I’m unsure of what the actual name of this particular lichen is, but there were several patches of it covering various rocks above the beach in Jakalof Bay. Brilliant colors, and nearly perfectly round in many instances. Incredible shape and color, very complex & yet very simple. Mother nature is a fine artist and has the most varied palette you will ever see.

Bullseye Lichen, Jakalof Bay, Kachemak Bay State Park, Alaska

Bullseye Lichen (Detail), Jakalof Bay, Kachemak Bay State Park, Alaska

Remember to look around. Most importantly, look down. You never know what you’re missing by always looking ahead.

Stay tuned.

Often times, photographers (myself included) get attached to an image. This is usually directly associated with our experience of being there when the image was created. Not only what was in front of the camera when the shutter was pressed, but the lengths we went to get to that point. The sounds & smells of our surroundings, a cool ocean breeze brushing against exposed skin or a 60 mph gust smashing into us as we anchor our tripods in -50 degree temperatures in the middle of a dark winter night while watching northern lights dance overhead. A good landscape photograph can project more than just awe of a beautiful scene. The viewer may be able to imagine what it would be like to stand in that location. The photographer has the added benefit of actually knowing what it felt like to be there – and this can sway our critical eye into making compromises that can hurt the overall image quality. More importantly, it can stall our growth as a photographer. With that in mind, please feel free to speak your peace. I can’t promise that I will completely alter my methods, but I do want to hear what you have to say & promise to keep an open mind, and attentive ears. “Unleash the hounds!”. Don’t hold back, I appreciate your candidness.

Here are some more images from this weekend. No silhouettes here, just “normal” shots. Unleash the hounds!

Mass Exodus. Click to Enlarge.

I.D. please? I think it's a Sandpiper of some kind. Click to Enlarge.

Down the Hatch. Click to Enlarge.

Stay tuned!

The other major shorebird festival is in Homer, and is known as the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival. Homer sees only a fraction of the numbers of the birds that Cordova does, but with much higher species diversity. Kachemak Bay has a lot to offer, both in the way of birding and photography. There are grand landscapes & seascapes, whale watching (I saw a lone humpback on Sunday morning. He was in the ocean:) Sorry, I’m tired…), and a great variety of macro subjects. This was another scouting trip for me, as I am considering leading a weekend workshop (focusing on the Shorebird Migration) next year in Homer. I divided my time between shooting birds, scouting locations, picking the brains of several prominent birders, and doing tide pool photography across the bay in Kachemak Bay State Park.

In this post I’m going to stick with a theme: “Silhouettes”. The colors are super saturated. Brilliant yellows, glowing oranges, and pumped reds. They really look unreal, but I assure you – these are un-manipulated colors, no filters or saturation “creationism”. With the recent volcanic activity on Mt. Redoubt, the atmosphere is thick laiden with ash. The sky is hazy and long range visibility is diminished. In fact, after a weekend in these conditions, my throat is rebelling a bit. Try sucking in air with pulvarized ash and toxic chemicals in it – it does a number on you. But you know what? SO WORTH IT!

Silhouettes are easy to shoot. They are composition simplified to its most basic form. Light and dark, shape and the void. Color and it’s absence. To photograph silhouettes, all you have to do is have a subject that is dramatically backlit (the light must be behind the subject). Then just take a meter reading of the background and expose for it. Any backlit subject you put in the frame will be underexposed with this meter reading. If the backlighting is bright enough and the subject not lit from the front, you’ll get a silhouette. Simple right? They can make for very effective images if done correctly.

I’ve always preferred “environmental portraiture” over wildlife action shots. Basically that means that I like to include the animals habitat and surroundings in my photographs. Rather than just making a full frame shot (which I still do when it is called for), a sense of place can tell a lot about your subject. To each their own. In the images below, the color variances are due to the ever changing light conditions. Early on, right after sunrise, the light was a deep red. Then it transitioned from orange to a brilliant yellow. I really enjoyed the mornings near Beluga Lake. Great light, fog, and birds.

Beluga Lake Panorama, Fog and Ducks. Click to Enlarge.

Beluga Lake, Morning Glow with Ducks. Click to Enlarge.

"Enjoys Long Swims on the Water..." Silhouette. Click to Enlarge.

Ducks and Dock. Click to Enlarge.

Forest on Fire. Click to Enlarge.

Water that Glows from Within. Click to Enlarge.

Ripples and Silhouette. Click to Enlarge.

Next up, I have some more shots from the Shorebird Festival. Stay tuned!

Shoot well & often.

Moonrise over Kachemak Bay State Park. Homer, Alaska. Click to Enlarge.

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