by Brian Lane

The digital revolution in cameras has been nothing but stunning. I used to carry about three pounds of Nikon F-100 SLR (Single-Lens Reflex) with a wide angle - zoom lens. Now I carry about three pounds of Nikon D-200 SLR with an image stabilized wide angle - zoom lens. The biggest changes in switching to a digital camera: 1) I don't have to carry bags of film and 2) the choices of shooting modes intrinsic to most digital cameras has really increased their versatility dramatically -- although the variety of shooting options can be nearly overwhelming.

The three varieties of digital cameras are the point-and-shoot, the D-SLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex), and the medium format. Point-and-Shoot cameras are usually light and can be very thin; they are also very easy to use. A step up in clarity and versatility is the D-SLR camera. They employ more complex sensors and metering and allow the photographer to capture higher quality images. Medium format digital cameras are used mostly by professional photographers requiring the highest resolution images (currently over 30 megapixels).

Digital cameras are great! You can see your images instantly and adjust your composition and exposure. They allow for easy manipulation with a computer, and can hold a lot of photos on a tiny memory card-in lieu of carrying lots of film. One disadvantage digital cameras have is when shooting into the sun, and some other elements of the sky, the photo can show "banding." This is especially true if shooting in a low image quality mode (such as a low-quality jpeg setting).

If you plan on printing photos over 5x7 inches, you'll need about 5 megapixels (good enough for printing photos up to 8x10 inches). The quest for cost effective 8-10 megapixel cameras (with a resolution comparable to that of 35mm SLRs) is now being met by the camera manufacturers.

Other basic tips include using a wide-angle setting for landscapes, while portraits can be enhanced by using the telephoto setting and getting close up. Shoot in the early morning and later afternoon for the best light conditions, at mid-day most landscapes are subject to flat light and a lack of contrast, but always try to avoid high contrasts of light and dark areas of the photo. Also, when shooting wide-angle landscapes; try to have some interesting focal point in the foreground too (such as an old twisted juniper, flowers, or a colorful shrub).

Next week we'll continue this talk about digital cameras, including information on optical vs. digital zoom, what file format works best for you, and setting the sensor sensitivity (ISO). Until then.

Hike Smart & Have Fun!

About Brian Lane
Award-winning author Brian Lane published Hikernut's Grand Canyon Companion, A Guide to Hiking and Backpacking the Most Popular Trails Into the Canyon in 2007. Chosen by USA Book News as a Best Book Award Finalist, the book offers practical advice honed from over fifteen years of experience hiking in and around the Grand Canyon and throughout the United States.

Brian hikes the Grand Canyon at least twice/year and has quickly emerged as the spokesperson and face of the canyon. He provides accurate and up-to-date information on canyon hiking conditions and other helpful tips on his blog at http://blog.asenseofnature.com/.

In addition to writing and publishing, Brian showcased his artistic and photographic skills by creating all of the images and maps in his first book. His academic studies include Clark University (fine art/photography) and Massachusetts College of Art (illustration/2-D design).

A member of the American Hiking Society, lifetime member of the Sierra Club, and a certified NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School -- the only school that focuses on wilderness skills, leadership, and environmental ethics) Wilderness First Aid alumnus, the author is also a horticulturist, forestry and wildlife conservationist, and master watershed steward, advocating for sustainable resource management. Born and raised in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, he now resides on a four-acre ranch in Sedona, Arizona.

Contact Brian at 928.282.9525, info@asenseofnature.com or www.asenseofnature.com. Purchase his book at www.asenseofnature.com or at www.amazon.com.

Many people see clear water in a wilderness area, and believing it is safe, drink freely from creeks and rivers. What they don't realize is that virtually anywhere we may venture in the great outdoors, animals and other humans have been there before us, and left their wastes. So, what you can't see in these water sources are things like giardia and cryptosporidium that can and will make you very sick! I carry a small water filter almost any time I hike. You just never know when you might need to pump water from a stream or even rain water from a puddle.

The most readily available method of purifying water for drinking and cooking is by boiling. This can be very time (and fuel) consuming, but heating water until it boils will kill anything harmful. Another choice is to use chemical treatments like Micropur or Potable Aqua systems. These are small and easy-to-carry chemical tablets that, when mixed into the water and allowed their allotted time, kill most contaminates.

I still use a water filter. MSR, PUR, Katadyn, and Sweetwater all make excellent pump-style filters. Still others are basically water bottles with a filtration system inside. You filter the water as you drink; these include the Aquamira Water Bottle and Katadyn's Exstream.

