Category: Landscape

Torres Dramatic Sunrise 1

My Top 10 Favorite Photos of 2008, #1

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I am proud to announce that my favorite image from 2008 is “Torres Dramatic Sunrise”. I created this image in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park in the region of South America better known as Patagonia. I’ve been familiar with these mountains since well before I even knew what a mountain looked like. I was first introduced to the Patagonia clothing company by my Uncle Jerry way back in junior high school while growing up in Michigan. While I was very active in rock-climbing and mountaineering during the 90’s, I read a number of amazing stories about climbing the famous granite spires of the region. Even though I am no longer interested in technical climbing, I had always wanted to visit these legendary mountains and in 2007 I finally had the opportunity to do so. I loved the spectacular scenery so much, that I went back last January. I did not have enough time during my first trip to backpack to the famous Los Torres viewpoint, so I made it my main objective on this second visit. It is a 16 mile roundtrip hike up to the Torres campground, so in order to photograph the mountains at sunrise you need to camp overnight. I took enough food and equipment to spend 5 days and had uncommonly good weather. Every morning I would get up an hour before sunrise to hike up the ridge to the famous viewpoint and wait for the sunrise. I did this 4 days in a row, and on my final day I got lucky when the clouds parted for a brief moment and the sunrise light illuminated the spires in golden light. Patagonia is one of my favorite travel destinations and I am going back again on January 25 for 15 days. I am going to have a photographic rematch with Mt Fitz Roy and the elusive Cerro Torre in Los Glaciares National Park. It takes a lot of energy to travel that far for a couple of images, but the results are worth the effort. I created this image using my Pentax 67II, 75mm lens, Singh-Ray 2-Stop Hard GND filter, Gitzo Basalt tripod, Acratech Ultimate ballhead, Fuji Velvia 50 film at f22 and 3 seconds.

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Spray Park Wildflowers 1

My Top 10 Favorite Photos of 2008, #3

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Last year was not one of my most productive years for landscape photography. The weather in Southeast Alaska during the summer gave me very few photo opportunities and overall I focused more on shooting wildlife. I still prefer the results of my medium format film cameras for shooting landscape images, but admit that it is becoming much more difficult for me to spend the money on film when I own 2 digital SLRs. I have become very selective about pushing the button when it costs me over $1 per image. Fortunately, I still find a scene once in awhile that justifies the investment.

In late August, I took advantage of the late season wildflower bloom at Mount Rainier National Park to create this image, “Spray Park Wildflowers”. I have hiked up to Spray Park at least once per summer for the last 8 years. I have had mixed results creating the photograph that I have envisioned, so I keep going back hoping for something more dramatic. It is only a 6 mile round-trip hike, so I can leave Seattle in the afternoon and be up in the meadows in time to photograph the sunset. After the shoot is over, I hike back down to my truck with a headlamp in the dark. On this attempt, the lupine and paintbrush were the best that I had seen in the last 5 years and there were some nice clouds up in the sky. I created this image using my Pentax 67II, 45mm lens, Singh-Ray LB Polarizer, Singh-Ray 2-stop Hard GND filter, Gitzo Basalt tripod, Acratech Ultimate ballhead, Fuji Velvia 50 film at f22 and 2 seconds.

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Fords Terror Mist

My Top 10 Favorite Photos of 2008, #9

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2008 was not my most productive year for landscape photography. I spent most of the summer getting rained on in Southeast Alaska. It was not the kind of weather that allowed me to create the spectacular images that I am known for. However, it was still an incredible experience navigating my small boat around in the ocean wilderness and into the fjords that few other photographers are able to visit. I typically move Serenity, my 22′ C-Dory, into a remote location and then spend a week or more using my 12′ inflatable to motor around in search of wildlife and unique landscape scenes to photograph. During a particularly wet solo trip in June into the Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness, I visited Fords Terror several different days before I finally got the right amount of bad weather and low hanging clouds to capture the spirit of the place. My image “Fords Terror Mist” was created in the pouring rain using my Pentax 67II camera, 45mm lens, Singh-Ray LB Warming Polarizer, Gitzo Basalt tripod, Acratech Ultimate ballhead, and Fuji Velvia 50 film at f22 and 8 seconds.

