What's a "Cliche'," and Are Such Images Worth Pursuing??

Cloud Shadow by Lone Oak, originally uploaded by Jeffrey Sullivan.

I've recently received comments on a couple of my vineyard and lone tree photos that they were "cliches."

I don't view that as negative feedback; I've been pursuing illustrative photos for a photo travel guide. Cliches? Bring 'em on! Over-shot viewpoints? Heck yeah, I'll provide detailed directions! As we all dig deeper in the field of landscape photography at our own pace, it's easy to forget that not everyone has the classic shots in their portfolio, and even fewer of their friends, family or fans have have ever seen them. So rather than assume any certain required level of quality or originality in the reader base for my book, I have to provide something for everyone... the now-classic views, the more original compositions available a few steps further from your car, and the totally unique views that I've never seen anywhere else. Something for everyone! So much of my current work is illustrative/documentary. Hey, if I can save you 5 gallons of gas and help you focus on the best locations at any given time, the book will pay for itself very quickly, or hopefully, many times over. Add the variables of seasons, weather, sunrise/sunset, weather, night and astronomical events, and photographer intervention (light painting), and even the most trite viewpoint can offer unique possibilities. I intend to provide the most interesting, diverse, and truly useful guide ever. Will I succeed? Who knows; readers will be the judge. But in my experience I have observed that people rarely exceed their goals, so to provide the best guide possible, I have to shoot for the moon (often literally), and see how close to that ideal the end result cam come. I'll probably never recoup my investment in time and travel, but if I'm going to put my name on it, at least it'll be the best darned photo travel guide that I can possibly produce!

The book aside, a huge percentage of the market for photos is for ones that are "good enough." Not art prints, just stock photography of a representative shot of Half Dome and dozens of other landmarks. I don't currently participate in that market, I value my control over my images way too much (and frankly, microstock has driven the value of such shots way too low), but I want the shots in my portfolio in case I ever decide to pursue that "least common denominator" demand. If someone wants a "one stop shop" for Yosemite images, I want to be able to fulfill that need.

The classic national park viewpoints are often there for a reason. They offer stunning views. If you want that image for your portfolio, don't worry about others' approval, go for it! In the context of your broader portfolio it may fill a valuable role. Only you can decide what you'd like to cover. Shoot for yourself.

Figueroa Mountain Wildflower Report: April 6, 2011

Figueroa Mountain Wildflowers, originally uploaded by Jeffrey Sullivan.

Figueroa Mountain was less impressive than I expected. Although here are many species blooming, the biggest patches are several of poppies and one small one of lupine in a recently burned area. For now at least, Figueroa Mountain is more of a flower portrait than a flower landscape destination. It's probably worth visiting if you're in the area, but with gas currently over $4.00 it may not be as attractive to visit if a long drive is required.

Laurent Martres to Publish California South Guidebook

Where Winds Collide, originally uploaded by Jeffrey Sullivan.

Fans of the popular "Photographing the Southwest" series will be thrilled to hear that Laurent Martres will be publishing a new guidebook to the best landscape photography locations in California. Fans of my photography and workshops will be thrilled to hear that I'm the author!

The announcement was made last night on Laurent's Facebook page.

I'm averaging 5000 miles per month as I chase key astronomical events, seasonal conditions and weather events around the state. I'll be posting updates as I go to my blog, to my Facebook account and to my JeffSullPhoto Twitter feed.

Antelope Valley Wildflower Report 2011

Antelope Valley Poppy, originally uploaded by Jeffrey Sullivan.

Like many place in California the wildflowers aren't as prolific as last year, but it's far form a poor season. You'll have to hunt for the best patches, but here's a sampling of what I found in the Antelope Valley area over the past couple of days.

Carrizo Plain Wildflowers Spring 2011

Tidy Tips at Sunrise, originally uploaded by Jeffrey Sullivan.

Here's a quick photographic tour of conditions at Carrizo Plain a couple of days ago. Opinions on this year's bloom range from normal to "past peak" to "slow and coming," and all three may be true in places. Whatever the high level summary you want to assign, you'll work harder to find less compared to last year, but you can still find some great patches to work with if you put in the time and miles.

