SPUR (OF THE MOMENT) GLACIER

On our way back to the cabin for the evening, we spotted a sign that said something about a glacier, and we could see a massive glacier in the distance, so why not! This is often how it is in Iceland, a land without many trees; you see something interesting on the horizon and drive towards it!

What we found was Sólheimajökull Glacier, a 7 mile spur off the massive Myrdalsjokull Glacier. A spur-of-the-moment spur! There was a nice parking lot and a trail. That’s about it. An old shipping container serves as a meeting place for those gearing up with crampons and ice axes to get an up-close-and-personal guided tour of the glacier.

We just hiked the trail to see how close we could get. And I think we all were a bit surprised on how cool it was just to experience a glacier from this close (half mile away?).

It has an interesting history with this arm receding 2/3 of a mile between 1930 and 1969, and then advancing again for 500 yards in the cold years between 1970 and 1997. Since then it has receded 4,000 feet.

You can see a bit of the stunning “glacier blue” ice on part of the snout of the glacier.

You can barely see the name of the glacier (Solheimajokull) through all the “visitor-contributed” stickers!

You already know that I really enjoy the architecture of churches, and just outside of Vik we found yet another red-roofed church—the Reyniskirkja Church built in 1929. Allegedly an elf built a church on this site a 1000 years ago…but that is a story for another time.

Off to Norway!

NEXT: Norway #1 Oslo the Magnificent

WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS BEACH

In 2006 I almost lost my new bride to the ocean at this beautiful beach. Reynisfjara Black Sand Beach near Vik is a stunning spot; cliffs of geometric pillars of cooled lava (“columnar joining”) stairstep up from a beach of black basalt rocks. Two giant pillars of rock are just offshore. But there is a hidden danger here; rogue “sneaker” waves hit the beach every so often, and some can be huge. They suck unsuspecting tourists (and locals) into the ocean with a powerful undertow. SIX people have died here since 2013.

When Bridget and I were here on our honeymoon in July 2006, we were blissfully unaware of the dangers. Only two other people were on the beach that day (hard to imagine now that Iceland has been “discovered” and a couple hundred tourists seem to be on the beach at all times now). I was taking photos and Bridget explored up the beach past the corner of the cliff. The dutch tourists yelled something to me, and I went over to see what they wanted. They told me in broken English that every seventh wave or so was a big one, and it was dangerous to walk where Bridget was. I ran around the corner just in time to see one of these waves soak Bridget from the knees down but she stayed on her feet thankfully. It may not sound like much, but it was a close call, and I kind of get a bit queasy when I think of what could have happened.

On this day, there were far more than two tourists on the beach…try 200! Much had changed since 2006; a massive paved parking lot now provided spots for a couple hundred cars and dozens of tour busses. It was a bit of a circus (I included one photo showing all the visitors) but I did manage to get some cool photos by waiting for lulls in visitors…or cropping them out of certain images.

**Note: This beach was a filming location for planet Eadu in the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Another aspect of this beach that makes it so special is the three trolls just offshore. More accurately they are frozen trolls, turned to stone when daylight caught them trying to sneak to shore dragging a 3-masted ship. Well, actually, they are just basalt pillars, but certainly some of the most spectacular basalt pillars in all the world. And for a photographer, they add a layer of interest for your landscape photographs.

But you turn your body 180 degrees and there is an equally spectacular sight— Dyrhólaey Arch, an arch so big that you can fly a plane through it.

Then Bjorn ran over to me that he’d just seen a Puffin fly in to the cliff above us! Yes! A dozen or so Atlantic Puffins were nesting in their burrows in the grassy cliff above the columnar joining. I had written off our chances of sharing Puffins with the boys on this trip since we weren’t going offshore. But here they were, cruising in right above us, along with some Northern Fulmars. So cool. And about a half hour later Bjorn spotted two seals in the surf!

Time for some lunch and shopping. We found a hip little café near the lupine-laced shoreline and had a more-than-decent meal.

Perched on a bluff above the town is the Vik I Myrdal Church, a red-roofed Lutheran Church completed in 1934. The church was designed by Iceland’s state architect Guðjón Samúelsson, the same architect responsible for Hallgrimskirkja Church in Reykjavik. It is also the town of Vik’s designated Evacuation Refuge shoul Katla Volcano erupt creating a massive flash flood. But it was all peaceful today. Everyone takes a photo or six of this picturesque icon…including me!

