Beep beep! Thanks I made that exposure near sunset, this one at night at the campground. The sky can be extremely clear with very little light pollution.

Monument Valley is awesome, I suggest hiring a guide if you can afford it to take you into the back country such as Mystery Valley which is amazing with lots of cultural resources. The main loop road is dirt and maintained as many people live in the valley so a passenger car is fine. Thunder storms usually during Monsoon season in the Summer so rain is less of an issue in April. I suggest you continue heading North into Utah which is also spectacular! Nearby is Butler Wash and Combs Ridge which are favorites of mine. My taste for landscapes is slightly wide, around 35mm for full frame, but as others have said a range of focal lengths are good for different situations.

In Photoshop in file, click file info, and then advanced will display shutter count.

I bought these lenses primarily to do astrophotography, so often. It makes focusing more complicated. I find it strange that the stops are not at infinity with manual focus lens.

What's not to admire in a guide? Amazing rock art in the area and Dinosaur abounds! Better late than never, right?

Bob, thanks for your prayers and kind words. I enjoyed my stay in Colorado, but I think I was about 30 years late as to Boulder, but the mountains are really something. I never seemed to acclimate to elevation and would have to drag my ass up! I got Bristlecone Pine fever while there!

I'd guess you might have put in at the Gates of Lodore and floated past Steamboat Rock at Echo Park where the Yampa River joins the Green, spectacular country! I've been there numerous times but so far no rafts trip there yet. Once while camping solo at Echo Park late November there was fresh snow and I got up to mountain lion tracks around the tent. I followed the tracks to an old kill, a big horn sheep and also found petroglyphs on a nearby boulder. Those were the days!

Thanks for the compliment and encouragement, hoping for the best, but deal what comes my way!

Thanks for you kind words, you say brave, but I probably didn't know any better. What section of the Green River did you raft on? While I haven't rafted any of the Green yet, romped all around there from Flaming Gorge to where the Green joins the Colorado in Canyonlands, amazing!

Hello to you all, I'm new to the site and been enjoying the reads, although it has been a bit of a drain on my time, keep up the posts! I'm Larry Lorusso and started my endeavors in photography in 1973. In that time I worked in advertising for over 25 years (before I realized I should do something else with my time) and started Cytafex Studio (Sight affects) in the mid 80's. Shortly after I began learning about photography I bought a used Calumet 4x5, that was a bit of a beast and can remember getting caught between trees because of the triple monorail and I fell down a couple of times. Then in 1976 I bought a new Deardorff 4x5 Special that I still own. Best part was purchasing a 5x7 back for it that Bernice Abbott owned. I bought the back from Ron Rosenstock who I studied with in the mid 70's and the deal was $90 for the back, 100 sheets of Plus X and a dozen film holders, what a deal! Many years later he tried to buy the back and told him he would have to pry it out of my cold dead fingers!

After many years of working producing images for advertising and realizing it was time for major changes in my life and in 2002 I went from the house, wife and the dog, to just the dog (Hayduke) and started living as a gypsy living as if a leaf to the wind. The changes were prompted by a river trip in the Grand Canyon in 1996. I had started whitewater rafting in the late 80's and while in the Canyon I asked what was I going to do with the rest of my days on the planet. I can tell you life is large in the Canyon, and the answer was it was time to use my heart instead of wallet as to photography. I can say since that time my wallet has been much thinner, but my heart is full and I romped around a bit in the mountains west of Boulder but mostly southeast Utah. Great times hanging with the Utes on a reservation near Blanding Utah and surrounding Canyons. You can bury my Heart in White Mesa in sight of Bears Ears! My Canyon years had me mostly shooting with various Hasselblad's that enabled me to go off for days/weeks at a time backpacking and had some amazing adventures!

I came back East after my Mom died and took up raft guiding full time on the Deerfield River in western Massachusetts when I was 50 and I really enjoyed it but eventually managers who were just kids tried to treat me as a child and it was more trouble than it was worth and stuck to taking friends and family down and not have the bull and just fun and time spent on the river in beautiful places. After the season was over went back to the "Rez" and romped around the Canyons till I met a lady from western Mass who now has my Heart and we live together on a spread with 90 acres surrounded by woods and beauty.

