Website Revamp!

I’m in the process of giving my website an overhaul, I hope to have it finished by the end of the month, I will let everyone know when it is ready.

Recently we were in Lee Vining California, which is on Mono Lake just east of Yosemite National Park and came across this interesting product. ORGANIC WOOD! I did not know there was such a thing as non-organic wood. Who ever thought this one up must be laughing at the gullible consumers thinking they are buying something special.....Come on people think about it.

Thanks to my brother Cole Hawkins for getting the photo. We saw it as we were leaving town.

Smooth one Duluth

So my wife, daughter and nine year old grandson were among the hordes of humanity down in canal park for the tall ships parade of sail yesterday.

After it was over my grandson wanted to buy a souvenir of the event. So they searched Canal Park and found that the only place to buy such a souvenir was in the Festival grounds. Ok but you had to pay to get in to the festival grounds area, NICE! Way to go Duluth make people pay for the privilege to shop for souvenirs. I think there is something seriously wrong with this. In my travels throughout my lifetime I have never heard of any thing so stupid.

Busy Week New images to follow

Well This promises to be a very busy and interesting week here in Northeastern Minnesota.

With in a couple of days we have 9 Tall ships coming in to Duluth for several days. On Saturday Split Rock Lighthouse is Celebrating it’s 100 birthday. So as you might imagine I will be running wide open later in the week. Some time in August I will be getting the images from this week up one the web site. I will post a blog about the images and send out an e-mail as well. take care.

Shake rattle and roll Easter In Yuma Az.

It was Easter afternoon and we had a small group of friends over and I had just taken the meat off the BBQ and was carving it up when the ground started to rock and roll, It lasted for what seemed to be several minutes. Cars were Rocking our motor home was rocking even park models were moving. It shook us all pretty good and one of our friends complained of being sea sick. When it was over those of us that had been standing felt like we had just gotten of a boat and had sea legs real bad.

We all will be on our way to different states and Canada soon and for some including my wife not soon enough. The epicenter was about 63 miles from us.

Well hope you all had a less exciting Easter than we did here in Yuma.

Im so frustrated my Camera ihas bee at Nikon for almost 2 weeks and They just told me that the repair period of 7 to 10 business days just started. GGGRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok Cannon users there’s your opening .... Go ahead kick a guy while he’s down. :-(((

And My Laptop needs work! @#Q#!$!#@$

March is here that must mean that winter is winding down, I know it’s not over yet! Soon it will be time for the Minnesota State High School Boys Basketball Tournament and every Minnesotan knows what that means. Fro those of you not from Minnesota it means late season blizzard time, It coincides with the tournament.

April is not but four weeks away and soon the Ice Breakers on the great lakes will be opening the shipping lanes. Before long we will be seeing scenes like the one in this photograph on a regular basis. Lets hope the Twin ports has a banner year in 2011.

The desert has been getting some good rainfalls over this winter. I just hope that it has happened at the right times for a good spring wildflower season. I will be monitoring it closely now as the flowers could start in the next couple of weeks and hopefully what happened last year dose not this year, a sudden heat wave burnt most of the plants and they never bloomed so pray for a gradual warm up.

Name this image!

I would like to try something a little different today. I’m looking for a name for this image and I am asking you for help. This image was made in Itasca State Park in Minnesota in the Fall of 2009. I will consider any suggestions.

Pathways! For some reason we as photography viewers are drawn to images of pathways / trails especially when there is a sense of mood to the image. This photo was made on the path in to Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park.

Remembering Fall

Grab Shots

I have said how important it is to plan what and where to shoot in order to create an photo with impact. Well most of the time that is true. I also believe photographers should always have a camera close by if we’re not carrying one.

Several years ago my wife and I were on a weeks vacation at a cabin on lake One (partially in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area), Our mission that week was total relaxation which meant NO WORK. We had this cabin for seven days and we were doing nothing but enjoying our time. The cabin had these white plastic chairs and each cabin at the resort had it’s own dock, So we had taken two of the chairs down to the dock so we could take in the different moods of the lake over the week. Well our time went by and we were packing up to leave and we remembered that the chairs were still on the dock so I went to get them and saw an image I just had to make. I ran back to the car and grabbed for a camera and started making images only to realize that I had my wife’s camera I thought for a moment about switching to one of mine but I decided not to because the fog was lifting so I just kept making images, after all we were shooting the same film that summer.

The resulting image has been one of our top sellers year in and year out since then. I’m not convinced that if we had tried to stage this image or do variations with the chairs it would have worked very well. Some times there is a great merit in the grab shot and I try to encourage people to keep their camera’s close by at all times.

The more I visit a location the more

I find the more I visit a location the more I find to photograph or perhaps on subsequent visits I am seeing the location from a more personal perspective. Some of my favorite images have been made at places were I have been several times. So while it is gratifying to check out a new location it can be very productive to check out those familiar locations as well it just might sunrise you!

