Eagle Falls, Lake Tahoe, California

Eagle Lake HDR Panorama, Desolation Wilderness, California

This one just squeaks in to my best images of 2011, mostly on account of doing an adequate job recording my first visit to the edge of a beautifully rugged wilderness. I was in a place I’d never been, its grandeur familiar yet wonderfully new to me; a feeling I never tire of. This image was created on my first foray into California’s Desolation Wilderness in July. I had come to Emerald Bay to photograph Eagle Falls and Lake Tahoe at sunset, one of the classic Lake Tahoe views. I’d given myself a few extra hours to make the short hike to Eagle Lake. I was in a great place with better than decent light but found it difficult to put a personal stamp on the scene, and I was running out of time. I decided my best chance for a successful image was to create a clean panorama, this meant heading to the other side of the lake where I could get a more open view of the scene and eliminate all distracting tree silhouettes from the frame. I worked quickly to create three different panoramas from slightly different places along the lakeshore. This is the third one, the one with the cleanest edges and lines. Shot for HDR, this panorama is made from 21 frames, seven sets of three. HDR tone-mapping gave me better blending in the sky between frames by creating more uniform exposures for the panorama segments, and helped open shadowed mountain and foreground exposures. I also used my trusty Singh-Ray soft step graduated neutral density filter to help balance the sky and landscape exposures. The panorama format goes a long way toward expressing the feeling of expansiveness I felt at the time, and helps to elevate the image, if only by a hair, above the documentary snapshot.

Zion Canyon Storm Panorama

Canyon Overlook Sunrise Panorama, Zion National Park, Utah

A favorite sunrise location in Zion National Park, the canyon overlook begs to be shot in panorama format. This panorama was created with eleven generously overlapped vertical frames. I also used a 3 stop soft step ND grad filter to help open the landscape and retain deep vivid color in the sky. Generously overlapping the frames ensures smooth transitions from one frame to the next. Shooting verticals gives me a  little room to crop into the image top and bottom, this is a huge help if I didn't do the best job lining up the frames, and end up with a stair step shaped panorama.

Storm Light, Canyon Overlook, Zion National Park, Utah

Here’s another of my favorites from 2011. This image is all about timing and luck. I was lucky not to be struck by lightning; lucky to witness and record an amazing moment from an iconic Zion viewpoint. I was at the canyon overlook above Pine Creek with a handful of other park visitors and my wife, as a fast moving storm plowed through at sunset.  This image was captured seconds before thunder and lightning coincided overhead, and I finally tore down my tripod and started to run down the trail for cover just before the rain, leaving behind a half dozen fearless European tourists at the cliff’s edge. My wife had prudently bailed out a few minutes earlier as the thunder became louder and lightning flashes followed more closely. We had timed our visit to the canyon overlook for sunset but the storm light is what really sets this image apart. This one could also be filed under, repeat visits, as this was at least the sixth time I’ve photographed this scene. This is one of those iconic park locations that can look amazing in all kinds of light, and at all times of day, but I’d never seen it like this before. Never before had I felt the power of this place so acutely.  

Icicles, Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah

This image is among my best of the year 2011. Simplicity and color are two reasons this image is successful.
I was fortunate to eye this subject. As is often the case, investigating one subject leads to the discovery of another subject. In this instance a more vivid flash of color in some nearby ice drew my attention. After making several photographs of colorful reflections in streamside icicles, I had the feeling I had not really nailed it, I hadn’t been able to express myself through the subject. Just then, I looked up to see this arrangement of icicles right in front of my face.
Of course, the background is as important to the success of the image as the subject. The background was sufficiently distant to render as diffuse swaths of color, an effect that attractively isolates the subject as well as presents the background in a way the eye doesn’t quite see it; helping to move the photograph away from the realm of documentation and towards the realm of art.
I love the tension between the warm and cool tones. At first glance, it may seem generic, but this color scheme is highly dependent on the season; the warm tones are supplied by the late October hues of the surrounding forest.

November Spring Fed Pool, Salt Lake City Foothills, Utah

Come to the 10th annual Holiday Open House at Red Butte Garden, Saturday and Sunday, December 3rd and 4th from 10 am to 5 pm. Find unique, handmade gifts for everyone on your list while supporting local artists. Admission is free.

Lake Blanche Sunset Panorama, Twin Peaks Wilderness, Utah

The obvious image is obvious for a reason; it works. It works very well, it's just hard to put a personal stamp on it.

I discovered this small ephemeral waterfall on a recent hike to Lake Blanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon.  It took a return visit to refine my compositions and come home with some unique images. On my first visit, the siren song of the lake kept me from giving my full attention to this little falls. I did check it out though, and took a few photos. When I got a look at my images on the computer, I realized I had a great subject, and I had missed the shot, I had failed to execute the image in my mind.