Love snappiness.... and hello
Welcome! Your photos are fantastic!
I'm in Tucson so feel free to hmu for local info. I can't advise on biking or advanced hiking trails since I can't do either of those things, but I do know a lot of beautiful spots which are probably even more beautiful if you're able to go hard!
Don't know how far south in Arizona you're willing to go but the Dragoon and Chiricahua mountains (1.5-3hr from Tucson, respectively) are incredible and highly underrated.
Quote from KankRat on March 3, 2022, 6:33 pmWow, what amazing photos!. Those are really great.
For some reason I can't see the bike pics. Interesting what you guys are doing biking and shooting. I have a pretty nice Gunnar Rockhound that I built. It's an old school steel frame, but where I live the landscapes are okay but nothing like that. The trails are pretty great though.
And yeah, Ukraine. this is a really, really bad situation.
Thanks Kank 😉
I fixed the missing picture in my post above. It's a Trek 9.9 RSL.
The most fun I've had on bikes is usually on old hard tails. In particular I loved my old Rocky Mountain Altitude and my Norco Team Ti ( steel and titanium respectively ).
I find I "see" ( from a photography perspective ) a lot when I ride my bike. It's the perfect way to take in a lot of scenery at the "right speed".
Quote from ahoyhere on March 4, 2022, 2:43 amWelcome! Your photos are fantastic!
I'm in Tucson so feel free to hmu for local info. I can't advise on biking or advanced hiking trails since I can't do either of those things, but I do know a lot of beautiful spots which are probably even more beautiful if you're able to go hard!
Don't know how far south in Arizona you're willing to go but the Dragoon and Chiricahua mountains (1.5-3hr from Tucson, respectively) are incredible and highly underrated.
Thank you!
I've never checked out the Dragoon or Chiricahua mountains. I may have to put that on my list!
A little secret about me. Back in my late teens, early 20's ( I'm now 44 ), I used to do a lot of competitive cycling ( 7 year Canadian National Team member for both road and mountain biking ). I would spend my winters in Tucson from January to March. There were large groups of cyclists that would ascend on Tucson during the winter months so it made for great training rides and I met a lot of great people. We would meet at the UofA clock tower every morning around 7:30. Not sure if that still goes on. I regularly rode up Mt. Lemon before the "big fire" at the top. Nowadays the biking is relegated to pittering around with my camera and the odd trail ride with my kids. Anyway I have this never fading love of the Arizona desert and I miss it a lot. I want to show my kids!
Quote from James Warner on March 3, 2022, 1:57 amQuote from grover on March 2, 2022, 9:43 pmThanks for the reply about the gear! I do have a capture clip as well and have found the same you have. I brought it with a Pentax K-5 and 18-135mm strapped to it through a trip to Big Bend and Mexico and it was awesome. Biking it works well too, unless I'm doing super crazy stuff, but when I do I usually take my backpack off as well just to be extra safe with my gear.
I've been eying the Atlas Athlete bag for when I want to take more lenses, but man is it pricey. I'm sure it's a great bag from all I've read, it's just a matter of putting off other stuff and saving for it. Maybe in the meantime I go for a used Lowepro. Some of the more common models are pretty cheap on the second hand market.
Oh, and I have a Trek now too. A 2019 Roscoe 8 for the last six months, an upgrade from the 2011 little GT I had. I really like it, but I think I want to go 29" and thinner tires. The 2.8" are cool for making you feel like a monster truck and bouncing over stuff, but I think it's a little much. I miss the more precise feeling of thinner tires. But I'm not complaining and just having fun with it until I find the right deal 🙂 Still not full suspension yet, maybe one day.
I guess I should add the disclaimer that I use the capture clip while riding my bike when the intention is to take photos.
When I go "mountain biking" on really rough trails and photography takes second place to riding, I don't take a DSLR at all. I take a smaller camera like my Fuji XF1 which is perfect!
Quote from grover on March 4, 2022, 5:04 pmQuote from KankRat on March 3, 2022, 6:33 pmWow, what amazing photos!. Those are really great.
For some reason I can't see the bike pics. Interesting what you guys are doing biking and shooting. I have a pretty nice Gunnar Rockhound that I built. It's an old school steel frame, but where I live the landscapes are okay but nothing like that. The trails are pretty great though.
And yeah, Ukraine. this is a really, really bad situation.
Thanks Kank
I fixed the missing picture in my post above. It's a Trek 9.9 RSL.
The most fun I've had on bikes is usually on old hard tails. In particular I loved my old Rocky Mountain Altitude and my Norco Team Ti ( steel and titanium respectively ).
I find I "see" ( from a photography perspective ) a lot when I ride my bike. It's the perfect way to take in a lot of scenery at the "right speed".
I am no where near the cyclist you are. We have nice trails near us. Christian Vande Velde's parents are from my area. Some guys I know met him on the trails when he got a flat. These are our trails:
They are pretty popular, people come from a long way to ride them but to me not so photogenic.
Quote from KankRat on March 4, 2022, 7:13 pmI am no where near the cyclist you are. We have nice trails near us. Christian Vande Velde's parents are from my area. Some guys I know met him on the trails when he got a flat. These are our trails:
They are pretty popular, people come from a long way to ride them but to me not so photogenic.
Nice! Those trails have some good flow.
Wow @grover, let me be the next to say, awesome photos! I especially love "car3" and "IMGP0122 2," the overturned car in that vast field. Where is that? Looks like Andrew Wyeth could be standing nearby, painting. Welcome to the forum and looking forward to seeing more of your photos!
Quote from denniscrommett on March 6, 2022, 4:05 amWow @grover, let me be the next to say, awesome photos! I especially love "car3" and "IMGP0122 2," the overturned car in that vast field. Where is that? Looks like Andrew Wyeth could be standing nearby, painting. Welcome to the forum and looking forward to seeing more of your photos!
Thanks @denniscrommett !
Most photos were taken with my Pentax K3-II so they have GPS coordinates in the EXIF data. On my website you can download the "original" size image which has all the meta-data intact. The overturned car photo was taken here. My site is running on my home server so downloading the originals might take a while but should work.
The abandoned building photos and the overturned car photo were taken during a solo drive I did from Calgary to Winnipeg ( approx 900 miles ) over 2 days ( slept in my Jeep ). It was such a whirlwind trip. I felt like I was jumping out of my car every 20 minutes to take a photo ( 1 shot, hand-held ) and then kept driving. I'd like to re-do that route and spend a bit more time shooting the spots I liked most.
Cheers!
