Nikon D7000 first look

While I am not a gear junkie and am a firm believer of its the photographer not the camera, I couldn't help but make a quick comment on the new Nikon D7000 I have been testing.  While I am a full frame FX shooter this camera really caught my attention as a light weight adventure camera.  While not completely metal like the D300 it is well built and is packed full of features like no other DX camera at a big weight savings.  Paired with my trusty Nikon 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-S DX ED VR it could be the best balance between weight and pro features Nikon has ever made.  With 16mp, 6fps, HD video, and great auto focus, it has what it takes to bring home the goods when carrying a full sized pro body isn't and option.  I plan to put it through its paces this winter on several longer backcountry ski trips where the zoom range of the 16-85 and the weight savings make it a no-brainer.

If you are an adventure photographer or an aspiring photographer you can't go wrong with this body.  

Update 1/29/11
So I just sold my D7000 on ebay a few days ago.  I still hold out that it is an amazing camera, but after using it in the field I decided it didn't fit my work flow for three reasons...

1.  Weight Savings over D700.  Originally I thought the camera would save me some major weight by allowing me to use DX lenses.  See next reason...
2.  Performance  while the performance of the camera is truly amazing, and would make most photographers very happy I just could justify the loss in performance vs. D700 for the minimal wight savings. 
3.  Price the D7000 is a great price point for all photographers, but it was just too much to have invested in a DX lens and body for such a small weight savings and performance loss. 

So if you are looking for a great camera and can't justify owning a FX body and lenses this one is for you.  As a pro where performance and durability often count more than the absolutely lightest body,  I'll be taking the D700 and a couple primes on all my light weight adventures for the time being.

Sierra Hot Springs Shoot

Jen and I are currently working on an article on Hot Springs of the Sierra.  While most of the story is built around the undeveloped hot springs of the Eastern Sierra we wanted to focus on at least one developed hot spring to give the story more depth. 

Years ago chilled to the bone after a winter ski trip on Yuba Pass.  We found ourselves warming up at the Sierra Hot Springs in Sierra Valley.  After regaining feeling in our fingers and toes I began to see the photo potential of the springs themselves. 

While Sierra Hot Springs has several different soaking pools it was the geodesic dome that really excited me as a possible photo.  So when we were asked to shoot a hot springs story I knew exactly where I wanted to shoot the developed hot spring images. 

We arranged to stay for two nights, and in order to have the place to our selves we did our shooting from 6-7am in the mornings.  Besides the pain of getting up early and being awake enough to be working by 6am the idea went off without a hitch.

When we arrived we found the dome empty, but dark and steamy.  While the interior remained dark the highlights in the skylights were blown out.  The dome had way to much contrast between the pool and the skylights, and overall a cold color temperature was anything but inviting.

After shooting a few test frames I decided the most dramatic way to illustrate the situation was to slightly underexpose the skylights while having the room properly exposed and slightly warmed.  By using warming gels on my flashes I was able to bring out the wonderful patterns in the dome structure.

So while my model Jen relaxed I set up two Nikon SB-800's on stands to the right and left of the camera position and attached CTO gels to each of their dome diffusers (I tried umbrella's, but they showed in the photo).  I then set the white balance on my Nikon D700 to tungsten in order to give a slight blue cast to the skylights.  With the Nikon SU-800 I was able to trigger both flashes in manual mode.

After a few test exposures, adding a gobo to block the flash from hitting the camera, and opening the door to blow out the steam I was set to shoot.  My ISO was set at 800 in order to give me a faster flash recycle time.  My aperture was set at f/11 in order to give me plenty of depth of field and take some of the power from the skylights.  The flashes were set manually in order to give a proper exposure at F/11 ISO 800.  Finally because shutter speed does not effect the flash exposure I varied my shutter speed between 1/20th and 1/100th in order to have a proper exposure in the skylights while giving the overall image a moody feel.

Sounds complicated, but its only a matter of understanding how different temperatures of light can interact to create a truly dramatic image. 

Eastside Magazine Cover and Photography Article

For those who love to photograph the Eastern Sierra I currently have an article titled "Fall Photo 101".  Along with mentioning some specific skills and techniques, it also includes several images from "Local Secrets".  Enjoy!

Ptarmigan Traverse

When it comes to adventure I can't think of something better than to take five friends and head off for a six day adventure in the North Cascades.  Timing our trip for the full moon rise we planned our trip for late July hoping for solid snow and as few crevasses as possible.

Our first day the weather was so bad we had to navigate by GPS for most of the day.  We even found a party that had been camping on the snow for two days within twenty minutes of there destination because they were completely lost in the whiteout.

Being a group of photographers we planned to spend a rest day in what seemed to be the most photogenic area to shoot the rising moon over Gunsight Peak. 

