After catching the first bus out of Lake O’hara, we headed straight back to Banff to return our camping gear before heading off to Jasper National park in a driving rain. We had been keeping an eye on the weather for the past couple of weeks, and while we were hoping for some clouds, we definitely did not want to get rained out…especially in Jasper.
Continue reading “Autumn In The Canadian Rockies – Part III” »
Last week, I took off on the first free weekend that I’ve had in a month. I had spent the previous few weeks up to my eyeballs in work between beginning a new school year and various home improvement projects. Somewhere in there I also found time to build a makeshift platform for a bed of sorts in my Prius and I was eager to try it out on a quick two night trip up to the Eastern Sierras in an attempt to grab some Autumn color before it was gone for the year.
Last September, my three compadres and I flew in to Calgary airport from literally all over the country for a quick trip through the Canadian Rockies. Todd flew in from North Carolina, Mark caught a flight in from Orlando and Tom shopped around for a better flight than mine and came in from LAX. The airport was a bit smaller than what we were expecting but we were through customs and on the road in our rented mini van faster than I would have expected. I think Todd was the last one in, and we wasted no time in setting off for for Banff.
Continue reading “Autumn In The Canadian Rockies – Part I” »
In the Spring of 2015, I decided that my next photography trip would be to the Canadian Rockies. I wasn’t sure who would be going with me, but I decided that I wasn’t getting any younger and that if I was going to go off hiking in Canada, I would need to get on the stick. So I threw the idea out to some of my photography buddies and fortunately, three of them said yes. I immediately began scouting for shots online.
Continue reading “Discovering Lake Ohara (Autumn In The Canadian Rockies, Part II)” »
Over two years ago, I mentioned to my hiking buddy Tom Bricker that I was interested in finding some alternate locations to shoot in Yosemite as we were beginning to shoot the same locations over and over on our frequent visits. By that point, we had already been up the Four Mile Trail, Olmsted Point and out to Cathedral Lakes, but we began to look for other locations that were a bit more off of the beaten path.
A few weeks later, Tom came upon a blog post which listed several lesser known trails, some of which didn’t really exist or were difficult to find. At the top of this list was a location known simply as the Diving Board. Ansel Adams had hiked to this location quite some time ago and it was from this spot that hie took one of his most popular black and white photos in Yosemite. Both of us were hooked at this point, but we had no idea of what to expect as there didn’t seem to be a clearly defined trail to this location.
It was only a few months ago that I finally made the dirve up to El Matador Beach which is arguably the most photogenic beach in Southern California. Located just a few miles North of the glamourous movie star-riddled enclave of Malibu, El Matador boasts several hundred yards of sea stacks, hidden coves and small caves. If you are thinking about heading out there to take advantage of this gorgeous stretch of coastline, here are a few things that you should keep in mind:
For the past nine years or so, my kids and I have made our annual pilgrimage to hang out with our friends who live in Loudoun County, Virginia. Besides the fact that they are wonderful friends who live in one of the most gorgeous spots in the country (miles of long, winding tree covered lanes bordered by 18th century era rock walls and horse fencing), we always take advantage of the fact that they live just 45 minutes outside of Washington DC. Having spent the last few Summers photographing the monuments and some of the memorials around DC, I thought I would share some tips with you in case you are planning a trip there this Summer or in the future.
Continue reading “Tips For Summer Shooting In Washington DC” »
Great Falls may not be the largest park run by the NPS, but what it lacks in size it certainly makes up in beautiful views, scenic trails, and accessibility. Situated on 800 acres along the banks of the Potomac River, you can reach the park by traveling about 30 minutes North of the national mall. The park also includes
Here in Southern California, Summer tends to be a season which is typically wretched for landscape photography. The coastal low clouds usually roll in during the months of May and June, killing off potential sunsets and sunrises on the coast. The afternoon skies turn hazy and the hills turn brown, and most of us turn on the air conditioner and retreat indoors to work on our shots taken earlier in the year.
There is, however, one fantastic photographic opportunity to look forward to each Summer here in California. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, Summer is prime time to get out and shoot the Milky Way. Although the Milky Way may be photographed throughout the year, the brightest corner of the Milky Way begins to show up around May along with more reasonable times for shooting it.
For those of you who are new to shooting the Milky Way, there are several challenges to consider:
After shooting in Yosemite for several years, I began to look for locations that were more off of the beaten path. A couple of years ago, I finally ventured up the side of the valley and found an alternate location from which to shoot the Horsetail Falls in February. I also began going on longer hikes up the four mile trail, the Upper Falls trail and out to the Cathedral Lakes. After finding the alternate location from which to shoot the Horsetail Falls, I began to wonder what other opportunities I might be missing. Yosemite Falls was my next logical choice and I began to notice that most, if not all of the shots of the falls were either from the valley floor or from the Upper Falls Trail. After looking online, I finally found a couple of spectacular shots that were taken from the East, but I had no idea where they were taken from. I spent a few hours one afternoon looking for spots to shoot from in the residential area above Yosemite Village, but the angles were not what I had in mind.
Finally, my hiking buddy Tom sent me a link to an article which mentioned a location referred to as the Fern Ledge. In the article, they mentioned how John Muir had hiked out and had become enamored with this location. He spent long hours listening to the falls, and actually walking out behind them. After checking around a bit more, I found that Ansel Adams had also made the trip up and had taken photos from there. Why hadn’t I heard of this place before?
Tom and I set this as one of our goals and on our next trip, we were resolved to find the trail to Fern Ledge head on up. But we only had one article to go on, and the article stated that the trailhead was somewhere behind the Yosemite Stables. When we reached the stables, we got the distinct impression that we weren’t supposed to be in that area and we chickened out.
I spent the next year or so investigating this trail, and couldn’t find much. From what I read, the trail could be very dangerous. I could expect steep inclines, sections where the trail simply fell away over steep precipices, and rattle snakes. Others online were reluctant to give away too many details as they feared hordes of hikers would head up there and cause damage to the habitat surrounding the trail. Others were concerned that people simply didn’t understand how dangerous this route really was.
Undeterred, I made my first attempt a couple of weeks ago.
Continue reading “Fern Ledge : One Of Yosemite’s Hidden Treasures” »