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Archive for the ‘Featured Photos’ Category
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
Mt. Lassen National Park in northern California seems to be one of the lesser known and visited national parks. It make lack some of the panache, history or supreme grandeur that the better known parks have. However, as a photographer, I really enjoy the diversity, volcanic activity and wilderness feel it has. On my most recent trip, in addition to some of your more standard nature images, I was able to take some photos that I feel are truly unique and artistically intriguing.
 Burney Falls State Park is less than an hour's drive north of Lassen Several lakes in the park provide views and reflections of Mt. Lassen and other peaks.
 Twilight glow, Mt. Lassen, Chaos Crags and Manzanita Lake The boiling mud pots in Bumpass Hell are a sight you won’t see outside of Yellowstone. With some special light or atmospheric conditions they have the potential for some very interesting photography.
 Bumpass Hell boiling mud pots and pools, Lassen Volcanic National Park Kings Creek Falls is just one of many along a spectacular stretch over a mile long that drops steeply into a canyon.
 Kings Creek Falls But so far, the area around Butte Lake, in the north east corner of the park is my favorite for photography. The large cinder cone makes a great photo subject in itself, and from its summit one can photograph the surreal Painted Dunes and lava beds. The forest of ponderosa pine and carpets of pine cones also make interesting photography subjects.
 The Cinder Cone, Lassen Volcanic National Park  Painted Dunes, Lassen National Park  Sunrise light on the Painted Dunes  Ponderosa pine cones
Tags: favorite spots in lassen national park, fine art landscape photography, landscape photography in california, lassen volcanic national park, photographing in lassen national park, photography locations in lassen national park
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Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
The Jefferson Wilderness in the Oregon Cascades, located to the north of Santiam Pass, east of Salem and West of Sisters, is one of the most amazing natural mountain environments on the west coast. Mt. Jefferson itself is awe inspiring as the second highest peak in Oregon and host to the largest glaciers in the state other than those found on Mt. Hood.
 Warm sunset light on Mt. Jefferson and Bays Lake
In days past I have trekked into Jefferson Wilderness on several occasions, either backpacking or to climb Three Fingered Jack or Mt. Jefferson itself. This was my first time to visit specifically to take photographs. The wilderness is home to some extremely photogenic countryside. For the dedicated photographer willing to backpack in with camera gear and spend a couple days exploring it is a wonderland.
In July I spent a memorable week with fellow photographer, David Cobb (www.dmcobbphoto.com), photographing in two different parts of the wilderness area.
 Mt. Jefferson reflected in Rock Lake First, we backpacked in to the popular Jefferson Park area via the Woodpecker Ridge Trail which is accessed by a forest road (road 040) a few miles to the east of the town of Detroit. Jefferson Park can be overcrowded on weekends in August, but midweek in July, when there is still quite a bit of snow on the ground and the mosquitoes are at their peak, we only saw three or four other parties in three days. Jefferson Park is popular for a reason. The flat alpine basin at over 6,000 feet of elevation has several lakes and numerous small tarns that reflect some of the best views of the mountain available. As the snow melts wildflowers carpet the marshy meadows. The position of the Jefferson Park area on the north side of the mountain means that in summer the peak gets great side light for photography at both sunrise and sunset.
 Snow filled tarn in Jefferson Park After three days on the north side of the wilderness we hiked out, drove over Santiam Pass and down the east side of the cascades where we drove along more forest roads (road 12 to 1230 to 1234) to reach the Canyon Creek trail head. The Canyon Creek trail starts at Jack Lake ascends toward Canyon Creek eventually arriving at Canyon Creek Meadow at the base of the north east side of Three Fingered Jack. Three Fingered Jack isn’t the highest of the Oregon Cascades, but it is one of the cragiest with the most interesting geologic patterns of colors and layering. Canyon Creek Meadow is located in a glacier carved basin directly at the base of the sheer north face of Three Fingered Jack. In late July it is home to one of the most amazing wildflower blooms in the state. We were a week or two too early for the peak of the flowers, so I look forward to getting the timing better next year. Even still the early morning light on the peak with winding streams, reflecting pools and green meadows below made it one of the more memorable campsites and photography locations I have had. A high ridge blocks the late evening light, so we cooked dinner and hid from the voracious mosquitos in the tent. However, the morning light is sublime. We spent over an hour finding one composition after another as the warm glow of the rising sun slowly progressed down the mountain face.