You should go for a lightweight system that fulfills your needs (consider: pumping rate, maintenance requirements, ergonomic ease of use, etc.) and ask your outdoor retailer for advice on which unit will work best for you. The pores on water filters should be between 0.2 and 0.3 microns absolute - good enough to remove bacteria, protozoa, cryptosporidium, giardia, and most parasites. If travelling overseas you might consider using an anti-viral water additive too. I use Sweetwater's Viral Stop.

Some of the newest forms of water treatment units are battery operated. One uses salt and electricity, and another works by using ultra-violet light. Both meet EPA guidelines.

Water purification is a necessity when you need to collect and drink water while hiking, and in this case, an ounce of prevention could save you from falling ill to a nasty bug.

Hike Smart & Have Fun!

Brian

About Brian Lane
Award-winning author Brian Lane published Hikernut's Grand Canyon Companion, A Guide to Hiking and Backpacking the Most Popular Trails Into the Canyon in 2007. Chosen by USA Book News as a Best Book Award Finalist, the book offers practical advice honed from over fifteen years of experience hiking in and around the Grand Canyon and throughout the United States.

Brian hikes the Grand Canyon at least twice/year and has quickly emerged as the spokesperson and face of the canyon. He provides accurate and up-to-date information on canyon hiking conditions and other helpful tips on his blog at http://blog.asenseofnature.com/.

In addition to writing and publishing, Brian showcased his artistic and photographic skills by creating all of the images and maps in his first book. His academic studies include Clark University (fine art/photography) and Massachusetts College of Art (illustration/2-D design).

A member of the American Hiking Society, lifetime member of the Sierra Club, and a certified NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School -- the only school that focuses on wilderness skills, leadership, and environmental ethics) Wilderness First Aid alumnus, the author is also a horticulturist, forestry and wildlife conservationist, and master watershed steward, advocating for sustainable resource management. Born and raised in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, he now resides on a four-acre ranch in Sedona, Arizona.

Contact Brian at 928.282.9525, info@asenseofnature.com or www.asenseofnature.com. Purchase his book at www.asenseofnature.com or at www.amazon.com.

Using Trekking Poles (AKA Hiking Sticks)

By Brian J. Lane

I use hiking sticks almost every time I hike. I know.you'll hear people call them "ski poles" and make dumb comments on occasion, but they literally take tons of weight off your knees for each mile you hike. And if you use them to lower yourself, in lieu taking the pounding for every big step down the trail, they can also take a load of pressure off your back too. 

For the unparalleled stability they provide, most hikers and backpackers are much better off using them; although they do take a little time to get used to. On the first couple of hikes you can trip over them until you get your rhythm, so make sure to acclimate yourself to using hiking sticks before you take on any serious hike.

My first trekking poles were four foot tall, 1 inch square, wooden grading stakes. I sanded them a little and then added a bicycle handle grip on the top of each. Then I added a lag bolt on the bottom to protect from wear.

They have all kinds of trekking poles nowadays, the majority being light weight hollow aluminum. Some can collapse down to about 24 inches for traveling and many include a little shock absorber inside to keep from jarring your bones when hiking downhill. See your outdoor retailer to decide which style might suit you best.

If you try a pair and learn to use them I think you'll find them an indispensible part of your hiking gear, especially for steep trails, fording streams, and for general backpacking excursions.

Hike Smart & Have Fun!

Brian

About Brian Lane
Award-winning author Brian Lane published Hikernut's Grand Canyon Companion, A Guide to Hiking and Backpacking the Most Popular Trails Into the Canyon in 2007. Chosen by USA Book News as a Best Book Award Finalist, the book offers practical advice honed from over fifteen years of experience hiking in and around the Grand Canyon and throughout the United States.

Brian hikes the Grand Canyon at least twice/year and has quickly emerged as the spokesperson and face of the canyon. He provides accurate and up-to-date information on canyon hiking conditions and other helpful tips on his blog at http://blog.asenseofnature.com/.

In addition to writing and publishing, Brian showcased his artistic and photographic skills by creating all of the images and maps in his first book. His academic studies include Clark University (fine art/photography) and Massachusetts College of Art (illustration/2-D design).

A member of the American Hiking Society, lifetime member of the Sierra Club, and a certified NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School -- the only school that focuses on wilderness skills, leadership, and environmental ethics) Wilderness First Aid alumnus, the author is also a horticulturist, forestry and wildlife conservationist, and master watershed steward, advocating for sustainable resource management. Born and raised in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, he now resides on a four-acre ranch in Sedona, Arizona.

