Eastern Sierra Adv day3am

The tires hit the hwy at 03:30. For two hours we drive east and downhill, a shooting star lighting up the sky in the beginning but slowly, the stars disappear. The air coming through the vents gets warmer and warmer, the truck get buffeted by more and more wind. On we travel, the sunrise calling us further and further east.

Before the sun can kiss the sky, we’re in the parking lot and walking up the path. We’re at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley NP and on the right morning, a very magical place. We lucked out because the clouds worked their magic because otherwise a desert with bald skies is, well, as my assistant would say, blech!

The clouds were just too magical for any lens other than the 16Fish at one point. They wrapped the heavens and the earth is a bow that was for that moment, truly special.

Photos captured by D3x, 24PC-E / 16Fish on Lexar UDMA digital film

Eastern Sierra Adv day2pm

When we park at the old rail warehouse and I gather the folks, there is a uniform look on their faces saying “WTF?” It happens every time with every group. This comes in part because many don’t understand how I go about “landscape” photography. It also comes in part because Keeler at first glance is anything but a photographic heaven. But once you let Keeler in….

You wouldn’t know it by the looks of the town now, but it was once the place where tons of gold was shipped and society was in full swing. The warehouse now stands quiet, time is its only visitor. That and us when I bring a group to town.

I don’t know what it is about these old TVs but they suck me in every time. I approached them differently this time and finished them differently and like these results but I know there is more here. I’ll be back.

The Shadows take over Keeler as the sun slips behind the Sierra fifty miles away. This is a another stop I wish I had tagged along with Fausto because he made images I’ve never seen come from this town. Stephanie headed out and made a couple of real sweet images as well, one with my 24PC-E that she borrowed from my bag. I can see that being an expensive loan in the time to come

It was near the end of the day when the group meet up with one of Keeler’s residents and they found the treasure that is Keeler that the goal of the afternoon was meet and a window into what I think landscape photography is all about that we found Keeler’s true gold. While I didn’t make the best images of the afternoon, I was rewarded just as much as the rest of the group with a simple stop at a simple place!

Photos captured by D3x, 24/45/85PCE on Lexar UDMA digital film

Eastern Sierra Adv day2am-2

Good thing the sun came up, it was my only possibility for redemption for the morning. Seriously, to blow such a killer opportunity, I loose sleep over those. Well, the sun came up and that great, killer skies for star trails became ouch for sun.

It is no wonder that one of the first shapes I saw in the rocks of Alabama Hills was that of an ass! Now to get the shot I needed the 16Fish to get the shape. To use that lens to get the shape, I had to be in the photo. That kinda took away from it all. Having CS5 and knowing what Content-Aware fill can do, I simple put the camera on Interval Timer, stepped out of the frame, had the camera take some clicks and then a quick finish in post. You can’t see the camera or tripod or where Content-Aware made them go away. Damn, freakin cool!

Not really moving too far, I came across this nose. Now I wanted to do a little HDR because it brings out some of the cool color in the rocks. CS5 does have a new HDR engine which does a good job but it’s too many steps for impatient me so I still prefer Photomatix Pro which I used here. Matt does a great job explaining CS5 HDR basics here so check it out.

And then back to plain and simple. I like plain and simple of after this morning, I could handle plain and simple. The finishing again was all done in CS5 using the technique Stephanie & I taught at Photoshop World, no pluggins, all CS5. Ah, this morning is over with, time to go lick my wounds and learn from my mistakes.

Photos captured by D3x, 16Fish / 45PC-E on Lexar UDMA digital film

Eastern Sierra Adv day2am

I have certain personal rules, routines, that when I break them I always end up shooting myself in the foot. This start of our second day of the Adventure is textbook screw up! We were heading to the Hills for star trails. The skies were perfect, perfect, freakin perfect for creating gorgeous images.

