It's all about Family: Part Deux

A few weeks ago I wrote about being with family members at Thanksgiving and how I felt about the whole experience.  At that time I vowed to spend more time traveling to visit family and take fewer solo photo trips and I have just had that resolve strengthened.  Here's why....

They say Christmas is for children and family and I've come to believe that may be one of the truest statements I've ever heard.  This year, for the first time in a few years, we were together as a family for Christmas.  Heather has come home after some time at Eastern New Mexico University in Roswell.  Granted, she was home for Christmas break every year but this time we didn't have to drive 1000 miles round trip to get her.  Chris has boomeranged and is back home with us.  In the past he's usually been home for Christmas but this one is special because (we hope) his health concerns of 2009 are behind him.

Mostly, though, this Christmas was special because Erin and her family came home from Phoenix for a week.  We've not all been together at Christmas for at least 5 years and I was surprised at how much I'd missed it. Especially because Granddaughter Katrina was home and the magic is back in Christmas.  Katrina is 10 now and still a bit of a child though she's growing up quickly.  But I have to say there is nothing to compare to the look in her eyes and on her face when opening a gift that she really really wanted.  Christmas truly is for children.

But that's not the only thing that's got me feeling so maudlin.  Our family tradition, started long ago by the Bean families that preceded ours, is that we all gather on Christmas Eve to eat chili and open gifts from each other.  Then we go to bed and when we wake up in the morning, Santa has visited with more gifts.  It's a time honored tradition and one that's going to be around for at least as long as I am.

So there we were on Christmas Eve.  Erin was in the kitchen baking a pie and I was working on the chili.  I've never cooked WITH someone and the delight of sharing my new kitchen with my eldest child is a feeling I won't soon forget.  We bumped into each other a few times, laughed, joked, and told stories from when she was Katrina's age.  The eggnog was tasty, the pie was good I'm sure, and the chili was killer as always.

While we were cooking, the laughter and shouting started wafting up from the family room.  Chris, Heather, and Katrina were playing Super Mario Brothers on the Wii.  The laughter and smack talking was music to my ears sweeter than the greatest symphony.  It made me grin like a fool just hearing them.  Then it was time to eat and we gathered in the dining room for the first time in a long time.  We moved into our house a week before Chris was born and he turned 24 in July.  Shortly after moving in we bought a table for the kitchen and ate all our meals there.  Two toddlers and a baby...not a good mix for a formal dining room with very light tan carpet.  Having remodeled the kitchen this summer, we now have seating in there for only 3 or 4 max so with 7 people in the house it was time for the dining room. 

Erin started in first, saying she thinks she remembered eating in the dining room once.  Heather couldn't remember and Chris said "this is weird...I've NEVER eaten in this room."  We had a great laugh about that and the stories started flowing.  We went through some of the things that happened when the kids were small and discovered, to Judy's shock, that all the kids had snooped for Christmas presents over the years, looking in all the logical hiding places, and Erin had even unwrapped some packages to see what was inside then re wrapped them to hide the evidence.  To her credit, she always was able to feign surprise but hey, I was a kid once and knew all the tricks.  It was no surprise to me. 

After finishing some darn good chili we adjourned to the living room and spent the next hour or so opening presents.  We open in turns, starting with the youngest and going according to age.  I mentioned earlier and I'll restate it, there is NOTHING like the look on Katrina's face when she unwrapped presents she was hoping for.  That's why Christmas is definitely for children.  Always has been, always will be...

After opening gifts we had some more eggnog and sat around telling a few more stories before Erin, Sean, and Katrina headed off to spend the night at Sean's mother's house.  I was sorry to see the night end but happy in the knowledge that this Christmas was one of the best ever...at least since I was a child.  And I'm secure in the knowledge that from this point on, no matter how far apart we are, I will do everything in my power to bring the family together every Christmas.  Yes, it's for children, but it's also for Families. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Best of the Best

I like to keep up with what's going on in the photographic community so I regularly read a lot of blogs written by other photographers.  One I read this evening detailed going through all the files from 2010 to pick the Best of the Best.  Not a bad idea and one that I may adopt and put into place after the New Year.  For now, though, I've already picked 2 of my favorites from the year and they both are shown above.  The image of Jackson Lake and the Grand Tetons is one of my favorite images of all time and from a purely photographic standpoint it is probably one of the 10 best images I've ever created.  Recently it was selected by my fellow employees to be on the cover of a calendar put together by my employer.  Because my image was selected, the proceeds from sales of the calendar will go to the charity of my choice, Special Olympics of Colorado.  (It's not available to the public but if you'd like to spend $5 on a decent calendar and know your money is going to a good cause, let me know.)  But that's not why I chose it as one of my favorites.  The other image of a sunset taken in the desert near Queen Creek, AZ is probably not as technically good.  If I weren't so lazy I would go into Photoshop and clone out the jet contrails in the sky and I'll get that done soon but for now, I love the image just the way it is.  Here's the story on both.....

My daughter, Heather, is a wonderful young woman.  She's a Special Needs kid and part of the reason I selected SOCO for my charity is because of her history competing in Special Olympics. Before heading off to Roswell, NM to attend college a few years ago, Heather was 8 times defending State Champion in Special Olympics gymnastics and it was a wonderful experience for her so naturally, I'm a bit biased towards Special Olympics. 

While she was going to school in Roswell she learned many things and researched a lot of stuff and about 2 years ago she started asking me to take her to Yellowstone.  We'd been there once when she was much younger but only passing through on the way from South Dakota to San Francisco.  Well, I love Yellowstone and can always use an excuse to go so we started planning and in May, 2010 we packed up and headed north.  We spent 3 days in Yellowstone and 2 days in Grand Teton National Parks and saw some amazing things.  Mostly, though, the company was wonderful and being able to show Heather the parks for the first time was very special to me.  Creating a wonderful image like this one was a bonus.

The desert sunset came to be in a similar manner.  When my oldest daughter, Erin, and her family lived here in Colorado we got to spend a lot of time with granddaughter Katrina.  We were built in babysitters nearly every weekend and saw her several times each week.  It nearly tore my heart out when they moved to Arizona but it was a good move for the kids and they really love living there.  That was 6 years ago and Katrina is now 10 years old going on 11 and quite the young lady.  Naturally, I try to visit as often as I can which is not nearly as much as I'd like but being a seamhead (baseball fan) I take advantage of the situation and almost every year make a trip to AZ in March to spend time with my girls and see some Rockies spring training games.  This year I made that pilgrimage and one afternoon when I was heading out to San Tan Mountain Park to photograph a sunset I asked Katrina if she'd like to go.  To my delight she said yes so we took off.  We talked about a lot of stuff and took a short hike to which led us to the image you see.  It's probably not the most technically perfect image I've ever created but I have a new hiking buddy and who knows...I may even turn her into a photographer like Poppaw! 

So there you have it...my two favorite images of 2010.  The images are nice, the trips were great, and the company was exceptional.  Not bad!

It's all about Family

You've heard the sayings a million times:  Blood is thicker than water...Family comes first...and there are many others you've heard.  But have you really ever given them a second thought?  I've heard them too but for a while now I've been paying little attention to them.  Oh sure, I made it to all of Heather's year end activities while she was away at college.  And I made it to all of her Special Olympics performances.  When Chris was young I was at every ballgame and most practices.  One year I even coached his baseball team. (If any of you Dads are thinking of doing that, call me...Please!)  When the girls were little I took them to swimming lessons and gymnastics lessons and suffered the indignity of being the only father at Mom and Tot activities. 

I spoke with my parents fairly regularly when they moved away and saw them as often as we could.  Many times on a 3 day weekend Judy and I would pack the kids in the car Friday after work.  We'd drive to Limon and stop for chicken nuggets at McDonalds followed by ice cream at the railroad car across the parking lot from McD's.  Then we'd bundle the kinds in their jammies and drive the rest of the night to Wichita and spend a couple days with my parents and sisters.  It was a bit tougher when my Dad retired from Boeing for the second time and moved to Holdenville, Oklahoma but we still tried to see them regularly. 

I'm not sure what happened or when but after my Dad and then my Mom passed, we started visiting Judy's parents more often.  We made the occasional trip to visit my sisters and their families but not nearly as often as before.  And over the next several years they dwindled to almost never.  Oh sure, we made a point to visit for the Bean family reunion in 2007, and I made a quick trip to Wichita in 2009 for my High School reunion, but visits there as a family have been virtually nonexistent. 

