Raven flys through spruce trees in the morning fog, Denali National Park, interior, Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f/4L, 1/640 sec @ f/11, ISO 400, manual focus shot from a bean bag out my sunroof.
Finding the all-round vehicle that suits multiple purposes, including photographic adventures, is not only difficult, but ultimately a compromise somewhere. I decided to own just one vehicle due to a proclivity towards minimalism (I’ll save breaking that rule for camera gear). In my search for a car there were a few important aspects I looked for:
- Room to sleep/camp in the car (and not in a back seat)
- Automatic opening doors on each side.
- A sunroof large enough for me to fit through
- Reasonable gas mileage
- All wheel drive
This led me to the Toyota Sienna, which as I’ve been told is a woman’s car, ideal for taking the kids to soccer tournaments and grocery shopping. Perhaps. My gender identity was not threatened in the purchase, even though the husband of the wife who I bought it from could not imagine a guy driving that car, as he glanced over his shoulder at his Lexus. The vehicle has the added benefit of looking like all the other family vans on the road, which provides a slide into the anonymity of the masses and much less prominent presence on the roadways.
Back to the sunroof. I knew from owning previous vehicles that shooting from the top of the vehicle was essential, since there are many times while driving that I see something and need to shoot fast. Getting out of the car is not always an option. So I throw my Kinesis Safari sack (bean bag) on the roof and shoot out of the sunroof opening.
I’ve catpured many images in this manner, and here are a few that make me very happy that I searched all over the U.S. to find that car with the sunroof!
Caribou travel across a mountain ridge in the Alaska range mountains, Denali National Park, interior, Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f/4L, 1/1000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400. I saw these caribou coming down a ridge and barely had enough time to stop the vehicle, throw the camera up and shoot fast. Taken from a bean bag out my sunroof.
Great Gray owl in black spruce trees, southcentral, Alaska. Canon 1Ds Mark III, 500mm f/4L w/1.4x (700mm), 1/500 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 400. I could not believe this owl hung around long enough for me to get a few shots. I saw it perched on a tree alongside the road, quickly stopped, backed up, and took a few frames while resting on a bean bag out of my sunroof.