When I’m on the road creating trails, I always leave the room with the gear all set to go, I just have to put on a tripod, point and shoot. Well this time I didn’t go all set up and I paid the price. Here’s a gorgeous shot and it’s soft. Damn! It’s soft because I didn’t open my eyes and notice that the 24f1.4 focuses past infinity. I just focused over until the lens stopped and went happy on to help others. Clicks later, yuck!

OK, so I come to the party and get the lens focused at infinity, cool. Then I realize my MC-36 which I had lent out a while back wasn’t firing correctly. So in the dark I took it apart to see the battery compartment was corroded. So while trying to make star trails, I’m pulling on the MC-36 connected to the camera. Yikes, not doing so well.

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Then, just when I think I’m making progress, I realize I’m shooting with the D3x when I meant to grab the D3s! Holly crap, could I have toasted a killer opp better, if I tried? Why did I want the D3s? I want to shoot 4-8sec exposures and to do that, I need the D3s’s higher ISO quality. So while I got what I wanted in the viewfinder, the Milky Way cloud, it’s not sharp.The only saving grace is the fact that this is my backyard. With skies cooperating, I’ll be out again tonight perfecting my technique.

Photos captured by D3x, 24f1.4AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

Eastern Sierra Adv – July ’10

WRP is offering the next in our incredibly successful Eastern Sierra Adventure 8-11 July, 2010. We’ll be based the entire time out of Mammoth Lakes and working what I think will be a spectacular spring. Spring in July? We’ll be starting at 8000′ and working our way up to 11,000 during the week, spring comes a little later at those heights and I think, just a little sweeter. Yeah, we’ll do some wildflowers and some lakes, some rocks, a mountain or two and a mine. Jake will be co-leading and Stephanie will most definitely be assisting the digital darkroom sessions. The price is $1195 which includes instruction only and is limited to 6 participants. Give the office a call at 760.924.8632 if you want to make fantastic photos in rarefied air!

Eastern Sierra Adv – July '10

WRP is offering the next in our incredibly successful Eastern Sierra Adventure 8-11 July, 2010. We’ll be based the entire time out of Mammoth Lakes and working what I think will be a spectacular spring. Spring in July? We’ll be starting at 8000′ and working our way up to 11,000 during the week, spring comes a little later at those heights and I think, just a little sweeter. Yeah, we’ll do some wildflowers and some lakes, some rocks, a mountain or two and a mine. Jake will be co-leading and Stephanie will most definitely be assisting the digital darkroom sessions. The price is $1195 which includes instruction only and is limited to 6 participants. Give the office a call at 760.924.8632 if you want to make fantastic photos in rarefied air!

The Thought Just Popped In

It’s Friday morning and we’re cruising for bull. No, not for me…Bison Bull and in particular one called Crusty. We had a good snowfall and the air temp was just hovering around double digits so there was a possibility of finding him. We headed to the one place where there are always bulls, Gibbon Meadow (and we were told the Canyon Pack from the day before were heading that way). We made the turn in the road and….nothing! We had some nice hoar frost so we worked it and then kept heading down the road. We made the turn in the road and off in the falling snow is Crusty so we slammed on the brakes and started to walk.

We ended up walking a couple of hundred of yards in the snow to get the cleanest background possible while staying on a rise to shoot down a little and stay out of the grasses. It’s snowing and the light is kinda flat. I’m shooting along and not really thrilled with the results, the flat light just grayed out the bull and that made the snow less white. Then the thought just popped into my head.

What if I switched the Picture Control from Standard to Vivid? Would its tonal curve pump up the contrast even though there isn’t really any vivid color to bend? I checked my results on the camera’s LCD which I totally don’t trust so I asked Tom & Jim to try the same and tell me what they saw. This is what we all saw.

Yeap, just a little pump in the contrast which makes all the difference in the world to the photograph. Keep in mind I am a fanatic about getting it right in the camera. I wouldn’t even go so far as to pump up the contrast in post when it comes to my wildlife images so I really like this in camera solution. The top & bottom images shot on Vivid, middle photo on Standard, WB=Cloudy, Exp Comp=0.