I haven't helped much either.  The past few years I've exhausted my vacation time on solo photo trips.  When my kids or my sisters started bugging me that we haven't visited Wichita enough it was easy to justify by saying  there is no vacation time left.  There were visits from both my sisters and some of my nieces here in Colorado from time to time but trips to Wichita were only for special occasions and my family is starting to get restless. 

Recently two visits have caused me to rethink my vacation time and how it's spent.  In October I visited Phoenix and spent a wonderful evening and morning with my Daughter and Granddaughter before heading out on a photo trip.  Yes, I admit it...I spent more time creating images than I did with my girls and it hurt when I had to leave. 

Most recently two of my nieces rented a cabin in the mountains west of Colorado Springs and were there for Thanksgiving.  We arranged for my family to visit them and I cooked a turkey and stuffing for the meal.  We had a great visit and, again, I was sad to leave.  All the way home I was thinking of how I've neglecting my side of the family.  It's not been intentional, just inconvenient.  And that's got to change.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to stop taking photo trips.  Those solo jaunts are what keeps me sane.  Cutting off the photo trips would be a very bad thing for me and Judy and the kids.  So that's not going to happen.  What I can do, though, is to take long weekend trips instead of devoting a full week to trips.  And in doing so I can save some vacation time for visits to family either in Kansas or South Dakota.

By now you're probably wondering why there is a photo of a Christmas Cactus accompanying this essay.  Well, it's got to do with a family visit.  My daughter, Erin, and her family are coming home for Christmas.  They live in Phoenix and I figured I needed a way to make them feel at home so today when I put the lights up for the season I included the cacti.  Should do the trick, right? 

What's the Big Deal?

For the record, (and it is a record...2 blogs in a row without a photo) I have no issues with heightened security measures laid on by TSA.  I understand my politics and beliefs may be light years diametrically opposed to those of many of the young people I work with and certainly some of my more liberal photographer friends.  I hope this won't start too many arguments because I'm not going to change your minds and you aren't going to change mine so please, indulge me for a few minutes. 

Like most Americans I was sickened and outraged by the events of 9/11.  I believe to the core of my being that despite what some government officials say we are in a war.  A war on terrorism.  And I don't believe we are trying very hard to win the war which saddens me greatly.  I'm not yet at the point of "..Kill them all and let God sort it out."  But I do believe we are in peril every day of our lives and we need to be ever vigilant.  And that's the point of this discussion.

Many people are becoming indignant and outraged by the more thorough frisking recently implemented by TSA at Denver International Airport.  I haven't watched much national news lately but the stories on our local news channels are multiplying like rabbits.  Just this morning I watched a report on 9News in Denver and therein lies my issue. 

The story had the usual voiceover by one of the news reporters accompanied by footage of about 12 or 15 people suffering the "indignity" of being frisked by TSA agents.  I saw it first last night on the 10 o'clock news and again this morning on 9News at 5am.  Last night there was a disturbing thought tickling at the back of my mind and it was confirmed this morning when I saw the report for the second time.  Of the 12 or 15 people being frisked, EVERY SINGLE ONE was a middle aged or older Caucasian.  No young people, no people of color, all of them were older white men and women. 

Maybe it's because I'm an older overweight balding white guy and quite possibly I'm overreacting but I'm pretty sure that a 70 year old Grandmother from Middle America doesn't quite fit the terrorist demographic.  I'm fairly certain that Mrs. Butterworth isn't going to stuff a chunk of C4 or Semtex in her bra and take out a commuter flight to Billings.  I'm equally certain that a Wilford Brimley look-alike isn't going to mold plastic explosives into his sneakers and blow Griz off the tail of a Frontier flight.

With this in mind I'm left with a head full of questions.  I understand that reporters have certain artistic license in editing so was this purposely edited in a manner to inflame and outrage people like me?  Are they really frisking a valid cross section of the mass of humanity that will pass through DIA this week or was the news report really representative of the people they select "at random" to be more thoroughly screened?  I could go on and on but I think you get the point by now so let's cut to the chase.

Given the events of 9/11 followed by the shoe bomber and later the underwear bomber, followed by the SUV full of explosives in Times Square and many other terrorist plots, I'm stunned into disbelief by the hue and cry raised by people who object to being frisked.  To those people I would ask only 1 thing:  Consider the alternative.  Think back to images of the space shuttle that exploded and the video of the flaming wreckage falling back to earth.  When faced with that prospect I really have very little problem with the thought of someone brushing the back of his hand against my junk.  If that's what it takes to keep my flight from going out in a blaze of glory, show me where I need to stand and get gloved up.

And one more thing:  If you really seriously object to having your junk brushed and your cheeks squeezed, shut up and go through the full body scanner.  It's not going to kill you.  Less security just might.

Peace, Out.

Stoopid Photographer Tricks

You may notice that unlike most of my other blogs, this one doesn't open with an image.  It's a little unusual for me to do that but I'll explain:

So there I am, standing behind the tripod.  Got the right lens, cable release attached, tripod leveled and image composed.  A very symmetrical line of huge old cottonwood trees that were planted in a straight row several decades ago silhouetted against a colorful morning sky.  Got my Rocket J Squirrel hat on to keep my ears warm and my light warm gloves since it's only 25 degrees out there.  I reach down to press the release button on the cable release and simultaneously glance at the LCD display to check out the histogram for exposure data and......see a 3 word phrase that reminds me how dumb I can be at times:  NO CF CARD.  That's right, no card in the camera and my backpack with extra cards is back in the car 200 yards away.  Hence, no sunrise image.  Just as well though.  After two of the most spectacular sunrises I've ever seen the past 2 days, the color this morning was pretty lame.  But that's not the point.  See, Photographers can sometimes be a bit distracted during the creative process.  I've detailed it before in a blog that talks about being in the creative "zone."  And the result is often what I call Stoopid Photographer Tricks. 

Over the years I've had my share of SPT's and I'm not proud of them but as Will Rogers once said, "Everything is funny when it happens to someone else."  With that in mind, here are a couple of my more memorable SPT's.

Several years ago in the early 90's when I was trying to convince Judy that I needed to buy a large format camera to improve my images, I devised a foolproof strategy.  The deal was to borrow a 4X5 camera from my workplace and head up to Rocky Mountain National Park where I would shoot a large format transparency of a beautiful mountain scene and shoot the same scene on 35mm so I could demonstrate the additional quality available from 4X5.  I found a great shot of the Colorado River flowing through a meadow in the Weimenuche Valley and started setting up for the shot only to discover that the camera I borrowed had a 3/8" threaded socket while my tripod was 1/4".  Basically, I couldn't mount the 5 pound camera and lens on my tripod and I'm not foolish enough to even contemplate hand holding a 4X5 studio camera.  I made my living at the time by checking details like that before sending a camera out on a rental so how was I able to get 100 miles from home with an unusable camera?  SPT.  I solved the delima by taking the head off my tripod and bolting the camera directly to the legs with no leveling head.  I leveled the camera by adjusting the legs of the tripod.  It was cumbersome but I got the shot and later when I dropped the 4X5 on the light table next to the same shot on 35mm slide film it was a slam dunk and 2 days later I had my own 4X5.

A few years later I was visiting the In-Laws at their ranch in the Black Hills of South Dakota and one morning I decide to hike up the hill from the ranch and try to duplicate the angle of photograph taken of their valley in the late 1890's.  (Yes, I had that idea years before John Fielder's book of then and now photos came out)  When I got up on the bluff where the old image was taken from it was pretty easy to align my camera using some rock formations as a reference.  I set up the tripod, got the 4X5 out of the backpack, and.......discovered that during my hike the tightening knob for the quick release mount on my Studioball head was missing.  Again, there was no way to mount the camera on the tripod.  I backtracked the way I'd come with the phrase "needle in a haystack" running through my mind.  Fortunately I was able to find the knob AND the two little springs and bracket to make the head functional.  This was a typical problem with the Studioball head and I knew it but for some reason when I finished shooting the previous afternoon I hadn't tightened the knob to keep it from vibrating loose.  SPT. 

