Picture of the Day - 8/17/08

We finally arrived at our KOA Camp near Detroit, where I'll be photographing a large engineering conference this week. I'll try to find some non-conference pictures to share, but no promises, as the job will keep me fairly busy.

Here's a picture of one happy dog! Foxie loves to travel with us and has adapted well to the gypsy life we're living. As she caught sight of me checking out the campground, I caught her with my Tamron 28-300mm travel lens looking out the screen door of our trailer. This KOA is a large RV park located near Ypsilanti, about 20 miles SW of Detroit.

Picture of the Day - 8/16/08

Today, we spent the entire time trying to get close to Detroit, driving through Wisconsin, Illinois and ending just east of Gary, Indiana. There were no pictures worth sharing today, so how about one more - a 180 degree panoramic - from Roosevelt NP. This was taken at one of the higher viewpoints in the loop drive of the South Unit. I used Panorama Maker 4.0 to stitch five individual images together.

We plan to stay at a nearby KOA camp near Detroit for the entire next week. I'll try to continue sending non-conference pictures, if I can.

Picture of the Day - 8/15/08

This morning, we drove the scenic loop at Theodore Roosevelt NP (South Unit) - a little-known park in western North Dakota. A couple white-tailed deer posed willingly for us. The park lies along the Little Missouri River and is the general area where Roosevelt spent his time hunting. He also bought into a ranch just south of the park, later moving to the North Unit a few miles from where we were. The Civilian Conservation Corps (created under Roosevelt's "New Deal"), created several improvements around the park in later years.

Picture of the Day - 8/14/08

We need to make tracks towards Detroit, where I'll be photographing an engineering conference all next week. So, we left the campground, crossed into the U.S. and headed across Montana via Highway 2; cutting south at Highway 13. Montana's "tagline" is "Big Sky Country" and I now understand fully what that means. No matter which way one looks, the sky is always 4/5ths of the view!

Sheila captured this newborn deer in the Waterton Townsite yesterday (Waterton Lakes NP) and I couldn't help but award it the picture of the day! The deer was munching away at the leaves and turned just as she snapped the shutter - perfect highlights in the eyes! Today we're including a bonus picture! "Lone Tree at Sunset" was taken late in the day today of some typical Montana skyline. The wheat field had just been freshly cut and the sun was casting a golden glow. The dark storm clouds in the back make the scene visually striking.

Tonight, we're camped at Glendive, just short of the North Dakota border. Tomorrow, we take an early drive through the Theodore Roosevelt NP and continue on towards Detroit.

Picture of the Day - 8/13/08

After spending the last night at Johnston Canyon Camp in Banff NP, we headed south through the southern part of the park, through Calgary and further south to Waterton Lakes NP, where we explored some of the interior roads and viewpoints. As it started getting late in the afternoon, we started to head on out of the park. On the way, we saw deer, elk, brown bear, bighorn sheep, beaver, pheasants, various ducks, Columbian ground squirrel and several very hungry mosquitos! The view below is shot from the bridge over the Waterton River on Highway 6, looking back into the valley. Waterton Lakes NP is actually the northern extension of the U.S. Glacier NP. Together, they form the Waterton - Glacier International Peace Park. One of the ranger-led walks is done with both U.S and Canadian park rangers to symbolize this peace agreement between our two countries.

Picture of the Day - 8/12/08

It's hard for one to take in the whole of what the Canadian Rockies has to offer. While the mountain peaks are as high as 11,000 feet, they are, on average, steeper than our own Rocky Mountains. This is just a small portion of the Columbia Ice Field in Jasper NP, showing the Athabasca Glacier. There are trails out to it and some of the small specks on top are people. The ice field includes several more glaciers as you can see here.