Photos captured by D3s, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film

If Only…

It doesn’t help my photography one bit, but I like to collect stats on things that occur during the business day, week, year and decade because, well, I just love trivia. I don’t count how many paperclips we use at WRP (which, with the advent of digital we hardly use them anymore) but I do count how many times certain questions are asked. I’ve written and spoken many times that the #2 email question I receive is, “What is the best f/stop?” With that trivia thrown out there, I’ve never been asked what’s the number one question. Looking over the stats for 2009, I was surprised that one question had eked its way up into the #10 spot.

“If you only had one lens to use, what would it be?” Now you might think this question is a sign of the times, budgets are thin, or a photographer just starting out, trying to make the most of the dollar they have. But I’ve been asked this question since 1991 when the 1^st edition of Nikon System Handbook was released. What always gets me is, typically folks preface the if only question with, “I just read over the contents of your camera bag” which to me kinda indicates that I feel that I need more than one lens for my photography. Of course when I point this out, that I have many lenses, each one filling a particular notch in my visual quest, they still repeat the if only question.

This leads me to a much bigger question and one much more important to photography then my stats. Why do photographers tend to limit themselves? Doesn’t life do that enough without our seeking such limits? My 600VR, my baby, went in for its annual check-up in December. That was the longest 8 days when it wasn’t sitting next to me at my desk. Birds were coming in but I couldn’t do a thing without the 600mm. At least that was my first reaction. I had two choices, not take any photographs or, push the imagination and try some other lens on some other subject. You’d think at first that the only lens I did own was the 600mm during those 8 days by my mobbing but it was quite obvious very quickly the only limitation was my imagination and not my lens selection.

“If you could only go one place this year to shoot, where would you go?” Another if only question I receive (doesn’t make the countdown) also seems to be a self-defeating question. I am incredibly fortunate and I will go to many places this year, all places I want to go to. With that said, just because I want to go to them and plan to go to them, will they produce great images just because I’m there? About half the time, no, I’ll get skunked and that’s with all my contacts and expertise. If only it weren’t so bloody hot here in Yellowstone where I am right now I could make some incredible images (it’s +40 hotter than normal). But it is that hot and it’s still Yellowstone, and as my good friend just said so well, wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now. I understand folks have vacations they want to plan and often they are shooting vacations. But why limit yourself to some place I might want to go. Hell, I spend time in smelly sumps in Bakersfield for fun, you sure you want to follow me?

If only it was our imaginations we were pushing and not the gear. If only great light were present every time we ventured out with our lens. If only the critters would come to play on our schedule and not theirs. If only there weren’t clocks and rules and work and all that horrible stuff that comes to us on the news. If only…

There is no one magical lens, no one magical body, no one magical Photoshop trick or magical computer. There is no one right photographic teacher. What is magical is the spirit in each and every photographer to take the sensory input they receive and turn it into a photograph that can grab the world. There’s no if only in this, it is a limitless “if”, if the imagination and heart are permitted to do what they do best. Wander! You need a bag of gear (I don’t want any calls from spouses from that one), a calendar of time and an area the size of the planet to fill that wandering. And when you start on that quest, then you’ll know firsthand that there is no “if only”. As soon as you put your right foot in front of your left foot, you’ll have the answer and the best part is, you’ll have the answer for yourself. Sheyrl Crow sings it best and what I remind myself daily. “It’s not having what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve got”

Oh, and what’s the #1 question I get asked? What’s the B. in my name stand for? My answer is one that was provided me in a phone call we received once. An elderly lady called and asked if the B. stood for Bull. I like that answer!

Yellowstone Adv – Wolves!