Contact Brian at 928.282.9525, info@asenseofnature.com or www.asenseofnature.com. Purchase his book at www.asenseofnature.com or at www.amazon.com.

Sedona, AZ - May 3, 2008 - As part of the 2008 50th Anniversary Sedona Public Library Celebration weekly Author Series, Bruce Aiken will be discussing his latest book, "Bruce Aiken's Grand Canyon: An Intimate Affair," on Friday, May 16 at 6:00pm at the Sedona Library.

The program, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Si Birch Community Room. Copies of Aiken's book will be available for purchase and signing following the presentation.

As a child growing up in the concrete canyons of New York City, Bruce Aiken dreamed of someday living at the end of a long dirt road. Little did he know that this road would lead 5½ miles down a narrow, steep trail into the depths of another canyon-the Grand Canyon. Nor could he predict that he would live in this unlikely place for over thirty years.

In a remote side canyon along a stream that ultimately flows into the Colorado River, Bruce and his wife Mary raised three children while he tended Grand Canyon National Park's precious water supply at Roaring Springs . . . and painted. Out of this intimate relationship between the artist and his muse came a body of work unparalleled in the annals of Grand Canyon landscape painters.

Join Aiken as he shares his story with a visual presentation of more than thirty years of living and painting at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. This event celebrates the publication of the new book: "Bruce Aiken's Grand Canyon: An Intimate Affair," published by the Grand Canyon Association.

Bruce Aiken will be discussing his latest book, "Bruce Aiken's Grand Canyon: An Intimate Affair," on Friday, May 16 at 6:00pm at the Sedona Library.

Few people are as intimate with the Grand Canyon as Bruce Aiken. For over thirty years, this magnificent landscape has been his home, his livelihood, and his inspiration. Here, Bruce and his wife, Mary, have lived for more than thirty years, tending the park's water supply at Roaring Springs and raising their family of three children. Here, too, Bruce Aiken's art has flourished.

Born in Greenwich Village on Manhattan Island, Bruce's first artistic inspiration came from his mother, who was a painter. She taught him the basics of brushwork and color, and related stories of her childhood in the Southwest. Bruce built on these basics by studying at the Art Students' League in New York, the School of Visual Arts, and under William Williams and Frank Roth. At age 20, Bruce came out west to visit the vast, dramatic land forms his mother had described. Soon, he moved to Arizona and continued his studies at Phoenix College under preeminent Southwest artist, Merrill Mahaffey.

When Bruce first arrived at Grand Canyon, he found it an intimidating subject to render. So, he began by studying its geology, botany and wildlife, and exploring its remote inner reaches and side canyons. Finally, he was ready to put paint on canvas. Bruce Aiken's paintings of Grand Canyon's varied landscapes and mesmerizing beauty are unparalleled. The vivid colors, intimate details, and conceptual artistry found in his work lend distinction to his own, unique style that some art critics have labeled "authoritative realism."

As Bruce says, "My main idea is to paint scenes that say, 'I was here. I saw this. This is a first-hand experience.' Grand Canyon is not only big and beautiful, it's pristine living... it's still wild to me." Indeed, no other artist has captured the wild, eternal essence of Grand Canyon in the way Bruce Aiken has.

The Sedona Public Library offers a myriad of programs for all ages and interests. For information about this or other programs as well as the wide variety of services the library offers, please call 928-282-7714. These programs are free to all, although your donation to support the Library's programming efforts is appreciated.

OK folks, if we're going to go out and enjoy the great outdoors we'll need to start with the ten essential items that you should always carry with you on the trail. Carrying these supplies is sure to help in keeping you safe while you're out hiking and enjoying the great outdoors.

°         Food: Whatever snack foods appeal to you. Energy bars, trail mixes, and GORP (good old raisins and peanuts) are hiking favorites. When it is hot, saltier snacks help reduce sodium loss.

°         First-Aid provisions: Always carry a simple first aid kit - including blister treatment supplies.

°         Compass: Be sure you learn the basics on how to use it.

°         Topographic Map: Unless it is a simple and popular trail that you've hiked before, a decent map of the area is necessary.

°         Trail Description: Goes along with the topo map for unfamiliar trials.

°         Sun Protection: This includes sunglasses, sunscreen, and a wide-brimmed hat (and make sure you use them all).

°         Flashlight: For those times that you're caught on the trail after dark and it can be used for signaling.

°         Safety Whistle: Another form of signaling device for emergencies (cell phones still do not work in many places outside of populated areas).

°         Extra Clothing: Know the weather forecast and bring extra layers accordingly. Be prepared if you must spend the night on (or off) the trail.

Hike Smart & Have Fun!

Brian