Tomorrow, we need to start heading for Detroit, where I will be photographing an engineering conference.

picture of the Day - 8/11/08

Well, who would have thought another abstract would have made the picture of the day! This one was purely an accident. I was trying to go for a "drive by shooting" of a bunch of aspen trees in Revelstoke NP and the angle was such I had to shoot more out the side of the car, rather than forward. Sheila was driving and I had a very narrow window of opportunity in order to avoid Sheila's head and the structure of the vehicle. The shutter speed was also just a 13th of a second. I ended up increasing the contrast slightly and boosting the saturation a bit. It almost has a "Monet-like" feel to it.

What really caught my eye was the fact the right-hand portion is relatively sharp, while the left 3/4 is increasingly blurry. I'm not sure I could ever duplicate this shot! Obviously, the three aspens on the right were stationary relative to the panning of the lens and movement of the vehicle.

We're camped tonight at (Canada's) Glacier NP, just short of Jasper and Banff NPs. While this is high-season, there were plenty of camp spots left. It was a little overcast and rainy as we entered the the mountains, but the rest of the week is supposed to be sunny. One other thing that struck me as odd was that despite the fact we're literally in the middle of nowhere at the edge of the Canadian Rockies, I'm getting enough of a telephone signal to hook into the Internet and send these emails!

Picture of the Day - 8/10/08

This day was another layover day at the RV park north of Seattle, where we had been staying most of the week. We were pretty tired from all the wedding activities and wanted to reorganize the trailer and catch up on a few tasks. So, here's one more picture from our walk through Seattle Center. I really enjoy architecture, as well as sculpture, so was busy in this section. This is a "bamboo forest", according to our (amphibious) Duck driver. I don't know whether he was just pulling our leg, but I guess it -does- sort of look like that. While I took several shots of this sculpture, I like the abstractness and balance of this angle.

Tomorrow, we head to Canada!

Picture of the Day - 8/9/08

The day after the wedding, we watched Jolie and Derek open gifts during a family brunch. Then, while Sheila drove her mom, Jackie, back home, my younger sister, Karen (from New Zealand), Chris, Linda and I had a chance to take in the town. We started in the Seattle Center (site of the 1962 World's Fair), where we walked around the grounds enjoying the various art sculptures. Then it was off for a "Duck" (amphibious vehicle) ride around downtown Seattle and then around Lake Union - after-which, we strolled along the waterfront and had a bite to eat at Ivar's while we watched another fabulous sunset.

While in Seattle Center, I saw this boy playing in the International Fountain.

Picture of the Day - 8/8/08

Wedding bells today for niece, Jolie, and husband Derek Cox. My son, Chris, assisted with the photography and ended up shooting the picture of the day aboard the Royal Argosy during the sunset cruise around Puget Sound. That's the Seattle skyline in the background. The wedding ceremony was attended by several close friends and family, followed by dinner and dance. The happy couple will be honeymooning along the Oregon coast - no pictures of the day there!

Picture of the Day - 8/7/08

Probably the top attraction in Seattle is the Pike Place Market - one of the larger farmer's markets in the US. The vendor stalls go on for several blocks and in two main levels. One can buy anything from tourist trinkets to fresh fish to flowers; and oh! do the flowers smell good! Flowers were definitely the hot seller.

Picture of the Day - 8/6/08

Today, we photographed the last lighthouse in the immediate Seattle area - that's a total of 17 sighted and photographed this trip! The remaining day was spent scouting out locations for the various wedding events for niece, Jolie. We met together as an extended family at Maggie Bluff's - a nice eatery at the Seattle Yacht Club. While there, I captured the Seattle skyline below; cropping out the top and bottom to create this panoramic shot.

Parts of Seattle are very confusing. Sheila normally pilots while I serve as navigator.  I had to chuckle when Sheila remarked that between operating the GPS and with the map spread out on my knees, we still managed to get lost several times!

Picture of the Day - 8/5/08

Family activities today, so I thought I'd send out another wildflower picture from the alpine area of Olympic NP. These are broadleaf lupines (with frost still on the leaves), and are widespread at Hurricane Ridge. Interestingly, the mountains have permanent glaciers, yet the highest elevation (Mt. Olympus) is only 7,965 feet. Our house in Woodland Park is at 8,800 feet!

