Tag: Landscape

Barmur Sunset 5

Barmur Sunset 5

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Before I went to Iceland, I researched some of the locations that I intended to shoot, but had not paid that much attention to Landmannalaugar (pronounced Land-mann-a-loi-ger). This fantastic location, 4 hours from Rekjavik in the interior of Iceland, was a pleasant surprise. Fortunately, the 4WD road had just opened the week before my visit. After driving the final 40 off-road kilometers, two shallow river beds (with a rental car!) were the final obstacles between me and the scenic beauty that I was about to experience. I always try to get to a new location early enough to scout the area because I don’t like to be rushed, but it was definitely time to shoot once the car was parked. The sky was full of perfect cotton-candy clouds and the sun danced across the jaw-dropping scenery. I grabbed my camera gear and quickly set out to explore the river bed to the east of the campground. Within a half-hour of my arrival, I focused my attention on this composition to create this image.

Jokulsarlon Beach Sunset 2

Jokulsarlon Beach Sunset 2

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I’ve been intending to add some new images from my trip to Iceland, but have had a lot going on the last week. I was pretty underwhelmed by the photos that I’d seen of icebergs stranded on the beach in front of Jokulsarlon before my trip, so this location was not a priority for me to shoot. I scouted this location a few times in the middle of the night, but the clouds and light were terrible. I either did not shoot any pictures or deleted most of them once I got home. However, I created this surprisingly beautiful photograph at 12:30am on my last night at Jokulsarlon.  I love the color that the clouds reflected from the midnight sun. This translucent piece of ice made a nice foreground, as well as the repetition patterns of the larger icebergs behind it. This was also as dark as it got during my entire 15 day visit, which was great for shooting but not for sleeping.

Jokulsarlon Icebergs Sunrise 1

Jokulsarlon Icebergs Sunrise 1

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My regular readers know that I just returned from my 2nd trip to the beautiful but stark country of Iceland. I had previously visited Iceland in 2001 when I was beginning my photography career but had not yet mastered the camera.  I had several regrets from that 1st trip, so it was nice to put them to rest. Shooting conditions where incredibly difficult due to the constant cloudy weather. Also, because it is summer in the Arctic, the sun barely dipped below the horizon between 12-3am. This made for long nights of shooting, which required me to sleep during the day. I started to appreciate the demanding schedule of vampires. One of the locations that I was determined to photograph was Jokulsarlon. This spectacular lagoon is choked with icebergs that have calved off of the Breidamerkurjokull glacier. Is is an abstract photographer’s dream. I created this atmospheric image when the sunrise light briefly illuminated the tops of the thin layer of clouds at 3am.

Alaska Airlines June 2010 Cover

Alaska Airlines June 2010 Cover

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I am pleased to share my latest publishing accomplishment. My “Paradise Wildflowers” image from Mount Rainier National Park is the June 2010 cover on Alaska Airlines! This is also my 2nd cover with them this year. This picture is my all-time most successful art print and has been licensed numerous times since I created it in 2003. Most of my regular readers will know that I shot all of my landscape images up until last year with a Pentax 67 system. One of the challenges of that system was that I had limited depth-of-field compared to a 35mm system. In order to overcome that limitation, I created this image with Toyo 4×5 view camera, a Rodenstock 65mm large format lens, and a Horseman 6×9 roll film back. (Did I lose you, yet?) With the large format camera, I tilted the lens so that the flowers would be close to the camera while keeping the summit of Mount Rainier in focus. I also used my Singh-Ray Warming Polarizer and 2-stop Hard Graduated Neutral Density filter with Fuji Velvia film. I think that the exposure was about 10 seconds at f32, which is a life-time when waiting for a slight breeze to stop rustling the wildflowers. Now when I photograph flower landscapes like this, I use my Canon 5DmkII with a wide-angle lens with camera settings more like f16, 1/4 second, and 200 ISO. Since this was the first image that I ever took with my 4×5, I was still learning how to use it that morning. I mentioned that I used a 6×9 roll film back. All of my images that I shot were the 6×9 format except for 1 frame that overlapped the frame before it. That image perfectly cropped itself in the camera to 6×7 which is my favorite photo that you see here.  Beginners luck?

Stovepipe Sand Dunes Sunset 4

Stovepipe Sand Dunes Sunset 4

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I haven’t been out shooting this last month, just home editing photos, updating my website, completing submissions, and taking care of my family. I think that a lot of people think that I am always gone, but that is not the case. I spend almost 40% of each year traveling, but that still means that I am in Seattle with my family over 60% of the year. Since I work at home, I don’t leave my neighborhood, let alone my house all that often. I have enjoyed my recent time at home, but I am looking forward to flying to Iceland this weekend and creating incredible images!

