What Do I See?

More than a quarter century ago I was a senior at Brigham Young University, trying to finish up the business and accounting classes I needed for my degree in Business Management.  I enjoyed the economics classes the most, where we discussed current events and learned how to read the Wall Street Journal.  During my last semester I wrote a thesis about Hong Kong sovereignty returning to Chinese Communist control in 1997, after the 100 year British Lease on the islands expired.   While I was in the library one day doing research I asked a library worker for some help in finding micro films and old newspapers with specific articles.  After gathering dozens of articles, facts, maps, historical documents, etc I sat back and began to sift through it all.  I recalled a bit of advice the worker had given me … “when your stuck, step back and ask yourself, ‘What do I see?’”  My conclusion in 1985 was that China would be stupid to threaten the capital markets of Hong Kong in which they hugely benefited, and so through minimal political invasion, would allow many capitalist practices to continue – and they have.  That’s what I saw.

In the world of photography we sometimes have to step back and ask ourselves the same question – “what do I see?”  Of course, this is a rhetorical question, since no answer would be correct for any two people.  Each of us sees differently, and what we see makes us feel differently.  There are times when we see the obvious, without ever seeing the intricate layers below the obvious.

When I first began submitting images into the online photo behemoth called I-Stockphoto there is a point at which you keyword your images.  At first I had difficulty coming up with a reasonable number of keywords.  I read their little helpful blurb on key wording and I saw that phrase again – “What Do You See?”  I sat back in my office chair and gazed at my submitted photo and thought about those words.  I wish I could recall the first set of images (I could go research them up by date, but I don’t want too) – so lets pretend it is one of my favorites on I-Stockphoto, and a best selling image.  Here it is:

Sequoia Trees in the Mariposa Grove – Yosemite NP

As I was walking along the path leading down the hill from the Bachelor and 3 Graces sequoias back towards the parking lot I stopped in my tracks when I saw this.  It was an obvious shot – the powerful red bark glowing in the filtered morning light, other similar trees in the background.  I shot about ten variations of this image, all in five shot brackets to guarantee a close to perfect exposure of each set-up.  Then I moved on.

A few months later I had already sold this image as fine art four times (one a 30×40 print that really stuns the viewer) and was key wording it in I-Stockphoto (ISP).  The list of descriptive phrases that help buyers search for “the” image were slow in coming.  Forest, Sequoia trees, Yosemite, California – those were all easy enough.  Pine trees, Landscape Photography, Flora, Mountains – slowed me down some.  Then those words sounded in my head again – what do I see?

Ancient, Grove, Timeless, Stately, Old, Bark, Primordial, Ageless, Timber, Wood, Shelter, Animal Homes, Wilderness, Woodlands, and Monument.  My clumsy mental blinders seemed to be lifted and I was having a creative key wording renaissance.  Now, some of those terms would be rejected by ISP, but you see my point.  The obvious beauty of the shot, with its foreground ring of baby pines leading the eye up to rising red-barked Sequoias that are layered back in the image, was really a scene of subjects and ideas in depth.

That’s how I try to see now.  Nature photography is eye candy for the soul of both the photographer and the image viewer.  Using some of the simple compositional techniques that are common in photography, like: rule-of-thirds, foreground elements, color, patterns, depth, disappearing lines, etc  force us to look harder, and deeper, as we walk the forest floor hunting for images.  Others don’t see what I see, some are better at it, and some are less practiced – but photography gives us a place to start.  This journey can all begin with the phrase, “What Do I See?”

Photoshop Tricks: Using a Threshold Layer to Balance Color

Sometimes you can just see that the color balance is off in an image, other times you can’t tell at all until you have corrected it – then it’s obvious.  In this image of the Yellow Warbler I shot yesterday in Morongo Valley the color seemed off.  In the shade of green and yellow trees there had to be a yellow bias in the image.  Here is the original image with its original raw file color temperature:

Yellow Warbler in an image with a yellow caste to it.

Threshold Icon

I used a Threshold Adjustment Layer to reset the white and black points in the image in just a few simple steps.

1- Create a new Layer – Ctl+J.

2- If the Adjustments Palette is not open, go under Window and select Adjustments.

3- In the Adjustments Palette, click on the Threshold icon, circled in red at left.

4- This will create a black-and-white layer that shows a histogram in the Adjustments Palette.  The single slider in the middle can be used to find the blackest point in the image, and the whitest point in the image.  In my workspace setup, this is how it looks:

Threshold and Layer View

5- With this open, you can now establish an actual white and black point in the image – resetting the image colors to conform to those points.  If there is a bias, in this case a yellow bias, it covers the current white and black points as well.  Move the slider (shown at left with a red arrow) to the left to find the very darkest spot in the photo.

6- Zoom in on that spot.  Activate Layer 1 by selecting it, which deselects the Threshold 1 Layer.  You are still looking at the Threshold 1Layer, but you will be working on Layer 1.

7- Open the Levels Dialog box by using the Ctl+L keys.  Select the black eyedropper on the right of the dialog box, and click on the image at the darkest point we just found.  Hit OK to close the dialog box.  You just reset the black point.

8- Now, reactivate the Threshold Layer and move the slider to the right to find the whitest point of the image.

9- Zoom in on that spot.  Activate Layer 1 by selecting it, which deselects the Threshold 1 Layer.  Again, you are still looking at the Threshold 1 Layer, but you will be working on Layer 1.

10- Open the Levels Dialog box again.  Select the white eyedropper on the right of the dialog box, and click on the image at the whitest point we just found.  Hit OK to close the dialog box.  You just reset the white point.

