My "coldest" image, I think. This was a moonset and morning alpenglow at about mnus 50 west of Glenallen, Alaska in the Copper River Basin. The soft arctic alpenglow at high latitudes is the most ethereal I've seen. I had an auxiliary battery pack that I had to keep under my parka. This was hard wired to the camera. This is the only way to keep the camera operating in extreme cold.

First, a little background story about my early Alaska days.

A client recently expressed interest in images of bitter cold. Not much of that in Northern New Mexico and western Colorado Valley this winter. I am planning a late winter trip to Alaska this year. But, I always keep up with what’s happening with winter up there.

I saw something I hadn’t seen in a while. Interior temperatures hit minus 60 the last few days of January. Minus 40’s and 50’s are common but minus 60’s have been rare in this era of climate change. The National Weather Service office even mentioned how this January was similar to the winter of 89-90.

The winter of 1989/1990 was my second winter in Alaska and I remember it well. The Army sent me camping in the Interior in January and again in March! And the coldest air of the winter hit while we were camping. I should know. I was part of an Air Force weather detachment that participated in Army exercises and made official weather observations.

The first night was only like minus 45 and we had minus 40 and colder for the entire two weeks we were out. We were lucky as we were in the hills above Delta Junction and thus a little warmer. Some of the lowest valley locations, like Nenana, south of Fairbanks, hit minus 71. Even east Anchorage got close to minus 40 that January.

Being in air that cold is just painful. It hurts to breath. It feels like slivers of broken glass in your nostrils when you inhale. When you walk it feels like the wind is blowing because the air is incredibly dense. Normally cushy vehicle seats feel like slabs of concrete. Alkaline batteries don’t work. For cheap amusement we’d throw a cup of hot liquid up in the air and it would never hit the ground as it would just freeze into ice crystals.

What does all this have to do with photography? Well something happened that first night I’ll never forget. I saw my first real aurora borealis display and it blew me away. It was a brilliant emerald green display over a moonlit landscape of fresh sparkling arctic snow.

I tried photographing them. They sucked. It was my first time. It was 40 below. I was still an amateur and I was working the graveyard shift out of a tent on an Army field trip – not exactly ideal conditions for photography. But, it sealed my interest in photographing the aurora borealis.

This is one of my favorite and my most commercially successful aurora borealis image. This is from Kluane National Park in the Yukon the 3rd week of March. This is the Kathleen River just downstream from the outlet of Kathleen Lake. The lake is very deep and upwelling prevents the first stretch of river from freezing. The shot took place around 3AM on a full moon night. It was balmy and only a few degrees below zero.

I’ve made some successful aurora images in winter, but my favorite and coldest photo was of a morning moon and alpenglow in a black spruce forest east of Glenallen which was minus 50 that morning. I’d been up most of the night waiting for an aurora that never materialized.

For a while there was something alluring about enduring extreme weather painful as it was. But I learned this long ago: Simply enduring adverse conditions doesn’t make your images more creative. There is no correlation between degree of difficulty and creativity. However, when you make a great or even good image during challenging environmental conditions it makes it more satisfying.

P.S: Here are some geeky weather facts.

Arctic airmasses are very shallow and dense, usually having extreme temperature inversions. So the coldest air is in the LOWEST elevations such as valley floors.

Minus 40 is where Celsius and Fahrenheit are equal i.e. -40F = -40C

Ice fog is a purely man made phenomena occurring during arctic air in settlements, villages and urban areas. At temperatures in the minus 20’s and colder air cannot hold any moisture. So moisture from internal combustion engine exhaust and exhaust from residential and commercial gas fired furnaces is enough to generate incapacitating fog that remains trapped under sharp inversions. Ice fog can reduce visibility to no more than 100 meters sometimes, but is usually no more than a hundred feet thick vertically.

At minus 20 and colder, exposed flesh can literally freeze, i.e. your nose and finger tips can turn into blocks of ice—not good!

