Category Archives: ocean

Camino: to the End of the World

On my last day of exploring the Camino de Santiago as it travels through Galica, Spain, I felt like I really began to see the Galicia that I had imagined: the misty, green country that hugs a rugged Atlantic coastline. And stone hórreos everywhere — those built-for-all-time granaries that I had also longed to see. This one was at one of our first stops of the morning, Ponte Maceira, where there was also an ancient stone arch bridge marked with the scallop shells that show the pilgrims the way.

Another hórreo in the Galician countryside:

And then we came to the Atlantic. The Nosa Señora da Barca (Our Lady of the Boat) Church in Muxia has to be one of the most spectacularly situated buildings I’ve ever encountered. On days of rough seas I was told that the surf actually crashes through the church’s doors.

This is my kind of coastline. I know most prefer a sunny beach, but this is the kind of place that I could spend hours. But we had one more stop — Cape Finisterre, “the end of the world,” and the 0-mile mark for those pilgrims that continued on past the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. You can’t continue further west from here on foot, that’s for certain.

Many of the images that have appeared in my recent posts on the Camino — and many not shown here — appear in my latest addition to the “Journals of a Travel Photographer” book series, “Spain 6: Six days exploring Galica and the Way of St. James.” Here are a few snapshots of the book. You can see a larger preview and order copies over at my Blurb bookstore. I hope you enjoyed the journey!

Year in Review: 2011

Travel started earlier than usual for me in 2011 with a short trip to San Diego in January. The warm weather was welcome as we were having one of our snowiest years on record back home:

In early April, I escaped the cold once more for a couple of weeks in Fiji. I was there for a Society of American Travel Writers Freelance Council meeting. It was my last year as Chair of the Freelance Council and Fiji would be the last Council meeting under my term. It was a great meeting and a wonderful destination. One of my favorite memories was an evening on the beach with a bunch of fire dancers. There’s not much that’s more fun to shoot than people spinning burning torches on a beach at sunset. If you haven’t tried it, take my word for it.

It was very warm in Fiji — even without the fire. A jet boat trip up the Sigatoka River was the only time I remember actually feeling chilly:

If those cliffs look familiar, I was told that some of the scenery for Avatar was shot in that area.

I wasn’t back in the states for more than a week before driving to Ohio for a couple of stories. I made sure to schedule in another trip to Hocking Hills to try and get some waterfall shots. The last time I’d tried, it was an unusually dry season and it was like the tap had been turned off. Much better results this year.

Back home in June, I managed to photograph a few Kansas events that had eluded me for years. One was the Symphony in the Flint Hills (which is just as amazing as it sounds — an orchestra playing out in the middle of acres and acres of tallgrass prairie and rolling hills) and the reenactment of the Battle of Black Jack. Here’s a shot of “John Brown” from that day:

A trip to Colorado and over the Continental Divide followed. Here’s a lake that sits nearly on the Divide at Milner’s Pass, elevation 10,759 feet:

Quite a few regional shoots followed which I’ll share later after the stories have run. In September, we were on the road again making a big loop through southeastern Iowa:

and down the Mississippi to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Here’s a shot of the Louisiana State Capitol:

Rounding out the year in November was one more trip over the Pacific, across the equator and the International Dateline to New Zealand. This was SATW’s Annual Convention and I officially ended my term as Chair of the Freelance Council and became the much less encumbered Immediate Past Chair. I truly enjoyed my two years in office and serving on the Society’s Board of Directors but it will also be good to step away for a bit and re-focus on my photography business. The New Zealand Convention was great and I especially loved the four days I spent afterward exploring the Southland from Dunedin down to Stewart Island. Here’s one from the Otago Peninsula near Dunedin:

And I’ll leave you with flowers that were blooming in Queens Park in Invercargill, NZ. It’s not bad to end a year with a second season of Spring:

Wicked weather

I’m still catching up from having been gone the better part of April. In some ways my days seem to be mirrored by the current Midwestern weather — chaotic and unpredictable. Thankfully my situation is far less dangerous than the weather system. My heart goes out to all of those who have been affected by the recent tornados and other severe weather in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Alabama… seems like just about everywhere this year. I’ve lived in the central part of the U.S. all of my life and can’t remember another year like this one.

The shot above is not from this weather system but from a brief rainstorm in the South Pacific last month. Lightroom’s contrast, curves and clarity provided a little extra intensity. You can practically make a sunny day look like a supercell megacyclone with the tools we have available to us these days.

Whale watching in the Pacific

Oh, warmth. Where have you gone?

Pardon me while I escape the reality of single digit temps outside my window and I relive my visit to San Diego last week. For those of you who are also snow-bound, maybe you can live vicariously through the images and know that warmth will one day return to you as well.

Today I’m reminiscing about a whale-watching trip that we took from San Diego out into the Pacific. I’ve been on a couple of these before, but always in the Atlantic off of Canada’s coast and always on smaller boats. The bigger boat definitely made for fewer people going to the rail seasick than on the smaller boats but I also found that it puts you a bit high for photographing the whales. Sure, you have a good view of them, but from a small boat your lower perspective shows how large they really are with their flukes breaking the horizon as they prepare to dive.

