TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING
I travel in a 2006 Monaco Knight, 39 foot diesel pusher. Mounted on the roof of my RV are two 123 watt solar panels so I seldom have to visit RV parks to charge my batteries.
To date, since my retirement On April 1, 2004, I have visited the western states including Alaska, Arizona, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Nevada and California. I tried to focus on national parks. The vistagraphs presented on this site just begin to reveal the vast beauty that awaits the visitor to these states.
In 2007 I traveled through twenty states to North Carolina. From Oregon I traveled through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Leaving North Carolina I visited South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. I departed from Oregon in early September and wintered over in Arizona. I met many wonderful people, visited friends and really enjoyed this trip. I even remembered the purpose of the trip: to bring back additional vistagraphs. I hope I remember where I stored the files, and find time to process them into vistagraphs.
In 2008 I limited my travel in order to downsize. I now have a Dodge 3500 wheely, with a cab over and tow my office. I plan to start 2009 in Arizona
and then head for Yellowstone in April and north to Alaska again. Perhaps you are a free-spirited, retired lady who wants to share the cooking/bar-b-quing and the adventure. Email me.
What follows is general information for anyone who wishes to try their hand at making panoramagraphs or vistagraphs.
EQUIPMENT
I have used two Nikon D70s (6.1 megapixel digital cameras) with two zoom lenses: 18mm to 70mm and a 70mm to 300mm for many of my panoramagraphs.I now use Nikon's D200 (11megapixels) and a longer zoom lens.
My tripod is a lightweight Bogen 3021 pro legs and Monfrotto 405 geared head. It is heavy but light enough to make photos and allow me to hike to appropriate locations. I also have a Magellan EXplorist 200 handheld GPS so I don't get lost. And a more sophisticated GPS for my RV to keep the cost down (as I don't get lost as easily now). 
I download from gigabyte memory cards to my wide-screen Qosmio Toshiba laptop and use Photoshop (version 8 or CS) as my digital darkroom.
I have a MotoSat 2-way Internet Satellite mounted on my RV roof so I can upload to my site from just about anywhere. It also allows you to know where I am making my panoramagraphs.
Maybe you have spotted my trailer as I travel.  
SUBJECT MATTER
Nature, including its wide array of wildlife, is my primary subject matter. I try to avoid the unnatural unless it is really beautiful (The Golden Gate Bridge) or unique (Mount Rushmore). Any national park and most state parks have an abundance of views. When to make a panoramagraph needs to be addressed. Yes, two hour at sunrise and sunset are the "recommended" time of the day, but the time of the year is equally important. Yellowstone has such beautiful and plentiful wildlife in the winter months, but between June and October they hide from the throngs of visitors. Lighting: natural light is most pleasing - even if it is the reflected light of the full moon.
PROCEDURE
First and foremost is capturing an image in your mind's eye as Ansel Adams expressed this first step frequently and so eloquently. This may require sitting and observing the subject matter over a period of days, and from a number of different locations. Sometimes it makes sense to make more than one panoramagraph of the same subject, whether it is at a different time or from a different location.
The most important rule is the make sure your panned image is LEVEL. Going uphill or downhill or in an arc when panning spells disaster especially when you realize that occurred after departing the location and while working on the finished product. I am learning to assemble the panoramagraph before I leave the location.
 Thanks to Chip and Annie at fiddlersgreen.net who taught me this lifestyle.
After assuring myself I have a level view, I select the correct zoomed image and do a practise run. It is important to overlap each photo by 25%. Take at least three photos - and I generally go from left to right. Try not to take more than ten. But if you do. Do it in portrait mode to avoid having a super wide and very short panoramic image. I violated this principal successfully in my Shasta Sunrise and my largest panoramagraph, the Gallatin mountain range in northwest Yellowstone. Cover the lens before and after the panoramic photos. This helps to identify each series when assembling the panoramagraphs.
Sometimes this procedure has to be modified. I waited at the Grand Canyon for a California Condor to turn around. He was on the extreme left of my image. When he spread his wings to reveal the white of his wings I took a dozen shots and then finished my panoramagraphs by panning to the right. There are a lot more sophisticated procedures and equipment that the experts advise but I have found the above to be more than adequate. Another interesting example is when waiting to photograph the Cumbres & Toltec railroad. There was an elk in the distance. I took two shots to the left of where I expected the steam engine to arrive and two to the right, one which included the elk. He was long gone by the time the steam engine arrived but you can't prove that by looking at the panoramagraph.
THE FINAL PRODUCT
ArcSoft PanoramaMaker version 4 is very simple and very effective in stitching the panorama views together. It works in both portrait and landscape modes. Oftentimes it is necessary to use Photoshop to make sure the exposures are consistent and to get a preview of how the final product will appear.
Although Photoshop has the ability to make a panoramic image (photomerge) it has serious limitations and takes much more time than ArcSoft. With Arcsoft I am limited to taking ten photos, but I take more anyway. I then assemble one more than half for the right and left sides and use Photoshop to merge the two together.
If you want to follow me on my journey, email me and I will let you know where I am and where I am heading.
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