Sedona in September

I've been out of the Photography biz for well over 10 years now.  Sometimes it seems like just yesterday when I was agonizing over the decision to walk away from a job I loved and plunged into Corporate America.  For those 10 years I've satisfied my Photography Jones by taking "photo" trips 2 or 3 times every year.  I've been to some wonderful places...Banff and Jasper National Parks in Canada, Vancouver Island, also in Canada.  I've made several trips to Utah and Arizona, to Yellowstone twice, and the Grand Canyon.   And  don't forget the trips to New Mexico when Heather was in school at Roswell.  Every time I've come away with some wonderful images and some fantastic memories of the travels. 

In the fall of 2010 Judy and I signed up for a cruise to Alaska in May and June of 2011. The added bonus is that Rick Sammon, a photographer friend of mine, was conducting a photo workshop on the cruise.  We signed up, sent in our deposit, and started planning shore excursions.  I got the appropriate vacation time booked on the calendar at work and the wait began.  In November, it all fell apart.  First the workshop was cancelled due to lack of interest.  Then the entire cruise was cancelled by the cruise line.  This all left me wondering where I could go for a photo trip in lieu of the cruise so my mind started churning.

I've wanted to photograph the Palouse region of Washington State for a long time and the dates we had reserved for the cruise fell into the proper time frame for a trip there so I started the usual research I do before every trip.  I found a decent hotel in Colfax, WA, saw that I have Wells Fargo Rewards to make car rental nearly free, and looked into some websites of other photographers for information on locations and techniques for photographing the region.  Things were looking really good for a May trip to the Palouse and I was just a couple days away from pushing the button and making non-refundable reservations.

But wait!  Not so fast camera boy!  When Erin, Sean, and Katrina visited for Christmas the rumors that had been floating around were solidified.  Erin and Sean are planning their wedding in the fall, probably September, and while the budget for said event will be pretty sparse as weddings go, my discretionary funds for the year have pretty much been accounted for.  In short, no airlines, no hotels, no rental cars for photo trips.  Fortunately for me the news came before I'd committed to any trips and the subsequent reservations.  Whew!  Recently we learned that Erin has chosen Sedona, AZ as the venue for her nuptuals.  If you haven't been to Sedona, you can see my gallery of images from a trip there last November. Sedona gallery

So now I'm left with a bad news/great news situation.  The bad news is I won't be flying all over the western United States creating images this year.  The great news is I'll be attending my wonderful daughter's wedding inn a positively amazing location in September.  9-10-11 to be specific.  Some consolation prize, eh? 

And this doesn't mean I won't be taking any photo trips at all.  Heck, I've been lamenting for years that I live in one of the most photogenic states in the country yet my photo files contain precious few images of Colorado.  I see some car camping weekend trips in my future for 2011.  Great Sand Dunes anyone?  How about Rocky Mountain National Park?  And don't forget Crested Butte for wildflowers in July.  Who knows, I may still be able to swing a trip to the Palouse in May.  But instead of a "fly to Spokane, rent a car, drive to Pullman, and stay in a hotel" kind of trip it may morph into a "add a couple extra days of vacation, drive the Murano up there, and camp in the car" trip.  I'm working on logistics. 

So if any of you happen to be in the vicinity of Sedona on September 10, 2011, give me a call, shoot me an e-mail, or communicate some way and I'll buy you a cuppa coffee.

Better Lucky Than Good

This is the second in a series of essays from my old website.  First published in about 2003, this one still creeps me out a bit when I think about it.  Read and learn...

Better Lucky than Good

An old saying, maybe, but one that's all too frequently accurate as was displayed during my first trip to the desert in 1997. An incident that occurred while photographing in Lower Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona during a family vacation brought home to me the absolute truth of that saying..

The trip started innocently enough in Moab, Utah. It was my first photo excursion to the desert and I was a bit overwhelmed by all the subject matter I encountered the first morning in Arches National Park. I shot some film, had no clear idea what I should photograph first so it ended up being mostly documentary snapshots. A terrific reason to return someday. One day there then on to our next stop, Halls Crossing on Lake Powell where we had reserved a 3 bedroom trailer and speedboat for a day on the lake.