Picture of the Day - 8/4/08

Today was more lighthouse hunting - from Gig Harbor all the way to Seattle. We gave the GPS a good workout! The driver, as well - in maneuvering the trailer (24 ft) around some pretty narrow roads and tight - or non-existent - turnarounds! One spot we stopped at (but were unable to locate the lighthouse where we thought) was Boston Harbor. Now this one is definitely in the Northwest! We didn't seemingly stray to the east coast by mistake. I loved the reflections!

This week finds us in a neat RV park just north of Seattle - right by a small lake. This Friday is niece, Jolie's, wedding, so we'll be more occupied with family than photography. The pictures may reflect that!

Picture of the Day - 8/3/08

We got up early today and spent the morning up on Hurricane Ridge - the alpine area of Olympic NP. The road starts out in Port Angeles in the north part of the Olympic Peninsula. The wildflowers were perfuse, but since the majority of the day was spent searching out lighthouses, the Point Wilson Light won out for the picture of the day. It was originally constructed Dec. 15, 1879 and rebuilt in 1913. It's located at Ft. Worden (now a state park) near Port Townsend, WA.

Picture of the Day - 8/2/08

We laid over again today to recuperate from all the hiking from the last two days. I was able to catch up on some work (yes, I still work on occasion!) and Sheila rested and cut triangles for a new quilt she's designing. Also, our dog, Foxie, came down with something and is recuperating.

We're camped out at Sequim Bay "Resort", a rather plain RV campground, but with a beautiful view! This is basically the scene we got tonight from our living room window just after sunset - and was the only picture taken today! Coincidentally, the flowers in the foreground were the same color tone as the sky, which I thought was cool!

Picture of the Day - 8/1/08

Here's another bonus day with two pictures for the price of one! We picked up camp and moved near Sequim (pronounce "squeem") and spent the afternoon hiking up to Sol Duc Falls - about 0.8 miles. Here's a view looking down river toward the foot bridge. Another rainy day on and off, which made for perfect lighting conditions - but necessitated using the tripod. Exposures were running up to a couple seconds.

What a delightful trail - one of the finest I've ever taken! It's relatively flat with gradual up and down sections. It reminded me a lot of some of the rainforest trails in Hawaii. The scent of cedar and spruce was in the air and the temperature was a comfortable 68 degrees. The tall trees were similar in size to the redwoods in northern California. The rain was more of a mist in your face, rather than a downpour and I used the old shower cap trick to keep the camera dry.

The lower photo shows Sheila hiking back to the trailhead and is pretty typical of the trail conditions.

Picture of the Day - 7/31/08

Today it rained all day! So I thought it apropos to hike through the Hoh Rainforest. Olympic NP is quite unique in that it includes three distinct ecosystems - seashore, rainforest and alpine. The Hoh has two short loop trails and one trail that leads several miles up the valley. I took the two loops - part of which you see here. Forest photography is best done in overcast weather and God obliged nicely, leaving me pretty well soaked, but with a set of nice images. Who was it that said nature photography was a glamorous job?  :)

Picture of the Day - 7/30/08

Somedays, you'll just have to accept a bonus picture! We spent much of the day at the Makah Indian Reservation in the NW part of the Olympic Peninsula - in fact, we ended up on the MOST NW corner of the continental US! Most of the coastal region of Olympic NP is a temperate rain-forest and reminds me a lot of some of the areas on Hawaii around Hilo. The Makah tribe has been living in this NW corner of the peninsula for generations and fortunately, they were not too badly displaced during the "Americanization" period in the late 1800's to early 1900's. Their early culture revolved around whale-hunting and the people lived in long-houses of cedar. The museum/cultural and research center is world-class and is considered by the Smithsonian as one of the top ten natural history museums in the country. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside, but there have been hundreds of artifacts unearthed very recently from a long-house village that was covered by a mud-slide (I believe) in the 1930's. The displays are top-notch!

