"Peninsula Snow Sculpture" Hank Erdmann Peninsula State Park, Door County, Wisconsin

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"Peninsula Snow Sculpture" Hank Erdmann Peninsula State Park, Door County, Wisconsin Blog #4, February 13, 2014 "Which Lens Should I Bring" Food for Thought: "I'm Aging Like Fine Wine.

1 "Peninsula Snow Sculpture" Hank Erdmann Peninsula State Park, Door County, Wisconsin Blog #4, February 13, 2014 "Which Lens Should I Bring" Food for Thought: "I'm Aging Like Fine Wine... I'm Getting Complex & Fruity" - Found this on a cocktail napkin: "Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it."- Chief Seattle "You can't believe your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain

2 "Newport Ice Rise" Hank Erdmann Newport State Park, Door County, Wisconsin "Which Lens Should I Bring?"... "What lens should I bring (into the field with me)? Is a question I hear many, many times a year. While I joke about this often, especially to my intro class and others, to be bluntly honest to an experienced photographer (one with years and years of experience) the question on the surface seems silly. To be totally truthful however, it is a very valid question, on more than one front. While I usually address the issue up front in classes, before we hit the field, I should be more aware that this is not as obvious as I think it is. I often say something almost intentionally snippy, like "I don't know" or "I have no idea", not to insult someone, but to emphasize the point or points I will make shortly. And once more, if any of my readers recognize that they asked this question recently in one or more classes and tours, PLEASE, PLEASE don't feel this directed at you, instead let me give you my thanks for being the genesis or inspiration of this blog, just because "What lens do I bring" is a very good and a very valid question.

It we ask the question on the basis of what gear do I "drag" along with me, meaning that I have 50 or 60 lenses to choose from and which ones do I select, one you are better off than I, and can I

3 It we ask the question on the basis of what gear do I "drag" along with me, meaning that I have 50 or 60 lenses to choose from and which ones do I select, one you are better off than I, and can I come and live with you? More often if the question is one of equipment, it often means which one of the few, which one of the two or three lenses a person owns is the question. That is especially true when one has sacrificed fortune and body to purchase and carry one of those very expensive, very heavy, 2mm to 2 Million mm, f1.4 lenses. Yes, I'm just kidding about those numbers, but I'm also making a point. Fast lenses with wide ranges may seem like a good idea until one sees the price and tries to carry it everywhere. "Weborg Winter" Hank Erdmann Weborg Marsh, Peninsula State Park, Door County, Wisconsin So let's get back to the question of physicality, which lenses does one carry? I can answer that question in two ways. I carry all the lensing I can physically and comfortably carry for a reasonable expectation of what kinds of subject matter I'm likely to encounter. Two, if I bought an expensive lens (real expensive or even a less expensive lens) I ought to be carrying it if it is one of the current lenses in use. It can not take any pictures sitting in the car, my hotel room or at home. There are exceptions to such

4 guidelines obviously. I don't drag my 170mm - 500mm around with me in my normal pack unless I'm very likely to use it. But it is usually along with me in the car where I can go grab it (except for last Saturday at Cave Point where I wanted to and could have used it to photograph some neat ducks...but it was back in my room at my lodging...where it did me absolutely no good... and this is probably the only time in months when I haven't had it close enough to use if I needed). Point made, lesson learned! Here's what I normally carry with me. It's not a light pack, nor is it too heavy for me to carry, but to be honest as I've gained years in age, I've also dropped things from the pack to save weight. Normally those "things" reside in another pack in the car where they are available when needed. I carry a 12-24mm wide angle lens, an 18-70mm wide to normal lens, and a mm telephoto lens. All zooms, all normal speed lighter lenses. I also carry an extension tube set, a 2X tele-converter, half a dozen polarizers and ND filters, and five 2-Element Close-Up Diopters, extra SD cards, 3 extra batteries, assorted other things I regularly use. "Shadow Flow" Hank Erdmann Tonti / LaSalle Canyon Trail,Starved Rock State Park, LaSalle County, Illinois If I want to go light, i.e. I have a big fanny pack for city shooting or other times I have to drop weight, I leave one of the shorter lenses out and some of the filters, and usually the extension tubes and 2x teleconverter. The main point is with either set-up, I can cover focal lengths from wide to short telephoto, and for what I photograph my lensing is almost always adequate. Let's make the question one of photography and composition, particularly one of perspective and treatment of subject matter, versus one of what I can, want to, or should be carrying just because I