11- Select the Threshold 1 layer and delete it by hitting delete, or by dragging it to the garbage can icon.  Now you have your original color in the background layer, the reset color in Layer 1.  Flash the eye icon on and off to view the changes.  In my example of the Yellow Warble the changes are noticeable, and the reset colors much truer.

Corrected Color.

Since these images are far apart on this blog article, here is a section of the image, before and after the changes, shown side-by-side.

Original Color (left) and Corrected Color (right).

Notice that there is much less yellow color in the vertical tree branch, and the out-of-focus area above the birds back.  The image is slightly brighter as well.  I prefer the image with the color re-balanced.

Resetting the color balance of an image is a tweaky thing, but it can certainly improve the look of the image and return it to how you originally saw it.  BRP

 

 

 

 

Photoshop: Tricks – Layers Dialog Box

Sometimes when I’m retouching a face, or retouching an image requiring many steps that will be put on separate layers, there are two easy tricks I use to simplify how the layers look visually.  One is color coding the layers, the other is grouping layers together so you can collapse the selected layers and not be viewing them all the time.  I hate scrolling through multiple layers and this saves and simplifies the process.

Color Coding Different Layers

Right-click on the selected layer in the Layers Dialog Box.  Select the Layer Properties option at the top of the menu.  You can rename the layer here if you want as well.  At the Color: option, click on the down-arrow and select a color to represent this layer.

Layer Properties Dialog Box

The color will be displayed on the left side of the layer as it is displayed in the Layer Dialog Box.  If you have two or more layers that you are finished with for the time being, you can create a Layer Group and collapse the layers.

Creating a Layer Group

Select the layers you want to collapse into a group.  In my example I’m collapsing the two layers that have been coded red.  Select the layers, then click on the Create a new Group Icon, circled in red, at the bottom of the Layers Dialog Box.  This puts the two chosen layers into a new group, called Group 1.

The Layers Dialog Box after color coding and then creating a new layer group.

You can then collapse the layers in a group by clicking on the down arrow next to the Group Name.  The arrow will turn to the right and the layers will be hidden.

This shows the Group 1 layers collapsed.

These two tricks make working in the Layers Dialog Box much simpler, and visually much clearer when you have multiple layers open at one time.

2012 Yokohl Valley Safaris

There has been a little bit of everything on my safaris into Yokohl Valley.  Wildlife, birdlife, wildflowers, landscapes – they have been really rewarding trips.  On the Yokohl Valley  Safari March 31 we shot Yokohl then drove over to Dry Creek near Lemon Cove.  We came across a small group of tom turkeys strutting in a meadow near the road.  We slithered under the fence and climbed down a small hill to get to the meadow.  They put on a great show for us.

Displaying tom turkeys along Dry Creek.

They gobbled, fanned their feathers, and strutted – all in the middle of a meadow of popcorn flowers and fiddleneck.  After shooting Chahn Nguyen moved around behind them and herded them back towards the rest of us … it was a great half an hour.

Wild tom turkey along Dry Creek.

Here is a group image of many on the safari, including myself, shooting a group of California poppies.  Thanks to Bob Sutton for the image.

March 31, 2012 Yokohl Valley Safari

That morning in Yokohl we had seen a lot of birds, but no bobcats.  Sometimes they seem to be around every corner, and then they vanish like snow in the summer.  We did photograph a number of great scenic vistas, the oak woodlands were just gorgeous in bright green grass and with the trees leafing out.  The flowers hadn’t peaked like last year, but they were thickening up and the recent rains promised that more would come.

Yokohl Valley oak woodlands.

Yokohl Valley Oak Woodlands.

Late in the afternoon the clouds moved in and sprinkles began to fall.  We decided to make one more run into Yokohl Valley before the expected storm closed us out.  Some had to leave the safari, and we joked about running into a bobcat … which, of course, we did.  Jason George spotted his second bobcat of the day on a rocky hillside.

Bobcat. Yokohl Valley on March 31, 2012.

As we got out of our vehicles to set up tripods and shoot the bobcat the rain began to fall in heavier drops.  The cat stayed in the rocks for a couple of minutes before moving off across the hillside.

Bobcat stalking squirrels from a rock perch in Yokohl Valley.

Bobcat in Yokohl Valley, moving across the hillside.

On other trips I spent more time shooting songbirds.  In early spring songbirds, and really birds of every kind, come flooding back through the valley to nest.  Most can be photographed from a vehicle with ease.  There are many nests in the valley and a careful observer might pick out some nests that are active.

Loggerhead Shrike in Yokohl Valley.

Acorn Woodpecker in Yokohl Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ferruginous Hawk hawk in Yokohl Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2012 Pinnacles Nat Mon Safaris

Pinnacles National Monument on Hwy 25 north of Hollister, CA and northwest of Coalinga has become a prime destination for me.  Originally, I was doing a single half-day safari there as part of the first day, of the 3-day Big Sur safaris.  In the past month I’ve made a number of safaris to Pinnacles, both for the wildlife at the monument and for the wildlife and scenics around the monument.

Old house/school on Highway 25 near Pinnacles NM.

In past years it has been a great source for wild turkey images, especially in early April when the toms are displaying, but it has a myriad of bird species, including many hawks that are resident birds.  In late 2011 the trips through Pinnacles turned up coyotes and bobcats, but in 2012 its been mainly birds and raptors.

Juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk in Pinnacles NM.

The numbers of songbirds has been surprising.  While the oaks and pines seem to be the domain of the noisy Acorn Woodpeckers, there are actually dozens (hundreds by the bird list for the monument) of very active species, both in winter and nesting in spring.

A creek runs through Pinnacles, and with the Cottonwoods, Oaks, Pines, and Sycamores supplying cover – it is truly a birding paradise.  The other dominant bird is the California Quail.  Every single morning I’ve shot in the monument I have seen thousands of quail.  They seem to be everywhere, in every part of the monument, and on the roads leading to the monument.