Need more? Check out Jim Green’s Alaska Weather blog. He produces a yearly wall calendar called ‘Alaska Weather Calendar’.

Michael DeYoung shooting with liner gloves and fleece windbloc fingerless gloves

I love winter light, especially fresh snow clinging to trees on a crisp winter morning! The hardest thing about winter shooting for me has always been keeping my hands warm while operating the camera system, including the tripod. Even with the big pro bodies I just don’t have the dexterity to operate the camera/lens the way I prefer with big warm gloves. So over the many years of winter sports and landscape photography in Alaska, the Yukon and the Rockies, I’ve developed a 3 glove system that works well and will keep your hands functioning for hours in moderate cold – say single digit and teen temperatures. Hopefully, these tips come in handy.

First, not to sound like I’m preaching, you must keep your head and neck warm. This is where you lose a majority of your body heat. Keeping your head and neck covered is the first step to minimizing cold fingers. When your body is trying to keep its core warm it starts by cutting off warm blood flow to your extremities.

Liners. I’m always searching for the perfect liner glove. My current favorite is the Atlas 370 which has an amazing grip on the palm and fingers. Sizing is critical. Too tight and your fingers will get cold quickly. Too big and you don’t get maximum dexterity.

Fleece Fingerless Gloves. Over the liners go a high quality Windstopper™ fleece fingerless gloves. Glacier Gloves are good. I currently use Simms that cover everything except my finger tips. They easily slide over the liner gloves. I got both of these at a flyfishing store. Steelhead anglers know all about needing dexterity in typical wet cold steelhead fishing weather. Ever try tying a blood knot with cold fingers?

Atlas 370 liner glove has a great synthetic palm grip that grips great on focus rings and CF tripods

A Little Chemical Help. Here’s a trick that helps most people. Place a chemical hand warmer in your palm, between the liner and the fleece windblock glove. This will help warm the blood and you can close your hand around the warmer to warm your finger tips. Remember, these things only work when they are enclosed in something.

Winter holiday scene in Wyoming. Temps were near 10F. Glove system worked well in setting up tent, props and working the camera. This image is a Palm Press Holiday Card available at REI

Big Mittens. For ski photography or traveling on foot in between locations in really cold weather, the first two gloves easily slide into a heavy mitten, the kind you can get from REI. Most high end expedition mittens will have a retainer cord. And most high end parkas will have a small d-ring about 6 inches up the sleeve. So on a ski shoot, I’m skiing to my next location keeping my hands toasty in the mittens. When I’m ready to grab the camera and shoot, I just slide off the mittens as they just dangle from my parka. With my liners and fingerless gloves, I’m ready to rock and roll.

Michael DeYoung is an adventure lifestyle photographer based out of the skit town of Taos, New Mexico and Anchorage, Alaska

Michael DeYoung's Caribou and Mt. McKinley image: The winner of PDN's 2011 Great Outdoors photo contest

I was excited to learn that my caribou and Mt. McKinley image won first place in the 2011 Great Outdoors (Parks & Safaris) photography contest held by Photo District News. Photo District News (PDN), a Nielsen Business Media publication, is a leading photo industry magazine and is seen by thousands of photography industry creatives.

I have spent more time photographing in Denali National Park, 23 years, than just about any other place. This image was the result of luck, intimate working knowledge of the area and plain old persistence. I typically work the west end of the park from Grassy Pass to Wonder Lake where caribou and moose tend to be seen more frequently toward late summer and fall. My typical sleep deprived day starts very early trying to catch the early morning light on Mt. McKinley from Wonder Lake. The lake was in thick fog and after it seemed it wouldn’t burn off anytime soon, we drove east, climbing to near the top of the fog layer above the McKinley Bar when I spotted a bull caribou we’ve been seeing around for several days. Fortunately, I was able to position myself and sit tight while the lone bull moseyed on by where he would line him up with the mountain which was in and out of the rapidly moving fog. I got maybe 6 shots before he dropped out of sight over the ridge.

