Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Holiday Print Sale
Well, I've decided to have my own little Black Friday and beyond sale on my website. I'll be offering all prints currently available in the fine art section of my site at 25% off starting on November 27th (Black Friday) for one week through December 3rd. Now is a great time to buy that print you've always wanted for yourself or as a gift to someone special for the holidays. This applies to print only sales...ColorBox mounted prints are not being offered with these discounts...sorry. The 25% discount will be reflected in the prices whenever a print is added to your cart. Happy shopping and I hope everyone has a great and safe holiday season!
Friday, November 20, 2009
2010 Calendar Available
This is my actually my third year of creating calendars. I really do it simply as a gift to family, friends, in-laws, etc. for the holidays. This year I switched to Zazzle for my 2010 calendar creation (I used MPix in the past) and they have a storefront from which anyone can order. Last year, I was surprised by all the extra requests I got for the calendar and found it a pain to have to order it myself and then forward it on. This will alleviate that problem. Not that I expect to sell many...calendars that are printed on demand are rather expensive. Only those silly enough to want the novelty of a calendar created specifically by me will even consider ordering. But the option is there, nonetheless! Just click on the image below to link to my ordering page...
First Magazine Cover Image
I was happy to see upon my return from Zion National Park that my winter image of Mesa Arch in Canyonlands graced the cover of this month's issue of Inside Outside Southwest Magazine...
Inside Outside is a regional magazine that specializes in the adventure scene of the Four Corners area. Click on the image to see what it is all about. It is my first magazine cover so that made it a special treat for me. Hopefully it'll be the first of many!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Autumn's Last Stand at Zion National Park
I've heard other photographers gush about the magnificent autumn scenery at Zion National Park for a number of years now and I finally decided to check out all this magnificence for myself this year. Well, after a six day stint in the park, I've come to the resounding conclusion that all the accolades were well deserved! The juxtaposition of the red sandstone walls with the yellows of all the cottonwoods lining the Virgin River as it snakes down the Zion's enormous canyon was pure candy for this photographer!
The Virgin River Leading To The Watchman
My two main objectives for this trip were certainly no revelation to any other photographer visiting the area. I wanted to see and photograph both the Subway and the Virgin Narrows in all their autumn glory. The Subway is located in the lesser visited Kolob Terrace section of the park and requires a backcountry permit in order to undertake the 9 mile round trip to see it. It is actually a slot canyon that the Left Fork of North Creek has carved out in such a manner that it takes on the appearance of a New York subway tunnel. Add a healthy dose of reflected light which enters this tunnel from a brightly lit wall adjacent to it and you have one of the more unique photographic opportunites found anywhere.
The Subway and the Left Fork of North Creek
The hike is an experience in itself as there is really no set trail that takes you from trailhead to final destination. Instead there are trail fragments on one or both sides of the creek and you utilize route finding skills to find the best way. Sometimes this involved scrambles up the hillsides to get around waterfalls and rockfalls, sometimes the best way forward was by walking up the creek itself. My research prepared me for this and I bought a pair of Five Ten canyoneering boots along with neoprene socks to make the watery portions of the hike easier to handle. All in all I probably spent about a third of the hike in the creek and had a blast doing it. The biggest drag of the journey was the steep, ~500 foot climb that was needed to get out of the canyon and back to the trailhead. After 8 miles of hiking, to say I didn't enjoy this ascent was a bit of an understatement!! But the beauty of both the Subway and the creek in general made it all worthwhile.
Cascades along the Left Fork of North Creek
The Virgin Narrows is a similar hike in that it requires a watery trek up a cold waterway, but after that the similarities end in my book. The scenery in the narrows is dominated by sandstone cliffs soaring as high as 1500 ft and as narrow as 22 ft across! It is quite a site to behold. While I can say that I really didn't find any one particular scene in the narrows that compared in magnificence to the Subway, the myriad of excellent photographic opportunites around just about every corner made for a much more interesting trip overall.
Autumn Foliage in the Virgin Narrows
My only regret in the narrows was that I didn't get to spend enough time in them. My long hike to the Subway had reaggravated an old, nagging foot injury causing the last couple of miles to become a sufferfest. While I was able to make it a little past the junction with Orderville Canyon (about 2 1/2 miles from the trailhead at the Temple of Sinawava), I had hoped to go much further. I'll just have to save that for a future trip!