This was one of those magical days in a career you know will come if you put your time in. So you drag your butt out day after day long before sunrise is even a hint on the horizon just waiting for it. We made the bend in the road at Seven Mile Bridge when Steve says, “Is that a Wolf?” There, beside us is a Gray Wolf pulling on an elk carcass. Could have grabbed its tail by reaching out the door! It’s just after 7AM, the sun won’t rise for another 30min but it won’t help, it’s snowing. No matter, even with the worst possible light we stop and get out cautiously.

It was a no win situation from the get go. A moving subject in no light on white snow. There was no way to make the great image or even making any real image so with nothing to loose, I advised cranking up the ISO so that this rare opportunity could be captured at least for their memories to reflect on later in time. I grabbed the D3s, attached the 200-400VR and slipped out. I made the handheld shot at 1/30 at f/4. It will never make it on the wall or in a magazine but it is forever embedded in my heart!

Shooting in no light with the subject under a tree making things worse with an high ISO that you knew would produce noise because of the light, I made the decision for myself to ditch stills and go to video. A reason for having video in our DSLR. This plan had long sunk into my shooting as a possible option before this moment so it only required a push of the LV button to put into action. I am so glad I did, see why.

This video was shot at ISO6400 and while it will never win an Academy Award for technical excellence, it was more than acceptable to the wolf biologist Jesse who came by after our encounter. He had been tracking the Canyon Pack with telemetry and with the video playback, could confirm it was that pack and with that, an exchange on information occurred. I like Jesse, smart kid and I’m sure he’ll have a long career in wildlife management. We talked biology, he provided great insight into the pack which help be decide to spend the whole day on the kill and even cameback to tell us of a Bobcat up ahead (stuck with the carcass, blew off bob). I just love biologists!

What an amazingly spectacular day, one that is one of the great rewards of this profession. To see such a wonder as wild wolves, being able to share it with photographers wanting to improve their wildlife photography and coming back with a couple of snaps too, what a gift!

Photos captured by D3s, 200-400VR / 50f1.4AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

Yellowstone Adv – Bighorn Sheep 101

It was simply a marvelous day! Simply put, we took the group to a part of the Yellowstone ecosystem that few others ever explore and learn about. After a great morning we ended up with one of my favorite species, Rocky Mtn Bighorn Sheep. For the majority of the group, it was the first time they had ever seen a Bighorn let alone photograph them so it was a learning experience all the way around!

Here’s one of the afternoon rams, pretty sweet example of a ram if you ask me. The light is nice, not perfect but a good start. The background though is a little busy with the head, tan in color, blending in with the background which is a pretty similar shade of brown. So first thing we need to do is improve the background.

OK, while we can fine tune the background a little by our moving, most of it has to be done by the sheep’s moving which means putting in your time and waiting for the right moment. So the ram moved into a little nicer light and with a little better background but we can do better by just waiting a little longer.

The subtle change in the head, the gesture, makes all the difference to making a better image. This takes not only waiting but knowing that better can come and that the better is a simple head gesture.

But making the shot I love the best from the afternoon required waiting four hours, for the light to go almost flat and improve the angle of the camera to the ram. I just don’t like the warmth the afternoon light brings. I don’t like shooting straight on the ram, rather shoot up slope a little and like the biology than the portrait. These are the basics for sheep photography. FWIW…all images shot wide open at f/6.7.

Photos captured by D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film

Yellowstone Adv – The Skies Open Up

After a picnic lunch at one of the best spots on the planet to have a picnic, we headed back down the road. We came around the corner when the skies opened up. It wasn’t for long, but long enough to make some really gorgeous clicks of a gorgeous winter landscape.

Now with the one frame success from the previous day with this new processing thought, I had to play with it more today. I found some images that didn’t work so well. I found a couple others that I was kind of impressed by. This is one of them. Above is the after, below is the before.