After visiting the museum, we headed out the road to Cape Flattery - the furthest NW point in the US - and took the 0.75-mile trail to the viewpoint. The picture above shows a portion of the trail with slices of cedar tree trunks as "stepping stones". Other parts of the trail were rough-hewn cedar wooden walkways. It was a lovely walk downhill to the cliffs. The bonus picture shows Sheila, me and Foxie at the viewpoint, where you can also see the lighthouse on Taboosh Island. Tomorrow, we tackle some of the rain-forest trails. Rain is expected!  :)

Picture of the Day - 7/29/08

We left Camas, WA, this morning and proceeded towards the west side of Olympic NP. There were numerous clear-cut logged areas en-route with occasional patches of fireweed along the roadside. We pulled off and shot for a few photos. It had been raining much of the day and the drops added a nice touch to the composition. Of course, the photographer became completely drenched from the waist, down, following this session! Fireweed is so named because it tends to spring up first following fires (or also in disturbed earth along roadsides).

Picture of the Day - 7/28/08

No photography today, as we're still laying over at Sheila's mom's place. So, here's a bonus image from the next day - 7/29.

This is a picture of Foxglove with raindrops. This was found in combination with the fireweed from the picture of the Day - 7/29. The leaves of Foxglove (genus digitalis) is used as an ingredient in various heart stimulants. Foxglove in this area is basically a displaced crop grown elsewhere, but it loves the disturbed earth near roadsides.

Picture of the Day - 7/27/08

No pictures taken today, as we're "laying over" a few days at Sheila's Mom's place in Camas, WA. I did manage to work on another of those "impossible to capture in one frame" images from Silver Falls SP (OR), by combining the best of five images within Photomatix Pro. This is a shot of South Falls within a short walk of the lodge. To give you some perspective, observe the people along the trail just behind the 177-foot tall falls!

What I like best about this picture is that, while waterfalls are mostly designed to be dominant in an image, in this case, the trees are the dominant element and the falls are secondary. This seems to enhance the depth  (or three-dimentionality) of the picture.

Picture of the Day - 7/26/08

Today, we spent the morning photographing in Oregon's largest state park, Silver Falls, located just east of Salem. There are several beautiful waterfalls along a five-mile loop trail. Pictured is Middle North Falls with the trail shown just behind it. Most of the falls around the loop are facing north or west, so photography is best done in the early morning before the sun shines directly on the water.

Picture of the Day - 7/25/08

After visiting Hells Canyon (the deepest canyon cut by a river in North America, at 8,000 feet, plus) yesterday, we spent the night in Baker City, OR. Today, we drove I-84 along the Columbia River to the town of Hood River. From there, we cut south on the Mt. Hood Highway, stopping at the Timberline Lodge at the southern foot of Mt. Hood. Lupine and several other wildflowers were in bloom and made for a nice foreground element.

If you recall, the Timberline Lodge was where the movie, "The Shining" was filmed. "Here's Johnny!"

Picture of the Day - 7/24/08

This morning, I got up early and rode the bike out to the dune area for sunrise. It was pretty hazy from the fires in California, but I was able to capture some decent pictures. i liked the simple composition of the dunescape in this shot. Apparently, Bruneau Dunes contain the "largest single dune structure" in North America. Now, I'm not entirely sure what that means or how they compare with the Great Sand Dunes near Alamosa, CO, but they are pretty impressive.

Picture of the Day - 7/23/08

Today, we drove from Provo to Bruneau Dunes State Park in Idaho (southeast of Boise). We arrived in late afternoon and rode the bikes from the campground out to the dune area in time for the sunset. I wasn't able to find a decent shot of the dunes, but am really partial to lone trees - one of which served as the subject for this shot. Tomorrow, I plan to be up before dawn to capture some dune images!

Believe it or not, this state park has free Wi-Fi!! Am I blessed, or what?! I was able to continue working the last bits of some projects. I can tell this working holiday is going to work out slick! If we happen to be without power, I'm running the laptop off a 12V battery (that's kept trickle-charged) and AC power inverter. If the place we camp has no Wi-Fi (Colorado NM, for one), I can usually connect to the Sprint high-speed network via my Palm Treo phone/PDA. Ain't technology wonderful?

