Desert Fireworks by MAPhoto

In this shot under a powerful monsoonal storm cell in Arizona the landscape to me seemed it was only an audience there to take in the show. I feel like the variety of cactus add depth to the shot, but it is obviously more about the sky in this one. It was an incredible light show, taken right after the sun had sunk below the horizon and very nearly illuminated the clouds from underneath. To capture something like this I had to accept that I would follow the progress of the storm and take whatever foreground it offered me at the time the light was right, and fortunately I found the clearing you see here. While it may not flow as easily as my previous post, I still like this view for the power of the skies and sunset light. This image comes from multiple exposures all taken without moving the camera within the span of a minute or two. All exposures were at 1 second, ISO 100. Thanks for having a look! via 500px http://bit.ly/1PKHqnD

Window in Time by MAPhoto

Eleven years ago I made an image in Seal Rocks State Park, Oregon, which in many ways ended up shaping my future transition from purely a wilderness photography enthusiast to a full-time global landscape photography professional, and that image was of this place you see here. I exposed one and a half rolls of Velvia 50 film with my Canon EOS 3 at ¼ second apiece using a polarizing filter and 2-step soft grad. One of those fifty shots, without Photoshop, went on to win the highest honor in the Environmental Photo Invitational, one of the day’s biggest contests, and through that avenue I was able to meet Art Wolfe and later exhibit a dozen prints at his gallery in Seattle. More than the exposure though, this 26 year-old decided that maybe this pursuit of photography could lead to more than just winning a contest. And eleven years later here we are. So it is interesting, the relationship with the art of photography this place has for me. I have been back here many times over many years and through those years the art has changed so much! How we capture images has changed, the way we process and blend now, even the look and feel that is most desirable or popular has changed. My own style has evolved with it because I am always embracing new ways of seeing, I am always trying new things. What would that 2004 image look like if it were taken today? Well, today I made one that looks like this. For one thing, time and repeated visits to the location have resulted in a lot of variations in the light and skies that I have photographed. More than that, the finite control over every tiny speck of color, contrast, exposure, etc. is more than any photographer in any past era could have dreamed and to suggest otherwise is nonsense. The addition of blending, shaping, perspective control, etc. has opened the door to fully customizable renderings of the action, with the artist in the driver’s seat and their imagination and artistic ability the only limitations. The addition of painting, literally painting, the atmosphere, diffusion, glow, light, mist, whatever….. sometimes it feels like there are no boundaries now if you have a good eye in the filed and a knowledge for how to use the tools later. But somehow, in all of this seemingly limitless freedom we enjoy in this age of photography, I feel the art is harder in many ways as well. Any of us at the highest level know it is not about relying on software to do anything for you, and that the fundamentals of good composition and exposure always remain truly integral to success. But our final composition may be about visualizing many shots or perspectives or techniques in the field and knowing, while we are on the scene, how we might blend and create and fulfill our vision in post-production. In a way, that is the ‘performance’ in this age. Today there are more photographers than ever before in history and more sharing of photography. From a technical aspect, everyone has tools these days to take the type of good photos that used to require professionals who were intimately in tune with their cameras. But to stand out from a crowd artistically often takes a special ability to visualize the many steps of a far more complex artistic process. All this is not to diminish great photographs of the past, but rather say simply that I view this age as one filled with more possibilities than ever before. There have always been great images that will stand the test of time, but we now have more control than ever in the direction we take the art. On the rare occasion I return to a location to photograph it many times over many years it gets me thinking about this transition I have made, and we have all made. I never re-process my old photos anymore. I like that I have been doing this long enough at a time that has seen more change than any in the history of the art, and that my pictures will be representative of that. I like that I still have film shots on my website and images that could of course be brought up to a more modern vision, but why? Isn’t art about capturing a moment in history, a feeling or a place in time as well? So right now, this is what we have. I caught a great moment of light at Seal Rocks, made a blend of 3 shots for wave action (albeit 80% of it was 1 exposure) and I spent about 2 hours in post production on the rest, fulfilling the vision that I had in the field. via 500px http://bit.ly/1gOipwz

Fall by MAPhoto

After a 3-hour rock-hopping and steep brush-crawling effort in the dark to bring some friends up to this unique vantage point of Fitz Roy Peak on this morning we were treated to an even more unique event, which occurred in the first five minutes of sunrise: The glacier in the distance frequently avalanches into the lake, dropping roaring icefalls and bergs into the water more than 2000 feet below and such an event happened to come along on this morning right in the middle of our shoot, looking much like a waterfall cascading into the lake at anything short of the highest resolutions. The Icefall added an even more dreamlike quality to this spectacular landscape. After all the Patagonia shots these last few weeks following the fall colors down there, I was glad to have such an unusual capture. Admittedly there was more than a small amount of post-production to get the sky and atmosphere in back of this image, something I am generally more reserved with, but here I really felt the rare scene could benefit from a few extra touches, just to be forthcoming. Everything else in the scene comes from a single exposure at f/20. via 500px http://bit.ly/1PBThTP

For Eternity by MAPhoto

We have said, that as photographers, we are artists. But art is not simply about what is captured. Art is about what is spoken. What is spoken comes from within. It evokes a connection with an idea, or a subject, or even a mood. And in that connection somewhere there must be a bond that runs deeper than simply what is before us at that moment. It must be unique to us. I feel the best images, this art, must speak from what is inside ourselves first. This image is about what I want to believe in. Here I saw clarity and strength in times of turbulence and unknown. I wanted to make an image that captured this feeling. This is from Patagonia. Cerro Grande peak with lenticular wave clouds and blowing snow. A Condor rides the wind free from it all. via 500px http://500px.com/photo/106166591

Moon Shadows by MAPhoto

View it on black AND not on your phone outside in the middle of the day. Although I have already shot from this location more than a couple times before, I have been conducting workshops here in Patagonia this season and wanted to share with my clients some of the best locations I have found. On this particular morning, our efforts in waiting out an unseasonably cold 5-day storm we were rewarded with a rare snowfall in early-fall, before the colors had even turned yet! Mainly, we were there for the sunrise, but it turned out it was the moonset light in my first few shots as the storm was still clearing that became my favorites. I felt the conditions here were unique enough to add this composition to my portfolio one more time, and I hope you enjoy it. The exposure was 20 seconds at ISO 4000 and f/5.6. And yes, I made them all stand IN the water for more than an hour while we shot. via 500px http://500px.com/photo/104588155

Moon Shrine by MAPhoto

The crecent moon rises under a ultra-wide view exposed for the Milky Way and natural rock formations. I originally posted this 6-image stitch here for a brief while a couple weeks ago, at which point I received feedback from a community member that the automated merging of the Milky Way images looked slightly off, so thanks! Obviously this was a ridiculously hard image to process. In fact, I would say it is THE most difficult one to process I have ever taken. Not only is is stitched but also focus-stacked and exposure blended. The visualization of my complete process in taking and shooting this shot took years and many screw-ups to get right (at least I think). I'd love to hear any feedback. I know it's not for everyone, as a non-photographer might not even know what we're looking at here, but I consider it one of my most unique images, one that can only be captured in very short windows of time. via 500px http://bit.ly/1LLMESc