Both of those episodes ended well with me getting the shot I wanted though not as easily as I should have.  But not every SPT ends well.  About the same time frame as those incidents I borrowed a Canon 500mm f4 lens to photograph some elk in Rocky Mountain National Park.  This was before I had switched to the Studioball and my tripod head at the time was a Bogen ballhead with the typical Bogen octagonal quick release plate and lever release.  This was an early version of the head before Bogen installed a safety release button on the lever release.  Anyway, I finished shooting one morning and as usual I set the tripod next to the sliding door to  my van and started packing equipment like I always did.  First, take the camera body off the lens and pack it away then pack the lens.  Simple, right?  Well, this time I dismounted the camera body and when I was turning to put it in my backpack the strap got caught on the lever release of the ballhead, releasing the lens.  Naturally, without the camera and motor drive to balance the lens it was front heavy and I will never forget the sinking feeling in my stomach as I watched a $5000 lens plummet to the asphalt.  I was fortunate that the hood was still on so the front glass wasn't damaged but the impact did enough damage to the lens that I was out a pretty hefty repair bill to get it fixed up by Canon USA.  Probably my most devastating SPT ever and certainly the most expensive. 

There have been many more Stoopid Photographer Tricks over the years though none have been as costly as the Canon Lens trick and I must have morphed into someone else because when I think of them I have to chuckle.  And that's exactly what I did this morning when I had no memory card to shoot with. 

So how bout you?  Let's hear about your most amusing SPT.  Leave a comment and let's talk it over. 

Another Year Older

Photographically speaking, 2010 is done.  Cameras and lenses have been cleaned and stowed.  Memory cards have been downloaded to both computers and my external hard drive.  The best of the best files have been edited and uploaded to the website.  Now only 2 chores remain:  I need to select an image to print for my annual special edition Christmas cards and I need to pick my favorite image and print it for the 2011 Rocky Mountain Nature Photographers White Elephant Print exchange.  Simple, right?  Not so fast, camera boy.....I've taken some pretty remarkable photo trips this year and choosing a favorite image is more difficult than I thought it would be.

**After further reflection I decided to add this link to a gallery on my website containing all the images referenced below.  This way you don't have to click on every one then hit the back button on the browser to get back to the blog. http://wcbeanphoto.photium.com/portfolio133636.html

In January we had to take Heather back to Eastern New Mexico University in Roswell and I was able to detour for a sunset and sunrise shooting at Bosque Del Apache.  I'd heard of Bosque and read about it for years but this was my first trip there and it was amazing.  Thousands of Sandhill Cranes, tens of thousands of Snow Geese.  And despite my inexperience at shooting birds in flight I was able to make some wonderful images including this one:  http://wcbeanphoto.photium.com/photo7555642.html 

In March I made my annual pilgrimage to Phoenix to visit my Daughter and Granddaughter.  We saw a Rockies spring training game and I was able to slip off one morning for a drive up the Apache Trail where I captured some extraordinary images.  Here's my favorite from that shoot:  http://wcbeanphoto.photium.com/photo5180843.html

Heather was home again for a late spring break and to celebrate her upcoming graduation she and I took a trip to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks.  She's been asking me for a while to go there and this was our chance.  We saw grizzly bears, black bears, elk, bison, moose, coyotes, and of course the wonderful scenery.  I've always loved seeing the Tetons and on this trip the weather conditions came together for a terrific sunrise.  http://wcbeanphoto.photium.com/photo5269818.html

July saw us on 2 trips.  Judy and I spent 4th of July weekend at a lovely B&B in Taos and even though the main focus (pun intended) of the trip was not photography, heck, I never travel without at least 1 camera.  I found some images around Taos, mostly of the architecture there and found a wonderful image at the church in Rancho De Taos.  http://wcbeanphoto.photium.com/photo5504914.html

Later in July we were back in Roswell again for Heather's graduation.  We had 2 vehicles so I made a side trip on the way back home that was pretty uneventful.  Despite that, I was able to shoot one sunrise that proved to be one of the most colorful ones I've ever seen.  They really play up the alien thing in Roswell and the way the trees glow at sunrise....well, you be the judge. http://wcbeanphoto.photium.com/photo5907679.html

There were no special photo trips in August but I did spend a little time in the sunflower fields north of Longmont and came home with some very nice images.  I'm in the process of printing a 5 print series for a wall display and this is one of my favorites.  http://wcbeanphoto.photium.com/photo5931259.html

In September we traveled to South Dakota for a family visit and I was able to spend an afternoon shooting in the Badlands.  I'd shot there before but as nearly as I can remember it was nearly 30 years ago so I was quite excited to spend some time there again.  Some nice images and one terrific sunset.
http://wcbeanphoto.photium.com/photo6237648.html 

Then October.  At the end of the month I had some vacation time to burn so I flew to Phoenix for a long weekend with Erin and her family and a side trip to Sedona.  I always love spending time with my girls and Sedona was incredible.  I spent one afternoon in West Fork Canyon photographing fall colors and had a terrific time.  Here is my favorite from that trip.  http://wcbeanphoto.photium.com/photo7427256.html

Now it's November and I've just celebrated (?) another birthday which has caused me to be a bit maudlin and reflect on what I've done this year.  I took some wonderful trips and created some images that really move me.  As far as deciding which is my favorite, well, I just can't.  So I've opened this blog with an image of my favorite Greek Goddess, my granddaughter Katrina.  Funny that I've created so many wonderful images this year but my hands down favorite is this one that I didn't shoot. 

So which one is your favorite?  Leave a comment and let me know.

I seeeee Nothink!

I don't usually go on rants and I'm not going to go off this time. Well, maybe just a little, but mostly I want to discuss what I perceive to be a disturbing trend in the National Parks and National Forests. It might be that I'm just paranoid, or there could be a completely plausible explanation. Then, again, maybe I'm onto something.

It has to do with Rangers and my attempts at information gathering. Don't get me wrong, I have tremendous respect for the men and women that work for the Park Service or Forest Service. They have terribly difficult jobs to do and they take it all in stride and smile through even the most inane of questions. They spend a good deal of their time protecting fuzzy woodland creatures from idiot people and equally as much time protecting the people from the creatures. A thankless job? In most cases...but when I was in college in the 70's one of my ambitions was to be Mr. Ranger Sir. I even spent 2 summers working for the U.S. Forest Service based in Darrington, WA.

In the more recent past I've had the opportunity to spend time in several National Parks and Monuments and travelled through countless National Forests and I've always been impressed with the amount of information I could gather in a 5 minute conversation with one of the rangers. Where have the wolves or grizzlies been most frequently spotted? Where are the most impressive displays of wildflowers? Is there a bigger bull elk in Morraine Park than the one I've been photographing in Horseshoe Park? All the information I need to be successful in my never ending search for new images. But lately there's been a change, and I don't much like it.

I started getting this feeling in the summer of 2009. I was planning a trip to Southeast Utah for 8 days of photography and started doing my usual research to get more information on how to find a site called False Kiva in Canyonlands National Park. I knew that several of the folks posting on one of the forums I read had been there and others had tried to find it unsuccessfully. The trend that ran through most of the threads was that while Park Rangers are obligated to disclose it's location, they would often refuse or simply not comment. I understand the concept behind non-disclosure of the locations of fragile cliff dwellings or rock art. The amount of vandalism is unbelievable so I don't have much of a problem with keeping those places secret. But False Kiva isn't in that category and to flatly refuse to divulge it's location is concerning.

When I visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in 2007 I spent quite a bit of time talking to rangers in both parks about where I could most likely find the critters I wanted to photograph and in every instance they were very forthcoming with the information though with the caveat that animals are very unpredictable and their information might not be accurate. They even kept a notebook of animal sightings on the counter at the visitor centers so you could see where the most critters were being spotted. But in 2010 that was all changed.

When Heather and I visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks in May of this year I naturally went to the Rangers for information....and was stonewalled. When asked if there were any fresh carcasses near roads I was given no information. When I asked where to find the nest of the Great Horned Owl near the visitor center in Mammoth nobody seemed to know. In Grand Teton when I asked if anyone had spotted Bear #399 they looked at me like I was speaking Martian. Not only that, but the notebooks containing records of sightings were nowhere to be found.

