Clearing Storm over the North Rim, Grand Canyon National Park

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. As most of you know who follow this blog I have been away on a combined work/photography trip to the Grand Canyon. I was anticipating a great time with my shooting pal Tony Kuyper. We had compiled a list of places I have not been and was looking forward to bringing back some new images. Alas however that was not to be. Going back nearly a month to my shooting trip to Death Valley I contracted a nagging cough that weeks later was still with me. By the time I arrived at the canyon I was feverish and in quite a fix. I spent most of Sunday in the hotel unable to move and by Monday was in the Grand Canyon Medical Center with several IV’s stuck in my hand. The diagnosis was pneumonia. Needless to say everything was cancelled and I made the flight home two days later. Just to fill in the rest of the story I am on a new antibiotic that is working and I am on the mend.

Despite my condition, on the way out of the canyon to get to the airport at Flagstaff, I still managed to capture a few images. Well let’s just say I was bound and determined to shoot something despite how I felt. Over Monday night it snowed 8″ on the South Rim turning the canyon into a magical sight. Across the way on the North Rim it looked like nature had dropped white sugar sprinkles over the spires and buttes. A layer of clouds had dropped below the rim and was drifting among the canyons formations. As the sun rose and kissed the buttes with light the composition was complete. In this shot you can see the Cheops Pyramid (right), and the Isis Temple (left). Overhead the early morning light turned the clouds a subtle magenta. This was a special sight to see and though I really did not feel well I was bolstered, even if only for a brief period, by the experience. Nature has powerful healing forces. At least it does for me. This image will forever be linked to one of the worst trips I have had. But every time I see this image I will remember it fondly.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Liquid Light • Salt Creek, Death Valley National Park, Ca.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. This will be my last post for about a week or so. I am heading out to the Grand Canyon for a combination work and shooting trip. I will be at the South Rim for a few days and then heading up to Page for a trip into Canyon X and some photo exploration with Tony Kuyper. The 10-day weather forecast looks promising to finally get into Canyon X. I was thwarted on my last attempt when a large front moved over the Page area killing off all the light. Tony and I are planning a little exploration of the Painted Desert and a jaunt through Cathedral Wash down to the Colorado River.

Today’s image is affectionately named “Liquid Light”. This was shot on my recent trip to Death Valley with my pals Alec Johnson and Travis Bechtel. As you may have noticed from recent posts we were blessed with incredible shooting conditions, amazing light, and clouds. Epic clouds to be more exact. This image, shot at Salt Creek, was made in the late afternoon as the sun was setting over the Panamint Range, just behind my camera position. The sky event was happening on both sides and it was difficult to choose where to shoot. There were just so many options. The three of us must have looked like ants after a picnic basket as we scurried about framing compositions. The clouds sent long tendrils over the salt flats. Driven by upper level winds the clouds resembled a liquid spill in the sky. As the sun moved lower reflected light illuminated the clouds and carried their reflection in the water below. Sky and earth seemed to meld into one. We continued to shoot well into Civil Twilight just enjoying the light show.

Technical Details: This image is a blend of two bracketed exposures. One for the foreground and one for the sky. Each image was processed in Adobe Lightroom and opened as layers in Photoshop for final work. I created a Channel Mask to seamlessly blend the two exposures before applying my final curves and color adjustments.

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll see you back here soon.

Bob

A Thin Line of Light, Death Valley National Park, Ca

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. The other day I glanced at the image count in the Lightroom Database for all the shots I took on my recent Death Valley trip. Alec, Travis and I had 8 total shooting sessions. The amount of time we shot during each session varied based on the quality of the light. In general though we shoot early morning sunrise and late afternoon to evening sunset. During the day we scouted, ate, downloaded and backed up images, and other housekeeping details. So the final image count which included brackets of the same shot to ensure I had all the data needed to process the RAW files was 1795 shots. That works out to an average of 224.375 shots per shooting session. I am still scratching my head on this one. The numbers from the camera do not lie. But I for the life of me just do not remember shooting that much. But in a recent discussion with Alec we did conclude that the overall quality of light and shooting conditions we encountered was extraordinary. In addition Death Valley offers so many compositional possibilities. The end result we surmise was a perfect storm of shooting conditions.

Of course this does not mean that every shot I took was a winner. This is far from possible. But there were a lot. And Alec and Travis and I do agree that pound for pound we all got more keepers than we normally would get on an average shooting trip. The trip was also a bit of a departure for me in terms of how I shot. I began to look beyond just the shot and consider the processing possibilities. In the past, and this is based largely on my days with a 4 x 5 camera, I would seek to capture intact the shot I saw. I used whatever filters and other conventional means at the time to effect that capture. In Death Valley, save for occasional use of my trusty Warming Polarizer, I left all my filters in the bag. I did not employ a single Split Neutral Density. Instead of fumbling with the filters I was free to really shoot and explore potential compositions. And apparently shoot I did. The door opened and a thin line of light led me down a different path. I set my camera to record bracket sets in one-stop, and on occasion 2/3-stop, increments, composed and shot. The freedom allowed me time to watch the light and react to changing conditions. Quite honestly it was liberating.