Hiker in the Virgin Narrows
The remainder of my trip was spent checking out the various vantage points along the Zion scenic drive in the main canyon along with a short side trip to the Kolob Canyon section of the park for one evening. Because of my foot issue my hiking options became somewhat limited, but it wasn't really a big deal as there were plenty of scenes to shoot on the colorful canyon floor. All in all, it was a fantastic trip...one that I hope to make on an annual basis!
The Moon over the Towers of the Virgin at Sunrise
To see more images from my trip, click on the link below...
Sunday, October 18, 2009
An Autumn Trip To The Tetons
Ok...better late than never with this trip. I've been back for almost two weeks now (we visited the area Oct 1-4), but have been too busy to post about it. My wife and I spent four wonderful days in Grand Teton National Park and I can certainly see why it is such a popular destination for autumn photography. While the weather only cooperated for a couple of those days, they were two very special days in my book and definitely made the long drive to get there worth the while.
Before discussing the trip itself, I should back up and make mention of all my pre-trip worries. First off, I kept hearing how the cottonwood colors along the Snake River were far from spectacular this year as they were simply turning a dull orangish, brown. Yuck! Far worse than that were the fire issues going on. In particular, a fire in the vicinity of Mt. Moran in the northern part of the park (started by lightning) was being allowed to burn and was casting a smoky haze over the entire park. From the images I saw, this was horribly affecting most photographic possibilities (with the exception of a few nice sunset shots). Double yuck!!
The day of the trip brought discussion of high winds with snow throughout much of the Rocky Mountain region. This turned out to be good and bad. Good in that the powers that be saw the danger of allowing the fire to burn during such windy conditions and decided that it needed to be put out. End of the fire issue. The snow that the park received also helped to clear the air. End of the hazy sky conditions. Woo Hoo. Of course, there's no free lunch and we payed for this turn of events by having to make the long drive in difficult conditions. Snowfall, heavy at times, dogged us through the Wasatch Range in Utah and throughout our journey north through Wyoming. It was all worth it though when I got up the following morning and drove out to Schwabacher's Landing (along the Snake River) with a fresh layer of snow covering the valley floor. Despite the fact that the mountains were hidden behind a cloak of heavy clouds, it was a beautiful sight!
Unfortunately, the mountains refused to make an appearance all day so a good part of the it was spent location scouting and searching for wildlife. I quickly discovered that the place to be in the park was the Oxbow Bend area in the northern section as the aspens were peaking with glorious colors. This made the decision of where to shoot the following morning a no-brainer. My only hope was that the mountains would make an appearance by then.
An early wake-up in our hotel in Jackson had me keeping my fingers crossed. I saw nothing but stars overhead, but there are no vantage points to the Tetons from town (they're obscured behind surrounding buttes) and it wasn't until we had driven for 10 minutes or so that I began to see the silhouettes of the peaks. Things got even better when we arrived at Oxbow Bend to find steam rising off the water and more low hanging clouds sitting over Jackson lake, but not completely obscuring Mt. Moran. Even in the dark I was getting excited about the photographic prospects that lay ahead. I wasn't disappointed as it blossomed into a beautiful sunrise that I got share with about a hundred of my closest friends (the many other photographers who knew this was THE morning to photograph this location)!
The superb conditions lasted a number of hours as low hanging clouds clung to the entire range making for some wonderful atmospherics to compliment the magnificent scenery. I was in heaven all morning!
The latter half of that day was spent in search of wildlife as the sky completely cleared off and the landscape prospects were not all that appealing. A majority of the scenic locations within the park are far better shot in the morning anyway as the Tetons lie to the west and receive great morning light. Getting back to the wildlife topic, I must say that we were very disappointed with our efforts to get satisfying shots. It wasn't for the lack of finding subjects. We saw plenty of moose, bison, antelope, and even a couple of black bears. We just couldn't get them close enough and/or in pleasing locations not obscured by a buzzillion branches and twigs. Still, it was fun just to be able to be in the presence of such magnificent animals.
The remainder of our trip was so-so or poor photographically. The following morning was a cold and clear 10 degrees and, while the view from Schwabacher Landing was nice, it just didn't compare to the wonderful conditions of the previous morning.