Note the new sharing options that will allow you to share this report with your friends on Facebook, etc!

Shell Creek Road Wildflowers

Shell Creek Road, originally uploaded by Jeffrey Sullivan.

Here's a quick update on wildflowers this year. The ample rains we've received can be critical for wildflower growth, but in too much quantity or at the wrong times, they also result in a bumper crop of grass, which seems to crowd out the wildflowers. Let's give it a couple more weeks before we declare this a normal to weak year in this area. For now the color tends to be sporadic and modest, favoring photography of a plant or bloom instead of landscape-scope carpets.

Super Moon Dates

Super Moon Dates, originally uploaded by Jeffrey Sullivan.

On Saturday, March 19 I drove up one of my favorite dirt roads in the Eastern Sierra to catch the "super moon" rising over the Sweetwater range. The road was muddy slippery, and I'd soon hit the snow level form recent storms, but I only wanted to get a few hundred feet higher to a point where I'd get a panoramic view and some gnarled juniper trees that I could include in my compositions.

The weather was mixed, mainly cloudy but with some promising breaks that should let the moon break free from time to time. As I reached the snow, I was following some tracks, wider than my Ford Explorer, apparently made by a pickup truck. Hopefully it had broken trail all the way up the road to the one cabin up there, or at least as far as the overlook a mile or so ahead that I was trying to reach. The road became significantly steeper as I passed an old mine site and stamp mill, and my tires started to slip so I switched into 4WD. The snow quickly got got deeper and deeper as I ascended, until the tracks from the larger truck ended. I tentatively broke trail for a few more feet, sinking into the wet, soft snow now maybe six to eight inches deep around my tires. I could probably continue up for a while more, but the problem would be coming down. When you descend in snow, it tends to build up in front of your tire until your ties break free completely, and you find yourself suddenly riding a four-wheeled, four thousand pound toboggan. Been there, done that. Even if I could break a good trail going up that I could follow down with less snow buildup, the mud underneath was an additional risk. One slip a few inches off track on this hill would send me into the snow, then most likely sliding uncontrollably downhill.

The other problem was that if I continued and the snow got deeper, turning around would be problematic. Even if I could start a multi-point turn without completely losing contact with the road, it wouldn't take much of a slip to put a wheel into a snowy ditch or off the edge of the road towards an abyss (and on the first "point" in the process, I'd be facing uphill in perhaps a foot or more of snow).

I wrestled down my thirst for adventure and pinned it to the floorboards with one foot as I eased back down the hill with the other foot nursing the brake pedal. There'd be other opportunities to catch the moon, and to go play in the snow.

I retreated to a lower elevation and caught a few shots in fading light under mainly cloudy skies.

I drove a bit north as darkness descended on the Eastern Sierra, but the light was growing to the east. The moon might break free from the clouds as it rose! Well, it sort of did. Like most full moon dates, the "super moon" of March 19, 2011 (the closest the moon has come to the earth for 18 years), was occurring too late after dark to capture any detail in the landscape, or even in the clouds is was emerging from. The skies were never fully clear so the detail on the moon was fuzzy even at 400mm (and even with additional cropping to make it look like at least 600mm). So the moon was generous enough to come out for a few minutes and play, but as I was playing around with different lenses and camera bodies to see which could capture the sharpest image, it slipped back behind the clouds for the night.

The results? Well, the longest lens combination I have at the moment is a 70-200mm f/4 plus 2X doubler which yields 400mm at f/8 (but this configuration disables autofocus, grrr). Putting that setup on my Canon 40D provides a "lens factor" crop to make it an effective 640mm lens. But the 40D is 10 megapixels vs. 21MP on my 5D mark II, so the physical resolution of the sensor is actually nearly identical. I get roughly the same result in my 5D mark II after cropping. To try a lens with autofocus I put on an old Sigma 28-300mm. By that time the moon was already pretty fuzzy behind the clouds, so I can't really compare the results, but I know from experience that the Sigma is a very soft lens.

So I captured it, sort of, on the full "super moon" date, but it's JAPOTM... just another picture of the moon. I checked again the next morning, when the moon would be setting close to sunrise, but this week's storm was busy dropping 100 inches of snow on the Sierra Nevada, so no luck there.