More recently I visited Coconino National Forest and the area around Sedona, AZ for a quick shooting trip. I stopped at the Visitor Center south of the Village of Oak Creek to look at maps and get some information. One of the folks in a Ranger uniform was literally following me around asking if I had any questions or needed help with anything. When I asked about the West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon he was only too happy to point it out on the map but when I asked how far up the Canyon I had to go to find the overhang with the reflecting pool, again I got the look like I was speaking a language from outer space. It was as if someone had flipped his switch to the OFF position. There was even a large photo of the area in question hanging on the wall and I pointed to it when I asked the question. No response...

I suppose it's possible that all the Rangers I approached honestly didn't know the answers to the questions I was asking but consider this: Rangers in Yellowstone and Grand Teton are tasked with controlling traffic for critter jams and also for removing carcasses that are too close to the road so Joe Tourist won't get chewed by a bear. They have radios and everyone on the Park frequency knows instantly where the jams are. The West Fork of Oak Creek is billed in every tourist guide as "..the most popular day hike in Arizona" yet nobody seemed to know where to find the location I was interested in. Coincidence? I think not!

How bout you? Have you experienced similar refusals to disclose information at a National Park or Monument? Leave a comment and let's hear about it.

I'm spoiled

The sign showing where you turn off the highway says "Call of The Canyon" and it's aptly named.  I've heard the call....more of a Siren's song capturing me and pulling me closer.  It's the West Fork of Oak Creek north of Sedona and I was fortunate enough to spend a few hours creating images and just generally being awed by the scenery. 

The feeling here is very similar to what I've experienced in Antelope Canyon.  Every step, every creek crossing, every turn around a bend in the canyon presents you with another image, each more impressive than the one before.  And when you're headed back to the vehicle it's the same.  You see compositions and lighting conditions that you missed on the trip in. 

I've never seen fall colors so vibrant or varied.  I commented in an earlier blog that I've never seen so many orange and red leaves as this year but this puts the aspens of Colorado to shame.  The oaks and other trees have banded together to produce a kaleidoscope of colors. And now I'm spoiled.  I'm not sure I'll ever be able to photograph fall colors in Colorado again without feeling somehow deprived.  I guess next fall we'll see.  For now, I'm pretty happy with this set of images.  Check the website gallery titled "New Work" in a few days to see the whole collection.

To Shoot, or not to Shoot...

Those of you who know me or have read previous blogs know that I'm a research junkie.  When I'm planning a photo trip to a place I've never shot before I spend untold hours online searching for information.  Looking at previously shot images, looking at maps, booking hotels and airline tickets, generally making myself as familiar with the location as I possibly can before arriving.  Most of the time I get some good data that makes my trip successful for the most part.  But sometimes it's a problem.

There are a lot of locations in the West that are very iconic.  They've been shot by tens of thousands of photographers over the years and you've seen images of them all...Delicate Arch, Mesa Arch, Yellowstone Falls, Old Faithful, the Grand Tetons, all the famous views in Yosemite.  The image accompanying this blog is another of the icons, The Mittens in Monument Valley.  I could show you hundreds of images online shot from this particular spot in all sorts of lighting conditions.  I think mine is a bit unique but like many of the icons, if you look hard enough you can find a set of holes from thousands of tripod legs in this spot.  And there's the problem.

I'm heading out Friday afternoon for Arizona.  Flying into Phoenix and spending some time with my daughter and her family before driving north to Sedona for a couple of days shooting.  I've been doing my usual research and in this case, I'm just about sick to death of seeing Cathedral Rock reflected in Oak Creek.  It seems if you google or bing up Sedona and images of the area, 99 out of 100 will be images of Cathedral Rock reflected in Oak Creek.  So the challenge is there for me....create some unique images of an iconic location.  Yes, I'll probably make at least one exposure of Cathedral Rock reflected in Oak Creek.  You can't visit an icon without photographing it even if your image will be number 10,000,000 in a series.  But I'll be spending my time searching for images I haven't seen before and who knows, I may get lucky.  I may run into some unusually spectacular light like I did at Monument Valley.  Check back in about 10 days and see.

What was once old is new again

I am always looking to become a better photographer.  I look at other shooters' websites, read their blogs, and monitor a few photographic bulletin boards where my peers post their images for critique and accolades.  And I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm not above stealing a good idea and adapting it to fit my own thought process.  So a few weeks ago when I ran across a blog post by Greg Russell about using newly acquired skills to process older images it struck a chord. 

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not a Photoshop or Lightroom wizard.  There are many thousands of folks out there that have forgotten more about processing images in the digital darkroom than I'll ever know.  But I'm always trying to improve.  I go to seminars...I read books...I follow Lightroom on Facebook for tips and tricks.  I also talk to other photographers and in the past year I've become much more active in a group of Colorado based nature photographers and have even gone shooting a few times with other photographers.  (My wife tells me I probably shouldn't go shooting with Richie V anymore cause he has lots of cool toys and I always want to buy some new stuff after a shooting excursion with him)  Mostly I'm just trying to get better and I think that though I have a long ways to go before I can truthfully say I'm pretty good at it, my skill level is higher than it was 5 years ago.  The software is also better and much more powerful than in years past. 

So with apologies to Greg for stealing his idea, I've assigned myself a project.  I'm going through my older images and reprocessing them with better software and more skill.  This will be an ongoing project and I'll probably try to post some of the more dramatic improvements here.  Which brings us to the photo above.  Combat fishing on the Russian River in Alaska.  This is an image I shot in 2005 when we took a cruise then spent some time on the Kenai Penninsula after the cruise.  At that time I think I was using Photoshop Elements 2 or 3, can't remember which one but it was a much less sophisticated version than Lighroom 3 which I use for most of my processing today. 

The top image is the original version, processed from the RAW file shot in 2005.  My technique then was even more primitive than the software I was using.  About all I did was adjust the black and white points, crop a little, and sharpen the file.  There was a little bit of burning and dodging but that's about it. 

The bottom image was processed in Lightroom and then exported to a plug in called Topaz Adjust where I was able to brighten and enhance the color without increasing the contrast too much.  I also cropped out some distracting elements and I have to admit, I really like it quite a bit better than the original. 

My goal is to work my way through the Alaska images at the rate of 1 image per week minimum so it may be a while before I make my way through the archives.  And by then this year's images will be old so I can process them with whatever software and skills I acquire in the future.  So keep checking back and please leave comments to let me know what you think. 

"...Why do they shoot for short pay.."

With apologies to Michael Burton, an Arizona rancher who wrote a wonderful cowboy song called Night Rider's Lament. I've stolen one of the lines and changed it to suit my purpose. It's a beautiful song about a cowboy who left the city life and a woman for who knows what reason. But he's wrangling cows and his city friends can't for the life of them understand why he does what he does. He explains it in the most loquacious of terms which I'll get to in just a while.

I've been thinking a lot lately about why photographers do what they do. Why do we crawl out of a warm bed or sleeping bag 3 or 4 hours before sunrise and stumble through the woods or drive significant distances at a high rate of speed to photograph a sunrise where the magic light may only last 3 or 4 minutes. Why do we sit shivering near the edge of a meadow in pre-dawn darkness waiting for the bull of the woods to grace us with his presence only to be disappointed a great deal of the time. Why do we stand knee deep in glacier fed streams to get just the right angle for our composition?

Some do it for the money. There are quite a few folks out there that make a living as photographers. Some live check to check and some are very successful. I don't have statistics to back it up but I'd guess that maybe 1% of 1% of all the photographers out there have gotten wealthy because of their craft. I spent a little less than 20 years making my living from photography though it mostly came from the periphery of the business, not from shooting. I did manage to make some money shooting weddings and portraits and I've sold some stock photos over the years but mostly I was working in photo labs or some such nonsense.

Some do it for the glory. There are photographers out there who publish scores of books. Some conduct workshops all over the world. Some have huge displays of their images in airports or restaurants and some even have their own tv shows. There's a lot to be said for the ego rush that comes from seeing your work displayed. Even more to be said for knowing that people are willing to pay to learn what you know. It's a rush that's hard to beat. I had one of my images displayed at the company where I work for a year and every time someone said "Bill, is that your photo hanging across from the elevators in building 1?" it made me warm and fuzzy all over.

I can't really pretend to know why my friends do what they do. Most of the photographers I associate with these days have "day" jobs in fields other than photography. We toil by day so we can get out on the weekends and create images. Some make some pretty good sales of their photos and with any luck, I'll be able to parley some of my images into cash to supplement my upcoming retirement. But that's not one of the main reasons I do what I do.