Lake Powell was all it was billed to be, Jewel of the Desert. The day dawned clear and sunny and after getting the once over on our rented powerboat we were off to explore with some water skiing also on the agenda. Got my first glimpse of some Anasazi dwellings, the Defiance House ruin in Forgotten Canyon. The lake was truly astounding, capturing my attention seemingly at every bend. I knew I'd be back to this place many times. A great day on the lake followed by a wonderful night's sleep and up the next morning on our way to the next destination, Page, Arizona.

One of the reasons I'd included Page as a stop on this trip was my desire to photograph Antelope Canyon, perhaps the most famous slot canyon of all. It is situated about 2 miles outside Page on the Navajo Tribal Lands and appears in countless television commercials, tons of print ads, and just about every existing brochure detailing the virtues of this area.

Those of you that know me know I'm a research junkie. When I'm planning a trip to a location I've never seen I spend countless hours on the internet trying to get an idea of what to expect. That way I can previsualize to a certain extent what I'm going to photograph. My reading on slot canyons kept referring back to one thing: "If there is rain anywhere within 30 miles of the canyon, GET OUT!!! These canyons are natural funnels for water and a flash flood is something you don't want to endure in this confined space."

Two miles outside of Page is the entrance to Antelope Canyon. On one side of the highway a Navajo concessionaire takes your money and shows you the entrance to Lower Antelope Canyon. On the other side of the highway a Navajo concessionaire from another clan takes your money and drives you to the entrance of Upper Antelope Canyon. I chose Lower, paid my $5 and headed down the first in a series of ladders that take you to the heart of this slot canyon 60 feet below the surface. I took a brief look before heading underground and saw that there were some clouds on the horizon but nothing immediately threatening.

Once I reached the bottom of the canyon, it was apparent that this photo experience would be all I ever hoped. There were no bad compositions and changing the angle of view changed everything. It was marvelous. I was in photographer's Heaven for at least a little while. After about an hour of shooting, I began to notice some sand falling on my head and equipment. Obviously the wind on the surface had picked up. Then I noticed that my exposures were getting longer and longer. A glance upwards showed me that it was getting cloudy above my head. Then I noticed that the other people in the canyon were rushing past on their way to the surface and I could hear someone above me shouting something but I couldn't make out the words. I kept thinking "just a few more exposures….I don't know when I'll get this chance again."

All of a sudden, the little man in my head started screaming…"Hey, it's cloudy on the surface….clouds equal rain….remember your research and get your dumb butt out of here." I packed up and started hustling to the surface noticing it was getting darker and darker. With about 3 ladders to go, I noticed raindrops starting to fall on me and increased my pace, finally climbing up the last pitch to the surface just as the sky opened up. I headed over to the parking lot where one of the other tourists asked if I'd seen the concessionaire or heard him shouting for me to get out of the canyon. I said no, but would go back to look for him. I met him after slogging through a torrential downpour to near where the first ladder was. He appeared happy to see me and said "didn't you hear me yelling for you to get out? If you'd been there 10 more minutes, we would have been fishing your body out of Lake Powell in the morning." I thought he was being overly dramatic until I could see the water blasting through the canyon below our feet. Everything I'd read was right….you DON'T want to be in a slot canyon when it's raining.

I made it out and got some marvelous shots, but 2 weeks later, a group of tourists and their guide got caught in the canyon during a rainstorm and were swept to their deaths. 2 years later one of the bodies had never been found, a terrible testament to the power of a flash flood in a slot canyon. Sometimes it's much better to be lucky than good.

Every Picture Tells a Story, Don't it?

My friend, Bret Edge, has a series running on his blog http://blog.bretedge.com/ where he is posting some of his favorite images of the past decade and giving the story behind the image.   I LOVE this idea and gave considerable thought to stealing the idea and still may, (though I'll wait a few months till all our common friends forget it and will think I'm a genius) but today at work I had a conversation with a co-worker that changed my mind.  We were discussing her screensaver picture of a cougar and I had the brilliant idea of posting some of my essays off my original website.  They were written before I started blogging but still have some pretty good content so with your permission, here is the first one.  Enjoy!

