White Out Series

The Forest

I began shooting this series of photographs in the 2009 winter. I have always been drawn to the weather of a breaking storm. It often offers some of the most dramatic lighting and opportunity to capture familiar subject matter in a new exciting way. Breaking weather offers unique and fast changing lighting with clouds opening windows to reveal hidden vignettes of a scene or subject you are accustomed to seeing in full. I began to wonder if there might also be opportunity in the weather before a storm breaks. In the heart of the storm itself.

Solo

Meadow

People often stay indoors during bad weather. You look out the window of your warm dry home and you probably see a world of physical discomfort, especially in the winter. There can be cold numb hands, sticky wet clothing, and skin biting wind. Even if you are just looking at it you can feel it. But is there another place within that chaos? A place less physical. One of emotional quiet and tranquility.

Barn

Many years ago I experienced just such realization within the chaos of white water rapids. When my kayaking skills became sufficient, and my courage allowed me to surf on the waves of big class 3 and 4 plus rapids, I was amazed to find that within the visual chaos of rapids seen from the shore, there exists a blissful pocket where you find total peace and ease. Approaching a rapid it is loud, fast, and out-of-control. Then you make it on the glassy surface of a rapids tongue or on the face of a wave. It all comes together, and suddenly gets quiet. You are riding on silk, connected physically and emotionally with the water. For years I have tried to capture this essence in my kayaking and rafting images.

Three Tall

Could this same place be found in the discomfort of a winter storm? Could I capture it photographically?

Two Trees

In the midst of raging Colorado mountain storms, beyond physical discomfort, I was surprised to find that there does exist this place of emotional and visual tranquility. I have always been inspired by the calm stillness created by the simple compositions of Asian art such as Japanese wood block prints and calligraphy.

Rail Fence

By compositionally distilling a scene to is most fundamental elements I have tried to capture this essence of serenity found with in the intensity of Colorado winter storms. I call this newest body work, White Out.

Rich Included in Backpacker’s Best Photos Ever

I’m thrilled that Backpacker Magazine has chosen my image of a backpacker hiking on a sand dune in Great Sand Dunes National Park as one of its 12 Best Photos Ever.

“If the average picture is worth 1,000 words, the best wilderness images from BACKPACKER’s top photographers are worth millions.”

This photo of backpacker Sarah Hill originally appeared in the September 2002 Issue of Backpacker Magazine. You can see my image along with the other 11 chosen images in a slide show on the Backpacker web site here.

Photography Student Discounts

If you are a student of photography, taking one of my photography classes or workshops or anywhere else, you should know that you may qualify for discounts on photographic equipment, software, and services.

A great resource for such discounts can be found on student Brad Leese’s Photo Student Discounts website. The site catalogs discounts that apply specifically to photography students from major retailers like B&H Photo Video and photo gear and software manufacturers. Check it out today and start your savings.

Shakodo, A new Photography Pricing Service / Forum

Knowing how and what to charge for your photography is hard. Especially when you are just starting out in the business, or if you are pricing a job or photo usage you have no experience with. When I first started out there were not many places to turn to for help. That’s why a while back I made the post
Stock Photography Pricing Resources in which I list several free and some pay resources to help you with pricing. Recently I came across a new web site to add to the list; Shakodo.

Shakodo is offering a free service “where amateur and professional photographers can talk openly in a public forum and make the entire photographic service process more transparent, especially in the pricing area”.

From the Shakodo site…

The Problem

Photography is one of those professions without any fixed prices; everything always must be negotiated. Up until recently, the photographic market was very isolated and the art of price negotiation was one of the keys to success for professionals. With the influx of talented amateurs a market shift began to take place. With their lack of experience and knowledge about current market rates and not understanding client’s budgets and needs, these talented amateurs have settled for lowered price offers. As a result, they have unintentionally undercut professionals while leaving money on the table because they are not aware of the true market value of their photos or services.

As I said Shakodo is new so I have not really been involved yet. I’ll be following it and formulating opinions I am sure. If you try it I would love to hear back from you in the comments what you think of it.

Professional Point & Shoot Camera Comparison

Back in September I made a post announcing the release of the Cannon G12 point and Shoot camera. I did this primarily because I get asked a lot to recommend cameras to my workshop students and friends. As far as point and shoot cameras go I think think the Cannon G series is hard to beat. But there are some other professional level point and shoot cameras that are in the same price range and are very much worth considering.