It's the rush...the fun...the therapy..the zone. Yeah, I said zone. When I go on a photo trip most of the time my family declines every invitation. They've been around me too long and been on too many excursions with me and they realize it's not usually fun or entertaining for them. When I'm seriously shooting, concentrating on creating images, I get into a "zone." I lose all my social skills and give little or no thought to the comfort or even the presence of the people around me. I might wait hours at a location for the light to get right. I might go back somewhere again and again at different times of the day to see how the light looks at different times. I don't care if my family has been sitting in the car for a long time and are tired and hungry and bored. When I'm working at my craft I'm there for me, not for them.

Sounds stressful, doesn't it? Well, I suppose it could be but amazingly enough, even though I'm zoned in to what I'm doing, photography is very theraputic for me. I come back from photo trips feeling very calm and peaceful even though I may have had limited sleep due to rolling out of bed for sunrise several days in a row. Despite sleep deprivation I feel tanned, rested, and ready for anything when I come back from a trip.

And then there's the rush. When I see a sunrise color the surface of a mountain lake. When I hear 6X6 bull elk bugle during the rut and see his frosty breath in the morning light. When I put a blank sheet of paper into a tray of chemicals and watch an image magically appear or even when I see a print come out of the ink jet printer. When I've been sitting in a hotel room for 36 hours waiting for the blizzard to stop and when it finally breaks and the sun comes out and gives me the best hour of light conditions I've ever seen. It's all about the rush and it's something non-photographers will never quite understand. And also something I can never truly explain. So I'll let Michael Burton's lyrics say it for me. (The correct lyrics this time)

"But they've never seen the Northern Lights...they've never seen a hawk on the wing. They've never seen spring hit the Great Divide..."

Stay in your warm bed for as long as you like. If you're looking for me I'll be out chasing sunrises like the one here of the Grand Tetons. See you out there.

Anticipation........

A famous football coach once said "..Luck is where preparation meets opportunity." This is one of my favorite quotes of all time. Maybe not the favorite but certainly top 3. And the images accompanying this post are examples of just that..preparation meeting opportunity. But there's a third element that I tossed in with the other two. Anticipation..one of the key elements of being a successful sports or nature photographer.

So you've learned everything there is to know about your camera gear and how to operate it in every conceivable situation. You know the critical elements of exposure, composition, and the physics of photography. You know that telephoto lenses compress perspective and wide angle lenses stretch perspective. You know the techniques for stopping motion or for increasing or decreasing depth of field. In short, you're prepared.

You've come to a dream location. Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, any pro sporting event you can think of. You have researched where to go to photograph the scenes or critters you're interested in. The time of year is right, you're in the right place, and you've been blessed with ideal weather by the photo Gods. This is opportunity.

So what now? Do you just run out and point your camera at your subject and hope it works? Well, maybe. Some photographers think if you shoot enough you'll get a few useable images and they're probably right to a certain degree. But let's take a little less haphazard approach.

The images that accompany this post are all results of 3 elements: Preperation, Opportunity, and Anticipation. I didn't just get lucky to get the images. I worked hard doing my research so I'd know where I had the best chance to get the shot. I knew my camera and lenses inside and out so I could change settings in my sleep and I knew what lens would work in what situation and what lenses wouldn't work at all. And I was able, through my research, to be in the right place at the right time to get the image. Here's how.

Let's take the middle image first. Simple shot...a black bear crossing a creek. Easy, right? Not so fast! I had a chance to visit Yellowstone in 1991 for a few days. I'd driven all night Friday night after work to be at the Oxbow Bend on the Snake river for sunrise before heading north into Yellowstone. I found a campsite at Indian Creek campground and headed out to scout the territory. Before I left I had a conversation with the campground host. Upon learning that I really wanted to photograph bears and moose he gave me the usual fisherman's answer. "You should have been here earlier this morning. We had a black bear come right through camp." Over the next 3 days I was to hear this several times but somehow the bear and I had conflicting schedules. Finally, on my last day in the park before heading home, I was sitting in front of my tent eating lunch when some people came running past headed for the meadow just over the hill. When I asked what the hurry was they said "It's a bear...headed for camp!" Sandwiches and chips were forgotten. I grabbed my camera, bolted it up to the 400mm lens and tripod, and headed to the top of the hill. It was a sight to behold, typical of Yellowstone. 1 bear, 50 tourists with instamatic cameras trying to get close to the bear. The tourists would move inside the bear's circle of comfort and the bear would move away. They'd come closer and the bear would move. I had spent the previous afternoon fishing Indian Creek and knew it a little bit so I put on my thinking cap. The bear was headed in the direction of a shallow ford where he could cross without swimming. Figuring that is where he would be, I beat feet back down the hill and headed for the ford. I got my tripod set up and set the exposure data on the camera and sure enough, 10 minutes later the bear appeared exactly where I thought it would. Preparation, Opportunity, and Anticipation. I got the shot.

The whale tail came about in a similar manner but for a much different reason. While visiting the Pacific Northwest in 2006 I had a day to kill while Judy went shopping with an old friend of hers so I booked passage on a whale watching cruise out of Anacortes. We cruised for a couple hours before finally finding some whales off the waterfront at Everett, Washington. The mode of operation is to spot a whale, try to guess where it's headed, and put the boat in the path of the whale. The first couple of times it was a fiasco! The captain pointed the boat at the whale, everyone raced to the front of the boat, and it was impossible to see the thing, much less photograph it. After watching the pattern of one of the whales I noticed that it was surfacing closer to the back of the boat than the front so I thought it might be a grand idea to move away from the crowds and hope the back of the boat would be the place to be. Sure enough, the next time the whale surfaced it was 10 feet from the stern of the boat and I was the only one to see it. It was a simple matter to get the shot. Preparation, Opportunity, and Anticipation. I got the shot.

The elk was maybe the best illlustration of anticipation. I was in Rocky Mountain National Park and found this guy running himself ragged trying to keep his harem of cows together. They were moving back and forth across the Moraine Park road near the main road intersection. I photographed him for about 30 minutes moving back and forth across the road before deciding to move on. As I was walking the 50 or so yards to my car I saw the lead cow of the harem start heading up the hill right towards my vehicle! Knowing the pattern of this group I knew that I'd watched them cross 3 times exactly where the lead cow crossed so instead of putting my camera away I thought I might just wait a few minutes to see what happened. I felt confident that I knew where they were going to cross so it was a matter of just picking the background and distance I wanted. I set up and waited. Sure enough after about 10 minutes the lead cow crossed right where I thought she would. One by one the other cows and calves followed her in single file. Finally, the bull came across the road and passed right in front of my camera, exactly where I predicted he would. Preparation, Opportunity, and Anticipation. Again, I got the shot.

Was I lucky to get these images? You bet I was. But I worked my butt off to be able to execute the shot when preparation and opportunity put me in position to anticipate the outcome and get the image I wanted. Try it...it works!

You don't have to outrun the bear......

There is no telling what might inspire a blog post. It might be something I see or something I hear. One blog entry came to me when I was mowing the lawn at my daughter's house. It sparked a memory of a conversation I'd had years before with my Dad about what kind of lawnmower to buy then progressed to how much I missed him and wishing I'd talked more with him. You just never know what's going to tickle my fancy.

This one, though, came to me in a little more arcane fashion. As a photographer I like to keep up with what other shooters are doing. There are several blogs I monitor regularly and a couple of those recently got me thinking. Bret Edge posted about photographing at an iconic location in the Rockies and his experience finding a marvelous image away from the crowd of photographers who were all shooting Maroon Bells near Aspen on a hum drum morning. Then another photographer named Greg Russell posted a couple of links to his blog on Bret's blog and when I started digging through his blog I found one entry about using new skills to process older images. In the midst of this all I was thinking about upcoming photo trips I may be taking including a cruise to Alaska next June that's also going to be a photo workshop cruise conducted by my old acquaintance Rick Sammon.

So where am I going with this? Well, let's see...lots of people trying to accomplish the same goal in a relatively small area...reprocessing older images....Alaska....I've got it! Combat fishing at the confluence of the Kenai and Russian Rivers in Alaska. Duh...makes perfect sense to me, hence the image. But what about the title? Be patient dear reader.

