Panorama

Smoke in the Valley

The folks in Yosemite are in for a very cold Thanksgiving (down to 23 F/ -5 C) holiday, but I would be awesome to see Halfdome covered in snow from Glacier Point. This image is from last September when it was much warmer, in fact Yosemite and the Easter Sierras were ravaged by wild fires then and there was a visible smoke fog in the valley. But it made for some nice atmosphere during sunrise.....I hope you like it....

Light Beam

This image was taken over the Thanksgiving weekend last year when I visited Grand Canyon National Park for the first time. I took this panorama from Yavapai Point at sunrise - a big snow storm was forecast for the day and already in the morning there were heavy clouds hanging over the canyon - in these situations you need a bit of luck as this fickle weather can create good moody images. Luck was certainly on my side, as just during sunrise a small gap in the clouds opened and the sun created this beam for 1-2 minutes. It was an incredible moment to witness.

Winter Moon

Tunnel View in Yosemite National Park is one of the classic views that no photographer should miss. No wonder Ansel Adams captured this vista with his image 'Clearing Winterstorm' in 1937. In late December 2015 I captured this image braving the deep cold as the moon nicely lit up the valley.

Eastern Sierra

This is an ultrawide panorama that I took two weekends ago in the Eastern Sierra, California. It was just an incredible sight to see this magnificient mountain ridge. It is difficult to present this image here, because it is so wide, but I really didn't want to crop it as it showcases the vastness of the Eastern Sierra. Technically this image is comprised of 21 vertical frames leading to a 313MP image taken at 300mm.

Zabriskie Sunrise

I have a bit of a love and hate relationship with Zabriskie Point in Death Valley National Park. It is an easy accesible spot in the park, is suited for sunrise or sunset and is one of the stunning and striking geological features of the park - however I find it incredibly difficult to capture the beauty of this location and to represent the subtle textures correctly - without going overboard. I hope I managed with this image.

Ice breaker

When my wife and I arrived at the Jökulsárlón - Glacier Lagoon around 2am it was overcast with a slight drizzle of rain, not the picture book conditions I have seen on so many images. While my wife decided to get some sleep in the campervan, I donned by waders and rain jacket and started walking along the black sand beach in search for icebergs. I had to walk quite a while to finally found some. Nearby was a other photographer couple who were busy with doing some selfies with their cameras and tripods in the surf. Despite telling them to be wary of the waves and the then moving iceblocks they didn't really listen and for the photographer male it ended up with a snapped tripod leg - told you to be careful!! Otherwise it's a fantastic place to spent your time! Some 3 hours later I made it for some sleep in the campervan!

Badlands

This is an abstract crop of a larger high resolution image I took earlier this year when the temperatures in Death Valley National Park were more hospitable.

The Crocodile

A lava abstract from my recent travels to the Big Island to see flow 61G.

San Francisco Curves

Sunrise long-exposure image of the San Francisco-Oakland ('Bay Bridge') taken during one of my mornings in San Francisco.

Fall Colors at North Lake

Last weekend I went camping at North Lake in the Bishop area of the Eastern Sierras - it was such a nice experience to witness the fall colors again, they were really impressive. Unfortunately it was very windy on Sunday, so sunrise didn't produce a nice mirror-like reflection on the lake, but it was still very beautiful. This image was taken before the sun hit the mountains.

Toffee

It's over 100deg F (38 deg C) today at Furnace Creek/ Death Valley, so I thought I have a look over my images that I have taken in the last few days. This one is from a sunrise shoot at the nearby Mesquite Dunes - my first Dunes image ever. It was a glorious experience to see the sun cover up over these dunes, I have to admit to climb them up with tripod, panorama gear and full camera backpack was not so pleasant. On the way up I thought I would be dying of a heart attack!! It would be worth the view though should this ever happen :-)

Glacier Point Sunrise

This image was taken during the first sunrise shoot of my 4-day stay in Yosemite National Park in September. I had decided to do the 30-mile drive from Yosemite Valley to Glacier Point and had planned some astro shoots and then a panorama during sunrise. I set off really early and arrived at Glacier Point car park around 5.30am for a 6.45am sunrise, so plenty of time to set up and explore the location! However, the night before I had read about bears and mountain lions that roam around in Yosemite in the park's broschures. Ah, mistake!! Somehow I developed an uneasy feel that I was the only person at the place and it was a 600m walk to the lookout, with bushes and trees surrounding the path - good hiding spots for bears/lions. I am used to pretty nasty poisonous animals from Australia, but I guess that doesn't match my fear factor for bears in the wild!!! The next 30 or so minutes proofed to be the most uncomfortable and nervracking time of my photography pastime - I'd happily walk over crackling lava fields with my friends Bruce and Tom anytime instead. Man, was I relieved when another person turned up and then more and more people arrived. I had set up my spot with my Really Right Stuff (RRS) tripod and panogear (which is quite substantial!), when another photographer 'dude' showed up with even more RRS gear!!! Turns out it was Brady Cabe (a really nice dude), who works at RRS and was doing a sunrise and engagement shoot with some friends. There had been wildfires in Yosemite since August and there was a dense smoke haze in the air, which contributed to this interesting light during and after sunrise. Thankfully we had a thunderstorm that night, which cleared the smoke haze for the next day and contributed to a beautiful sunset the following night, but this will be another post. Yosemite is of course a location, where Ansel Adams created a lot of his images, so it is only fitting to present an image for the B&W challenge from this place. I hope you enjoy this image, Yosemite is a special place!

