it's time for another DPReview road trip. This time we're hitting the
backroads of Idaho with photographer Michael Bonocore and Canon's new 6D Mark II.
Our destination? Well, we're not sure yet but along the way we'll be
visiting remote locations to meet up with interesting folks and capture some
beautiful fall colors. From the open road to the end of the road, buckle up and
join us from Michael Bonocore's Idaho. My name is Michael Bonocore I am a travel
photographer, I also run Resource Travel which is a website where we aim to tell
inspiring travel stories. I'm usually traveling about 200 days a year but I've
chosen to make my home here in Boise Idaho. It's got incredible access to some
of the most beautiful and breathtaking landscapes and outdoors that I've ever seen.
The first stop on our trip was just shy of the Heaven's Gate overlook above
the Seven Devils wilderness area for a few sunset shots. All right Michael so
the light's closing out behind us, why don't you tell us a little bit about where we
are right now. So right now we're at Hells Canyon recreation area. We are
overlooking the Seven Devils mountain range. In this case we have a cool road
here so I really want to get the road incorporated with the shots I also like
to get people in the photograph so if you were wearing a red jacket I would
say to you Carey go stand out there while I get you with the stunning
mountain backdrop in the background.
As luck would have it our director happens
to be wearing a very red jacket. No way. Yeah right there it's perfect I mean
this is such a beautiful location this is really what Idaho is all about.
I like to underexpose a lot of times just because I find that
it's easier to pull the shadows out. With some great photos in the bag we headed
down the mountain to set up camp and get some rest. When we got to Riggins we
stayed in a repurposed church camp which was really cool
it was in the middle of nowhere right along a creek. Beautiful, Quiet, you could
see million stars. Absolutely incredible
Percolator cup
I could deliver you coffee if you want - yeah. The 6D Mark 2 is Canon's 26 megapixel
entry-level full-frame DSLR. It utilizes Canon's excellent dual pixel AF and live
view. It also features an articulating screen and can shoot up to 6 fps in
burst mode. Alright now we want them to come over here okay yeah good boys
guess we overstayed our welcome. Once we left Riggins we continued north where we
hit the White Bird overlook - one of my favorite locations in all of Idaho to
photograph, especially in the winter. It overlooks this entire valley and it
seems to go on for miles. So we got Zach up there - our buddy Zach. I really want to
get this compressed shot with the 85mm you know - make it a little scary. He looks
more comfortable standing on that rock than than I did. I will say that.
I kind of got a little bit of vertigo. He's younger I think. I didn't know what I was
missing in life without a touch screen yeah - see you just did not look you
didn't look right up there. No. After we left White Bird we drove along highway 12
which is some of the most remote section of Idaho I've ever seen.
Looks like green waders and some really good suspenders. Working our way along the Selway River
we stopped at the Fenn ranger station in the Nez Perce National Forest hoping to
get some advice on great photo ops nearby. Right here is the edge of the
wilderness. I also got some sweet swag. The rangers pointed us to the
split Creek Trailhead which featured a footbridge before a
hike to a viewpoint. For me the most fun I have on these road
trips is campfires. Drinking a couple good beers, eating some great food
listening to great music soaking in the stars.
that's what road trips are all about.
Next morning we woke up before sunrise and we were lucky that we did, because
there was some beautiful fog hanging around the trees up at the top of the hill.
Early morning I love using the tripod at F4 I'm getting a 125th of a second shutter speed.
We're gonna set up an interval timer here we are gonna try to do our best to
have a slow enough shutter speed to kind of blur that motion of the fog, blur the
water in the foreground just a little bit and as the light's coming up it
should be a really nice scene. With the sun cresting the horizon and the fog
dissipating we turned our cameras around and shot into the sun for a different look.
When you shoot at an aperture like F18 F22 when you're shooting into a
light like the sun or a streetlight it's gonna create that starburst effect.
The rangers had told us about a location called Selway Falls we thought we knew
how to get there and we wound up getting lost. Idon't know what this symbol means I
think that it's a Ranger Station? No that's a ranger station. What's this square with a
circle in it? I think that's a center point. When we finally found it
we actually wound up taking some really cool shots. it's a beautiful location no
one else for miles. My preferred shutter speed for when I'm shooting moving
water is around a tenth of a second, maybe a second. It gives me this
slow-motion effect but not too slow.
after leaving the nez perce forest we drove north to the town of Fernwood to
meet up with christy wolf to check out a fire tower she's rehabbing to put on Air B&B.
'Morning!' It was really cool bright red in the middle of nowhere among all
these giant trees. All the properties are off grid that I do and partly that's
because it's cheap land but also because they're remote and I really like that
and I like trying to provide an experience that people are gonna love
and kind of not even realize that they're off-grid. I think people don't
even realize how tired they are until they have a couple days out in nature
and then are like oh yeah that's what it's like you know I mean I go to sleep
when it gets dark and I wake up when it's light. People don't do that.
Christy had a book of all these old radio communications which outlined all the
emergency calls they would get. I don't know what I'm gonna do with this but
it's pretty cool. Passenger having labor pains! And it gets
better: "tell the lady that she must calm down and stop if she wants assistance"
you know I just want to keep making really interesting places and I'm gonna
keep doing that as long as people enjoy it and as long as I'm physically able to.
It was finally time to say goodbye to Christy and start making our way back
south. Outside the town of McCall we stumbled upon some of the best fall
color we've seen yet. Rich pleasing colors have long been a strong point on
Canon cameras and the 62 is no different, turning out warm saturated yellows and
reds. It really helped the leaves to pop against the conifers and the sky.
We stayed in Mccall and the next morning we woke up to a lot of fresh snow on the
ground. Not that unusual for an autumn in Idaho so
I called my buddy Cody Monroe who runs CM Backcountry Rentals and he had some
really cool razors that we took out all the way up into the mountains. After four
days of shooting primarily static landscapes I really wanted to have some
kind of movement of my photos - some kind of action. Cody was driving fast and
crazy it was a lot of fun and definitely put the camera to good use in those
conditions. So Michael I can see you've got your 6D II on the hood over there what are you doing?
I'm utilizing the touchscreen flipped
out and I've got the camera right here on the hood which when I use the tap to
focus and exposure it's given me a really cool inside view of Cody.
It automatically focuses on his helmet and it takes a shot for me
With the snow coming down we had a chance to put the 6D II's weather sealing to the test.
Michael bonocore doesn't need gloves to
shoot in the snow in the mountains of Idaho, but I do. I always
switch into full manual because the brightness of the snow will fool the
cameras meter and it'll often start to turn it all gray and it looks kind of
mucky, you have to push the files in post
so I basically get the exposure that I'm happy with in switching to manual.
That's how you have fun in Idaho, right?
What I love most about travel and adventure is sharing the experiences
with good friends. Enjoying life, enjoying each other's company and this trip had
all that in a state that I'm proud to call home.
Road tripping through Idaho with Michael was an unforgettable experience, from
small towns to towering peaks and everything in between the natural beauty
of Idaho shined through in each and every image we captured.
Until next time, I'm Carey with DP review.
you