White Over the Badlands

White Over the Badlands

SDAK09D-28

July 3, 2009


Still with the Badlands, seeing the little bit of road at the bottom center before this massive cloud structure.  I was amazed at how photogenic the Badlands were.  If you look back at this latest series, you'll see a lot of them were taken on July 3rd.  That is the day I arrived there, after driving for ~13 hours from Illinois (a very early wake up).  The landscape immediately seemed to open up for me, and I barely had to leave the road to find these high-contrast, jaw-dropping landscapes.  This one featured a great wall of striated rock, above which the summer thunderstorm which had drenched me on the drive to the park was lifting and clearing, leaving these fluffy white clouds the towered over the ground.  I felt that the scene worked better in black and white, given the high contrast of the area.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: NIkon 18-135 mm f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  38 mm

Exposure: 1/50 @ f/16  ISO 100

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Badlands Cactus

Badlands Cactus

BADL09D-64

July 4, 2009

It is fitting that there should be prickly pear growing in the Badlands of South Dakota, that place has such a barren feel to it at times it would be forgiven if you thought you were transported hundreds of miles south to the deserts of Arizona, New Mexico, or southern Utah.  But this spiny inhabitant makes its home in the intricate erosion landscape of the Badlands, and on that gray July 4th day, hiking out in the wilderness it seemed a fitting portrait of the day.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: NIkon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  32 mm

Exposure: 1/160 @ f/16  ISO 400

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Teton Storm Clearing

Teton Storm Clearing

GRTE050104

September 7, 2005

Digging way back into the archives this morning for an image that dates back to 2005, my last visit to the fabulous Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.  This was shot on the approach to Cascade Canyon, watching as the storm that had clung to the granite hills slowly dissipated, leaving a fog that would burn off as the day continued.  I like the haunted look to this image, the overall mystery that is involved with the fog seeping through the trees.  I hope you do as well.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon N80
Film: Fuji Provia 100F

Lens: n/a

Focal length:  n/a

Exposure: n/a  ISO 100

Post-processing: Scanned on a Nikon Coolscan 5000; minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Storm Clearing

Storm Clearing
NCAR10D0332

August 10, 2010

My apologies for missing yesterday; some unfortunate automobile trouble kept me away for most of the day and the post didn't get up.  And tonight, it stormed, one of those glorious spring storms that crackles with energy, the rain pulsing down in torrents.  I love those sorts of storms, they're my favorite.  I do miss seeing the sky turn green, as it did in Illinois, the sign of major storm-age to come.  This image is after the storm, as the clouds broke before sunset and the skies parted.  It is a refreshing, relaxing image to my way of thinking, just the thing after a long ragin' storm.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  31 mm

Exposure: 1/400 @ f/8   ISO 400

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

The Ominous Storm

The Ominous Storm
NCAR11D-321_pan

November 27, 2011

This was the scene while hiking with my girlfriend (now fiancée) Sarah last November.  We were at Morrow Mountain State Park, and had summited the main peak of the area, when we stopped to look around and survey the land.  Fall was dying off, the trees were losing leaves, and a late autumn storm was coming in from the south.  The mood, the ominous feeling of the clouds behind the silhouetted trees made it a great photograph, despite being slightly warped from the wide-angle aspect of the lens.   This is an HDR composite of 3 images, blended first in Photomatix and then finished in CS4.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6

Focal length:  20 mm

Exposure: 1/30 @ f/8   ISO 400

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Rice Paddy Plantations

Rice Paddy Plantations

BHUT10D-120

November 20, 2010

Taking a break from Thailand today, trying out another country that I love and that is so absolutely gorgeous, Bhutan.  This plantation beckoned as we traveled deeper into the country, heading to the Pobjikha valley.  The lone house on the hillside, surrounded by rice paddies as the storm clouds cleared overhead.  It was such a stately image, and I really loved finding it.  Enjoy.

