Photography by Randy Hanna

Seems that several of my prints are always the topic of donation items for a number of non-profit organizations around the Puget Sound area.  While I would love to support everyone that asks, I generally limit myself to one or two major print donations per year.  This year one of my signature prints, The Lady Washington Crossing Commencement Bay, was the surprise auction item for the 2010 Citizens for a Healthy Bay (CHB) annual auction.  This event, attended by people from all walks of life, included numerous local political leaders as well as Congressman Norm Dicks.  In addition to raising a ton of money for the education and pollution abatement efforts of CHB, a grand time was had by all.  My donation for this auction was one of my largest prints that I have done to date, measuring some 48×38 inches.  Printed on an Epson wide-carriage professional printer and mounted with acid free mats and  museum grade glass, she was all I could carry by myself.  Given the general state of the economy, I was very pleased with the final bid price that she delivered; no doubt she will grace a wall with pride.

Photo taken with my iPhone

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It has been super busy for me of late so I just now getting around to starting to some trip highlights from February.  For the Feb 2010 Photo Safari, we visited Arusha National Park, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara, Gibbs Farm, Ngorongoro Conservation Area (including the famed Crater), and the Serengeti National Park (with a private flight back from the Serengeti  to Arusha).  The map below will give you an idea of the distance we covered.  During this trip, I used an AMOD data logger to capture our routes of travel in a GPS format.  I have successfully converted one of several legs from NEMA to the KML format required for Google Earth and will be posting those and well as the process in later postings.

Parks of Tanzania

Basing out of my favorite lodge in Arusha, Mountain Village,  Arusha National Park was our first part visit.  This park is known for the Colobus Monkeys that are found only in Tanzania at this park and around the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro.  These crazy monkeys are somewhat elusive, and are usually found deep in the double canopies of the Park.  This location, combined with their black fur which sports a long wide white stripe down their back and continuing the full length of their tail, make for difficult photography.  Looking closely at these monkeys, they seem to have the face of an old man – like someone is looking back at you when you are taking their photographs.

I'm Watching You

Nikon D300, 200-400VR, ISO 500, f6.6 at 1/160 sec

Up next:  Those crazy elephants of Tarangire National Park

Cheers and happy photo’ing

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Before I start sharing photos and stories from my Feb 2010 Safari, I wanted to address one question that I am often asked:  Why do you always use Thomson Safaris?  While they are one of the oldest and most established tour companies in Tanzania, specializing only in Tanzania, I only have to turn to the quality of their guides for the real reason.  Sure accidents will and can happen, but there really is no excuse for being careless and not knowing your surroundings.  The images below show a proper river crossing, even though we had to drive a little bit out of the way to find a safe crossing, and a not so proper river crossing.  Every time I see an accident like this, I am reminded just how lucky I am to always have some of the best guides in the business on my trips.  The guides of Thomson Safaris are trained to always put the safety of their clients first and game viewing second.  Nuff said and the photos below speak for themselves.

Tarangire River Crossing Thomson's Style

Nikon D3, 70-200VR @ 110mm,ISO 250,  f9 @ 1/1250 sec

River Crossing Done the Wrong Way

Photo by Lori Kruger

Cheers and Happy Photo’ing

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Notes from Tanzania – we started our day with a leisurely trip to Arusha National Park to see if we could spot some of the gorgeous but somewhat reclusive Colobus monkeys. These are the black and white monkeys with 6-foot long white tails (makes them somewhat easy to spot in the forest canopy) and black human-looking faces surrounded by white fur.  The monkeys didn’t disappoint us as we spotted several large families, each of at least ten monkeys, near the road. While photographing the white and black fur of the monkeys proved to be challenging, we managed to get a few great shots, including several of the monkeys leaping from branch to branch.

After returning to Mountain Village we took a 3-mile hike around the local lake, taking in a variety of bird species and watching a monitor lizard snarf down a crayfish. By sunset we were back at the lodge enjoying a beverage, good company and delightful dinner of fish, lamb or vegetarian fare complemented by organically grown vegetables.

Tomorrow we head to Tarangire National Park to find the large elephant herds, a few lions, and perhaps even a leopard or two.

Temperature is in the high 80’s during the day, overcast with some sun breaks, and cool in the evenings.  Very high humidity as storms are all around us.  Looks like lots of heavy rain in the Serengeti Plains.  We will be off the net for the next several days due to the remoteness of Tarangire.  Next update in three days from Gibbs Farm.

Cheers and happy photo’ing.

