Interactive guide to Sierra Fall Colors

this is awesome!

Sac Bee Interactive Guide to Sierra Fall Colors

Outdoor Photographer Oct. 2009 Cover and Book Article

Thanks to Outdoor Photographer Magazine for presenting one of my images as this month's cover shot (Image titled Brilliant Autumn, taken in Colorado). They also have done a great article in this issue titled 'Sierra Light" about my upcoming book "The Changing Range of Light."

This month's October edition is now available at newsstands and bookstores.

Time to Start Watching for Autumn Colors

October is one of my favorite months - there is so much to photograph! This year I am planning to get out to New England to photograph some of the autumn colors in that region in mid-October. Mid to late October is a great time for the autumn colors on the vineyards in Napa. I also want to photograph autumn colors in Zion, which happens more in November. The Eastern Sierra region can be done in a 3-4 day trip so that will be on my calendar as well. There are so many great resources on the internet for monitoring autumn color - here are a few links that I have found helpful:

Journal of My Travels for the Perfect Photo

Calphoto

New England Foliage Alert

National Park Webcams

Hopefully I will have plenty of new autumn shots to share over the next few weeks. Below is a shot taken a few years ago from a favorite location north of Truckee - the Little Truckee River in Jackson Meadows:

"The Changing Range of Light" Book Release Event Set for December 5, 2009 / Media Kit Available for Download

We have scheduled a book release party for my new book The Changing Range of Light on December 5, 2009 from 4:00 to 6:30 PM at our gallery (The Carmel Gallery at 9940 Donner Pass Road in Truckee, CA.). This event will be held jointly with the Truckee Donner Land Trust. A portion of all book sales at the event will be donated to the Truckee Donner Land Trust to support their important work. The event is open to the public and will feature wine tasting and hors d'oeuvres. My co-authors Drs. Bob Coats and Geoffrey Schladow are planning on attending  - they wrote the climate change sections of the book and the introduction. The historic Truckee Hotel is offering a special rate to all guests attending from out of town. Please call Tim the hotel manager directly to book the special offer.

For more information on the book please refer to the press release & downloadable media kit that is posted on the book's web site:

http://www.hawkspeakpublishing.com/hawkspeak/Download_Media_Kit.html 

New Images from New Mexico

I have completed a portfolio of 8 black and white photographs from New Mexico that are now on my website in a new portfolio titled "New Mexico B&W". I decided these worked best in black & white based on the stong graphic elements with the adobe churches and with the ancient stone dwellings at Bandelier National Park. These images were taken with the Nikon D700 & 14-24 mm Nikon zoom, all handheld. In a departure from my usual MO, I took all of them in blazing daylight (another reason to show them as monochrome images, where the patterns of shadow and light are more dramatic). I added a few touches using Nik Color Efex Pro and Nik Silver Efex. I love the tonal contrast feature in Nik Color Efex, but I usually dial back the effect to less than 50% to avoid making images look overcooked. I hope to visit more cliff dwellings this Autumn on a trip through the southwest, I like how they translate to monochrome. I think it gives them a somewhat timeless & mysterious feel.

Sunset Color Prediction

I have a project for a client that requires me to photograph a spectacular sunset at a specific location - I have been watching the clouds all summer trying to determine when a good time to photograph will be. I have found the best sunsets often occur in the autumn and winter months, but I wanted to share this useful link from photo.net about predicting sunsets. Any other people with insights on this topic are welcome to comment to this post. I have found the iphone software focalware is great for predicting the time and location of a sunset, now if someone would write an app that predicts how colorful it would be based on cloud cover, etc that would be great.