sky

Australian professional landscape photographer (and fellow Fstop gear user!), Christian Fletcher, is having a great discussion over on his site. It’s in regards to creating art that people haven’t seen, particularly in photography. Photographers far more elegant than me have handled this topic before. Here in America, one of my friends and ‘phantom mentors’, Guy Tal has said: “Photograph for yourself and satisfy your own sensibilities and aesthetics. True artists do not pander to a pre-selected audience. Instead, they carve an audience of their own from those who will encounter and be moved by their work.” “The best way to use your imagination is simply to not stand in its way.” I think he’s right. We have to shoot for...

This is a quick (very quick – only 3 seconds total) timelapse video of a 13 1/2 minute aurora storm from my first of 2 “Aurora Borealis, Winter Landscapes & Wildlife” photo tours – February 26-March 3 of this year. Winter has left us and we are full into spring mode here, in south central Alaska – but the aurora are still whirling overhead. Tonight, in fact, we are predicted to have a decent showing. Hope to view it from my comfy bed – wish I could make it out tonight to film it, but it just isn’t in the cards. Perhaps this weekend… Stay tuned…   Want to be kept up to date about all of my Photo Workshops & AdvenTours, tips & tricks, and news? Only Newsletter subscribers receive special discounts on Pri

Just a few short days & I’ll be leaving for my second “Aurora Borealis, Winter Landscapes & Wildlife” Photo Tour. I’m really looking forward to traveling with this next group. We haven’t met, and yet it feels like we’ve known each other for a long time. Here is another image from last month’s tour – this one is very appropriate. The ‘level’ surface you can see between the dark objects in the lower right third of the frame is the Denali Highway. It’s not maintained during the winter, but our 8 passenger (enclosed and heated) track vehicle took us where ever we needed to go. Simply amazing, being surrounded by all of this wilderness and engulfed in the utter silence… listening for a...

It’s now 1:23 Am… not quite sure how I managed to figure out how to save this image file to the hard drive from Photoshop… I am ‘plum tuckered out’. Jena & I headed for the “Palmer Moose Flats” area this evening to photograph the so-called “Super Moon” as it paralleled Pioneer Peak in its rise towards the heavens. I had checked “The Photographer’s Ephemeris” program a few days ago and knew exactly where the moon would rise and at what time. I also used the programs “Geodetic” feature to predict the apparent elevation of the moon in relation to the mountains, and found that the full moon should follow a path almost precisely parallel to the northeastern flank of Pioneer Peak....

I’m back again with 2 more aurora borealis photographs. The first was taken about 10-12 miles from the wilderness lodge that hosted our tour. The second photo is identical composition wise to a previous post (Flicker, Flame, Fire, inFerno), but a few seconds earlier. This shows the dramatic change just a few seconds can make in a fast moving aurora! I still look back at that evening in absolute awe. I’ve got a BUNCH more aurora images from this trip to post – including a ‘movie’ of the aurora activity… it blew my mind. Stay tuned… Want to be kept up to date about all of my Photo Workshops & AdvenTours, tips & tricks, and news? Only Newsletter subscribers receive special discounts on Print of the Month Collectors...

  I’m very happy to formally announce the 4th tour of 2011. The “Wild Lands & Wild LIfe: Denali Highway Fall Color Tour”. August 26-September 1, 2011. I’d like to invite you to join me on an epic, small group, wilderness photo tour into the heart of Alaska. The Denali Highway – 135 mile long ‘improved’ road, stretching from Cantwell (near the eastern border of Denali National Park) to Paxson at the east end of the road. From 1957 to 1971, this was the only access to Denali National Park. Since ’71 it has become mostly derelict and poorly maintained. It crosses some of the most dramatic and incredible terrain in the United States. Mountains. Glaciers. Rolling tundra. Taiga forest. Kettle ponds. Raging...