B&H Photo and Video put together a great comparison of these professional point and shoot cameras. I thought it might be nice to pass this information on to you, so with the permission of Issaic at B&H I have copied their article below. It includes a short video that hits the highlights in case you don’t want to read all the way through. At the bottom there is also a comparison chart.

Professionals tend to expect more from the tools they use. They expect them to perform reliably, accurately and smoothly on good days and bad. On top of all that, they expect their tools to feel proper, secure and “right” in the hand. And these very same folk often have the same expectations when it comes to pedestrian items. We’d like to talk about a half-dozen point-and-shoot digital cameras that should appeal to serious-minded shooters seeking a pocket-sized camera that feels and performs like a “real” camera.

Each of the following cameras is unique in that it incorporates the sort of features serious shooters prefer even in their “down-time” cameras. These features include fast apertures, high-quality glass, sturdier-than-average construction, full manual override, JPEG+RAW still capture, a hotshoe for use with flashguns and accessories, analog-style controls for quick and intuitive on-the-fly exposure adjustments and a tactile feel that makes you want to take one wherever you go.
Five out of six of these cameras contain 10MP imaging sensors typical of their class. The exception is the Leica X1, which contains a larger APS-C sensor despite it’s easily pocketable size. As for optics, each of these cameras features premium glass with wide maximum apertures, the slowest among them f2.8 and the fastest a truely bright f/1.8.
Two of the cameras, the Canon PowerShot G12 and Nikon CoolPix P7000, feature optical viewfinders coupled to their respective zoom lenses as welcome (though peephole-ish) alternatives to composing and editing images on the camera’s LCD under bright lighting conditions. Similarly, you can slip optical finders (DMV-VF1) onto the hotshoes of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 and Leica D-LUX 5 that match the wide-angle field of view of the 24-90mm equivalent Leica DC Vario-Summicron lens that is shared by both cameras. Leica also offers a hotshoe-mounted optical finder matched to the angle of view of the camera’s fixed lens (Leica X1 Brightline Finder).
 Canon
The Canon PowerShot G12 is the latest in a long line of top shelf pro point-and-shoot cameras. Encased in a tough, all-metal housing, the G12 features a DIGIC 4-powered 10 MP CCD, an image-stabilized 5x (28-140mm equivalent) UA zoom lens, full manual override, close focusing down to 0.4″ from the lens surface and a 2.8″ (460,000-dot) Vari-Angle LCD.
In the imaging department the PowerShot G12 can capture JPEGs, RAW, JPEG+RAW, as well as 720p HD video with sound. The top shutter speed of the G12 is 1/4000th-second and you can squeeze off up to two frames per second when shooting flat out. In the power department, you can expect up to 1000 exposures-per-charge and for recording stills and video, the G12 accepts SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC, MMC Plus, HC MMC Plus memory cards.
Nikon 
Similar in design is Nikon’s CoolPix P7000, which in addition to a 10.1 MP CCD, a coupled optical finder, JPEG and/or RAW still capture, analog style control dials and a 3″ (921,000-dot) LCD, can also capture 720p HD video with stereo sound. The lens, a five-way optically stabilized 28-200mm equivalent zoom with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 and close focusing down to 0.8″ from the lens surface, has the widest focal range in its class.
Along with all of the above, a new EXPEED C2 imaging processor keeps things moving at burst rates up to 1.3 frames per second continuous shooting for up to 45 frames. Other important features found on the CoolPix P7000 include Active D- Lighting, a top shutter speed of 1/4000th-second and top ISO sensitivity of 12,800. The P7000 accepts SD, SDHC and SDXC memory cards, and for times you find yourself in dire straights, the P7000 contains about 79MB of internal memory. As for shooting times, according to Nikon, you can expect to squeeze off about 350 stills or two hours and 45 minutes of HD video per battery charge.
Samsung
Mention the name Samsung and most people think HDTVs, remote controls and cell phones, but as theSamsung TL500 illustrates, Samsung’s engineers seem to take low-light shooting with sturdy pocket cameras seriously. Among its key attributes is a 10MP CCD, a fully-rotatable 3″ AMPLOD display, dual image stabilization systems, a hotshoe, analog-style control dials, JPEG and/or RAW, in-camera RAW processing, full manual overrride and MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video with stereo sound.
The biggest selling point of the Samsung TL500 has to be its Schneider 3x, 24-72mm equivalent wide-angle zoom, which with a maximum aperture of f/1.8 is a third-stop faster than its closest f/2 competitors.  Even at the 72mm mark, the lens still transmits a respectable maximum aperture of f/2.4.
The TL500′s f/1.8 maximum aperture also allows for a wee bit more selective focus when shooting tight, narrow-focus images, which in the world of tiny imaging sensors, isn’t all that easy. The Samsung TL500 accepts SD and SDHC memory cards and contains a rather hefty 1GB of internal memory.
Panasonic 
Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-LX5 is a trim, smartly-designed pocket camera that features an f/2, Leica DC Vario-Summicron Aspheric zoom lens with a 24-90mm equivalent zoom range, that along with a top ISO setting of 12,800, makes it an ideal pocket-sized street-shooting machine. To complement the camera’s 3″ 460,000-dot LCD, the Lumix LX5 allows you the option of slipping a 24mm FOV DMV-VF1 optical finder (optional ) onto the LX5′s hotshoe for fast and accurate, eye-to-the-ocular shooting.

Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-LX5 in White & Black (with optional DMV-VF1 Electronic Viewfinder)

Like the other cameras in the pro-quality point-and-shoot category, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 features a hotshoe and captures stills in the form of  JPEG and/or RAW. Other features include a top shutter speed of 1/4000th-second, up to 2.5 frames per second continuous shooting, macro focusing down to 0.39″ (1cm) from the front lens surface, and 720p @ 30 fps HD video capture. The Lumix LX5 accepts SD, SDHC or SDXC memory cards and contains about 40MB of internal memory.
Leica
From Leica we have not one but two distinct and unique models to choose from, starting with the Leica X1, which despite its compact profile contains a 12.2MP APS-C format CMOS sensor, similar in size and resolving power to the sensors found in compact DSLRs. To complement the camera’s hi-res sensor, the X-1 has a super-sharp, 24mm f/2.8 Leica Elmarit fixed focal length lens that renders the field of view of a 36mm lens on a full-frame Leica M-series camera, which as you might have guessed, was part of the master plan.

Leica’s X-1 features a fixed 24mm f/2.8 Leica Elmarit Lens,

12.2MP APS-C Format Sensor and is available in Black or Silver.

Manufactured entirely in Germany and available in a choice of Blackor Silver, the Leica is strictly a still camera, and like it’s larger sibling there’s no video capture with this baby. Out of the box, the X-1 features a 2.7″ LCD for composing and editing imagery, but to better facilitate the full Leica experience, the Leica X1 Brightline Finder, designed to match the 62° angle-of-view of the camera’s lens, is highly recommended. There’s also an optional X1 Handgrip, which screws onto the base of the camera to add a positive handhold when grasping the camera.
Other features found on the Leica X-1 include JPEG and/or RAW (DNG)  capture, analog controls with full manual overrides, Live View, 11 AF points, a two-year international warranty and a copy of Adobe Lightroom 3, which is downloadable when you register your camera online.

Our second offering from Leica is the Leica D-LUX 5, which (truth be told) is one and the same as the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 described above once you dig down under the skin. The skin it’s been replaced with, however, is pretty sleek and features the ego-satisfying red Leica logo.
As for image quality, the firmware in the Leica D-LUX5 is designed to render color and tone more neutrally than its Panasonic counterpart, which like most cameras from Japanese manufacturers, renders color and tone at punchier levels.
Along with an f/2, Leica DC Vario-Summicron Aspheric zoom lens (24-90mm equivalent), the Leica D-LUX5 features a top ISO setting of 12,800, 3″ 460,000-dot LCD (and optional DMV-VF1 optical finder), JPEG and/or RAW still capture, a top shutter speed of 1/4000th-second, up to 2.5 frames-per-second continuous shooting, macro focusing down to 0.39″ (1cm) and 720p @ 30 f-p-s HD video capture. The Lumix LX5 accepts SD, SDHC, or SDXC memory cards and contains about 40MB of internal memory. The Leica D-LUX5 comes with a two-year international warranty, which is twice up from the industry standard of one year.

