Nature Art Photography

New Blog Site

2008-02-24T01:35:00.001-06:00

We have switched our blog site from a google blogger site to a wordpress site hosted on our own servers.

visit our new blog at natureartphotography.com

Burrowing Owl

2008-02-14T22:29:00.003-06:00

Hooded Merganser

2008-02-14T10:40:00.005-06:00

Strange Egret Behavoir

2008-02-11T22:32:00.001-06:00

We had been photographing birds in a cypress strand in the Everglades for a few hours.

On one flight it almost seemed as if this egret flew so slowly that he stalled. Imagine looking through the viewfinder shooting flight shots and seeing this.

Enlarge the picture to see the sequence.

Western Everglades

2008-02-10T21:03:00.001-06:00

Fishing Buddies

2008-02-08T06:56:00.001-06:00

White Ibis and Snowy Egret

Sandpipers
Pelicans

Rare Black Skimmer

American Avocet

Reflections

2008-02-05T21:46:00.001-06:00

Angel Wings

2008-02-04T21:10:00.000-06:00

Images of Great White Egrets in pre-dawn light.

Artful Images

2008-02-04T08:03:00.000-06:00

It is easy to get caught up in the technology of digital imaging. The super sharp focus lens, high resolution images, many frames per second and other cool stuff can get in the way of why we love nature photography.

Nature photography is all about sharing a wonderful experience. We are continually learning ways to better share these experiences through image.

It was a beautiful morning at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The light, weather and wildlife was simply outstanding. I shot over 2000 images which will now have to be processed, developed, cropped and some will be printed.

Indian River Lagoon

2008-02-03T00:25:00.000-06:00

Viera Wetlands

2008-02-02T22:46:00.001-06:00

Merritt Island NWR

2008-02-01T21:06:00.000-06:00

Earthshot of the Day!

2008-01-15T22:30:00.000-06:00

One of my photographs of Richland Creek was selected as the Earthshots.org photo of the day competition for Today! Read the comments here.

Merry Christmas!!!

2007-12-25T21:49:00.000-06:00

Christmas around our house was a little different this year. The holidays are much more fun with a new grand baby in the family. This year we have been blessed with two.

Welcome Zoe and Jackson -- you light up our lives.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2008!

Arkansas Fall

2007-11-23T12:22:00.001-06:00

After returning home to Arkansas following our trip west we have been too busy at work to take many pictures.

Here are a few photos taken at the Richland Creek Wilderness Area and Boxley Valley Elk Reserve.

Hoodoos

2007-11-07T00:08:00.000-06:00

Bad Hair Day

2007-10-31T23:33:00.001-05:00

Faith took this photo of Liz in Australia -- very creative!

Canyon Rainbow

2007-10-30T00:22:00.000-05:00

In the low light setting of the slot canyons yellow light from the sun, blue light from the sky and every color in between is reflected on the red sandstone walls.

This image was taken in the Lower Antelope Slot Canyons and is large enough to use for wallpaper on very high resolution monitors.

A Day at the Lake

2007-10-24T00:32:00.001-05:00

Mono Lake: no other place quite like it.

The Bristlecone Pines of White Mountain

2007-10-23T00:39:00.001-05:00

With some of these trees more than 4000 years old; the bristlecone pines on the White Mountain range in Eastern California are the oldest living things on Earth.

Few More Zion Photographs

2007-10-19T00:53:00.001-05:00

Here are a few more Zion photographs including the traditional shot of the Virgin River and Watchman mountain peak.

Zion National Park

2007-10-18T23:59:00.000-05:00

Zion National Park is a deep valley of red Navaho sandstone which creates very warm lighting ideal for detail photographs.

Lundy Canyon

2007-10-14T01:46:00.000-05:00

We had originally planned on visiting Yosemite NP for two days. The first day was a total bust due to the park rangers doing a managed burn in Yosemite Valley. Of course they didn't mention that at the gate before we drove the hour and a half across the park.

On the second day snow was forecast so we opted to stay on the east side of the Tioga Pass which crosses the mountains. We made the right decision because they closed the pass in the evening which would have forced us to drive and additional 8 to 10 hours to get back to our RV.

Lundy Canyon is one of many on the East side that contain a creek draining snow melt from the mountains. The whole area is a desert but along these creeks there is lush foliage which turns to bright colors in the fall creating a striking contrast to the desert brush.

