Tag Archives: Alaska

Watch My Adventure Short Film – Lake George Glacier Hike

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In my brand new video, called Lake George Glacier Hike, I take you along with me during a summer hike out to an Alaskan glacier and give you a virtual adventure tour of this massive and remote ice field in the Chugach Mountains.

As with my film AERIAL ADVENTURE, this video is also set to an original music piece that I scored to add an air of majesty and wonder that the visuals evoke.

The Lake George Glacier is one of large ice fields in the Chugach Mountains of Alaska. I’ve explored this area a number of times over the years, and it’s always an amazing sight to behold.

During this summer’s visit, I was struck at how much the glacier has receded in a very short time frame. Three years ago, I was able to walk right out on the ice, but now, the edge of the ice lies hundreds of feet away from the surrounding hillsides and it’s much lower in elevation. Check out this blog post to see the dramatic difference in the ice levels compared to a few years ago.

All of the photos and most of the footage in this video was shot with the FUJIFILM X-T3 and the FUJFILM X100V. The music was recorded in Logic Pro X and the guitar solo as played on my sunburst Les Paul through IK Multimedia Amplitube software.

Before I bought my first camera, I studied music production and even took an intro to film scoring class at Berklee College of Music. So, here we are, nearly 30 years later, and I’m finally using my degree.

It’s actually quite fulfilling to expand and combine my interests in music and photography in this way, and it’s something I’ve aspired to for many years. I’ll still keep doing my video tutorials, but I definitely plan to add more adventure films like this to my YouTube Channel as well.

Enjoy the video, I hope it provides you with a fun and inspiring jump start to your Monday. And I’ve already got my next lesson planned, so stay tuned!

Watch My Mini Alaska Virtual Photo Workshop Video Lesson

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As I expand the scope of my YouTube video lessons, I’ve come up with a new idea: Mini Virtual Photo Workshops, the first of which I have now posted to my channel. 

In this bite-sized, fifteen minute workshop, I take you to the shores of Colony Glacier here in Alaska, where I explore a small section of the scene and walk you through the process of creating a few landscape images right there on location.

With clear instruction, I explain my process for evaluating the scene, looking for possible subjects and narrowing them down into a workable composition. Using a selection three different lenses, I break them down into Wide, Middle and Long, and give you specific tips for maximizing each kind of lens when working your frame.

I also deal with exposure issues and show you how it’s possible to create a series of compelling images, even when you don’t have very dramatic light. In fact, I think that shooting in less-than-ideal light can offer a better opportunity for learning, because most of us already know how to make photos in beautiful light.

In addiiton, when you have that kind of brilliant, magical light on your subject, it’s easy to focus solely on that and miss some of the other compositional tips that can lend to a more powerful photograph.

This lesson isn’t just for Fuji users. Even though I use my X Series cameras and lenses to create these photos, the methods I talk about are universal. The process of seeing, composing and using different focal lengths applies to any kind of camera system, and the general look and feel of my Fuji-specific adjustments can easily be created in post processing, if that’s your preferred workflow.

I’m pretty excited about this lesson, and I definitely plan to do more of these \\mini virtual photo workshops. Not only does it allow you to come along with me in places that you might not normally be able to visit and get direct, real-world photography tips from me on location, I see this style of instruction as a natural progression of the kinds of online tutorials that I’ve been working up to.

So join me for my Mini Alaska Virtual Photo Workshop Video Lesson, enjoy the lesson and let me know what you think!

My Favorite Photos From This Past Winter

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With longer days and a heavy dose of sunshine and beautiful warm weather that’s descended upon Anchorage lately, I’m struggling with the motivation to sit at my desk and do much work these days. Mostly I just want to be outside riding my bike. So, that’s what I’ve been doing on most days.

When I am inside, I try to stay on top of email and keep filming videos for my YouTube channel and lessons for my Photography On The Brain course, which has just begun its second hear. However, I find myself mostly wanting to do things that nurture myself and take my mind off of the continuing pandemic; like bake bread and engage in activities that qualify as goofing off.

So, in lieu of a regular “photography tips” post, I figure I’d take a quick look back at some of my favorite photos from this past winter.

Although I do love summer, winter up here in Alaska has a certain undeniable magic that makes for wonderful photography opportunities. For as much effort as it often requires, I find winter photography to be immensely rewarding. Between the bold colors of the low sun and the otherworldly textures that a heavy blanket of snow often provides, winter scenes hold such a unique fascination for me.

Winter is when I shoot most of my aerials, and during this past season, I even tried something new: I made my first aerial movie, a short film called AERIAL ADVENTURE – Winter Flying in Alaska.

Of course, there’s another aspect about winter that’s making me feel especially nostalgic. The winter of 2019-20 was the last time on earth when there was no such thing as the COVID pandemic. It was the last time we carried ourselves through daily life as we always did before the novel coronavirus spread across the entire planet and messed everything up for everyone.

So, without trying to elaborate on that further or try to come up with some kind of profound photography lesson for the day, I’ll just show you some pretty pictures. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the past winter.

Enjoy, be safe and take care, everyone!

Tips for Staying Creative and Shooting Close to Home

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Remember back in January when I wrote my New Year’s blog post about looking forward, making our lives what we want them to be, and pondering ideas about where we want to go with our photography this year? Well… 2020 … Continue reading →

Read an Interview with Me on the B&H Photo Explora Blog

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It’s “Adventure Week” on the B&H site and they’re featuring me as their special Friday guest with an in-depth interview on their Explore Blog. I love how they’ve title the article, CAPTURE THE FEELING OF ADVENTURE, because that’s exactly what … Continue reading →

Watch My Brand New Short Film, “AERIAL ADVENTURE”

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I’m excited to release my brand new short film, “Aerial Adventure – Winter Flying in Alaska.” You can watch it on YouTube here. In this video, I document my experiences flying around the mountains and shooting aerial photos out the … Continue reading →