Since I don’t have any brand-spanking-new images to share, I decided to post this dramatic sunset image that I created last January in Death Valley National Park. While exploring the sand dunes north of Stovepipe Wells, I was drawn to photograph these delicate mud-sand textures. This was one of those sunsets where nothing exciting happened until 15 minutes after the sun went down and the clouds brilliantly lit up neon pink. I know better than to put away my camera gear while there is still light left in the sky. Dramatic images like this are my reward for sticking out an otherwise unproductive afternoon.

Eureka Sand Dunes Sunset 3

Eureka Sand Dunes Sunset 3

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During my recent trip to Death Valley National Park, I visited the Eureka Dunes. At over 600′ tall, these dunes are the tallest in California. They are located almost 100 miles due north of Furnace Creek, requiring either a 40 mile off-road drive or 160 mile circuitous route around the park to the northwest. After soliciting advice from the park rangers, I decided to try the off-road option since the road was reportedly dry and in good condition. There were a few washboard sections, but nothing as difficult as my previous drives to the Racetrack. When I finally arrived at the dunes, I was impressed by their girth. If you’ve visited the Mesquite Dunes, imagine them piled on top of each other until they blocked out the horizon. I was daunted by their size, but since the sunset was approaching, I grabbed my camera gear and headed straight up. I probably climbed about 2/3 of the way up to the top, but once I surveyed the massive ridge patterns to the north, I went back down and headed towards them. As the sunlight turned golden yellow and the shadows began to elongate, I settled on this image beneath the summit. After the sun sank below the mountains to the west, I hiked for 45 minute back to my truck, and then drove for over 2 hours back to my camping trailer. It was a long day, but worth the effort.

Mesquite Sand Dunes Sunset 3

Mesquite Sand Dunes Sunset 3

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During my recent visit to Death Valley National Park, I created this image Mesquite Sand Dunes Sunset 3. Because they are close to the road, the dunes get a lot of foot traffic and are usually covered in un-photogenic tracks. However, several days of strong wind had blow away any footprints and created razor sharp edges on the dunes. When I began my hike, the wind was still howling. I stood for over an hour in the maelstrom being sand blasted, but the winds ceased 20 minutes before sunset. The conditions serendipitously came together to create this beautiful image. You can watch my iPhone video from this shoot here.

Ibex Dunes Sand Verbena Sunset 1

Ibex Dunes Sand Verbena Sunset 1

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I want to thank California photographer Steve Sieren for camping with me last month in Joshua Tree National Park & for sharing his location advice about photographing desert wildflowers near the Ibex Dunes in Death Valley National Park. Following his advice, I drove 90 miles from where I set up my camp at Furnace Creek down to the southeastern corner of the park where the dunes are located. After a short 4wd excursion from the highway, I parked my truck and hiked for 45 minutes towards the dunes. I’ve been working with a lot of photo tour clients the past few months, so it was refreshing to experience such a fantastic location by myself. The sand verbena was in full bloom so I composed this image and waited for the exquisite light of sunset to capture the moment. If you want to photograph sand dunes without a ton of people & tracks on them, keep the Ibex Dunes in mind.

First Beach Storm Clouds 1

First Beach Storm Clouds 1

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Last weekend I lead 2 clients on an Olympic National Park Photo Tour. The conditions were challenging, but conducive to instruction. Anyone can shoot the sunset at the iconic beach locations, which we did, but my goal was to help them see the world more creatively and refine their composition skills. Four afternoons in the chaos of the rainforest followed by overcast conditions at sunset tested even my proficiency with a camera. I created this dramatic image during one of our sunrise shoots on First Beach. You can see that there was not much of a sunrise, but the ominous rain clouds on the horizon still yielded effective pictures. Whenever I photograph waves, I anticipate them crashing against the shore and then shoot an exposure of 0.5 second or longer as they recede in order to capture their turmoil in a artistically pleasing manner. This involves a lot of trial and error since I do not know how any individual image is going to result, but when reviewing them I look for the same strong lines and overall presence that I photograph in a non-dynamic scene.

Washington State Tourism Ad

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My Reflection Lake Sunrise image is featured prominently in a new Washington State tourism advertisement. This ad will be shown in markets throughout North America during the next year. If you are looking for an exciting travel destination, Washington offers an incredibly diverse experience. It is one of the few places where you can experience islands, beaches, mountains, glaciers, forests, & deserts all during the same trip. I always recommend early September to first time visitors. It has the most reliable dry weather and the summer crowds are gone. Are you ready to experiencewa?