Mike Hagen – Visual Adventures – October 2014 Newsletter
Ice formations from Jokulraslon. Nikon D800, 200-400mm f/4.
In this Newsletter
– Greetings
– New Videos – Getting Low and Profoto AirTTL Review
– Stuff I Like This Month
– October GOAL Assignment: Create Drama With Every Day Subjects
– Nikon D750 and D810 Setup Guides
– Nikon D750 Initial Impressions and Mini Review
– Digital Tidbits: OWC ThunderBay IV
– Workshop and Business Updates
Basalt columns near Vik, Iceland. Nikon D800, 70-200mm f/2.8.
Greetings
I’ve been traveling quite extensively over the last two months with trips to Iceland and the Galapagos. These two adventures were chock-full of photo opportunities and the participants were full of energy. Our days were long as we tried to shoot from sunup to sundown and we killed billions of pixels in the process. Some of us even took one or two good pictures. It is truly inspiring to travel with a group of photographers who are passionate about their pursuit of great images.
Group photo from Iceland Photo Adventure 2014.
Group photo from our Galapagos Photo Adventure.
There were lots of great stories from these trips such as photographing 10,000 northern gannets in Iceland to watching a 10-minute-old sea lion take its first steps in the Galapagos. One of my favorite stories though was on our last day in the Galapagos. Our expedition yacht had just entered an area called North Seymour and a few of us were on the top deck watching for wildlife and photo opportunities. We knew that sharks were common in the area and after a few minutes we started spotting hammerhead sharks swimming along the surface.
Eager with anticipation, seven of us brave souls jumped into the water with our snorkel gear, GoPros and underwater cameras to track down some sharks. During our dive, we swam with 5 to 6 white tipped reef sharks and were able to film a few of them hunting for food in the 20’ deep water. The quality of our videos left something to be desired, but the experience was thrilling and we will all be talking about it for years to come.
I love traveling with adventurous people and can’t wait to get back into the field with some more. In fact, I already have trips to these destinations posted for next year:
Iceland in Winter – February 2015
Iceland in Summer – July 2015
Galapagos Photo Adventure – September 2015
Red-billed tropic bird, Galapagos Islands. Nikon D800, 200-400mm f/4.
Northern gannet nesting colony in the Westman Islands, Iceland. Nikon D800, 14-24mm f/2.8.
New Videos: Getting Low and Profoto AirTTL Review
Check out our six-part video series on gear designed for getting low to the ground and a video review of the Profoto AirTTL system for Nikon. You’ll find these videos on our Mike Hagen YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/MikeHagenPhoto/).
Here are the links to all the products we tested and reviewed for the Getting Low series and the Profoto AirTTL for Nikon system:
Kirk Mighty Low Boy
Mini Tripods
Gitzo Carbon Fiber Tripod
Kirk Low Pod PO-2
Kirk Window Mount WM-2
Joby Gorillapod Focus
Profoto Air TTL Content