5 spent a few bucks on it. While I know for many beginners the question is one of "what do I drag with me, especially since you've already made me drag this stupidly heavy tripod with me", for most photographers with even a little experience the question is really more one of what am I going to see here, how should I photograph it, will the view be telephoto or wide angle. That should really be the question. What kind of opportunities are here? Close-ups? Landscapes? Etc, etc? So again if you ask "What lens should I bring" even when the question is really what are we likely to be photographing, I might get snippy again...just to make another point. I don't know! I really don't know what lens I'll be using when I hit the field. I can tell you about likely subject matter, I can tell if close -up opportunities exist - YES, close-ups always exist everywhere!! I can tell you if landscape opportunities exist or other photo ops exist, but I'd rather not! For a reason. For a good reason! I want you to discover on your own, without a jaundiced or even a prejudiced view that is subliminally mine. I want you to experience a new environment on your own with the same awe and inspiration I felt upon first seeing it. It's not because I don't want to share, I do or I wouldn't be teaching the class or leading the tour. "Rock Creek Winter" Hank Erdmann Kankakee River State Park, Kankakee County, Illinois

One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was that of getting rid of pre-conceived notions of what I'm going to see, what I expect to see, what I subliminally want to see, or some Hudson painting

6 One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was that of getting rid of pre-conceived notions of what I'm going to see, what I expect to see, what I subliminally want to see, or some Hudson painting school notion of the environment that nature can never match, but usually can always better. I learned early on that when I doggedly go after an image that I expect to make, want to make or think I can make, and ignore current local conditions, I pass up great opportunities I can never get back and I don't make good images from the expected subjects. Some photographers, our friend Will Clay for one, expressly don't want to even see images form a place they have never visited, preferring to see it with their own eyes for the first time and not through another photographer's lens. That can be hard to do these days, google some place to get directions to it and you're very unlikely to get info without some images included. Don't under value the power of unaffected vision of a place at your first visit. I'll never forget the wonderment and awe of the scene on my first visit to Council Lake in the Hiawatha National Forest. I've been back so many times and so many zillions of images have been made on that same 100 feet of shoreline, but it never fails to impress me, to thrill me no matter how many photographers made images there before or will make after, it still thrills me to go there. Some places those first views are even more important, as we'll never be able to see them again. My first view of Europe Bay at Newport State Park in Door County will be a cherished memory, miles of curved sand beach, now hidden by millions of tons of discarded Zebra Mussel shells, Eurasian non-native plants, stinky algae and a water line many feet lower than it used to be. Man's influences gone bad as sadly normal. "Peninsula Ice" Hank Erdmann Green Bay Shore, Peninsula State Park, Door County, Wisconsin So I'll say "I don't know" in answer the question of what lens to bring, because I really don't know, I don't want to even think about that question until something as I walk into the environment catches my eye and I say, "hmmmm, that should make a neat image"! Then I'll think about what lens, what

7 perspective, what viewpoint, what kind of image, and what variations of the same I might want to make. Only then is the question of "what lens" pertinent. So the next time you think "what lens", stop before the words come out and ask what am I likely to see here? What are the photo opportunities here". Or maybe even better, "Wow, what a great new unblemished, unimagined, unprejudiced, unaltered in my mind canvas I have in front of me, point me in a direction to discover. But please do point out any dangers or things I might need to explore happily and safely". Or "what direction and where are you going, I coming with you" and later "what's in the opposite direction and should we go there?" As photographers should say "Go forth and Discover"! Allbest, Happy Winter, enjoy it for a few more weeks! Hank "Leave it as it is... The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it." - Theodore Roosevelt "The beauty of winter photography is that a winter scene never repeats itself" - Willard Clay "The virtue of the camera is not the power it has to transform the photographer into an artist, but the impulse it gives him to keep on looking." - Brooks Atkinson Hank Erdmann Photography 903 Windsor Drive, Shorewood, Illinois (Preferred Contact) ~ Cell hankphoto@sbcglobal.net Web:

Blog #9 Passing Thoughts...

Blog #9 Passing Thoughts... Sunrise Maple" Hank Erdmann Newport State Park, Door County, Wisconsin To be honest, this blog entry is late, at least in the self-imposed structure of putting these writings