Tag: Landscape

Yosemite Falls Reflection 1

Yosemite Falls Reflection 1

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I just got back from a relaxing week in CA shooting with a few friends in Yosemite and Big Sur, visiting a friend in the Bay Area, and then attending an old college buddy’s wedding at Disneyland. Did I mention that CA is way too crowded for me?

This is a nice reflection image that I took early one morning of Yosemite Falls from the meadows in the Valley. It was a beautiful spot without any other photographers around. You might notice that this image is larger than what I typically post on my site. I’ve had a lot of requests for larger images, so I intend to redo my entire site this year with larger images that will also have a watermark on them again, since I have been having some problems lately with people using my website images for commercial purposes without my permission. I am also working on updating my blog to a WordPress blog that will have a lot more features like search-ability, SEO, and RSS feeds in the next couple of weeks.

Prusik Peak Reflection 2

Backpacker June 2009 Cover

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I just found out that I will have the June cover of Backpacker! The image is of Prusik Peak reflected in Gnome Tarn during the fall when the larches turn a golden yellow. I created this image in September 2005, after my 3rd hike up into the Enchantments to capture the reflection. It is not an easy hike to get up there, but when I have gone I prefer the “shorter” route over Asgard Pass from Colchuck Lake. I don’t mind the elevation gain as much as I do the elevation loss hiking back down the Snow Creek trail. Ouch on my knees! I used my Pentax 67II, 55mm lens, Singh-Ray 3-stop Soft GND filter, Fuji Velvia 50 film, and a tripod.

Anza Borrego Wildflower Sunset 3

Anza Borrego Wildflower Sunset 3

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Last night we finally got to shoot some beautiful flowers without wind. We saw a posting on the SoCal wildflower report a few days ago that mentioned walking about 2 miles north of the road to find sand verbana and dune evening primrose flowers. After we scouted this location 2 days ago during a windy sunset, we went back to shoot it last night and got some beautiful light. I am very pleased with the shoot, but I think that we are going back there tonight.

Palm Canyon Brittlebush Sunrise

Palm Canyon Brittlebush Sunrise

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Mark and I did some exploring yesterday and finally found what I consider to be the 2 best flower displays in the area. In the afternoon, we hiked part way up Palm Canyon and found tons of brittlebush on display, so that is where we went back to this morning to shoot the sunrise. I also played around a bit with the video function on my new camera as well as my 6×12 panoramic camera. I don’t think that I did either of them justice. We are going to go hiking again this afternoon and are really looking forward to sunset tonight when we are going to photograph our secret stash of flowers that we located yesterday afternoon.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.