 Paint brush in Canyon Creek Meadow below Three Fingered Jack Greg Vaughn gives good directions and photography suggestions for both these locations in his book Photographing Oregon.
 Three Fingered reflection
Tags: canyon creek meadow photography, cascade range wilderness, Jefferson Wilderness, oregon photographer, photographing mt. jefferson, photographing three fingered jack, photography by sean bagshaw, photography in jefferson park, photography in the jefferson wilderness, southern oregon photographer, wilderness areas in oregon
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Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
 Wildflowers at Dalles Mountain Ranch The Columbia River Gorge and corresponding scenic areas and monuments is one of the most varied and visually compelling natural locations in North America and it is an icon of the Pacific Northwest. Photographically, a visit to the “Gorge” is worth it any time of the year, although summer weekends can become notoriously overcrowded. As with so many locations, the height of spring and fall color are often the best for photography.
 Bike racers descend the Rowena Curves during the Cherry Blossum Stage Race. This spring I had the fortune to visit the Columbia Gorge two times and photograph some of the waterfalls found along the Oregon side as well as some of the best wildflower locations found further east near Mosier and The Dalles. This entry in my blog features several of my favorite images from my two spring visits this year. These photographs are new enough that they have not been added to my site yet, but they are available upon request. I hope you enjoy!
 Mt. Adams from near the town of Trout Lake  Metlako Falls  Punchbowl Falls  Hiking along Eagle Creek  Elowah Falls  Upper Horsetail Falls  Rowena Hills Sunset, Tom McCall Preserve  Mosier Cherry Orchards  Small wildflower with an even smaller spider  Sunrise at Dalles Mountain Ranch  Out to pasture at Dalles Mountain Ranch  Earthbound Sun, balsamroot and lupine
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Thursday, November 20th, 2008
Much of my photography is of the greater landscape and I’m often trying to present sweeping vistas with sharp detail. However, I also like to photograph more intimate scenes and abstracts. One of my favorite abstract techniques is motion blur. This can be achieved a few different ways and is a particularly good technique for emphasizing leading lines in a photo while smoothing out distracting elements. The final result can often look more like a painting than a photograph.
I really like to use motion blur with trees that have staight trunks. The technique is more an art than a science, so a lot of experimentation and throw away images are required to get something that I like. I start by setting a relatively slow shutter speed and making a vertical pan (movement) with my camera. I have found that shutter speeds between 1/4 of a second and 1/20 of a second work best. I move the camera up or down, in as straight a line as possible and depress the shutter release as the camera is moving. At slower shutter speeds I pan slower and at faster shutter speeds I pan faster. It is hard to know exactly what will be in the frame so I repeat the process over and over so that I will have many images to select from. Panning the camera while it is on a tripod can help keep the motion steady and smooth, but also limits flexibility.
Physically panning the camera is often all I need to do to achieve the abstract look I’m going for. Other times I selectively add more blur by using the Motion Blur filter in Photoshop (Filter>Blur>Motion Blur). To do this I’ll create a duplicate layer of the background image and blur the duplicate. Then I’ll add a layer mask to the blurred layer and paint with a black brush on the mask to bring through any detail from the original image that I want to keep. This digital blurring technique can also be applied to images that were taken in focus without panning the camera. Digital blurring often takes just as much trial and error as panning the camera.
Several of my favorite photographers have used these techniques to create some wonderful abstract images, including Jesse Spear, Eddie Soloway and William Niel.
Tags: camera panning, Digital Image Editing Tips, digital photography, Digital Photography Tips, Eddie Soloway, fine art photography, Jesse Spear, motion blur, nature photography, photography of trees, photography tip, Photoshop motion blur, shutter speed, William Niel
Posted in Digital Image Editing Tips, Featured Photo, Featured Photographer, Featured Photos | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
One of the goals of my photography is to create images that have a sense of mystery and the surreal. Photography is so often based in pure realism, but I find that I am attracted to images that give a glimpse into fantasy or imaginary worlds. Many of my friend DAVID WINSTON’S photos have such a quality and I have also mentioned MICHAEL KENNA more than once. Although their subject matter is very different from my own, I am inspired by the photography of NICK BRANDT and GREGORY COLBERT.
