Zenfolio Photo Website Hosting

I recently moved the Sherwood Imagery Website from a Wordpress blog that I hosted myself to Zenfolio.

Although I had used Zenfolio in the past, I found their limited customization options to be too constraining. But last week, Zenfolio released a major update to their system, including many site customization options. Without mucking with HTML or CSS, you can change the layout and theme of your website with just a few mouse clicks.

I always liked Zenfolio's backend for image uploading, editing and tagging. With this update, I think they offer one of the best photo hosting options available.

If you'd like your own account at Zenfolio, you can use my referral code 41T-34U-PCG during sign up to save $5.00 off your own subscription.

Essential Hiking Supplies & Equipment List

By its very nature, landscape and nature photography means that we photographers are often outdoors in less than optimum conditions, oftentimes hiking to our destination in the early morning or late afternoon, in blustery weather or winter conditions. In addition to cameras, lenses, tripods and filters, we need to carry the essential gear to keep us warm and comfortable, and to help us to survive in the outdoors, if a series of unfortunate events occur that force us to remain out longer than we had planned.

Although not targeted specifically at the photographer, the article on Essential Hiking Supplies And Equipment at my Colorado hiking trails web site http://www.coloradohikingtrails.net/ has a list of recommended supplies and equipment, compiled from a number of sources, that may be helpful in ensuring that your camera bag or backpack is stocked with the items you may need on your next photography outing.

Delorme Earthmate PN-30 GPS Review

I most always carry a GPS receiver when I am on photography trips. Aside from being invaluable for storing points of interest or great photography spots, they work much better than a pedometer in tracking how many miles you've walked.

Attracted by its interface with the DeLorme Topo USA mapping software and its ability to display not only DeLorme topo maps but also to overlay aerial imagery and USGS topo quads in its display, I purchased the Delorme Earthmate PN-20 GPS receiver shortly after it was released in 2007. In all, I've been very pleased with the PN-20, but it's not without it's quirks:

• Its flexibility in loading topo maps into the unit is unparalleled, but the process of "cutting" maps in the Topo USA software and uploading them to the PN-20 is cumbersome;
• From a cold start, it seemed to take a long time to really figure out where it was. Often I would turn on the unit at the trailhead, wait until it had determined it's position, waypoint the trailhead location, and start hiking. Yet when I returned to the trailhead (that I had waypointed when I left), the location it displayed upon my return was often many tens of feet away from the original waypoint (even though I was standing in the same spot);
• The overall responsiveness in paging from one screen to the next, rendering maps and screen refreshes is sluggish.

DeLorme announced the PN-40 GPS, the next-generation of the PN family of GPS receivers, in early 2009. Its documentation and reviews indicated that it addressed all of the complaints that I had about the PN-20, but I hesitated buying one, not wanting to lighten my wallet by another $400 (although DeLorme has offered it for sale a number of times since its release). Then the PN-30 was announced in July: Same performance as the PN-40, without the electronic compass and barometric altimeter, for $100 less. Be still, my beating heart. When REI put it on sale for $200 during their Labor Day sale, I beat a direct path to the store on the first morning of the sale and purchased one. The electronic compass and barometric altimeter just weren't worth the extra $100 for my purposes.
The DeLorme PN-30

The PN-30 looks virtually identical to the PN-20 and PN-40, except it is available in green (the color I chose, see photo) and in camouflage. But it features a number of improvements over the PN-20:

• 500MB of internal memory (versus 75MB for the PN-20);
• A dual-core processor for better responsiveness and faster screen redraws;
• A 32-channel GPS chipset (versus a 12-channel chipset in the PN-20);
  
  
• Topo USA version 8 (the current version of the PN-20 ships with version 8, but mine came with version 6, and I hadn't upgraded;
  
  
• DVDs with precut maps of the entire US, broken up into regions. This eliminates the need to cut and process maps from Topo USA, just choose the region you want from the maps DVD and upload it to the PN-30.

First Impressions

On first startup, even indoors, the PN-30 acquired satellites and had a position within a couple of minutes - impressive for a cold start from factory defaults. A quick trip to the computer to upload the precut map for North-central Colorado, and I was in business.

A hike up Hewlett Gulch the next morning confirmed that the PN-30 is everything I had hoped it would be. Turning on the PN-30 at the trailhead, it acquired satellites and had a position in under a minute. A quick waypointing of the trailhead location, and we were off. I was immediately impressed by the PN-30's responsiveness compared to the PN-20. Zooming in and out on the map, the screen redraws were almost instantaneous, as was switching from one screen to the next. Returning on the same trail, the "breadcrumb trail" path drawn on the GPS screen for the "return" leg of the hike was perfectly superimposed on the path from the "out" leg. Upon returning to the car and standing on the same spot that I waypointed when I left, there was virtually no difference between the "before" and "after" positions. So the minor positioning errors I used to see with the PN-20 appear to be fully resolved with the PN-30.

I haven't had an opportunity to download and install supplemental USGS quads or aerial imagery from the DeLorme map library, nor have I played with the Geocaches page, and the ability to download geocache information from http://www.geocaching.com/ - I hope to play with those features and provide a follow-up report soon.

Conclusions

DeLorme has done a great job in addressing the shortcomings that I had found with the PN-20. With the precut maps included with the PN-30 (included in the price), Topo USA Version 8 software for more ambitious mapping projects, and the improved responsiveness and accuracy of the PN-30, I can't think of much more that I would want in a GPS. I haven't compared the PN-30 to competing GPS models from the other manufacturers, and I would encourage you to do so if you are making a purchase decision for a GPS. But for me, the upgrade to the PN-30 from the PN-20 has proven to be an excellent decision. I think the PN-30, with its accompanying maps and software, is a GPS that I can live with for many years to come.