Hollywood Nights

It is an absolute pleasure for me to witness a big city to go 'to sleep' or to 'wake up' in the morning. Even big cities such as Los Angeles feels somewhat calm during these special times. During my stay in Los Angeles I went to Griffith Observatory in the Hollywood Hills several times to witness sunset or sunrise. It was great to see this neverending city transform with the light. A special treat was to hear the coyotes howling during sunrise.

Sunset at Glacier Point

During my first visit to Yosemite National Park I made several trips to Glacier Point as I was fascinated with the stunning view from there. I was lucky to be rewarded to a wonderful sunset shining beautiful light onto Half Dome and the mountain tops.

At the Gate

I had a wonderful morning at the Golden Gate Bridge at Marin Headlands. I had hope for some fog, but then to see this beautiful structure so clearly and majestically illuminated is a good alternative. The Frommers travel guide considers the Golden Gate Bridge "possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world". Construction began on January 5, 1933, and was completed after more than four years at a cost of $35 million. The bridge opened to vehicular traffic on May 28, 1937 at twelve o'clock noon when President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in the White House announcing the event. The opening was ahead of schedule and $1.3 million under budget.

Cathedral Sunset

Finally I get to process images from my last camping adventure last November at Mt Buffalo National Park. It was a great sunset at the Cathedral, but man was it cold that evening.......

Take Your Medicine

In August last year I was fortunate to spend a week with a group of fantastic photographers in Glacier National Park in Montana, US. Unfortunately, there was a big wildfire along the Going to the Sun road hampering our efforts and in addition to this we were treated to mostly blue skies! However this did not prevent us to have a lot of fun at various locations and enjoy the beauty of Glacier National Park. One morning we were treated to this sunrise at Two Medicine Lake, where the rising sun put Mt. Sinopah in a nice warm light.

Yarra Dreaming

For some reason that I still have to figure out myself, I rarely go in my hometown Melbourne for the purpose of image taking. One of the reasons might be that it may be harder to find inspiration for a place that is so familiar to you. This composition is hardly original, it is one of the Melbourne's landmark views, but since the moon rose nicely into the frame I thought it was worth taking nevertheless. Sometime you are lucky!

Early Morning in the Grampians

Grampians National Park

Calm morning at Swiftcurrent Lake

Here's a new image from Glacier National Park​!! I hope you like it!!

Sunrise at Lake Wanaka

I took this image during a visit to NZ in 2014 of the 'famous' Wanaka tree. When I arrvied in the dark I only new the approximate location, so it took me a few 'test' shots to find it (the camera sees more than the eye). I cannot believe that at that time I was the only person there during sunrise. Nowadays there are hords of photographers making their pilgrimage to this location.

Cool Blue

It was a very dark cold morning when my wife and I started the 1.5hr walk along the Hooker Valler track. I had seen a number of images of the Hooker glacier lake and I got very excited when the guide from the tourist info told us that there were currently floating icebergs seen in the lake - perfect! Arriving at the lake at the end of the track I was first shocked that the lake was frozen - no reflections!! After exploring the rock beach a little bit further we found a section near the river exit that hadn't been so I set up my tripod and panorama gear and shot this multi-row panorama. It was an overwhelming sight of beauty and I hope I did it justice with this image. I can't wait to get back there again to try different compositions - next time with waders!

Pele meets Nāmaka

This image hopefully does justice of showing the raging fight of Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of fire, lightning, wind and volcanoes with her sister Nāmaka O Kaha'i, the sea goddess. I really wanted to depict the wild nature spectacle that is happening there right at the ocean entry with lava pouring into the raging seas, creating heaps of smoke plumes containing nasty hydrochloric acid. Being on the Big Island and seeing Pele is very special to me - I feel immediately at home there and can't wait to be back. It was a fabulous night and sunrise out there with Nick Selway at the Kalapana Lava flow 61g. Thanks for watching.

A Morning in Wanaka

Early morning in 2014 on the shores of Lake Wanaka - a fabulous sunrise!