Slot Canyon Photography Tips 2012

Many of my new images feature some rarely photographed slot canyons in Utah and it got me thinking about more tips to share with you regarding this specialized type of photography. I’ve written on this subject before and I hope this post builds and expands on the information I’ve shared with you in the past. Without further adieu…

Patiently Study Your Subject Matter – One of the best things about photographing slot canyons is the light is always changing. Furthermore, it’s sometimes better in the middle of the afternoon. How cool is that? What I am getting at here is if you don’t have to worry about crowds of people (A.K.A you are not photographing Antelope Canyon.) Then you’ve got time to work the area you are in for the best possible composition. For instance, take this picture…

2 images blended for dynamic range. The primary image captured at F/22, ISO 160 and 2.5 second exposure.

While I am certainly pleased with the finished product, in actuality I struggled quite a bit with this composition. In fact, I’d estimate I spent nearly 45 minutes here before I actually found something that I could use! Again, what’s my point? Just to be patient. Take your time. Unless it’s partially cloudy day and the sky is moving fast you should have time to work your subject without worrying about the light disappearing in a matter of seconds or minutes. That brings me to my next point…

Relax – I don’t know about you but I can get worked up especially when I am in front of a scene that I know is special. My adrenaline is pumping – maybe it’s a difficult hike, a precarious ledge, or a tight squeeze – whatever the situation is just try to chill. Think about what you are doing and be in the moment. Finally…

2 shots blended for depth of field. F/9, ISO 400, .8 exposure

Get A Good Guidebook and Read It – To find the best locations, perusing the Internet for information is not the best solution. You need to be Johnny on the spot. (Either that or you can hire me) These locations are remote, difficult to find, and even a good guidebook sometimes doesn’t paint an accurate picture as to what you’ll find when you do get there. (If the directions are even accurate.) My point is this – you need some handy dandy reference material when you are out driving around.

Studying maps, researching locations online – that stuff is all helpful to a certain point, but if you are not familiar with the location, you are going to need reference materials when you are out in the field. Otherwise, you are not going to truly comprehend what you are reading because you are not familar with the area. Heck, I’ve spent hours online just researching guidebooks! Let alone reading them. Count on spending many hours pouring over the fine print to find that needle in a haystack.

The good news is this can be done from where you sleep in the back of your car, at the trail head, or from a toilet seat in your hotel room. Just remember to bring the book with you on your trip. I know this sounds stupid, but when you start accruing guidebooks and you bring 3 or 4 along – it’s easy to forget one. I forgot probably my best guidebook for this trip!

I know these “tips” sound like overstating the obvious, but Don’t Take Your Time For Granted. Maximize It!

To see more of my images please check out my new release gallery found here http://www.wildmoments.net/gallery/new_releases/  and as always – I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Advertisement

Top Internet Websites for Trip Planning

One of the questions I was asked in a recent interview about photography was in regards to how I did my research to  information for the places that I go.  We’ve covered this topic before and today I thought it would be helpful  to list the top websites that I use for trip research. Most of these are pretty obvious, but I’ll explain to you how I use them.

Google
There are a couple different ways to use Google for Internet searches. The web search is the obvious primary function. The search topics I look for are the names of hikes or places and pictures.  One useful feature of this site  is the Google Images. This is an excellent way to find information. Not only is the search done by pictures, but it takes the user to the landing pages of those images. Sometimes this kills two birds with one stone. Instead of searching for articles containing your keywords, you do a keyword search on pictures and clicking on the image takes you to information on the pictures.

Amazon
For online book or map purchases, I believe Amazon is the best retailer. The navigation features of the website are user friendly, they offer suggestions for related products, and the prices and customer service are generally very good. I almost always use Amazon to purchase maps and guide books for areas outside of my home state, where it is harder to find information at your local bookstore.

Flickr
Flickr is probably my favorite site for obtaining or viewing images on places I am interested in visiting.  It is not necessary to have a membership in order to search and see results on their site. You can see my Flickr page here.

