Monthly Archives: January 2013
“From time to time everybody needs a little bit of desert.”
Sven Hedin, Swedish geographer and explorer.
I just returned home from photographing in the southwest where I will be conducting in November. I spent my time photographing several canyons in Nevada Utah and Arizona. These images were photographed on Navajo land within the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation where I have arraigned for one of the Navajo guides to take us onto tribal land to capture the beauty of several of the canyons. The workshop will start will be visiting Valley of fire Two of the slot canyons we will be photographing are Upper Antelope Canyon or The Crack; and Lower Antelope Canyon or The Corkscrew. The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is Tsé bighánílíní, which means “the place where water runs through rocks.” Lower Antelope Canyon is Hazdistazí or “spiral rock arches.”

Heart Light, Arizona
In the desert there are places where the sands constantly flow and over time the flowing sands and water form wonderful sculptures.

Sands of Time
Both of these images were processed using Photoshop CS6 and Pro Nix software Film Effects in Color Efex. Both images were captured at F-16 with 15 and 20 second time exposures which allowed me to have everything in focus.
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When I am out capturing images I always look for something that stands out something that sets it the image apart. Last year at sunrise we caught the first rays of morning light casting shadows across these three wonderful flowerboxes. The composition of these three well planted flower boxes with the Crape Merle drawing your eye through to image and then the strong light casting shadows of the ivy leading you out of the image. The Wrought Iron casting the straight lines and swirls on the top center of the image was a gift.

Window Boxes and Crape Myrtle – Charleston Photographic Workshop
During the Charleston workshops we spend time in the Battery Park area famous for its stately antebellum homes. Named for a civil-war coastal defense artillery battery at the site, it stretches along the lower shores of the Charleston peninsula, bordered by the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, which meet here to form Charleston harbor.
Land was a premium in the Battery Park area. The wealthy could afford small gardens but most of the homes used every inch of land and built up to the sidewalk. These homes often have the wonderful window boxes. Each spring I look forward to seeing what the owners of this historic home will be planting in this set of three window boxes.
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This New Years day I decided to pull out one of my binders of 6x7cm negatives and scanned this old negative for the first time. This does not mean that I had not yet printed this image. To the contrary I have printed it many time before but only in the darkroom, one of my oldest friends. Auld Lang Syne by Robert Burns always come to mind at this time of year.The title of the Scottish tune translates to “times gone by” and is about remembering friends from the past and not letting them be forgotten.

Basic scan of 6×7 neg with Epson V750
New Years Eve I was studying Lightroom 4 to start using it’s Cataloging process for filing and processing my images. Waking up to a the new year I am look fwd to a year filled with teaching photographic workshops, capturing images and displaying at art fairs. In two weeks I will be flying out to capture images in Zion and Bryce Canyon with my brother Robert James and Craig Osterloh a talented western photographer and friend http://www.craigosterlohphotography.com/

Image processed through Photoshop & Nik Software
This image was captured on Kodak VPS film and scanned with my epson V 750 negative scanner. Which was state of the art 10 years ago when I purchased it. After scanning the image I opened the image in Photoshop CS6 and then using Tonal Contrast in Color Efex Pro and then Vivesa 2 by Nik software to enhance the image.
Auld Lang Syne performed live by Sissel as part of a Happy New Year video greeting card at you tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxSqMbsHeJ8 This clip features some beautiful scenery and of course a wonderful rendition of a timeless song. May each New Year be better than the last for you!
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