These days much of my work is made with a Nikon, currently a D810 and enjoying working with high ISO's at night. Couple years ago I was diagnosed with lymphoma and was cancer free for 2 years. Second chances are hard to come by and have tried to live life well and actually took a break from chemo to lead a small river trip in the Grand Canyon in 2015, and that was the best part of the treatment!. Recently diagnosed with cancer again and in planning stages of treatment and so far I feel well and will leave you with this, every day is a gift and get it while you can! Sorry I've gone on and on, I couldn't help myself!

Pet peeve, modern lenses I've purchased don't seem to be focused at infinity when set on the mark. Recently purchased a Samyang 24mm f1.4 lens that is much sharper than my vintage Nikkor 24mm f2 lens, but alas I'm not able to simply set focus at infinity by turning all the way to the stop like the Nikkor does. I have a Bower 35mm f1.4 where it is focused at infinity but the focus turns more and out of focus at the stop making set up at night more difficult than the older lenses. Anyone else experience this and does it bother you as well?

My experience is neither digital or film is superior and have something to offer. There is not one camera or system that is best for all situations, and the idea is to use the right tool for the job at hand. As to digital offering more control, maybe you have never worked with view cameras with extensive control of perspective, focus, and composition? I'll take a Hasselblad any day backpacking for a week in the mountains in the Winter. No batteries to contend with and camera controls much easier with gloves on in freezing conditions and very rugged. Have also brought 8x10 cameras in the field w/o electricity and able to make finish prints on site with instant materials, try that digitally! Now before you call me a film snob, I have used digital tools since the mid 90's and my last river trip in the Grand Canyon this Spring I only had digital cameras due to space limitation, otherwise I would have brought both systems. Try and make a 8 hour time exposure with digital and try tell me digital is better.

While I have bought many used cameras, you can not only get a great deal, but also can be quite costly. Digital cameras are very complex machines and in my experience more delicate than film counterparts. Find out what the requirements of the classes you're interested in and go from there and decide what you want. Film and digital have pluses and minuses. Recently bought a Nikon D810 on eBay and it turned out to be the deal from hell. So be careful buying used and what seemed a small issue ended up costing an additional $323 and changed the deal from ok, to expensive! Prior to that I bought a used D800E on eBay and it was a much better deal. To imply digital is free doesn't account the investment in computer and other components. Free digital has cost me thousands! At one point I did a cost assessment and film and processing would cost less me in the long run when computer equipment is added in. I shoot both film and digital, depending on the situation and there are pluses and minuses to both. Most importantly is to choose a camera that fits in your hands comfortably and controls in reach, not brand at this point. Major brands have similar features at various price points and are in the same ballpark, so be prepared to be overwhelmed as there is so many to choose from, but you will learn.

I just purchased this https://www.ebay.com/itm/SIRUI-W-2204-Waterproof-Carbon-Fiber-Tripod/252806573333?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649. Will let you know how the tripod works. I own 4 Gitzo aluminum tripods including a Series 3 that I bought in 1975 down to a small tripod I have used for backpacking. I also bought a cheap Amvona CF tripod some years ago and I have used it a fair amount, but currently I can't get one of the legs unstuck from a trip to Maine when I forgot to clean the tripod after the trip. My observation is twist locks will get clogged up and corroded and leg extension will get jammed if you are not careful. With metal tripods I have used vice grips to get them unstuck, where the CF materials will crack if too much pressure is used. So when I saw a tripod that may keep materials out of the mechanism I thought I would try the Surui at $270 including shipping as the equivalent Gitzo costs around $1000.

Only you can answer what you need or want. I wondered what I bargained for when preparing for Grand Canyon river trip this Spring (8th trip) and decided to go all digital and purchased a used Nikon D800E. Talk about learning curve, but it was worth the effort because of new possibilities! You can always not use something, but can't use it if you don't have it!