The bird festival season begins! Here is the first article of the season, and please check it out. I’ll be speaking at the festival the afternoon of January 24th. Happy New Year!
This year’s Skagit Valley Eagle Festival started this weekend. The annual festival runs through the entire month of January, and each weekend is filled with fun activities. Each Saturday is scheduled with one-time workshops or activities.
This year, the eagle counts are up over 200 bald eagles between Sedro Woolley and Nehalem. These birds are feeding along the river on the spawning salmon. They congregate along the banks and sand-bars in the river or in the trees.
Photographs come in many different styles, such as landscape, wildlife, people, and commercial. There are many more that are not listed here. What separates a photograph from others is the clarity of the story it tells. What does the photographer share with the audience that isn’t shared in other images.
The photograph below is a shot of Proposal Rock on the Oregon coast. This area is photographed often by locals and visitors. So the challenge becomes, how does a photographer make his/her photograph different from every other photograph of this beach and rock? In this case, the difference is a pair of shoes with bright colored laces.
This second photograph utilizes people in a landscape photograph. The viewer first sees the child holding the lens, the railing behind the child, and finally the landscape in the background. This shot is from Waimea Canyon on the island of Kauaii (Hawaiian Islands). The depth of field in this shot give value to its elements. . .the child, the railing, and the canyon. The clouds in the sky add further texture to the image.
It seems fitting to end with this photograph of a Bald Eagle at sunset. The sunset becomes the sun, color of the sky, and the silhouetted eagle. This is a single shot in the camera, which means it was thought through before the photograph was taken. Planning can help create a one-of-a-kind photographic image.
This is an excerpt from my upcoming workshop The Spirit of Place at the Sitka Center for Arts and Ecology in June.
The Leavenworth Spring Bird Festival is happening May 15th through May 18th. I’ll be teaching a workshop on bird photography. Here is an article I wrote about the event, and visit the link for more information. Thank you. . .Spring is the Time for Bird Festivals – Part III.
It’s that time of the year again, and the bald eagles are back. The count last week was around 150 eagles in the Skagit Valley, feeding on the salmon run. This article give details about the events, and links to information. I will be giving a Free talk on bird photography on Saturday, January 11, 2014 at 10 a.m. It will be held at the Historic Concrete Theatre. Here is a link to the complete story http://www.examiner.com/article/winter-festivals-northwestern-washington .
The greater Seattle area is loaded with photographic destinations. The city is brimming with opportunities to create photographs of people, architecture, nature, and abstracts. Each of these destinations listed change with the seasons, and offer continual opportunities for creative images.
It’s been an exploratory year for my photographic vision. I started shooting photography focused on sports, events, and people. There was always a landscape to photograph or an animal, so I followed my camera’s viewfinder. I filled it with images, and learned everything about my equipment. Photography is a continual learning adventure.
The last couple years have been filled with searching. At the beginning of this year, we lost 3 family members. Two were ill for a long time, and the other was a surprise. All my focus and energy had been spent on creating positive memories for my son with his grandfather. I have no regrets for the energy expended in this adventure. . .just gratitude for all the incredible time.
So finding photographic vision. . .
I choose to control every aspect of a photograph that is within my power to control. The camera is merely a tool to convey the scene, animal, bird, story, people, etc. in the manner the photographer sees it. The photographer is the artist, who shows the world their vision. The photograph below is a single image created in the camera. Since I shoot RAW files, I worked on it in Photoshop to create an image file to share with others or print. Equipment plays a part in an image like this. It is important to use a tripod to keep the camera and lens stable.
Much of this year, I’ve explored light, and refining my techniques for using it in my images. Above is soft, colorful, and flowing in composition. I experimented with exposure, white balance, and techniques.
Below is one of my favorite subjects. . .Snow Geese. This was taken on one of those perfect days in the field. The sky was sunny with billowing cloud formations. I think we ended up with most of the migratory birds (60,000 to 70,000) in the field in front of us. It was amazing to watch them fly in. It seemed like it would never stop. Then when it felt calm again, a Bald Eagle flew over head, and thousands of geese took to the air at one time. Their sound was amazing! I was about 25 feet from the edge of the flock. . .simply amazing!
Leavenworth is a wonderful day or weekend adventure for all ages. The town schedules year-round festivals, and is located in the scenic eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains. Highway 2 travels through the town, and is the easiest way to reach this beautiful destination.