One side road I’ve begun driving, instead of the usual Hwy 189 to Hwy 25 then north to the monument, a road that Dave Collins pointed out, is the old Coalinga Road that follows the old road to Hwy 25 via Los Gatos Creek.  Not only is it very scenic, but loaded with wildlife and birds.

Black-tailed Jackrabbits photographed on the Old Coalinga Rd.

Circa 1870's ranch buildings on the Old Coalinga Road.

On my most recent safari to Pinnacles we photographed Great Horned Owls in an old barn off the Old Hernandez Road, off Hwy 25.  And while returning to Hwy 25 stumbled across a badger digging in a meadow.  That same morning we caught a bobcat close to the road, but sadly he dropped into a ravine and we got no shots of him.  Moments later we spotted two Burrowing Owls near their nest in a pasture full of flowers.

Inside the monument the areas around the campgrounds have produced many of my best songbird images.  In winter and early spring these campgrounds are pretty empty, but on this last trip in mid-April they were starting to fill up.  The presence of so many people tend to push the wildlife back, away from the roads, but the birds don’t seem to care.

Spotted Towhee at Pinnacles NM.

Western Scrub Jay in Pinnacles NM

 

 

 

 

 

 

A tactic that we used on these safaris was to have the second person in the car ride in the back behind the driver, allowing both to shoot from the same car position.  A car is always your best blind and, when possible, shooting from it will lead to your closest photographic opportunities.  There have been very few situations when I’ve been closer outside the vehicle, when the opportunity existed to shoot from inside.

A female Red-shouldered Hawk dives out of an oak heading for its nest.

Near the bathrooms by the Visitor’s Center is a large oak with a nesting red-shouldered hawk pair.  Luckily the nest is only about half way up on an outer limb, giving us a chance to photograph the comings-and-goings of the adults.

Red-shouldered Hawk returning to her nest in Pinnacles NM.

Up the road from the Visitor’s Center, left at the junction, then up to the Bear Gulch parking lot is another great birding location.  Water, bushes, oaks and pines come together in another excellent area of birding habitat.

White-breasted Nuthatch with bugs for its young.

White-breasted Nuthatch with a caterpillar of some kind for young.

On the latest trip Allen Round and I were shooting the red-shouldered hawk when suddenly I saw Allen look down and begin shooting in the grass.  A Botta’s Pocket Gopher had appeared and was clipping plant material, then hauling it down inside its hole.  The vast number of hawks, falcons, and owls that inhabit this area must feast on these small rodents, as well as the rabbits, squirrels, and voles.

A Botta's Pocket Gopher appears from its hole, with large teeth, in Pinnacles NM.

Cottontails must lead a dangerous life in Pinnacles with all the raptors and owls, bobcats and coyotes.

The more I look, the more I find to photograph in California.  What I once considered to be a wildlife wasteland (as in no wildlife) has become an amazing puzzle of wildlife hot spots – and Pinnacles certainly adds to the list.

2012 Great Salt Lake Raptor Safari

There was a time I did this safari to shoot just the bald eagles at Farmington Bay WMA along the Great Salt Lake in Utah.  But the last couple of years have provided me with better opportunities to shoot wildlife at nearby locations like Antelope Island State Park and at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.  Farmington Bay is still the big draw due to the raptors and bald eagles, but warmer temps have scattered them somewhat.  This years trip was no exception.  Dave Collins traveled with me, and we later met up with Jim Haley for some of this safari.

Male Northern Harrier hunting at Farmington Bay WMA, Utah.

We worked the northern harriers, bald eagles, short-eared owls, and American kestrels at every opportunity.  While the fish kill this year was in a good location, it seemed only the gulls took a real interest in picking off the fish.  Shirt sleeve temps meant little ice on the ponds and that dispersed the eagles.

California Gull and fish from Farmington Bay WMA.

In immature northern harrier lands on a signpost at Farmington Bay WMA.

The flocks of California Gulls, mixed with Western Gulls and possibly others, really had their way with the fish.  The flocks would rise off the pond together, only to settle seconds later again – wrestling with the largest of fish.  Time and again they fought over a fish, none of them being able to actually swallow it, and then the fish would sink to the bottom.  Ducks, mergansers, western grebes, ring-necked pheasants, marsh wrens and others made themselves at home among the raptors and owls.

Once the mornings slowed down in Farmington we drove north to Layton to access Antelope Island State Park.  On this safari Antelope Island was to prove our jewel in the rough, providing us with dozens of great photographs and wildlife encounters.

American Kestrel

There was one bird in particular that provided us with a number of photo opportunities, the resident American Kestrel falcon that hung out at the Bridger Bay Campground.  At this time of year, with the cold northern winds and storms coming down from Canada, the campground is usually empty.  This year there was a single creepy looking old guy driving a van dripping engine oil like a sieve taking up one spot.  After a dozen passes around the campground the guy only seemed more creepy.

Now, back to the falcon.  This male kestrel was active in hunting and perching on different vantage points to watch the ground where mice trails were numerous.  While we were chasing him we saw a large black-tailed jackrabbit that really put us to the test before we were able to get good images of him.  The kestrel must have only been hunting voles in the grass, as the local blackbirds and sparrows perched not far from him and seemed to ignore him.  But he was a good hunter and gave us a great shot of him with a mouse.

American Kestrel with field vole.

Black-tailed Jackrabbit on Antelope Island.

