As a photographer, I am only an amateur, but I have one BIG advantage over many of you with similar proficiency taking pictures, I ride my bike! Sound like a strange statement? It isn't! While most of you plan a photoshoot at home, and then drive to a location, I experience the world with all my equipment at 12 mph from the saddle of my road bike while taking 20 to 40 mile rides.

Whenever I mount up, I have the following equipment in addition to cycling gear: My Canon SX40 and a monopod. With these two items I am able to both get a nice workout, but also stop whenever a photo opportunity presents itself. The monopod is important because it allows me to zoom in on all kinds of items, without having to worry about holding a heavy camera motionless given the weight of gravity. All of this gear will be with me when I cycle the 2,000+ mile Grand Gaspe Tour later this Summer!

The Biking Photographer's Rolling Photoshoot! (click to expand images)

Yesterday evening was a good example of how I use these tools in conjunction with a bike ride. Two hours before sunset, I decided to ride down to the Duluth harbor entrance. While cycling towards canal park, from two miles away it became obvious to me that the setting sun on the ocean freighter anchored in the open lake, and the two lighthouses which sit upon the end of the canal piers would be aligned nicely and have the "golden hour" light upon them.

Once the decision was made to take this photo, it was just a matter of biking until I found the best angle. In fact, I jumped off my bike twice and took photos before I got the one shown below (my favorite … click to view at full size).

Here is the monopod strapped on to my bike day bag which allowed me to both zoom in and hold my camera steady enough such that camera shake was eliminated (tired arms).

Here is one more example from ten days ago. While biking up the North Shore of Lake Superior near Split Rock Lighthouse, I spotted a small waterfall shooting out from a cliff into the lake. There was a rockly island in the distance, and given the deep blue sky, a perfect photo opportunity. However, the key fact is later in the day I discovered from a worker at the near bye state park that the small waterfall which I had photographed only appears a few times per year … including during the snow runoff from the Spring melt (the day I was bicyling). From the highway at 60 mph one would never see the small waterfall, yet from the bikepath at 12 mph …

Here is the scene in question. Click to view at full size.

Finally, the link to my Flickr photosteam!

Do you think of your camera as a mechanical device, or a computer? The answer to this question should be a computer. Although your camera may have mechanical components and mirrors for the actual process of taking a picture, what drives your device is software.

• Better software yields better photographs
• Low quality software means bad pictures

In the computing world, we techies / nerds often create "dual boot" systems with multiple operating systems. Is it a surprise that cameras now have the same capabilities? By performing a hack on your camera, the end result will be a device with many more features (for less money) than the manufacturer had intended!

Surprisingly, performing the hack is not too difficult for Canon cameras. Better yet, unlike the world of PC hacks where your changes often mean you enter the world of no return (i.e. mistakes could mean an unresponsive computer), with CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit) your hack is installed on your SD card. Thus, the hack runs off the SD card, and by performing a normal camera power on process, you boot to the factory operating system / defaults!

My camera is a Canon SX40. By performing the hack I acquired some of these benefits:

• Extended the shutter time for 15 seconds to 32 minutes
• Acquired the ability to perform time lapse photography
• Acquired the ability to take motion triggered pictures of lightning strikes
• Extended the aperture, exposure, ISO options (useful for night time photos)

Normally I would have to purchase a much more expensive camera to acquire these options. If you have a Canon camera, explore this web site (CHDK Downloads) to determine if a hack exists for your specific model. Finally watch this YouTube video from BigNate84 on how to install the CHDK hack. I would also recommend this YouTube playlist from Fatdragon100 which has additional information about the Canon sx40 hack process.

I would recommend watching BigNate's video twice. The first time you view the video, just absorb the content without performing your hack. When you watch the second time, use pause and play and perform your hack. In total, if you are cautious like me, the process should take you about two hours. The hack in terms of commands invoked is very short, but it's always best to work through content like this slowly!

Happy hacking, and remember … your camera is a computer!

Retiring from Honeywell means I get to change my LinkedIn profile for the first time! Thus, I have promoted myself to Chief Nerd of NorthStarNerd.Org.

Here is my new LinkedIn profile:

Chief Nerd
NorthStarNerd.Org - Duluth, Minnesota  

Trying new roads in life revolving around web development and bike touring! After 28+ years with Honeywell in Corporate I.T. and Engineering, at the relatively young age of 57, decided it was time to take an early retirement and explore new ideas and perspectives. In addition to seeing America at 13 mph on a bike, am taking consulting roles that help companies optimize their web presence via the use of cost effective web 2.0 tools.

• View via LinkedIn (including Honeywell experience)
• View recent projects & examples

—————————————-