After the first day the weather cleared and we had amazingly clear skies and weather that was so warm that by afternoon the snow was like walking through mashed potatoes.  Being a self propelled mountaineering trip I was not able to carry my full kit of professional photo gear, but the compromise allowed me to be far more Mobile and creative.  By only taking my Nikon D300 and Nikon 16-85mm with a few filters in an old chest pack was able to keep my overall camera wight down allowing me have the energy to find unique vantage points and create dynamic scenes. 

It is the conscious act of leaving gear at home that allows me to participate in such remote self propelled adventures.  Sure I missed a few shots that would have been amazing, but the overall experience of participating in the adventure easily outweighs the missed shots.  By using my light weight kit to its strengths and avoiding its weaknesses. I can have images just as sharp as my pro lenses, allowing me to bring home photos from farther in afield that are far more unique and original than the typical roadside photo ops. 

Glacier National Park

After many years of talk we finally make it out to Glacier for our friends Eric and Melissa's wedding this summer.  Eric and Melissa both work for Natural Habitat Adventures and had some time off from their busy guiding schedule to do some hiking, photography, and fine wine.  I also borrowed a D3x and 24PC-E tilt shift lens from NPS to try out as a landscape setup. 

After waiting out the rain for a couple days and driving the Going-to-the-sun road in a complete fog bank we had several great days on the east side of the park with our friends.  While the girls slept in Eric and I went out for some amazing clearing storm sunrise light.  After the morning shoots we put away our cameras and hiked, told stories, and laughed more than I thought possible.

After several days on the East side of the park we headed back over to the West side because Eric had to leave for Alaska.  After a couple days on the West side with Melissa and our friend Keith, Jen and headed east again for several days on our own hiking and photography. 

We got some great advice from our friends who run the park cafe about their favorite day hike out of Many Glacier.  The hike follows a popular day hike trail for about mile before setting off cross country and climbing steep benches next to a waterfall.  Eventually reaching an isolated alpine bench called Shangri La.  The hike ended with a ski down a marble sized scree slope to Iceberg lake and then a 4.5 mile hike back to the trail head. 

Jen and I continued to hike and explore the East side of the park for several more days and had several opportunities to photograph Black Bears in their habitat rolling rocks searching for insects. 

As our time in Glacier was drawing to a close we again headed to the West side of the park to meet Keith and spend a wonderful evening in the small community of Pole Bridge having dinner and a bottle of wine.  After dinner we headed to one of Keith's favorite spots on the Flat Head river to watch a thunderstorm rolling in over the high peaks of the park.  In the ten days we were in Glacier we had everything from spring flowers to winter snows and found the park to be incredible.  Now the only issue is how soon can we head back for more. 

 As far as the borrowed D3x and 24PC-E I am totally sold.  Between the higher megapixel and more importantly the ability to tilt the lens I came home with the sharpest files I have ever worked with.  Now if only Nikon would make a smaller version of the body that would work for my backcountry adventures I would on the phone with B&H right now! 

Costa Rica

I am just home from a great summer of shooting and adventures.  Jen and I lead our Costa Rica trip again, with 13 participants.  We did the Northern Loop through Costa Rica in 10 full days.  With stops at Tortuguero, Salve Verde Lodge, Arenal Volcano, Monteverde, and the Pacific coast.  While this was more of a guiding/natural history trip I of course was not without my camera.  

 

We had several great opportunities at Tortuguero including a very playful Neotropical Otter that kept following our boat.   The Red Eyed tree frogs were great in the coastal lowlands, and of course the Monkeys are always fun.

New Article on the Ansel Adams Wilderness

Jen and I just got home from leading a group of students in Costa Rica to find the new August issue of Sierra Heritage in our mail.  I have the cover story focusing on the Ansel Adams Wilderness area found just outside of Yosemite.  The images are a result of several years of backpacking and photo shoots in the area.  Pick up a copy or go on line to http://www.sierraheritage.com/

Bouldering Shoot

This past week I was reminded of the photographers saying "f/8 and be there".  I was teaching in Yosemite and having a wonderful time, except for the clear blue skies all day and clouded over sunsets.  Every night we would sit and wait at a different sunset location hoping things would "go off" but each night it clouded over just for the sunset and then cleared once all the light was gone.  Trying to remain positive we took advantage of the nearly full moon to shoot Yosemite Falls and El Capitan.  In the end capturing some unique images,  with star fields and climbers headlamps giving the images a very different feel than the standard daylight versions.

Part of my reason for being frustrated about the clear blue skies and lack of sunset images was that when I had originally planned my trip to Yosemite I had arranged to shoot some climbing photos but was rained out.  So when it started clouding up again my last afternoon (the night we had rescheduled our climbing photos for) I was bummed.  Plus when I called my friends to confirm, I found out they were stuck behind a slow party on the "Nut Cracker" and might not even make it down in time.  Knowing I had a five hour drive home and had something scheduled the next morning I started packing my truck for home, but on the way out of the park I decided to stop by the tunnel view and check the weather to the west.  As usual there was a huge crowd of tripods waiting for the sunset, but it still didn't look too promising.