The judges in this year’s contest were Amy Berkley (Field & Stream), Grant Ellis (Surfer Magazine), Amy Feitelberg (Outside), Nick Hamilton (TransWorld SNOWboarding), and Elayna Rocha (Y&R Brands Irvine).

The Gulf of Alaska sent the Southern Rockies a different plan as the last day of April rolled into May first. Snow. And near record cold. Drove home Sunday from Westcliffe, Colorado. Snowed most of the way. Snowed all afternoon at home with sub-freezing temperatures, yes in May! Monday morning looked and felt more like January. Four inches of new snow cloaked the landscape with our mercury at 18 degrees at sunrise. Beautiful, but not spring like.

Never seen so many songbirds at the feeders during the heavy snow Sunday and Monday morning. The seed eaters had plenty of grub but I was concerned about our resident nesting bluebirds. Insect life was all but shut down the previous afternoon so they probably had very little to eat. They sat on a feeder perch for over an hour Monday morning making me wonder if they were just warming themselves in the sun.

In the past, we’ve offered them mealworms, soaked raisins and insect suet on snowy spring days but they never ate it so I guess they were fine weathering out the storm with little or nothing to eat. But that was March and April, not May with 5 new eggs in their nest.

Reminded myself of a lesson I stress in my workshops. Don’t forget to shoot close to home. I’ve always felt that if you can’t make good images in your backyard, you won’t make good images in some exotic and far away place. That morning was an opportunity for me to practice what I preach.

So we took a break from our business tasks and packing to shoot stills and motion. Shot the bluebirds on the perch and shot Lauri behind the camera and lens that was used to photograph Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird on said perch.

Lauri photographing mountain bluebirds on a perch at our feeding station.

Our resident and nesting pair of mountain bluebirds

Mrs. Bluebird on a perch at our seed feeder. Shot details: Canon 1D, Mark IV, 400/F4 lens with 1.4X extender, 580EX II speedlite mounted on a Really Right Stuff flash bracket.

Normally, we sweep new snow from our solar panels at first light to maximize power on winter days. The days are long now, the sun is up before we are and we could afford to wait a bit to see if a photo idea I had would pan out. The wetter spring snow and a little more morning heat could create a thin layer of melt water on the panels. That could make some cool reflections of Lauri as she swept the snow off. Also with a backlit and sidelit scene the huge angled array with fresh snow made one heck of a fill light.

Sweeping new May snow off solar panels, photovoltaic array outside of Taos, New Mexico

Sweeping new May snow off solar panels, photovoltaic array outside of Taos, New Mexico

Our mountain bluebird parents are just fine and I’m glad that I had a chance to make some nice images from home. Now back to spring.

Recently I wrote a post about bare bones photo outfits for adventure photography. Since I just completed another multi-day backpack adventure in the Grand Canyon, I thought I would expand upon backpacking photography gear and share some images from the trip.

THE HIKE was 5 days starting from Lipan Point, down the Tanner Trail, following the Escalante Route downriver to Hance Rapids, then up the Tonto/Grandview Trail to Grandview Point. There were three of us, myself, Lauri – my super tough wife, assistant, and ultimate companion – and long time good friend John from Seattle. This is a backcountry route on unmaintained and unmarked trails with steep and exposed sections. We had 2 very nice camps along the river and two nice dry camps on the Tonto platform.

self portrait at camp on the western Tonto Trail with signature scratched legs

BACKPACKING PHOTOGRAPHY is always the most challenging with respect to what gear to take without breaking your back but still having enough gear to produce professional results. I’ve made some reasonably good stock sales from prior Grand Canyon backpack trips so I always take professional gear with me. Lauri and I are moderate ultra-lighters with our regular backpack gear. This allows me to carry a capable camera load without killing my back so long as I train for the trip – which I did this time.