Mono Lake

2007-10-14T00:56:00.000-05:00

Mono Lake is a salt water lake called the 'Dead Sea of the West'. It lies at the bottom of the Mono County basin where water flows in from the Sierra Nevada mountain range but never flows out. The only thing that can live in its water is brine shrimp.

Fresh water springs below the lake cause eerie shaped mineral tufas to form which were exposed when Los Angeles started diverting the water source.

Bodie Ghost Town

2007-10-14T00:50:00.000-05:00

Faith and I spent an afternoon at the Bodie Ghost Town where the town was simply abandoned after the gold mining operation dried up.

Eastern Sierra Photography Workshop

2007-10-07T00:58:00.001-05:00

A few of the photographs from this weekends photography workshop.

Eastern Sierra Color Preview

2007-10-04T01:11:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow evening I begin a workshop with John Shaw photographing fall colors in the Eastern Sierra Mountains.

I took these photographs just downstream from Lake Sabrina which is about 20 miles west of Bishop, CA at about 9000 feet high. A storm is entering the area tomorrow evening forecast wind gusts of 50-60 mph so this location will lose many of these leaves.

Bryce Canyon

2007-10-04T01:03:00.001-05:00

Bryce Canyon is an east facing cliff over a huge valley with incredible hoodoos.

The height of the cliff is from 8000-9000 feet high. It would be better photographed at sunrise but I only had an afternoon to visit this 25 mile long national park.

The Red Canyon

2007-10-04T00:56:00.001-05:00

Imagine driving around a corner and entering a fantasy world. That is how it felt driving through the Red Canyon in Utah. These scenes continued for only a mile or two but were quite amazing.

Grand Canyon Side Trip

2007-10-02T09:22:00.001-05:00

It was rainy yesterday so I drove through Grand Canyon National Park. The weather there was no better but the scenery was awesome.

Today I will be driving to Bishop, CA.

Tight Spaces

2007-10-01T11:32:00.001-05:00

Just a few images for Tim who doesn't enjoy tight spaces. Most I squeezed through were too small to take a picture. Simply incredible geology.

Ruins and Rainbow

2007-10-01T10:51:00.001-05:00

For the final shoot of the Slot Canyon Workshop we drove from Page to the Wupatki National Monument to shoot some ruins at sunset. One of the "participants" could never seem to keep up when we drove to each location. While we waited for him to catch up the sun didn't.

I waited until about 15 minutes after sunset for the light in the sky to darken to the ambient light and took this photograph of the Wukoki Ruins. The soft lighting did a great job of bringing out the unique colors of the rocks and vegetation.

A few images from the Lower Antelope Slot Canyon. While the upper canyon is almost entirely flat, this canyon was much more cave like. You enter it by walking across a sandy riverbed and gradually descend through a crack that starts about as wide as your foot and opens to about 15 inches where you climb down a series of ladders, through small passageways to the bottom/end of the canyon.

While driving back to Page the sky was completely clear so I washed my car. I awoke this morning at 5am to the sound of rain. :) Driving around this morning looking for a place to take a sunrse photograph this rainbow appeared. I accidentally turned on the auto-focus and the camera focused on the clouds when I pressed the shutter release making this image unusable. In seconds the rainbow became a complete arch but as I switched to the wide angle lens it disappeared just as quickly.

Slots, Horseshoes, and Hoodoos

2007-09-30T00:13:00.000-05:00

Cool Skies!

2007-09-28T23:36:00.000-05:00

Imagine driving about three blocks from the middle of town and seeing this! Photographed on the Discovery Nature Trail in Page Arizona.

View from Wal-Mart

2007-09-28T17:58:00.001-05:00

I arrived in Page, AZ just as the sun was setting. The two hour drive from Flagstaff to Page was the most scenic stretch in 18 hours of driving. Simply incredible.

I stopped at Wal-Mart, walked to the edge of the parking lot and took this photograph. 1 minute later the scene was gone.

On The Road Again!

2007-09-25T21:51:00.001-05:00

St. Mary's Lake Panoramic

I'll be traveling west to Page, AZ to photograph some slot canyons and lake Powell.

Following that I will head to Bishop, CA for a workshop with John Shaw. What a cool opportunity!