 

Technical notes:

Camera: NIkon D80

Lens: Nikon 18-135 mm f/3.5-5.6

Focal length: 28 mm

Exposure: 1/80   f/8   ISO 400

Post-processing: Toning and curves adjustment in PS4

Kenyan Kloud Kreations

Kenyan Kloud Kreations

KENY10D-346

March 20, 2010

Clouds, as I'm sure I've mentioned before, are truly a magnificent creation.  And there are no two that are alike, much like persons, but they also hold a regionality to them that is not always apparent.  I remember clouds in California, growing up.  They were usually cold masses moving off the Pacific, monotone and flat, bringing rain in the winter (for it pretty much never rains in the summer).  Then there were those clouds that spring up in the midwest.  They have no mountains to hinder their formation, and consequently you get these large, multi-storied creations, that are a dazzle to behold.  These imperious water vapor towers roam over the landscape at will, and perhaps unleash violent storms when they see fit.  I hadn't seen their like, until visiting Kenya.  Here this tremendous mass was sweeping over the savanna, and the dark underbellies were unleashing springtime rains as they went.  Truly incredible.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 18-135 f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  44 mm

Exposure: 1/1250 @ f/4.8 ISO 100

Post-processing: Desaturation in PS 4, minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Thai Nimbostratus

Thai Nimbostratus

THAI040401

June 17, 2004

Today has dawned another gray day, with more rain in the forecast for the weekend.  I don't usually mind the rain, it has a soothing effect, and it really makes me want to go hiking in the rain.  Call me crazy, but there's something about stomping through the wilderness while the rain drips from the trees.  I recall a couple of particularly memorable times I've hiked in the rain... one was at Charmlee Regional Park in Los Angeles, with my mom and sister.  It was pouring and we still muscled through the chaparral and had a splash doing it.  The other was a New Year's Day hike in Muir Woods National Monument.  The rain kept the crowds away (as did the likelihood of hangovers from the night before), and the whole lush forest was quiet except the sound of the rain gently dripping through the leaves.

This image comes from the first trip to Thailand, many years ago when I was shooting film.  Taken on Fuji Velvia, this storm was rolling through as we sped back near Doi Inthanon National Park, and the clouds which had plagued us for days were finally starting to shift and break up.  It left behind a vibrant, stunning visual of the verdant countryside after 3 days of rain.  One of the more beautifully scenic rides I encountered in Thailand.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon N80
Film: Fuji Velvia 50

Lens: Nikon 28-105 f/3.5-4.5

Focal length:  50 mm

Exposure: n/a ISO 50

Post-processing: Scanned on a Nikon Coolscan 5000, tone adjusted and cleaned using ICE 4.0 and PS 4.

Storm Over the Black Hills

Storm Over the Black Hills

SDAK09D-126

July 8, 2009

Storms hold a particular attraction to most people.  They're one part of Mother Nature that is beyond our control, we are helpless in their grasp.  And, as inconvenient as they make modern life (getting wet while going to work, electric lightning strikes knock out power, general impedance of your day), they are so essential to maintaining life across this planet.  So perhaps we look up to them as well, in a combination of fear and respect. 

Few places I've encountered storms like one sees in the midwest of the United States.  From the Black Hills of South Dakota to the flat plains of Illinois, the summer storms rage across the land, large cumulus clouds that grow and evolve and finally burst over you in a satanic fury, black clouds dumping rain and energy on the ground below.  This storm, seen here in the Black Hills, was just entering the area.  The pleasant, puffy white clouds that had dominated the day were being pushed away by a southerly wind, drawing in the darkness seen on the left.  Within 15 minutes the sky had undergone a Mr. Hyde transformation, and the storm broke soon after.  Luckily, with the rage and energy of midwest storms, they pass quickly; this storm was over and cleared out before nightfall.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6

Focal length:  mm

Exposure: 1/60 sec @ f/16, ISO 100

Post-processing: Splicing and panoramic construction, curves adjustment in PS4