Shooting Baja

Lenses... No lens is wide enough for Baja, and only my 15mm Nikkor came close. I carried the 15mm, a 24-120 zoom, a 28mm F1.4 for night and evening photos, a 135mm F2.0 for night work and to isolate subjects from their backgrounds, a 16mm Fisheye (because it is small, and when it is really needed nothing else will substitute for it), and a 24mm F2.0 semi-permanently mounted in a EWA-Marine underwater housing. I almost never want a telephoto lens, so the fast, bulky, heavy, dreadfully expensive long glass stayed home. A TC-200 teleconverter came along just in case. Bodies... My main body in Baja was a Nikon N90. I also carried a water-resistant Canon point-and-shoot camera just in case we encountered rough water unexpectedly. A stone-reliable Nikkormat for long exposure night photos and to backup the N90 saw a lot of action, too. Supporting Cast... A tiny Gitzo Tatalux tripod -- indispensable -- completed my kit. A relatively inexpensive ball-head topped the Gitzo. A dry bag and a Pelican case kept everything reasonably accessible and protected from seawater. Film... In six days in Baja, I shot 45 rolls of Fuji Superia 100. Why in the world would I shoot color negative film for publication? Well, it's very forgiving in the harsh desert light, light in which Fuji Velvia tends to go to black in every subtle shadow. And it's very robust, so exposure to moist hundred-degree air would not fog or otherwise compromise its image quality. Why Superia 100 rather than, say, Kodak Gold? Superia has a very thin base (so scans well) and responds well to long exposures of the sort I figured I'd be trying under Baja's clear night skies. The subtle shadows in the daylight exposures as well as the dramatic results of long moonlit exposures made me very happy with the choice. Thanks to Terry Prichard and Nancy Mertz of Sea Kayak Adventures for running a first-class operation and to guides Martha Garfield, Ginni Callahan, and Manuel Ramirez for being the very picture of quiet competence both in the boats and in camp. Finally, thanks to the guests on this Sea of Cortez "Islands" tour -- Adina, Alan, Barbara, Bob, David, Kathy, Jennifer, and Ron -- for their forebearance and high spirits despite finding my lenses pointed their way throughout their vacations on Mexico's desert sea. [Back] [Boating Galleries] David Cortner 238 Rivercliff Drive Connelly's Springs, NC 28612 Email: davidcortner@pobox.com. Head of Navigation