HAGERMAN SHOOTER'S

Added on by John Sturr.

Near the town of Hagerman, on the outs skirts there is a patch of land where the canyon is a backstop.  Only in the West - and here the locals pull out their "Long Rifles" on a Saturday evening.  The evening wear is modest - but the machined parts spare no expense as the European optics have difficult to pronounce names like Leupold and Swarovski, and the weapons have glass bedded polished stocks mated to the actions of Remington.

A matched pair of Black and Decker Workmate's are the shooter's benches, atop with weathered Outers rests - and the only hand polished part of the whole setup is the aluminum diamond cut elevation adjustment knob below the Outers logo.

Unspent cartridges sit in 4 x 5 green boxes of individual compartments bullet side up - spent sit empty side down.  These are hand loads - you can't buy these in the store.

After the shot, the left hand cups the ejection port to catch the spent round - it is placed back in the green box - a future re-load.

And the process repeats.

BDay Party - Nex-7

Added on by John Sturr.

One my favorites of the weekend - in doors, no flash with the kit lens - and bingo - it's a keeper.  Light from the sliding door and the three looking like they found the Ark - but it's Cake... gotta love it.  Cake.

City Creek - Grand Opening

Added on by John Sturr.

City Creek Center - a 2 Billion dollar project with Property Reserve Incorporated, a division of the LDS Church, opened today.  

I spent 3+ years on this project with FFKR Architects - as they were the Architect of record for the two underground parking garages.  These garages encompass 50 acres of parking with 4500 + stalls for retail and residential use.

NEX-7 - GREAT LIGHT

Added on by John Sturr.

There is never a substitution for some great light -- almost near sunset off the porch and the 24mm f2.8 Canon SSC lens wide open.  St. Patrick's has passed - but not the decorations.

NEX-7 - Pat's BBQ SLC

Added on by John Sturr.

Some photos from Pat's -- a great hole in the wall for BBQ and worth a trip.

Shot with the Nex-7 - and developed with a preset from X-Equals.

Nex-7 Blue Plate

Added on by John Sturr.

A quick trip to the Blue Plate Diner - known for it's appearance in Diners, Drivin-in's and Dives, for Robert in from Twin-Falls, ID.

 

Nex-7 with Stock 18-55mm

Added on by John Sturr.

I've found only one serious defeciency with the Nex-7 and that is the ability to control the minimum shutter speed in Aperture Priority.  With the advent of ASA control, or Auto ASA the camera will adjust, on the fly, what is needed for a proper exposure.  As ASA is on the fly, and Aperture is controlled by the user, that also leaves the shutter speed to be automatically controlled.  But with digital sensors being oh-so sensitive and dense with pixels - shutter speed needs to be at least 1.5 times that of the focal lenghth.  So what does that mean -- well if I'm shooting at 50mm, then my shutter speed needs to be at least 1/80th of a second.  And with the current Nex-7 firmware shutter minimums cannot be set.

 

Taken at FFKR Architects - Roger Jackson and Steve Goodwin in discussion - March 2012

Nex-7 with Nikon 50mm

Added on by John Sturr.

Here's some with an adapted Nikon 50mm, f1.4.  I've also been able to customize the AF/MF button on the back to be specific to what is called Focus Assist.  Focus Assist zooms the image 10x center frame to allow micro focus adjustment with manual lenses -- then a quick press and the view snaps back to full view.

NEX-7

Added on by John Sturr.

I've had the Nex-7 for about a week - and it is quite a power house for two reasons.  The jam packed APS-c sensor and it's size.  This isn't a review but just a few quick comments about the good and the bad.

The good - Big sensor, similar look and feel of the image compared to my Nikon D3s, Small body, EVF works well and has a lot of contrast and punch, very customizable controls/buttons, manual lenses can easily be used, the panorama function is killer, and the whole thing fits in my work bag.

The Bad - expensive, playback has a bit of hesitation, the shutter has a very long throw - meaning - the shutter seems to take a long time to cycle, video button can be easily and accidentally pressed, and the hot shoe is proprietary.

 

Utah Sky Trials

Added on by John Sturr.

The 37th annual Utah Sky Trials kicked off last saturday West of Salt Lake in the desert.  

The birds were, for the lack of a better word - really cool.  Hit the link for the results - else see the posted photos.

HAGERMAN WINDFARMS

Added on by John Sturr.

Yesterday we ventured to the wind farms of Hagerman, Idaho. 
Hagerman is known for sportfishing on the Snake river and the production of Sturgeon Caviar. 