Great Sand Dunes National Park Trail Description

I've added the trail description (so to speak, there aren't really any trails in the sand dunes - you can wander and explore wherever you like), map links, driving directions, GPS coordinates and photos of Great Sand Dunes National Park to the Colorado Hiking Trails site.

Great Sand Dunes National Park is one of our favorite places to visit, as it offers something for everybody in the family: Striking scenery, lots of contrast and textures for the landscape photographer, wildlife for the nature photographer or animal watcher, history, geology, and plenty of sand and water for the kids to play in. 

We often take the "scenic route" on our frequent trips to New Mexico to visit the Dunes. Driving south on I-25 from Pueblo, exit at Walsenburg onto US 160 west toward Fort Garland, then north on state highway 150 to Great Sand Dunes National Park. If you are continuing on to Santa Fe, either return to Fort Garland and take Colorado state highway 159 to Taos, or continue on to Alamosa, then south on US Highway 285 to Espanola and on to Santa Fe.  

Photographing The Devil's Backbone

I frequently hike the Devil's Backbone, a Larimer County Open Space west of Loveland, Colorado on Highway 34. The area offers the hiker unique geological features, sweeping vistas of the front range and of the mountains to the west, and abundant wildlife and wildflowers. However photographing the Backbone area has largely been an exercise in frustration for me. In previsualizing the area, I see dramatic sunrise lighting reflecting off of the Backbone, with wildflowers and lush grass filling the foreground. In practice, I find these conditions to be elusive. Oftentimes it seems the light is quite flat and the vegetation dry and brown, resulting in images lacking in contrast, vibrancy and drama.

This past fall, I made plans to arrive at the Devil's Backbone before sunrise, and to walk in and set up my equipment in time to catch the rich morning sun illuminating the Backbone - just as I had previsualized. The alarm went off at 5:15, and the morning greeted me with gray, overcast skies and a cold breeze. But being awake, I decided to proceed with my plans.

Arriving at the parking lot, the conditions had not changed. But at that point, I had decided to set up on a ridge overlooking the Backbone, and wait on the weather. If it remained socked in, I would hike the Wild Loop Trail, and could still be home by 10:00.

I found the location I wanted, set up the tripod and camera, did a quick hyperfocal distance calculation, and set the exposure and focus. After taking a couple of test images, I was happy with the composition and exposure (assuming the sun ever lit the scene). Then it was time to stand back and wait on the sun.

Based on the time of day and the slight glow through the clouds, I could see that the sun had broken over the horizon, but was still fully obscured by the clouds. Ten minutes, then 15 minutes - I was about ready to pack it up and get on with my hike. But wait - a slight break in the clouds, just to the north of the sun's location at that point. Would the winds blow the break the right direction? Possibly. Suddenly, the sun broke out, and lit the Backbone and the valley between it and the ridge I was on. Four horizontal images, rotated the camera 90 degrees and shot off two or three vertical compositions - and the sun disappeared again for the remainder of the day.

The image above is my favorite of the day. It still isn't the image I have previsualized. That one is waiting for another day. But the dark, cloudy skies above the Devil's Backbone, together with the early-morning light and contrast, did come together to provide the dramatic setting I was hoping for. And the lesson for the photographer is preparation. The sun appeared for no more than a minute or two that day. Had I not set up and dialed in all the camera settings, I would have left empty-handed. But this day, patience and preparation paid off.

A larger version of this image can be seen at the Sherwood Imagery Web Site, or for a vertical-format version of this image, click here to see it.

For a detailed description of this hike and additional photos, see the description on my ColoradoHikingtrails.net hiking trails web site.

Cherokee Park And The Elliott Ranch House

Taking advantage of an unseasonably warm winter afternoon, my son and I recently visited the Cherokee Park State Wildlife Area (SWA) near Livermore, Colorado, about 20 miles northwest of Fort Collins, in search of the Elliott ranch house.
From 1910 until 1943, John and Ida Elliott and Josephine Lamb, three pioneers with an unconventional living arrangement, owned and raised cattle on the land that now makes up a large portion of the Cherokee Park SWA. "Rabbit Creek Country" by Jon Thiem recounts the story of their lives, and intertwines their biographies with the history of the Livermore area. The home that the Elliotts and Miss Lamb lived in, and which plays an important role in the book, was located on Middle Rabbit Creek, now in the Cherokee Park SWA. Dr. Thiem explained that the house has been abandoned, but could still be found on Middle Rabbit Creek. Intrigued by the story told in "Rabbit Creek Country", I had to go to find it.
The details of the hike are recounted in my Coloradohikingtrails.net hiking trails web site; I won't rehash them here.
I didn't intend for this outing to be a "photography" trip, but rather a trip to find the abandoned ranch house, to explore the area, and to teach my son about the history of the area. The photos I captured, some of which are posted in the gallery below, are more documentary in nature than artistic or "saleable". Nevertheless, if you have an interest in the book "Rabbit Creek Country", or in the history of the Livermore area, I hope that these images will help in clarifying your mental picture of the Elliott home by supplementing Dr. Thiem's own photos and narrative. I also hope that they succeed in conveying the beauty and unique topography of the area, even in the relatively drab and dry middle of winter during which these pictures were taken.



If you have any questions or comments about these images, please don't hesitate to contact me or to leave a comment on this page (no registration required).