Today’s image came from one of my bracket sets. I passed this over several times before returning to process the RAW files. Here I was drawn to the convergence of lines of water into a single flow that disappeared into the horizon. The water was beautifully illuminated by the rising sun, and for me, came to represent my new path. I do not know how long I will be here. Such is the nature of photography. But for now I will just follow the light.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Sunset in the Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, Ca.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. On my recent trip to Death Valley my intrepid friends Alec Johnson, Travis Bechtel and I were kindly treated to some amazing sunrise and sunset conditions. This is the kind of light and cloud cover you hope to have for at least one shooting session. We had it everyday save for one, and that was the last morning we shot at Zabriske Point. Today’s image defines some of the incredible skies we had during our shooting excursions. The image was made in the Alabama Hills, a collection of rock monoliths and boulder fields, situated above the town of Lone, Pine, Ca. The area is known as the Gateway to Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48 states. On the trip over from Death Valley we saw the clouds build up and once we dropped into the valley on the eastern side of the Sierra’s we knew we might be in for another treat. Well, we were not disappointed. The show ramped up in the late afternoon and soon went into overload as the sun disappeared behind the massive Sierra Range. For a very brief period of time the light flattened out on the landscape but within 10 minutes into Civil Twilight the scene re-lighted and the rocks glowed with the reflected light from the sky. By this time all of us had spread out to compose and shoot. Even after an afternoon of scouting it was a hectic time as we were scrambling to create memorable images. To give you a sense of scale if you look between the “crab claw” formation you will just make out the silhouette of my buddy Travis. We only had one afternoon to spend here and for all of us it was not enough. But we left invigorated by the experience and the place.

Technical Details: As you might imagine the dynamic range of this scene was pretty intense. To compensate I made a five shot bracket at 1 stop intervals and chose two images from the set to process. The two RAW files, one for the foreground and one for the sky, were processed in Lightroom and combined in Photoshop using a Channel Mask for blending. From there it followed my usual workflow of masks, color corrections, and sharpening.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Twilight in the Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. The image today was shot on my recent trip to Death Valley with good friends and fellow photographers Alec Johnson and Travis Bechtel. We were already several days into our shooting when we decided to make the 90 mile side trip out of Death Valley and over to the Eastern Sierra’s. It is a fantastic landscape of boulders and monolithic fins of stone that sit at the base of Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the lower 48. Aside from this special distinction the Alabama Hills have also played host to 1oo’s of Hollywood movies seeing the likes of John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart, and Gene Autry ride their horses through the landscape.

Our initial plan was to get there to shoot some star trails but we changed this and headed out early enough to do some scouting in the area and shoot twilight. I spent some time shooting at the more iconic location know as the Mobius Arch before moving further up in the hills to look for more interesting features. I was acutely aware of the history of this place and could imagine the “good guys” and “bad guys” hiding among the rocks ready to stage an ambush. As the sun began to set I found this interesting set of monoliths lined up towards the eastern mountains that enclose Death Valley. With the last light just kissing the mountains I captured this image. Twilight soon fell over the scene and and in the encroaching darkness I could here the pounding hoofs of horses and the ricochet of bullets played out in the valley before me.

Technical Details: The image was captured in two exposures, one for the sky and one for the foreground, and blended in Photoshop CS5

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Sunset at Badwater, Death Valley National Park, California

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. I am just back, this very morning at 3:00 am to be exact, from a shooting trip to Death Valley with Alec Johnson and Travis Bechtel. To say we shot up the place would be an understatement. We spent nearly every waking hour out in the landscape shooting from early morning to late in the evening. It was what a photography trip with best friends is all about-photography, friendship, and camaraderie. The jokes and shenanigans were non-stop. And of course there was a little photography along the way. In nearly three and a half days and 10 separate shooting sessions I managed to exhaust 10 compact flash cards and log over 100 gigs in files. The weather was amazing and we had beautiful clouds for many of our shoots.

With so many images it was hard to know where to begin. So the easiest place I think is from the beginning. This image was shot on our first evening in the park. On the way in to the park we stopped and photographed some interesting mountains and clouds but the main goal was to get down into the flats for twilight. The Badwater Salt Flats are one of the lowest places on earth. Summer temperatures can reach better than 115 degrees and the heat leaches all the moisture out of the ground. In the harsh light of midday the flats are unremarkable. But at twilight they become soft and other-worldly. Here the white salt glows with the reflected color of the sky and clouds. Undefined ridges catch the highlights and reveal the intricate patterns embedded in the flats. Out here the lack of noise is deafening. It is so quiet you can here a pin drop. This valley extends for many miles up the spine of Death Valley and includes many incredible geologic formations. This was a fitting place to start our adventures.

