Japanese Maple Tree Portland, Oregon One of the most iconic photos of Portland is of the famous Japanese Maple Tree at the Japanese Garden. People photograph it at all times of the year but it looks most stunning in autumn when the leaves turn orange and red and make for an absolutely stunning scene. Unfortunately I arrived a little too early and the Japanese Maple hadn’t quite turned orange. A little trick in photoshop fixed that. I’ll have to go back another year and photograph this when it's really orangey red! I always laugh when I see this tree because photos of this, taken using ultra-wide lenses, make the tree appear fairly large. How tall would you say this tree was? 20-25 feet maybe? If you thought that, you’d be wrong. The tree is maybe FOUR or FIVE feet tall! We were all hunched over in between some branches trying to take turns shooting the tree. It would have been quite a peaceful time too, had Alan not spend the entire time grumbling about how he had to pay $15 to take a photo of a five foot tall tree. Surprisingly, with all his kvetching, he spent the most time photographing the tree. I guess he needed to get his money’s worth. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/16, 0.8 sec, ISO 250
Choo Choo TrainThe Subway Hike Zion National Park, Utah When I visited Zion National Park in 2011 one of the hikes that I absolutely loved was The Subway. In fact, I went so far as to call it my most favorite hike I've ever done! Willie, Yan, and I had hiked the Narrows the day before and also found it to be equally amazing. Yan, having heard me raving about the Subway insisted that we head here on our second day in the park. I wanted to try something new, specifically hike to Kanarra Creek, but Willie and Yan convinced me that emerald pools and glowing walls would be worth it. The Subway it was! We arrived at the parking lot quite early and were shocked to see so many cars had already arrived! It was decided to see if we could pass *all* of them and we took off almost at a run at times. Other groups came and went in our wake as we flew up the Virgin River towards the Subway. About halfway through the hike I realized that our blistering pace was causing me to not enjoy the hike at all and I forced Willie to slow down so we could take in the scenery. This also gave us a chance to look back and realize that the clear skies we were hoping for were being covered with clouds … not good for glowing walls in the Subway. On the other hand, it was perfect for photographing Archangel Falls located slightly before the Subway. Despite our fast pace to the Subway we were the second group to arrive. We had to wait for them to finish taking their pictures and then waited some more while they got out of ours. Turns out that waiting was well worth it because the clouds that had been blocking the beautiful glow inside the Subway disappeared for about 15 minutes and we frantically snapped photographs. A flash flood 2 months earlier deposited sand inside the Subway and left the emerald pools looking yellow and boring. It took some "special sauce" in post processing to bring back an emerald color to the pools. We brought a bag of leaves with us and were able to get beautiful some beautiful swirling motion in the water, which had eluded me when I photographed this in 2011. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 24mm, f/16, 8 sec, ISO 50 B+W Circular Polarizer
Windy LadyLower Antelope Canyon Page, Arizona Last year I visited Antelope Canyon twice and was blown away both times. When we had a half day to kill on our 2012 trip Willie, Yan, and I immediately knew we'd spend it at Lower Antelope Canyon. We arrived slightly before they opened and were the first people down into the canyon. Because we asked for the photography pass we were given 2 hours in the canyon, by ourselves, without a guide. We didn't see another person in the canyon for at least an hour! Willie and I both bolted for the Lady in the Wind. Although we have photos we both liked we wanted a different take or two on her. I based my photo on Skyflake's (Phill Monson) black and white image from here. I think I practically bullied my way into position, forcing Willie to back up and take a different shot. Just kidding … I was a nice photographer and let him take his shot and then he kindly let me take mine. Turns out he didn't quite get what he wanted but he ended up with a shot he forgot he wanted. I got the shot we wanted but forgot to get the other shot. Doh! Guess I'll have to go back another time! We were treated this morning to beautiful pink, purples, oranges, and yellows during our 2 hour stint here. So beautiful! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 35mm, f/11, 2 sec, ISO 100
