OP – The Blog

I am happy to report that my new book, Exposed: Inside the Life and Images of a Pro Photographer is finally out and is shipping right now to those that have pre-ordered the book. I am also very happy to report that the book looks very nice. If you have been holding off on this book  

I just posted the first photo tip video on my blog as part of my free on-line outdoor photography course. This week’s tip, Maximize the Light, encourages photographers to learn the nuance of using natural light in outdoor photos. It seems like a good place to start – photography means “drawing with light”  

I headed back to Mt. Rainier again yesterday to see if, by September 1st, the legendary wildflowers were likely to bloom at all this year.  Apparently not: the meadows around Paradise are still dotted with snow, the heaviest in years. Many of the flowers are still just emerging from winter, and with autumn in the  

I am finally back home after a nine-day trip to Glacier National Park followed by a week in Charleston with my family on vacation. The trip to Glacier was productive, but incredibly frustrating. To start with, my first three days were absolutely horrid conditions for nature photography, blue bird blue skies  

I think one of the most common photographic challenges all of us face is this — we see subjects and the camera sees light. What happens is that we can see a detail in a huge range of light from bright sun to dark shadows. In addition, we can see really dark things next to  

A major “X-class” solar flare exploded on the surface of the sun yesterday, an event which typically results in active and widespread Auroras here on Earth over the next 24-72 hours.  These things are always unpredictable, but weather permitting, the lights should be visible throughout Alaska and possibly as far south as the Canadian border  

Last night was our final one at Blachford Lake, and it didn’t disappoint. After a slow beginning at 7:30 pm, the lights really got going 3 hours later with a dramatic burst of activity that had everyone outside and gaping skyward.  I tried getting some broader landscapes like this one to balance the many detail  

Last evening began with very high expectations : the forecast was for clear skies, and the aurora predictions were for another busy night. And when the first lights appeared early – about 8 pm – we settled in for what we thought would be a long, busy night. Then began what can only be called  

The aurora forecasts for Monday night were for “Moderate” activity. In aurora lingo that’s code for a sleepless night that began just after 9 and went on more or less continuously until after 2 am. For hour after hour, the entire sky was filled with swirling bands of light, sometimes bright enough to throw a  

Auroras are unpredictable creatures.  They can be brash and lively, shimmering and ethereal, or they be gentle and graceful. The latter is what we had last night. We had clear skies, happily, and despite the -25 C. temps. there was little wind, so it was vastly more comfortable being outside than the night before. The lights