Jul 20, 2012 | Landscape Photography
This is our FAVORITE time to be home in the Sierra. That’s because all the babies are out and right now, the yard is busting open with kids! We’ve got our biggest crop of Stellar Jays ever I swear. When someone calls the office, they all comment on all the background noise caused by these kids. The Evening Grosbeaks fledglings are the most ever as well. And now the Hummers have shown up in force. What we’re not seeing are the chipmunk and squirrel kids, we’ve not seen a one. And of course, we have that Black Bear cubs like you see here. We have one that I swear as learned that just walking up and down the road gets all the neighborhood dogs upset. It does it all the time to a chorus of barking. The D4 with 300f4AFS is always out and left on because of all the activity. I get lost of exercise because every 10 minutes I’m up looking out all the windows to see what’s up. And the 600mm is on a tripod with the D800 looking out ground level waiting for the baby chipmunks to appear. It’s simply a great time to be home shooting in the backyard!
Jul 20, 2012 | Landscape Photography
“When are you taking folks to Yellowstone again?” This is a real common question that we get asked. It is definitely one of the most gorgeous locations on the planet in winter! But for me, it’s got to be winter to make it worth while going. What do I mean by that? For me, Yellowstone is great in winter when it’s -10 or colder. When it’s warmer then that like during our last trip in 2011 when the average temp was 19, lots of things just don’t happen. For example, the Bison don’t have half of Yellowstone stuck on their fur like you see here. The trees don’t have the hoar frost and steam frozen on them. There’s not much snow so the critters can spread out over the park rather then having to be gathered around the springs for warmth and open ground to forage. I don’t think this coming winter will have enough -10 or colder days to predict what days it will have to be in place to get the shots. So it’s going to be at least another year before we take folks back to Yellowstone in the winter. We do miss it so!
Jul 16, 2012 | Aviation, B&W Photography, Landscape Photography, Random Thoughts
If you do, then run! Run to find a great foreground and subject to put with them. Clouds have the magic to transform the common into uncommon just by their very being. The key is to place your subject in the clouds but not letting the clouds overcome the subject. You want to use the clouds to give the imagination to roam and then bring the mind’s eye back down to the subject. This requires not only a great shape but also highlights and shadows that move the eye through the frame. In this process, you might have to use a split grad and the point of capture and Curves in post to manipulate those highlights and shadows. But if you have clouds, you have photographic gold!
Jul 13, 2012 | Landscape Photography
Like most of the US, it’s hot here in Mammoth the last couple of days, it’s hit 84 (I know that’s not really hot). I don’t like hot, I really don’t! Sharon and I went and say our good friends in KS and that was hot. Then we went to Phoenix for a project and it was 111, but as CNN published today, these are by no means records.
The world’s highest recorded air temperatures
1. El Azizia, Libya (136 degrees Fahrenheit)
2. Death Valley, California (134)
3. Ghadames, Libya (131)
3. Kebili, Tunisia (131)
5. Timbuktu, Mali (130)
5. Araouane, Mali (130)
7. Tirat Tsvi, Israel (129)
8. Ahwaz, Iran (128)
8. Agha Jari, Iran (128)
10. Wadi Halfa, Sudan (127)
A bigger issue though is not the heat wave but drought which has a grip on much of the country.
If you’re a wildlife photographer, this is something you can take advantage of while doing critters a favor. Water features not only help critters get through the heat, but is a free way you can attract critters to come right up to you lens. Think about light, background and approach and build your pool today. You’ll soon have friends. It’s a great weekend project.
Jul 12, 2012 | Landscape Photography
“Have you ever been to Bodie?” The calls and emails have been coming in since my bud RC posted some of his images from his recent trip there with Bill Fortney’s workshop. Since we live not too far from the State Park, it’s a reasonable question. Until you head to Photography > The Bodie Series tag above and you see I have. I even wrote a book about the town (never published) and ran a workshop there for years in the early 90’s. But my relationship with the town goes back to 1900.
No, I’m not that old but at times you wouldn’t know it. My grandfather’s cousin was the superintendent at the Standard Mine from 1900-1902 which is why my family first started to come to the Eastside. My mom came to Bodie when she was a little girl when the town was still a inhabited town. So I grew up visiting Bodie before and after it became a state park to the present day. Back in the early ’90s when doing the workshop in Bodie, I was very fortunate to meet some of the surviving citizens of early day Bodie like the Bells. It’s not a real stretch saying Bodie is in the blood.
Naturally, photographers are interested in Bodie as a subject and for good reason. It’s a great subject even if you’re only seeing 15% of the town. The rest has been lost to fire and time. When it comes to photographing Bodie, my favorite time is in August when the summer thunderheads dominant the sky and in October when the light is spectacular no matter the skies. One of the photographic problems about Bodie is it is a state park so there are operational hours which aren’t really photographer friendly. Are there ways around this? Also, once in Bodie you can’t help but look inside the windows to an era gone by.
I’ve not ventured into a building in Bodie since I had keys to the town back in the early ’90s. To say things have changed is a vast understatement! I’ve been told but do not know for fact but you can pay a fee, in the hundreds of dollars and gain access to the town and interiors. The question many pose of me is, “Is it worth it?” Having a personal history with the town, to me I never turn down an opportunity to visit it. As a photographer, I don’t have the same response. When the end game is to capture a gorgeous images, Bodie is like any location where timing is everything. Light is great and there is no finer place then Bodie. When it comes to interiors, I simply don’t have a ying or yang to provide you. Back in the day, I spent all my time in the interiors shooting with scrims on the windows and a little flash fill. I’m told you can’t do that anymore which just leaves HDR to make the most of the light. You look at my parents photos of the interiors and than mine of the 90’s and than now and it’s changed a lot! I love Bodie and if you have the opportunity to visit it with your camera, do so! Just keep in mind it’s like any location, light is everything. And yes, there are ghosts in this living ghost town!
Jul 11, 2012 | Landscape Photography
“Moose, do you ever let your hair down with HDR?” This is an email I received yesterday and I’m not really sure how to take it. The fact I don’t practice what I call “Elvis on Velvet” HDR only means, it’s just not my schtick. In my own mind, it’s no different than I don’t do macro. Just not what I do. So I decided to go out tonight and “let my hair down” and see if I could visualize and then produce a crazy HDR photo. Ya…I could take 5 frames, no problem. Ya, I saw some colors I thought I could exploit easily in Nik’s HDR Efex Pro 2. With the D4 and 24-85VR and Nik, the process was pretty darn simple actually. And the final photo? Well, it kinda has the feel I was thinking about but my issue is, I was there taking the photo and swatting the mosquitoes and this is simply not what I saw or felt. And I guess that’s why I don’t let me hair down and do this style of HDR. I am not saying I think it’s wrong or awful or anything like that. Just that it’s not my thing and like macro photography, I don’t do it well and have no desire to do it better. So now it’s time to put my hair back up.