You Tube
I like this site for hard to find areas, especially when it comes to backpacking trips. Videos often times give even more significant and realistic impression of the places you are trying to research.

Nps.gov
NPS has several useful features that are sometimes worth checking out depending on when and where you are traveling. Each park has its own website so the layout and usefulness varies from site to site. Thus some sites have information and navigation features that are easier to use and find than others. The top reasons I visit are for viewing general park maps, getting contact information for the ranger stations, useful links for the weather and activities, and checking the park’s webcams.

Weather.com
In the last ten days before a trip, there is no site that gets more use than this one. The only other site that has a longer extended forecast is accuweather.com Other weather sites that I frequent are weatherundergound.com, who also has the best mobile site for weather and weather.gov, which is the national weather service’s web page that also gives the most detailed information available on issues like forest fires and storm advisories.

Trip Advisor.com
This is my default site for doing research on hotels and places to stay. I think Trip Advisor has the best and most honest reviews online. To books the hotels, it usually works best if you just go to the hotel’s actual website. Another useful site that I usually refer to for reviews is hotels.com, although I don’t trust the reviews on it nearly as much. It has a useful search feature of organizing hotels by cost, which is normally very accurate and current, and includes last minute deals.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday and found this information helpful.  If there are any websites that you love to use that I didn’t include please feel free to let me know. It always rewarding to hear from users!

Learning about Hard Drives the Hard Way

Last week I spent several hours investigating the pros and cons of the myriad of online backup solutions on the Internet. In case you didn’t know, I recently experienced another hard drive crash.  Although I try to double back-up all my data on external hard drives, sometimes life gets in the way and an important document falls through the cracks.

This is exactly what happened a couple of weeks ago when I lost some valuable information including my business plan and brainstorming notes, as well as the master file for my trifold brochure. With that being said, I’ve decided to move forward with an investment in an online solution that automatically backs up certain folders.  This plan is in addition to double backing up data on my external hard drives.

Before moving further, let’s discuss what I recently learned about hard drives and why it is critical to use an online provider in addition to doing it yourself.

#1) Hard drive failure is commonplace nowadays. Please don’t think it that it can’t happen to you. Data recovery expert Tom Buhnerkempe, proprietor of Chandler Data Professionals, is seeing a lot more drives fail nowadays. He says companies are not making hard drives the way they used to make them. One of the biggest culprits is the size of the hard drive. The larger hard drives with more space have higher rates of failure.

Apparently, the larger hard drives are essentially the same size as the smaller hard driver, but they are being used to store much more information on them. In turn, this puts extra stress on the machine and also degrades the overall quality of the product. Another reason for the high rate failures is the quality of workmanship. Hard drives are simply not being built as well. The lower prices are driving down the overall quality of the products and the parts within those machines are failing more often.

#2) There are two types of hard drive failure:  mechanical failure and software failure. Mechanical failure is the much more serious of the two because it involves having to replace specific parts of the machine to try to get the drive to function properly again in order to access the data. This process isn’t nearly as simple as getting a new car battery where different brands and types will universally work.  The drive has to be the same, and hard drive manufacturers do not make spare parts. 

Once the problem is determined, a similar version of the drive must be purchased and certified, and then taken apart one piece at a time. If these parts are internal, this usually results in a very costly procedure. It requires specific skills sets and as well as highly specialized machines. Tom likened it to the rebuilding of a car engine. Further, repairs are very time consuming. Costs can easily exceed $1000 and take several months. There are only a number of companies in the United States that can successfully complete these repairs For the unfortunate owner in this situation, you are either out a considerable amount of  money or lots of data, whichever is worth more to you.

If your hard  drive fails due to software corruption, meaning there is enough corrupted information saved in system causing it to malfunction, the remedy is a bit  simpler. Repairs typically can be done locally, if you live in a metropolitan area, although it still can be costly. The key is the drive stills mechanically operates correctly.

