Steps to Prepare for a Photo Adventure

Yes, I have a day job.  I work for a corporation.  It pays the bills and lets me spend the rest of my time concentrating on my personal photography and teaching.  Chase the Light Photography Adventures is my business and my passion.  I spend most weekends traveling to locations near my home in Durango, Colorado.  I love to travel to Utah in the Fall and Spring, and then to the mountains of Colorado during the snowmelt, photographing waterfalls.  Summers find me in the high country photographing Colorado Wildflowers and backpacking with friends.  And once or twice a year I head a bit further out into our beautiful world. Last year: Yosemite, Death Valley, Zion and Capitol Reef,  this year: California and the Big Trees!

Inspiration

Since reading the book “Wild Trees” by Richard Preston, I’ve been excited to go and see those great Coastal Redwoods of Northern California.  I leave this week for a road trip from Durango to Klamath, California.

One possible route for the Tree Adventure Tour. Durango to the Redwoods.

Maybe someone else could do this drive in 23 hours, but, just driving 60 miles up to Silverton takes four hours if I’ve got cameras with me!  I’m giving myself 3.5 days to get to Klamath.

Here’s how I prepare for a big trip.

1. Get inspired.
2. Research the best time to photograph the trees, the rhododendron bloom, look at photos and see if the metadata shows the date of exposure.  Add the information to my travel notebook using a sweet app called Evernote.
3. Commit to the amount of time it will take to do the road trip and the time to visit the forests
4. Worry about the expenses
5. Take the time off from “da man”
6. Decide on camera gear: choices: Large, medium and dslr
7. Clean the sensors of the DSLRs
8. Get a few more SD and CF cards
9. Upload more information and research to Evernote.
10. Worry about the expenses
11. Decide not to go.
12. Make reservations in campgrounds and other accommodations
13. Pay the deposits, so then I’m committed to go.
14. Google the routes, google info about the big trees, research what not to miss while in Northern California, add to Kits Travel and Adventure Notebook
15. Get the gear ready, tripods, battery chargers, iPod music,
16. Check up on the car, oil change, wipers are dry as hell, so replace them, have the new stereo installed
17. Bike or no Bike decision.
18. Fix the car up for camping.  Keep it simple.  Oh sure…
19. Update blog post
20. Pack the cooler, dry goods
21. Get it the car, stop worrying, have a great time, see the world.  Sing.

Why go

As the planning progressed for this trip I began to look at WHY it’s important to me to see these trees.  I decided that I’ve been chasing trees my whole life, from the General Sherman tree in Sequoia National Monument in 1974, to visiting my favorite fall trees at Round Valley Reservoir in New Jersey, to chasing golden aspens each fall.  I plan to see what is believed to be the largest organism in the world, the Pando Clone , 106 acres of a single organism of  aspen in a forest in Utah, Methuselah, Prometheus, and other Ancient Bristlecone Pines in Great Basin National Park and the Eastern Sierras, Coastal Redwoods, Hyperion, and the Lost Monarch in Northern California, and the big trees in Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.  And how bout that December 2012 issue of National Geographic with the scientists in the President tree in Sequoia.  Very timely info.

Sequoia National Park

The park is famous for its giant sequoia trees, including the General Sherman tree, one of the largest trees on Earth. The General Sherman tree grows in the Giant Forest, which contains five out of the ten largest trees in the world. The Giant Forest is connected by the Generals Highway to Kings Canyon National Park’s General Grant Grove, home to the General Grant tree among other giant sequoias. The park’s giant sequoia forests are part of 202,430 acres (81,921 ha) of old-growth forests shared by Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.Indeed, the parks preserve a landscape that still resembles the southern Sierra Nevada before Euro-American settlement.

Redwoods National Park

Comprising Redwood National Park (established 1968) and California’s Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Parks (dating from the 1920s), the combined RNSP contain 133,000 acres. Located entirely within Del Norte and Humboldt Counties, the four parks, together, protect 45% of all remaining coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) old-growth forests, totaling at least 38,982 acres.

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is home to Atlas Grove, an area researched and described by Stephen C. Sillett. Atlas
Grove includes Iluvatar, the 3rd largest Coast Redwood. The location of Atlas Grove’s Iluvatar is undisclosed to the public in order to protect its sensitive ecosystem. Other notable trees, open to visitors, are Big Tree, Corkscrew Redwood and the Cathedral Trees. Besides Coast Redwood, other tall coniferous tree species in the park’s forests include Coast Douglas fir, Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock.

