Tag: Landscape

Mauna Kea Snow Sunset 4

Mauna Kea Snow Sunset 4

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I finally had the opportunity to photograph snow on the summit of Mauna Kea during my February visit to the Big Island of Hawaii. After over a decade of trying, it was nice to finally be able to experience being at the beach in the morning and then driving up to the snowy summit in the afternoon. I’ve visited the summit during previous trips. It is a straightforward drive, but getting out of the car and walking around at 13,796′ above sea level is the real challenge. From the highest drivable point, it is only a few hundred yards and slightly up hill to the true summit. I put on every piece of clothing that I brought to Hawaii, including, thankfully, my winter hat and set out from the parking lot about an hour before sunset. Each step in the snow was a challenge, but after a short time I was on the summit. I was immediately drawn to this wind sculpted ridge slightly south along the summit ridge, especially since it did not appear to have any footprints. Once I settled into place with my tripod, I waited for the golden light less than an hour later. I got cold, especially my hands. I noticed the sunlight was causing some glare spots on my image, so I held my hand on the side of the lens to block the direct light. It’s amazing how quickly the sun sets at the equator. I created this image with my Canon 5DmkII, Carl Zeiss 28mm f2 ZE lens, and 3-stop Soft Graduated Neutral Density filter. This image is a single-exposure which required a minimal amount of processing using Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5.

Honokohau Sea Turtle Sunset 1

Honokohau Sea Turtle Sunset 1

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My favorite location to photograph sea turtles is at the Kaloko Honokohau National Historic Park on the Big Island of Hawaii. After a long day boating with my friends, I photographed this small sea turtle resting on the lava shoreline north of the small boat harbor at sunset. I was lucky that the sky lit up like this, because the vog and clouds often block the magic light at the end of the day in Kona. My friend and fellow photographer Stuart Westmorland was using a flash next to me, which fortunately added a bit of fill light to the otherwise backlit turtle. I normally dislike flash, but in this case the fill-light is perfectly balanced with the ambient light. I might have to buy myself a flash. I created this image with my Canon 5DmkII, Carl Zeiss 35mm f2 ZE lens, and 3-stop Reverse Graduated Neutral Density filter. This image is a single-exposure which required a minimal amount of processing using Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5.

Outdoor Photographer April 2012 Discover Digital Quick Tips Article

Outdoor Photographer April 2012 Discover Digital Quick Tips Article

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I am excited to share that my “Discover Digital Quick Tips” article is published in the April 2012 issue of Outdoor Photographer! OP’s Editor gave me this opportunity after telling me that he always considers my images to be among the most authentic and beautiful that he regularly sees. In my article, I offer my advice on what my top processing techniques are and how photographers can use them to make their own images look spectacular. Please let me know if you enjoyed reading it and feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments below.

In other news, my regular readers, friends, fans, etc will probably have noted that I have not been online much in the last 2 months. I spent a wonderful, though, not super productive 3 weeks in Hawaii in February. I was barely home for a week before I flew down to Arizona to give 3 presentations about my Alaska photography at the Tucson, Paradise Valley, and Tempe REIs. (I will be at the San Diego, Portland, and Anchorage REIs in the coming month.) Last week, I moved my family into our gorgeous new house just south of Leschi. It is breathtaking to look out my windows anytime and see Lake Washington, the Cascades, and Mount Rainier. This week, I am finally settling into my new office which has its own separate entrance, new cork floors, furniture, and gallery track lighting. I have some large acrylic face-mounts being made by West Coast Imagining that will adorn my walls for when clients visit. Summer is also coming just around the corner. I have multiple trips planned to Alaska, plus my first trip to Tonga. This fall, I will also be joining a small sailboat expedition to South Georgia Island for 4 weeks. As you can see, I have a lot of exciting things going on and many new images to be created.