The other day I was asked how do you make the water blurry like that? Well man years ago I was reading a book by Les Blacklock ( a well known Minnesota photographer) and he made the answer really simple. To the human eye a water fall is equivalent to 1/60th of a second. So if you want a nice white waterfall that shows a lot of movement you’ll want to slow your shutter speed down. If you do this you will need a good tripod and cable release.

In the case of my example photo instead of a water fall the water was moving through a stretch of rapids along the Temperance river along Minnesota’s North shore of Lake Superior.

Knowing your subjects behaviors can lead to making the unexpected image an expected image. I have photographed the Common Loon for years and knew that toward the end of the preening process the birds would et up and shake their wings out. With this knowledge and a bird that was use to having boats near by I was able to create this image which I call Wings.

Do your homework, plan ahead and get lucky.

These are all thing I feel are important in making high quality nature images. No matter if it is a trip into your backyard or half way around the world it’s important to know what you will and what you might find when you arrive. The internet is a great research tool, not only can you find places to stay, eat, fuel you vehicle, get maps and directions, you can also find out what the area that you are traveling to looks like. For example Photo sharing sites like Flickr you can view photos that have been taken in the area, Then using one of many map sites like Mapquest you can not only get you maps and directions you can look at ariel photographs of the area. I find this really helps me prepare for my shoot, as I can find what others have done but more importantly what others have not done. Finally I say get lucky, this can happen in numerous ways most often it is mother nature that provides those special opportunities and some times it is a perfect strange with knowledge of the area or access to privet property.

Protea

Protea (Leucospermum cordifolium) growing in a back yard garden. On camera Flash with a black background behind the plant.

Composite images

So how do you make an image of a popular place and not have any one in it? Well for years before I went digital and knew photoshop at all it was quite the challenge. With the digital tools we have today this kind of image has become easier to make. Starting with a good tripod and cable release make several exposures of the scene (in this case the headwaters of the mississippi river) make sure that the people are in different areas of your images this will be important later. Be sure that your exposures are all the same

Okay so now you have your files on your computer and your in Photoshop take as many files as needed in my example I used 3. then create a new canvas and copy each file to the new canvas as its own layer. Once you have done this you can start removing the people and other unwanted objects on each layer (painting or erasing). Now try Flattening the layers to see your results, If you are happy continue with your image optimization, If not you need to evaluate the results and try again, keep in mind you may need to grab another file or two. Most importantly have fun doing it and pay attention to detail.

4X5 Color and Black & White

When ever I shoot with my large format camera (4X5) I always shoot both Color Transparency and B&W negatives. Why? Because some times it pays off huge! not every image works well as both color and Black and White, Every now and then you’ll find the exception. This image is one of mine that has served well in both versions. The Black and white silver print is stunning and has been a steady seller for years. The color image has also done well not only as a decor print but as a stock image. So if you run in to me out in the field and I am using my 4X5 you can bet I’ll be shooting both color and Black and White.

Irrigation of tomorrows vegetables

In Yuma, Arizona one of the biggest industries is farming and the major crop is lettuce. Not long after the harvest is over the field is tilled and prepared and planted with the next crop.

Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge

Yuma's Ocean to Ocean Highway Bridge.

How water is used for irrigation in North America will be a new and on going project for me this year!

Route 66

So this is the last selection of my favorites from 2009 that I am going to post for now. I found this sign in Tucumcari New Mexico along Route 66.

This image was made not too long after yesterdays image and is another favorite from 2009.

I have lists

I have lists on paper and in my mind of images I want to find, some times it only takes a few days and other times it can be years. Well last fall I found an image that I had been searching for for a very long time, I have even walked by it a few times and something was just not right until last fall and the resulting image became another favorite of 2009.

My favorite 2009 image from New Iberia

Last spring we spent some time in New Iberia Louisiana. I found several older buildings whose exteriors were in less than great shape which is what I was looking for. Whit that said this is my favorite 2009 image from New Iberia.

Tucson’s Barrio Viejo

Tucson’s Barrio Viejo is full of interesting images and this is one of my favorites from last year.

More 2009 Favorites

Any list of my favorites would not be complete if I did not include an image from Itasca state park the headwaters of the Mississippi River. I have been photographing this park for nearly twenty years and some how I keep finding new angles from which to photograph the beginning of the mighty Mississippi.

Simplicity and color make this image another favorite image of 2009!

My favorite images form 2009

The changing of the year brings us all sorts of lists, the best of, the worst of, the top ten, ok you ask where are you going with this? Well I glad you asked. After viewing many of these lists I thought of my own work and I was going to put together a list called my top 10 from 2009, then I thought who am I to deiced which of my images should be in the top ten. So I through that out the window and decided that I would do several post with some of my favorite images form 2009. I am not going to set a specific number of images, however I will set a time limit, I will post favorites for at least the next two weeks, and will not go past the end of the month. I hope you enjoy and I would love to read your comments.