Photographing sunset on the South Rim, Grand Canyon

Michael DeYoung photographing on the South Rim, Grand Canyon

ULTRA LIGHT SUPPORT. I pack the lightest weight Gitzo carbon fiber tripod (1.6lbs) the Mountaineer 0. On top is a Really Right Stuff B-25 head (7oz.) with quick release lever. This is their smallest head and the best head I’ve ever used for lightweight applications. At a little over 2 lbs. the tripod and ball head easily rides on the side of my pack similar to where you would place tent poles carried externally. The tripod allowed me to capture some nice moonlit camp scenes and low light landscapes which you will see below. It easily held a pro body with wide angle zoom in moderate winds. The key is to use a remote release to eliminate any possible shutter shake.

On the Tanner Trail with Think Tank Digital Holster pack on my chest

WHAT’S IN THE BAG? For camera gear, I limit myself to one body and lens. Being a Grand Canyon veteran, I find the best lens is the 17-40 on a full frame body. I was planning on taking the Canon 50D but at the last minute took my Canon 1Ds Mark III. The rest of my pack was not that heavy so I opted to carry the extra 1.5 lbs for the full frame, 21 mega-pixel body. In the end I’m glad I did. The canyon is a brutal environment and dealt out a potentially damaging dose of wind, dust, sand, and river spray. The 1D series are built like tanks with weather sealed buttons and the 1Ds, III scoffed at the elements. Lesser bodies may have failed. In addition to the body and lens, I took one strobe – a 580EXII with off camera cord, some gels, and a Honl 1/8 grid. Accessories included a polarizer and a Singh_Ray 3 stop hard step graduated ND filter, extra batteries, a remote release and four 8gb and 16gb compact flash cards.

Scenic along the Colorado River just above Tanner Rapids

THE BAG ITSELF. The body and lens, flash, filters, compact flash cards in a tethered Think Tank card wallet, and lens cloth all fit in a Think Tank Digital Holster 50. I carried this bag on my chest, attached to the shoulder straps and hip belt with mini caribiners. In the photo it looks awkward and large but is actually quite comfortable and provides some welcome counterbalance with all the weight on my back. For day shooting, I could quickly pull out the camera and strobe for hiking shots. The small Think Tank Lightning Fast flash bag attached to the side of my pack held the lightweight accessories and batteries that I couldn’t fit in the chest holster bag. There are similar bags on the market designed to be used with backpacks such as the Clik adventure bags. From what I’ve seen they have a better designed system for attaching a chest holster to your backpack. And they offer other than black bags – much better for hot desert conditions. But I invested in the Think Tank before Clik adventure packs were on the market.

THE WHOLE KIT AND KABUDLE. My entire Grand Canyon backpacking photography ensemble was 7.5 lbs. If we weren’t seasoned backpackers and good at getting the rest of the load down to a reasonable weight, 7.5 lbs would seem cumbersome.

Backpackers Lauri and John resting in shade as rafts approach Tanner Rapids

CAN I GET THE WEIGHT DOWN EVEN MORE? If money were no object, I would opt for a Canon 5D, Mark II vs. the heavier 1Ds Mark III as the best Canon full frame pro body for backpacking. Then again if money were no object I would have hired a college student with a strong back in desperate need of cash to schlep my camera gear for me. Next trip. I wouldn’t even think of leaving a strobe and accessories behind even though that would shave another pound. There are so many situations where carefully crafted artificial light was useful for hiking and camping lifestyle photography. The strobe and the ability to shape and warm the light it produces makes or breaks the difference between amateur and professional results.

Lauri prepares backpacker breakfast of oatmeal and blueberries at backpacking camp along the Colorado River.

John priming a MSR Whisperlite backpack stove at sunrise along the Colorado River

I could scrap the tripod but that would mean no night time or low light landscapes with lots of depth of field images. I’m not ready to make that sacrifice yet. As I look at the results from the trip, it makes all the back and joint pain of carrying my photo gear worthwhile.

Lauri and John hiking in cooler evening hours along the Escalante Route, hiking above Cardenas Creek.