Here is a forgotten panoramic from my last trip photo trip into the high country.

Arkansas Sunrise

2007-09-11T22:30:00.001-05:00

Arkansas Sunrise
(Mamiya/Phase One MF Camera)

On the way home from the hospital the morning Jackson was born the sunrise was incredible. Unfortunately we didn't have the camera with us and were too tired to stop if we did.

The next morning I took this photograph about a block from our home. Not as spectacular as the previous morning but still a dramatic photograph.

Family Fun!

2007-08-30T23:42:00.000-05:00

We're too busy working this week to take landscape shots.

Since you've been asking, here are a few grandbaby photos.

All photographed with the wonderful Canon 1D Mark III camera.

Just Relaxing
Family Time

Around a week and already itching for a fight

Not this again!!!

Angel Eyes

Family Fun!

Gateway Arkansas

2007-08-26T00:40:00.001-05:00

Gateway Shack
(Mamiya 645AFDII, Phase One Back)

Jackson Kohl Williams Arrives!

2007-08-23T09:51:00.001-05:00

Jackson Kohl Williams

Born Thursday August 23rd 2007 3:59 a.m.
Weight 7 Pounds 13 Ounces

Simple Tree

2007-08-21T23:39:00.000-05:00

Simple Tree
(Canon 1DmkIII, 70-200mm lens)

I really liked the shape and simple composition of this tree on a hillside outside Avoca, AR.

Soon Come

2007-08-20T09:50:00.000-05:00

Liz
(Photographed by Travis)

In Jamaica they have a saying "Soon Come". Basically when a Jamaican says that you never know for sure when he will turn up. They live by a different sense of urgency than we do. They don't understand or accept the concepts of appointments or punctuality and simply refuse to get in a hurry. Maybe that is why they almost always have smiles on their faces.

Jackson (as we know him until Liz changes her mind again) will be here soon. Until then, we are patiently waiting and are hanging out close to home.

Our thoughts and prayers are with our friends in Jamaica. We hope they have safely survived Dean without much damage to their homes and businesses.

Boston Round

2007-08-13T22:07:00.001-05:00

Boston Round

I subscribe to several photography magazines and every once in a while you run across a pretty cool idea. In the September issue of Popular Photography & Imaging magazine they have an article about how to convert a 360 degree panorama into a round image. The Boston pano was not a 360 but the effect worked out ok and is especially impressive in high resolution.

Of course, I am not the only one to read this magazine and I have already seen a few like a Shanghai image from the Stick in Customs HDR blog.

Handheld HDR Image

2007-08-13T20:56:00.000-05:00

Old City Hall
(Canon 1DmkIII, three shot bracketed exposure)

The juxtaposition of the Old City Hall framed by the new sky scrapers creates a striking composition. The range of light between the clouds and shadows is too wide to be captured in one exposure. To record this image I took three exposures two stops apart which were combined using Photomatix HDR tone mapping software.

Beaver Lake Sunset

2007-08-12T21:22:00.000-05:00

Beaver Lake

Edge of Boston Harbor

2007-08-01T14:40:00.001-05:00

Boston Harbor
(Canon 1D Mk III, 70-200mm lens)

Here is a cool view Faith and I found while we were in Boston a few weeks ago. This view is from an abandoned military fortification in Hull, MA about 30 miles from downtown.

Editor's First Picks

2007-07-31T23:45:00.001-05:00

Lake Superior Rocks!

Harvard Sailing School

Two of my pictures have been selected as Editor's Picks in the BetterPhoto.com contest in July. Basically that means the judge(s) have found them interesting, we'll have to wait a few days to see if I am a finalist.

BetterPhoto.com is a great place to improve your photography. In addition to online photography classes, they provide professional critiques and useful forums for discussion.

Medium Format Digital: First Impressions

2007-07-29T00:32:00.001-05:00

Beaver Lake
(Mamiya 645AFDII, 35mm, P30 Digital Back)

Taking digital landscape photographs in the middle of a sunny day is difficult to pull off. Since the sun is directly overhead it has a tendency to flatten the image. In addition to that, the range of light from the shadows to the highlights is wider than the sensor is capable of recording. To compensate for this you usually have to use special techniques which involve combining two or more different exposures. For example, on July 14th I posted a photograph of Beaver Lake which was created by combining three different exposures.