The evening saw a build up of cloud cover in advance of another approaching winter storm so we spent it hoping to get some decent shots of the bull moose being sighted near the Oxbow Bend area. Unfortunately, our efforts were in vain. Our last day was overcast with periodic snow and high winds. It seemed like a good time to finally bow to my wife's wishes to spend some quality time in the shops of Jackson. Over dinner we both agreed that a return trip in the spring to photograph the wildflower bloom was a must-do. I can't wait!
To see a collection of my images from the trip, click on the link below...
Autumn in the Tetons
Buck and Pole Fence Leading To The Tetons
Before discussing the trip itself, I should back up and make mention of all my pre-trip worries. First off, I kept hearing how the cottonwood colors along the Snake River were far from spectacular this year as they were simply turning a dull orangish, brown. Yuck! Far worse than that were the fire issues going on. In particular, a fire in the vicinity of Mt. Moran in the northern part of the park (started by lightning) was being allowed to burn and was casting a smoky haze over the entire park. From the images I saw, this was horribly affecting most photographic possibilities (with the exception of a few nice sunset shots). Double yuck!!
The day of the trip brought discussion of high winds with snow throughout much of the Rocky Mountain region. This turned out to be good and bad. Good in that the powers that be saw the danger of allowing the fire to burn during such windy conditions and decided that it needed to be put out. End of the fire issue. The snow that the park received also helped to clear the air. End of the hazy sky conditions. Woo Hoo. Of course, there's no free lunch and we payed for this turn of events by having to make the long drive in difficult conditions. Snowfall, heavy at times, dogged us through the Wasatch Range in Utah and throughout our journey north through Wyoming. It was all worth it though when I got up the following morning and drove out to Schwabacher's Landing (along the Snake River) with a fresh layer of snow covering the valley floor. Despite the fact that the mountains were hidden behind a cloak of heavy clouds, it was a beautiful sight!
Unfortunately, the mountains refused to make an appearance all day so a good part of the it was spent location scouting and searching for wildlife. I quickly discovered that the place to be in the park was the Oxbow Bend area in the northern section as the aspens were peaking with glorious colors. This made the decision of where to shoot the following morning a no-brainer. My only hope was that the mountains would make an appearance by then.
Oxbow Bend Panoramic
An early wake-up in our hotel in Jackson had me keeping my fingers crossed. I saw nothing but stars overhead, but there are no vantage points to the Tetons from town (they're obscured behind surrounding buttes) and it wasn't until we had driven for 10 minutes or so that I began to see the silhouettes of the peaks. Things got even better when we arrived at Oxbow Bend to find steam rising off the water and more low hanging clouds sitting over Jackson lake, but not completely obscuring Mt. Moran. Even in the dark I was getting excited about the photographic prospects that lay ahead. I wasn't disappointed as it blossomed into a beautiful sunrise that I got share with about a hundred of my closest friends (the many other photographers who knew this was THE morning to photograph this location)!
Oxbow Bend At Dawn
The superb conditions lasted a number of hours as low hanging clouds clung to the entire range making for some wonderful atmospherics to compliment the magnificent scenery. I was in heaven all morning!
Teton Reflection
The latter half of that day was spent in search of wildlife as the sky completely cleared off and the landscape prospects were not all that appealing. A majority of the scenic locations within the park are far better shot in the morning anyway as the Tetons lie to the west and receive great morning light. Getting back to the wildlife topic, I must say that we were very disappointed with our efforts to get satisfying shots. It wasn't for the lack of finding subjects. We saw plenty of moose, bison, antelope, and even a couple of black bears. We just couldn't get them close enough and/or in pleasing locations not obscured by a buzzillion branches and twigs. Still, it was fun just to be able to be in the presence of such magnificent animals.
The remainder of our trip was so-so or poor photographically. The following morning was a cold and clear 10 degrees and, while the view from Schwabacher Landing was nice, it just didn't compare to the wonderful conditions of the previous morning.
Classic Schwabacher Landing Sunrise View
The evening saw a build up of cloud cover in advance of another approaching winter storm so we spent it hoping to get some decent shots of the bull moose being sighted near the Oxbow Bend area. Unfortunately, our efforts were in vain. Our last day was overcast with periodic snow and high winds. It seemed like a good time to finally bow to my wife's wishes to spend some quality time in the shops of Jackson. Over dinner we both agreed that a return trip in the spring to photograph the wildflower bloom was a must-do. I can't wait!
To see a collection of my images from the trip, click on the link below...