This isn't the end of the story however. A super moon is simply a full or new moon that occurs on the day when the moon is at the perigee, or closest point, of its elliptical orbit. As the moon makes its slow 27+ day orbit around the earth, it has two perigee points in its orbit, so there are two chances every month, and there are multiple so-called super moons every year. Here's where you can plan to be out to catch super moons... a Web page where the guy who coined the term super moon published dates for 2011 and beyond: www.astropro.com/features/tables/cen21ce/suprmoon.html

Remember though that the best dates to photograph the moon tend to be the sunset moonrise the day before the full moon, or the sunrise moon set the day after the full moon. So technically you'll be a few hours off of the actual super moon date, but you'll have a great opportunity to shoot the moon in its closest, largest state, looming large as it peeks above the landscape.

What's the Point of a Photograph? (Part I: The Capture)

East Meets West, originally uploaded by Jeffrey Sullivan.

It's a simple question, and to most people, the answer may seem simple, obvious, and automatic: "to take a picture of something!" While that's a great way to get a quick snapshot of some thing, if that's all you're thinking about when you trigger the shutter, a simple snapshot is all you're likely to get.

One of the first things we notice in an image is the presence of any flaws in the technical process of capturing the image. But getting distracted with technique in shooting or editing may challenge your ability to focus on a more compelling opportunity: the opportunity you have to present something specific in an intentional context which affect your viewers in some way. Perhaps you want to teach or convey a message, perhaps you want to entertain or inspire, or perhaps you simply intend to document and illustrate the subject in its surroundings. You may want to shy away from the added responsibility of being accountable for any such intent, or think that your photos are "just for yourself," but if you're reading about photography (as you are now), if you're posting photos online, if you like to get positive feedback on your images, don't cheat yourself; admit that you want your photos to elicit some reaction, and your chances of achieving that goal are far greater if you admit and embrace that intent up front.

The first thing photographers need to conquer is not the camera, but their apprehension, their fear of failure. Everyone has insecurities to some degree, even the most successful people in the world (they probably have them worst, because they feel more pressure to meet external expectations). But try thinking of it this way... one of the most important secrets of good photography is that there is no such thing as good photography. As Ansel Adams put it "There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs." Learn and practice the beginners' rules for good photography, then by all means, break them every chance you get. The good photos will stand out, and I'll bet that they succeed not just in spite of breaking the "rule of thirds," but because they break it.

This brings up another useful approach for successful photography: you can make your odds of capturing a good picture go up with practice and development of knowledge and skill, but no one captures a keeper with every release of the shutter. In many if not most genres of photography, the photographer is not in complete control of everything that happens on the far side of the lens. So let go of your desire to control. Let go of perfectionism. Accept that most of your shots will not be your best. It's far more productive to assume that it's a numbers game... some percentage of your tries will turn out well, so dive into your next 100 shots to get the one that stands out from the rest. The beauty of this approach is that the other 99 are still extremely useful: you learn from them. The following day you may have 2 great shots per 100, the following month you may have 5, the next year 20. But never assume that perfection is your goal; that will only prevent you from shooting enough variations to get the truly stunning ones. This ability to shoot and learn from volumes of shots at practically no cost per shot is one of the key advantages of digital photography, and it's exactly what makes learning and access to better results so accessible to so many people these days.

But be careful and keep in mind that shooting numbers of photos isn't about the numbers, what you're doing is still about the subject of the photo. Try different compositions, try different camera settings, try different filters, whatever. By all means pay some attention to technique and settings, but all the while remember to dedicate a healthy share of your attention to your subject, and to your intent for it. Which of your various approaches turns out to be the most successful can be determined later, in the darkroom (even if it's a digital one).

Catch A Near-Supermoon Moonset at Dawn Monday

Eclipse Moonset at Mono Lake, originally uploaded by Jeffrey Sullivan.

The so-called "supermoon" event came when the full moon rose yesterday, while the moon was the closest it has been to the earth in 18 years. Remember though, the moon takes over 27 days to complete its orbit of the earth, so it's still very close for the next few days. Fortuantely for photographers, the days after a full moon are great for catching the full moon in the sky as sunrise arrives.