One more thing that is worth mentioning is some people like to link or daisy chain up their hard drives to one another so you are saving information on more than one drive.  That way if one drive fails, you still have one or two others that are working. The problem is if the hard drive is damaged because of the mechanical failure of another mechanism within the computer, like the power supply or motherboard, it could conceivably damage all the hard drives at once, ruining everything.

This is where the online system of  backing up your data comes in handy.  I’ll share with you some time saving links, the company I chose, and what factors were in important in making my decision. I hope you enjoyed this post and found it informational. If so, drop me a line with your comments.

Top 10 Parks for Summer Travel #8

8. Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Pros: Breathtaking Views,  Abundant Wildlife, Centralized Location,  State of the Art Visitor Center, Easy Access, Family Friendly

Cons: Small in Size, Sometimes Overcrowded, Very little natural water

Dates of Visit: August ’06, August/September ’09,  May ’10

Bryce Canyon is probably the hottest park on this list right now as I continue to enjoy myself more and more every time I visit. In fact, this park has gone from a middle of the road contender to one of my favorites in the country. Although it is smallest in size on this list, it packs quite a punch. If you have never visited, the scenery here is second to none. Jaw dropping at first sight and continually beckoning the interpid sole.

Unbelievable scenery awaits you at Bryce Canyon

The base elevation of this park is over 8,000 ft. making it the coolest national park in Utah during the summer. There are two rather large campgrounds inside the park and several more just on its outskirts.

Furthermore, summer also means monsoon season and  Bryce Canyon is certainly known for its spectacular skies. Sunset and sunrise views here are both fantastic, arguably some of the best views in the world. I give a slight edge to sunrise for photography as most of the park’s vistas are facing East and the color is slightly better.

There are about 40 miles of hiking trails in the park, which is substantial considering its size. Hiking is relatively difficult here because of three reasons:  1) all the trails descend into the canyon 2) the air is thinner 3) there is no water in the canyon. There are backpacking opportunities as well and getting a backcountry permit is relatively easy because this park is more geared for tourists rather than hardcore hikers.

There are two items of interest that have specifically captured my attention that I want to talk about. First off, the trees in this park are absolutely beautiful. I could spend days here wandering around looking at the distinguishing character of the trees. The way they are set apart and scattered amongst the red rock makes it seem like a natural chess board. In my opinion, this is a very underrated aspect of the park.

The trees are fascinating at Bryce Canyon

The second suprising tidbit about this park is the abundance of wildlife. Now, I haven’t seen a lot of diversity, but cruise the main road in the park at sunset and you’re sure to see some deer and or antelope grazing in the meadows. There are quite a few birds in the parks as well…..

Because of its location, there are plenty of opportunities for other forms of recreation in and around the park. Whether it be ATV’s (certainly not my thing), fishing, swimming, rodeos, horseback riding, rock climbing, bicycling, etc., it is all here. For a first time visit, I’d suggest spending a solid week in the general area devoting about 1/3 of your time specifically to Bryce Canyon. At any point in time, two to three nights seems like the perfect stay there. It’s just simply not that big of a park to spend a week or longer there.

A visit to Bryce Canyon wouldn’t be complete without the mandatory stop at Ruby’s. The folks at Ruby’s basically discovered Bryce Canyon and put it on the map so they are the only game in town. Ruby’s is like the grand central station of Bryce Canyon. It has everything you need, want, or forgot from high-end souvenirs to groceries and sporting goods. Of course, don’t forget to try the buffet. I’ve personally sampled it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Your dining options are pretty limited in these parts and for that fact alone – I do endorse this buffet.

At $11.99, lunch is a dollar more than breakfast I believe and much better quality. It’s not the greatest selection in the world, but it is hearty, decent quality, standard american fare:  salad bar, soup, chicken, pork, corn, carrots, beans,and a pretty killer desert bar that features some scrumptious brownies and soft serve ice cream. (The desert bar is not available for breakfast) It also runs until 5pm before it switches to dinner and the prices goes way up. If you get there at 4:30 you’ll pay for lunch and get to eat dinner, which basically involves adding some fish and maybe beef. Between shopping and eating plan on spending at least a couple of hours there. It is actually a pretty cool place and most of the employees are helpful and friendly.