Every Picture Tells A Story, Don't it…

And mine are no exception. Take the Cougar series for example. I don't often have nightmares or dreams that wake me up in the night but when I do, they usually involve a cougar. We all have our phobias and that's mine. So when I was given the chance to photograph one of the cougars at the Prairie Wind Wildlife Refuge I gave it considerable thought before deciding to go for it.

The nights leading up to the weekend photo session were restless for the most part and as the time drew nearer I became more and more anxious. Was this thing going to eat me? Chew me beyond recognition? I'd seen deer and elk that were cougar kills and an illustration of a cat's power and ability. I've even seen a housecat kill a rabbit in one swift motion. The power per pound of these animals is awesome. It took all my will power and resolve to avoid picking up the phone and calling to cancel. But I was strong!

Saturday morning dawned clear and beautiful on the plains, the first rays of the sun lighting up the Front Range in my rear view mirror on the drive. That served to calm me a bit, but I was still more nervous than I'd been in a while. The orientation speech Michael gave did little to bolster my confidence. "Whatever you do don't run or show any signs of fear. These maybe pets but they're still wild animals." That's code for "they will kill and eat you if you're not careful."

Okay, done with the speeches, tripods and lenses set up, film loaded, and my shooting site selected. The cat is released by one of Michael's assistants and comes over the hill about 100 yards away headed for Michael and the tidbits of meat he offers as incentive to behave. Right away I notice that the beast seems to be fixated on me. His eyes meet mine over the distance and I immediately look away. ("….don't make eye contact, they think it's a challenge.") The cat, Cheyenne, lopes up to me then walks in a slow circle around me giving me the once over. "Relax" Michael says, "he just likes your deodorant." (which by now has failed miserably)

Finally after 10 seconds which seemed like 10 minutes, the cat comes closer and drags his tongue up the side of my head (taste test?) then plops down to rest about 5 feet from my camera. I could have tugged his tail if I'd been so inclined. Check out the Critters portfolio and you'll see the results.

Baby it's Cold Outside II

In Part 1 I talked about photographing in extreme cold weather conditions and mostly concentrated on keeping your most important piece of equipment, yourself, warm and comfortable.  When temps drop into single digits or negative numbers like my trip to Castlewood Canyon this morning, it's not just metal that suffers from fatigue and you can't concentrate on images when you're shivering.  I didn't talk much about camera gear though, hence Part 2.

Back in the day when camera bodies and lenses were all manually operated there were a lot of special problems you had to deal with.  Pro shooters knew that for extreme cold weather shooting you had to have your gear winterized.  Early in the season all their gear went to the repair shop of choice where they were tuned up and set up with special cold weather lubricants.  When you shoot for a living you can't afford to have equipment fail because of the cold.  When spring came around the stuff went back to the shop to be cleaned and set up with normal lubricants.  The only batteries they had to be concerned with were the ones that ran the metering systems and any pro worth his salt could function without a meter most of the time. 

What if a camera wasn't winterized you ask?  Well, many years ago I was visiting my wife's family in the Black Hills of South Dakota the week between Christmas and New Years. They live on a ranch near Sturgis and Deadwood in a beautiful little valley.  A beautiful little valley that gets beastly cold in the winter.  This particular winter was one of those times and for several days the temperature stayed below zero, at times approaching -30 degrees F.  Some folks say that when it gets below -10 you can't tell the difference but don't believe it.  Been there, done that.  Anyway, I went out one afternoon as the sun was setting to photograph the bluffs at the east end of their valley with my trusty 4X5.  Sparing you the details, I got the shot set up and pressed the cable release.  My Copal shutter set for 1/2 second should have been "cliick."  At -20 the shutter was more like "cliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick."  Closer to 5 seconds than 1/2 second.  Problem?  No cold weather lubricants.  I stopped down a couple of stops and used the shutter on Bulb to get the shot.