 In my photography I am often trying to show familiar subjects and locations in a way that is familiar while at the same time mysterious and fantastical. Unique perspectives, purposeful composition, extreme weather, motion and magical lighting can often create something extraordinary in an ordinary setting, but such conditions are not always available. Recently I have been experimenting with some techniques, both in the camera and in the computer, that give me more options when trying to achieve something mysterious and stylized.
Three of the oak forest photos accompanying this article are from a series I call Griffin’s Dream. I used a slow shutter speed (about .4 seconds or more) and panned my camera vertically during the shot. This caused the trees and grass to blur into streaks of light and dark that look somewhat like brush strokes and help to remove fine details from the scene, leaving only the main elements of form and color.
 In the right kind of light, panning, zooming and other camera motion effects can create a great final image. However, for the Griffin’s Dream series the light was very flat giving the scene low contrast and washed out colors, so I employed a second technique to arrive at the final interpretations. In order to increase saturation, contrast and dynamic range in the initially lifeless images I used different combinations of blending modes in Photoshop. Darkroom technicians first developed the practice of stacking transparencies or negatives in various ways to produce different effects, and similar effects can be achieved with blending modes in Photoshop. To use blending modes you start by creating one or more layers that are exact copies of your original image (Layer>Duplicate Layer). Then in the Layers Pallet select each layer in turn and change the blending mode in the drop down menu at the top of the pallet. The blending mode defaults to “Normal”, which means that no blending between layers is taking place. For low contrast images I find that a combination of Multiply, Overlay and Soft Light blends work the best, but you have to experiment and see what works for each image. I also individually control the degree of each blend using the Opacity slider on each layer. I think the final result is painterly, surreal and fantastical, more like an impressionistic painting or a forest vision from a child’s dream.
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Monday, July 16th, 2007
In the Rogue Valley we get a serious vetch bloom in May. There isn’t a lot of color variety, but it covers large areas of the surrounding hills, literally turning them purple.
One evening in mid spring this year I was frantically driving around attempting to be in the right place for the best light during an approaching thunderstorm. I missed catching a rainbow and lightning and several other locations just didn’t pan out. I finally was forced to pull over, jump a fence and run up a hill at the last minute to grab this shot right before the sun went down. Then it started to rain. I like working under pressure if I can come away with a shot…otherwise it makes me want to huck my camera off a cliff.
Canon 5D, 16-35mm f/2.8 @ 16mm, 3 stop NDG, dual exposure manual blend of .5 sec @ f/18 and 1/8 sec @ f/18.
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Monday, June 4th, 2007
This photo was taken at the summit of 17,500-foot Gokyo Ri in the Mt. Everest Region of the Himalayas in Nepal. Gokyo Ri, while much higher than any mountain in the US outside of Alaska is really just a small hill in the Himalayas. It is located above the third lake in the Gokyo Valley which lies directly to the west of the Khumbu Valley, the main drainage leading from the base of Mt. Everest’s south side. From the Gokyo Valley Mt. Everest is obscured from view by a high ridge of peaks running between the two valleys. However, those who make the additional effort to ascent Gokyo Ri are rewarded with a grand view over the intermediate peaks to the world’s highest peak beyond. At least they are when the summit of Gokyo Ri is not enveloped in thick clouds as it was when I arrived. Shivering in the cold wind and physically exhausted by the steep climb at such a high altitude I was disappointed not to see the vista I had been anticipating. However, it was still powerful knowing that I was standing on the brink of a great drop and that the large peaks of the Himalayas spread out beyond my feet. I could almost feel the gravitational pull of Mt. Everest’s huge mass out there in the fog.
Even without the view of the mountains, the strings of Tibetan prayer flags blowing in the swirling wind and fog and isolated from their surroundings created a powerful image in my mind. Despite cold and fatigue I set up my camera and took several shots. I think the one above best captures the sense of windy isolation I experienced on top of Gokyo Ri that day.
On the descent the fog thickened and it began to snow. For a while I lost the trail and veered off course before coming out below the clouds and making my way back to the village at dark.
Fortunately I was able to stay in Gokyo for a while longer. Two days later I made the climb again before dawn under clear skies. The sun rose directly behind Mt. Everest sending out rays of light across the valleys and peaks. The second photo is one I took that morning not far from where I had taken the one in the fog two days earlier.