The old guesthouse in town Bridget and I stayed at on our honeymoon was still there, seemingly unchanged.

But the old wool and woolens shop that carried locally spun wool and hats/sweaters in 2006 (I bought a headband that I wore for more than a decade, and Bridget bought a sweater) had more than changed…it had morphed into a mega-modern tourist shop called Icelandwear where I think 95% of the stuff is made outside of the country. But they cleverly put “Designed in Iceland” prominently on the tags and hid the location of manufacture. Oh well…such is the world in the Instagram age.

NEXT: Viking Horses, Little sheep, Funny Birds

HAVE YOU EVEN BEEN BEHIND A WATERFALL?

After a dinner of eggs, sausages and bread, we played a few games of Uno and crashed. Nights are quite cool (10 celsius/50°F) and like everywhere on this trip, the beds only have super-thick down comforters. We left the window open but it was still quite warm…too warm, under all that down.

I had been planning this trip for many months, surfing many many websites, reading blogs of locals, hikers and other visitors, and checking Trip Advisor (with a grain of salt). The result was a large Excel spreadsheet with multiple options for each day.

Since Bridget and I had been to Iceland 19 years ago, we wanted to not only share it with the kids, but also to see some new things as well. So even though we were only a half hour from Seljalandsfoss (the popular waterfall that you can walk behind) I had found another one nearby that you could also walk behind, but they made it sound like there would be far less visitors…and they were right!

It is called Kvernufoss and it is just a short 1 mile (?) easy walk from the Skogar Museum near Skogafoss Waterfall (we didn’t pay to see the museum…on our last trip here, you could just walk right up to the old farmstead but now you have to pay.)

Quite a cool experience to walk behind a 100-foot waterfall. There were also Northern Fulmars nesting in the crevices of the cliffs on the way in.

I experimented with long exposure images, flash, underexposing, focal lengths and many compositions. I am sharing some of my favorites with you here. [Click on an image to make it full screen for a better viewing experience]

Not the largest waterfall, nor the highest, nor the most impressive, but a waterfall you can really get up close and personal with…without weaving through hoards of tourists. No bus tours here! We maybe saw 20 other visitors during our 1 ½ hour visit.

NEXT: The cozy town of Vik and the World’s Most Dangerous Beach

Back in the slide film days I used to work much harder at getting good landscape images. We worked much slower in the film days. And I really put thought into good composition. But with the digital age, I’ve gotten a bit lazy. Too easy to just snap some quick photos with my iPhone and call it a landscape. But having access to a drone has made me think more about aerial landscapes and I’ve included four of those images here…Roughly 30 percent of my favorite landscape images this year were with the drone.

I do enjoy very wide images and so have also been using my 10mm Rokinon lens on the Sony A6500 body.

Here’s my faves from 2019.

Some of you may know where this little gem is located. The cedar tree that I used to include in my compositions here, is now tipped over. A long exposure made for a colorful pattern of swirling foam and leaves. Did I put that maple leaf on the rock? Only I know!

I absolutely love the new perspectives the we can get with drone images. But I am still learning on how to be a good drone pilot (I have crashed my DJI Phantom 4 a few times).

I was passing through southwest New Mexico on my way to southeast Arizona for a birding trip when I saw this scene. I love the drama of Yuccas…and the clouds helped make this image. For this look I desaturated this image, and increased the “clarity” slider, in Lightroom.

Yes, a very simple “tree silhouette” landscape, but I like the vertical trunks contrasting with the horizontal bands of color in the sky. This is well past sunset.

You could only get a shot like this with a drone (or a really tall ladder!). I like the different shades of blue and yellow as the lake begins to thaw in spring.

What do you do after you get back to your campground in Yellowstone? Eat dinner and take star photos! A headlamp briefly turned on illuminated my face.

I’d seen photos like this taken from a plane in the “pre-drone” era. Knowing that I could never afford to rent a plane, I gave up on making an image like this. But a drone now allows some very unique shots at a fraction of the cost.