For example, at Mono Lake tomorrow (Monday morning March 21), the moon, still 97.6% full, is scheduled to set at 7:47am after a 6:59am sunrise. The apparent moonset however, when it dips behind Mt. Dana, will be around 7:16am (at an azimuth angle of 247 degrees, a direction slightly north of southwest). So the moon will be prominent in the western sky during the best sunrise light (roughly 6:30 to 7) and as the alpenglow from the emerging sun creeps down the face of Mt. Dana and the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada towards Mono Lake.

While the term "supermoon" has been invented specifically to apply to a full moon coinciding with the perigee of the moon's orbit (the point of its 27.322 day orbit closest to earth) on Monday less than 2 days after the full moon, the moon will still be close and large.

For Mono Lake specifically, there one one potentially unfortunate aspect of the particular lineup of this full moon set. At 6:30am when a few dedicated photographers may be in place at the South Tufa site and shooting back towards Mt. Dana from the farthest cove, the moon will be directly in line with the beaches leading back to where the trailhead from the parking lot arrives at the lake. Any additional photographers arriving late for twilight/sunrise shooting will walk directly into the shots of the folks who were there on time. If they're shooting timelapse sequences, usable results could be difficult and time consuming (if not impossible) to salvage.

So if you do go to Mono Lake, please try not to storm in with flashlights blaring, and resist the temptation to walk thoughtlessly right out onto the scene and shoot your way down the shore. Instead stay far to your right, away from the lakeshore, and move quickly to join the other photographers at the far side of the second cove. The route is pretty easy to see on Google Earth or The Photographer's Ephemeris (even if you've never been to Mono Lake before, you can see a path curving to the right behind a large tufa tower at the end of the first cove). A little courtesy will go a long way towards making all of our shots more useful. Of course the more people who arrive, the more clueless or self-absorbed, narcissistic ones who will wander recklessly into and out of everyone's shots. Once a dozen or more people are onsite, things pretty much degenerate into chaos (and I've seen 60+ people show up for Fall sunrises here). Your best defense when shooting west will be to minimize dry land in your foreground, and shoot mainly over the water where it'll be more difficult for people to interfere with you. The former island on the left in this shot however is now a peninsula, so in some cases it may be next to impossible to completely negate the impact of the crowds.

How Many Online Friends Can One Maintain?

Crescent Moon Over Cave at Sunset, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (pls see msg in profile!).

Over time Facebook friend relationships can get stale, so even with hundreds of contacts your Wall updates may only be seen be a few dozen people. It's critical to know how to keep relationships alive on Facebook. Similarly, your contacts (friends and fans) may have only a fraction of their contacts active, so it can be useful to advise them how to keep relationships relevant.

Also useful to consider is that a "Like" only posts a text message on that contact's wall. For photographers, an infinitely more valuable action would be for that contact to "Share" the link, so it is accompanied by a thumbnail photo and a sentence or two of text. (I'd really like to find a free or inexpensive photography Web site template which offers all common share options such as Facebook, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc., as well as integration of text updates such as external blog posts.)

I find that some of my most popular posts turn out to be ones which are personal, not related to photography, putting a personal face activity that otherwise might be perceived as too impersonal and too self-promotional. We're social beings; we thrive on interaction and community. Facebook seems to try to reward users who contribute towards two-way community-building behavior.

Looking into the human side of this topic, apparently there's a limit to how many close social relationships you can manage. That number is surprisingly small (and Facebook is aware of this, so their algorithms may be designed with a similar limit in mind):

After 150, Facebook friends are meaningless
http://www.physorg.com/news183791343.html

There may be an important distinction however between friends that you know and "Facebook friends" and fans, who you may not have the time and cognitive capacity to keep up with socially, but who might still appreciate following your contributions and updates, including your latest artistic works. So "friend" away online, but don't expect to keep up with everyone individually, and it's not reasonable to approach this medium expecting others to keep up with everyone either.

I'm super-busy with travel, writing and photography at the moment so I can't devote the time I should to maintaining contact with my friends and fans, but I do try to create some content daily and have it propagated to sites such as Flickr, Facebook and Twitter, to reward the people who do hang in there and follow my activity.