Picture of the Day - 7/22/08

Didn't do much photography today, as we simply drove from Grand Junction to Provo, UT. I had spent much of the day "working" at the campground and we didn't leave until 3 pm. I did finish proofing the final draft of an engineering article for Test & Measurement World Magazine and knocked out a pitch for a short article in Backpacker magazine. I also finished the first draft of a cover design for the EMC Newsletter (our professional IEEE society journal).

Here's Sheila hard at work on her new quilting project. We had installed this flip-up work table in the trailer, which is made from part of a TV stand (Lowe's) with fold-down shelf brackets. Works slick, as you can see!

By the way, most RV parks have free Wi-Fi, which is a real blessing when one has to WORK once in a while!  :)

Picture of the Day - 7/21/08

Today, we traveled north to Grand Junction to visit daughter, Linda and hubby Robb. They had just moved into their first home and we were looking forward  to seeing their new abode. After a nice pizza dinner, we all shared a few photos and caught up on family activities.

We camped at Colorado National Monument that night and pretty much had the place to ourselves! Of course, in July, the temperatures are in the 90's! Even so, the views were spectacular, with evening thunderstorms cooling things off a little.

This is a view towards northwest Grand Junction in late afternoon.

Picture of the Day - 7/20/08

Today was spent traveling on the Alpine Loop from Ouray to Silverton - stopping along the way to photograph fields of flowers, crystal clear waterfalls and the restored ghost town of Animas Forks. I couldn't help posing our Pomeranian, Foxie, amongst a group of dandelions. She sat there patiently while I took photo after photo - well, you know how photographers are!

Picture of the Day - 7/19/08

Today we led a tour through Yankee Boy Basin near Ouray, CO. We left before dawn so we could make use of the diffused light for a nice even lighting of the subject, in this case, a cluster of Blue Columbines. There were fields of flowers every way you looked and the challenge was to find the jewels hidden along the mountainsides.

Picture of the Day - 7/18/08

So far, the trip's going well. Gas is running $3.95 to $4.47,. depending on how isolated the station is and the state tax. Oregon is not too bad, considering - Utah and Idaho were pretty expensive. The bad news, of course, is that pulling a loaded trailer results in 8 to 10 mpg!  Ugh!

I'll try to send a picture a day - but no promises. The following picture is impossible to capture with any camera - film or digital. While the human eye can perceive dynamic range (bright to dark) of 8, or more, "stops", cameras can only capture 4-5 at most. The result is that a single image capture the highlights or the shadow details, but not both. I recently purchased Photomatix Pro, which takes the best exposure in three, or more, images and combines them into a single image. This shot Mt. Sneffels (the highest peak in the group) at sunset was a combination of four separate captures, 1 stop apart. This is very close to what the eye actually sees at dusk.

Two-month trip to the NW, Canada and Michigan!

Sheila and I started our two-month sojourn in our 24-foot travel trailer July 18th - the day before our weekend wildflower tour in the San Juan Mountains (SW Colorado). We're planning to head out towards Seattle in time for our niece's wedding (Jolie Cheatham) - then head towards Detroit for the IEEE EMC Symposium - via the Canadian Rockies, Glacier NP, Yellowstone NP, Tetons NP and Badlands NM. We'll stay in Michigan's Upper Peninsula for a few days, then get back to Boulder just in time for a travel writing/photography workshop in mid-September. Whew!

The following posts will include a "picture of the day" (or maybe two) as we travel.

Finally figured out how to get through the Google hoops!

As I haven't used this blog in a while, apparently, Google bought Blogger and the result was that I had to re-establish my account - no help to Google!

Anyway, we're back on line...

Sunrise - Pikes Peak

Here's a shot I took recently of Pikes Peak from the north. It's comprised of four separate shots (70-200mm lens) and stitched together using the program, Panorama Maker 3.0. This moderately-priced software makes creating panoramic images easy! Search for it on the Web.

