Hi, and welcome to my site!
It's hard to think I've been doing now for 40 years! I've wandered the local areas of interest here in northern Illinois, which I suppose helped develop my own way of looking at the world since Illinois, as you know, has no mountains, no oceans, no desert and only common wildlife. My photographic passion has always been the natural scene - the landscape and its wildlife - but I'm also continuously drawn to urban and rural decay (buildings, objects and other man-made items that are past their time or otherwise abandoned).
Over the years, I've spent most of my vacation time exploring the areas we travel, always looking through the lens of a camera. My wife Sheryl looks ahead to our next location, plans our arrival and departure times and "scouts" ahead for opportunities. Most importantly, she encourages me to stay until the last glimmer of light even when I've monopolized the day.
Like many others, I'm drawn to the west, fascinated by the Colorado Plateau and inspired by the mountains. No doubt, you'll see that reflected in many of the images on this site.
I've had the good fortune to use some of the finest photographic equipment along the way. I've worked in all conventional formats including 35mm, 6x6 and 6x17 panoramic medium formats, 4x5 and 8x10. In the end, I've learned that it's all about the impact of an image and not about which camera, lens or filter was used to capture the essence of the scene. Regarding post-processing, my aim is to display on my site what it felt like to be standing there at that moment. Sometimes that means aiming for 100% realism, sometimes not at all.
For family and friends who've asked for years, "when are we going to see your pictures?"...well, here are just a few.
- Dan
The following is a listing of camera equipment used to produce photos on this website:
35mm
Canon Cameras:
EOS 5D Mark IV w/BG-E6 grip, EOS 5D w/motor, EOS Rebel T2i, EOS 10D w/motor, EOS-1 w/motor (film), F1 w/motor (film), AE-1 Program
Canon Lenses:
14mm f/2.8L, 20-35mm f/2.8L USM, 24mm f/2.8, 35-105mm f/3.5-4.5, 80-200mm f/2.8L, 200mm f/2.8L, 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS, Canon 600mm f/4.5L SSC, Canon 600mm f/4 USM, Canon 1.4X II, Canon 1.4X III
Sigma Lenses:
12-24mm f/4.5 Art DG USM, 24-105mm f/4 ART USM
Tamron Lenses:
28-105mm f/2.8 Aspherical, 180mm f/3.5 Macro, 80-200mm f/4.5-5.6, 200-400mm f/4.5-5.6, 90mm f/2.5 Macro
Medium format (6x6cm)
Hasselblad Cameras: SWC, 500 C/M, 500 EL/M
Carl Zeiss Lenses: 38mm f.3.5 Biogon, 40mm f/4 Distagon, 50mm f/4 Distagon, 80mm f/2.8 Planar, 120mm f/4 Macro, 150mm f/5 Sonnar, 250mm f/5.6 SuperAchromat
Schneider Lens: 140-280mm Variogon
Medium format (panoramic 6x17cm)
Camera: Fuji GX617
Fujinon Lenses: 90mm f/8 w/ center filter, 105mm f/5.6 w/center filter
Large Format (4"x5")
Cameras: Wista Cherrywood 4"x5", Wista Rosewood 4"x5", Zone VI Cherrywood 4"x5", Horseman ELM 4"x5"
Lenses: Schneider Super Angulon 75mm f/4.5 APO w/center filter, Rodenstock 115mm f/6.8 Rodagon, Schneider 135mm f/5.6 Symmar, Rodenstock 210mm f/5.6 Sironar, Schneider 210mm f/5.6 APO Super Symmar
Large Format (8"x10")
Cameras: Zone VI Cherrywood 8"x10", Cambo II 8"x10"
Lenses: Schneider 150mm f/8 Super Angulon XL w/center filter, Rodenstock 360mm f/8 Sironar
Darkroom
Enlargers: Beseler 45MXT 4"x5" enlarger w/ Aristo D2 Cold Light, Beseler 45MXTII w/Beseler 8"x10" Cold light conversion kit
Enlarging Lenses: Schneider 50mm, Rodenstock 80mm, Rodenstock 150mm, Rodenstock 300mm
Other
Post-Processing (currently used versions): Adobe Photoshop CC2017, Lightroom CC2015, Bridge CC2017
Photoshop Plug-Ins: Topaz Sharpen-AI, Nik Color EfexPro 3, Nik Silver Efex Pro 2, Nik SharpenPro 3, Nik DFine 2 Noise Reduction, On1 RAW
Media: SanDisk ExtremePro CF and SDUX memory cards exclusively
Portable Media: LaCie Rugged external hard drives in the field and Fantom GForce external drives in the studio.
Filters: Lee graduated & Big Stopper ND, B+W screw-on cir cular polarizers and UV
Tripods: Calumet 8000 Carbon Fiber, Gitzo G1349 Mountaineer Carbon Fiber, Zone VI 5000, Majestic 4800 Studio (for when I need to get 8' up and support an 8x10 view camera)
Tripod Heads: Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ball Head, Gitzo G1276 Ball Head, Gitzo 1576M Ball Head, Gitzo G2750 Ball Head, Bogen 3047 3-way Pan/til head
Cases: Tamrac Expedition, LowePro Trekker and Super Trekker