Ryan and I have photographed this thermal feature in Yellowstone before, but on this evening it had a completely different feel due to the thick steam arising from the pool. We stood on the top rung of the barrier fence and held our cameras high to get a more pleasing angle on the scene.

Aerial view of Lake Superior ice during break up. I converted to black and white for a more graphic image.

I love the splash of color on this atypical landscape photo. What else can you do on an extremely gloomy day? Ryan got even lower to the road and also made a very cool image.

Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces

I’m not sure why Ryan and I had never noticed this big ol’ Cottonwood in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley before…Maybe because we were always looking for wildlife. But on this year’s trip Ryan saw it and named it the Zen Tree. It has wonderfully gracefully arced limbs and trunk, and it is very photogenic.

I actually had to stick my hand and camera into a bramble of spiny Cholla cactus stems to get this wide angle view of the Sonoran desert landscape near Tucson. I love how everything is framed by the Cholla (except the foreground Saguaro could be placed a bit better). Overall a unique view of a very unique habitat.

October 7-8, 2019

Day 3 (really our second full day of shooting) started as usual…Crawling out of the tent in the pre-dawn darkness, and boiling water and frying bagels on our Coleman stove. So after our breakfast of grits, oatmeal, bagels and cream cheese, we stuffed the “bear locker” with our cooking stuff and headed out to find….anything!

Ryan and I seem to remember more elk bugling near our Madison Campground in previous years, but we hadn’t been to the park in fall for seven years so maybe things had changed. We also did not see many elk, period. We realize the wolf packs have brought the Elk numbers down and more in balance with the park’s holding capacity, but we surely thought we’d see herds scattered about. But it was slim pickings.

A classic Yellowstone “animal in the landscape” shot. Steam from geothermal vents frame a lone bull Elk. After glassing the bull, Ryan said he noticed that he only had one antler! Must have lost it in a fight.

Just a nice portrait of a bull Elk near Mammoth

As the sun set over Fountain Flat Drive it illuminated this herd of Bison with neat golden backlight/rimlight. I love the peaceful painterly quality of these photos. They look even better if you view them full-screen.

We named this well-balanced tree along Soda Butte Creek, the “Zen Cottonwood.” Ryan first spotted it and it is a stately tree.

If you can’t find wildlife, you can always find scenery in Yellowstone National Park! Some details of the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces.

We spent quite a while with this good looking bull Bison. My idea was to take a long exposure so the grass would blur but the Bison and background would be sharp. I took about 100 photos ranging from 1.6 seconds to 3.2 seconds and this is one of the few that turned out. BUT I don’t think my idea really came to fruition as there is not enough blur to the grass, and the sage doesn’t really blow in the wind. Oh well…You gotta try and experiment!

Coming soon….”Kicked out of Yellowstone”…due to snow, not our behavior!

Saguaro cactus blossoms
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Who doesn’t love Saguaro Cactus? Saguaros (“suh-WHAR-oh”) look amazingly like their cartoon counterparts. They are tall and very impressive. And how about those showy white flowers that are several inches across? And to top it off, when their fruits ripen, they attract a host of bird species that feed on the red flesh.

Saguaro cactus forest
[Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona]

Gila Woodpecker at nest hole in Saguaro Cactus. It is very common for this woodpecker (and several others including Gilded Flicker) to nest in these cacti.
[Sonoran Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona]

Cholla and Saguaro cactus
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

House Finch on Ocatillo stalk
[Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona]

White-winged Dove feeding on Saguaro cactus fruits.
[Tucson Mountain Park near Tucson, Arizona]

Cholla and Saguaro cactus
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Cholla and Saguaro cactus
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Cholla and Saguaro cactus
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Barrel Cactus and Saguaro cactus
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Saguaro cactus
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Brilliant Jumper (jumping spider) (Phidippus clarus) on Saguaro cactus

Brilliant Jumper (jumping spider) (Phidippus clarus) on Saguaro cactus

Saguaro cactus offering me a bouquet!
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Saguaro cactus fruit has red flesh.
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Dancing Saguaro cactus
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Saguaro cactus blossoms
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Saguaro cactus blossoms
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Saguaro cactus blossoms
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Saguaro cactus blossoms
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

