Photography by Linda S. Ralston, Ph.D.
One of my hobbies is photography. I received a little "Brownie" camera when I was child and enjoyed attempting to capture the "moments of my life" on film ever since. Photography has become beneficial to me as a teacher of parks, recreation and tourism. Most of my photos find a place in one of my lectures to illustrate a concept I am attempting to explain in a class. Photos bring these concepts to life when I can illustrate how these concepts exist in the "real world."
I use several cameras depending on the situation, but my first SLR was a Pentax K1000. I had several lens that I purchased to use with the Pentax K1000 including a 50mm, 28mm to 135mm zoom, and a 70mm to 300 mm zoom lens. All my photos from the Peruvian Amazon were taken with the Pentax K1000. When I was preparing for my travels in Africa I invested in a Pentax ZX-50. I was so glad that I did because two cameras was perfect for the challenge of capturing running animals both close up and far away. I kept the wide angle lens on my K1000 and the telephoto lens on my ZX-50. I also discovered that a bean bag was a valuable tool when needing to move quickly or attempting to steady a camera on the roof of a Land Rover. Even though I had a tripod with me at all times I found that this was only useful when I was in our tent camp areas. In 2003 I purchased a Pentax *ist D to begin my adventure with digital cameras. Fortunately all three of these cameras use a K-mount so all my original lens are interchangeable. All of my lens have a ultraviolet filter (UV or skylight) filters to protect the lens from scratches or damage to threads of the lens. It is my practice to always use a polarizing filter on my cameras when shooting landscapes. I have also used a graduated filter when shooting landscapes with bright cloudy skies. Always using a filter on your camera is a good idea as they will protect your more expensive lens from damage. Recently when I was traveling in Hawaii, my graduated filter had been scratched somehow so I could not use it. Unfortunately, I was unable to really capture the effect of the clouds sweeping across Maui from the summit of Haleakala. I will be buying not only a replacement, but a back-up of each of my filters to protect my expensive lens.
Please note that I will be posting images on my blog that have been saved at a low resolution. If you would like to purchase the rights to use an image for your own web page or in your marketing materials, please let me know with an email. Thank you for respecting my ownership of these images.
I use several cameras depending on the situation, but my first SLR was a Pentax K1000. I had several lens that I purchased to use with the Pentax K1000 including a 50mm, 28mm to 135mm zoom, and a 70mm to 300 mm zoom lens. All my photos from the Peruvian Amazon were taken with the Pentax K1000. When I was preparing for my travels in Africa I invested in a Pentax ZX-50. I was so glad that I did because two cameras was perfect for the challenge of capturing running animals both close up and far away. I kept the wide angle lens on my K1000 and the telephoto lens on my ZX-50. I also discovered that a bean bag was a valuable tool when needing to move quickly or attempting to steady a camera on the roof of a Land Rover. Even though I had a tripod with me at all times I found that this was only useful when I was in our tent camp areas. In 2003 I purchased a Pentax *ist D to begin my adventure with digital cameras. Fortunately all three of these cameras use a K-mount so all my original lens are interchangeable. All of my lens have a ultraviolet filter (UV or skylight) filters to protect the lens from scratches or damage to threads of the lens. It is my practice to always use a polarizing filter on my cameras when shooting landscapes. I have also used a graduated filter when shooting landscapes with bright cloudy skies. Always using a filter on your camera is a good idea as they will protect your more expensive lens from damage. Recently when I was traveling in Hawaii, my graduated filter had been scratched somehow so I could not use it. Unfortunately, I was unable to really capture the effect of the clouds sweeping across Maui from the summit of Haleakala. I will be buying not only a replacement, but a back-up of each of my filters to protect my expensive lens.
Please note that I will be posting images on my blog that have been saved at a low resolution. If you would like to purchase the rights to use an image for your own web page or in your marketing materials, please let me know with an email. Thank you for respecting my ownership of these images.
The images that I posted here are presented to illustrate the beauty and wonder of the wonderful destinations or attractions. The following Photo Galleries are currently available:
Please check back for new photos.