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This bill board simply kills me every time I pass by it on the way to the Airport in Tanzania.  Returning from a long dry safari, the thoughts of an ice cold  ‘Kili’ sure makes one smile.

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For all of you that have been having trouble leaving comments, I have located and corrected the problem.

Cheers

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A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America ‘ for an amount of ‘up to and including my life.’

A veteran is a man/woman who fell in love with his country, for better, or worse – for richer, for poorer – in sickness and in heath.

A veteran is a man/woman who is willing to lay down his life for the Statue of Liberty so that her poor, her huddled masses, her homeless, her tempest tossed may breathe free and may enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

A veteran is as a man/woman who does what he must – in spite of personal consequences – in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures – for that is the basis of all human morality.

A veteran is a man/woman who gets a lump in his throat when he sees our beloved flag and he’ll fight to protect our beautiful bunting from those who would dare to dishonor it.

A veteran is a man/woman who pays his taxes, willingly; serves his country, honorably; and cherishes his freedom, passionately.

A veteran is a man/woman well-deserving of our appreciation, our love, and our prayers 365 days a year.

To all of the Veterans and those military service members currently serving, thanks for your service.

RWH

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Many of you know, both of my daughters as well as my two son-in-laws are  in the military as Officers.  Today I spoke with Coogan (the youngest and a 2006 graduate from the US Air Force Academy), just before she boarded her flight from Virgina to Afghanistan.  While deployment is a father’s worst nightmare, I know that she is well trained and will be well taken care of .  During her frequent visits, I am always able to sneak in a few photos sessions with Coogan.  She is a great model and a true champ when it comes to tolerating Dad’s continuous testing of new lighting equipment.  So in tribute to Coogan, here are a few shots of her from our most recent shoot in October.  Take care dear and be safe.

Love Dad

All images above were taken with a Nikon D700, 70-200 VR lens, SB900’s in 24 inch Lastolite softboxes.

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The annual migration of the Pink Salmon from saltwater to fresh water for spawning is underway on the Puyallup River.  The fishermen and women are shoulder to shoulder in hopes of taking a few fish home.  After painting the front of the house for two days, I got permission to leave the compound.   I grabbed the camera, my dry pants and headed for the river.  I caught the last light of the evening and even took a spill in the water as my wet boots caught a large underwater rock.  I went in up to my shoulder and all I could think about was getting my camera up over my head.  With all of the fishermen looking on, a few water drops were all that hit my D700, but man was the water running down the inside of my dry pants COLD.  Being cold and wet, I was now more interested in getting out of the water rather than getting a great shot.  Unless I decide to return over the next day or so, the shot below will have to do.

Fishermen as far as one can see

Success can be measured by the fish in hand or on the stringer.  The young lady below smiled from ear to ear when she finally landed her fish.

I have mine, where is yours?

Of course a visit to the river is never complete without a stop at my favorite roadside fruit stand for some home grown veggies and fruits.  Wet up to the neck after my spill in the river, in I went.  Soon Autumn will be here and the fresh fruits from the Yakima Valley will be a thing of the past;  already gone are the Walla Walla Sweets.

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This past weekend I had a wonderful time working with Aimee at the Iris Modeling Studio in Seattle.  Aimee was a complete pro and wonderful to work with, simply a natural in front of the camera.  She knew exactly where her best lines were and worked very hard to make sure the camera saw them; when I would move, she would move with me.   These shots were taken with a D300 or D700 using 17-55 or a 70-200 zoom.  In most cases the light was in the upper right in a large softbox.  Reflectors were positioned around Aimee to control the shadows.  In many of the shots, I was wanting deeper shadows than I normally work with.  It turned out to be a hit or miss when it came to balancing the shadows and the strobes.

I’ll be teaching some lighting techniques this weekend at Studo Q in Seattle.  While our primary focus will be the Nikon Creative Lighting System, I will also have on hand a number of light modifiers as well as some new “just out” toys.  The wonderful folks at Radio Poppers sent up some of their new transmitters and receivers for us to play with and we will be sure to give them a hard workout.  I have a shot in mind which will really challenge the Poppers.  Stacy, our lovely model for they day, will be surrounded in a metal cage thanks to an old historic freight elevator.  No doubt, RF signals will be bouncing all over the place; let’s see if they are up to the challenge.

Ok Ok Ok.  This is a major departure from the normal way I shoot and what I usually shoot however, it is all about learning to light your subject to create the visual impact.  Yes – you guessed it, I am working on a special project.  You will no doubt hear more about this particular project as the time draws near.  Till then…..

Cheers and happy photoing

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