October 10, 2018

After unsuccessfully chasing a rare Sabine’s Gull on Duluth, Minnesota’s Park Point, I realized how big the waves on Lake Superior were. I knew that the wind had been blowing hard all night, but I hadn’t put 2 and 2 together…Until I saw the flooding in Canal Park. The parking lot by Duluth’s canal and Marine Museum was already flooded and closed off. I parked as close as I could and skirted the floodwaters behind a hotel. Sheltering in a cluster of pine trees some 100 feet from the shoreline, I started snapping photos. Every few minutes, a series of bigger waves would roll in and explode around the East Pier Breakwall Lighthouse (photo below). I had to frequently turn my back on the lake and shelter my camera from the spray. I had rubber knee-high boots on and a rain coat, but it did little to protect me when a massive wave broke out of my peripheral vision and soaked me up to my waist. This wave must have been significantly bigger than the rest since up to this point only a couple times had the water even reached me. Time to go!

I headed up the North Shore for Tettegouche State Park. The huge rhyolite cliffs there are at a perfect angle for taking on the giant waves of a nor’easter storm. I called my photographer friend Paul Sundberg who intimately knows the photo opportunities on the North Shore (See his website here). It was no surprise that when he answered his cell phone I could hear the wailing wind in the background. He was already shooting the super-waves. He pointed me towards Crystal Bay on Lake Superior near Illgen City. He said the fall colors made for a unique shot since most big storms happen in late spring (no leaves yet) or during the “Gales of November” (leaves all gone). Paul is very generous with his info and I thanked him as we crossed paths at the spot. He’d already been shooting for a couple hours and was headed to find lunch. I took his spot.

The highest cliffs in these photos are about 80 feet tall I believe. That puts some amazing perspective to these monster waves. I took photos with my Canon 7D and Canon 70-200mm f4 lens, while simultaneously shooting video with my Panasonic GH5 on a tripod next to me. I didn’t record good audio just because I didn’t think about it. Wish I would have.

Crystal Bay, Tettegouche State Park, Minnesota, Lake Superior (October 10, 2018)

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 70-200mm f4 USM lens at 70mm; 1/800 second at f8; ISO 800; handheld; processed in Lightroom]

Crystal Bay, Tettegouche State Park, Minnesota, Lake Superior (October 10, 2018)

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 70-200mm f4 USM lens at 70mm; 1/1600 second at f8; ISO 800; handheld; processed in Lightroom]

Crystal Bay, Tettegouche State Park, Minnesota, Lake Superior (October 10, 2018)

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 70-200mm f4 USM lens at 70mm; 1/800 second at f8; ISO 800; handheld; processed in Lightroom]

Crystal Bay, Tettegouche State Park, Minnesota, Lake Superior (October 10, 2018)

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 70-200mm f4 USM lens at 180mm; 1/500 second at f8; ISO 800; handheld; processed in Lightroom]

Crystal Bay, Tettegouche State Park, Minnesota, Lake Superior (October 10, 2018)

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 70-200mm f4 USM lens at 100mm; 1/640 second at f8; ISO 800; handheld; processed in Lightroom]

Crystal Bay, Tettegouche State Park, Minnesota, Lake Superior (October 10, 2018)

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 70-200mm f4 USM lens at 70mm; 1/800 second at f8; ISO 800; handheld; processed in Lightroom]

Crystal Bay, Tettegouche State Park, Minnesota, Lake Superior (October 10, 2018)

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 70-200mm f4 USM lens at 154mm; 1/640 second at f8; ISO 800; handheld; processed in Lightroom; processed in Lightroom]

East pier lighthouse; Canal Park, Duluth, Minnesota, Lake Superior (October 10, 2018)

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 70-200mm f4 USM lens at 140mm; 1/500 second at f8; handheld; processed in Lightroom]

East pier lighthouse; Canal Park, Duluth, Minnesota, Lake Superior (October 10, 2018)

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 70-200mm f4 USM lens at 140mm; 1/500 second at f8; handheld; processed in Lightroom]

Video shot with Panasonic GH5 with Sigma 50-500mm lens at 50-200mm (depending on shot) on Benro tripod;  frame rates varying from 30fps to 180fps (super slow motion). Created in iMovie.

