March 23—Readers may remember that I spent Spring Break hiking and exploring Arizona. One of the consequences of this was that he ended up missing out on coverage of one of the year's biggest news events in Ada: a massive hailstorm.
Still, we had a great time. I visited Chiricahua National Monument, both halves of Saguaro National Park, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Montezuma Castle National Monument, Pima Air and Space Museum, San Xavier del Bac His Mission, and Biosphere 2. Drive through Arizona and New Mexico.
The trip exceeded my expectations and I feel it was a great success.
Of course, photography is paramount on trips like this, but when I travel, I'm not the same as the newspaper photographers. Chief among these differences is that when I travel, I travel light and my photography kit is light and simple.
One of the reasons I'm able to do this is because I'm not filming sports or news. Sports and news often require large, heavy and powerful cameras and lenses, and travel photography requires high image quality, but usually does not require high frame rates or high resolution. ISO setting or large aperture.
My kit has changed a bit over the years, but here's what I used on a recent trip: Nikon D7100, Nikon D5500, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6, AF -S Nikkor 18- 135mm f/3.5-5.6, AF-S Nikkor 10-20mm f/4.5-5.6, AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, AF-S Nikkor 85mm f/1.8.
I love the D7100 and 18-200mm combination, but they are a bit heavy when combined, so I worked with the D5500 and 18-135mm on this trip. This is my new favorite combination because it's much lighter. hiking.
Some photographers may note the lack of a super telephoto lens in this lineup of mine, but I'm not interested in taking wildlife photos, so I've never really needed a telephoto lens. .
Traveling light means you can have more fun and go deeper into the backcountry. It definitely works for me.
