The Northwestern

I went down to the harbor and saw that the Northwestern was at the dock. I haven't seen any of the crew in town so everyone must be at home for the holidays. It is pretty darn cool seeing these boats up close.

Back in Dutch Harbor

I got into Dutch Harbor on Tuesday, after a bumpy flight. The weather is pretty nasty, low to mid thirties with 40 mph winds and rain. I have not had much time to get photos, it gets dark early this time of year. Last night I had a little time and a break in the weather to get this shot of the waves crashing ashore. It is good to be back.

Canon 30D, canon 10-22mm, Sandisk digital film.

Delicate Arch

The hike out to Delicate arch is pretty easy, there is a little bit of an incline but not too bad. It is a very popular sunset spot and a lot of people head out there. While it was hard trying not to get people in the shot, I had to move around and try a capture the arch from different angles. Here I got a cool sun burst shinning from under the arch, which I thought made for a cool looking black and white photo.

Canon 30D, Canon 17-40mm, SanDisk digital film.

Shafer Canyon

Here is another pano that I have been working on. This spot is one of the coolest spots to take photos. It is a sweet 4x4 drive and you can sit there and watch the sun set all by yourself, which is not an easy thing to do at a national park.

Canon 30D. canon 17-40mm, Sandisk digital film.

Panos

On this last trip out to UT I wanted to work on making some nice panoramic photos. The Arches and Canyonlands area is just so big that it is hard to capture it in a regular sized photo. This photo of Dead Horse point state park was made up of 8 shots, and used photoshops photomerge to stitch them together. In order to get the different photos to stitch together nicely you need to find the lenses nodal point. This is the point inside the lens where the light paths cross before being focused onto a sensor. By finding the nodal point of the lens and rotating the camera around this point you prevent the lens from warping or distorting the corners and sides of the image. There is always something new to learn and I can't wait to learn more about panos.

Canon 30D, Canon 17-40mm, Nodal plate, Sandisk digital film.

Shafer Canyon

Saturday afternoon, I drove out to a less known spot over looking Shafer Canyon. It was a sweet 4X4 drive over huge rock covered, wash board, dirt roads. The clouds were looking really good, and the view was beautiful. I sat around taking in the views and waited for the sun to set. Once it started to set the sky broke out in spectacular colors. It was a great way to end a fantastic trip!

Canon 30D, canon 10-22mm, 17-40mm, sandisk digital film.

The North Window

Friday night I camped out at the Devils Garden campground in Arches. What an awesome place to camp! The milky way ran across the sky from end to end, and the sand on the ground made a soft bed. I got up at 5am tore down the tent and headed off for the Windows. Hiking through the dark, I scrambled over some boulders and and up a ledge that looked through the North Window to Turret Arch and waited for the sun to rise. What a sunrise it was! Once the sun broke through the light just glowed off the North Window. What a morning it was!

Canon 30D, canon 10-22mm, 17-40mm, Sandisk digital film.

Arches National Park

Last night I made the hike out to Delicate Arch. What a sight that was, the formations out here are just out of this word!

Canon 30D, canon 10-22 & 17-40mm, Sandisk digital film.

Dead Horse Point

Yesterday morning I went over to Dead Horse Point State Park to catch the sunrise, and what a sunrise it was. The views were spectacular to say the least.

Canon 30D, 10-22mm, Sandisk digital film.

Arches National Park

I arrived at Arches late tonight, just after sunset. With what light was left I captured these photos. I can't wait to see what I find tomorrow, Arches is a beautiful place.

Canon 30D, 10-22mm, 70-200mm, Sandisk Digital film.

Canyonlands

So there I was... 5AM in the pitch black after a 2 hour drive from Grand Junction. I finally made it to mesa arch. I have always loved the photos that I have seen of it and now I finally have some of my own. It was a beautiful morning and only 2 other people there, so it felt like I had it all to my self. After that I went driving around to take a look at the lay of the land and boy is it something to see, canyons everywhere. I then went for a little hike to False Kiva, a not so well known area of Canyonlands. It was a nice hike down the side of the cliff face to where this is located. What a sight, the view from the alcove was just breath taking, and to think that someone had this as the view from their house. After I got back to the car it was time to go find my next photo. After a little longer hike then I had thought I finally found the spot I was looking for. It is a not so often seen view of canyonlands. I was then walking back to the car in the dark, Just the way I started the day. What a wonderful day it was!

Canon 30D, canon 17-40mm, 70-200mm 10-22mm, Sandisk digital film.

Monument Canyon

After work today, yes working on Saturdays, I headed back up to Colorado National Monument. There is some fall color showing in the canyons, really rich yellows. Tonight I wanted to get some photos of Monument Canyon, so I did a little hiking to find a good spot. Once I found the right spot, I just rested up on a nice piece of sandstone and waited for the sun to go down. It was so nice to just sit there and take in the canyon. Who needs TV when you have views like this!

Canon 30D canon 70-200mm, 17-40mm, Sandisk digital film.