On the way to Leavenworth, Stevens Pass is a beautiful area for photography. On the west side, there is Deception Falls, and it is well worth the stop. The trails lead to the falls (which can be seen on the south side of the highway), and along the river. Stevens Pass ski resort is at the top of the pass, and is a wonderful alpine area in the summer months. On the east side of the pass, Lake Wenatchee is about 5 +/- miles to the north, and the view looks into the Cascade Mountains. Highway 2 traverses through Tumwater Canyon, which has several pull-outs for safe observation of the scenery and wildlife.
Tumwater Canyon
In the opposite direction, the Olympic Peninsula offers incredible opportunities of photography. This area is home to a large temperate rainforest, Olympic National Park, beautiful waterfalls, Lake Crescent, and the Pacific Ocean. There are many hiking trails through-out the area, including the North-South trail through the heart of the Olympic National Park. Highway 101 travels through the area, and signs show the directions to the scenic areas.
Olympic National Park
Lake Crescent sits just west of Port Angeles, and has both a campground and cabins/lodge on its shores. It is part of the Olympic National Park, and the highway follows the shoreline of the lake. It’s nestled between tall foothills, and surrounded by forest. There are many pull-outs along the lake to view the area, or hike a trail. The light is incredible during the early or late hours of the day, and it is not uncommon to have overcast/foggy conditions in the area.
Further on, Highway 101 travels through the town of Forks, and onto the Pacific Ocean Beaches. There are several beach back-packing trails in this area, and Third Beach is one of the longest. It is a great way to see parts of the coastline that most people don’t see. There is a lot of wildlife in the area, and incredible landscape photography opportunities.
Every September, the Puget Sound Bird Fest is held in Edmonds at the Frances Anderson Center, and surrounding area. This year, the festival is being held Friday, September 6 through Sunday, September 8. The festival is put on by the City of Edmonds. Each year, the festival is an opportunity to attend a workshop, participate in a guided birding tour, kayak to observe birds, meet professionals in the birding field, and learn about birding. For more information, visit the article at September is the time for the Puget Sound Bird Fest.
Note: I will be giving a Free lecture on Bird Photography.
The San Juan Islands sit in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains and receive less rain than Seattle 65 miles to the south. Explore 172 islands, which up the archipelago highlighted by Fidelgo, San Juan, Orcas, Shaw and Lopez. The islands are home to the largest concentration of bald eagles in the lower 48 states, three pods of orca and harbor seals. Explore the tallest peak, Mount Constitution on Orcas Island, or ride the ferry. This is a great time of year to explore and photograph the incredible scenery and abundant wildlife. For the rest of the article, visit http://seattle.cbslocal.com/top-lists/getaway-guide-one-tank-trip-to-san-juan-islands/.
I returned from teaching a fantastic workshop at Sitka on the Oregon coast last Thursday. We had the opportunity to photograph thousands of nesting birds. The low tide offered us an opportunity to walk closer to the bird colonies, and gave an opportunity to see tide pools filled with marine life. The lower rocks were filled with Harbor Seals.
One of the biggest parts of the class was learning to make order out of the pandemonium of the scene. The air is filled with the calls of the birds, the ocean waves are crashing on the rocky shoreline, and the constant movement of the birds. The area had over 60,000 nesting seabirds, raptors and songbirds. The species most prevalent were Common Murre, Brandt’s Cormorants, Pelagic Cormorants, Peregrine Falcon, Bald Eagle, White-crested Sparrow, Turkey Vultures, Gulls, and Great Blue Heron.
The photo above is a small section of the Common Murre colony. Often times, these areas are windy. It is advisable to use a lens with Image Stabilization (Vibration Reduction, etc.), or a sturdy tripod, when photographing the birds. Video clips always require a stable tripod.
The photograph below was taken from the beach looking up at the birds. These nesting areas usually have several species of birds nesting together, though each has a “zone” they will use. In this instance, the birds at the top are mostly Common Murre, while the Cormorants are intermingled or below. The lowest level in this image would be the Gulls.
In addition to all the visual, audio, and physical input, it is important to remember to think about composition, exposure, and focus. The image below was visualized before being taken. The composition is relatively simple. The exposure allows the fore-ground to silhouette against the sky. These are the pieces that create the successful image within the arena of pandemonium of the scene.
My next workshop on Bird & Wildlife photography will be July 27 & 28, 2013 through the Pacific Northwest Art School.
The bird festival season begins! Here is the first article of the season, and please check it out. I’ll be speaking at the festival the afternoon of January 24th. Happy New Year!