Stay tuned for more images from this trip. And check out Alec Johnson’s and Travis Bechtel’s websites for their images.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Bob

Sunset at Lands End • Ellingson Island, North Shore of Lake Superior, MN

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. Today’s image is just an interlude. A brief and still moment in time where day and night begin to overlap. At the moment it is a metaphor that represents my current situation. Right now, at the mid-point of the holidays I seem to exist in the transitional spaces of time. I have taken down my website, for good or bad, and am in the throws of rebuilding the site under a new architecture with WordPress. I have been thinking about this for some time and finally pulled the plug. Had I been on my game I would have built the new site early and made a smooth transition to the new one. But alas I simply procrastinated, unsure of where I wanted to take the whole thing. But it is coming together and I think I will be ready to relaunch in about a month. And there is more photography to come as well. I have two early trips planned in January to Death Valley with my buds Alec Johnson and Travis Bechtel and another trip at the end of the month to the Grand Canyon that will include a trip to Canyon X and a day of shooting with Tony Kuyper. So good things are going on.

In the meantime please enjoy today’s peaceful moment from Lake Superior. The image was made at sunset on Ellingson Island at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. I shot this during the North Shore of Lake Superior Workshop I assisted on with Alec Johnson. This was one of the last shoots of the workshop and was a beautiful and fitting end to a great time with a fabulous group of people.

This will be a the last post for about a week or so. I will return from Death Valley next week and I hope to bring you a lot of new images and adventures from the trip.

As always thanks for stopping by and supporting this blog.

Bob

Sunset on the Flats, Death Valley National Park, California.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. My apologies for my apparent lack of attention to the blog but the last month has been quite busy. I have also been spending a good bit of time on my site over on Google Plus which has been very exciting. I have made quite a few new connections with the photography community resulting in new friendships and shooting opportunities. And speaking of shooting opportunities today’s post is a teaser. This image was shot nearly 10 years ago on my first trip to Death Valley. It also marked the first time that I shot with my 4 x 5 camera and Fuji Velvia film. Photography has really advanced since those early days with the large format camera. Today digital photography affords the opportunity to shoot more often, the freedom to experiment, and the ability to capture a broader dynamic range in my images. But my 4 x 5 work set the ground work for how I shoot today. Even with my digital cameras I use many of the compositional concepts that I learned with large format cameras.

Next week I will return to Death Valley with my tow buds, Alec Johnson and Travis Bechtel. Next week I will return to the scene where the landscape photography “light” was turned on. The weather forecast looks great and I will be with two good friends. How much better can it get. In my mind this is what photography is really all about. Oh to be sure, I do like to be in these beautiful places. There will be no argument there. But to be out and sharing the experience with good friends is the driving force. Photography has brought me many joys. But it is this connection to the community at large that has been the biggest draw. It took years for me to understand this concept. And over on G+ it just gets better and better. But don’t worry I will still bring new images here, to this forum.

As the holidays approach I wish each and everyone of you good cheer. I appreciate in so many ways each and every visitor to this site. I started this blog two years ago to help promote my website. Along the way however I found out that I actually have a voice. The blog has helped my with that discovery and was the first step in connecting to the larger community as a whole. I thank all of you for visiting and supporting this site.

Technical Details: This image was shot with a Canham 4 x 5 Field Camera fitted with a Schneider 90mm XL Lens. The image was shot with Fuji Velvia 50 film at f22 for 8 seconds. I used a Singh-Ray 3-Stop, Soft Edge Split Neutral Density Filter in the sky to balance out the exposure.

I’ll see you back here in the new year.

Bob

King of the Hill, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Arizona.

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. This is an image I have affectionately named “King of the Hill”. It is a rather large pedestal of Navajo Sandstone perched on top of layer upon layer of serrated and swirling stone. To be honest this was a disappointing day. I was scheduled to make a trip into Canyon X but a massive front several states away brought clouds and flat, contrasty light. Not exactly the kind of conditions suitable for slot canyon photography. So with the Canyon X trip cancelled, and determined to shoot something, I wondered out into some slick rock areas near Glen Canyon. I do not like to shoot in desperation as it usually leads to uninspiring images and frustration. But here I was anyway. At the very least this would be a scouting trip for a future trip. I wandered for hours up, down, and through an amazing landscape of sharp-edged stone. They were like giant red layer cakes rising upward through a series of dimensional swirls culminating in a large rock “cupcake” with a cookie on top. But the light was just horrible – flat, contrasty, and featureless. Light brings form, shape, and definition. With it we can separate the elements of an image and bring it to life.