Fall Color - Kebler & Marshall Passes

Here's just a few of the fall color images captured on our tour to Crested Butte. Conditions were near perfect there this year with loads of color on both sides of Kebler Pass Rd. The best area seemed to be just west of the pass. The next day, we traveled over marshall Pass - again very good color found on both sides of the pass.

Radiant Vista Inspirational Weekend / Oct 28-29

Just wanted to alert everyone of a terrific seminar event coming up in Boulder, October 28-29. Instructors Mark Johnson and Craig Tanner will be teaming up for their "Inspirational Weekend" series designed to inspire photographers to explore new frontiers in creativity. There are two separate tracks, but they're repeated, so you won't miss anything. Track one is Photoshop and digital workflow - track two is photo techniques. Check it out at www.radiantvista.com Cost is $149 for the two days. I'll be there...

Fall Color Tours!

Gold Belt Fall Color "Mini" Tour

Date: Saturday, September 16, 2006 NOTE DATE CHANGE
Time: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 pm
Cost: $40.00 per person
Meet At: Ute Pass Cultural Center Parking Lot, 210 East Midland Ave., Woodland Park, CO
Advance reservations/payment required: To register, please call the Woodland Park - Parks & Recreation Dept. at (719) 687-5225.

Description - Join us for a chance to shoot beautiful fall color scenery around Cripple Creek and Gold Camp Rd. near Victor. Please meet at the Ute Pass Cultural Center rear parking lot by 7:45 a.m. and we'll caravan together. I'll show you some of the best spots to shoot in the area and will be available to assist you in technique or composition. Please bring your own transportation (regular vehicles are OK), water, warm clothing, camera gear and plenty of film. Those with SLRs, bring all your lenses - you'll have a chance to use them all! Please bring extra batteries for your camera. Be prepared for a great time! Non-photographing spouses or family members are welcome to observe at no charge.

Participants will be limited to 8, so register early. First come – first served! Carpooling will be encouraged prior to departure.


Fall Color Weekend - Instructional Photo Tour (IPT) / Crested Butte, CO

Date: Saturday, September 30 to October 1, 2006
Time: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Cost: $250.00 per person
Meet At: Crested Butte, CO, Friday evening, September 29.
Further details will be provided to participants.
Advance reservations/payment required: To register, please call the Woodland Park - Parks & Recreation Dept. at (719) 687-5225.

Description - Join us for an unforgettable fall color photo shoot in the Crested Butte area (north of Gunnison). You’ll be able to witness incredible blooms of wildflowers among rolling hills with groves of brilliant aspen!

We’ll meet for dinner Friday, September 29th in Crested Butte. I'll show you some of the best spots to shoot in the area and will be available to assist you in technique or composition.

Bring your own transportation, water, appropriate clothing, a hat, sunscreen, camera gear and plenty of film or digital cards. We will be shooting “rain or shine”, so be prepared for a possible shower. A digital or film SLR body with interchangeable lenses and tripod would be most useful. Digital cameras with a zoom telephoto lens will also work for this tour. Feel free to call me ahead of time with equipment questions. Be prepared for a great time! Non-photographing spouses or family members are welcome to observe at no charge.

Participants will be limited to 6, so register early. First come – first served! Hotel / food, not included.

Digital Photography Seminar - Colorado Springs, Sept. 15-16

Understanding Digital Photography comes to Colorado Springs, September 15-16. The two-day seminar is being put on by the Palm Beach Photographic Centre, a non-profit visual arts organization based in Florida. The seminar this year will be taught by Fatima NeJame, executive director of the Centre for the past 21 years. She's taught digital camera technology and Photoshop since 1992 and lectures nationwide.

Day 1 - Digital Cameras Made Easy
Day 2 - The Digital Darkroom

Pre-registration cost; $80/day - or at the door; $90/day.

For more info: www.workshop.org.