Canon EOS 5D
28-135mm lens
First Image .6 sec @ f/36
Second Image 1/60 sec @ f/6.3 with fill flash
Gitzo Carbon Tripod
Posted in Adventure Journal, Featured Photos, Photography Travel Journal | 2 Comments »
Monday, April 9th, 2007
In April and May of 2006 I trekked through four valleys in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. This region, known as the Solokhumbu, is home to the Sherpa people. Living high in the Himalaya the Sherpa are more closely connected geographically, religiously and ancestrally to the Tibetan people than they are to people living in the lowlands of Nepal.
At over 16,500 feet in elevation Gokyo is one of the farthest outposts of habitation in the Everest Region. Located on a glacial lake directly below the massive south face of Cho Oyu, the world’s eighth highest peak, Gokyo has several lodges that serve trekkers and climbers. The lodges are owned and operated by Sherpa people. While I was there the owner of one of the lodges was killed. He was walking from a lower village in the night and fell off the narrow mountain path. Within hours a contingent of Buddhist Monks were summoned from Khumjung to perform a funeral ceremony. In this photo the monks are leading a procession carrying the body into the mountains to perform the traditional cremation.
Canon EOS 5D
Canon 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens
1/200 sec @ F/8
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Friday, March 16th, 2007
In April of 2007 I made a solo trek through four valleys in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. While part of the country of Nepal, this region is largely populated by the Sherpa people, who practice Tibetan Buddhism and whose ancestors are Tibetan. The Chinese occupation of Tibet over the last half century has made practicing traditional Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet very difficult, restricted and often dangerous. In 1959, in the face of growing danger from the Republic of China, the Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India . As the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama has been leading his government in exile and working for peace and the freedom of Tibet ever since. Thousands of Buddhist monks and nuns have also fled Tibet to practice in peace in other parts of the world. Being close to Tibet, both geographically and culturally, the Mt. Everest region is a desirable place for refugee Buddhist monks and nuns to come to. Monasteries are found in many of the villages in the region and carry out their traditional roles as an integral part of Tibetan Buddhist culture.
While trekking through the small village of Thamo in a valley to the southwest of Mt. Everest I came across a partially constructed monastery. The lama in residence was glad to give me a tour. The monastery is being built to house a group of Buddhist nuns who have been worshipping in the village for some years and have outgrown their space. As funds are raised, construction on the new monastery goes forward. The project has been underway for several years and several more years are needed before completion. In the meantime the nuns have been conducting their daily practices in a very small hut that used to be a schoolroom. I was allowed to observe their ceremony and, for a donation to the construction effort, encouraged to take photos. The young nun in the photo is a Tibetan refugee who had first studied in the south of India and had recently moved to the Thamo monastery. During their puja, or ceremony, she never stopped chanting but was very curious about the blond foreigner with the camera. Her inquisitive gaze followed me around the room while many the older nuns continued chanting as if I wasn’t there.
1/50 sec at f/5.6
ISO 1600
Canon 5D
28-135 mm lens
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Wednesday, March 7th, 2007
I have trouble getting inspired to take photographs in the winter even though there is often the most interesting light and fog, snow and ice can create the most mystical settings. In early February I forced myself out of bed at 4:30 AM for a drive over the Cascade mountains to Rocky Point on Klamath Lake. In the early dark I could tell it was overcast, but the weather is often more clear on the eastern side of the mountains, so I kept going. By the time I reached the pass it was raining steadily and I almost turned around. Arriving at Rocky Point in the dim early light Everything was grey and wet. I decided that as long as I was there that I might as well do some location scouting and held out a little hope that the rain would stop. After an hour of driving down backroads I came accross a group of aspen trees engulfed in a tangle of willows. It was still raining, but I was able to park my vehicle on the side of the road so that I could line up my tripod with the trees from under the protection of the uplifted hatchback. For a few minutes some faint sun was able to filter through the clouds giving the scene some needed warmth. Even still, the rain kept spotting my lens. I was able to keep everything reasonably dry for about ten shots, of which I like this one the best.
Canon EOS 5D
EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens
Gitzo Mountaineer Carbon Tripod
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