Hana Sunrise 1

Hana Sunrise 1

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Since I am flying back to Hawaii next week, I thought that I would share this image. I created it while visiting Hana with my family last month. This rugged lava coastline could be anywhere in Hawaii, but this location is near Kaihalulu (Red Sand) Beach. I was captivated by this small waterfall cascading off of the lava ledge, so I returned a few mornings in a row searching for dramatic light. After several failed attempts, I was finally able to photograph the dynamic scene that I had envisioned. I had to be set up early and confident in my skills, because this light only lasted for a fleeting moment before vanishing. I don’t normally like to shoot into the sun due to lens flare, but the sun was so low on the horizon that the wave actually blocked part of it. I also had to be willing to get my camera wet, which my recent $900 repair bill from Canon will attest to. I also like how the wave is rearing up and about to crash against the shore. I created this image with my Canon 5DmkII, Carl Zeiss 28mm f2 ZE lens, and 3-stop Reverse Graduated Neutral Density filter. This image is a single-exposure which required a minimal amount of processing using Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5.

Ofu Island Over Under 2

Ofu Island Over Under 2

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My regular readers have probably noticed that I have been on an extensive underwater photography binge in the last year. I’ve always said that I aspire to shoot mostly underwater subjects, and am happy that most of my 2012 trips will be at or below the surface. So sticking with that theme, here is another underwater image from my December trip to the National Park of American Samoa. I spent a week at the Vaoto Lodge on Ofu Island and had this idyllic beach setting all to myself each day. This is my favorite over-under image from all the time that I spent in the water. I really like how the coral rubble in the sandy bottom leads the viewer’s eye directly into the jagged peaks. I created this image with my Canon 5DmkII and 17-40mm f4 lens with a B+W +2 graduated neutral density filter inside my Aquatech 5DmkII housing with an Aquatech 8″ dome port. This image is a single-exposure which required a minimal amount of processing using Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5.

Hamoa Beach Shorebreak 1

Hamoa Beach Shorebreak 1

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Like most photographers, I like to challenge myself to create new images outside of my comfort zone. One of my favorite new shooting styles is photographing breaking shore waves. This style has been made popular in the last few years by Clark Little. I harbor no illusions that I am going to become as well known or specialized as Clark is at photographing waves, but I had a lot of fun trying during my recent visit to Hawaii.

I am fairly competent with an underwater camera housing, and I have done some boogie boarding during my lifetime, but it took a lot of dedication to fling myself into a breaking wave with my large housing in hand. I got thrown through the air and pummeled by waves more than you can imagine. My camera housing turned into a dangerous weapon during the out-of-control punishment inflicted by the larger and more photogenic waves. During one of my more memorable moments, I received a big gash to my right shoulder when my housing hit the bottom while I was cartwheeling through the water. I’m lucky that it did not hit my face. I shot several thousand terrible wave images that were almost immediately deleted. However, this fantastic wave breaking at Hamoa Beach near Hana is the most impressive from all my effort. I really like how I not only captured the breaking tube, but the wave momentarily looks like some type of prehistoric monster. I also like how I framed the entire composition in my normally recognizable wide-angle style. There is no doubt that I if I want to improve that I will need a camera that is capable of 10-12fps, rather than my 5DmkII’s inadequate 4fps. I also stressed myself out so much doing this, that I suffered 2 back-to-back migraine headaches. In spite of all the challenges, photographing waves is very addictive and I can not wait to do it again. I created this image with my Canon 5DmkII and 17-40mm f4 lens inside my Aquatech 5DmkII housing with a Aquatech LP-VWZ  flat port. This image is a single-exposure which required a minimal amount of processing using Aperture 3, but I had to clone out a few water spots that were on my flat port using Photoshop CS5.