The extra drama in the clouds is what I’m liken and what I’ll keep focusing in on. Those who follow me on Twitter got this additional hints tonight: 1 camera, 1 lens, 1 click, no in camera or software filters and handheld. More to come

Photo captured by D3s, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

Yellowstone Adv – Bison Found but not Perfected

This might sound really weird and contrary to common belief, but Bison in Yellowstone, those massive, historic herds have just not been around for the past month. The popular theory is the warm winter has left open meadows higher up so the Bison have had no need to move down to the thermals to graze. Not that the 3″ of snow received today was any great dump, but we finally found some Bison to work.

Just after the sun rose (but still hidden in the snow storm), we found some lone bulls and with the knowledge of the day before, we parked, waited and worked them while we could. Nowhere near great stuff, it was good lessons in Bison biology (two main traits, food goes in, crap comes out). When this bull moved out of range, we wiggled down the road. A while later we were in Hayden Valley and there we found the herds that they day before weren’t present.

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Both of these photos demonstrate the one aspect of Bison in winter I’m lookin for, that crusted snow on the face. Neither one of these photos (bull top, cow bottom) is the final image I’m looking for but it’s a good start. We’ll keep working the herds in hopes of making that one clean, snow crusted face shot.

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And then there is this shot. You might be thinking this should have the cut line of “The End” but that’s not actually what I was seeing. The symmetry of this pregnant cow just caught my attention. True, it’s an ass that only a bull could love but I found it photographically pleasing. And I’m going to leave that and that!

Photos captured by D3s / D3x, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDMA digital film

Yellowstone Adv – Old Friend

In all my years visiting Yellowstone, one place that always draws me back and so I’ve shot the bejiggers out of it is Midway Geyser Basin (home of Grand Prismatic). I’ve shot this place every way you can imagine and yet, I’ve still not scratched all the locale has to offer.

One aspect of the basin that is always in flux is the steam. It comes and goes, it blows all directions of the compass and can be lit in just as many ways. Because of this huge variable you can never take anything for granted, assume that just because you’ve shot it before it’s not going to be worth shooting again. Excelsior Geyser is the case in point, I have thousands of images of it yet today, I found one more to add to the files. I really like the paradox of ice right next to 180 degree water and steam. Camera set to Cloudy, Exp Comp set to 0, click! I love the photo.

This is the first time I’ve had a 16Fish always in my pocket so I put it to use at the basin. I really loved what was streaming through the viewfinder, it was a totally new way for me to photograph it. The light was perfect. Life is good!

Photos captured by D3s, 24-70AFS / 16Fish on Lexar UDMA digital film

Yellowstone Adv – Yeah, Where's the Snow?

Have you ever seen that photo of a Coyote frozen in mid air as it pounces on a mouse under the snow? Well right now in Yellowstone if a Coyote tried that, its nose would be smashed back into its head. There is no snow here for all tense and purposes! This Coyote demonstrates the hunting style when there is no snow, cocking the head and licking.

With that said, we had a great day! No, not a Bison to photograph. No, the sun didn’t make an appearance. Yeah, it’s literally +50 degrees too warm but it still produced some really cool images. How? Simple, you push the envelope, you open your mind to new ideas and try a lens you would never thought of using before. Yeah, coming back to the lodge in the snowcoach I thought to myself I didn’t do so well today behind the camera. Total frame count for the day was only 287 but then I looked at my images and now I’m very excited to go out again tomorrow when the forecast is for more the same. It’s going to be a great week, I just feel it!

Photo captured by D3s, 200-400VR (handheld) on Lexar UDMA digital film

Yellowstone Adv – Yeah, Where’s the Snow?

Have you ever seen that photo of a Coyote frozen in mid air as it pounces on a mouse under the snow? Well right now in Yellowstone if a Coyote tried that, its nose would be smashed back into its head. There is no snow here for all tense and purposes! This Coyote demonstrates the hunting style when there is no snow, cocking the head and licking.

