I had a fantastic time photographing in Redwood National Park and along the North Coast last week. It was a little odd being there for 4 days and not taking a single shot of a redwood until the last day of the trip. It just goes to show the abundance of photo ops in the area. The first 3 days were spent photographing Roosevelt elk, incredible beaches, river otter, fern canyon, and driftwood galore. The final day brought ideal conditions for forest photography with overcast skies and a light drizzle to wet down the foliage and really make it glow. Good Times! Can’t wait to get back and explore some more.
Installing a very large 60 x 90″ Image Panel for a client. The image, Wild Radish in Springtime, is from Pogonip Open Space Preserve in Santa Cruz. Many thanks to my good friend Anders Olsen for lending his expertise with the installation. The image was printed by Bradley Photographic Print Services in Monterey.
For years my clients had wondered what to do with the giant blank wall above their doorway, and are happy to now have an image from one of their favorite places to hike and connect with nature.
Please join us at our home/studio for our biggest event of the year.
Where: 143 Bennett RD, Aptos
When: Oct 6th & 7th, 20th & 21st
Hours: 11 am – 5 pm
The Open Studios Art Tour is an annual event put on by the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County with over 300 local artist participating. We’ve been involved for over 10 year and are always impressed with how well attended this event is which is a testament to the organization and promotion by the Cultural Council. There’s a Preview Exhibit at the Art League of Santa Cruz which includes one piece from each artist on the tour. They’re address is 526 Broadway in Santa Cruz and they’re hours are M – F 11 am – 5 pm, Sat & Sun 10 am – 5 pm.
I’ll be showing several new images this year and would love to see you!
Moonset, Asilomar State Beach ~ Pacific Grove, CA
Tech: Canon 5DMKll, 70-200L 2.8 @ 135mm, tripod
Exposure: 1.6 sec. @ f/20, iso 50
Notes: 2 stop hard edge grad filter over sky and moon
Twilight Surf, Garrapata Beach ~ Big Sur, CA
Tech: Canon 5DMKll, 70-200L 2.8 @ 73mm, tripod
Exposure: 2 sec. @ f/20, iso 125
Crab Spider ~ UCSC Arboretum, Santa Cruz, CA
Tech: Canon 5DMKll, 100 macro, extension tube, flash, handheld
Exposure: 1/200 sec. @ f/13, iso 800
For the past 5 years I’ve had the distinct pleasure of working as an instructor for Frans Lanting Workshops which are held each spring here on the Central California Coast. I can think of no better place or season for a nature photographer to spend 4 intense days of immersion in his/her craft. We had a group of 14 talented photographers this year and they created some amazing images during our numerous field sessions. My priority in the field is taking care of participants needs and making sure they’re expanding their own photographic horizons, but every once in a while I’ve got to pull my camera out too. What’s a guy to do?
Anyone not already familiar with Frans Lanting’s work should take the time to peruse his site and image collection. He’s truly one of a kind in the world of nature and wildlife photography, and is a gifted teacher. http://www.lanting.com/frans-lanting-nature-photographer.php
Limpet Shell and Rock Mosaic, Weston Beach ~ Point Lobos State Reserve, CA
Pincushion Protea (Leucospermum) ~ UCSC Arboretum, Santa Cruz, CA
Frans Lanting Lecturing in the Studio
Jason Bradley Giving a Talk on RAW Workflow
Frans Lanting Spring Workshop 2012
We had great conditions and a full workshop for our annual trip to San Simeon. The elephant seal colony was very active and provided wonderful opportunities to photograph males battling for dominance, mating, birthing, and an unusually high tide which stirred up the colony as large waves surged onto the beach. I’ve been assisting my good friend Jason Bradley for the last couple of years with his ever expanding workshops so if you have any interest in participating… http://www.bradleyphotographic.com/workshops.html
There’s some new trips in the works to the Mt. Shasta/Sacramento River area for Fall 2012, and Joshua Tree National Park for spring of 2013.
North Rookery, Piedras Blancas ~ San Simeon, CA
Tech: Canon 5DMKll, 24 - 70L 2.8, tripod
Exposure: 13 sec. @ f/11, iso 100
Notes: I used a 2 stop GND filter to balance sky and foreground exposure
Surging Wave ~ Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, CA
Tech: Canon 5DMKll, 400mm 2.8, tripod
Exposure: 1/500 sec @ f/18, iso 640
Young Male Coming Ashore ~ Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, CA
Tech: Canon 5DMKll, 400mm 2.8, tripod
Exposure: 0.4 sec. @ f/20, iso 50
Battle Brewing ~ Piedras Blancas, San Simeon, CA
Tech: Canon 5DMKll, 400mm 2.8, tripod
Exposure: 1/800 sec. @ f 11, iso 400
Elephant Seal Workshop 2012
Joshua Trees at Hidden Valley ~ Joshua Tree National Park, CA
Tech: Canon 5DMKll, 400mm 2.8, tripod
Exposure: 1/15 sec. @ f/18, iso 100
Boulder Field at Sunset ~ Joshua Tree National Park, CA
Tech: Canon 5DMKll, 17 - 40mm @ 19mm, tripod, grad filter
Exposure: 3.2 sec. @ f/10, iso 100
Notes: I used a 2 stop hard-edged neutral density filter to balance the sky and foreground exposure
Juniper and Balanced Rock ~ Joshua Tree National Park, CA
Tech: Canon 5DMKll, 17 - 40mm @ 29mm, tripod, flash
Exposure: 6 sec. @ f/16, iso 100
Notes: Off camera flash with warming gel to fill in shadowed side of juniper and foreground rock
Luminous Night ~ Joshua Tree National Park, CA
Tech: Canon 5DMKll, 17 - 40mm @ 20mm, tripod
Exposure: 30 sec. @ f/7.1, iso 2500
Notes: The orange glow in the clouds is caused by a combination of backlighting from the moon and the warm glow of distant city lights.
Evening Clouds over Arch Rock ~ Joshua Tree National Park, CA
Tech: Canon 5DMKll, 17 - 40mm @ 17mm, Tripod
Exposure: 30 sec. @ f/9, iso 800
Over the holidays I had the pleasure of spending a few days camping in Joshua Tree National Park in the Mojave Desert of Southern California. The park offers world class rock climbing and bouldering as well as a spectacular desert landscape. I ended up spending a good amount of time in the Hidden Valley area where I found a nice mix of large groves of trees and interesting rock formations. I also spent time at Arch Rock, the Cholla Cactus Garden, and Jumbo Rocks. I found that the Joshua Trees (a tall growing variety of Yucca) were best photographed as silhouettes to better emphasize their unique shape. I did, however, play around with some light painting techniques using a variety of light sources at night that yielded some interesting results.
Joshua Tree on a Starry Night ~ Joshua Tree National Park, CA
Tech: Canon 5DMKll with 17 - 40mm @ 23mm, tripod
Exposure: 25 sec., f/4, iso 3200
Note: I used a mini maglight to paint the tree and rock during the exposure.