We drove through the campgrounds and empty day use areas chasing birds before finally heading south on the island towards the Garr Ranch.  This part of the island is home to coyotes, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, bison, and numerous raptors and owls.  At one point we spotted six mule deer bucks in the high sagebrush and headed out to photograph them.  The paused long enough for a couple of images before ditching us.  We shot coyotes and antelope, and oddly, porcupines along the road to Garr Ranch.

Six Mule Deer Bucks ditching us on Antelope Island.

The six mule deer bucks, a mousing coyote, and a jogger all come together in this image.

The Garr Ranch, which dates back into the mid 1800′s, is known for the nesting pair of Great Horned Owls that regularly spend spring there.  After some hiking around some we found them on the backside of the ranch, resting in some cottonwood trees.  As Dave and Jim shot the owl I returned to my vehicle to get my flash.  The owl was about thirty five feet away, but the flash did well enough to fill the shadows some.

Great-horned Owl from the Garr Ranch on Antelope Island.

From now on the Farmington Bay Eagle Safari is going to become the Great Salt Lake Raptor Safari every February.  In years with cold temps and lots of snow it will be more of an eagle/raptor/owl safari – in years when its warmer its mostly a raptor/coyote/birds safari.  No matter, wildlife photography is always a chase – and in the end its capturing great wild images that matter.  BRP

2012 Big Sur Safaris

There were two safaris to the Highway 1 coast early this year – one from January 13-15 and the other from March 15-17.  After doing two safaris in November and December to the coast I thought maybe I had seen about as much as I could, but these two safaris were great photo opportunities.  The first day of both these safaris were to Pinnacles National Monument, and since I’ve shot there a number of times since, I’m going to combine those images into a separate blog.

Sea Stacks at the Soberanes Headlands.

The coastline was alternating between clear blue skies and incoming storms.  The waves were high and pounding the coastline, giving us opportunities to photograph the energy that is hidden in calm waters.

Sunset from near the Bixby Bridge.

As I write this in April it seems we are having rainstorms every week, but a couple of months ago the coast was still dry from lack of rainwater.  We spent time at Point Lobos, as well as many of the usual locations along Highway 1, including Pfeiffer Beach, Julia Pfeiffer State Park, and other unnamed locations just off the highway.  It seems each trip shows me a different set of images, different possibilities, and an amazing array of locations.

Pools and Redwoods along McWay Creek, Julie Pfeiffer State Park.

As usual, we encountered wildlife along the roads and beaches, and had a number of close encounters.  These moments are like salt, adding flavor and a bit of distraction to what is mostly a landscape shoot along the coastline.

This mousing coyote was photographed a few miles north of the lighthouse at Piedras Blancas.

These past half dozen safaris to the coastline have really been educational in terms of the animals and birds we have encountered.  After the amazing number of bobcats we encountered in November and December, the emphasis switched to the coyotes and birds along the coast so far this year.

Townsend's Warbler in Big Sur.

At Point Lobos there were opportunities to work the area a bit, moving around the grove of Cypress trees and shooting the cliffs and small bays.  What fascinated me was the Pelagic Cormorants nesting in the cliffs before the trail.  There was a small area along the trail that provided a bit of a vantage point into those nests, and the image below of one cormorant diving off the cliffs was one of my favorites.

Pelagic Cormorant leaping from its nesting area along cliffs of Point Lobos.

Along Cypress Cove, on the opposite side of the Allan Memorial Cypress Grove, the waterfalls and tides of the incoming waves as they rose and then ran-off the cliffs was a challenge to photograph.  A polarizing filter mixed with ND filters, small f-stops and low ISO settings allowed for long exposures to capture the ebb-and-flow.

Cypress Cove

I want to shoot the Cypress Grove on a foggy morning where the trees are semi-hidden in the mist.  On these trips I didn’t get lucky (at least in regards to the fog in the trees) and so I settled for a black-and-white conversion of one of the images.

Allan Memorial Cypress Grove at Point Lobos State Park.

Sometimes the rain just beats you down, and it did in March, driving us back towards Monterey from Big Sur earlier in the day than we would have liked.  Instead of heading for the hotel we crossed the peninsula to Pacific Grove just as some clearing happened.   The storm was whipping up large waves and we happened upon a couple of surfers taking advantage of the large waves, amid large rocks I might add.

A surfer re-thinking his decision to take this wave.

We had only a few minutes before sprinkles turned to raindrops, which turned to a heavy rain – but we finished with some amazing shots.

Pacific Grove

2011 An Unbelievable Year in Pictures

There was a time I used to dream of wildlife encounters before a safari to Yellowstone.  I don’t remember the dreams now, but those last few nights before a safari started were sleepless with anticipation.  In the late 1980′s, when I lived in St. George, Utah my friends, usually Bryan Sutton, and sometimes his dad Bob, or Eddie Blount, would travel on photo safaris with me.  That went on for a number of years until moving to Providence, Utah.  In the decade of the ’90′s I had more friends joining me, Casey Bell and Jed Packer among others.  The trips got bigger, better planned, but the excitement never went away.  No matter how many trips to Yellowstone, or Zion, or the Tetons I took, I was always amped up, ready to chase for the next image.

By the turn of the century I was marketing photography seminars at my studio, and safaris all over the inter-mountain west.  While my personal photography got better and my organization skills and planning for these events improved, I was left to wonder about mixing a passion with business.  Now, that probably seems remarkable to many folks who see only the upside of the “mixing a passion with business”, but I knew that there would be a downside as well.  The downside is your passion becomes your business, and all the minor difficulties that before were ignored and minimized start to wear you down.  Picking up the camera daily to do commercial and portraiture jobs is not the same as anticipating a big photo safari to Yellowstone, or Death Valley, or Big Sur.