In 2005 Judy and I decided to celebrate our 30th anniversary by taking an Alaska cruise. One of the things we did was set up a trust for our special needs kid in case something should happen to us and during that process we found out that with net worth, retirement plans, and mostly life insurance, we are worth a ton of money..dead. Well me being me, I started talkling about how this would be a perfect plot for a romantic mystery novel. A couple finds out how much the other is worth dead just before a cruise and they spent the bulk of the trip trying to figure out how to do away with the other one. For the most part, Judy was unamused and for some reason when we were taking our evening walk around the Promenade deck on the cruise ship she always made sure I was closest to the rail. But that's not where the title came from.

When we were talking about some of the things we wanted to do after reaching Alaska we talked about how, during her youth, Judy's family would go fishing on the Russian River and catch lots of salmon. I started doing some research and saw some images of the Russian River Falls and salmon jumping up there but there was also a warning about bears being there. When I told Judy I wanted to see this sight she said "what if we run into a bear?" Answer? "No problem, hon...I'm pretty sure I can outrun you." The saying in bear country is "You don't need to outrun the bear, you only need to outrun one of your buddies."


Thanks Dad. You did pass on your Smartass chromosone.

So here you have it. An older image revisited. Lots of people in a small area trying to accomplish the same goal. And a trip to Alaska. Simple progression, right?

When Icons have feet of clay

The debate has been around since the inception of digital photography and will probably still be raging long after I'm gone. It centers around the difference in "enhanced" digital photographs versus "manipulated" photographs. It's been written and discussed ad infinitum. I've even written about it in previous blogs but some things have happened recently that put a new twist on it for me.

I'll begin by stating my views on the subject. When I upload an image to my computer and launch it in Photoshop or Lightroom I almost always only perform tasks I did in the darkroom. I'll crop the image if necessary, adjust the contrast, adjust the exposure, maybe increase the saturation, and use minimal sharpening. Some of these are necessary because of my technique and some are necessary because of the characteristics of the RAW format that I shoot in. I consider these images to be "enhanced" and they are always my attempt to render the image the way I saw it. There are 2 images on my website currently that have been "manipulated" using Photoshop magic but I knew when I shot them that I would be creating a surreal image in the computer. But the main thing for me is to present the images how I saw them. Not how I imagined them or how I wish I'd have seen them, but what I saw that moved me to create the image.

In that spirit I've always stayed away from filters that alter the perception of colors. Things like color enhancing filters, warming polarizers, or a combination of the two. The results produced by them just doesn't look real to me. I loved Velvia film when I was shooting film but only used it for certain low contrast scenes because of it's not always realistic reproduction of colors. In short, I tend to shy away from anything that changes the faithful reproduction of an image and I'm not a big fan of folks who produce those kind of images.

I also have no respect for photographers that are deceptive in describing their work. For many years I admired the work of Art Wolfe. His Nature and Wildlife photography was an inspiration to me. Then it came out that some of the images in one of his books were manipulated to the point where more animals were added to a herd of zebras to make the patterns look like there were more animals in the herd. I'd just about gotten over it until recently Outdoor Photographer magazine ran a cover shot by Art Wolfe of the moon showing through Delicate Arch in Utah. After much debate it was disclosed that yes, the moon had been added to the image of the arch. In essence, he was portraying things that simply had not occurred.

Not long ago a photographer was disqualified from a prestigious international competition when it was disclosed that his image of a supposedly wild wolf jumping over a fence was, in fact, a shot of a captive animal obeying it's trainer's commands. Again, deceptive.

Now there's the whole debate over HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo processing. I'm no expert but my understanding is that HDR is used to make adjustments in an image where the contrast is naturally too great to render a usable image. But people are getting carried away with it. Most of the time HDR images look pretty good but a lot of HDR's have a strangely unrealistic look. The colors are too saturated or the image is too crisp for what are professed as the conditions.

A recent image by Tom Till falls in this category. In one of his most recent collections of images Mr. Till displays some HDR images. One in particular is unrealistic to the point of being disturbing. His image looking through the window of an abandoned building near the ghost town of Alma is just downright unrealistic yet he declares that the images were reproduced the way he "saw" them. If he truly saw this image in the manner it's presented I'd really like to discuss his point of view. When I first looked at it I felt like I was having an acid flashback. It's simply too crazy looking.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not the Photoshop police and I'm not out to bust anyone who uses the tool to it's complete capability. All I'm asking is for people to be honest. If you saw 50 zebras in a herd, show me 50 zebras, not 100 zebras. If you didn't see the moon in that particular place in relation to Delicate Arch, don't tell me you did. If you've photographed a captive animal, don't tell me it's wild. And finally, if your vision of a scene is so ridiculously false, don't portray it as how you saw the image unless you're having an acid flashback. BE HONEST with me.

I mentioned earlier some of the actions I use when processing my digital images. The image accompanying this blog is a perfect example. Here's what I did and why I did it. As I said, I shoot in RAW format which does require some adjustments. The image was cropped to a more panoramic format because I feel it suited the subject. I increased the contrast slightly since RAW files tend to be low contrast. The only thing I did after that was to sharpen the image a little since RAW files are always a bit less than optimum sharpness. Basically I made 3 adjustments to this file. One because of the format I visualized when I saw the image, and the other two to compensate for the RAW format. It really does represent what I saw in the field. And if you have questions about any of my images I'll be happy to disclose my work flow and the reasoning behind it at any time.

In the meantime, anyone know of a couple of incredibly talented photographers out there that I can admire?

What...Me Rant? Nahhhhhh

Me? Rant? Never! Okay, well maybe a little, but only on days that end in "Y" and then only if I'm in groups of 1 or more or when I'm by myself or with someone. But never fear, readers, for this blog will only be half a rant.

Last weekend I went on an overnight trip to Steamboat Springs for a quick visit with some of the in-laws. Not a bad deal, right? Spend the night in Steamboat Springs, a wonderful mountain town. I'd get a chance to visit with some of the favorite relatives and there was a chance I'd be able to photograph some wildflowers based on reports I'd read on some of the photo bulletin boards. So off we went.

On the road about 1:30 Saturday afternoon and almost immediately I should have known how the weekend was going to go. About 20 miles out I had a vision: I left not 1 but 2 tripods at home. Can't shoot wildflowers without a tripod so we turned around and headed back to the house. An hour wasted. But not to worry, we're on the road. The rest of the drive was uneventful and we made it to Steamboat in a little over 3 hours. Let the adventure begin!

Second issue (and a portion of the rant): We pulled up to the hotel just before 4:30 and I went to the office to check in. Check in time is 3:00, right? So I tell the desk clerk who we were, he checks the computer, then gets on a walkie talkie and starts talking in some foreign language for about 3 minutes. He gets a reply and tells me our room won't be ready for 20 minutes but we can wait in the lobby if we want. Now the burn begins....so back to the car, sit there for 20 minutes then go register and get our suitcases all settled into the room. Then back in the car and off to the condo where the in-laws were staying.

After a bit of conversation we figured my brother in law and his kids weren't going to be arriving for a while so me being me, I decided to head up the hill to Dumont Lake to look for wildflowers and found a Bonanza. To quote Richard Landis, "...sweet flowers in profusion.." (if you remember that song you must be really OLD) but I did have a wonderful 90 minutes of shooting before the light faded. I wondered why it was getting so dark till I looked at my watch and saw it was past 8pm. Guess I better get back down the hill for supper.

We had a grand supper, Mike and the kids finally arrived, and we had a good visit before heading off to the hotel for the night and there we ran into the second hotel snafu. I tried to utilize the free wi-fi only to discover the password had expired. Another trip to the desk where I was told "yes, we know. The password always expires about this time on Saturday night." Grrrrrrrrrrrrr But I got it going before hitting the rack for a few hours of sleep. Up early the next morning and back up the hill for some sunrise light on the flowers. It was overcast so I had unlimited shooting time but I only played for about an hour before heading back to town to wake the family and have breakfast. On the way back I detoured up the Buffalo Pass road for a ways and was surprised by 2 big bull moose grazing in a meadow. I've seen lots of moose before but these were the 2 biggest bulls (and only big bulls) I'd ever seen. Of course I had a wide angle lens on the camera and they headed into the woods before I could change lenses. Note to self: (again) when traveling with cameras in wildlife habitat, keep the freakin telephoto on the camera ya bonehead! I missed the shot but I now know where to find them. But on with the story.

