hold the SB800s to the lightstands, Nikon SU800 Commander, I used the Timer Mode to trigger the camera and then I fell asleep, Lexar 8 G Flash Card. The desk and computer area is lit with just the track lights of my office. I created a long shaft of light with the two SB800s and "pinched" snoots to illuminate myself and the buffalo skull on the wall.

Image #5      Friday ... I still do some event coverage for the athletic department at the US Air Force Academy. A Friday night ice hockey game was scheduled and so I set out for the Air Force ice arena but for the first time in several years I did not bring my arena strobe lights. I wanted to continue to test the Nikon D3 and decided to shoot the match using the available light of the venue. Setting up the D3 as a remote camera over the goal was easy enough and without strobe lights I could shoot continuous frames. Nikon D3, ISO4000, 1/800 at f4, Nikon 70-200mm VR Zoom Lens, WB 4350K, Picture Control Standard, Bogen Super Clamp, Bogen Magic Arm, Safety Strap, Pocket Wizard Multi Max Transceiver to fire the camera, Lexar 8 G Flash Card. By not using strobe lighting I did not have to wait for the power packs to recycle for each individual picture. This allowed me to shoot continuous frames while the action unfolded. The D3 with its clean high ISO capabilities made images with excellent quality even at ISO4000. I still love the look that strobes produce and the option to arrange my own lighting for a more creative picture, but being able to shoot continuously is also very valuable.

Image #7      Sunday ... My last photo shoot of the week was in Denver where the Broncos would take on the Kansas City Chiefs. I had just received my Nikon D300 and was excited to use both the Nikon D3 and D300 to cover the game. Brilliant sunshine dominated south end of Invesco field during the first quarter. Tony Gonzalez of the Chiefs made some nifty pass receptions and subsequent runs. I use the additional battery grip for the D300 and found that it enabled the new camera to be as responsive as the D3. Its 3D Focus Tracking System (51 points) worked perfectly and its continuous shooting rate of 8 frames per second is very accurate. The D300 feels comfortable and is very capable of handling sports as this image illustrates. Nikon D300, ISO Auto, 1/1250 f7.1 (this image is Auto ISO400 while images made in the stadium shadow were Auto ISO3200), Nikon 400mm G VR Lens with Nikon TC17E 1.7 Teleconverter, WB Auto B1, Picture Control Standard, 3D Focus Tracking with 51 points, Bogen Carbon Fiber Monopod, Lexar 8 G Flash Card. The Nikon D300 exceeded my expectations. Like the D3 the Auto ISO feature worked well. I merely set my shutter and aperture and let the ISO automatically adjust high or low depending on whether my subject was in the sun or stadium shadow or under the lights. Its focusing capabilities were very fast and because of the cropped sensor the 51 points covered the entire field of view edge to edge. This feature kept the 3D focus point perfectly on the eyes of wide receiver Tony Gonzalez.

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