The sky was filled with puffy clouds and I wanted to take a picture of a spot Dave and I found riding our motorcycles yesterday. I was also dying to try out my new Phase One digital back and medium format camera which arrived this week. I just assumed I would have to create an HDR photograph using multiple exposures.

The sensor in the digital back has almost 3 times the detail but I was pleasantly surprised to discover out it also had enough dynamic range to photograph the scene without having to do an HDR composite. It nailed the exposure with zero tweaks to the exposure.

Very Cool!

Update: I posted a little more detail on this shot in the Luminous Landscape forum.

Images of Boston

2007-07-27T00:03:00.001-05:00

Harvard Sailing Boats

Faneuil Hall Marketplace - Changing Weather
(HDR photograph)

Urban Jungle - Old City Hall
(HDR photograph)

Windows

A few more images from our Boston trip.

The Faneuil Hall Marketplace was pretty amazing; imagine a mall with 20 million visitors annually. It was literally wall-to-wall people.

Pool Party!

2007-07-26T22:04:00.000-05:00

Pool Party
(Casio EV7 - Point and Shoot)

We all stopped by to see our baby granddaughter Zoe swimming in her pool!

Something got her tickled and she started laughing. By the end we were all in stitches!

Boston at Twilight

2007-07-22T09:09:00.000-05:00

We're leaving Boston today and heading to Rockport which is an old fishing port town.

The sunsets were fantastic while we were here, unfortunately we were always on the wrong side of town. Night before last we were on Fan Pier and the pretty sunset sky was behind us since the rain clouds were heading out to sea. Last night they were in the west but we were on the west side of downtown but we were able to catch this last bit of light on the clouds over the Back Bay area of Boston.

Back in Boston

2007-07-20T15:29:00.001-05:00

View from Royal Santos Hotel
(Canon 1d mk III, 24-105mm lens)

We are back in Boston from our side trip to Plymouth and Cape Cod.

Our hotel room has a beautiful view of downtown from across the Charles River.

Plymouth Courthouse

2007-07-18T22:15:00.001-05:00

Courthouse in Plymouth, MA
(Canon 1d mk III, 24-105mm lens)

We drove from Boston to Plymouth today to take in the sites for a few days.

We received the initial prospects for our log today. #1 was our favorite prospect with #3 our second choice. Please let us know what you think. You can see all of them here.

The next step will be to make our final decision and then do a few rounds of revisions until we get exactly what we are after.

Two if by Sea

2007-07-18T11:35:00.001-05:00

Two if by Sea - Boston Skyline from Lopresti Park
(Canon 1d Mk III, 24-105mm lens, 6 shot panoramic)

Boston Skyline from Cartlon's Warf
(Canon 1D mk III, 24-105mm lens)

The pictures speak for themselves.

What a beautiful city!

Bench Rock Nature Trail

2007-07-14T23:42:00.001-05:00

View From Bench Rock Bluff HDR
(Canon 1D Mk III, 24-105mm lens)

Male Eastern Tailed Blue
(Canon 1D Mk III, 24-105mm lens)

The Bench Rock Bluff Nature Trail is part of Indian Creek Park 30 minutes drive North of Rogers, AR. This is not the best season for a hike, but I am scouting photography locations. The hike is a little over a mile long, the first half follows the top of a bluff line returning below the bluff on an abandoned road.

Another Notch!

2007-07-11T11:13:00.000-05:00

We have invested years in this nature photography project, spent a ton of money on equipment, education and travel. Countless hours have been spent learning the tools of the trade and a few prints have been sold.

We're not sure where this will end up, but since we love doing it we are moving forward.

Developing a corporate logo and identity is one of the first steps and lets everyone know you are serious about what you are doing. Next will come a real website to replace our gallery site.

We have hired LogoBee to design a logo, stationary, etc. We used when we were creating our Strategy Systems look several years ago. In the end we didn't use any of their logos but we liked their products and the costs are very reasonable. Our 8 preliminary logos should be available here sometime next week. Let us know what you think.

Green Dreamin'

2007-07-10T00:08:00.000-05:00

Composite Family Photo

(Canon 1D Mk III, 70-200mm lens)

Green Screen Photograph

Sometimes you just can't be where you really want.