My studio in Providence was a means to an end.  While it provided me a living, it also took me out of the parks and mountains a great deal and kept me in town.  In June 2003 I photographed 24 weddings, a ridiculous number to be sure, but that was in addition to the families, engagements, bridals, etc I was shooting that month.  Everyday was full, many with three shooting jobs per day.  And just so you know, I was shooting all medium-format equipment and 120mm roll film back then.  I carried a large Mamiya 645 AF camera and lenses around with me, constantly filling roll film backs, and sending off boxes of exposed film to a lab in Kansas.  Not only were the hours long with few, if any, weekends off, but my studio had to be open for clients on a regular basis.

There was a business upside to this: I didn’t have to advertise for clients as much after a few years, they seemed to come back each year, and referred me to their friends.  The attributes I had developed as a wildlife photographer, shooting quickly, shooting for position, and just photography woodcraft traits in general – served me well in portraiture.  I took command of the wedding (photography) party and groups and shot quickly, never missing the important images, and never making people wait.  I had an internal list of images I wanted to get, given the clients and location, and I was good at getting what they wanted.  Unlike California where much of the photography is candid, with less structure – the weddings I shot were mostly inside-the-box types of jobs.  What suffered was my wildlife/nature photography.

Now there is no question that if you want to make a good living as a photographer you shoot people.  People pay you upfront, on-time, and refer new clients to you.  Grizzly bears mostly don’t sell, and if they do its after much sweat and pursuit of that sale, and it is almost never very much.  One good family portrait job will outsell 1000 great grizzly shots.  The difference is that the skill level of a good wildlife/nature photographer far exceeds that of a portrait photographer, most of whom (not me, of course) are joined at the hip with their studios.   They don’t want to leave the familiar surroundings of their studio’s preset lights and backdrops, posing benches, and chairs.  I loved taking folks outdoors and then having to create the image.  Manage the sun and location, and shoot in a set of circumstances that changes with each job.  I enjoyed that aspect of portraiture.

In 2008 I married Jacqueline and moved back to California.  I reset my business plan back to wildlife and nature photography – first, through city sponsored seminars – and second, by leading photography safaris in the American West.  Mix in some commercial shoots, stock image sales, and an occasional portraiture job … and their you go.  What I really hadn’t anticipated was the depth of beauty of California, the state I grew up in and had overlooked as a photography destination for so long.  I mean, come on, I had just spent 25 years shooting in Utah with Yellowstone only a few hours away – what could be better than that?  I think 2011 was a turning point for me.

Most of you who are reading this know me, or have shot with me, been to a seminar with me, or at least feel like you know me a little through my images.  The excitement that I talked about at the beginning of this essay, the difficulty sleeping and dreaming of wildlife encounters before a big photo safari, had begun to fade.  My passion for photography had become a passion for the business of photography, and business always becomes routine to a degree.  In other words, I began sleeping fine before leaving on big safaris.

This past year has been a photography epiphany for me.  While I did about the same number of safaris and seminars, had about the same number of commercial fine art sales and jobs, I had more peak experiences.  My timing has grown better at many of the locations I shoot at.   Lots of you that have shot with me know that I’m lucky when it comes to wildlife and landscape encounters, but this year was better than normal, hitting locations in awesome light or storms that made for great images, and shooting a number of animals for the first time (gray fox, peccaries, white-tail bucks, condors, Mohave green rattlesnake) or super close-up (bobcats, and of course, the always close grizzlies, and many birds) or performing great hunts and behavior (red foxes, bald eagles, raptors, etc).

I’ve shot some new locations this year, going to places at the request of those on my safaris … and they have always chosen wisely, and I listened.  On the Bosque del Apache (New Mexico) safari last January, after two days of intense and overwhelming bird photography, Diane Tomita suggested going to White Sands National Monument for the third day, and what a great choice that was.  Incredible place.  After that safari I was down shooting with Butch Ramirez in Laredo, Texas – shooting birds and animals I had never photographed before in a shooting environment (blinds) that was new to me (though I own a great blind but use it rarely.) for practical wildlife photography.

The eagle safari was amazing once again, followed by the snowstorm/blizzard Yellowstone winter safari in February.  The blossom trail in March and the Tehachapi wildflower safaris were really the color of spring … with the Mohave Green Rattlesnake providing the flavoring for that safari.  Remember, don’t lay down on holes in fields of flowers – I’m just saying …   Death Valley was stunning as usual.  In May, Mike Green suggested spending a day on the southern Utah Spring Safari at Monument Valley, so off we went, and shot stunning sunrise images of the mittens and of rising storm clouds in Zion Canyon.  Some of my best Zion images ever.

From Yosemite waterfalls in May to the always exciting spring wildlife safari in June in Yellowstone, great image opportunities were everywhere.  We photographed grizzlies at ranges that made us retreat, and black bears swimming in ponds.  For the first time I took out my can of grizzly mace as the Quad Grizzly sow with her two remaining cubs came right up to us at sunrise, I mean, right up to us.

The summer was spent shooting agriculture images and wildflowers throughout the Sierras, from Sequoia and Kings Canyon to Angel’s Camp and Lake Tahoe.   When autumn rolled around many of us were back in Yellowstone shooting bull elk on the Madison River and the amazingly Red Fox near Roosevelt Junction.  What a show they put on.  Not to consider my own mortality, but I have to ponder how many trips to Yellowstone I get in my life.  How many spring babies and fall ruts I get to witness there.  I’m glad I don’t know how many I have left, hopefully decades worth.

Of course, fall colors always take me to southwest Colorado, Yosemite, and southern Utah from October through November.  Great colors and a cool Gray Fox awaited me in Zion.  Wow, what an opportunity.  The Nikon D3s gave me a weapon I’ve never had before, the ability to push my ISO and still shoot publishable quality images.  I shot that rare gray fox in dim-going-to-dark light at ISO 3200 and came away with amazing images.  I would have been dead with the Nikon D2x, I would have tried, but I would have failed in capturing any image as good as what I shot.