Adobe Lightroom Beta - Windows

From Tim Grey's DDQ:

"Adobe has launched the Windows version of their beta of Lightroom, a workflow application designed from the ground up for photographers. The beta for Macintosh has been out for some time, and now Windows users can also preview the features of this application. I've been very impressed with what I've seen so far, and expect great things in the final product. This is also a great opportunity for you to provide feedback to Adobe on the features you think are important. For more information, or to download the Windows version of the Lightroom beta, go here:
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/?sdid=IGRC"

Wildflower Tours in July!

Wildflower “Mini” Tour

Date: Saturday, July 15, 2006
Time: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Cost: $40.00 per person
Meet At: Ute Pass Cultural Center Rear Parking Lot, 210 East Midland Ave., Woodland Park, CO

Advance reservations/payment required: To register, please call the Woodland Park - Parks & Recreation Dept. at (719) 687-5225.

Description - Join us for a one-of-a-kind wildflower photo shoot north of Woodland Park. You’ll be able to witness incredible blooms of wildflowers among rolling hills with groves of aspen!Please meet at the Ute Pass Cultural Center parking lot promptly by 7:45 am and we'll caravan to the site together. I'll show you some of the best spots to shoot in the area and will be available to assist you in technique or composition.

Bring your own transportation, water, appropriate clothing, a hat, sunscreen, camera gear and plenty of film. We will be shooting “rain or shine”, so be prepared for a possible shower. A macro lens (or telephoto with extension tube) and tripod that can be positioned low to the ground would be most useful. Digital cameras with a "macro" mode will also work for this tour. I plan to show you some cool flash techniques on this tour, so please bring any flash gear you have. Feel free to call me ahead of time with equipment questions. Be prepared for a great time! Non-photographing spouses or family members are welcome to observe at no charge.
Participants will be limited to 8, so register early. First come – first served! Carpooling will be encouraged prior to departure.


Wildflower Weekend - Instructional Photo Tour (IPT) / Crested Butte, CO

Date: Saturday, July 22-23, 2006Time: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Cost: $250.00 per person
Meet At: Crested Butte, CO, Friday evening, July 21. Further details will be provided to participants.

Advance reservations/payment required: To register, please call the Woodland Park - Parks & Recreation Dept. at (719) 687-5225.

Description - Join us for an unforgettable wildflower photo shoot in the Crested Butte area (north of Gunnison). You’ll be able to witness incredible blooms of wildflowers among rolling hills with groves of aspen!
We’ll meet for dinner Friday, July 21 in Crested Butte. I'll show you some of the best spots to shoot in the area and will be available to assist you in technique or composition.

Bring your own transportation (high-clearance recommended), water, appropriate clothing, a hat, sunscreen, camera gear and plenty of film or digital cards. We will be shooting “rain or shine”, so be prepared for a possible shower. A macro lens (or telephoto with extension tube) and tripod that can be positioned low to the ground would be most useful. Digital cameras with a "macro" mode will also work for this tour. I plan to show you some cool flash techniques on this tour, so please bring any flash gear you have. Feel free to call me ahead of time with equipment questions. Be prepared for a great time! Non-photographing spouses or family members are welcome to observe at no charge.

Participants will be limited to 6, so register early. First come – first served! Hotel / food, not included.

CNP now RMNP

The Colorado Nature Photographer's (CNP) discussion forum is now the Rocky Mountain Nature photographer's forum! This group is a regional forum within the NaturePhotographers.net on-line magazine and association. Check it out at: http://colorado.naturephotographers.net/index.shtml. This is a wonderful group of fellow nature photographers in the Rocky Mountain region. Please stop by and consider joining!

Malaysia Trip #2

Hi All, just returned from another trip to Malaysia. Here I am visiting the Snake Temple in Palau Penang and being "initiated" with a poisonous (probably de-venomed) pit viper. Picture by my good friend Teng Beng Soon.

I plan to return one more time this year. The people there are really friendly and the food is great. Give anyone a smile and you'll get a flashy grin in return.