Professional Quality Point-and-Shoot Digital Cameras

	Sensor	Lens	Image Viewing	Stills	Video	Highest ISO Rating
Nikon CoolPix P7000	10.1Mp CCD (1/1.7″)	28-200mm/f2.8-5.6 (Equivalent)	3″ LCD(921,000-dots) Coupled Optical Finder (80% Coverage)	JPEG +RAW	720p @30fps (Stereo Sound)	ISO 12,800
Canon PowerShot G12	10Mp CCD (1/1.7″)	28-140mm/f2.8-4.5 (Equivalent)	Vari-Angle 2.8″ LCD (460,000-dots) Coupled Optical Finder (approx 80% coverage)	JPEG +RAW	720p @24fps (Stereo Sound)	ISO 3200
Samsung TL500	10Mp CCD (1/1.7″)	24-72mm/f1.8-2.4 (Equivalent)	3″ OLED (614,000-dots)	JPEG +RAW	MPEG-4 AVC /H.264 (Mono Sound)	ISO 3200
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5	10.1Mp CCD (1/1.6″)	24-90mm/f2-3.3 (Equivalent)	3″ LCD(460,000-dots)	JPEG +RAW	720p @24fps (Mono Sound)	ISO 12,800
Leica D-LUX 5	10.1Mp CCD (1/1.63″)	24-90mm/f2-3.3 (Equivalent)	3″ LCD(460,000-dots)	JPEG +RAW	720p @30fps (Mono Sound)	ISO 12,800
Leica X1	12.2Mp CMOS (APS-C)	24mm/f2.8 (Fixed 36mm Equiv)	2.7″ LCD (230,000-dots)	JPEG +RAW	None	ISO 3200

Rafting Cataract Canyon in Canyonlands National Park

http://wildernessimagesphotography.com/I was able to squeeze in one more river trip this year. Starting near Moab Ut, The Colorado river flows into Cataract Canyon through Canyonlands National Park. This is perhaps on of the most in-assessable sections of river in the country with no easy road or trail access to the river between the put-in and take out at Lake Powell. The first 50 miles of the trip is flat water meandering through a goose-necked sandstone canyon past the confluence with the Green River. Many people attach motors to their rafts and buzz quickly through this section. Our small 3 person 2 boat trip had no motor, and that was OK with us. This upper section of the trip is home to some of the most spectacular scenery, archealogical sites, petrified wood, and rock formations I have ever seen. The motorless experience really lets one relax into a wonderfully slow pace for the trip. Check out the 4 fingered child’s hand pictographs we saw in the photo to the right.

Just below the confluence of the Green River is access to the Doll House. The Doll House is an extremely remote section of the Maze District in Canyonlands. The windy passages between monolithic sandstone towers offers amazing hiking and photographic opportunities. This shot below is a Panorama I shoot while hiking back to the Spanish Bottom camp at the foot of the Doll House.

Below the Doll House the rapids begin. Cataract Canyon contains fourteen miles of rapids ranging in difficulty up to Class V. At this time of the year with lower flows the rapids are not as fierce as their reputation holds, but are still a lot of fun. This section of the river is probably the closest

The shot of me rowing to the right was taken by my buddy and fellow photographer Jack Moseley. Jack is using my Nikon D90 in an Ewa Marine underwater housing to catch the action.

As a photographic side note, I love this underwater housing. Housings can be very expensive, and although this one is still not cheap, it’s a lot less expensive that a hard case and performs well. I really like the fact that I can mount a strobe on my camera in the housing allowing me to add fill light ot a shot like this which would other wise suffer from a very dark shadowed face. 

The last part of the trip returns to flat water. The varying levels of Lake Powell cause the exact mileage of the flat water to vary. On our trip the lake level was still a bit low (as it has been for many years now due to drought conditions). We floated past exposed high silt banks formed by sediment when the lake was higher gouged out by the return of flow when the lake level was lower.

For us the last 16 miles of the trip was flat water and very interesting from an environmental perspective. The canyon seems in a state of confusion. Silt was piled high on the banks hosting plants such as willows and tamarisk that would normally be at the waters edge. Side canyons were cutting through never ending slimy silty mud that got on everything you touched. Two days of chilling rain only made the muddy conditions worse as all the side canyons flash flooded.
We spent a lot of time thinking of how beautiful this canyon must have been in it’s un- altered state. Camping in this lower section became challenging as none of the land was stable or clear of brush. Rounding the corner getting a spectacular view of the Mountains over Lake Powell was the signal that we had reached the end.

Below is a slide show with more images from the trip.