So there you have it, Bryce Canyon in a nutshell:  indescribable views, amazing colors, special wildlife, the best buffet around, and literally bus loads of Europeans everywhere. This park is awesome. Please don’t make the mistake of just driving through. Get our your vehicle and explore! That is a fantastic place and highly recommend a summertime visit.

Planning Ahead to Ensure the Best Time Possible

Today we are going to discuss another important nuance in planning your exciting vacation to America’s Greatest Idea, our national parks. Here’s the concept: make sure you plan appropriately for contact with the outside world because things work a little differently inside our  parks. Allow me to show you what I mean in mathematical terms: no televisions + no cell phone coverage + no Internet = no contact with the outside world.

Now, it isn’t that extreme in all the places, all the time. Of course, there are some areas where communications are similar to our everyday lives, but at some point in time, you will deal with this potential issue one way or another. So let’s examine how to prepare and addresss this situation.

Mentally, this is how I recommend you approach it: embellish, embrace, and love it! It is an absolutely wonderful thing. No longer will you worry about work, bank accounts, stocks, news, sports, family, business partners, etc. And the best part about it is there are no excuses, you can’t help it if you don’t get cell phone reception and you need to drive forty plus miles just to make a phone call.  It really is an essential part of getting away from it all and refocusing your priorities. All you need to do is just change your voicemail before you leave and you are good-to-go.

Hopefully I’ve sold you (if you weren’t already so) on this idea of the power of not having power, so to speak. However, there are times when these technologies are vitally important and it can take appropriate planning and knowledge to utilize this to your advantage while vacationing. Let’s go over a few scenarios where you may need access to technology at a specific point in time and how to plan for it in advance.

• Reaching out to loved ones on an important birthday, event, or holiday. In all of these circumstances, it’s always best to plan ahead. Try to know exactly where you are staying and on what dates and attempt to verify ahead of time whether the place has cell phone coverage. Remember, even if there is no cell phone coverage  you may be able to find a pay phone to use. So bring some pre-paid calling cards with you. Otherwise, bring along lots of extra cash because you’ll need it for that expensive, long distance, pay phone call.

 

• Attending church services. Most of the major national parks do have some  limited theological services in the summer time available to visitors. These are usually run by young adults and normally pertain to the Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and LDS denominations of faith. Again, planning is your best bet so make sure that you’ll be close to the area where the services are taking place. Remember, some of the parks are huge and you could have a considerable drive if you don’t know where you’ll be and where you need to go. So don’t cut corners or you could pay for it later, take the time to study maps and estimate mileage and drive times.

I am feeling a little under the weather today, so we’ll stop for now and I’ll finish up this thread later in the week as we continue examine more scenarios and talk about even more solutions. Until then, have an awesome week and God bless you.

Research Works Wonders

Here is another sure fire way to improve your time at the parks, especially during peak crowds. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but do some research. What’s the best place to start? Drum roll please…it’s the Internet, of course. Below are few simple ways to use it to your advantage when planning a trip:

1) Buy a guidebook and/or map of the park online. The best place to find these is on Amazon.com and this is a great place to start planning. Please make sure you read your guidebook thoroughly. These books are not written and designed to be entertaining and it’s very easy to overlook key information by giving it the old once over.

2) Do an exhaustive google search for information you find in your guidebook. This will further help you find the information you need in order to make important decisions about your trip. I use it specifically to look for images of places off the beaten path. They don’t have to be fine art photos, I just want to get an idea of the look of the landscape. Other than pictures, you’ll find all kinds of good information on sites you might not have considered like You Tube, Flickr, etc.

3) Experiment with Google Earth. This is just another way to prepare and equip yourself with knowledge to maximize your time in the park. You can literally study the landscape from above.

I hope you find this blog post useful and in couple days I’ll continue on this topic. Thanks for stopping in.