Welcome to Ann Torrence photography - U.S. Highway 89, landscape, nature, people from Utah, the west, rural western U.S., national parks and international locations. Ann is writer of photography tips and and travel stories and essays.

Some of my most useful photography gear in the field is decidedly lofi. Here are four items from the outdoor store that I use all the time.

1. Inflatable mini sleeping pad cushion
   Originally bought at a camping store to pad my kayak seat, my Thermarest sitting pad is great. When partially inflated, it cradles a lens on a rocky ledge where I can't position a tripod. I'll kneel on it when I'm working low on hard surfaces. I wrap and protect gear with it in my luggage. And I sit on it to eat my lunch. Mine has lasted for 10 years so far.
2. Microfiber camp towel
   Save the optical microfiber clothes for lens surfaces. Camp towels are absorbant, light, washable. Buy a small one, cut it into pieces to wipe rain sprinkles off body and lens exteriors, even clean your bag or pack before you toss it onto the seat. I keep one in the tent too, to sop up rain that drips off my raingear.
3. Closed cell camping pads
   Thermarest sitting pads are easier to pack, but pieces of cheap closed cell pads are also useful in cold weather. I stood on a piece in Yellowstone when I went wolf-watching with the Yellowstone Institute at -25degF. Geared up with sorels, two pair of wool socks and chemical heat packs, I could still tell the difference with the pad. They also can be cut into washable foot beds for muck boats and you can get many spare pair out of one camp pad.
4. Bicyclist's reflective trouser strap
   My first reflective strap was a weird stocking stuffer gift (I don't have a bike). I found a place for it on the hatch of my photo pack, for extra visibility when I'm walking along a road or trail at night. I'll also wrap it around a low branch to mark a tripod location I've scouted for dawn.

I've taken my cameras to many wild places, and I had even rafted the Grand Canyon with one in 1998. Back then I shot with film and my camera gear fit into a small ammo can. Gearing up for the Nahanni trip posed three new challenges for me - digital media storage, powering the camera and digital vault, and keeping everything dry and accessible.

Media storage

Using the D70, I estimated I'd shoot about 1 GB per day (in fact, I shot 12.6 GB in 12 days). I either needed to buy a ton of compact flash (at $100 per GB at the prevailing price in 2005) or find a different solution. I studied the portable media storage device and chose an Epson 2000. I bought it for this trip. and one reason I chose it was the battery life. In my tests, I managed 10 transfers from one GB chips on a single battery charge. One of my traveling mates used 2 GB chips and she only got about 5 transfers per charge. A caveat on battery life: I didn't use the P2000 much to review my pictures on the trip, but I did confirm that the first and last images on each chip copied safely before I erased it. On a mission-critical trip, I would now bring two units.

Continue reading "Managing camera gear on river trips" »

When I'm traveling, I print out custom sunrise/sunset charts for my destination at sunrisesunset.com

I visit Wunderground star charts to get the lat/long coordinates for my destination, get a weather report. I use their sky charts as well, just for fun.

A few lat/long numbers I keep handy:

Salt Lake City, UT: 40.8 N 111.9 W GMT -7

Moab, UT: 38.6 N 109.5 W GMT -7

Springdale, UT: 37.2 N 113.0 W GMT -7

Jackson, WY: 43.5 N 110.8 W GMT -7

Auckland, NZ: 37.0 S 174.8 E GMT+12