Porcupine Mountains

Last week I went on a backpacking hiking trip in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness up in the U.P. of MI. It was about a 13 hour drive from Apple Creek, and we got up there just in time to start hiking down the trail at 3am. I was with some old friends from high school, and we had a blast! The weather could not have been better. The worse part of the whole trip was all the damn mosquitoes and black flies, there must have been a billion of them. At time we could not even stop to rest because they were so thick. I counted 20 on my right hand alone at one point. By the end of the trip it looked like I had chicken pox with all the red bit marks. But the views made up for the pesky bugs. It was a beautiful place to hike and camp, the old growth forest was full of huge hemlocks and beautiful streams. I didn't get nearly as many photos as I would have liked but those bugs were just so annoying flying into my eyes and ears and anywhere else they could get. All in all it was a great trip!

Canon 30d, 10-22mm, sandisk digital film.

Mt. Scott

After checking out all the wildlife, I took a drive up Mt. Scott. Which was pretty cool, I never really thought of Oklahoma as having mountains, but they do. The clouds were coming in and the wind was blowing hard on top of the 2,464 ft peak, which is the third highest in OK. It has some beautiful red granite boulders that I tried to use to frame the last two photos, which I did one in color and one in Black and white. I'm not sure which one I like better. Luckily I was able to finish taken photos just before the rain let loose.
Canon 5dMKII, Canon 17-40mm, Sandisk digital film

Wichita Mountian Wildlife Refuge

This past week, I was working in Midwest City right outside of Oklahoma City. As usual I brought my camera, but didn't think I was going to get to find much interesting to photo. Well I had a down day on Wednesday while my soil samples were on their way to the lab. So I did some searching on Google and Google earth, which brought me to the Wichita Mountains wildlife refuge.
It was a little over an hour outside of Oklahoma city, and boy was i glad I made the trip. It was really cool driving down the road and seeing bison just roaming free. Some were in large herds like the two younger ones in the second photo, and others were just on their own. It was great to get out of the city and find these guys to watch.
Canon 5dMKII, Canon 300mm, TC 1.4x, Sandisk digital film

Another cool stop in the refuge was called Prairie Dog Town. There were so many prairie dogs there. It was cool watching them run around and look for food and pick on each other. They didn't seem to be bothered by people to much, however one in the bottom photo didn't care to have his photo taken.
Canon 5dMKII, Canon 300mm, TC 1.4x, Sandisk digital film.

North Pier Lighthouse

This past week I was over working in Benton Harbor, MI which is on Lake Michigan. It was a very cold and long week! Even after working 12 hour days Terry and I still made it over to the lighthouse to shoot some photos. We were treated to two great sunsets with some great colors and clouds. Its funny how we did not complain about the cold while we were shooting but it was all we could talk about while we were working. This was also my first real chance to test out my new toy, the Canon 5D Mark II! The detail that you can get out of this 21 mega pixel beast is just amazing!

Canon 5D mk II, Canon 70-200mm, 17-40mm, Sandisk Digital film.

The Northwestern

I went down to the harbor and saw that the Northwestern was at the dock. I haven't seen any of the crew in town so everyone must be at home for the holidays. It is pretty darn cool seeing these boats up close.

Back in Dutch Harbor

I got into Dutch Harbor on Tuesday, after a bumpy flight. The weather is pretty nasty, low to mid thirties with 40 mph winds and rain. I have not had much time to get photos, it gets dark early this time of year. Last night I had a little time and a break in the weather to get this shot of the waves crashing ashore. It is good to be back.

Canon 30D, canon 10-22mm, Sandisk digital film.

Delicate Arch

The hike out to Delicate arch is pretty easy, there is a little bit of an incline but not too bad. It is a very popular sunset spot and a lot of people head out there. While it was hard trying not to get people in the shot, I had to move around and try a capture the arch from different angles. Here I got a cool sun burst shinning from under the arch, which I thought made for a cool looking black and white photo.

Canon 30D, Canon 17-40mm, SanDisk digital film.

Shafer Canyon

Here is another pano that I have been working on. This spot is one of the coolest spots to take photos. It is a sweet 4x4 drive and you can sit there and watch the sun set all by yourself, which is not an easy thing to do at a national park.

Canon 30D. canon 17-40mm, Sandisk digital film.

Panos

On this last trip out to UT I wanted to work on making some nice panoramic photos. The Arches and Canyonlands area is just so big that it is hard to capture it in a regular sized photo. This photo of Dead Horse point state park was made up of 8 shots, and used photoshops photomerge to stitch them together. In order to get the different photos to stitch together nicely you need to find the lenses nodal point. This is the point inside the lens where the light paths cross before being focused onto a sensor. By finding the nodal point of the lens and rotating the camera around this point you prevent the lens from warping or distorting the corners and sides of the image. There is always something new to learn and I can't wait to learn more about panos.

Canon 30D, Canon 17-40mm, Nodal plate, Sandisk digital film.

Shafer Canyon

Saturday afternoon, I drove out to a less known spot over looking Shafer Canyon. It was a sweet 4X4 drive over huge rock covered, wash board, dirt roads. The clouds were looking really good, and the view was beautiful. I sat around taking in the views and waited for the sun to set. Once it started to set the sky broke out in spectacular colors. It was a great way to end a fantastic trip!

Canon 30D, canon 10-22mm, 17-40mm, sandisk digital film.

The North Window

Friday night I camped out at the Devils Garden campground in Arches. What an awesome place to camp! The milky way ran across the sky from end to end, and the sand on the ground made a soft bed. I got up at 5am tore down the tent and headed off for the Windows. Hiking through the dark, I scrambled over some boulders and and up a ledge that looked through the North Window to Turret Arch and waited for the sun to rise. What a sunrise it was! Once the sun broke through the light just glowed off the North Window. What a morning it was!

Canon 30D, canon 10-22mm, 17-40mm, Sandisk digital film.

Arches National Park

Last night I made the hike out to Delicate Arch. What a sight that was, the formations out here are just out of this word!

Canon 30D, canon 10-22 & 17-40mm, Sandisk digital film.

Dead Horse Point

Yesterday morning I went over to Dead Horse Point State Park to catch the sunrise, and what a sunrise it was. The views were spectacular to say the least.

Canon 30D, 10-22mm, Sandisk digital film.

Arches National Park

I arrived at Arches late tonight, just after sunset. With what light was left I captured these photos. I can't wait to see what I find tomorrow, Arches is a beautiful place.

Canon 30D, 10-22mm, 70-200mm, Sandisk Digital film.

Canyonlands

So there I was... 5AM in the pitch black after a 2 hour drive from Grand Junction. I finally made it to mesa arch. I have always loved the photos that I have seen of it and now I finally have some of my own. It was a beautiful morning and only 2 other people there, so it felt like I had it all to my self. After that I went driving around to take a look at the lay of the land and boy is it something to see, canyons everywhere. I then went for a little hike to False Kiva, a not so well known area of Canyonlands. It was a nice hike down the side of the cliff face to where this is located. What a sight, the view from the alcove was just breath taking, and to think that someone had this as the view from their house. After I got back to the car it was time to go find my next photo. After a little longer hike then I had thought I finally found the spot I was looking for. It is a not so often seen view of canyonlands. I was then walking back to the car in the dark, Just the way I started the day. What a wonderful day it was!

Canon 30D, canon 17-40mm, 70-200mm 10-22mm, Sandisk digital film.