Double TroubleMilky Way over Double Arch Arches National Park, Utah I had seen a number of nights capes below Double Arch in Arches National Park and knew I wanted to add it to my list of places to photograph. I flew into Grand Junction, CO in the morning and drove 2 hours to Moab. During the day I scouted Double Arch and had a number of ideas on where to shoot at night. I knew that night shooting was pretty much useless as the Milky Way was going to be blinded by the moon but I rented the 24mm f/1.4 lens anyways. Andy and I met up with Phill Monson and his brother-in-law Jeff to shoot Delicate Arch at sunset. We had some time to kill before sunrise at Mesa Arch so we decided to have a try at night photography over at Double Arch. I brought along a 2-million candlepower flashlight to do some light painting and Phill graciously volunteered to do the painting while I fired off the cameras. Even though the moon was out, the tail end of the Milky Way made its way over Double Arch. I wanted to include Phill in the photo to give this a sense of scale and backed up until I could compose the photo with Double Arch, Phill, and the Milky Way all in the shot. I realize this photo isn't anything special but I had fun shooting it anyways! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED: 24mm, f/1.6, 15 sec, ISO 3200
Drought's BaneSunset in Silicon Valley California I must have had some kind of precognition into the future because I don't normally keep my camera in the trunk of my car, but after trying to photograph the fog yesterday I decided to leave my camera in the trunk "just in case". Sure enough, that time happened to occur on Wednesday. Willie and I arrived at our favorite San Jose spot just as Lukas Wenger and his wife pulled up. Jave arrived shortly after and we set off to find "the cracks". I decided I wanted setup near some still water that I had found, knowing that I could shoot east or west from here and still include both cracks and reflection in the water. Turns out the sky in the east did nothing but man… the sky in the west!!! Wilson Ng and Matt Levine showed up just as the sunset started to get good. There weren't any of those high, thin, textured clouds that we photographers normally like. Instead, the entire sky just LIT up. Lit up is probably the wrong term -- it EXPLODED with color! Rain started to fall in the west and the rain clouds started turning yellow, orange, and pink! We stood there hooting and hollering at how beautiful the sky looked. Man was that a beautiful night! For anyone who wants to find this spot, I offer you a warning: Despite knowing the safety issues here, I pulled "a Willie" tonight. Our first time here Willie got stuck in the mud and had to be rescued by another friend. Knowing this, I am normally very careful and test each step before I put any weight down. At one point during this sunset I started walking around trying to find other compositions. As I walked around this little pond of water I started to see the entire pond just GLOW with beautiful red and orange colors; I wanted to get closer. I was so excited that I started to run. I took about 2 steps and realized I was stuck … knee deep in the thick, gross mud. I was able to get myself out but it could have easily been much worse for me. If you find this place, be extremely careful that you do NOT get stuck! Seriously -- even when I knew about, I still got stuck! Cleaning up the mud was not fun, took a long time, and smells horrible! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/18, 3 sec, ISO 80 Lee Filter Holder + HiTech 0.6 ND Grad
Jungle RetreatHacienda Concepcion, Amazon Rainforest Madre de Dios River, Peru For years I've wanted to travel to Peru to see 2 things: Machu Picchu and the Amazon Jungle. With my roommate finishing her PhD she decided she wanted to head to Peru for her graduation celebration and she invited me to tag along. We spent 2 weeks doing pretty much everything there was to do in Peru and it started with 4 days in the Amazon Rainforest! We flew into Puerto Maldonado and after a 30 minute boat ride we arrived at our jungle lodge, Hacienda Concepcion. Built within the last year, this retreat was absolutely wonderful. We all had private cabanas, complete with mosquito netting, private bathrooms, hammocks facing out onto the jungle, delicious food and amazing jungle excursions. This was by far the best part of our trip. The first night we arrived we were taken on a river tour by boat where we saw Caymen, birds, and some other animals that only come out at night. To my surprise, we also saw the Milky Way in all of its glory -- and boy was it visible to the naked eye. I got really excited because that meant I could break out the new D800 and give it a whirl! When we were back at the lodge I grabbed the camera and walked down to the area where our cabanas were situated. The cabanas were lit by very dim gas lanterns and gave off just enough light so that I could expose for both the milky way and the cabanas all in 1 exposure! Unfortunately I had left my ultra-wide lens at home, not thinking I'd need it for the trip, so instead I shot 16 images and stitched them together in Photoshop CS6. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 24mm, f2/.8, 25 sec, ISO 3200 16 images stitched together in Photoshop CS6