Beth and Drew are normally in Brisbane, Australia where they serve as missionaries. While stateside Beth had Daniel at the young age of 40. Oops!

So now it is time for a new family photo to update all of their supporting churches. The only problem; they wanted something Australian as a backdrop. I'm not going to Australia anytime soon so if they wanted me to take their photograph we were going to have to improvise.

By photographing on a background consisting only of a primary we were able to superimpose their likeness (less the annoying green) onto the backdrop they liked much better.

After a few touch-ups we get a pleasing result less the $2500 expense of flying the photo man to Australia. Of course the baby was goofing off -- guess you can't have everything.

Van Winkle Trail

2007-07-08T23:50:00.001-05:00

Van Winkle Trail HDR
(Canon 1D Mk III, 24-105mm lens, 3 exposure HDR)

Van Winkle Village HDR
(Canon 1D Mk III, 24-105mm lens, 3 exposure HDR)

Little Clifty Creek HDR
(Canon 1D Mk III, 24-105mm lens, 3 exposure HDR)

Zebra Swallowtail
(Canon 1D Mk III, 24-105mm lens)

Around 1850 Peter Van Winkle built a small mill east of Rogers, AR on the Little Clifty Creek. The mill was one of the most productive in the area after the Civil War providing lumber for rebuilding Fayetteville. It was also the principle source of lumber for the famous "Old Main" building on the University of Arkansas.

The mill grew into a small village with hotel, store, blacksmith shop and dwellings which were active until the early 1900s. Peter Van Winkle died from a stroke in downtown Rogers in 1882.

An archeological excavation of the community was started in 1997 by the University of Arkansas. The area has new been developed into a two part trail in the newly developing Hobbs State Park and Conservation Area. The village and ruins are part of a well developed 1 mile trail north of highway 12. On the South side of highway there is a 5 or 6 mile nature trail that is basically an overgrown trail with very little improvement.

This area is typical of the hardwood forests covering most of N.W. Arkansas. The very dense foliage is difficult to photograph due to the extreme range of light from the sunny areas to the dark shadows. These photographs were produced by taking three different hand-held exposures which were later combined using Photomatix HDR software.

Fire in the Sky

2007-07-06T16:04:00.000-05:00

Sunset HDR of Our Office Building
(Canon 1D Mark III, 24-105mm lens)

We are in a stormy weather pattern which creates some great sunsets. Since we are working hard on our next software product, Strategy Enterprise, we don't have a lot of time for photography but you can't pass up a great sunset!

Moving up to Medium Format

2007-07-02T09:22:00.001-05:00

Mamiya 645AFDII

Mamiya ZD Digital Back

Faith and I have made the decision to move up to medium format for our landscape photography.

We were planning to upgrade to the yet to be announced Canon 1DS Mark III. While the rumor is that the Canon 1DS upgrade will be to 22 megapixels; digital sensors for medium format cameras are twice the size of a full frame 35mm sensor so the base image quality should be much better.

The lens technology in 35mm cameras is already strained by the resolution in the current 1DS Mark II camera, especially for wide angle landscape photography. Part of a Canon upgrade would probably mean a whole new set of glass. Medium format lenses are more expensive but have better optical qualities since they have to capture the higher level of detail provided by the 6x4.5cm filter.

This is a whole new ball game for me. While the Canons are a complete unit requiring everything to be replaced when you upgrade, medium format cameras have the camera body with either a film or digital back. If you need more resolution you can replace the back and keep clicking. The other nice thing is that you can purchase backs from several different vendors.

The digital back I am getting has a 22 megapixel sensor which is almost twice the resolution of my current equipment. In addition to the increased resolution you have the option of not using the anti-aliasing filter which will give me much sharper raw images which will also make a huge difference in image quality.

I will use my Canon 1D Mark III for wildlife photography as well as casual walk-around shooting. It will also be backup in case I have any problems with the Mamiya while traveling.

Cloudy Sky

2007-06-29T19:08:00.001-05:00

Clouds
(Canon 1D mark III, 70-200mm lens)

It's been storming on and off for several days now and is expected to continue through the end of the weekend.

With all the moisture in the ground we should see skies like this most of July.

