Erich's Photo and Travel

Since we are not going on a safari this year (or Israel for that matter) we decided to take our big lenses out for a safari at the Denver Zoo.We opted to go during the week so we took Friday off and booked our tickets online.  We figured the earlier we got in the better.  Animals are usually active first thing in the morning.The zoo definitely had the social distancing thing down.  Timed entry, one way traffic and plenty of hand  sanitizing stations throughout the park. I commend their efforts.  It could have gone another way and then I would have to have condemned their efforts. Glad it was in our favor.We packed a lunch to eat in the nearby park after our trip to the zoo to help ensure compliance with the social distancing laws.  Saved a few bucks too.








Great day at the zoo.  
p.s. We forgot our cooler in the back of the truck.  Just got it out today.  NASTY.  I should just through all of the Tupperware away but we have enough plastic floating in the ocean as it is.

I found a hint online showing how to photograph some water droplets.  Well, in this case it is olive oil suspended on water.
The trick is to add a couple of drops of dish soap to the water and mix it in.  Once the water clears up, add the oil.
I have a lot of work to do (i.e. lighting, depth et cetera) but this is the initial outcome.

Another trip out to Barr Lake with only our Cameras and super telephoto lenses in tow.  
We opted to bring monopods in lieu of our heavier Manfrotto Tripods as our last trip we were overloaded with cameras and lenses.
I think our trial and error is paying off.

What's one to do when you buy a new lens (discounted $300 by the way)?  Thats right, go shoot some birds at one of the many Colorado State Parks.
Lucky for us, Barr Lake is just a few minute drive for us.
We got up at 5am thinking that we would roll out of bed and hit the road.  Well, that didn't happen.  We got on the road at 6am and arrived a few minutes later.
Our new lenses added an additional 3lbs to our backpacks and along with the tripod and water bottles it was a wonder we could walk at all.

Our goal was to go out to the Gazebo.  Michelle thought it was a short walk (with a 15lb backpack in tow) but it was about 1 1/2 miles.  Normally, this would be about 30 minute walk but a ton of birds everywhere it took us about an hour or so to reach our destination.



How big are our lenses?

I never had a Lego set as a kid.  Closest thing I got to Legos as a kid was stepping on the little fucking pieces at a neighbors house.  Maybe the past experience tainted my need to ever touch them.
So why did I buy some?  Macro Photography.  
We headed out to Target to pick up some household items and visited the toy aisle.  Target had two dedicated aisles to Legos but not a lot to choose from.  Of course, I picked up a Star Wars set.  Luke Skywalker's X-Wing.  The set included mini Luke, R2-D2 and a Stormtrooper.






My Lego photoshoot was going well but then Barbie and her cronies crashed my party and took over the shoot.






The two suns began to set on Tantooine so we got in our ship and headed to Dagoba.

Once again, we needed to get out of work for a few days.  Not because we hate working but we hate working in the house all day.
The vacation days are piling up so we had to burn a few more days.
Off to Gunnison, Montrose and The Black Canyon in Colorado.
Due to the COVID crap, we needed to find a hotel in that had a kitchen.  No luck finding one unless we wanted to stay in Grand Junction, CO.  A bit too far from our planned activities.
Hmm, what about Air BnB?  
We never used AirBnB before so we created an account and dove in.  Within a minute or two we found the perfect place.  A cabin in a rural area of Montrose.
$95 a night and built just for two.
We picked up all of the food that we would need to make breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday and loaded up the Yeti 35 and RTIC65 coolers.  This was a great idea as we only had to buy a couple of things.  The only other expense was gas.  Way to fucking cool.






Since we were going to be here for three nights, we thought that we would try some night …