I got the gals awake and dressed and we took a peek at the breakfast area at the hotel. It was very small and very crowded so we decided to head to the condo for breakfast. Good meal, more conversation. Finally, we decided to head home...at 1pm. I knew we would hit the heart of the "coming home from a weekend in the mountains" traffic but had no choice. Sure enough it took us over 5 hours to get home. Arrrrrggggghhhhh.

But now the rant begins. I'm really fired up at the human race, specifically the rich ones who build huge homes in the woods and expect others to protect them from natural disasters. You know who you are and the pine beetle devastation is YOUR FAULT! I'm not delusional enough to believe that this is the first time the forests have suffered this malady but before there were no megahomes to protect. Mother Nature controlled the pine beetles by burning their little behinds out. But now we can't do that. We HAVE to protect property and structures. Don't we? I say NO FLIPPIN WAY.

The conifer forests of Colorado have been raped..abused...pick your term and the farther north you go the worse it is. North Park and the area around Steamboat Springs exhibit the worst beetle kill areas I've ever seen. I get so depressed when I see that I can't even begin to express it in words. My creativity was challenged when shooting the wildflowers because I couldn't find a backdrop of conifers that wasn't full of brown ugly beetle killed trees.

I know it will never happen but I sure wish we could utilize Mother Nature's way of controlling beetles. If we could just have a few major forest fires and back off from supressing them. If we could just let them burn...I truly think that's what it would take. But the toll on personal property would be enormous and for that reason I know it will never happen. We'll never just let the fires burn. And that, my friends, is a travesty worse than the beetle kill.

Saying Goodbye to an old friend

Most photographers I know are gearheads. As my friend Bret put it, we "..worship at the alter of gear." We all understand and accept that there is no perfect camera bag, no perfect tripod and head combination, and no lens that is perfect for every situation. I suspect that, like me, all photographers tend to get twitchy if we go too long between buying some new gizmos. We've even been known to barter and swap equipment sometimes for no better reason than to satisfy our jones for gear.

But this is not to make excuses for gear envy or anything. This is merely goodbye to a lens that has served me well for a long time. I'm speaking of my faithful old Canon 100-400mmL IS lens. I was the original owner, having bought the lens not too awfully long after I left my job managing a photo equipment rental business. I no longer had unlimited access to several hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment so I had to start acquiring my own gear and the 100-400 was the first serious lens I bought.

We made some excellent images over the years, this lens and me. Elk in Colorado, Bears in Wyoming, Whales in Washington, more Whales in Alaska, Deer just about everywhere. The list goes on and on. But I've not been shooting a lot of wildlife lately if you exclude the trip to Yellowstone. And I haven't shot sports since my son was about 12. So maybe it was time to find a more useful piece of equipment.

The first feelings of disatisfaction started to creep in during my trip to Yellowstone in May. Don't get me wrong, the lens performed well as always. I got some wonderful images with it but I just wasn't happy. Call it frivilous, crazy, self centered. Call it what you will. But in Yellowstone I more often than not had the smallest lens around. I couldn't really put my finger on it but I began to feel a bit unhappy with the 100-400.

My thoughts turned to other lenses. How could I shake this feeling of wanting more? Then I had a vision while driving home from work. What about a 70-200? It would cover a focal length range that I didn't have. It's among the sharpest lenses Canon has ever made. And I could probably swing some kind of trade for my lens and some cash which I could use to buy more gear! Man, this is getting better and better! I mentioned the deal to my friend Richie V and he said I could borrow his 70-200 for a long weekend to Taos to see if I wanted to do the deal. It was a spectacular weekend and I got some wonderful images with Rich's lens. I decided to do the deal but it wasn't as easy as I thought. I composed a good ad for craigslist but couldn't bring myself to push the button. Pre sale seller's remorse I guess.

Finally, though, I was able to rationalize to myself why I should go ahead with the ad. What the heck, there probably isn't anyone out there who wants to make the trade I'm proposing so I posted an ad saying I'd sell my lens outright or trade for a 70-200 f2.8 straight across or for a 70-200 f4 and some cash. I wasn't concerned about IS since I shoot most everything on a tripod. So I posted the ad thinking I wouldn't hear anything about it.

Well, the best laid plans....I had 3 replies in less than an hour after posting, all wanting to swap. The first responder said if I didn't want to trade for his lens he would pay the cash. So we made arrangements to meet and agreed to a period of time where either of us could change his mind and swap back no questions asked. It was difficult but I went through with it and after a 3 day trip to Roswell I'm not sad. I'm now the new owner of a Canon 70-200mm f4 L IS lens and as a bonus I also have a new Canon 1.4x tele converter.

There are 2 images at the top of this blog. The one of the trees was shot Thursday morning near Roswell, NM with the 70-200mm and the Bighorn Ram portrait was shot in May with the 100-400. It's tough to tell from the image of the trees and because of the way this blog uploads images, but the shots I did with the new lens are razor sharp. I'm not disappointed in the least with the lens or the trade.

So Goodbye old friend. Enjoy your new home and make me proud.

Musings on leaving Roswell and New Mexico in general

Roswell, in and of itself, really isn't that attractive. Once you get past the alien stuff it's pretty bland. No spectacular scenery, no fantastic waterfront...the landscape is pretty flat and boring. It can get beastly hot in the summer and pretty cold in the winter. We've eaten at quite a few different restuarants there over the years and none has proven remarkable enough to seperate itself from the pack. I suppose, now that Heather is done with school, I may have put Roswell in my rear view mirror for good. I may pass through there on the way to somewhere else but as a destination there's not much there.

I left there yesterday morning with a grandiose plan that included photographing some locations and scouting others and was partially successful but when 4pm found me sitting in Blake's Lotaburger in Santa Fe I realized I was dramatically behind schedule and the weather was closing in so I pointed my nose north and headed home. No wildflowers for me this year I guess. But I did have a lot of time to consider New Mexico and my travels there and here is the list:

Roswell...been there, done that, probably not going back.

Lotaburger is just another average burger (sorry Lorenzo, I know it's your favorite)

Taos-a nice place to visit...once or twice. I've been there 3 times and it's pretty much same old, same old now.

Santa Fe-Definitely holds some possibilities. The Old Town area looks fascinating for shopping and there is a well respected Photographic Arts training facility there. Might warrant a long weekend sometime.

Albuquerque-So far I've only been here on a "passing through" basis. It's a nice halfway stop on the trip to visit Erin in Phoenix. I recently learned that my Great Grannie Bean lived there the last part of her life and my cousin is there now. As soon as my sisters and I can coordinate our schedules we'll descend on Patsy for a lesson in family history.

So much for the cities. But there are a lot of locations I need to photograph more extensively and some I haven't visited at all. The images above are from yesterday's trip. I detoured to Three Rivers Petroglyph Area and later visited Gran Quivira Ruins. I was at both locations during the harsh light period of the day and would really like to be at both places during the magic hours.

I've never been to Bisti Badlands though it's near the top of my photographic bucket list and the same for Chaco Canyon and Canyon de Chelly. I spent one morning shooting at White Sands so some extended shooting time there would not be out of the question.

So while New Mexico has a lot to offer, Roswell....not so much.

The Eyes Have It...(Or Not)

Please forgive me for posting the same image on 2 consecutive blogs. I don't usually do that but in this case it's appropriate and I'll explain in a little while.

Considering my background in Photography a lot of my friends come to me for advice on what camera to buy. Usually they are looking for a point and shoot, a market I don't really pay much attention to. The technology changes about every 90 days so my knowledge of specific models would be outdated by November. For these reasons the answer is usually the same...cameras are designed by computers and built by robots so if you stick with one of the major brands it's pretty tough to get a bad camera. Mostly it's a matter of which one fits your hand and your budget being the best camera for you.

There are 2 things I do mention, though, when I answer the question. I think it's important to have an optical viewfinder and the maximum amount of optical zoom you can get. These are two critical features in my opinion. But there's a problem. If you sense a rant coming on you're right but not just yet. Just now I'm camera shopping for my wife and trying to take my own advice.

About 7 or 8 years ago we were at a family reunion in northern Nebraska. My brothers in law and I decided it would be fun to take a canoe trip down the Niobrara river and I wanted to take some photos. Having been in canoes before and knowing their propensity to tip over sometimes I asked if I could borrow the spousal camera, a nice little Canon Sureshot film camera. The question: "Why can't you take your own camera?" The answer: "My camera and lens is worth over $1000, yours is a little over $100. If we tip the canoe over the math doesn't make sense." With logic like that it was an easy sell so me and the Sureshot headed out for a canoe ride.