Boxley Valley

2007-06-23T22:08:00.001-05:00

Shack in Boxley Valley
(Canon 1D Mark III, 300mm lens)

I went on a scouting drive through Harrison, south on 43, east on 16, then north on scenic highway 7 back to Harrison. The weather was rainy but the drive was still incredible. Several times along the route the views were as if I was flying by in an airplane.

Highway 43 just south of Ponca enters Boxley Valley. The valley contains several nineteenth century buildings and is included in the National Historic Register.

The valley is also home to a herd of about 500 elk that graze along the Buffalo National River. To my knowledge it is the only elk herd in Arkansas. At the elk information station the ranger told me they were looking into the possibility of splitting the herd with some going to the Ouachita mountains.

Hyundai Sunset Final Image

2007-06-22T19:07:00.000-05:00

Hyundai Sunset HDR
(Canon 5d, 24-105mm lens, Photomatiks HDR)

After playing with the Photomatix demo on a few of my HDR photos I purchased the bundled version from HDRSoft.

I also reprocessed a print-ready version of the Hyundai Sunset photograph taken several nights ago. I feel it more closely matches what I saw that evening. If you compare it to the previous post I think you will appreciate the difference.

Dixie the Doxy!

2007-06-21T21:48:00.001-05:00

Delightful doxy shots of daffy Dixie that adoring Debbie desires from down under!

Enjoy - or should I say G-Day!

Rabbit Hunting

2007-06-21T18:02:00.000-05:00

Well the Canon 1D Mark III arrived today. Thank you Faith for an awesome Fathers Day gift!

We took the dogs out to do a little rabbit hunting. Needless to say, the rabbit is doing fine but the dogs are tired.

Lake Superior Rocks!

2007-06-21T06:05:00.000-05:00

Lake Superior Rocks
(Canon 5d, 24mm lens)

Here is a landscape crop of the "Lake Superior Rocks!" photograph with enough resolution to make it suitable for desktop wallpaper.

Enjoy!

Post a comment if you use it.

Bunchberry Ground Cover

2007-06-20T23:18:00.000-05:00

Bunchberry Detail
(Canon 5d, 24-105mm lens)

These bunchberry flowers covered large areas of underbrush almost everywhere I went along the north coast of Lake Superior. At first glance they reminded me of dogwood blossoms. In fact, they are in the dogwood family and produce a bright red, edible berry later in the summer.

I thought the broken light in this patch of blooms made them especially artistic.

Lake Superior Shots added to Online Gallery

2007-06-19T14:06:00.000-05:00

The Lake Superior photographs from my trip last week have been added to the gallery site.

Click here to view the Lake Superior Portfolio or here to view the entire gallery site.

Great Sunsets

2007-06-18T21:15:00.000-05:00

Hyundai Dealership HDR
(Canon 5d, 24-105mm lens, Photomatiks HDR)

Great sunsets like this never seem to happen while we are travelling! I'm sure that is the curse of every landscape photographer. Full time photographers spend as much as 9 months of the year in the field so their chances of catching a great sunset in a beautiful location are much greater than us part timers.

Could you imaging this sunset at the Tetons or Eastern Sierra Mountains? It would have even been spectacular at Lake Superior where I was last week. Well, I was not in any of those locations this evening. This Hyundai dealership just opened directly north of our office building and I couldn't resist getting some kind of photograph with this sunset. If I give them a print do you think they will give me a car? :) I have a version with our office building, but the angle was not as pleasing as this shot.

This image is a High Dynamic Range (HDR) composite of three different pictures assembled with a demo version of Photomatix. It seems to be much easier to get realistic HDR images with this tool than the standard Photoshop HDR tools so I may purchase a copy. You can download a demo version from the HDR Soft website.

Zoe Elizabeth Cooley

2007-06-15T17:35:00.000-05:00

(Steven Thetford Photography)

Shameless gloating over my granddaughter Zoe Elizabeth Cooley - and parents of course!

Sunset on Split Rock

2007-06-15T11:17:00.001-05:00

Sunset on Split Rock
(Canon 5d, 24-105mm lens, HDR)

Made it back home to Arkansas. Enjoy a final sunset photograph from Split Rock State Park.