Recently the potato fields in what is called the Bench have been abandoned and now those fields are populated by wind Turbines.


FRONTSIGHT - DAY FOUR

Added on by John Sturr.

The last day, Thursday, was brutal.  The winds were strong and blowing sand swirled as we shot.  It was a bit chilly also.  Once again there were dry-fire drills, and practice drills and then the dry fire practice test. 

But just before lunch - we had what was called man-on-man shootout.  Steel targets with a hostage plate - and Ryan, Kurt's friend, took the title.  I made it to the second round, Kurt the Third.

After lunch was the Practice test - and then the final test.  It wasn't easy, and it wasn't difficult - and i was disappointed that I didn't shoot better and get Distinguished Graduate, as Kurt and Ryan did.  I shot Graduate.  Some rounds were thrown and I wasn't as precise as I should have been.

This is a highly recommended class -- there are some things I would like to see changed, but they have deemed their formula effective.

The Range Master Ciaccio is also highly recommended for his knowledge and teaching skill.

Range 1E, and 14
Range master: "Chachi" Ciaccio

The assistant instructors on our range were:

Wayne Walker
P. Walker
Spenser Moser
Dan Chomycia
Koop 
Rover

FRONTSIGHT - DAY THREE

Added on by John Sturr.

Through out this week of shooting at FrontSight - I'm surprised at the diversity of people here.  I was expecting many of whom who would be former Military types but that could be anything from the truth as there were even some with limited firearms skills.

Today was more building of the previous days skills and new drills of drawing from concealment.  I was mentally done at about 3pm today - but drove thru to the end.

Tomorrow is the final skills test and graduation.

 

 

FRONTSIGHT - DAY TWO

Added on by John Sturr.

Day 2 - Started at 0800 with some review and dry-fire drills of yesterdays skill sets.  The temps were in the mid 30's and once the Sun appeared quickly warmed to the 60's.  Great weather for January !!

Half the day is all on the range - shooting, instruction, dry-fires and repeat.  

Lunch is an hour and concludes with some kind of lecture of 30-45minutes.  

After lunch and the lecture it's back to the range for the rest of the day until about 5pm.  At 515 there is another day ending lecture.

My fingers are sore from loading mags - and  a bit overloaded from trying to keep up with the malfunction drills to overcome.

And hopefully the guy on lane 14 - our neighbor pays some more attention and doesn't shoot himself or others.

We survived another day.

 

FrontSight - Day One

Added on by John Sturr.
The first day started with an I.D'd check in and registration and a sign off of liability.  The staff is  professional and instruction everything is incremental.

There were many dry fire exercises which started at the grip and presenting the firearm to the threat - cullminating with a live fire.  Morning and afternoon sessions saw about 200 rounds  expended.

The take away -- the training is good - but so far I'm more impressed with the doctrine from the MagPul DVD's.  I may be too quick to judge - as this is only day one.

LOAD OUT

Added on by John Sturr.

Tomorrow is day one at FrontSight in Pahrump Nevada.

Nevada is a peculiar place and one of the only I've experienced where the hotel staff at the Saddle West offered "Rags", pronounced Regs, we are still getting used to some kind of accent, for firearms cleaning.  Such a welcome takes you off guard.

Along with the non-existent "Clean-Air Act" in the casinos, a pack of smokes, and some guns - well… life isn't too bad.

Just kidding about the smokes.

OLYMPIC OVAL SLC

Added on by John Sturr.

Yesterday's World-Cup speed-skating event at the SLC Olympic oval pushed the limits of the photographic skills.  

I brought the gear not because I was thinking to get a special photo, but to refine the skills and work through problems.  And it's a bit more interesting than chasing the cat around the house in January - although I did that also - more on that later.  

Big fast lenses are the norm and I see why anything less than an f4.0 and light becomes a scarce resource.  These athletes are not slow movers - and when I placed myself in the 3rd turn following them thru with 3-d tracking and the D3s said -- "whoa"..

  • What did I learn -- shooting this stuff is all percentages - I blew thru 300 frames and maybe have 2 good pics.  
  • Know your equipment - the D3s chokes when it's trying to focus, expose, and capture while writing NEF - I thought about JPG - but I hate JPG.  
  • Know your venue - press passes are scarce and mostly impossible, so get there early to scope out the best areas to shoot from.  
  • Know your backgrounds - busy backgrounds make interesting photos.  
  • Shoot what everyone isn't.