But what about today's cameras?  Fewer moving parts and no spring loaded shutters to worry about but everything is run on batteries and as we all know, when the batteries are dead your camera turns into a $2000 paperweight.  So how can you avoid this?  Well, the pros spend mad cash on external battery packs.  They can have a cord running to the battery compartment from the external pack that resides inside their jacket.  Keeps the batteries warm and the camera functional.  No external pack?  No problem...make sure your batteries are fully charged and keep the spares in an inner pocket to stay warm.  If I'm walking a considerable distance between locations I'll even take the battery out of my camera and put it inside my jacket.  Keep in mind, at 10 degrees a fully charged fully functional battery will last about 70% less than it would on a nice sunny warm afternoon.

As far as lenses, if you're going to be doing a lot of cold weather shooting you may want to spend the extra money to have your repair shop install cold weather lubricants.  I'd hate like heck to pay for a workshop, travel to Yellowstone in the dead of winter, and find out my lenses won't autofocus in the cold.  If you've already spent thousands of dollars on said workshop then a couple hundred more to have your lenses conditioned won't matter and it just might save your trip.  A word of caution though....don't forget to have normal lubricants put back in before heading out for a summer shoot.  I've seen a lot of lenses with cold weather lube dripping out of them like water when the temps go up in summer.  Not a good thing.  If you decide to leave lenses as they are, consider using them on manual focus.  It will result in sharper images and save battery life.

Another thing to be aware of is taking gear from a warm vehicle to cold weather.  Condensation is NOT your friend.  Carry a lens cloth in an outside pocket where you can easily reach it and wipe the moisture off your lenses before they freeze.  Above all do NOT breathe on your lenses to clean them.  You'll be amazed at how quickly the moisture in your breath freezes when it's below zero.  Also you need to avoid the urge to carry a camera and lens inside your coat.  Once they cool down to ambient temperature leave them out until you're done shooting.  Otherwise you have to go through the condensation thing all over again.

Finally let's take a look at your tripod.  Is it carbon fiber or metal?  We all know that CF tripods are lighter and stronger than aluminium sticks but there's a major advantage to CF when the weather is cold.  It's not ideal to carry but CF will not suck the warmth out of your hands nearly as quickly as metal.  Next to losing heat through your head, carrying a metal tripod on a cold day is the next quickest way to lose body heat.  CF is a lot more efficient in this area but still cold.  Good gloves are paramount to keep your hands warm.  There are some companies out there that sell "sleeves" for tripods and many tripods including the Velbon El Carmagne and Induro brands insulate the legs with foam rubber grips.  Got a metal tripod and can't find the "sleeves?"  Simple...head on down to your local hardware big box store and pick up some foam pipe insulation and a roll of gaffers tape.  Bingo Bango, you got tripod sleeves made to order.

So there you have it, some tips on keeping you and your gear warm in extreme cold weather.  Got some other strategies?  Leave a comment and let's share best practices with everyone.

Baby it's Cold Outside!

Let's face it....Photography is an inconvenient avocation.  I often find myself wondering why Sunrise can't come a little later in the day or Sunset be some time other than supper time.  Why does rain have to be so damaging to lenses and cameras?  Unfortunately, the best times to create the highest quality images are usually the most inconvenient times especially in the depths of winter. 

If you're one of the folks that leads photo workshops in ultra cold weather places, Bosque Del Apache for cranes, Churchill for polar bears, Yellowstone in winter, or some similar location...if you're a working photographer on assignment to Antarctica or some such location, you already know about the cold weather tricks.  Your lenses have been tuned up by your repair facility of choice and are chock full of cold weather lubricants.  You have external battery packs for all your camera bodies so you can keep the battery pack tucked warmly inside your jacket.  You probably have a sponsorship for some world class cold weather clothing.  If that's the case, this won't be of much interest to you cause you already know this stuff.