Another Beautiful Sunset

Oh what a cool sunset tonight!! It was crystal clear all day with not a cloud in the sky, then just before sunset some nice clouds rolled in which reflected the sunlight beautifully. After dropping my samples off at FedEx I drove as fast and as safe as I could up the steep windy park road to a couple of overlooks that I spotted out last night. This national monument has some really cool geologic features. The coke ovens are formed by the forces of wind water and ice. It was getting pretty dark when I drove up to the Grand View overlook, so I used a 30 sec exposure to capture what light I could. In the background are the bright lights of Grand Junction. Man I love this town!

Canon 30D, Canon 10-20mm, Sandisk digital film.

Colorado National Monument

After work today I only had a little bit of time to make the drive up to Colorado National Monument. The shear cliffs and rock formations are awesome! I hope I have some free time this weekend to get back up there. The shot above was taken well after the sun went down. The shot below it was taken this morning while I was driving out to the job site. This deer better be careful, because it is hunting season and drive by hunters on four wheelers drive up and down these dirt roads looking for an easy shot.

Canon 30D, Canon 17-40mm, Canon 300mm, Sandisk digital film.

Colorado

Well It has been a while since I last posted. I have been busy working and getting married to my beautiful wife Julia. While I have been taking photos, I have also been lazy and not posting any, but that is going to change. I am now out in Grand Junction Colorado working and boy is there a lot to photograph. I just wish I could spend more time taking pictures rather then working, but it just don't work that way. So after work today I rushed out to get some of the last light before the sun set. I went North of town to Mt. Garfield, it was a great place to watch the sunset.

Canon 30D, Canon 70-200mm and 17-40mm, Sandisk digital film.

Lawrenceville, IL

Boy things have been busy, between getting stuff ready for the wedding, moving and working down in Illinois for the past two weeks, I have not had a chance to take too many pictures let alone post them on here. Here are a couple of photos from down here in Illinois. The first one is of the old fabrication shop that is at the site that I work at. With the heat index around 107 and what felt like 99% humidity, storms were rolling through all day. In between storms some cool clouds formed over the fab shop and I grabbed a few shots. The other photo is of a hawk that hangs out at the site.
Canon 30d, canon 17-40mm and 300mm, SanDisk digital film.

Mt. McKinley

Well things have been busy, I have been getting ready to move and boy do I have a lot of stuff. I have found some time to finally get this panorama put together from my trip up to Denali. It was taken around 1:30 am. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets that I have ever seen.

Canon 30D, Canon 17-40mm, Sandisk digital film.

Mew Gulls

It was that special time of the year for these Mew Gulls. They would be all quite, then they would start making all kinds of noise and the male would try and hop on the females back. Sometimes she wouldn't mind it but other times, like the bottom photo, she wanted nothing to do with him. Potter marsh is a very cool place and if you ever get up to Anchorage in the spring time you have to stop and watch the birds.
Canon 30D, canon 300mm, TC1.4x, SanDisck digital film.

Other Birds

These are some of the other birds that I saw at Potter marsh. It is really a lot of fun watching these guys and seeing how they interact with each other. The Terns would be dive bombing the gulls and the Scaups would be chasing off the Terns, and the Terns would be chasing the other Terns. Its like watching the Discovery channel without all the commercials.

Canon 30D, Canon 300mm, TC 1.4x, SanDisk digital film.

Artic Terns

Whenever I am in Anchorage and it is spring time I have to make a stop at Potter marsh. It is just a couple of miles south of Anchorage and is a great place to do some bird watching. The Artic Tern is a fun one to try and photograph, as soon as you get one in the frame and get it focused it is gone. These little guys are quick but a lot of fun.

Canon 30D, canon 300mm, TC 1.4x, SanDisk digital film.

Unalaska

Well the past couple of days has been pretty wet, so I have not been able to get out as much as I would like. Here are a couple of photos from Saturday, when the weather was much nicer. Hopefully today will be nice and sunny.
Canon 30D, Canon 70-200mm, Canon 60mm, SanDisk digital film.

And then there were two

Over the past couple of days, I have been heading out to the Bald Eagle nest to see if the babies have hatched. Saturday the second baby finally hatched a few days after the first. The parents take turns keeping these little guys warm, and feeding them. When it comes time for feeding time you can tell which baby hatched first, because the older baby will start pecking at the little one to take him out of the picture.

Canon 30D, canon 300mm 1.4x TC, SanDisk digital film.

Puffins and a Baby

The puffins are back and they are starting to build their nest a few sticks at a time. Last night I went out to check and see if they had made it back from their winter out at sea. They are a lot of fun to watch, a couple of times they would try and bring sticks back that were just too big for them to fly with. As soon as they got air born they would go crashing back into the water, but they figures out how to break the sticks into smaller sections that they could fly with. After watching the puffins I drove out to summer bay where the bald eagle nest is. One of the eggs has hatched, it is the little fuzz ball under the eagles head. Momma has some fresh fish for her new born, which is right under her tail feathers.

Canon 30D, canon 300mm lens, 1.4x TC, SanDisk digital film.