That said, it was a great day to be out on the water and the whales showed up right on cue and put on quite a show. We saw at least 10 or 11 and had a pod of 6 all together in the end. My 200mm lens was barely up to the task, however, as the whales are always some distance from the boat. The dolphins, on the other hand, would practically attack:

If it makes you feel any better on this January morning — it was chilly enough out on the water that you needed a jacket.

Sorry!

Decade in review: 2003

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Continuing my review of the the past decade…

2003 marked the year that I moved solidly to digital. I still had my F100 and shot film on assignment for publications that hadn’t themselves transitioned to digital yet, but for my stock work — and especially international travel — I was 100% digital.

The images in this post come from a trip to Greece and Turkey in May and June of 2003. I had a Nikon D100 and traveled with a Mindstor portable storage device and a 12″ Powerbook for back-up. I remember it was startling how easy it was to pass my entire camera bag and laptop through the airport x-ray equipment without a worry of images being fogged. I was done flying with film and I’ve never looked back.

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I loved Greece and only wish I’d had more time there. With just a few days in Athens and Delphi, then a short cruise to the islands of Crete, Patmos, Rhodes, Mykonos, Santorini, and a quick stop at Ephesus in Turkey, it was a lot packed into a short time and there was never time to wait for good light. I took what I could get and considered it to be a great scouting opportunity. One day I’ll go back and spend a few days each in one or two places but I now have a much better idea of where I’d like to spend that time.

Of the Greek islands, I think the Cyclades were my favorite. Mykonos and Santorini belonged to this group of rough and rocky islands and I found them to be endlessly photogenic with their whitewashed jumbles of blocky houses and shops.

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These two are from Mykonos. My research had told me that there were a row of windmills on the far side of town from the docks so I made my way immediately in that direction to catch sunset. There’s no direct route to anywhere on Mykonos but wandering the narrow streets was half the fun. The shot looking up through the balconies was taken on the walk back to the boat.

One other lesson learned on this trip: it was during this time that Athens was gearing up for the Olympics and that meant that everything was under construction or renovation. Probably not the best time to visit a place for stock photography. There was scaffolding everywhere. The construction also meant that many images would be dated almost immediately. Still, there’s so much to see in Athens that I wasn’t short of things to photograph. The highway construction that was going on between the city and the airport did make for some nervous moments before catching the flight home, though.

Working the sunset, part 3

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One more from my Puerto Vallarta beach session. I was beginning to feel like I was shooting greeting cards — sunset over ocean surf, footprints in the sand, etc. — so I decided to play a little. Call it a game of “don’t drop your camera in the water”. As the waves would pull back from the beach, I would follow them out. Then, as they came rolling back in, I would hold the D700 down almost to the sand and run backward in front of the waves firing off exposures all the way. I wanted to capture some motion and convey the feeling of the waves coming in. I experimented with several shutter speeds — this was f/6.3 at 1/13th of a second. Strong sharpening in Photoshop helped bring out some interesting texture in the distant wave. Technically, I doubt there is much that’s “right” about this photo but I do feel that it captures the moment better than a static shot. At least that part of the moment that I was shooting for. In the end, whether it’s a success is up to the viewer.

Working the sunset, part 2

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Just down the beach from (and a couple of minutes after) the last shot, I spotted this couple walking along the surf. The two figures added a sense of scale to the landscape — just imagine this shot without them and the beach would seem much smaller. Here it looks endless and as though the two have the entire coastline to themselves. Even with my Nikon’s white balance set to cloudy for more warmth, I ended up adding a warming filter to this image in Photoshop to create a more dramatic, monochromatic look.

Working the sunset, part 1

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On our third night in Puerto Vallarta we were treated to a dinner at the incredible Dreams Resort & Spa. The sun was setting as we toured the grounds so I took every opportunity to take advantage of the light. The rugged coastline, a wedding party dining on the beach, a band on stage overlooking the ocean… it was a productive few minutes that I truly appreciated after spending a fair amount of time in meetings for the past two days. Here’s one from that evening. More to follow.

Maligne Canyon ice hike

Maligne Canyon ice hikeI had a great experience last night on the Maligne Canyon ice hike in Canada’s Jasper National Park. This is a trip you must make with a guide. Boots and ice spikes are provided — a necessity for the second half of the hike when you are literally walking on the frozen and sometimes slushy river. It’s a pretty good trek from the parking area to the ice falls and fairly disorienting in the dark with only an LED headlamp to show you the way. There are a few overlooks at the top of the falls that are accessible during the day on your own but the fun of the night trip begins when the guide leads you off of the path and down into the canyon. It’s similar to exploring a cave except you can see the stars between the high canyon walls and many of the formations are ice instead of stone. This is not a trip that can be made in the summer as the river prevents all access.

To say that this was a challenge to shoot would be an understatement. It’s a three-hour trip and you’re not encouraged to linger too long in any one place. In my case, I was with a group which added the challenge of getting time exposures without other’s flashes going off. Still some nice images were made. Here the guide shines his hand-held light behind a frozen ice flow.

It’s a great trip and I would highly recommend it. Just be aware that it is exceedingly slippery in places and it pays to follow the advice of a good guide to get the best footing and avoid a wet and chilly surprise.