Garden Of The Gods Sunset 1

Garden Of The Gods Sunset 1

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After spending 2 adventurous weeks in American Samoa at the beginning of December, I flew back to Hawaii to meet my family for our winter vacation. The first island that we visited was Lanai. I had camped at Manele Bay several years ago and had always wanted to return. It is a fantastic campground for anyone interested in visiting Lanai, but doesn’t feel up to spending the money to stay at the nearby Four Seasons resort. I spent most of my day relaxing at the beach, but set out to photograph the surreal landscape of the Garden of the Gods in the late afternoon. These unusual rock formations are located high in the center of the island down a winding 4wd road. This is one of my favorite images after several visits. Every afternoon, the clouds built up over the center of the island, but the horizon was mostly clear to the west. This weather combination allowed me to photograph this scene with dramatic light. I created this image with my Canon 5DmkII, Carl Zeiss 28mm f2 ZE lens, and 3-stop Hard Graduated Neutral Density filter. This image is a single-exposure which required a minimal amount of processing using Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5.

Ofu Island Coral Over Under 1

Ofu Island Coral Over Under 1

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I spent much of my visit to the US National Park of American Samoa on Ofu Island photographing over-underwater split images. This is one of my favorites. I like the coral reef with the refracted light dancing across the sandy bottom below with the dramatic scenery and clouds above. There are even a few tropical fish visible in the original, though, I doubt any of my readers will be able to see them at this resolution. Creating an image like this required a lot of trial and error. Waves were constantly washing over the front of my dome, so I had to remove the water drops with a hand towel which I kept underneath a ballcap on my head. I’m glad that I had the whole beach to myself as I must have looked like a dork, but it got the job done. It was also really hot. Most of the Samoans stayed in the shade during the hottest part of the day, but I was out there swimming with my camera under the intense sun getting thoroughly sunburned. But it was fun. I created this image with my Canon 5DmkII and 17-40mm f4 lens with a B+W +2 graduated neutral density filter inside my Aquatech 5DmkII housing with a Aquatech 8″ dome port. This image is a single-exposure which required a minimal amount of processing using Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5.

Ofu Island Sunset 5

Ofu Island Sunset 5

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Since I returned home last week, I have not had a lot of time to edit my new images, but this one is definitely worth sharing. I photographed this dramatic sunset while visiting the US National Park of American Samoa on Ofu Island last month. It took a lot of effort to travel this out-of-the-way tropical destination, which was part of the charm, but also explains why it is the least visited of the US National Parks. I stayed at the Vaoto Lodge where Jim, Ben, & Marge were delightful hosts. Other than the 2 researchers who were doing coral studies, I had the entire stretch of beach in the Park all to myself. I photographed a number of brilliant sunrise and sunsets, but this was the most spectacular. As much as I travel, it is still special when the clouds light up with intense color like this. I composed this image by framing the dramatic peaks in the distance with this eroded limestone shelf with waves washing over it in the foreground. I created this image with my Canon 5DmkII, Carl Zeiss 28mm f2 ZE lens, Singh-Ray LB Warming polarizer, and 3-stop Hard Graduated Neutral Density filter. This image is a single-exposure which required minimal processing using Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5.

Acrylic Face Mounts

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Etheridge Dentistry Print 1

I am incredibly excited to have 2 of my new acrylic face mount prints on permanent display at Etheridge Family Dentistry in Seattle, WA. The 35×50 Laguna de los Tres Sunrise 5 print above is from my trip to Patagonia last January and the 35×50 False Clownfish 23 image below is from my trip to Raja Ampat last March. They look absolutely stunning (even with Dr Ty standing in front of them). Both of these acrylic face mounts were created by West Coast Imaging. WCI offers several paper options. I chose the Epson premium glossy paper, because it most closely matched the colors of my own Epson printer. They are mounted directly to 1/4″ acrylic, backed with a white dibond backer, a metal hanging system is attached, and the edges are flame polished. I have not finalized my price list for these spectacular prints, but they will cost about 2 to 3 times the price of my current Museo silver rag prints. To celebrate the 2011 holiday season, I will offer these ready to hang prints at the introductory price of 2 times my current print prices. It takes about 3 weeks to create them, so all orders that are placed no later than next Friday December 2 will be guaranteed to arrive in time for Christmas.

Etheridge Dentistry Print 2