But even without the light I knew there was a shot here in this garden of stone. In conditions like this black and white can save the day. To begin to see the possibilities I set my cameras display setting to black and white. Immediately the possibilities began to surface. The flat red color and grey sky became more cohesive and interesting in black and white. And with a little Lightroom and Photoshop work I knew I could bring out the drama and detail in the stone. I also had to be a little patient with my subject. At time during the day a hint of form would appear in the featureless grey sky. For this shot I waited almost 45 minutes for a band of clouds to form over this formation. Waiting for just the right moment I was able to not only capture some interest in the sky but to also use this to frame around the sandstone pedestal. All day I played this “cat and mouse” game with vary degrees of success. With this image everything fell in to place and I was able to bring home a winner.

Technical Details: This image was shot with a Nikon D3x and a Nikkor 17-35mm lens at 24mm. The image was exposed at ISO 100 at f13 for 30 seconds. Even though I had my screen display set to Black and White the RAW captured all the color data. I experimented with the RAW processing to bring out as much color detail so I could make the B+W conversion in Photoshop. For the final however I made the conversion in Lightroom using the Color Mode Sliders. I have found I have a great deal of control with these sliders and can produce an excellent file for final work in Photoshop.

My workflow in Photoshop followed my typical pattern with one exception. I began, as usual, with “digital gardening” on a filter layer to clean up a few dust spots and applying my Smart Sharpen layer to bring up the micro-contrast of the file. The RAW file brought from Lightroom, though solid, still needed some punch. To do this I “Merged Visible” to create a new Image Layer. Note that here that I could also have flattened the file but I almost never do this as I might want to make some adjustment to the Sharpening and I need the Layer Stacks intact for this. With the new Image Layer active I changed the Blending Mode to Soft Light. You could also use Multiply Mode but this usually requires reducing the opacity of the effect. With Soft Light I find I get a nice punch to the file by increasing the density of the pixels. It is a great technique in certain circumstances to add depth to the file. From here it followed my usual Layers including White and Black Point, several Contrast/Curve Adjustments through Luminosity Masks and extensive dodging and burning. Dodging and burning is where I paint with light and manipulate the highlights and shadows to add visual dimension to the file. Using a combination of the Brush Tool and D+B Tools I work light and dark values at low opacities along edges and flat areas to separate tones and emphasize light and shadow.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Bob

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post. Well the holiday season has officially started. Black Friday is behind us now and we can now look forward to Cyber Monday. Oh boy. I don’t know about you but I did not join the throngs of people lining up to purchase things I did not need. My daughter and her boyfriend made an exploratory foray into the midnight madness, just for the experience, and turned back after only three hours. They could hardly move within the crowds and stores they finally made it into looked like they had been pillaged by a flash mob. Needless to say they returned tired, disillusioned, and empty handed. They thought it was madness. Perhaps we have new converts to appreciating the gifts they already have versus those they think they need.

This year I want to give back. So I am going “grass roots”. I am offering three of my top select prints from West Virginia this year at a special reduced price. All the proceeds from the sales will be donated to the Friends in Action of the Eastern Panhandle. Friends in Action of the Eastern Panhandle is a goal and action oriented mentoring program that uses the power of friendship to bring about positive changes in the lives of motivated families in need in the Eastern Panhandle. Please visit their website to find out more.

So please consider purchasing one of the prints shown below. Each image was created from shooting trips taken this fall. All have been carefully hand-crafted crafted from capture to RAW processing to the creation of the Master File. Each image is printed with archival inks on 13 x 19 MOAB Somerset Museum Rag Fine Art Paper and will last a lifetime. All prints will be signed in the lower right-hand side. Each print is offered at $75.00 and includes shipping.

Special Instructions: Please note that this is a limited time offer. In order to make this manageable only 15 prints of each will be available as part of this Call to Action. This is to ensure that I have enough time to run all the prints and get them shipped out. So please don’t delay. Buy a Print and Give a Gift to Those in Need.

To Order please visit my Website at Robert H Clark Photography. After entering the site go to the Gallery Tab and click on the Holiday Print Special Gallery. Select your print and complete the purchase through the Shopping Cart.

Mountain Ash at Bear Rocks, Dolly Sods Wilderness, West Virginia.

Twilight at Bear Rocks, Dolly Sods Wilderness, West Virginia.

The Cascades of Elakala Falls No. 2, Blackwater Falls State Park, West Virginia.

Thank you in advance for your generous support of this project.

And thank you as always for stopping by to visit.

Bob