So here’s the deal. At PSW last week Sharon, Jake & I were just pounded, pounded with folks asking, begging really us to add an additional week to our Yellowstone Adv in 2011. We love Yellowstone, that’s not the issue, it’s that sun of a gun, time. Well, we got back in the office, broke out the calendar and started juggling.

The bottomline is we were able to add a 2nd week to our 2011 Yellowstone Adventure. We have 7 folks on the waiting list for 2011, you have been sent an email asking if you want to join in this 2nd week. We will be signing up folks first come so, once the world sees this, we have 5 open slots for as long as they last. With just one vehicle and our permit, the possibilities are limited by only one thing, time. We’re in the park before the sun rises and out by the glow of headlights. The party is limited to just five (with staff of 3). You spend your entire day with Moose (yeap, stuck in the same van with him) receiving one on one instruction for probably more time than you want. It is cold, it is white, it is long days and it is a lot of photography! The 2nd week dates are 14-18 Feb, 2011, price is $4295 (half down to reserve spot) and includes instruction, snow coach transport into the park and lunch. 760.924.8632

Photos captured by D3x, 24PC-E / 200-400VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

M&M Photo Tours just told me how many folks have already committed to our Int’l trips for 2011 and I’m blown away! Yeah, we’re going to see amazing critters like Chinstrap Penguins in Antarctica and amazing places Tsukiji Fish Market and Hiroshima in Japan and the Punakaiki – Fox Glacier in New Zealand but WOW! I will have new techniques, tricks and gear to share with ya that’s for sure and with this amazing support, I’ll also have a ton of gratitude to shower you with. There are a few spots still left for these trips. If you want to join in on the fun, give the folks at M&M a call. And those of you who already have, all I can say is I’m touched.

Japan, April 6-15, 2011

New Zealand Sept 21- Oct 01, 2011

Antarctica Dec 9-19, 2011

What M&M includes in the tour is amazing to me, it will be an amazing time. For more info or to get in on the few remaining spots, give M&M a call. We look forward to exploring the world with you!

We’ve got an opening in our Fall Adv. We’re sharing our home in the Eastern Sierra Oct 21-24, 2010. We’ll be doing a little traveling, a little shooting, a little dinning, a little ice cream, a little digital darkroom, a little UFO, maybe even a guest appearance by Big Foot and for sure, a lot of fun. Fall color is lookin promising for this fall with all the water we have promoting tons of green right now. The gorgeous granite isn’t going anywhere and the light in the fall, well, there just isn’t anything like it. We only take six folks, we’ll be based out of Mammoth Lakes the entire time but ranging out to photograph some of the splendor that makes the Eastside a beautiful place. In the spirit of Photoshop week, WRP has come up with a number of “give aways” to say thanks to folks. So if you grab this opening, Sharon has something special to put in your hands to say thanks. Want to join us, give Sharon a call at 760.924.8632, or find us at Photoshop World!

We’re sharing our home in the Eastern Sierra Oct 21-24, 2010. We’ll be doing a little traveling, a little shooting, a little dinning, a little ice cream, a little digital darkroom, a little UFO, maybe even a guest appearance by Big Foot and for sure, a lot of fun. Fall color is lookin promising for this fall with all the water we have promoting tons of green right now. The gorgeous granite isn’t going anywhere and the light in the fall, well, there just isn’t anything like it. We only take six folks, we’ll be based out of Mammoth Lakes the entire time but ranging out to photograph some of the splendor that makes the Eastside a beautiful place. Want to join us, give Sharon a call at 760.924.8632, today!

We’re sharing our home in the Eastern Sierra Oct 21-24, 2010. We’ll be doing a little traveling, a little shooting, a little dinning, a little ice cream, a little digital darkroom, a little UFO, maybe even a guest appearance by Big Foot and for sure, a lot of fun. Fall color is lookin promising for this fall with all the water we have promoting tons of green right now. The gorgeous granite isn’t going anywhere and the light in the fall, well, there just isn’t anything like it. We only take six folks, we’ll be based out of Mammoth Lakes the entire time but ranging out to photograph some of the splendor that makes the Eastside a beautiful place. Want to join us, give Sharon a call at 760.924.8632, today!

One of the important lesson the Eastern Sierra teaches anyone who cares to listen is take life slow. To simply enjoy even the smallest treasure makes the day all that much sweeter. Our last shoot at Rock Lake spoke this listen in volumes!

Didn’t have to wander any distance, barely walked far from the truck and the clouds and the light performed. We had a wonderful time with really great folks sharing our home here in the Eastern Sierra. I think we have a couple more B&W converts and definitely fans of this very unique of our wild heritage. Thanks gang for a great week, it ended with one helluva exclamation point!

Photos captured by D3x, 18AF on Lexar UDMA digital film

I told the group we were heading to one place but as soon as I saw the sky, I made a quick left and then a rapid stop. I grabbed my camera and ran up the hill. When you see here what I saw, you can see why there’s a bumper sticker saying We Stop for Photos!

It’s all about drama, landscape photography that is. This kind of sky screams drama so to make the image, you just need a somewhat interesting foreground. The more interesting the foreground, the more the drama pops in the photograph. The rocks are tan and they were surrounded by yellow flowers, a great foreground. In fact, just a little too good which is why I went B&W. If I hadn’t, the foreground might have gotten more attention visually when I want you looking at the drama in the sky. You’re the photographer, it’s always your choice where the viewer’s attention is going to go.

Photos captured by D3x, 18AF on Lexar UDMA digital film

After haunting the shoreline for sunrise, we headed up to the Ghost Forest. This grove of pines were killed in place by CO2 from our volcano. When you have great skies you really can’t make a bad photo here and this morning was that kind of situation.

What’s the key to making the images happen? First is finding the right clouds for the background. Next, find a design pattern in the trees that is interesting. Next is know that you can’t find the perfect pattern and that there will always be some trees you’ll need to remove in post from the photo. Lastly, a wide lens and the willingness to endure a stiff next the rest of the day. After that, just have fun wandering the forest for a couple of hours.

Photos captured by D3x, 18AF on Lexar UDMA digital film

Horseshoe Lake is one of the very few that man doesn’t mess with. It’s waters come and go on natures clock. Right now it’s just one giant mirror reflecting the incredible beauty of the Sierra crest.

There’s a really good reason John Muir called the Sierra the Range of Light. Just wait five minutes and it will change as you see here. Sometimes it gets better, sometimes it gets worse but it will change. Was it worth getting up oh dark thirty to greet the day? Hell ya!

Photos captured by D3x, 24PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

There are many, many ways to approach photographing Bodie. My approach this time was to have corrected buildings in B&W. The first obstacle most fret over are all the people that walk through your photo. There are two ways of dealing with this. The first is simply wait, most folks don’t stand at any one place for more than 30secs. The seconds is simply use Content-Aware fill in Photoshop. I used a combination of these two in these photos.

Next, I shot with the 24PC-E handheld. I seemed to have opened Pandora’s box by talking about these lenses so much, all I get are questions on how to use probably one of the simplest of photographic tools. We have a video being posted this week which will hopefully make this simple tool simple to use.

Lastly there is the B&W. What I did was create 1 image HDR and then take that Tif through ACR 6.2 for the B&W conversion. It’s really easy to do and as you can see, it creates pretty dramatic results. But the key to all of this is the one thing we have zero control over, and that’s the clouds. They make the whole image happen. Without them, all the rest is just talk.