Then and Now; better or worse?

THEN

1) Practika 35mm slr w/ a 50mm-300mm lens (about $450 for both second hand)

2) A good fairly straight, fairly strong stick about 3 feet long (free)

3) For more daring adventures a decent Topo Map and a lensatic compass (about $18 total)

4) a worn out comfortable copy of a Audubon Society's guide to Birds of the Eastern US ($15)

5) A pair of typical leather, somewhat waterproof hiking boots ($35)

6) couple pairs of cotton "hunting" socks ($6)

7) Army surplus "ruck sack"($12)

8) canteen with tap water ($8 for canteen about 2 cents for water)

9) Couple rolls of 35mm Kodak film [36 exposure] ($8)

10) "snacks" beef jerky, crackers, maybe a candy bar ($4)

11) Film developing of about 35 carefully timed, carefully framed shots ($10)

12) Telling someone you're heading out and will be back around 6pm (free)

Then Total: $566 to have everything you needed for a good time out doing nature photography

NOW

1) Nikon D90 DSLR ($1100) Sigma 50-500mm lens ($1059)

2) Carbon fiber collapsible trekking pole w/ 3 bases for rock, mud and water crossing ($100)

3) Handheld GPS hiking receiver w/ color map display ($275)

4) Apple iPhone ($250 w/ a new 2 yr contract) with Peterson field guide to birds app ($19)

5) Waterproof gore-tex insulated upland Field boots ($189)

6) Couple of pairs of "wicking" medium duty hiking socks ($35)

7)"Adventure" grade photography backpack ($76)

8) 38oz stainless steel water bottle ($25) & a couple bottles of natural filtered spring water ($5)

9) two 16gig Secure SDHC memory cards ($55 each)

10) 5 High energy, organic nutrition bars ($3 each)

11) Going through about 500 randomly shot photos and posting them to an online photographic community (basically free), Printing out the best 10 or so at home ($4)

12) Subscription to Cell phone service with smart phone capability to stay in constant contact with the outside world at all times and to be able to check the news, weather, email, and face book account when things are slow in the Field ($125 per month)

Now total: $3137

I can remember the "good old days" at my younger age when the average person felt they could have a good day of nature photography with just a few items, a little time, and a ride a little ways down the road to a "good spot". Things seemed simpler, and you had to work harder to get those amazing shots that makes your friends say "ooooh!" or "wow!". We would toss everything into the back of an old 1976 Jeep CJ5 3 speed, and drive a few miles outside town, park the jeep at the end of a gravel road, and only take out what you needed, and left the rest just sitting there in the open topped jeep, find our way to a certain valley between some steep hills off of 111 south, and sit quietly and wait, and watch, and when the timing was just right, the light was good, the creatures cooperated you snapped of a few carefully aimed photos. When the day was done you hurried to get the film developed, and would have to wait an agonizing 48 hours to pick up the film from the little yellow shack that sat in the New Albany Plaza that you drove up to. You got home a little later than expected, but that was okay, and everybody talked about their day while sitting around the dinner table together.

After the 48 hour wait, you cringed as you realized half of your pictures we really not that good, and of the ones that were good, only a couple were really good, and if they exceptionally good, you would take the negative back to the photo shack and get a BIG print, a whopping 8x10, and then had to wait a few more days to see if the 8x10 print turned out. And you just couldn't wait to call up a friend and meet at Joe's coffee shop over a simple cup a black coffee to talk about the latest comings and goings, and to show your pictures to them as they showed their to you.

Now, I am a technology geek and addict, so I am not knocking the amazing modern world we live in, or its gadgets too much, but I often wonder, as we drive through unfamiliar back roads, following the guidance prompts on ye ole GPS receiver to guide us to the precise point where a friend had posted a recent picture of a reticulated big-deal bird the previous day, what is missing here? So we drive down the road listening to our choice of hundreds of radio stations piped in via satellite, and pass the time

As the GPS chimes in that we "have reached our destination", and as we fire up the portable GPS and have to wait an ungodly unreasonable minute or two for it to track and lock on to the satellites floating out in space to pinpoint our location down to about 12 feet, we call our family on our blue tooth phones, to say we're here, and get the rundown on what we have missed in the last half hour or so, you get a couple of text messages from this person or that person to let you know they updated their face book wall to include such shocking news as " I cant find my favorite socks".

The portable GPS chimes that it has locked onto to signal, and indicates its 1.1257 miles to reach

Lat. 38.1867, long. 86.2774, and maps out a route to get there, as we sling on our camera backpack full of lenses and gadgets we would never even need to this trip, take the face plate off of the HD radio, lock it in our glove box, put the cars GPS in there too for good measure, make sure the windows are rolled up and lock the all wheel drive utility crossover vehicle up, and set the alarm via the key fob, we pull out the IPhone, send a text we are "going into the wilderness now", and set off after consuming an organic, high energy nutrition bar.

Guided by satellite navigation, you get there soon enough, and you have all ready shot 50 or 60 shots of random photos, BUT WAIT! What was that strange bird call we just heard, check iBird that allows you identify birds by their songs, and in an instant everything you could possibly want to know about the Fluffy Headed Whatever bird, plus comparisons to similar species across all of north America pops up!

As you shoot pics, you can instantly review them, and delete the ones that are not up to snuff, and with the cool little cord going from the GPS on the shoulder strap of the photography backpack to the DSLR, the Lat/Long data of where you were able to shoot 50 shots of the Fluffy Headed Whatever Bird down to an accuracy of 10+/- feet is embedded in the Exif data of the photo so everyone can see just how you had your settings.

The day winds down, and you hit a button on the GPS and it tells you you have 1.260 miles to reach the starting point for this track, you set out and upgrade your online profiles via cell phone from the middle of B.F.E., Indiana that you have successfully captured a photo of the Fluffy-Headed Whatever Bird, and head home and grab some food from the drive thru.

Instead of meeting with your buddy at Joe's coffee shop, you upload your photos to a web based photography community and send instant messages back and forth with brdngBob645 who resides in Auckland, New Zealand about your day.

As nice as technology can make things, sometimes it is refreshing to go out with just a 35mm, an old stick you pick up, and a worn out old bird book....