Along the way there was some discussion about who would drive the canoe. I mentioned I'd been in canoes quite a bit when I was younger so I was nominated to steer one of the canoes. I neglected to advise them that the last time I was in a canoe was about 1963 but it wouldn't have mattered. So there we were, getting the canoes in the water, arranging the coolers and cold drinks, and pushing off. I thought I'd be cool and jump in the stern after pushing into a little deeper water and that's where my judgement came into question. Forgetting my canoe experiences I neglected to jump in directly from the stern, choosing to approach from the side. An instant later the canoe was upside down and I was sitting in 3 feet of water with just my head above the surface. Worse, Judy's camera was hanging around my neck and to my dismay, it didn't swim very well. In fact, it drowned instantly. After much explaining when we got back I promised to buy her a new camera, relishing the opportunity to get her away from film and into the digital world.

Two weeks later she was the proud owner of a Canon A75 digital camera. It was 3.2 megapixels, a lot for that time, had an optical viewfinder, and wonder of wonders, allowed her to shoot video which she did in profusion every time Heather was competing in Special Olympics. After much whining and groveling she even allowed me to borrow it for a trip to San Francisco. (that's why the same image is posted on 2 consecutive blogs. This image was shot with that camera before being altered in Photoshop) It's been a great little camera and has served her well for many years. But now it's dying. The LCD no longer works for viewing so you can't see what you're about to shoot or have just shot. So I'm camera shopping. LET THE RANT BEGIN

In attempting to heed my own advice one of the critical options of a camera is an optical viewfinder. After shopping a few stores, though, I'm learning that those options are becoming more and more difficult to find. In fact, the local Best Buy didn't have a single point and shoot camera on the shelf with an optical viewfinder. Ditto the local Costco. What the bleep is wrong with the camera manufacturers? Do they think people never shoot photographs in bright sunlight? Is it their opinion that all photographs are taken indoors? What the bleep? When I bought my Canon G10 last year it seems there were a lot more cameras with optical viewfinders. Of course, the G10 and it's replacement G11 cost about twice what I've been authorized to spend.

So I've been shopping cameras. After a quick discussion it's been made clear to me that an optical viewfinder may be one of the things I'm a bit OCD about. With that in mind I'm going to disregard my own advice. By dismissinng an optical viewfinder I can concentrate on sticking with the major brands and merely look for a robust optical zoom. So far I've looked at a Nikon and an Olympus model. And I think we've found one at Costco. Better yet, it's on sale! Boooo yahhhhhhh! Now I'll have one more camera to learn. So what if there's no optical viewfinder? It ain't my camera!

Gimme yo left, yo right, yo left

I've always been a little confused by the Left Brain/Right Brain thing. I took a Psychology class back in High School but all I remember about that is being told that 1 out of 5 Americans suffers from mental illness. After that we all tried to avoid sitting in the 5th seat. I didn't hear about the Left/Right thing till much later in life when I was studying Photography.

They say that most people fit into one of the two categories. Studies seem to indicate creative people tend to use the left side of their brain more while mechanical people are right brain oriented. I don't know if that's entirely true but I accept it and will use that as the premise of this blog entry.

I believe very strongly that Photographers use both sides of their brains equally. If they didn't, most of the outstanding photographic images you see (perhaps even a few of mine) would never be created. Here's why....

There is a lot of discussion about the ability to "see" an image. You can definitely learn all the rules of thumb regarding composition and lighting but a lot of folks believe that you either have the eye or you don't. I tend to fall into this camp. How else can you explain why someone with a bazillion dollars worth of equipment can create some pretty good images but nothing that really moves you yet a person with basic equipment can photograph the same scene and create a very emotional image.

When I'm out on a photographic expedition and searching out things to photograph the left side of my brain is going at warp speed. Is this an interesting composition? Is the light good now or would it be better at a different time of day? When I decide something might make an interesting image and the camera is brought out, how does it look through the viewfinder? Would it look better if I moved my angle of view? Are there any distracting elements in the frame? Any bright spots that will draw the eye away from the subject? Then come the compositional rules. What's attracted me to this image? Are there leading lines? Repeating patterns? Contrasting elements? All the rules of successful composition run through my subconscious at lightning speed. Most times I don't even think about it, the image just "hits" me. The image of the subdued shadow of the cross on the bell tower is an example of just such a "hit." I saw it and even before turning on the camera I knew how I was going to compose and frame the image.

So if we conclude that the left brain is responsible for "seeing" images, where does the right brain come in? Well, there is a lot of mechanical activity in creating a photograph. Once the left brain has found an image worthy of photographing what now? What lens should I use? A telephoto to compress the elements? A wide angle to stretch the perspective? Should I use a small lens opening for more depth of field or a large lens opening to blur the background? What about shutter speeds? Do I need to freeze or blur movement? Should I use a filter to get the desired effect? A polarizer? Neutral density? How bout a graduated ND filter? Most importantly, do I need to correct the exposure readings or will they be sufficient for this subject? And that's not considering post processing. Was the white balance correct? Did I crop the image correctly? What about burning and dodging? Color correction? Come on right brain, give me guidance. What do I need to do mechanically to execute this image the way I see it in my mind?

Now that we've gotten that data out of the way, let's examine how the process is executed for the two images accompanying this blog beginning with the Shadow of the Cross. I was in Taos, New Mexico for a long weekend and went out to San Francisco De Asis church one morning to photograph the church. I'd photographed the church before and have some nice images but when I visit a place I've previously photographed I'm always looking to improve on the existing images. In this case I didn't think about it being Sunday morning. People were showing up for early morning Mass and were milling around on all sides of the church so the grand elevation shots were impossible. I started looking for detail images and when I finally made my way to the front of the church I looked up at the bell tower and this image "hit" me. I saw it before me and in my mind's eye I saw how it would look as a finished photograph. Now all I had to do was execute the image. ENGAGE RIGHT BRAIN! I had a wide angle zoom on the camera but knew I needed more focal length to isolate the view I wanted so I quickly changed lenses and got the camera mounted on my tripod. What about framing the image? I zoomed in and out a bit to find the composition that most closely matched what I wanted to portray. Now let's think about exposure. The majority of the subject is neutral, probably very near 18% grey reflectance value which is what the meter is going to try to do so no compensation is necessary. There is an area of shadow and an area of white but neither is enough to influence the exposure adversely. Now that exposure is calculated and verified, what about the shutter speed/aperture combination? The subject is static so there's no danger of subject movement and I'm on a tripod so there's no danger of camera movement therefore the shutter speed isn't a determining factor. I don't need to blur a background and the subject is far enough from the camera that a moderate lens opening will give me adequate depth of field. Knowing that all lenses are critically sharpest about 2 stops in from maximum aperture I stopped down to f8 and pushed the button. A glance at the histogram on the LCD display told me I'd nailed the exposure and the preview told me the composition and focus was right on so I was done and on to the next image. The left brain "saw" the image and the right brain made it happen.

But what about the other image? Well, that one came to be in a reverse sequence. It took shape in the right brain first, moved to the left brain for refinement, then back to the right brain for execution. I was attending a photo seminar in San Francisco a few years ago which dealt with both the process of seeing and creating an image but also post processing techinques in Photoshop. One of the quick and dirty techniques we learned in the morning session was a graphic pen technique. Basically Photoshop converts a photograph to a line drawing image using the graphic pen effect. Then using some Photoshop magic you "paint" the color back in, the result being a graphic image that's a bit surreal, similar to a hand colored Black and White photograph. My right brain communicated the mechanical process to the left brain which "saw" an image of the fishing boats at Fisherman's Wharf which would be perfect for this techinque. During the lunch break I hopped on a cable car to the Wharf, composed the image, and exposed it. (The seagull was a bonus) Then back on the cable car and on my way back to the hotel where the seminar was being held. A quick download from the camera to the computer, the graphic pen effect was initiated, the color was painted back in and there was the image, just as I'd seen it in my mind.

So there you have it. The left brain "creates" the imaginary image and the right brain takes over to mechanically execute it. In my opinion there's no doubt about it. Successful photographers are mentally ambidextrous.

Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment and we'll discuss it.