Hopefully once my book is on track to be published later this year I'll have more time!

Owens Valley Rainbows (Timelapse Video)

Owens Valley Rainbows (Timelapse Video), originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (pls see msg in profile!).

Rainbows I found in the Owens Valley on October 5, 2010 while scouting conditions for the Fall Colors workshop. The rainbows move across the landscape as the sun moves across the sky.

Best viewed in high definition over on Flickr!

Last 36 Hours to Send Me PhotoBlogging Around The World!

Hagia Sophia, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (pls see msg in profile!).

Only 36 hours left in the voting for the Blog Your Way Around The World contest. I'd love to bring you more sights like this from around the world! http://www.blogyourwayaroundtheworld.com/blogs/view/1238

I'll place images from the trip on a site where you can order prints. Proceeeds from the sale of those prints will go towards charities and conservation organizations relevant to each of the areas visited.

I found the contest late, so every vote counts... tell your friends on Facebook, Twitter, etc! It'll take a miracle, but who knows... maybe a church or two would mobilize their members to support the charitable nature of this quest?

Meteor and Milky Way over the Sierra Nevada

Meteor and Milky Way over the Sierra Nevada, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (pls see msg in profile!).

A single image from a several hour, 438 frame timelapse I'm working on, taken while backpacking last Summer.

Flickr isn't accepting the HD video files I've been trying to upload this week. Vimeo.com only lets me upload one high definition file per week (I don't have a revenue stream for video to justify upgrading to unlimited), so I'm not sure when I'll a high resolution copy available. In the meantime however, you can see Vimeo's severely downgraded preview:

Sierra Nevada Milky Way Timelapse from Jeff Sullivan on Vimeo.

If this embedded player doesn't seem to play it well, try viewing it directly over on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/18260497. For low resolution previews that Vimeo downconverts from HD, I don't recommend full screen viewing.

It looks a lot better on my laptop of course, where it actually runs slower and you can see more details such as the meteor, a satellite, and so on, so I may slow down the frame rate on the next version of this that I create.

If you like my coverage of places and events, send me around the world to capture more images and timelapse videos for you to enjoy! Blog Your Way Around The World -
http://www.blogyourwayaroundtheworld.com/blogs/view/1238 The voting deadline is December 31.

Total Lunar Eclipse over Saguaro National Park

A massive storm was hammering the entire West Coast this lunar eclipse approached, so I decided to drive as far as I had to to get out from under the clouds. One 2000 mile round trip later, here's a timelapse video spanning several hours. During the total eclipse the moon turns very dim and red, coloring the clouds and the landscape below.


Update: The copy I uploaded here to Blogger was converted poorly to a low resolution copy, so I deleted it. For best results at the moment, watch a preview of my lunar eclipse timelapse video over on YouTube: http://youtu.be/26aXK2vg6EI.


Here's one of my still images from the lunar eclipse, captured on an old Canon 40D:

All I Want for Christmas is... A New Life!

All I Want for Christmas is... A New Life!, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (pls see msg in profile!).

Outdoor/adventure photography is a challenging field. You're only as good as the depth of your portfolio and the compelling nature of your latest images. Those of you I've interacted with know that I don't ask for much... I prefer to contribute rather than ask, but this is important enough that I'm going to ask a huge personal favor. If you've enjoyed my images (or like what you see in my Flickr photostream and Favorites set if you've never seen my work before), please consider taking a moment to giving me the holiday gift of a vote... to send me on 8 adventure travel trips so I can build my portfolio as a travel/adventure photographer:
http://www.blogyourwayaroundtheworld.com/blogs/view/1238

For many years I've admired adventure photographers such as Galen Rowell, and this is an excellent opportunity to follow in his footsteps. Winning this contest will be expensive (the winner must cover thousands of dollars in travel expenses), but such an opportunity could make my photography career, so it will be a worthwhile investment.

The site requires registration, but they won't spam you. Winning this contest could literally be a life-changing event for me. Thanks in advance for your consideration and support!

Happy Holidays!

Jeff Sullivan

Total Lunar Eclipse Dec 20-21 2010

Total Lunar Eclipse Dec 20-21 2010, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (MyPhotoGuides.com).