Moonlit camp above Unkar Rapids along the Escalante Route. Lauri is lighting the tent with the 580EX II with a green gel. The tent is an MSR Hubba Hubba without the rainfly for star/moon gazing

close up of hiking boots along the Escalante Route

Marie, another backpacker we met on the trail, writing in her journal in the morning sun at Hance Rapids.

A group of rafters from Alaska, one of whom I knew from my Alaska days and involvement with the Knik Canoers and Kayakers, stopped to scout Hance Rapids.

Rafters running Hance Rapids, entering on river left. With only a 40mm focal length, this is as close as I could get without swimming. This is one of the limitations of only having one lens, a wide angle zoom

John descending a steep rockslide to get around Popago Creek just a half mile upstream from Hance Rapids

John stargazing in his bivy sack at a very nice dry camp on the Tonto about a mile above Hance Creek. This type of shot is what makes hauling a tripod and remote trigger that lets me do long exposures worthwhile. This is a 4 minute exposure with the foreground lit with a LED headlamp. This was our last and fourth night on the trail.

It seems that a common characteristic of all good teachers and true “masters” is that they remain life long students and learners. Taking that to heart as a workshop instructor, and seasoned pro shooter I still see great value in taking photography workshops.

The last one I attended was a day long seminar called the Flashbus taught by 2 masters of speedlight location lighting, Joe McNally and David Hobby. Hobby has one of the most popular photography blogs called the Strobist. I’ll bet that most people reading this are already aware of the strobist blog. Joe McNally, a well sought after workshop leader (I took one of his workshops in Santa Fe, 80 miles from my home), wrote two of the best books on digital flash photography that I’ve read. They are: The Hot Shoe Diaries and The Moment it Clicks.

The Flashbus was a great deal at $99 even for a working pro who is familiar with most of the material they were presenting. This year’s tour is half over. I hope they will do something similar next year. As usual, I picked up a tip or two. Also as a workshop instructor always striving to improve my own presentation, these are 2 guys to emulate.

The capabilities of camera flashes today are astonishing compared to when I first started photography in the early 80’s. In fact, after some early trial and errors, I mainly avoided the use of flash other than basic fill lighting until a few years ago. I discovered a monumental change in hot-shoe strobe capabilities. The array of effective, portable light shaping tools on the market today is also amazing. Mastering the use of portable strobes is a great growth area for expanding your creativity. It is also right up my alley, since I often schlep gear into hard to reach locations for adventure photography, fitness photography and wilderness travel photography. So the capability to get studio quality lighting to remote places has greatly enhanced the value of my imagery. I wrote about such an adventure photography shoot in a previous blog post.

Michael DeYoung lighting his subjects under the Root Glacier with a Canon 580 EXII with wireless TTL triggered by a Radio Popper. A Honl grid was used to focus the light on the subjects and keep it off the ice walls. The camera on a tripod was triggered with a 10 second timer.

I am moving more in the direction of teaching more workshops. This summer I am scheduled to do my third weekend long workshop – Creative Outdoor Photography Workshop – in Alaska for the Alaska Society of Outdoor and Nature Photographers. I have done evening presentations for the ASMP Alaska chapter and for NANPA, the North American Nature Photography Association. I am scheduled to lead a10 day Alaska workshop next summer (2012) for the Rocky Mountain School of Photography.

Learning from the masters is the time honored way to helping yourself become one. I’m still a way’s off from being a master. Like many masters I admire, I will always remain willing to pass my knowledge on and give back to the photography community that has given so much to me.

I’m also always searching for the ultimate lightweight adventure photographer outfit that gets me into hard to reach places without sacrificing professional results. I haven’t found it yet but I’ll keep trying. An all day hike in Zion National Park’s Subway from the top down put my “bare bones” outfit to the test.

