Fire in the Sky
This valley inside an ancient volcanic caldera produces some spectacular sunsets but I must say this is one of the better sky shows that I have been treated to there. Click on it to view a larger version.
Keep Looking Up
There are as many photo opportunities looking up from within a narrow canyon as there are in any other direction.
Chaco Canyon by Moonlight
We were blessed with crystal clear skies in the canyon all day yesterday and into the night. When the moon came up over the mesa it illuminated the entire canyon with it’s bright light and we really enjoyed standing beneath the stars in the silence of the desert photographing the moonlit vista.
Rainstorm, Valles Caldera
On Saturday we spent the day slowly working our way up the volcanic mountain stopping to take photos the entire way up. I could see the storm cloud building above the mountain throughout the day and had a secret hope that by late afternoon conditions would be right for a rainbow at the top. I didn’t say anything though because I didn’t want get everyone’s hopes up. Luckily though as we came over the rim and descended into the caldera this was the sight that we encountered. Our timing was fortuitous indeed, the rainbow lasted less than ten minutes and then silently vanished.
Desolate Sunset
I’m finally shooting in New Mexico again and so far it’s been a terrific trip. This is from the first evening out here. After arriving on the plane and getting settled in I took my group out to the Ojito Wilderness for a sunset shoot. I climbed to the top of a very tall clay mound in search of a good vantage point to shoot the sunset and encountered this scene as I approached the summit. Lucky me.
Earth and Sky
I was spending some time revamping some of my marketing material for my New Mexico photo tour and came across a bunch of images from past trips that never made it to being posted here. Here is one from the Ojito Wilderness.
Shiny Shoreline
A bonus effect happens when you get down at a really low angle on wet sand – the sand becomes highly reflective. If it’s wet enough it becomes a virtual mirror.
Driftwood
low angle is one of my favorite perspectives to incorporate into a composition. Presenting a subject in a very different way than from eye-level helps give it more visual impact.
Chain Lightning
I was driving home from a location shoot through this storm the other evening and just after sunset the rain eased up enough for me to decide to pull off the highway, jump out of the truck, and snap a few shots. I managed to get a few decent shots and then all at once just as if it had been synchronized in some way, it got dark, the lightning diminished greatly in frequency signalling the end of the storm, and the mosquitoes discovered me. I called it quits and hit the highway for home. This is actually the very last frame I shot before I left.
Ramblin’ Man
Yesterday I talked about keeping a point and shoot camera handy in the vehicle. Sometimes though when I’m traveling and I know I’m likely to shoot while on the road I do prep a DSLR and keep it handy. The prep is the important part. I just want to grab and shoot, not fiddle with anything on the camera. First off that means considering the lens. No variable focal length lenses, that takes two hands to adjust and it could be tempting to try and adjust it. I use a 24mm prime lens. Its just right to show a full windshield view without catching too much interior. It’s also a manual focus lens and that has a few more benefits for quick shooting. If the selected focus point of an autofocus lens is positioned on empty sky valuable time can be lost while the lens hunts back and forth in search of detail to lock focus on. Just keeping an autofocus lens switched in manual mode has issues too. The moving parts in the lens are designed to move freely and quickly while being being driven by a very small motor. That also means that the slightest touch or vehicle vibration can move the focus meaning that pre-focusing the lens isn’t a viable option. A lens like the one I prefer that is manual focus only is deliberately designed to have a lot of friction in the focus mechanism with the intent of keeping it where you set it. When it comes to pre-focusing that type of lens there is also the added benefit of having a distance scale coupled with a depth-of-field scale, a combination that rarely exists in an autofocus lens. With my old-school prime lens I am able to choose a reasonable aperture, usually between f/5.6 and f/8 depending on conditions, and preset the focus at the hyperfocal point using the scales on the lens. With aperture and focus preset, the camera operating in aperture priority mode, EV compensation set to -1/2 to account for bright sky, and metering set to matrix mode, I essentially have a big, high quality point and shoot rig. I can pick it up, hold it up over the dashboard and push the button. The image above was taken with this exact setup.
Blue Sky
Still sticking to my impromptu theme for the week. This is one of several example images I like to use when I talk about how the best camera to use sometimes is simply whatever camera you can lay hands on in a hurry to get the shot. Any shot captured with a point and shoot or phone camera beats a shot missed with a fancy DSLR. I try to keep a point and shoot handy in the console or dash of my vehicle whenever I’m traveling so that I can quickly and safely grab a shot through the windshield or window. In this case I was driving on a reservation in New Mexico and for no more than about ten seconds a sunbeam broke through the clouds illuminating the mesa in the distance and creating a small section of rainbow above it. I had just enough time to grab the little camera, turn it on, point it through the windshield, and shoot. Almost instantly after I got the shot the hole in the clouds closed and the light was gone. A few other people who were with me tried but were too slow with their big rigs to get the shot in those fleeting few seconds.
Dreams
Dreaming of a time when my town was a sleepy little dot on the map consisting mostly of citrus groves and pastures. Progress marches on and now every square inch of the land you see in this image is covered with apartment complexes and parking lots. I happened to noticed today that there is a theme surrounding this week’s posts. It was just a happy coincidence but now I think I will stick with it through Friday just for fun.
Blast From the Past
I ran across this image while digging through some old material for a project this past weekend and set it aside to post here. I haven’t processed many lightning images in black and white but this looked like it had the right inherent contrast to make it work.
Two States of Water
It has been miserably hot lately so I wasn’t shy about getting good and wet in this cool, refreshing fountain the other afternoon in order to create this composition composed of repetitive elements. It’s nice to be able to rely on weatherproof cameras and lenses once in a while.
Storms
It has been so long it has rained around here. Yesterday the skies finally clouded up and storms rolled through all day and night. As you probably know by now I love to shoot in the rain so I took some time for myself between appointments to do just that. I got totally drenched and enjoyed every minute of it.
You’re my Blue Sky, You’re my Sunny Day
Lens flare, saturated colors, repetitive patterns… You know I was totally sucked into this one.
Wild Blue Yonder
When I was walking the flight line at the airshow I gave myself an assignment to try not to shoot any “typical” photos of the aircraft there.
Watercolor Sky
I was in a bit of an artistic mood this weekend and this image provided a nice canvas for me to work with. The image was dark and moody with storm clouds to begin with so I simply built upon what was there as I worked with it.