With that said, we had a great day! No, not a Bison to photograph. No, the sun didn’t make an appearance. Yeah, it’s literally +50 degrees too warm but it still produced some really cool images. How? Simple, you push the envelope, you open your mind to new ideas and try a lens you would never thought of using before. Yeah, coming back to the lodge in the snowcoach I thought to myself I didn’t do so well today behind the camera. Total frame count for the day was only 287 but then I looked at my images and now I’m very excited to go out again tomorrow when the forecast is for more the same. It’s going to be a great week, I just feel it!

Photo captured by D3s, 200-400VR (handheld) on Lexar UDMA digital film

Yellowstone Adventure 2011

Oh man, yeah, we’re hooked bad! Yellowstone is just so gorgeous and we love sharing our long time love affair with this park with others. So we’re goming back in 2011 to offer a five day Yellowstone Adventure. Based out of West Yellowstone, we go into the park and surrounding area each day with one goal, shoot! Wildlife and wilderness are our subjects as we travel in the luxury of a snow coach throughout the park.

This is just a small sampling of the photographic possibilities. 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 dates are  07-11 Feb 1st week, 14-18 2nd week, 2011, price is $4295 (half down to reserve spot) and includes instruction, snow coach transport into the park and lunch. This year’s trip (which starts in a couple of days) sold out in a couple of hours so don’t think about it too long. 760.924.8632

Photos captured by D3x, 200-400VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

The Fish & The Rock

Our time shooting together just flew by! We were already at our last shoot and as you can see, and clouds finally floated in. We went back to the Alabama Hills for a number of reasons. The biggest being that it’s a totally different place in the evening. I took the guys to a place I really like for sunset, obviously I’d been there before so the challenge for me was to do something new.

Pretty quickly I latched on to this rock. I had the 16Fish attached and the combination of the lens and the rock’s shape intrigued me. I shot it and one of the first problems was the exposure on the left over the Sierra. It was blown out and no matter what I tried, I couldn’t pull it. So I ended up doing a 7exp HDR. I’m very happy with the results.

I then turned the corner and looked at the same rock with the 16Fish and saw another shape and photo, even though it was the same rock. With the turn I was no longer getting the blown out clouds over the Sierra so this was a simple, single click.

Then, being really quick on the draw, I wondered what would happen if I continued on the same path. You see what I got. It’s kinda cool it appears to be three different boulders when it’s all the same. Then to finish off the series, I went to the complete other side and did a landscape covering the boulder and the world around it.

Sharon & I want to thank John, Adam, Ray, Patrick, Rick and Russ for permitting us to share a little bit of our backyard and bring to life for them an unique part of our wild heritage!

Photos captured by D3x, 16Fish on Lexar UDMA digital film

The Fish & The Rock

Our time shooting together just flew by! We were already at our last shoot and as you can see, and clouds finally floated in. We went back to the Alabama Hills for a number of reasons. The biggest being that it’s a totally different place in the evening. I took the guys to a place I really like for sunset, obviously I’d been there before so the challenge for me was to do something new.

Pretty quickly I latched on to this rock. I had the 16Fish attached and the combination of the lens and the rock’s shape intrigued me. I shot it and one of the first problems was the exposure on the left over the Sierra. It was blown out and no matter what I tried, I couldn’t pull it. So I ended up doing a 7exp HDR. I’m very happy with the results.

I then turned the corner and looked at the same rock with the 16Fish and saw another shape and photo, even though it was the same rock. With the turn I was no longer getting the blown out clouds over the Sierra so this was a simple, single click.

Then, being really quick on the draw, I wondered what would happen if I continued on the same path. You see what I got. It’s kinda cool it appears to be three different boulders when it’s all the same. Then to finish off the series, I went to the complete other side and did a landscape covering the boulder and the world around it.

Sharon & I want to thank John, Adam, Ray, Patrick, Rick and Russ for permitting us to share a little bit of our backyard and bring to life for them an unique part of our wild heritage!

Photos captured by D3x, 16Fish on Lexar UDMA digital film

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