Autumn in the Tetons
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Waterfallin' in Upstate New York
I recently returned from a trip to the upstate New York area to meet and visit with my wife's family/relatives/friends. Of course, I can't travel anywhere nowadays without taking along the camera and I knew the upstate New York area was well known for the many beautiful waterfalls that grace its landscape. In particular, the Finger Lakes region has a high concentration of spectacular falls.
Rainbow Falls - Watkins Glen State Park
So I plotted my strategy in accordance to the areas that my wife wanted to visit and came up with four locations for my "must see" list.
1. Watkins Glen State Park (Watkins Glen)
2. Buttermilk Falls State Park (Ithaca)
3. Cascadilla Gorge (Ithaca)
4. Chittenango State Park (near Syracuse)
There were many other places I would've liked to have visited as well, but I knew my time would be limited. As it turned out I was able to get to all four along with a fifth location (Havana Glen Park near Watkins Glen) so I was happy for that. If I had to pick a favorite amongst these locations, I'd probably give a slight nod to Watkins Glen State Park. Its trail leading through the gorge is a work of art in itself and so nicely compliments the fantastic scenery it leads you through. Walking on/over/through the stone trails, bridges and even tunnels with waterfalls crashing down all around reminded me of scenes from the movie Lord of the Rings.
The only downside I noticed during my explorations was that the water flow on all the creeks I visited was quite low, despite the supposedly rainy summer most locals were complaining about. It made me wonder just how spectacular these areas would be with normal to high flows. I guess it gives me a reason to return at a more optimal time of year...which I'm sure I will. I'll just have to tell my wife that I'm itchin' to visit the in-laws again!!
To see more images from my brief explorations of these areas, click on the link below...
Waterfalls of Upstate New York
So I plotted my strategy in accordance to the areas that my wife wanted to visit and came up with four locations for my "must see" list.
1. Watkins Glen State Park (Watkins Glen)
2. Buttermilk Falls State Park (Ithaca)
3. Cascadilla Gorge (Ithaca)
4. Chittenango State Park (near Syracuse)
There were many other places I would've liked to have visited as well, but I knew my time would be limited. As it turned out I was able to get to all four along with a fifth location (Havana Glen Park near Watkins Glen) so I was happy for that. If I had to pick a favorite amongst these locations, I'd probably give a slight nod to Watkins Glen State Park. Its trail leading through the gorge is a work of art in itself and so nicely compliments the fantastic scenery it leads you through. Walking on/over/through the stone trails, bridges and even tunnels with waterfalls crashing down all around reminded me of scenes from the movie Lord of the Rings.
The only downside I noticed during my explorations was that the water flow on all the creeks I visited was quite low, despite the supposedly rainy summer most locals were complaining about. It made me wonder just how spectacular these areas would be with normal to high flows. I guess it gives me a reason to return at a more optimal time of year...which I'm sure I will. I'll just have to tell my wife that I'm itchin' to visit the in-laws again!!
Chittenango Falls Near Syracuse
To see more images from my brief explorations of these areas, click on the link below...
Waterfalls of Upstate New York
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Now Offering Framed Prints
I'm now pleased to offer a professional frame mounting option often referred to as ColorBox mounting for online print purchases on my site. ColorBox mounting is an alternative picture framing process where a print is dry mounted onto Medium Density Fiberboard and then sealed under heat and pressure with 80% UV protective matte finish vinyl lamination and finished with a thin, black beveled edge. The result is a contemporary looking, vibrant print that is perfect for a wide variety of lighting conditions due to its extraordinary non-glare properties. I've mounted a few prints using this process for gallery sales and must say that I'm very impressed with the quality and look of the finished product. See the image below for an example (click on it to see a larger version)...
Additionally, ColorBox mounted prints are easy to take care of as the laminate surface is water and fingerprint resistant and can be cleaned with glass cleaner and a soft rag. Shipping is less of a headache as well (in comparison to traditional style framed/matted prints) as there's no worrying about glass/plexiglass breakage during transit. For more details see the Purchase Info page on my website.
Additionally, ColorBox mounted prints are easy to take care of as the laminate surface is water and fingerprint resistant and can be cleaned with glass cleaner and a soft rag. Shipping is less of a headache as well (in comparison to traditional style framed/matted prints) as there's no worrying about glass/plexiglass breakage during transit. For more details see the Purchase Info page on my website.
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