Saturday, November 30, 2013

Inside a volcano

Inside a Volcano, Thrihnukagigur, Iceland

There are about 1,500 volcanoes on land — and even more underwater — but only one that you can truly climb inside.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

You don't see northern lights like these

Northern Lights, Lake Mývatn, Iceland

I’ve seen the northern lights a number of times in the North Cascades of Washington state, but when I was presented with an opportunity to see them near the Arctic Circle, I knew I had to take advantage of it.

Monday, September 30, 2013

Pools of gold

Pools of Gold, Iceland

It’s impossible for me to pick a favorite part of Iceland, so I’m not even going to try. I’ve probably been to Geysir, however, more than any other part.

A note about this blog

After much thought, instead of scrapping this blog entirely, I’ve decided to change its focus.

From time to time, I’m going to post some of my favorite fine-art images and talk about what they mean to me. I'm going to try to post one a month, similar to my former schedule. I will start later today with an image from Iceland, which helped reignite my passion for photography.

Please let me know what you think of this new format.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

If you like it, support it

Bald Eagle Flying Away

“Tony's restaurant is closed? I loved that place. I hadn't been there in a while, but their food was amazing.”

Ever said something like that? I'm guilty, too. This post is about how “Tony” must have felt.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Letting nature tell its own story

Bald Eagle: Juveniles Playing Catch

It has never been easier for a nature photographer to create an image that they imagined in their head. No Photoshop required.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Long and short on teleconverters

Bald Eagle: Adult Feeding Juvenile

When you're a wildlife photographer working in a public park, the equipment you use undoubtedly draws attention. This summer, I've been documenting the development of a pair of young bald eagles. To get the images I need without disturbing the birds, I've been using a 600mm lens – a 13-pound monster of a lens that has a front element only slightly smaller than a dinner plate.

A small number of people come up and ask me questions about the birds. Many, many more grill me about my equipment. The vast majority say something like, "I bet you can see every nose hair with that." I cannot. In terms of magnification, the lens falls in between a pair of binoculars and a birder's spotting scope. The lens is physically big because it lets a lot of light in allowing me to capture action images at high resolution.

It's the second most common question that I'm going to address in this blog post. It comes from amateur photographers who want to know about my use of a teleconverter with this lens.

Friday, May 31, 2013

Nesting season is for the birds

Barred Owls: Mother and Owlet

All birds lay eggs, but where they care for them and how their young develop can be remarkably different from species to species. This spring, I've been watching several families of birds.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Adobe Creative Cloud and greedy sports teams

Adobe and I go way back. I don't remember the first copy of Photoshop I bought, but it was in the early `90s. I want to say it was version 4.0. And I've been buying its design program, InDesign, since way back when it was known as Aldus Pagemaker. For the past three upgrade cycles, I've bought licenses to Adobe's Master Collection, essentially licenses to every design application it makes. Before that, I often upgraded to its Design Collection.

So, like most everyone else on the Internet it seems, I was furious when Adobe announced this week that it will no longer let you buy its products. Now, with the Adobe Creative Cloud, you can only rent them.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Lions, tigers and manual exposure

Secondary Falls at Snoqualmie Falls, Washington

There is something that strikes fear straight into the heart of most photographers and it's not a close encounter with a wild bear or a dangerous cliff. It's the manual exposure mode of their cameras.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

One scene, infinite possibilities

I've always been a little envious of painters. If you're trying to capture a scene and the clouds aren't quite right, a painter can just make them right. Photographers have to make do with what nature provides — at least at that moment. As one grows as a nature photographer, however, the act of creating an image becomes more like creating a painting. And I'm not talking about the use of Photoshop.

Photography does involve being in the right place at the right time, but that doesn't mean it's always entirely left up to chance.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Desensitized to nature

I was standing at Tunnel View in Yosemite National Park recently, sharing the popular overlook with a couple dozen photographers. It's one of the most popular viewpoints in any national park. From this one point you can see several iconic granite peaks as well as Bridalveil Fall. If there's any one scene that says, "Yosemite," this is it.

But the sky was clear. The lighting was not dramatic.

"Let's go," a photo tour leader barked to his students, wanting to retreat to the lodge for hot coffee. "I have many pictures from this spot that are much better. You could get this picture any day." He ambled to his car and honked the horn at his students who were still snapping pictures.

He was right. But he's also wrong.

Thursday, January 31, 2013

You get what you get

The image at the top of this post was supposed to be of a large flock of snow geese and Mount Baker. Instead, it's of a large flock of western sandpipers and Mount Rainier. And that's perfectly fine with me.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Best images of 2012

While it is a new year, I do want to take a moment to reflect back on 2012. Compiling a few of my favorite images from the past year has become an annual affair. This task isn’t easy. Artists generally aren’t all that good at editing their own work. Boiling an entire year down to 10 images can seem like an impossible task.

But it can also help you look at your work in new ways. The passage of time has helped me evaluate some of my images with new eyes, freeing me from some of the emotional attachment to the image at the time of capture. That, in turn, helps me figure out what I like — and don’t like — about the work I’ve been producing, helping me to grow and set a direction for the new year.

In no particular order, here are a few of my favorite images from 2012: