'm looking forward to joining Mountain High Workshops here Mar 24-27, 2010. We'll cover digital photography techniques, postprocessing in Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and Photomatix (HDR), and the best locations in Joshua Tree and Mojave National Preserve. Please contact me for details.
Another day, another playground made of sand. A playground for kids (young and old), a playground for photographers. Let the play begin!
The extensive dune field near Stovepipe Wells is by far the most heavily visited sand dune complex within Death Valley National Park, but even here you can find great views within a few short steps of the parking lot.
The last time I took my kids to Death Valley, we had a list of places we wanted to visit, so although we had a blast on the Eureka Dunes, we had to leave before we reached the top so we could make it to The Racetrack in time for sunset.
This time we had no such agenda, so we took our sweet time wherever we went, and thoroughly enjoyed each stop. I've been to the Eureka Dunes several times, and I've captured some nice landscape images, but I really like capturing people on the dunes. We're really small in comparison, and even our footprints are nothing more than temporary intrusions. The dunes themselves often take on sinuous shapes, and the lighting of the sun can enhance our perception of the subtle curves.
The forgiving nature of the soft sand also invites playful interaction via rolling, jumping, rolling and sliding across it. The Eureka Dunes are closed to skiing and sand boarding due to several endangered species that exist only on this one dune field, but I'll definitely consider taking old ski gear with me to the other dunes in Death Valley. Life too short to avoid playing with gravity!
I'm constantly tuning details on my Fall schedule, but here are examples of some of the workshop destinations that I'm considering:
November 28, 2009 - Chasing Ansel: Moon and Half Dome
Pay tribute to Ansel Adams' famous photo with your own capture of a similar moment in time. We'll fill the rest of the time visiting the best viewpoints to capture Valley landmarks reflected in the Merced River while it is relatively low and calm. We may even get lucky and have some snow.
Feb 27-28, 2010 - Yosemite Valley In Winter
In addition to winter shots in Yosemite Valley, this is the time of year when Horsetail Falls can be spectacularly illuminated by the setting sun.
Contact me for pricing and other details, or to discuss the possibility of different locations or dates.
You should see two big ones top center, then a lot of little ones down near the horizon after that.
Assembled from 224 30 second photos taken last night from 1-3am in the Eastern Sierra, California.
One of the things I like about traveling to Utah is that I get to pass through the Eastern Sierra and Death Valley on my way out and/or back! In this case I visited a few spots to re-take some old shots with my new camera.
Dune fields in particular can be exciting to re-shoot. Not only do the dunes themselves change, but the light changes literally from minute to minute, so not only are your shots new compared to the last visit, but you'll get entirely different results at different times of day.
It's particularly rewarding to shoot dunes in Death Valley, where a little sweat equity will get you to remote sands untouched by human footprints. Just make sure that you visit at a time of year when the weather will be mild, and that you bring survival supplies, particularly plenty of water. They don't call it "Death Valley' for nothing!
Partly couldy days can create some spectacular shooting opportunities at Arches National Park.
That you're being watched?
Light painting on Balanced Rock at dusk in Arches National Park, Moab, Utah. I like to use flashlights for light painting, since I can control in real time the beam of light and what is lit. For larger objects such as this I use a spotlight.
On another night we went up to Delicate Arch...
Sunrise at Mesa Arch, one of the most popular dawn shots available at Canyonlands.
Doesn't it look like a massive collection of terra cotta lawn gnomes?
This is one of the water pockets...
Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.
With the arrival of some early Winter storms that turned many aspen leaves brown, it was a tough year for Fall colors.
Here's an article for more information:
news.yahoo.com/s/space/20091020/sc_space/getoutorionidmet...
The Orionid meteor shower is expected to put on a good show tonight into the predawn hours Wednesday, weather permitting.
This annual meteor shower is created when Earth passes through trails of comet debris left in space long ago by Halley's Comet. The "shooting stars" develop when bits typically no larger than a pea , and mostly sand-grain-sized, vaporize in Earth's upper atmosphere.
"Flakes of comet dust hitting the atmosphere should give us dozens of meteors per hour," said Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office.
I can't read it, but it looks cool! Click on the photo to go see more pics from the article on Flickr...
How do they turn out? Judge for yourself... mine just arrived. Double sided, high resolution, matte finish, printed on heavy cardstock, what's not to like? The only flaw is the slight white margin at the top of the photo on the contact info side.
In case you missed my notices regarding this offer on Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter (JeffSull), here's where you can get your 50 free trial business cards available here from MOO for the first 10,000 Flickr users: www.moo.com/en/partner/flickr-business-cards
As you plan where and when you might want to get out and shoot during the rest of 2009, consider the following meteor showers coming up:
Orionid - Oct 20-22
"October's new Moon also perfectly favours the Orionids at their peak in 2009. The shower's radiant, near the celestial equator, is at a useful elevation by around local midnight in either hemisphere, somewhat before in the north, so most of the world can enjoy the shower."
Northern Taurids - Nov 12
"The NTA peak has only a waning crescent Moon, however. With near-ecliptic radiants, all meteoricists can observe these streams, albeit northern hemisphere observers are somewhat better-placed, as here suitable radiant zenith distances persist for much of the night, though from the southern hemisphere, a good 3-5 hours' watching around local midnight is possible with Taurus well above the horizon."
Leonid - Nov 17
"Luckily, new Moon on November 16 ensures perfectly dark skies for covering whatever events happen"
"the 21h-22h UT apparently critical interval will fall best chiefly for sites across Asia, from the extreme east of Europe eastwards to Japan and places at similar longitudes, but with the possibility of some unusual activity at almost any stage from ~ 6h-24h UT on November 17, only European and African longitudes look set to miss out."
Geminid - Dec 13/14
"One of the finest, and probably the most reliable, of the major annual showers presently observable, whose peak this year is virtually coincident with new Moon."
More information:
skytour.homestead.com/met2009.html
www.imo.net/calendar/2009#nta
The Tuarids will peak on November 12 during the photography workshop that I'll be conducting in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks Nov 11-14:
www.MountainHighWorkshops.com
Hope you can join us!
I arrived at North Lake October 1, only to discover that I missed the peak color by a day or two due to a wind storm that blew off the best red to yellow colors on the far hillside. The color present a few days ago seems to have partially blown off the trees, partially turned towards brown, but there were still some green leaves, leaving the possibility of more color in a few days.
You can find decent color in patches if you look hard enough, but the best color might not be until more of the green starts to change at lower elevations, perhaps late next week?
By the time I returned here Sunday morning, there was about 2-3" of snow by the lake. The same thing happened last year, a dusting of snow around the end of September, early October. It was a little heavier this time, and there were prints from a dozen horses and mules as the packer started in around dawn to rescue their customers from the likely 4-6" of snow higher up. There were about 6-8 snow-covered cars in the parking lot by the pack station, people off in the backcountry, most likely experiencing heavier snow. I'd like to see their pictures!
FYI, a treat for anyone who enjoys America's national parks:
THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA'S BEST IDEA by Ken Burns
Check this link for times and channels in your area:
www.pbs.org/nationalparks/tv-schedules/
Even if you missed the first episode Sunday night (Yosemite, Yellowstone, John Muir, etc.), each episode is repeated later in the week (check the schedule for details).
"The Wave" in the Coyote Buttes near Page, Arizona. To get one of the 10 next day permits to hike here, I had to enter the daily 9am drawing on two consecutive days. On those days, 67 and 63 people showed up hoping to obtain a permit. On the second day they give you two chances, on the third day they give you three chances.
Light painting in southern Utah. The yellow was painted with a headlamp using an incandescent bulb, and the blue one was painted with an LED headlamp.
Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona. I'd like to take some people around this area in early November.
"The Subway" in Zion National Park, Utah. The sun was mostly behind clouds, so I didn't have the reflected red light from the opposing sandstone cliffs coming in the other end this time.
After a few test shots, I set my aperture down to f/22 and my ISO to "L" (50) so I could use a long exposure of 30 seconds to capture the trails of the leaves moving around in the pool. Before I print this, I should still go back and see if i can increase contrast on those leaves so they show up better.
An overnight stop and morning shoot near Las Vegas, Nevada.
I'll be joining approximately 25 photographers from the Sacramento area this Saturday to display my works during the Second Saturday Art Walk in downtown Sacramento.
If you haven't been to the Second Saturday Art Walk, it's a fun event with all kinds of art, and many galleries have musicians playing and serve hors d'œuvres. Other businesses open for business during the event as well. one of my favorite stops the last time I attended was a winery that has established itself downtown.
The gallery will be open on Saturday night from approximately 6-10pm. I'll try to be there from 6-7pm or so. Come on down to 1931 H Street and say "Hi"!
Sunday at Burning Man is the day when the massive wooden "temple" is burned. I rrived early to get a decent view, and used a slow shutter speed to blur the procession of people walking in front of me.
Fire of Fires by David Umlas, Marrilee Ratcliffe, Community Art Makers:
earth.burningman.com/brc/2009/art_installation/430/
After shooting things and people for several days, it was comforting to find a shot that felt more like a desert landscape. The Black Rock Desert has the ability to heal itself quickly of the footprints left the night before.
Unfortunately my tent was completely flattened by the wind on Friday afternoon, and upon returning late at night and finding the wind velocity still high, I didn't have the energy to try to plant some stakes upwind and tie it down to see if it might stay up. I slept on the platform taht I've built in the back of my (by now very dusty) minivan.
You never know what you're going to run across at Burning Man! I ofund this guy standing under the Soma art installtion by Flaming Lotus Girls. He was standing completely still, shooting a timelapse sequence for some reason. I'll try to follow up and find out why!
Soma, by Flaming Lotus Girls:
earth.burningman.com/brc/2009/art_installation/439/
Friday night featured the "launch" of the Raygun Gothic Rocket Ship. I sat for hours waiting to see if the event would occur in the high winds, but I ran out of patience in the dust and wind and headed back to camp.
Groovik's Cube by Barry Brummitt
URL: www.groovik.com/
http://earth.burningman.com/brc/2009/art_installation/471/
A performer spits fire on the Towers of Shiva stage at Burning Man 2009. Here's the Burning Man Earth entry for that art installation:
http://earth.burningman.com/brc/art_installation/445/
I really like the abstract quality of this shot.
The art installation Portal of Evolution as the sun prepares to set at Burning Man 2009. Here's the Burning Man Earth entry for that art piece:
http://earth.burningman.com/brc/art_installation/437/
Just a quick note to say that I've started uploading photos and videos from Burning Man 2009 to my Flickr photostream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreysullivan/
I'll post some of the best here as I get more edited!
This is my third and longest timelapse sequence yet from the Perseid Meteor Shower in August. I'll try to have sequences four and five done soon.
Make sure you have the HD display switched on (click on the HD symbol).
One of my first videos of this event was featured on Discover Magazine's blog.
To avoid smoke from forest fires in California I traveled to this location at an elevation of 10,000 feet near Tioga Pass in the Sierra Nevada.
To increase the visibility of the meteors, click through to the video's Flickr page and make sure you have the HD display switched on (click on the HD symbol). Then look near the center of the right half of the video to see the most meteors.
This sequence was assembled from 517 21 megapixel photos. The rescaling down to 1280 x 720 for uploading to Flickr helps eliminate much of the noise. The photos on this night were exposed for 10 to 20 seconds at an ISO sensitivity of 3200.
This was taken on the peak night for the meteor showers, but the moon makes all but the brightest meteors difficult to see, especially at these lower resolutions.
Dozens of Perseid meteors fall in the course of over one hour, compressed into 5 seconds of HD video.
Go to my Flickr account and set the "HD" symbol under the display to see a higher resolution online.
Copyright © Jeff Sullivan 2009. All rights reserved. Do not copy or publish without permission.
I have these questions asked to me. A lot.
What paper does J.K. Rowling write on to create the Harry Potter series? What typewriter did Hunter S. Thompson use? What species of quill and what formulation of ink did John Muir and Henry David Thoreau use? If only I could have the same advantages that they had!
While hurling through space, the earth slams into a piece of debris from the Comet Swift-Tuttle (top right) during the annual Perseid Meteor Shower, as an orange moon rises through smoke from California's forest fires to shine on the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest at an elevation of 10,000 feet in the White Mountains.
One theory behind how life could spread among the stars is that amino acids could arrive on comets and survive the impact. It seems fitting to be among earth's oldest living things to witness comet debris falling to earth under the light of our neighboring stars.
If you can find a patch of sky with minimal light pollution, the peak showers happening midnight to 5am tonight (Wed), and they'll continue at a declining rate for a few more days. The meteors appear to come from the constellation Perseus, which is near Casseopea (looks like a big W), and rises to the East/Northeast. This article has more info:
Strong Meteor Shower Expected Tonight
This shot of the Milky Way over the Sierras was taken earlier in the evening. Select the photo at the top of this article to go to its Flickr page and examine the EXIF shot details (using "More Details" link in the right column).
I'll be leading some folks around my favorite area of the Eastern Sierra this weekend for about 24 hours, starting 10am Saturday morning in Bridgeport. I can't wait!
Steve Harwell, lead singer of Smashmouth... spots a big camera... and poses for it!
The band, known for songs such as "All Star" and for the Shrek movie soundtracks,played at The Legends at Sparks Marina in the Reno area in Nevada last weekend.
The Summer "monsoon season" can be a very productive time to shoot in the Eastern Sierra, as small thunderstorms build and then break as warm, moist air crosses the mountains.
Alkali flies are hatching by the millions on Mono Lake, and they're just starting to form a thin black line around the lake with their bodies. By fall they'll be as dense as 2 or 3 feet wide, but Mark Twain mentioned that they were 6 feet wide around the lake when he visited.
Whenever you're in the vicinity of Salem, Oregon, you're not far from this park, which features many dramatic waterfalls, a couple of which are within quick walking distance of a trailhead. I stop there when I'm driving up highway 5, or when I'm heading from the coast towards Bend.
Layers of mineral-laden volcanic ash and clay create a wide palette of colors in the Painted Hills in central Oregon. I frequently set my sights on central Oregon when the coast is cloudy or rainy.