Here's one of my early shots from the lunar eclipse last night. I'm still in Tucson and have to drive 9-10 hours today, so I won't get around to working on the timelapse today.

On my primary camera, a Canon 5D Mark II, I shot a timelapse sequence of the eclipsing moon moving through the sky, as thin clouds moved overhead and the light turned red from the moon's darkened face.

I can't wait to see how the time-lapse turns out, but I have a LOT of driving to do first.








Update: Here's a first pass at the time-lapse video:


Total Lunar Eclipse Timelapse, December 2010 from Jeff Sullivan on Vimeo.

Phases of the December 2010 Total Lunar Eclipse

Setting Crescent Moon, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (MyPhotoGuides.com).

It's coming in only 2.5 hours! I finally arrived in Tucson, Arizona roughly 46 hours after I got on the road yesterday (I spent most of the first 16 hours crawling in 4WD on snowy Sierra Nevada roads to get my kids home, then all the way down to Bishop before the snow and chain controls ended).

Looks like it'll be partly cloudy here with thin, hazy clouds, but compared to California it'll be nice to be able to shoot at all.

A few quick notes on timing, lenses (field of view required to get a timelapse), and so on:


Dec 20/21...................Time...........Moon.........Moon
Eclipse Phase.................PST.........Azimuth.....Altitude
Partial Eclipse Begins:....10:33pm...SE....122.5........70.2
Total Eclipse Begins:......11:41pm.........174.3........77.9
Greatest Eclipse:..........12:16am.........209.4........76.4
Total Eclipse Ends:........12:53am...SW....233.7........71.4
Partial Eclipse Ends:.......2:01am....W....255.7........59.1
Penumbral Eclipse Ends:.....5:04am.........282.5........23.3

Best Sunrise Light Starts...6:28am.........292.8........7.6
Sunrise.....................6:58am.........296.7........2.4
Moonset.....................7:13am...NW....298.8........0


Notes:

Partial Eclipse, Field of View:.10:30-2am..133.2.......20 degrees
Use 16mm lens to follow, +8, -12 degree shallow arc moon path.

Total Eclipse Field of View:.11:41-12:53am..59.4.......-6.5
Use at least 20mm lens to follow flat-ish downward arc to moon's path.

Moonset in best pre-sunrise light:........6:28 - 6:58am........3.9........-5.2 200mm, downward diagonal
Sunrise to moonset (daylight):........6:58 - 7:13am........1.9........-2.4 600mm, small downward diagonal

The cameras I'll be shooting with simultaneously:

Canon 5D mark II:
24mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.4 - Night landscapes with full moon in penumbral dim state
21mm (16-35 lens) - Entire total eclipse (sequence for still shots, timelapse video or phase composite photo)

70-200mm - Moonset in best pre-sunrise light
70-200mm - Sunrise to moonset, "golden hour" daylight

Canon 40D:
70-200mm + 2X - Telephoto shots of moon in various eclipse phases
16mm = 105 deg. - Entire visible eclipse (sequence for still shots, timelapse video or phase composite photo)

The lens equivalents noted are the minimum needed, and since I'll want to have the option to crop to a 16:9 HD video aspect ratio for a timelapse video, I'll actually shoot the wide shots wider to allow for a generous margin of error.

Total Lunar Eclipse Mon, Dec 20 (Last Chance 'Til 2014)!

Sunrise Meteor!, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (MyPhotoGuides.com).

I've been poring over maps, examining moon rise and set angles on Google Earth maps, calculating what lenses might cover various phases of the total lunar eclipse Monday night, and anxiously checking weather forecasts.

This will be the only total lunar eclipse until 2014, so to me it's worth an investment of time and effort to witness and to shoot. It might even be worth renting a lens for. Unfortunately, the entire West Coast looks out of the question due to weather, so I'm heading to Southern Arizona. I still have to cross the Sierra Nevada twice in the blizzard today, then I'll have a 15 hour drive to Arizona (maybe 20 hours total, if I'm lucky). On the plus side, capturing the lunar eclipse over a tall saguaro cactus could offer some stunning possibilities, not to mention sunrise and sunset.