So I followed the best logic of all and got out a cold beer and decided to make the call after the beer was gone.  After chatting with several photographers and taking the obligatory family snapshot or two I got a call from my friends saying they were down and on the way.  So I decided there was nothing to do except wait and at least get to visit with them in a beautiful spot.  After chatting for a few minutes we decided that even if the photos didn't work out we might as well enjoy some great bouldering.

With only about 40 minutes to spare we reached my chosen boulder right as the clouds began to break and Half Dome became visible.  With Robin and Roger taking laps on the rock I shot as many compositions as possible the light continued to get warmer and warmer.

As we sat on the tailgate of my truck enjoying the spoils of our victory we mused about how light is like life, and that if you wait for it to happen it will pass you by.  Good light only happens for those who are in the right place at the right time.  Most times you get rain, but once in a while you get rainbows, and it is those rainbows that make life worth living!  Even when I arrived home at 2am exhausted I still had to pull out my camera and look at my "rainbows" one more time before I could sleep.

The Photographer's Ephemeris

I have been testing out a new program while preparing to head to Yosemite for some spring full moon shooting.  I have always held by the plan of shooting the full moon rising at sunset a couple days before the actual full moon, with the best results coming from being in location more than one night.  When I have needed to be more specific I have used computer based programs to help find the exact moon location and angle, but these programs were always awkward and not really designed with photographers in mind.  

Recently someone told me about The Photographers Ephemeris which is designed to help photographers find the exact rise/set locations for both the sun on moon using google maps.  The program allows you to place points on the map and then it draws strait lines toward the rise/set locations for specific dates.  It also takes into account elevation of the horizon.   

It has the ability to save locations on the map so you can revisit them quickly to check different dates and times.  They are also releasing a iPhone app so it might be another good reason to get an iPhone.  You may have to download Adobe Air to make it work.  If you find it as valuable as I have please take the time to donate a few bucks to help keep the designer building useful tools for us photographers.  http://photoephemeris.com/

Table Mountain Thunderstorm

For years I have been wanting to shoot a clearing storm with wildflowers on Table Mountain in Oroville California, and this past week I finally got my chance.  Knowing that I wanted to find some new locations than in previous years I called my good friend and mentor John Hendrickson to pick his brain about locations and conditions.  Armed with John's advice as well as checking the weather nearly every hour during a recent 4 day storm, I took off when I saw the forecast predicting the storm to clear around sunset. 


Knowing that photography is all about being at the right place at the right time,  I packed a couple sandwiches, water, several layers, and my rain jacket.  So I could wait through what ever mother nature threw at me until I either froze or it got dark.

Though I drove through several squalls, by the time I arrived it had begun to clear just as expected.  While I was really hoping for storm light I quickly set about shooting the early flower bloom as I worked my way toward some trees in the distance.  While the strong wind made it nearly impossible to create close up flower images, the passing clouds did provide variable lighting conditions alternating between open shade and blue sky with big puffy white clouds. 

As I continued to shoot and explore the clouds slowly thickened until it was completely socked in and the wind was gusting with such force that it was endangering my tripod as well as my camera.  Before I packed up my gear I was able to get behind some rocks and take advantage of a clearing over some distant snow covered peaks, but due to the wind I was forced to dramatically limit my depth of field.  So I packed up my gear and began following a series of drainages toward the edge of the cliffs to hopefully find some new interesting compositions for next time. 

Eventually I found an amazing field of Lupine and a lone Oak tree that offered many different compositions depending on the angle of light, so I decided to drop my pack and wait.  After a few minutes of exploring possible compositions the storm picked up and sent me running for shelter under the tree.  I spent the next hour hiding from the storm under the enormous Oak.  As the storm began to pass the western sky started to open up while the rest of the sky remained thick with storm clouds.

From past experience I knew that these were prime rainbow conditions, so I headed west to find a foreground to place in front of my tree if the rainbows did come.  Just as I had expected soon a series of rainbows began forming behind my tree, and with a little movement on my part I was able to place the tree and rainbow on opposing sides of the composition, but as the rainbow grew stronger so did the remaining hail storm.   For those of you reading this who are not photographers this will seem strange, but as the hail storm blew furiously I took off my rain coat to protect the front of my lens dry.  Braving the blowing hail and being soaked in the process I shot continuously until the rainbows disappeared, pausing only long enough to dry the few water drops that did reach my lens.  

