Welcome to My View

Hello and welome to My View for Monday, November 9, 2009.

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are enjoying a beautiful autumn.

I apologize for being away from My View since July. It has been an extremely busy and hectic time for me. First, I want to thank all of you who sent good healing intentions for my friend, Wes, who had by-pass surgery back in September. He is doing very well and will be attending the Big Bend National Park workshop with us later this week.

Since Wes’ surgery, I have taught three workshops with Craig Tanner — Grand Tetons National Park, Next Step in Savannah, and Zion National Park. This week, we are preparing for the last one of 2009 in Big Bend National Park, November 14-20. In addition, we’ve announced our 2010 workshop schedule and began registering participants for those workshops.

Today’s image was taken on the Grand Tetons National Park workshop back in late September. The colors were really lovely late in the week in the park and we went out one afternoon to shoot back lit trees. I was demonstrating a technique to a few participants that I use often to abstract a scene. I moved the camera while my shutter was open, bottom to top, to follow the upward direction of the trees. There were several fires in the park this year, as well as a rather large one in southern Yellowstone Park, just up the road from where we were in Jackson. The amazing back light on the stunning trees reminded me of a more beautiful use of the word “Fire” — the fire in the color of the leaves.

Thank you for your patience with me during the last few months, for your good healing thoughts for Wes and for all the sentiments sent to me on the loss of my two canine companions so close together this year. You will never know just how much those thoughts mean to me.

As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome. They make me a better photographer, aid my growth as a person and offer me new experiences.

Teton Fire

Grand Teton National Park
Jackson, Wyoming
September 2009
Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 50mm 1.4 lens, ISO 100, f/22, 1/3 second, Hand held.

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Hello and welome to My View for Sunday, October 19, 2008.

Today’s image was taken late Friday evening after the Grand Teton National Park workshop ended at noon that day. It was the first chance I had to shoot for myself all week. The heavy clouds were already moving in as the sun was setting.

The colors were still spectacular. I decided to play with abstracting the area around Schwabacher’s Landing. This was taken at a spot to the right of the traditional spot to shoot at Schwabacher’s.

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. They help me grow as a photographer and a person.

Thank you for visiting My View.

Schwabacher Landing Abstract

Grand Teton National Park, October, 2008
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 16-35 mm 2.8L lens at 23mm, ISO 100, f/11, 1.0 second. Camera mounted on Bogen NeoTec tripod and Bogen 808 head.

Hello and welome to My View for Monday, October 13, 2008.

On our way to Oxbow Bend for some personal shooting on the Sunday after the Grand Teton Workshop ended, we passed this stand of very colorful trees along the way. We had stopped at this spot earlier in the week with the class when the side light on the mountains was just spectacular. On this Sunday afternoon, the storm clouds, along with the side light on the mountains, made this spot especially appealing.

Even though the trees were in full color, I decided to try a black and white treatment for this particular image. You will have to let me know what you think.

I want to thank all the wonderful photographers who participated in the Radiant Vista Grand Teton Workshop for 2008. It was great to see old friends, meet new ones and share a beautiful autumn with you in this lovely national park.

I also want to thank Craig Tanner for giving me the opportunity to pursue one of my passions — teaching photography. Working with Craig for the past few years has been a pleasure and a terrific growing experience. I look forward to continuing to work with Craig as we transition the Radiant Vista web site, with new and exciting features.

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. They help me grow as a photographer and a person.

Thank you for visiting My View.

NOTE: The black and white version, as well as the larger view, was replaced very early Tuesday morning. I don’t know if it made any difference to some of the monitors or not (see comments). Please try viewing the larger version.

As requested, the color version of this image is also included.

Along the Way

For a larger view.

Grand Teton National Park, October, 2008
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 70-200mm 2.8L lens at 70mm, ISO 100, f/11, 1/125 second. Camera mounted on Bogen NeoTec tripod and Bogen 808 head.

Color Version:

Along the Way (In color)

Hello and welome to My View for Friday October 10, 2008.

After the end of the Grand Teton National Park workshop last week, I stayed over in the park for the weekend so that I could go out shooting for myself. Craig Tanner, the lead instructor for this workshop, and I do not shoot for ourselves during our workshops. So, the weekend after the workshop gave us the chance to go out and shoot some of the beauty of the park ourselves.

On Saturday, we were totally rained out. It was a day to rest, catch up on some work, and just enjoy the rain on the roofs of our little cabins at Cowboy Village Resort.

On Sunday, the rain clouds began to clear and the weather turned a bit cooler. As it cleared, we could see a few patches of fresh snow on the tops of the mountains. We went out in search of the beauty we had seen all week with the participants of the workshop.

At Oxbow Bend, we found it. As the sun was setting, the warm color of the leaves that we had seen all week glowed in the late light. The clouds, still hanging around over the mountains, provided just the cool background needed for the lovely colors and their refections.

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. They help me grow as a photographer and a person.

Thank you for visiting My View.

Oxbow Reflections

For a larger view.

Oxbow Bend
Grand Teton National Park, October, 2008
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 70-200mm 2.8L lens at 108mm, ISO 100, f/11, mounted on Bogen NeoTec tripod and Bogen 808 head. Combination of two images, one taken at 1/8 second and one taken at 1/15 sec.

Hello and welome to My View for Sunday October 5, 2008.

This past week, I had the pleasure of teaching a group of wonderful photographers in the Grand Teton National Park with Craig Tanner. We all had a great time and experienced fall colors in the park that are at the best they’ve been in a number of years.

While showing some of the participants how to capture a motion blur of some of the colors in an aspen grove one afternoon, I created this image of the lovely fall colors in the park this year. The blurring of the trees and colors was done in camera. I hope you enjoy this image as much as I enjoyed the images created by the Grand Teton National Park participants during our workshop.

I’ll be returning to Atlanta tomorrow afternoon and spend some time recovering from a cold that I managed to acquire and catch up on My View.

Thank you for visiting My View.

Grand Teton Aspens

Grand Teton National Park
October, 2008
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 28-70L mm 2.8 at 70mm, f/22, 1/4 sec, ISO 100, handheld