If you're as crazy as I am and dying to get shots of the eclipse, I'd like to invite photographers to join me. I can save you days of research and I can help you line you some nice sunrise and sunset shots in addition to improving your chances of capturing nice eclipse photos and/or timelapse sequences. During an eclipse the exposure of the light coming off the moon changes dramatically, and it's helpful to have others nearby to compare exposure information with.

All I ask is that you have some night photography experience, a tripod and remote trigger (wireless or corded, even better if you have an intervalometer timer-trigger), and that you can work around your camera at night without letting any light leak forward into the shot. That last point is very, very important. It gets extremely dark during a total lunar eclipse, and a timelapse sequence of the entire event can be ruined by one stray flashlight or headlamp.

We'll set a time and place, meet around sunset, and shoot through dawn. Anyone heading back towards California after that is welcome to join me in searching for favorable light and weather over the following day or two (no guarantees that the weather will cooperate, which is why I'm not offering it as an official workshop add-on, but unsettled weather is the most dramatic visually, so I'm very excited about the forecast). Possibilities include Imperial Sand Dunse, Anza-Borrego State Park, the Salton Sea, Mojave National Preserve and Death Valley (a huge range, but the National Weather Service will help narrow down the choices). The Grand Canyon isn't out of the question geography-wise, but it's currently directly in the path of the storm, so a low probability (and it's snowy and very cold).

If you need to check airline flight availability and cost, the closest airport will be Tucson. If you'd like to extend your trip, I can offer some suggestions if you'd like to shoot within a few hours of there for an additional day or two. The weather there is forecast to be a low of 46 degrees, 70s during the day.

Whatever you decide, best of luck to you on your weather and your eclipse shots!

Early Results from the Geminid Meteor Trip

Pre-Dawn Glow, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (MyPhotoGuides.com).

It may be days or weeks before I get enough time and an appropriately capable Internet connection to do my Geminid Meteor Shower trip justice, but I can direct you to a collection of the favorite images that I've run across so far:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=262459&id=346430679644

Light Painting Photo Featured on Flickr's Blog

RGB UFOs, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (MyPhotoGuides.com).

http://blog.flickr.net/en/2010/12/16/your-best-shot-2010-painting-with-light/

This light painting was featured on Flickr's blog along with several others to celebrate the best photos of 2010.  Welcome Flickr blog readers, and thank you Flickr!

This image was created on the Badwater salt flats in Death Valley National Park. I had a flashlight with three colors of LED light. During this single 30 second exposure I lit each color for close to 10 seconds while waving my arm around up and down (which traces a sphere, like a pumpkin).

The Badwater salt flats are particularly good for light painting, since there's minimal light pollution and the white surface reflects light well.

Death Valley offers a number of interesting landscapes for light painting... go explore!

Total Lunar Eclipse Coming Monday, Dec 20!

Total Lunar Eclipse Coming Dec 20!, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan.

The full moon enters the earth's shadow during a lunar eclipse. The next one will occur December 20, 2010: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2010.html

This eclipse will be well suited for viewing from North America, particularly the West Coast, with the darkest portion of the eclipse happening at 12:16am Pacific Standard Time.

I'm working out detailed shooting strategies for the following scenarios, so I can decide which ones to shoot and which lenses I'll need to capture each at maximum resolution:

- Moonrise in "golden hour" daylight before Sunset:
- Continued moonrise in best post-sunset light
- Night landscapes with full moon in penumbral dim state
- Telephoto shots of moon in various eclipse phases
- Entire visible eclipse (sequence for still shots, timelapse video or phase composite photo)
- Entire total eclipse (sequence for still shots, timelapse video or phase composite photo)
- Moonset in best pre-sunrise light
- Sunrise to moonset, "golden hour" daylight

I've spent a few hours figuring our rise/set and eclipse angles so I can select a general site, specific shooting positions where I can incorporate landscape elements into the shots. The moon will cover a tremendous amount of sky on that night, rising in the northeast and setting in the northwest. To shoot from moonrise to moonset he site will need to have shooting opportunities covering roughly 240 degrees, almost 3/4 of a full 360 degree circle.

I'll make the final decision on site later this week once I can see a 10 day weather forecast, but I'm leaning towards a Southern California desert location to reduce the odds of having interference from weather.