Though the main purpose of my trip was to photograph and video the birds of the tundra, I also got in a bit of landscape and flora photography. Lapland Rosebay (Rhododendron lapponicum) was by far the most dominant wildflower (actually a dwarf shrub) in the landscape. The showy purple-pink flowers dotted the tundra and edges of the boreal forests. At only a few inches high, it is funny to think of this as the same genus of the much larger Rhododendrons and Azaleas that are more familiar to us in “the south.”

I learned that the Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens makes a pretty darn good macro lens due to its amazing close focusing ability. You’ll see many “telephoto macro” images below using this lens.

I also used the iPhone 7+ for several landscape photos. Post processing them with Snapseed on the phone.

Oversized inch-long catkins dwarf the willow they belong to. I believe this is Salix arctica or Arctic Willow. [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens at 287 mm; 1/320 sec at f5; ISO 320; +0.66 ev; handheld]

Edge of the boreal forest on a road off of Goose Creek Road. [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

[iPhone 7+ and post processed with Snapseed on the phone]

 

An interesting phenomenon I witnessed was the mirage of icebergs on Hudson Bay. Low floating pans of ice appeared to be giant walls of icebergs or a glacier when viewed through the heat shimmer of midday. [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

Willows, dwarfed Spruce, water pools and scoured bedrock dot the landscape along the shores of Hudson Bay. [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

Quartz veins on bedrock decorated with lichens. [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens at 100 mm; 1/400 sec at f10; ISO 640; +1.33 ev; handheld]

Lichens [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

Lapland Rosebay at the base of a lichen encrusted boulder. [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens at 135 mm; 1/250 sec at f11; ISO 640; +1.33 ev; handheld]

Lapland Rosebay (Rhododendron lapponicum) is actually a dwarf rhododendron shrub that enlivens the tundra in early summer (mid June).

[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 10mm lens; 1/160 sec at ??; ISO 320; handheld]

The dwarf rhododendron called Lapland Rosebay (Rhododendron lapponicum) is only a few inches tall (3 – 18 inches around Hudson Bay), but it has spectacular purple-pink blossoms. It is in the Family Ericaceae along with other small shrubs including blueberries, cranberries, Leatherleaf, Bog Rosemary, Bog Laurel and azaleas.

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens at 400 mm; 1/640 sec at f5.6; ISO 200; -0.33 ev; handheld]

Lapland Rosebay and spruce. This dwarf shrub grows around the world at farn northern latitudes. [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens at 100 mm; 1/100 sec at f13; ISO 400; +1 ev; handheld]

Lapland Rosebay and spruce. [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

An island of Lapland Rosebay on the edge of the boreal forest along Twin Lakes Road. [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 10mm lens; 1/160 sec at ??; ISO 320; handheld]

Lapland Rosebay and Reindeer lichens. Caribou in winter paw through the snow to get at and feed on Reindeer lichen, which is also known as “Caribou Moss.” [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

 

Lichen pattern

 

The white flower with red speckled petals is Saxifraga tricuspidata or Prickly Saxifrage (a.k.a Three-toothed Saxifrage), one of the most common Saxifrages in the Arctic. It is a colonizer of bedrock, taking hold in cracks. Its Inuktitut name is kakilahan.

Northern White Mountain Avens (Dryas integrifolia) ?? Not quite sure. The leaves below are not Dryas leaves, but maybe from another flower?

Interesting boulder with more resistant quartz veins.

The tundra is extremely colorful in the fall, but equally so in June in spots.

Northern White Mountain Avens (Dryas integrifolia) is a member of the rose family. It is a circumpolar species and is found across Arctic Canada into Alaska and west through Siberia. It is also found at high eleveations in the Rocky Mountains. This species exhibits “heliotropism” as the flower faces and tracks the sun as it moves across the landscape. This may be more attractive to insects as it creates a warmer microclimate. [Launch Road tundra; Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

[Sony A6500 with with Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens at 286 mm; 1/320 sec at f6.3; -1 ev; ISO 100; handheld]

 

Northern White Mountain Avens (Dryas integrifolia) range map

Northern White Mountain Avens (Dryas integrifolia) had gone to seed in the warmer parts of the Churchill area. Styles of the pistil elongate, twist and become fluffy heads from which the feathery seeds disperse in the wind. [Cook Street off Twin Lakes Road; Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens at 400 mm; 1/250 sec at f5.6; ISO 200; +1 ev; handheld]

