Getting Ready – My Vacation Camera Selection

Please note that there may not be any new posts until 7 September.


This weekend is the practice weekend. By practice I mean fine-tuning the selection of items I plan to bring on my month long stay in Denmark with a short excursion to Norway and Sweden.

In this article, as I don’t see much value with showing my equipment, I will include a few images from a shoot at Vincent Massey Park.

Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro mode, f3.5, iso 200 1/8000sec

This is another image of a flower I showed in the article Spring Time Tune-up I decided to make this Black and White version to better focus on the softness of the petals, almost like dancing flames in a fire. I reduced the contrast to try a keep soft and ethereal.



My normal planning mode is to bring everything possible that I might use and then hire an ocean liner just to bring along. Luckily, my many years of weeklong sea-kayaking has forced me to par down the kit, back to bare essentials and then dump half of that.

This vacation is mainly a family vacation visiting my newfound brothers and sisters and then just sitting on the porch or beach side and talking about lost times.

But, and a Big But I will have my camera permanently glued to my hand. I just don’t know any better. There will be moments where in the interest of everyone’s sanity that I will need to venture off, explore and photograph, just on my own.

Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro mode, f16, iso 200 1/600sec

This is the same flower as above but here I increased the DOF to include all petals and then increased both the colour saturation and the contrast to add more punch and vibrancy to the flower. It is amazing that with simple camera techniques and very minor editing you can create 2 very different images of the same subject.


There is one special day being set aside when my brother Jorgen, who is also an avid photographer, and I will photograph the unique qualities of Copenhagen. Starting in the early morning, we will be traveling by bus around town, getting off where we want, explore, photograph, eat, then moving on and doing it again at least the eating part. This should last well into the late evening and hopefully collect a great collection of images.

If this were a photography vacation I would bring more equipment, but with the mixture of family and photography I have pared my list to the following.


Main Items
Nikon D300 – with 2 battery packs and charger
If this were a photography excursion I would bring my Nikon D70 as a backup

Nikon 18-200mm f3.5 vr lens
This is a great vestal lens. While I love the Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 vr, the weight is a bit of a problem when traveling light.

Nikon 50mm f1.8 lens
With the great high iso noise of the D300 and the fast glass of the 50mm, who needs flash or even any kind of light.

Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 lens
I just love the perspective this lens gives to cityscapes.

SB800 flash
A great powerful flash but the best part is the wireless capability with TTL.

Tripod - Gorilla Pod (largest)
I would love to bring a full size tripod but the only one I have is the steel Manfrotto, which is heavy when, added with a good ball head. The cost of those carbon fibers is still a bit much, but one day I will save up enough.

Backpack –Lowenpro
This pack has padded shoulder straps and a hip belt, which are a must if you plan to walk around a fair bit.

Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro mode, f13, iso 400, 1/50sec

Simple weeds when in bloom can provide inspiring flower images.

Miscellaneous items
Polarizer filter for 18-200mm lens
Battery charger and many batteries
Lens cleaning brush
16GB, 8GB cards
Flashtrax 40GB auto card reader and storage.
Nikon SC-28 Flash cable
D300 manual – because I am still learning about it.
Cannon A40 2mp P&S camera
Energy bars and medical kit
Just in case I am so engrossed that either I walk off a cliff while looking through the viewfinder or get lost in the woods.


I would like to post a few articles and that is why I am bringing the old digital camera, as it will at least be in jpeg mode. The Nikon will set RAW and I am not sure if I will have access to a RAW converter.

Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 vr, at 70mm,f7.1, iso 200, 1/80

One of the many paths in Vincent Masseey Park that runs along the Rideau River.


At first I was a little worried about not posting for several weeks, but then after giving it some though I realized it is really a non-issue. I don’t use this blog as a business or make money from it. It is in some ways like a gallery where I hang my images and through my words you may come to understand the artist a bit more. Like any gallery I do enjoy the visitors that drop in and I hope you will all return when I post again.

The first article will most likely be how well the selection of camera equipment worked on my vacation. What I used most, least and what I wish I had brought.

Thanks for your visit and see you in September.

Niels Henriksen


My Own Words

For photographers real beauty is when the ordinary, the every day, and sometimes the horror of life, is seen through the passion of our artistic work with the aid of a little box.