Silverton Durango Narrow Gage Railroad

Last Sunday was the last train ride of the season for the Silverton Durango Narrow Gage Railroad. This last ride of the historic steam locomotive is reserved for the local residents of the region as a thank you to the communities that support the train. I have never ridden the train in the 11 years I have been living in the area and was really excited about going.
The Route travels from Silverton to Durango Colorado through the remote Animas valley within the San Juan National Forest skirting the Weminuche Wilderness. Shauna and I were seated in car number 5 along with, just by chance, a good many other Ridgway residents. It quickly turned into a terrific party. Several of the passengers brought instruments so there was live music and singing the whole way as we looked out at the stunningly beautiful Animas river valley pass by.

Here is a slide show of images form the day.

Where Good Ideas Come From

I am always looking for photographic inspiration. Sometimes I find it through the work of other photographers. Sometimes I find it from obscure places that have absolutely nothing to do with photography. Quite often, at least lately, it is through the internet.

I live in a small town (about 700 people), and although there are other photographers in my area, I am not as connected to them as I could be. As a result I often experience a bit of the “stranded alone on a desert island feeling”. Through the internet I can get exposure to a ton of cool ideas.

It’s really easy to get into a rut if you are not exposed to new ideas. I’m not talking about new ideas that I can copy or reproduce, although I believe there is value in doing this as an instructional tool. I’m talking about new ideas gained from the ideas of others that you combine with your own. Ideas that you can take and grow your own new ideas from. This is where the real creativity comes from.

I don’t think I have ever had a sudden moment of sudden “inspiration”. A single moment where everything came into place at once. No exclamation point or light bulb appearing over my head! Instead it has usually been a slow evolving process often filled with anxiety and struggle.

Check out this short and very creative video by Steven Johnson. I think his explanation of the process of idea development is right on. Then tell me in the comments where your inspiration comes from and how you develop your good ideas.

Cannon G12

When I don’t feel like lugging around all my heavy bulky pro camera gear, like when I am on a casual mountain bike ride or rock climbing, or when I just feel like having a camera I can throw in my pocket at a party for some snapshots, a point and shoot camera is just the thing. I hate the idea of not making high quality salable images however. That’s just the pro in me I guess. So when I discovered the Cannon Power Shot G10 I was ecstatic. Its a fantastic point and shoot camera that does almost everything my pro cameras do. Yet it fits in my pocket. It’s in a solid durable package, shoots high resolution images (10.4 Megapixels) and with the option of doing it in RAW format. It also has my favorite feature, a hot shoe that allows me to use an accessory flash, off camera even. The G10 unfortunately is no longer available. It’s beefed up brother however has just been released, the Cannon Power Shot G12.

The G12 has all the same features I like in the G11 and of course many new ones. I will not list them all here. I’m not trying to write a camera review. You can check the out G12 feature list here if you want. I think this series of point and shoot cameras is about the best out there. I am often asked in my workshops and classes, especially my Digital Point and Shoot class, what camera I recommend. Well,  I say the Cannon G series cameras.

If your looking for a new point and shoot camera, or just want one to supplement your arsenal of big guns like I do check out the New Cannon Power Shot G12. I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Free RAW Converter

I only shoot RAW, and for me it works really well. I have a lot of students however that do not shoot RAW. In my workshops I talk about the common file formats, their benefits, advantages, and dis-advantages. For me RAW works best. One of the primary reasons I advocate people not use RAW is because it os not a format you can use right out of your camera. RAW requires you to spend time learning how to make corrections to your images, and this requires a time commitment and software. Software that can be expensive like Photoshop. I recently came across a free RAW converter program however.

RAWshooter Essentials is a Freeware program available for download at no cost. Now I’ll admit I have not fully explored the program and don’t have that much experience using it. But so far based on my initial playing around with it I like it. I think it is a good resource for those that would like to begin learning how to work with RAW files, but are not yet committed enough to throw down the money for a program like Photoshop.

So if you think you want to start shooting in RAW, and I highly recommend you do if you want to be serious about your photography, download the FREE RAWshooter Essentials and give it a try. Let me know what you think of this program in the comments below.

Another useful RAW tool if you are on a PC running Windows XP is the Microsoft RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for Windows XP. Download it from the Microsoft site here. 

And from Adobe Labs get the free DNG Codec  for  Windows Vista. The DNG Codec provides a method for Windows Vista users to view DNG files in the Windows Explorer and Photo Gallery.