Small dog, big truck

Every now and then I stumble across a funny scene that warrants stopping for a quick photo. Here's one I shot the other day near the Salton Sea in California. I think the dog is a Chihuahua??

500/4IS & EOS 50D; handheld from my vehicle

Coastal Old-Growth Forest

This week marks 5 months that I've been on the road. Time flies! With spring fast approaching, the intensity of the trip - and shooting - is increasing. The last couple of days in particular have been exhausting, with far too much driving. I just returned to southern Cali to drop off some camera gear for service at Canon. It was hard to leave northern Calironia and Oregon, my time up there was far too short. Photographing in the coastal old-growth redwood forests of northern Cali was a dream for me..... few places have left me in such awe. The mornings I spent wandering those forests were spiritual experiences.

I'm way behind in editing and processing all the photos, but I wanted to make a quick blog post with some photos I sent to my family. It's difficult to convey the immense size of trees in the redwood forests, so I jumped into many of the photos for scale.

Will post some more photos when I get caught up on sleep and work!

All photos taken with EOS 1DsIII; 17-40mm or 24-70mm lenses and Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer

Pacific Coast

The last few days I've been on the Pacific Coast in northern California and Oregon. The weather has been pretty wild - rain and high winds. Photographing shoreline scenes has been a challenge because of the blowing salt spray (it's all over my gear). The winds have been so strong, there were a few times I thought my camera/tripod was going to blow over!

Although I haven't been able to photograph much due to the weather, I've enjoyed exploring this area for my first time. This is an incredibly scenic stretch of coast with rocky outcrops, lighthouses and quaint seaside towns each with myriad restaurants that claim to serve 'world-famous' clam chowder.

For the next few days, I'll continue shooting seascapes (assuming the weather improves). And I'm especially looking forward to exploring some of the stands of huge, coastal old-growth trees.

Here are a few of my favorite images from the coast this week, all taken in northern California just before the bad weather rolled in.

Photo 1: Rugged coastal scenery in northern California.
EOS 1DsIII; 70-200/2.8; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer & 3 stop soft edge ND grad
Exposure: ISO 200; 1/25 second at f/16


Photo 2: Pacific sunset near Redwood National Park
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8; Singh-Ray LB colorcombo polarizer & 3 stop hard edge ND grad
Exposure: ISO 320; 5 seconds at f/16

Photo 2: Pacific sunset near Redwood National Park
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8; Singh-Ray LB colorcombo polarizer & 3 stop hard edge ND grad
Exposure: ISO 400; 25 seconds at f/16

The Alabama Hills

Prior to crossing the Sierra Nevada mountains, I stopped in the Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, California. This is a very scenic area for landscape photography, with sculpted rock formations backed by the snow-capped Sierras. Many films, including classic westerns, have been filmed here.

Below are a few of the images from my brief time in the hills. Since the sky was clear, the opportunity to make truly dramatic sphotos was limited. So I used my timer to jump into some of the photos to add an element of perspective. This also shows my family and friends that I'm still alive and well.

I'm sitting in a laundromat on the north coast of Cali and the light conditions are terrible in here for processing the photos on my laptop, so I hope these look ok!

Photo 1) The cliche sunrise photo of Mobius Arch framing the Sierras.
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8 lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer; cable release & mirror lock-up
Exposure: 1/30s @ f/18; ISO 200


Photo 2) Me framed by Mobius Arch at sunset (horizontal)
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8 lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer; cable release & mirror lock-up
Exposure: 1/10s @ f/22; ISO 200


Photo 3) Me framed by Mobius Arch at sunset (vertical)
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8 lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer; cable release & mirror lock-up
Exposure: 1/30s @ f/22; ISO 200


Photo 4) Afterglow at Mobius Arch
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8 lens; Singh-Ray LB colorcombo polarizer; 2-stop hard edge ND grad; cable release & mirror lock-up
Exposure: 1.3s @ f/22; ISO 200


Photo 5) Moonlit camping in the Alabama Hills
Yes, that's where I camped (I was in the van during the long exposure)!
EOS 1DsIII; 24-70/2.8 lens
Exposure: 477 seconds @ f/11; ISO 200

The Racetrack - at last

You may recall from an earlier post my failed attempt to get to the 'Racetrack' in Death Valley because the rear shocks on my van exploded on the rough road. I've been plotting my return ever since and finally gave it a shot this week. I had been well advised about the rugged condition of the road, infamous for causing flat tires and other various mechanical issues. Rumour is the cost of a tow back from the Racetrack can run you upwards of a couple grand.