The top-down Subway trip is a 9 mile hike that involves cross country route finding, steep down climbing, rappelling, jewel numbing swims, a brutal nearly continuously wet 6 mile hike out, ending with a punishing 1000 foot ascent to the bottom trail head. In addition to photo gear we packed a wetsuit, canyoneering shoes, harness, rope and rappelling hardware, and all the normal day hiking gear of extra dry clothes, food, water, etc. Though we have most of our own gear, you can get all the top quality gear you need for this hike, including the wetsuits, shoes, rappelling gear, canyoneering pack, good advice, and directions – and even a shuttle – from Zion Adventure Company in Springdale.

Youthful energy early in the day. Hiking cross country on slickrock heading toward the entrance of the Subway

Because this was a shoot and I took two hikers that had never done this before, the day took 13 hours. In mid-October that meant all available daylight with a crack of dawn departure starting at 8000 feet at a chilly 28 degrees.

The lightest one body and lens outfit I have is a Canon 50D with the 10-22 EF-S. Remember that not sacrificing quality thing? The quality of this outfit just doesn’t hold a candle to the pro full-frame bodies and L lenses. So, it stays home.

The best body for this shoot would have been a 5D Mark II. Problem is I don’t have a 5D Mark II so I hauled the much heavier and trusty 1Ds Mark III. Canyon shooting is wide angle country so a full frame body is the only option for me. Canyons are a brutal environment for cameras too. There’s a constant threat of getting wet, exposed to windblown sand, and falling and banging around. This may not sound like the smartest place to bring a $6,000 camera. But the 1Ds is made for putting up with this kind of punishment. In retrospect, I’m glad I brought it.

Above the entrance to the Subway from the top. Checking the map for our position. Following visual clues from the guidebook instructions proved to be more useful than the map and GPS for route finding. The "old fashion" way worked better!

I went with only one lens my 17-40 mm and 2 580EX II flashes. The strobes were outfitted with the indispensable and lightweight Radio Poppers which let me place a light with wireless TTL almost anywhere I want. Completing the strobe accessories were a Honl 1/8” grid and some warming gels. Instead of a second lens, I would rather have the lighting capability of the 2 strobes. Unfortunately, one of the strobes went down early in the day so I only had one light that I could fire wirelessly from the Canon ST-E2 transmitter.

After downclimbing into the canyon this was our last pool we were able to skirt around before donning wetsuits and canyoneering shoes.

For support I brought my Gitzo backpack carbon fiber tripod with the Really Right Stuff B-25 ball head. The whole thing is 2.3 pounds. I love that little ball head and it’s amazing how well it holds the 1Ds with 17-40 attached. I wouldn’t use it for general purpose shooting but in tight spots where weight and size is an issue, this tripod and head combo get the job done. All the gear gets packed in a Watershed dry bag. Because we had to keep all the gear waterproof for the 2 mile technical section, every time I stopped to shoot it was 10-15 minutes just unpacking and repacking gear.

Brigham wades an icy pool without a wetsuit.

It’s good that you easily forget about sore backs and aging aching joints after a pizza and a good brew. Already hit the reset button in my brain. I’ll be back for another punishing Subway adventure photography hike in a heartbeat.

Brigham and Madison swimming an over the head deep pool in the upper Subway.

Madison rappelling in the upper Subway. The drops are short and easy but this one put us into a chest deep pool.

Wading in wetsuits in the upper Subway.

The Subway gets deeper and more interesting as you descend past the second rappel.

Brigham wading in a narrow pool in the Subway.

Brigham and Madison standing at the entrance of the Subway after changing into dry clothes. You can reach as far as this point from a round trip hike from the bottom up.

Instead I use a fly-fishing vest from Patagonia. It is made of a non absorbent fabric, has a padded neck, lots of pockets, and ends about mid rib cage. It was designed for those wading in deep water – something I commonly do. The short length of the vest doesn’t interfere with a pack’s waist belt and I’m always wearing a pack of some kind. Most photo vests are longer and do get in the way of a waist belt. Forget the padded photo vests unless you like the feel of wearing a flak vest. I mean seriously, if you really need to pad your gear, keep it in an adequately padded camera bag.

