I love my VEO tripod!

Our family recently got the chance to explore Yellowstone National Park. We spent our days hiking and exploring while being in constant awe of the landscape and animals that crossed our path. Boiling water bubbled up from the earth and the topsoil breathed hot steam at unexpected times. You can imagine that it is most inconvenient to lug heavy gear around when navigating through crowds and treacherous landscapes, so my aim was to travel light. I knew that I wanted to bring a tripod for video and for tricky exposures, but weight is a big deal when hiking. Enter, the VEO 265BC. It folds down to just 15.4 inches, which makes it the perfect size to stuff in my backpack. May I just say that this tripod is FAST to set up and take down? Yes! The leg clips are strong, but super fast when you want to latch and unlatch them, even in very low light. :)


My gear consisted of my Sony a7r, a 16-35mm lens, and my VEO 265BC  tripod. This tripod is LIGHT. Seriously, this carbon tripod is very sturdy, but it weighs in at only 3.3lbs. This is strong enough to hold my camera on rough terrain, but light enough to throw over my shoulder and keep moving without even thinking about it. I usually stuff my tripod back into its carry bag after use, but on this trip I literally used it all. the. time. Seriously. I really didn't retract the legs and store it unless I was getting into the car! It is so light, but that doesn't mean it is weak, on the contrary, it beat my expectations! Another bonus is the padded leg that doubles as a handle. It is secure, even with wet hands! I dealt with sweaty palms, but I would imagine it would rock in snow and rain too.

The ballhead is also very secure and super easy to adjust. Ball heads can be HEAVY. Not this one. It is strong and precise, complete with level, but small enough to not weigh me down.

Here are a few shots taken using this tripod. I particularly LOVED it for creating video on the fly. I fell in love with creating cinemagraphs, which are created from short video clips.  You must use a tripod to create these! 

Here are a few of my favorite shots taken in Yellowstone National Park: 

Yellowstone Part 2: Full Sun

Little Photographer

Crystal Gyser

Yellowstone, June 2015 Part 1

Roaring Prairie

Behind the Scenes of 'Roaring Prairie'

I wanted to share a few behind the scenes images from the creation of my image, Roaring Prairie. The late afternoon was frigid and the wind was intense. Gusts of up to 30 miles an hour whipped through our hair, and we reluctantly found the winter coats again. It was earlier in the day than I had hoped for, but the temperature was going to continue to drop and rain was threatening, so we headed out.

My son, Tristan (15) manned the Sony a6000 and Zeiss 35mm lens. It was too windy for video, so I told him just to take images as I worked. Once we got going, I asked him to throw a winter coat up to Anni (my daugher and model) so that she could warm up between shots. She was barefoot on the rocks and said that the misty rain was turning to ice under her feet. Poor girl. Tristan then threw her some flip flops between shots. We only stayed out there about 15 minutes as we were all chilly. I used my new Vanguard VEO tripod so that I could bracket exposures for the final image.

This image encapsulates all that I feel about the prairie most of the year...cold, windy, and unforgiving. We found a small nest of birds tucked into the boulders. The mother seemed unphased by our presence. Perhaps, she knew we were too cold to care that they were there!

This is the storyboard of how the image came togther. I had initially intended it to be color, but I was in love with the simplicity of the black and white, so I went with that. The image contains two exposures, one for the sky and one for my subject. The color version is straight out of Lightroom using the new HDR merge feature. I may continue to edit this one in color and see where it takes me. 

I wanted to send a big shout out of thanks to my kids! It was cold and you were troopers! I also want to thank Sony and Vanguard USA for making products that make my visions come to life. :)