George Lepp in Colorado Springs

The Peak Digital Imaging Society, presents well known nature photographer, George Lepp, who is scheduled to present his talk, "New Possibilities in Outdoor/Nature Photography", July 27th, at 7:10 pm at the Colorado Springs Senior Center (1514 N. Hancock). The presentation is free to the public.

A founding member of the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA), he has been published in National Geographic, Time Magazine, and the New Yorker. He's been a field editor for Outdoor Photographer and PC Photo for several years.

George has been a pioneer in digital photography and his presentations are always worth a listen.

Canyonlands N.P. - Grand View

Last weekend, we spent a few days touring/camping around the Islands and Needles Districts of Canyonlands N.P. This shot was taken at sunset a couple miles form Grand View Point. The photographers add a sense of scale to the landscape.

More images may be seen in my portfolio:
http://www.photoportfolios.net/portfolio/pf.cgi?a=up&pi=KEN_WYATT&u=25060.

Paint Mines, Calhan, CO

I'd heard of the Paint Mines several years ago from fellow photographer Bob Volpe, but had never investigated beyond that until recently.

The Paint Mines are a cluster of eroded "hoodoos", similar to Bryce Canyon in Utah. They are located near Calhan, CO on Paint Mines Rd (what else?), just off the Calhan Highway south of town. They are now part of the El Paso County Parks system.

Trails lead all through the formations and you could easily spend half a day photographing.

More examples are posted to my portfolio at: http://www.photoportfolios.net/portfolio/pf.cgi?a=up&pi=KEN_WYATT&u=25060.

Tulip Interior Featured on NANPA Home Page

My photo, "Tulip Interior", is currently featured on the opening page of the NANPA Web site today. To prove it doesn't necessarily take expensive equipment to capture a neat picture, this was taken with a Nikon CoolPix 995 with fisheye adapter during the Ottawa Tulip Festival last May. I simply stuck the fisheye lens down just inside the tulip cup and fired the shutter. The extreme depth of field of the lens threw everything into sharp focus. This was earlier selected as part of the NANPA Showcase 2006 - best 200 images from the NANPA membership. Copies of this compilation are available at the NANPA Bookstore. http://www.nanpa.org.

Woodland Park HS Photo Club

I had the priviledge of presenting a segment on "Improving Your Composition" at the Woodland Park High School Photography Club last February. I always enjoy the chance to share my passion for nature photography with others. Photos by Josh Tracy.

Garden of the Gods - Part 2

Here's one more shot of gateway Rocks with storm clouds brewing behind.

Garden of the Gods - Saturday, April 15th

Garden of the Gods Park is located just at the western edge of Colorado Springs and is a favorite shooting location among local and visiting photographers. Here's a good reason why shooting in rainy weather can pan out with unexpected results. I left home very early and it was sprinkling pretty hard. As I drove down Ute Pass towards the Springs, it turned torrential. I was hoping to catch a nice sunrise, but I really started to wonder as I drove along. By the time I arrived at the visitor center parking lot, it had stopped raining, so I waited (patience is a virtue for nature photographers, they say!). Soon, the rocks started to glow faintly. Then the sun peaked through a narrow opening in the clouds and just lit up the rocks! Everything else was left in shadow.

I decided to create a panoramic by taking a sequence of five overlapping images and stitching them together using a low-cost piece of software called Panorama Maker 3.0. This program does a wonderful job in figuring out just where to assemble the separate images. After a final crop, I used Photoshop to back off the saturation in order to match what I remember seeing, opened up the shadows slightly with the Shadow/Highlight control and gave it a little sharpening using Unsharp Mask.

Here's the result. Nice 'eh?

Rent your lenses!

Here's a nifty idea. Why buy an expensive lens costing several hundred (or thousands) of dollars that may only be used a few times, when you can rent one for one, or more, weeks for a fraction of the cost? Rent Glass (www.rentglass.com) currently has several Canon lenses (Nikon coming soon) at very moderate rental prices. No big telephotos, though. Check 'em out...