Superior Beach

2007-06-14T01:48:00.001-05:00

Rock Detail - Superior Beach
(Canon 5d, 24mm tse lens)

Superior Beach Cove
(Canon 5d, 24mm tse lens)

The sign on the trail said Superior Beach but there was no sand. On one end the pebbles were so tiny it felt like walking on sand. The further I walked around the small cove the larger the pebbles got until they were about the size of basketballs. To bad it hadn't been raining, with all the different colored rocks they would have looked awesome if the whole cove was wet.

I'm headed home today, the quick trip to Minnesota was great fun. The North Shore Drive is very beautiful. Next time I'll drag someone with me so we can explore the canoe wilderness.

In addition to some great scenery, I saw a lot of wildlife. I did not have time to photograph most, but here is the list:

Deer (several with fawns)
Moose
Mink
Beaver
Loon
Grey Wolf
Red Fox

A Camping We Will Go...

2007-06-12T22:37:00.000-05:00

Logistically it didn't work out for me to enter the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. You really need two people because you have to carry the canoe and all your stuff between the lakes in the wilderness. I decided I would just take the canoe to the Superior National Forest where the lakes were vehicle accessible.

Since it was a two hour drive from where the RV is parked I decided to camp out.

Oh Brother!!! It has been a while since I have been camping in a tent. Things have changed a little since then:

The bugs have had a few generations to multiply. I started putting up the tent (thank goodness it was still light) and the mosquitoes swarmed me immediately. Faith went with me to get a bunch of bug repellent clothes before she left. I doused everything else with bug spray; otherwise I might have fled the area.
Tents have improved a lot! I pulled the thing out of its bag and it was like the alien machines in War of The Worlds with Tom Cruise. Metal tentacles went all over the place then quickly snapped together to make a backbone for the tent. No strings, thanks for helping me pick this out Liz!
The air mattress isn't an air mattress any more. It is this self-expanding thermal pad that is about as thick as a beach towel. I probably needed two or three of these things. Thanks for helping me pick that out Liz :(
The bug repellent clothes really work. Congress should pass a law that all outdoor clothes be bug repellent. For all the critters hovering around I didn't get a single bite, chigger or tick.

I was giving myself all kinds of reasons to pack this stuff back up and head for the comfortable RV. I hung around and paddled the whole length of the lake in my canoe. It was awesome; at the other end of the lake it was secluded and very beautiful. There was a single pair of Loons swimming around that area of the lake. It was the first time I heard their call in the wild.

On the way back to my campsite I paddled next to a Beaver for about 300 yards. I didn't know this, but when they get ready to swim under water they slap the water with their tail. I guess it gives them leverage for the dive but the loud slap was surprise.

No alarm clock needed. The birds started jamming at 4am, long before sunrise.

Shovel Point

2007-06-12T20:58:00.001-05:00

View From Shovel Point
(Canon 5d, 24-105mm lens)

The time to Shovel Point took a little less than estimated so even though I left a little late there was plenty of time. Traveling at 3:30 in the morning there is not much traffic to slow you down. Perfectly clear skies again, but it works in this shot. The warm sunrise light makes this image seem almost surreal.

I do research before I go on a trip, it helps to see what others have done and makes it easier to find great locations. I sometimes try to re-create some of the better shots I see during my research. It is amazing how much you can learn about composition and technique when you see what others have done to make a location photograph very dramatically.

The inspiration for this photograph came from a book by Greg Ryan and Sally Beyer called "Minnesota - Simply Beautiful".

Scouting Shovel Point

2007-06-10T23:37:00.001-05:00

Shovel Point HDR
(Canon 5d, 24mm tse lens)

I scouted Shovel Point for a dawn shoot. It is a 45 minute drive from where I am camped and another 45 minute hike. It starts to get light at 4:30 so I need to leave by 3, good luck with that! Once I take some photographs here tomorrow I will head to Ely, MN and see about canoing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for a few days. If that doesn't seem practical I will just canoe in one or two of the lakes north of Ely to see if I can scope some wildlife photographs.

Todays image is a High Dynamic Range or HDR photograph taken while I was scouting this location. There can be such a large difference between the light in the sky and the objects on the ground that my camera is unable to capture it all. HDR is a technique where you take two or more pictures with different exposures and combine them into one that is properly exposed. HDR images can be tricky to work with, but I think this one looks very natural.

Split Rock Lighthouse

2007-06-10T01:45:00.000-05:00

Here are a few of the photographs taken this evening at the Split Rock Lighthouse state park.

