I was recently hired by Story Worldwide to shoot photos for an article in Holland America’s Mariner Magazine they are running about Denali National Park, with the emphasis on getting a great aerial shot of Denali (Mt. McKinley) for the cover.

After discussing specifics and time frames, I started tracking the weather, which can be extremely finicky in the summertime. One statistic I saw showed that the mountain is only visible for an average of four days in the month of June. Denali rises so high above the surrounding landscape that it literally makes its own weather. Wind currents hitting the sides of the mountain area forced upwards, and in the process the air cools and condenses into clouds. Since warm air holds more moisture than cold air, there are just way more clouds that surround the mountain in the summer.

Spotting a short but promising window of opportunity last weekend, I drove up to the park entrance, caught a camper bus out to Kantishna and parked myself out there a the west end of the park until the weather cleared. I spent three days day hiking in the park, tromping around the tundra and hoofing it up and down the wide open gravel river bars, all the while capturing landscapes and animal shots for the article.

Eventually, on Sunday evening, after a day of building moisture and towering cumulous clouds, the sky let loose with all its moisture. By 8:00PM, the mountain came out and revealed itself in all it’s grandeur. I caught the bus back to Kantishna and scheduled an air taxi flight for 10:00PM. Shoot on!

Shooting from a doors-off Cessna 206

We went down to the airstrip, where they were prepping the Cessna 206 for the photo flight and removing both passenger doors for maximum visibility and clarity. With me in the back seat secured by seat belt that was duct taped closed for added safety, we took off underneath a rainbow from the clearing storm, turned south and climbed to nearly 13,000 feet.

For the next hour, the pilot made circles and followed my direction as I looked for the best angles and shot aerials of Denali and the rest of the Alaska Range out of the open door. I used a Nikon D700 and a D300, with 17mm, 24mm and 50mm lenses. Above 10,000 feet, the late evening sky was perfectly clear and the moon was out, making for near perfect photography conditions. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to take off two hours later in order to get the best evening light. However, due to pilot duty hour regulations, this wasn’t possible, since my pilot had been flying since early that morning.

Overall, the assignment went off without a hitch, except that on my way out of the park on Tuesday morning, my shuttle bus drove off without me at one of the rest stops. Of course, my packs and all my camera gear (and full memory cards!) were still on the bus, and after I managed to catch a new bus, it took me the rest of the day to track down all of my stuff.

Very special thanks to all the great folks at Kantishna Air Taxi and the Skyline Lodge- great pilots, great people and a wonderful place to stay. I highly recommend them for lodging and/or flightseeing on the North side of the Park.

Edit- 10/25/10: The issue has been published, you can see my photo on the cover here.

June 28, 2010
See this post
On Assignment: Shooting Aerials of Denali

Pro photographer and Photoshop guru Martin Evening has released his latest book, Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: A professional image editor’s guide to the creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC.

Packed with over 750 color images and including an accompanying DVD, this book will help you navigate your way through the latest version of Photoshop and teach you how to work efficiently with CS5’s tools so that you can achieve professional results and speed up your digital workflow.

I’ve used Martin Evening’s reference books since CS3, and I find them to be outstanding manuals that are filled with very clear, step-by-step explanations and well illustrated examples. My worn copy of his CS3 book sits on the shelf right next to my computer and I reach for it anytime I need to compete a task that I don’t have down pat or if I’m searching for a new or more efficient way to make certain corrections to my images.

Martin is a great teacher and his books are consistently rated among the best Photoshop manuals around. I highly recommend them to any photographer who wants to become more proficient with Photoshop and learn professional methods for editing and processing their digital images.

June 25, 2010
See this post
Martin Evening: Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers

This week, Getty and Flickr reached an agreement that will allow Flickr users to opt-in and allow their photos to be licensed as stock photos through Getty Images. It’s true that photo buyers have been using Flickr as a source for stock imagery for a few years now, but often times the hassle of trying to track down the photographer, negotiate usage rights and acquire high resolution versions made it more trouble than it was worth. Essentially, this deal with Getty opens the doors for anyone and everyone to start selling their images online. It also makes the process much easier for photo buyers, since all purchases are now done through Getty’s software interface. Commission rates will be 70% to Getty,

While this deal sounds like it offers great promise for Flickr users, especially to the advanced amateur crowd who has never before been able to break into the pro stock photo market, I don’t imagine that anyone will see huge returns, especially since the deal gives Getty 70% commissions on all sales.