And now I’ve come to November – December safaris, mainly being to a new area for me, the Big Sur area of the California coast.  Wow.  Every stop was wow, sometimes double wow.  The majesty of that shoreline, headlands, beaches, and wildlife was stunning.  There aren’t enough superlatives to describe all the amazing landscapes and wildlife I saw and photographed.  I have to thank Dave Collins for doing some research on the area and shooting with me on the first safari.  On the second safari we added other locations with equally majestic views, such as the windows in the rock at Pfeiffer state beach.

Many of you have led me to great spots, either from your own knowledge or from taking part in the safaris and pushing me to find great locations.  I’m the first to admit I don’t know every great location in the American West, every road with incredible spring flowers, or every trail leading to a breathless landscape … but I keep looking, I keep pushing, and 2011 has been a great year for me and my photography growth.  When you photograph new subjects you are pushed to learn how to photograph them, a trick here or there, an angle here or there, a certain time or possibly a new exposure rule for a particular type of light … you build your skills, and I have certainly built mine this year thanks to many of you who went on safaris and grew with me.  So to all of you, I say thanks.  On the night before my December safari to Big Sur, via Pinnacles, I was amped up and couldn’t sleep.  Its been a few years since I felt that exhilaration prior to a safari, and I have to say I liked it.  That safari was just a week ago now, photos edited and processed already, and many of you have seen a few of them, and I’m going back Jan 14-15 again, and I’m amped up just thinking about it.

Shooting in California has been more than I could have imagined when I first moved back.  But as my knowledge of the area increases I hope to be able to bring these amazing experiences to many of you.  After all, photography is only fun when it’s shared, it is a journey that we make and not a destination.  For those of you that have graced me with your presence on a safari, or spent a couple of hours with me in a seminar – I hope you know that sharing photography has become my life’s adventure, and I hope I transfer some of that excitement for photography to you.

Here are my some FAVORITES from 2011 …

Yucca at White Sands National Monument (New Mexico)

Northern Bobwhites near Laredo, Texas

Whitetail Buck near Laredo, Texas

Bald Eagle - Farmington Bay, Utah

7x7 Bull Elk on wintering grounds - Yellowstone National Park

Plum Blossoms - Blossom Trail - Tulare County, California

Mohave Green Rattlesnake - Tehachapi Wildflowers Safari

Mist in the Sequoias - Sequoia National Park

Stormy sunrise at the Mittens - Monument Valley

Rising storm clouds on the West Temple - Zion National Park

Lower Yosemite Falls and mist - Yosemite National Park

Grizzly Cub - Yellowstone National Park

Sunrise behind Sow Grizzly and cubs - Yellowstone National Park

Newborn calf elk and mother - Yellowstone National Park

Mustang Clover and lichens - Yokohl Valley, California

Ripening Grapes - Tulare County, California

Silage Corn - Tulare County, California

Bull Elk crossing the Madison - Yellowstone National Park

Leaping Red Fox - Yellowstone National Park

Hunting Red Fox - Yellowstone National Park

Sunrise - Moulton Barn on Mormon Row - Grand Teton National Park

Sunrise at the Oxbow - Mt. Moran - Grand Teton National Park

Changing Maple Leaves - Zion Canyon - Zion National Park

Gray Fox - Zion National Park

Desert Bighorn Ram - Zion National Park

Autumn Colors at Alder Creek - Yosemite National Park

Autumn leaves at Fern Springs - Yosemite National Park

Bobcat - Yokohl Valley, California

Ferruginous Hawk - Yokohl Valley, California

Point Sur wave break - Big Sur, California

Storm waves hitting the Soberanes Cliffs - Big Sur, California

Fern Grotto near Pfeiffer State Beach - Big Sur, California

Hunting Bobcat - near Pinnacles National Monument

Windows and Light - Pfeiffer State Beach - Big Sur, California

Winter Equinox view of Setting Sun - Pfeiffer State Beach - Big Sur, California

Those are just a few.  I hope everyone gets out and shoots more in 2012.  If it is anything like 2011 then we are all in for some amazing moments, and images.  BRP

2011 December Big Sur Safari (#2)

It has been my habit to travel through Pinnacles National Monument on the way to Monterey to begin the Big Sur safari.  Instead of traveling hwy 198 west to hwy 25 then north to Pinnacles, I traveled on a secondary paved road, that began as the Los Gatos Creek Road and finished as the Coalinga Road before meeting up with hwy 25.  We saw our first bobcat on that road.  Over the coarse of the next three days we saw a total of 11 bobcats and 8 coyotes.  It was an amazing thing to see that many cats.  One of the two bobcats we saw in Pinnacles NM was very close and we got great images.

There were large flocks of California Quail, wild turkeys, and a variety of songbirds and hawks that were active throughout the monument.  The car is always your best blind, and many of the different species we were able to photograph without leaving the car.

We traveled the monument road a number of times, each pass through seemed to bring a different bird species or another bobcat encounter.  The images below show an Acorn Woodpecker (right) and a Red-shouldered Hawk (below).  On the November Safari we saw coyotes but no bobcats, so this was quite a change. 

There were a surprising number of tourists in the monument, but the animal and bird activity definitely wasn’t slowed down.  A ranger at the store told us that there has been a bobcat hanging around that nearby campground, and it was checking that campground out that Allen spotted the bobcat.  We drove to within 45 feet of it and it was very docile and not agitated at all.   It did sit down in the grass waiting for us to drive away, so it was certainty use to seeing people.  When we didn’t drive away it eventually got up and ambled away, very unconcerned.  We saw six bobcats on this day, just an amazing number.  Shortly after leaving the park we saw another bobcat just off the highway.