The lightouse was lit at sundown and I didn't think anything about it until someone told me they only light it on special occasions like the anniversary of the sinking of the Edmond Fitzgerald.

Canon 2X Teleconverter

2007-06-10T01:16:00.000-05:00

Moose in Cottontails
(Canon 1d Mk II, 500mm lens)

Moose in Cottontails
(Canon 1d Mk II, 500mm lens, 2X Teleconverter)

I saw this moose in a bog full of cottontails on the Gunflint trail (highway 12) in northern Minnesota. The crop size is exactly the same and shows how much more reach the 2X teleconverter gives you.

There are some down sides to using the teleconverter such as a little softer image and loss of two stops of light. These downsides are more than welcome when you just don't have enough lens to get the shot you want. In wildlife shooting it can mean the difference between getting a keeper shot and a bunch of throw aways because you just can't get close enough.

Pacific Grove

2007-06-08T22:43:00.001-05:00

Pacific Sunset
(canon 5d, 17-40mm lens, 30 second exposure)

Pacific Grove, California lies between Monterey and Pebble Beach. For some reason all the yards are over-grown with sand plants and the homes are mere shacks compared to those in Pebble Beach. Even though the neighborhood looks a little tacky the homes still cost an arm and a leg. It really demonstrates the value placed on the awesome sunset views.

The dark clouds framing the top of this photograph along with repeating rocks in near silhouette give "Pacific Sunset" a somber mood. Silky smooth water caused by the long exposure kept the surf from becoming a distraction. I walked around about 15 minutes trying to position the camera to separate the rocks so they wouldn't look like one large blob of granite.

On the way to northeastern Minnesota today I stopped at the Mall of America to check out a new gallery by photographer Rodney Lough, Jr. He uses an 8x10 inch piece of film which yields an incredible amount of detail. Check out Rodney's online Wilderness Collections gallery.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

2007-06-08T00:14:00.000-05:00

Monterey Harbor at Dawn
(Canon 5d, 24-105mm lens)

School
(Canon 5d, 70-200mm lens)

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the premier aquariums in the country. It is built in a refurbished sardine packing plant on Cannery Row. The rich history of this harbor in downtown Monterey California really adds to the ambiance of the aquarium.

The aquarium features state of the art aquatic displays, an awesome high-tech theater room and several interactive exhibits. The sea otter exhibit alone is worth the time to visit.

In a round shaped room I looked up to see a donut shaped tank circling the cieling full of mackerel continually swimming in a counter-clockwise direction. After several failed shots trying to stop the motion of the mackerel I closed down the aperture for a little longer exposure then panned the camera while the shutter was opened. The photographs trying to stop the swimming fish were total failures, but I like the impressionistic look of this shot.

Fine Art Flower Photography

2007-06-06T19:39:00.001-05:00

Wild Daisy and Clover
(Canon 5d camera, 180mm macro lens, aperture f32)

This photograph was inspired by Tony Sweet, one of my photographic heroes. An excellent photographer, teacher and author. His fine art photography series of books are incredible. Check out is work here.

I just finished an online fine art flower photography course taught by Tony and learned several creative techniques and new perspectives that will improve my flower photography. I'll never look at flower gardens or a patch of wild flowers the same since taking the class.

This daisy was growing wild in the weeds at the end of my driveway. The lens was just a few inches away from the daisy while the clover providing some blurred detail in the background was around 20 feet away.

Enough talk - just do it already!

2007-06-06T00:17:00.000-05:00

Secret Beach
(Pfeiffer Burns State Park)

Welcome to our blog!

Sooner or later I had to quit making promises and do something so here it is. I'll post new images, travel updates, tips and occasionally include some of the techniques I use.

The California coast south of Monterey is one of those places so beautiful you have a hard time believing it's real. We planned a week there this spring and purchased just about every book published on the place. We were we really excited about all the great photos we were going to shoot.

I didn't spend much time thinking about the weather. After all, weather.com was predicting the perfect weather, even on the day we left for the coast. During the night we arrived, fog rolled in and the place was "socked in" for the first three days. Eventually things started to clear up and we got some decent light towards the end of our trip.

Later this week Faith is off to Australia for a visit. I'll be heading north for some canoing and photography in Minnesota and Michigan's UP.

Thanks for visiting.