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Whatcom Peak Reflection

Whatcom Peak Reflection

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I just took a repeat client on a week long backpacking photography workshop into the North Cascades. Nick really wanted to do a long backpacking trip with a spectacular photography location at the end. I decided to take him to Tapto Lakes above Whatcom Pass deep in the North Cascades. It is almost 20 miles one-way in to the lakes. We took a few days to hike in with incredibly large packs including 2 cameras each and a weeks supply of food. Last Sunday, we got a break in the weather and the wind stopped blowing long enough to shoot a pretty nice reflection image of Whatcom Peak in the late afternoon light. The next day, we decided to try and do the entire hike out in 1 day. We succeeded in doing all 19 miles in just over 11 hours, but we were exhausted and unable to walk the next day! My future backpacking photography workshops will not involve quite as much hiking. Please visit more of my North Cascades National Park Photography.

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Spray Park Wildflowers 1

Spray Park Wildflowers 1

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I got out hiking and camping a bit the last few weeks now that the summer is coming to an end and I am no longer flying up to Alaska to get rained on and not take any pictures while spending a lot of money. Yes, summer in Southeast was tough this year. Also, my last trip to use my boat got interrupted by a house fire back home! My girls were out of the house and safe when it happened and my slides and hard drives were not destroyed, but we had to move and re-buy all of our second floor bedroom furniture and clothes. My daughters started back to school last week. We are doing fine, but what a pain. Anyway, I went down to Mt Rainier 2 weekends in a row to try and photograph the summer wildflowers. Spray Park is one of my favorite locations in the park, so I always enjoy the hike. I do it int the afternoon, shoot the sunset, and then hike back to the car in the dark. The flowers were very late this year, but they were pretty good. Please visit more of my Mount Rainier National Park Photography.

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Welcome Pixcetera Visitors!

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My image “Wailau Beach Rainbow” from the north shore of Molokai, HI is featured on the homepage of Pixcetera as part of the 2008 Nature’s Best Ocean Views Competition.

I’d like to say thank you again to everyone who has enjoyed my photography and sent me many complimentary emails and print orders! Unfortunately, a lot of people have commented that they thought this image has been digitally manipulated and is a fake. As a professional photographer, I find it to be a sad state that we are in when people just assume that something so beautiful has to be a fraud. I spend almost 6 months each year traveling the world to capture spectacular images using professional camera equipment. I shot this image with a Pentax medium format camera using professional Fuji slide film, which I still use for all of my landscape images. Most of the time, I come back with at least 1 photo from each trip, but often I come back with nothing at all. This incredible rainbow image was just shear luck on the second day of a week long sea-kayaking trip on Molokai. Fortunately, I was able to set up and compose the image in the pouring rain fast enough that I came home with the shot. As often as I put myself out in nature, I still only witness a rainbow like this on average of every other year. If you would like to learn more about rainbows, please visit atoptics.co.uk/bows. Please feel free to email me if you are interested in ordering one of my fine art prints. Thank you.

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Taylor Bay Beach Sunset

Taylor Bay Beach Sunset

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I first visited Taylor Bay near Cape Spencer in May and knew that I had to come back. The Fairweather Mountains and the Brady Glacier are just incredible to look at, if you can see them. I am still trying to figure out how to photograph them if the conditions ever allowed for it. In the meantime, I’ve spent a lot of time exploring the rocky shoreline and moraine flats. This composition came together very quickly for me. It was the only golden sunset light image I got in 15 days of getting rained on in SE Alaska. Please visit more of my Glacier Bay National Park Photography.

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Chichagof Coast Reflection

Chichagof Coast Reflection

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The coastal landscape on Chicagof Island really surprised me. I would have thought that it would have been all tall trees and rainforest, but instead it was all these stunted little trees and bogs. I scouted this location above Mirror Harbor after several days of being boat bound due to a gale in the Gulf of Alaska. I found the landscape reminded me of images I have seen from the Amazon or Coast Rica and not Alaska. This gnarled tree reminded me of a Japanese painting. I think the mountain in the distance must be a volcano. Please visit more of my Southeast Alaska Photography.

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Wailau Beach Rainbow

2008 Nature’s Best Ocean Views Photography Awards

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I have 2 images in the summer issue of Nature’s Best as part of their inaugural Ocean Views competition. They are also on display at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC through December. This image of a spectacular early morning rainbow was taken on a sea kayaking trip on the remote north shore of Molokai and is one of my best selling Hawaii images. Please visit more of my images from Molokai.

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Johns Hopkins Inlet Sunrise 6

2008 Nature’s Best Ocean Views Photography Exhibit

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I submitted several of my landscape and wildlife images from the marine environment this past January to Nature’s Best for consideration in their inaugural Ocean Views competition. This image of glacial ice in Johns Hopkins Inlet at sunrise was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Landscape category and is currently on display at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC through December. Please take a look at more of my images from Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska.

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