Northern White Mountain Avens (Dryas integrifolia) [Cook Street off Twin Lakes Road; Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens at 263 mm; 1/400 sec at f5.6; ISO 200; +1 ev; handheld]

Gulls, jaegers, terns, loons, sea ducks…All can be seen at the tip of Cape Merry (remnant ice chunks float in the background). [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

Speedboat in the Arctic? No, just a wonderfully shaped ice floe drifting past Cape Merry. It upended and sank a minute later. [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

Ice chunks on Hudson Bay and steel gray skies greeted me as I arrived in Churchill on June 16th.

Ice floated in and out of the shoreline areas of Hudson Bay during my entire visit (June 16-20). [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

“Flag Spruce” dot the tundra in clumps such as this. They are shaped by the harsh winter conditions; snowpack covers the lower branches, protecting them from the strong ground winds that carry ice chunks and scour the middle trunk of all its branches. The tip of the spruces still carry needle-bearing branches (the “flag”) as they are above the effects of the ice-scouring forces. [Launch Road, Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

[iPhone 7+]

You may recognize the blueberry type pink flower of this ground hugging shrub. This is likely a species of Vaccinium but I’m not sure which.

Net-veined Willow (Salix reticulata) is a ground-hugging dwarf willow that span less than the diameter of a quarter on the tundra. [Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay]

[Sony A6500 with with Canon 50mm f1.8 lens; 1/320 sec at f4.5; ISO 100; handheld]

A pair of large willow catkins greet the start of another tundra summer.

[Canon 7D with Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens at 400 mm; 1/1250 sec at f5.6; ISO 640; handheld]

Hoping your 2013 if filled with Perfect Pixels, Sharp Shots, Amazing Auroras, Bountiful and Beautiful Birds, Wondrous Wildlife, Luscious Landscapes, Scintillating Sunrises and Creative Compositions.

In Yellowstone, you could take wildlife portraits till the cows come home…or should I say, “until the Bison come home?” But I always try to think a bit out of the box in order to get some unique images. A few years ago, our buddy Chris Gibbs came with us to Yellowstone. Along one “boring” stretch of snow-covered road that traversed a recent forest fire, Chris rolled down his window and started shooting. Ryan and I looked at each other…What the heck was he shooting? The scene outside was anything but beautiful. But Chris was playing with a slow shutter speed, using the contrast of the black trees and white snow and the speed of the car to create very interesting abstracts. We all jumped in and tried the technique, and had a blast doing it. Next time the “light is bad” or it is harsh midday sun, think creatively and play around with exposures, flash, underexposure. The beauty of digital is that we aren’t losing money with every shot as in the “good old film days.”

Colorful stream rocks during a long exposure. Canon 7D with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens, f32 at 1/5 second on tripod.

Dawn Bison backlit by strong sun, his breath visible in the chilly air. Converted to sepia and contrast increased by use of Curves in Aperture. Canon 7D with Canon 400mm lens, f5.6 at 1/2000 second, underexposed by 2 stops.

A long exposure blurs the water and rocks to create a true abstract. Canon 7D with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens, f32 at 1/3 second on tripod.

An accidental photo of a bison with a 20mm lens from inches away…But I love it! The vignetted look, the texture of the Bison’s pelt, and the golden backlit hair in the lower left…It works for me. Of course, it will never sell, but we need to take photos for ourselves first and foremost.

Bridget says I take too many silhouettes…But she actually likes this one! I underexposed the scene by 3 full stops in the field then changed the white balance in Aperture so the sky went from blue to gold. The adult and calf are nicely separated and you can even see their individual legs. Canon 7D with Canon 500mm f4 lens and 1.4x teleconverter, f5.6 at 1/500 second on tripod.

Creativity isn’t limited to the field…Here I opened a stream rock image in Photoshop and applied the “poster edges” filter to create a crazy pattern.

I really liked this Raven image right out of the camera…EXCEPT the background color was blaaah! So I performed a tight crop, took out the background, replaced it with a solid color and then applied the “poster edges” filter in Photoshop. I love the accentuated pattern of the breast feathers.