After the rainbows ended the sky began to get dark, but from looking on the western horizon I could tell there would be one more moment of light right as the sun dropped around the curve of the earth.  I rushed to find a simple composition before this last bit of storm light hit the wildflowers blowing in the wind. 

As the sun finally slipped behind the horizon for the night I tried to dry my soaked gear with my shirt as I packed for the hike back to the car.  Aside from a few moments where I had to stop and get my barrings, I made it back to the car just as I had to flip on my head lamp in the darkness.  All the while thinking about the amazing weather and light show I had just witnessed, and feeling repaid for all those times I have sat in a rain storm only to go home without even getting my camera out. 



Photographing Table Mountain
While Table Mountain can be shot any time of year, my favorite time is during the spring wildflower bloom which happens anywhere from late March through mid May.  The exact timing will depend on both the amount of winter/spring rains and the specific species you want to photograph.  The purple lupines come out earlier than the California Poppies.

I personally like to photograph Table Mountain in the late afternoon because the sun is at a lower angle and you have the Sierra foothills in the background, though early morning can also be nice.  If you are interested in close up or macro images of flowers it is best to shoot on a overcast or cloudy day with no wind, while for broad landscapes blue skies with some white puffy clouds are great.

I usually bring most of my photo equipment and make the choice of what to carry in the parking lot depending on the conditions.  If its cloudy with no wind I'll bring my macro gear for close up images, and if its sunny or partly cloudy I'll opt for the wider landscape lenses.

For additional information and directions call the Oroville Chamber of Commerce at (800) 655-4653

New butterfly article

Check out the new April issue of Sierra Heritage Magazine.  I have the cover story on Butterflies in California.  The photos were a long time coming, and I am very proud of the conservation message as well.   If you can't find a copy locally you can order a copy at  http://www.sierraheritage.com

Elves Chasm image published in 2010 Expressions contest

My image from Elves Chasm was published as a tier two winner in the 2010 North American Nature Photography Association Expressions juried contest.

This image was shot during a 21 day private rafting trip running the Grand Canyon in March of 2007.   For years we had know that one of Jen's friends had put in for a private permit to do a long rafting trip down the Grand.  After a 15 year wait his permit was called and the invitations went out.  Luckily we were two of the lucky because of Wilderness First Responder skills, guiding experience, and photographic documentation skills.

As a private trip we were not aloud to have any raft guides, no motors, and only friends.  During the year before the trip several other members of the group worked hard improving their rafting skills and taking swift water rescue courses.  We were a little apprehensive as we cracked ice off our boats and pushed off on March 2nd from Lees Ferry.

Luckily it was few days before we hit the really big water and by then we had gotten into a groove.  With only a couple swimmers and small raft mishaps we successfully ran nearly 240 miles of the largest whitewater river in the country over the next three weeks.  All the while reveling in the silence and isolation that winter brings on the river.

Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival

This year I decided to enter eight photos in the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival. Though I did not win the big prize I did have seven of my eight images receive honorable mention.

Naturally Funny

I recently attended the North American Nature Photography Summit where my image of a Burrowing owl and Jackrabbit was honored in the NANPA Naturally Funny contest. Not only was the image selected and shown during the conference, but it was also printed by George Lepp and hung during the event.

I shot this image while shooting Burrowing owls for a magazine article a couple years ago. I was down in the Davis area where I had heard of a good nest site. At first the owl and I both were frustrated about the Jackrabbit getting in the shots, but after looking at the image over past couple years it has become one of my favorites from the project.

I guess it goes to show shoot now, decide later!

Photo By Ski

I am finally home from a whirlwind tour of the Sierra. After several stressful weeks of teaching, dying Grandma and leading a photo workshop in Yosemite, I strapped on my skis and headed out on Glacier Point road in Yosemite NP for a little solo time. Years ago I had visited Taft Point during the summer and realized the potential of this spot for a winter shot with the addition of untouched snow in the foreground.

After a slow ski out the groomed road I turned off the road and did the last hour of skiing down toward the valley rim just in time do drop my pack make a few turns and find a good sunset location. After shooting Horsetail Falls from the Valley the previous few days I really wanted to line up the last light on El Capitan with something to show my high vantage point and the winter snow. It all came together in this image!

I spent the night not far from this spot sleeping out under the stars until about midnight when the wind picked up and climbed into my bivy sack. After shooting the sunrise and melting snow I skinned back up to the road and enjoyed a long downhill glide on the icy road back towards Badger Pass Ski Resort.

After showering up and making a few calls I headed out of the park for the North American Nature Photography Association conference starting that night in Reno. Where I met and talked with several conservation photographers about future projects and ended the road trip by teaching a one day photo workshop at Lake Tahoe.

All told somewhere between 18-20 miles of skiing, a wonderful sunset, and a great box of mac & cheese can make for an amazing personal battery recharge.