Photographers should look at it as an opportunity for some sales where none previously occurred, which is what royalty free and microstock have offered stock shooters over the past few years. However, since the agreement grants exclusive rights to Getty on all Flickr images and similars, it’s may not the best option for pro and aspiring pro photographers who might actually have sellable work or who already have outlets for marketing their imagery.

In some ways, the deal is good for the industry, because it helps boost the idea that good imagery has worth and monetary value, even for those photos shot by amateurs. I imagine that some photographers will make a little bit of money, but I wouldn’t expect anyone to get rich, except for Getty, who is obviously banking on the concep tof turning millions of small sales into big profits, just like they have done with iStockphoto and other microstock outlets that they own.

June 25, 2010
See this post
Flickr and Getty Reach Stock Photo Licensing Deal

RCL-182.jpg

I’ll be honest, sometimes when I look around and see how well my competition is doing, I get a little bit discouraged. Don’t get me wrong, I like my peers, in fact, I’ve met many of them and they’re all really good people, not to mention excellent photographers. I’m genuinely happy that they’re doing well. However, photography is not an easy gig, and even though my own business is going quite well, especially considering the economy that slapped us all around last year, I always think that I could be doing better. When I gauge the success of other photographers, I sometimes start evaluating my own imagery and my marketing efforts and wonder why I’m not more successful.

This is actually a good thing, as long as you don’t let it get you too down. A little competition keeps us all on our toes; it’s the kick in the seat of the pants that makes us strive to be better photographers.

Click here to read my entire article about photography and competition over at The Photoletariat.

June 16, 2010
See this post
Competition Makes Us All Better Photographers
Camera+ photo app for iPhone

Following up on my recent post about using my iPhone for more creative photography, I wrote a review of the new iPhone photo app, Camera+.

Created by Canadian photographer and media producer Lisa Bettany and Taptaptap, Camera+ offers a number of great features, including an image stabilizer, a 5x digital zoom and a host of image processing presets and borders that you can apply to photos that you take within Camera+, as well as to any of the photos that are already in  your iPhone’s camera roll. Camera+ also lets you email your shots or post them to Facebook, Flickr or Twitter right from within with app.

In short, Camera+ is a very well designed app that turns the iPhone into a legitimate creative tool for any photographer. You can read my full review over at The Photoletariat.

June 14, 2010
See this post
My Review of Camera+, a Great New Photo App for iPhone

I keep toying with the idea of getting a point and shoot camera. I tell myself that it would be nice to have a small camera that I can pull out of my pocket at a moment’s notice during those times when I don’t have my SLR with me. After all, I don’t carry around my Nikon D700 with me everywhere I go, and there are plenty of times when I see cool stuff out in the world that I’d like to document.

Then I always remember that I already have a point and shoot: my iPhone. Sure, it doesn’t have all the features or the resolution of a Coolpix or a PowerShot, but for the purpose of simply capturing everyday scenes and being creative on a whim, it does just fine. More importantly, I have it with me nearly all the time, and ultimately, that’s what matters.

As commercial photographer Chase Jarvis puts it, “the best camera is the one that’s with you,” even if it’s just an iPhone. After all, creativity comes from the creator, not from the camera. I agree wholeheartedly. He has created a book and an iPhone app around his iPhone photography, and some of his images are pretty darn good.

I tend to use my iPhone more for capturing snapshots than using it for creative photography, but I do have my moments. Then again, maybe that’s just my perception, as personal style and creativity will inherently shine through no matter what you’re shooting. Perhaps writing this post will inspire me to start doing more creative type photography with my iPhone.

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite iPhone photos from the past year.

Update: Check out my review of Camera+, the great new photo app for the iPhone that lets you really push your photographic creativity.

May 29, 2010
See this post
Creative iPhone Photography

Last weekend, I flew with a friend down to Valdez, Alaska for the annual May Day Fly-In, which was a really great opportunity for a new pilot like me. Aside from being able to shoot lots of airplane pictures, I got to talk with lots of other pilots and see some incredible bush planes, many of which sat on 29″, 31″ and 35″ Alaskan Bushwheel tundra tires. The highlight for me was the beach landing at Hinchenbrook Island. At one point, there were 64 planes on the beach! Although I wasn’t flying myself, the experience showed me what’s possible up here if I were to get my own airplane, which I hope happens sooner than later.

As promised, here are some more shots from the Fly-in.

Also, click here to see more Alaska bush plane images.

May 17, 2010
See this post
Bush Plane Photos from the 2010 May Day Fly-In, Valdez, Alaska