I approached the drive with trepidation and figured the key was to go slowly.... very slowly (which is not an easy thing for me to do). I even resorted to using reverse psychology on myself with a personal challenge: how slowly could I possibly drive and still get there? And so I began the trip, with the new U2 album loaded on my iPod, to help take my mind off how painfully slow I was moving. This was going to be a long 43km (27 mile) drive.

I've driven famously shitty "roads" in central and south America, but the road to the Racetrack is easily the king of washboards (see photo below). The objective of these evil ripples it to make your drive as punishingly uncomfortable as possible and to destroy your car. I tackled them by virtually idling along at about 2okm/hr. At one point during the drive, I was passed by a desert tortoise walking backwards.

After 2.5 hours I was elated to arrive at the Racetrack playa with the legendary windblown rocks. The plan was simple: shoot for the evening, camp out overnight and photograph again in the morning before driving back out.

The sky was perfectly clear for both evening and morning, which made for a tough shoot. The mountains that surround the playa cause abrupt sunrises and sunsets, so the rocks quickly transition from light to shadow. A few clouds would have been ideal to create dramatic light and skies, but the photo gods were not with me. Below are a few of the resulting photos. And yes, I'm going to have to go back there again when there are clouds in the forecast!

Photo 1: Washboard road to the Racetrack

Photo 2: Sunset on the Racetrack
EOS 1DsIII; 17-40/4 lens; Singh-Ray LB Warming polarizer & 2 stop soft edge ND grad
Exposure: ISO 200; 1/8 second at f/22; mirror lock-up & cable release

Photo 3: Sunset on the Racetrack
EOS 1DsIII; 17-40/4 lens; Singh-Ray LB Colorcombo polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad
Exposure: ISO 200; 0.6 seconds at f/14; mirror lock-up & cable release

Photo 4: Sunrise on the Racetrack

EOS 1DsIII; 17-40/4 lens; Singh-Ray LB Warming polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad Exposure: ISO 200; 1/15 second at f/18; mirror lock-up & cable release

Death Valley landscapes

The past couple of days in Death Valley have been great! I've been shooting my favorite type of images... wide-angle landscapes with cool foregrounds. Death Valley is an outstanding place to to make these kinds of images. I've been photographing with with my friend Walt Anderson and his wife Carol. Walt is the inventor of the Better Beamer flash extender. Everyone who uses flash with a long lens should have one of these (no, Walt did not bribe me with beer to say that!).

These two photos were taken with an EOS 1DsIII and the 17-40mm lens. If I had to be stuck with one type of lens for the rest of my life, it would definitely be a wide-angle... they are so much fun to shoot!

Photo 1: Sunrise at Salt Creek
Singh-Ray LB Colorcombo polarizer & 3 stop hard edge ND grad
Exposure: 1.6 seconds at f/20; ISO 200; mirror lock-up and cable release


Photo 2: Sunset over Badwater Basin (lowest spot in the US)
Singh-Ray LB Colorcombo polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad
Exposure: 2.5 seconds at f/20; ISO 200; mirror lock-up and cable release

Death Valley

I've spent the last few days exploring Death Valley with a visiting friend. The light hasn't been very cooperative, but my friend was wearing red, so this made for some natural photo ops! I'm heading back to Death Valley to spend some time shooting desert wildflowers, which are just starting to bloom. And I'm crossing my fingers that the 'Racetrack' playa dries out (it rained recently) so I can once again attempt to make it there!

All below photo taken with EOS 1DsIII.

Photo 1: Mesquite Flat Dunes near Stovepipe Wells
17-40mm lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad; mirror lock-up & cable release; Exposure: 0.6 seconds at f/18; ISO 200

Photo 2: Mesquite Flat Dunes near Stovepipe Wells

17-40mm lens; Singh-Ray LB Colocombo polarizer & 3 stop hard edge ND grad; mirror lock-up & cable release; Exposure: 4 seconds at f/20; ISO 200

Photo 3: Mesquite Flat Dunes near Stovepipe Wells

17-40mm lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad; mirror lock-up & cable release; Exposure: 1.3 seconds at f/22; ISO 200

Photo 4: Desert Gold wildflowers

17-40mm lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer; cable release; Exposure: 1/80 second at f/10; ISO 200