Photographer Michael DeYoung on a climbing shoot at Tres Piedras, New Mexico. Equipment used is a Canon 50D with 17-40 lens, wearing the Patagonia fly fishing vest, with a Think Tank Speed Racer fanny photo bag.

Yes, I get some strange looks sometimes like when walking down a desert trail or an urban downtown setting wearing a fishing vest. Hey, it makes a good conversation starter if nothing else. What about what I usually carry inside? Here are my 10 photo vest essentials.

1. Media Cards in a Think Tank Pixel Pocket Rocket. This is the best CF card carrier on the market. It comes with a tether so it is always attached to a D ring on the vest.

2. Hoodman Loupe for viewing your LCD in bright conditions.

3. Electronic cable release in a heavy duty soft waterproof bag you can get at REI.

4. Lens pen, microfiber cloth, blower brush: I included these as one item since they are all related to cleaning lenses and viewfinders in one way or another.

5. Singh-Ray thin mount Lighter Brighter Circular polarizer: You still can’t duplicate the effects of a polarizer in “post.”

6. Singh-Ray 3 Stop, soft step graduated neutral density filter. I use the gradient filter a lot in Lightroom 3 but nothing is better than doing it right in the field. Still an essential filter for many location situations.

7. Singh-Ray Variable Neutral Density filter. Want silky water in bright daylight? Shooting more HD video in daylight? This filter is indispensable.

8. Disposable hand warmers (winter) and Mosquito wipes (summer).

9. Step up ring with rubber band- so I only have to carry one size filter for all lenses.

10. Gerber or Swiss Army tool: Occasionally you have to be McGyver. Be sure to remove this if you are taking your vest on a commercial flight!

11. Emergency chocolate bar. Chocolate is not a food. It is a life essential no different than oxygen and water. Comes in handy in many situations. For example, you are at Yellowstone quietly and patiently photographing a bear with cubs. Some clown with a point and shoot comes charging up to the scene and steps in front of your lens just as the bear cubs stand up on their hind legs. You could shoot him – it would be justified – but that might spook the bears. Instead, you could offer some fine chocolate while kindly explaining how f*!#ing inconsiderate he just was! He sees you’re wearing a fishing vest and thinks you’re a cool, regular guy. I’m not an authority on this but I think the Park Service would prefer that outcome over the justified shooting. It’s less paperwork for them. Worse yet the bear is charging and this could be it for you. You might as well go out with life’s best simple pleasure. Have a piece of chocolate. Don’t let a dire situation leave a bad taste in your mouth. On that note, 90% bars are the only way to go.

If you noticed, I listed 11 items under the “10 photo vest essentials.” That just proves that there are three kinds of people in this world, those who can count and those who can’t.

Seriously, you don’t have to limit yourself to 10 vest items. Some other things I commonly carry include: 1.4X tele-converter (especially when using telephoto lenses), spare batteries (usually AA), and even a strobe or small lens. Don’t make it too heavy where you never want to carry it. Find a balance that works for you.

Finally, wearing a vest for airline travel always has allowed me to get away with carrying more photo gear than I can fit in my regulation carry on and my personal item. Seems like whatever you are “wearing” isn’t considered luggage.

'Will musk ox take a dry fly?' Photographer Michael DeYoung on assignment north of Nome, Alaska photographs musk ox on the tundra wearing a flyfishing vest.

Speaking of new members, I was expecting the majority of attendees to be mostly middle aged guys like me. I was pleased to see a fair amount of younger shooters and women there and interested in learning professional practices in our industry. Strictly Business has its own blog http://www.asmp.org/strictlybusiness/ where you’ll find a few more articulate posts than this one about the LA event. As in any workshop or seminar, you get out of it what you put in. This is best $250 business investment you can make. The added camaraderie and making of new friends and acquaintances was icing on the cake.