This bobcat was traveling and not interested in stopping for a couple of photographers, so this is just a grab shot out the window of the 4Runner as he climbs the hillside next to the highway.  All the cats we saw were very healthy and looked like they ranged from twenty-five pounds all the way up to forty pounds.

We arrived in mid-afternoon in Monterey, checked into our hotel, then headed to the Soberanes cliffs and beach area to shoot sunsets.  Similar to November’s safari, large waves regularly crashed through the sea stacks creating great photo opportunities.  In the image below I was using a 4 stop ND filter to slow my shutter-speed to get a decent blur on the waves, shot at ISO 100, f11 and 1/8 second.  This was the shutter speed I was looking for.  After seeing the images from November’s safari, shutter speeds in the 1/4 to 1/15 area produced the nicest blur on the waves, without losing the shape of the waves to badly.

For the final minutes of sunset we drove down to the Rocky Creek bridge and shot the sea stocks off the coast there.  We never had any clouds around sunset, on any of the days, so it was composition and color instead of cloud formations I tried to work into a good sunset image.  This was Friday’s sunset, Saturday’s sunset at Pfeiffer Beach would be different.

The next morning we met up with the other safari goers and headed out to the Point Sur area.  It was cool and breezy in Monterey that morning but warmed up rapidly to a comfortable 60 degrees along the coast.  In November we had large storm driven waves crashing this beach, but on this safari the waves were more normal but there was an interesting marine layer hanging above the beach, creating a dreamy, misty looking landscape image.  High up on the Point Sur bluff, above the beach, is the lighthouse and Naval Station.

Lots of coastal moisture has turned the hillsides a vibrant green, and the meadows leading down from the highway towards this beach at Point Sur (below) were really a contrast in colors and textures.  The view from the highway is dramatic, also, like November, there were hundreds of hawks and falcons working the pastures and meadows along the road.  The image was taken just after sunrise.

We shot our way down the coast as far as Pfeiffer beach, where we looked over the beach we would be returning to that evening for the shoot through the eroded rock windows in the large rocks just off the beach.  That afternoon we found another large bobcat to photograph along Highway 1.  This cat had very dramatic striping and bright pelt colors.

Hunting through the grass and mid-December flowers, this bobcat was unperturbed by our presence just across the fenceline bordering the highway.  After staring us down and yawning (image of FB) he sauntered away, paying us little attention.  This cat was very stocky and  had an amazingly vibrant pelt.

Later that afternoon we headed by to Pfeiffer beach for the sunset.  To our surprise the place parking lots were nearly full and the place was jumping with photographers, my guess would be 120-140 photographers … an almost ridiculous number.  With the winter solstice only a few days away, the sun was going to be setting directly though the windows in the rocks, thus attracting all the attention.  There are two large rocks just off the beach, and both have windows that have been eroded through by the pounding waves.  As the sun began to get lower in the sky, a bright orange shaft of light passed through the windows into the waters between the rock and beach.  It wasn’t easy to get into shooting position, and there were times I was shooting between or over other photographers – but I got the images I wanted.  I moved up and down the beach shooting the shaft of light from different directions.  The image below shows the first large rock which has two divided windows, before the sun was very low in the sky.

The images below show the larger rock, which had all the photographers gathered directly in front of its single window, as the sun sets and shines directly through the window.

It was an amazing sight, while the image, at left, is cool – I thought the real striking image was the wide shot of the rock with the sun burst coming directly through.  I struggled to get position for this wide shot, which required no one in front of me, and there was some jostling going on.  I look back in 2011 and realize all the great things I have seen and photographed, but this really was a moving sight.  As the light becomes more red and the graphic nature of the landscape gets only more dramatic, my heart was racing.  My mind was going through every option to get these images, every possible angle, the compositions, the exposure changes I would need to make to emphasize the shafts of light, how the bracketing should be set up in conjunction with the exposure compensation.  This was a one shot deal to get.

The next day, Sunday, we shot in Point Lobos State Park before moving down the coast to shoot McWay Creek and Falls, then finally the elephant seals at Piedras Blancas, then finishing at the San Simeon pier.  Point Lobos was truly spectacular and really was the first time I’ve seen an angry ocean.  Huge crashing waves pass over the rocks and create sink holes in the ocean that shoots water in the air.  A half a mile out and about a half a mile wide, Point Lobos is a twisting, raging torrent of ocean that makes me glad I’m not a sailor.  This was my first trip their and I was awed by the power of the ocean moving through that tight area.  On the rocks just off the point California Sea Lions (below) put on a bellowing show that was easy to hear.  Oh, saw another bobcat at Point Lobos as well.

We ended the safari at the San Simeon pier hoping for clouds and color, but got neither.  We worked our way around the pier at the beach level looking for interesting angles and reflections.  The 4 stop ND filter helped blur the waves under the pier, but we just didn’t get much color.  Around San Simeon I saw four more bobcats …. good heck, what a trip.

2011 Big Sur Safari (#1)

For just being a few days this was an extraordinary shoot.  I’d only been back from the Southern Utah Safari since Monday when on Thursday I headed back out, this time to work my way through Pinnacles National Monument, on my way to shoot the Big Sur area the following two days.  While the weather was difficult and wet, it made for great pictures.

Dave Collins and I met up in Coalinga and traveled Hwy 198 west until turning north on Hwy 25, which would lead us to Pinnacles.  This twisty highway is always a slow drive but we found the local bird life out in force.  Hawks, falcons, and golden eagles were actively hunting in the adjacent pastures and hillsides, while wandering tarantulas were crossing the highway at various spots.