Many redwoods in the park have reached 300 feet tall. Some, like Godwood Creek Giant and Gemini, are over 340 feet high.

Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest

The Methuselah Grove in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is the location of the “Methuselah“, a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine more than 4,750 years old. This is 1,000 years older than any other tree in the world. ”Methuselah” is not marked in the forest, to ensure added protection from vandals.  On September 4, 2008, an arsonist set fire to the Schulman Grove Visitor Center and several bristlecone pines. The building and all the exhibits within were destroyed. Activities to rebuild the center began the next day.

Great Basin National Park

The park is notable for its groves of ancient bristlecone pines, the oldest known non-clonal organisms; and for the Lehman Caves at the base of 13,063-foot  Wheeler Peak. President Warren G. Harding created Lehman Caves National Monument by presidential proclamation on January 24, 1922. It was incorporated into the national park on October 27, 1986.

General Grant Tree, a giant sequoia, in 1936. Giant sequoias occur naturally in only one place on Earth—the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California, on moist, unglaciated ridges and valleys[8] at an altitude of 5,000 to 8,000 feet (1,524 to 2,438 m) above mean sea level.

One of my missions in California is to explore and possible see the largest Coastal Redwood trees found in the forest, as well as the Grove of Titans, The Atlas Grove and the Hyperion Tree.  No hiking trail info, just exploration and online research.  And I plan to keep up the tradition of not revealing their locations. Gotta love it.  It fills my heart to plan to see trees that were so important to save from the chainsaw, that people were willing to spend their lives, to lose their lives to protect them.  So much to do, so little time.  Oh, I forgot, this is just the first look, the scouting trip, if you will.  I’ll be back.

As of 2010, the list of the tallest coastal redwoods. All are over 367 feet.

More information

Here’s a few links to big trees and stories about them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_giant_sequoias

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastal_Redwood

Preston, Richard (2007). The Wild Trees: A Story Of Passion And Daring. Allen Lane Publishers. page 82.

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Photographing Stars at Monument Valley

On our recent Photo Adventure in Monument Valley , Participants woke early every morning, and photographed into the night.  Our mission was to learn how to photograph the night sky at Monument Valley and in other locations in Southeast Utah.

1. White Balance set for “daylight”
2. Focus before darkness sets in (very important)
3. Shut off all auto settings:  Focus, Image Stabilization, Modes
4. Tape up the focus and zoom rings on your lens.
5. Set your intervalometer (or plan to use your cable release and a timer)
6. Images of the stars that are longer than 15 seconds show some of the earth’s movement.
7. Experiment:  an exposure that is f-wide open, 5-10 seconds works well, ISO high, noise reduction off.
8. Do not trust the LCD once your eyes adjust to the darkness.  Take a look at your histogram.

At our locations, we set up the scene, focussed in the daylight, set up the f-stop, shutter speed and ISO and then left the camera set up on the tripod, coming back to it after dark.  Headlamps and flashlights helped.

An example of a moonlit landscape, with stars above. You can see by the moving clouds that the exposure was long, about 10 seconds.

 

Here are a few links to information.

Star Circle Academy, Steven Christenson, Harold David, Eric Harness

Matt Kloskowski’s Blog, Matt uses a single shot recipe, he shoots multiple images at the same settings, and then “stacks” those images.  The advantage of stacking is that each exposure adds up to the full image, but without all the noise of a long exposure.

 

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Monument Valley and Valley of the Gods Photos

Our Chase the Light Photography Workshop in Southeast Utah and Arizona: 5 days/4 nights photographing the monuments of Monument Valley and the spires and buttes of Valley of the Gods.   Eight participants attended the photo workshop.  Our first location was at the Goosenecks of the San Juan River, where I taught about using the widest focal length lens to capture the big scene.  The day was blustery to say the least, so handheld photography from the overlook rim was in order.  Students determined how wide they could photograph, set up their wide-angle lenses and chose an ISO for obtaining deep depth of field as well as a shutter speed that would avoid camera shake.

Learning about using our wide angle lenses ©Nora Whalen

As the week progressed, lessons included metering properly for balancing indoor and outdoor lighting (we used a hogan in Monument Valley for that lesson).  By using the digital camera’s “live view” or LCD, to assist in metering challenging scenes, students learned to balance and choose the correct exposure.

Discussing how to capture the varied exposures in the Hogan at Monument Valley. By turning on “live view” you can see exactly what the camera is metering.

An example of using “Live view” to meter the inside and outside of the Hogan.