But what if you're a weekend or vacation shooter like me and most of my photographer friends?  What do you need to know about shooting in abnormally cold weather?  I spent a couple of hours on New Year's Day 2011 shooting at Castlewood Canyon near Franktown, CO, and have spent many a cold morning or evening with cameras in tow when visiting relatives in the Black Hills for Christmas past and I'm going to share a few of my tips for successful cold weather photography.

First and foremost you have to keep yourself warm.  It's no fun being out in the elements if you're not properly dressed and if it's not fun, why do it?  So let's concentrate on clothing first.  And keep in mind, I don't have an unlimited budget for clothing so I'll share some of my secrets along the way.  So let's get started and talk about clothing first. 

Living in Colorado we talk about layers.  Winter temps can go from single digits early in the morning to 50 degrees or more in the afternoon so we learn early to dress in layers.  On a trip to Bosque Del Apache to photograph Sandhill Cranes last January I started layering with silk long underwear followed by a basic cotton t-shirt, a long sleeved flannel shirt, and a bulky fisherman's sweater.  I added some thick wool blend socks then donned my Columbia ski/wind/snow pants.  I didn't skimp on the price of these pants but was able to buy them at a tremendous discount one year at the end of March when sporting goods stores are trying to clear out all their ski gear.  These kind of pants are a must.  They're windproof, waterproof, and the gore tex allows moisture to escape.  I can't stress enough...wear the jeans when you go out to eat or for kicking around town but they aren't worth a darn in really cold weather. I top everything off with a no-name parka I got at Kohls. It has a zip out liner so it's actually 3 jackets in 1.   If you're a fan of North Face or the other elite outdoor clothing companies, be my guest but I try to save money without sacrificing warmth and quality whenever I can.

For footwear I have a pair of gore-tex lined hiking boots for most situations but if it's really cold I have some Sorrel winter boots that are cozy even in sub-zero temps.  I don't advocate multiple pairs of socks because every time I've tried it I get blisters but whatever works for you is what's best.

Once I get outside I have several different configurations of gloves.  For cold without snow I have a pair of wool mittens with a flap that lets me expose my fingers without taking off the whole mitten.  These work well when there's no moisture on the ground or in the air and I can add a pair of silk glove liners to make them usable in very cold temps.  Not too great if there's a lot of wind or a possibility of getting wet.  For those conditions I have some inexpensive ski gloves.  I've bought them large enough that I can use the silk liners with them if it's really cold.  The trade off is that these are my warmest gloves but also bulky.  I have to take them off to make camera adjustments.  Finally, I recently picked up a pair of thin thermal gloves at Costco that seem to be pretty good in moderately cold temps.  They have some rough surfaces which makes it easy to hold onto slippery photo gear like cameras and lenses. 

Finally one of the most important part of your winter ensemble...headgear.  You lose body heat through the top of your head quicker than any other spot and if you're follically challenged like I am, it becomes even more critical to keep your coconut warm.  I have an assortment of hats that includes ball caps and wool ski hats but if the weather is really frigid there's one hat I own that is head and shoulders (pardon the pun) above everything else.  Call it a trapper's hat, call it a Rocket J Squirrel hat, call it what you will.  It's a goofy looking contraption and I'm sure I look like a fool wearing it but I've never let that be a deterrent for me.  The nylon shell with goretex lining keeps me dry and the fake rabbit fur ear flaps keep me toasty warm in the coldest of temperatures.  It truly is worth it's weight in gold.

So there you have a description of my attire.  There are other things you can add like chemical hand warmers and boot warmers, face masks and bandanas.  There are some really nice insulated coveralls that are usually worn by snowmobilers but they are a little too bulky for my taste and make me feel like the Michelen man.  I'm sure there are lots of options I've overlooked but this is what works for me.  If there's something out there you know about please leave comments...I'm always looking for new ideas. 

I haven't talked at all about gear and how to winterize it but that's also critical and I'll share some of my tips and tricks in a future blog.  For now, though, don't let the cold keep you inside.  Dress appropriately, get outside, and make some world class images.