Face shot of a wandering tarantula.

Dodging the cars was the most difficult and dangerous part of shooting the tarantulas.  The one pictured above was about 6-7 inches wide when its legs were extended.

Once we were in Pinnacles we photographed a couple of coyotes, wild turkeys, numerous songbirds, while high above us condors floated on the thermals.  Pinnacles has a large, diverse population of birds and walking the trails allowed us to get some decent shots of some of them.  Acorn woodpeckers, Bewick’s wrens, canyon wrens, nuthatches, sparrows, brown creepers, Western and Steller’s Jays, and many others flit about the trees that shade the bottom of the canyon.

Western Scrub Jay with Acorn

The oak trees and large pines provide a great habitat for all the birds.  It was very difficult photography though – the birds always seem to stay just out of range and move incessantly through the brush.

We photographed a couple of different coyotes, one that looked more like a dog/coyote mix than a straight coyote.  They were hunting parallel to the roads and didn’t seem the least bothered by us as slowing down and shooting them from inside the vehicles didn’t stop them from hunting.  At one point I was shooting face shots right at the 500mm lens minimum focusing distance.  But there was a lot of possible prey, including lots of mule deer, rabbits, quail, and the previously mentioned turkeys.

BeWick's Wren in Spanish Moss

We found the most activity in the Bear Gulch Day Use area near the end of the road.  Trails go off from this location in various directions leading to prominent areas of the monument.  Many of the oak trees are covered in Spanish moss and provide interesting backgrounds to the bird photography, some of the larger pine and sycamore trees have hundreds of acorn woodpecker holes drilled in them.

Late in the afternoon we made the short run to Monterey, maybe about 70 miles away or so.  The clouds started to close in and there was a light drizzle that night.  The storm was a few hundred miles off-shore but it was the source of energy driving the unusually high waves against the Big Sur coastline area, as well as regular bands of rain.  In the morning we traveled down towards Big Sur and a few miles beyond, to a point just north of the Point Sur Lighthouse, to photograph large rollers as the crashed ashore.  It was an amazing spectacle.

Waves coming ashore just north of the Point Sur Lighthouse

Every set of waves had its own unique curl and dynamics as the waves crashed ashore.  The off-shore breeze kept the foam and spray behind the curl, making the photography much easier.

Crashing waves north of the Point Sur Lighthouse

These waves were pretty far away and we used our long telephoto lenses to get reasonably close to them.  Typically, my exposure for these waves was around f4 to f8, with shutter speeds ranging from 1/350 down to 1/150 second at ISO 400.  The dark sky required the higher ISO settings and due to the distance, depth-of-field wasn’t a real issue.

More waves north of the Point Sur Lighthouse

After the waves we moved up and down the coast, traveling some of the local dirt roads back into the Los Padres National Forest looking for landscapes and wildlife.  Much of the ground surrounding the LPNF is privately owned and fenced, making photography of scenic areas very difficult.  But on the old coast road we found some waterfall landscapes.

Los Padres National Forest waterfall and ferns

The wind was blowing in these tight canyons and on the hillsides and there were times when the rain ended our shooting opportunities.  Sometimes we never left the car.  During one hard rainfall we drove up on a beautiful red-shouldered hawk enduring the rain on a power line right above a flock of wild turkeys.

Red-shouldered Hawk

They didn’t seem to mind the rain as much as we did.  The next day we again headed south from Monterey and wound up on the Saberanes cliff and beach south of Monterey but north of Big Sur.  The gray sky was a good balance for the gray-green waves that pounded against the stacks of rock just off-shore.

The shoreline here was very rocky with almost no sand at all, just nicely round gray granite rocks covering the entire beach.  We climbed down to the beach and set up to shoot north up the shoreline.  Initially, I was more intrigued by the rocky beach rather than by the crashing waves farther up the coastline.  There was a nice waterfall leading down through the cliffs, emptying out onto the beach we were on.  We shot these more obvious subjects before I started shooting the waves hitting the rocks.  I bracketed the first exposures, figured the best setting, and then set my camera on manual, not wanting my exposures to be changed by the exploding water, going from dark gray-green to white almost instantly.  I normally wouldn’t have gone to manual, but I wasn’t going to change the composition much so a manual setting was fine.

The Soberanes Beach and sea stacks.

As I shot the wider shots I began to notice the pattern of spray on the small rocks closer to the shoreline.  Its interesting that the longer we stayed to shoot the beach the more subjects just seemed to appear.  Maybe our vision was just getting better.

Crashing Wave Spray

Past Big Sur we drove the Pfeiffer Beach road and photographed the rainforest effect of the forest and ferns.  The beach road itself was blocked by fallen trees, so we spent our time working the areas along the road.

Rainforest effect of trees and ferns

As we moved south down the coast we also spent a lot time at McWay Falls, not shooting the falls (really a sunset shoot), but shooting the creek and its waterfalls that led down the hillside from the picnic area to the large waterfall above the beach.  Under these coastal redwoods the reddish/brown bark and limb branches made for a bright red foreground around the waterfalls.

McWay Creek and waterfall

The trails along the creek made for great compositional elements.  Water was really the subject of this photo safari.  There were waterfalls, crashing waves, rain, swollen creeks – all great subjects for photography.

We finished the last day down near San Simeon.  The coastline was just crowded with raptors of one species or another.  We tried shooting them from the vehicles but that is always a tough chore.  At the elephant seal overlook at Piedras Blancas I had more luck photographing the shore birds moving along the beaches.  They were my final subjects of this great safari.  December 17-18 is Big Sur Safari #2 … sign up and come along.

Curlews babysitting Sanderlings at Piedras Blancas