Some students were working with advanced Point and Shoot cameras, some DSLR, some played with their iPhones and when we had service, uploaded their images to instagram and social networking sites.

The Road to Monument Valley, many people call this the “Forest Gump” road. ©Nora Whalen

Shot with an “in camera” effect: vignette. ©Sherry Ketner

Shot with an “in camera” effect: vignette. ©Sherry Ketner

iPhone Photography, Monument Valley, Instagram images ©Nora Whalen

One of the workshop participants, Anita, photographing along the 17 mile drive in Monument Valley

Walter never took that camera down from his face. He had a great time on this, his first, photo workshop

More participant examples to follow.  I’m prepping up for a two week adventure, a photo and road trip to California.  More to follow.

Reflections of a Large Format Photographer

For years I used a Toyo 4×5 View Camera, shooting 4×5 sheet film.  Up until 2007, I processed all my large format film, both color transparencies (chromes) and black and white negatives in my darkroom.  I used the Jobo rotary processor for film, and Cibachrome printing of my color images.  I printed all my own Gelatin Silver Prints. I operated a Community Darkroom in Durango, Colorado.  And taught darkroom and film skills at the Maine Media Workshops, at Bayonne High School in New Jersey, and private lessons in Durango.  I miss it.

Tonight is the opening reception for the Colorado Plateau: A Storied Landscape exhibition here in Durango.  As an invited artist, I was asked to show my Black and White imagery from the Four Corners.  I’m stoked to be showing right alongside Don Kirby, Bruce Hucko and Serena Supplee.  Years ago I attended and assisted a workshop, my first trip into Antelope Canyon, with Don Kirby, Bruce Barnbaum and Stu Levy.  These men are some of the biggest influences on my photography and choice to use large format, along with Ansel Adams and John Sexton.

Original 4×5 black and white negative, photographed with Toyo 45AII large format camera, scanned and digitally printed. I printed this image 24×32 and it’s amazingly sharp at that size.   Gotta love large format. ©Kit Frost

In order to complete all the work for the exhibition I reviewed years of my archive of negatives and chromes.  Choosing just 6-8 images proved challenging, yet, I found that the show was focused on the Colorado Plateau so some of my images spoke louder to me during the editing process.  Old school editing, lightbox, loupe and all.

Once I made some choices, I scanned the 4x5s at 2000dpi, planning to print to 16×20 and matte and frame to 20×24. And then the fun began.  I have digital dust on the sensor of my D300 and D5100 but nothing compares to the dust cleanup necessary with film.  My storage is a clean area, as dust free as possible. Once committed to the process of zooming in to each small square of the file in Photoshop CS4, I used the healing brush, one spot at a time.  Very Zen.  I gave myself the luxury of time, time to get the clean up completed.

Bears Ears, or Honey I’m Home! Large format black and white negative, Toyo view 45AII, scanned and digitally printed. ©Kit Frost

As you can see, I love Southwest thunder clouds and cumulus clouds in general.  So a clean, spotless print, is important to me.  The prints were made on an Epson 7600, boy that printer is a workhorse, as I’ve had it running in my studio since 2003.  Amazing quality.  I used a combination of Lightroom and round tripped to Photoshop to use all the tools in my “toolbox”.  I enjoy the editing process, I enjoy the ease of  Lightroom to organize portfolios, to make choices as to how images look in combinations (I made a bunch of collections to view images as a group). I burned the midnight oil (but never judged prints under night lighting in the studio).

Passing Summer Thunderstorm, from Hunts Mesa, AZ. Large Format Color Chrome, scanned RGB, converted in Photoshop. ©Kit Frost

Looking towards the Weminuche Wilderness, the Grenadier Range, part of the Colorado Plateau series. Large format color chrome, scanned and printed digitally. ©Kit Frost

I plan to record video stories about each of the images hanging in the current exhibition.  I love story telling.  And preparing the work, editing, scanning, printing, matting and framing has inspired me to use my Toyo View Camera once again.  Interestingly enough, I’ve been shopping the Nikon D800 as an upgrade from my current gear.  I look forward to working those 36 megapixels into a series of 30×40 prints. But the view camera is calling my name.  I have plenty of Ilford and Fuji film, but as many of you know, the “in the field” workflow is so much different with DSLR compared to the view camera, that I’m spoiled by the speed and quick results of my Nikons.  Waiting for film to be processed by the lab could prove to be a real challenge for me.   So maybe it’s time for my next darkroom, eh?  More to follow.  Stay tuned.

Are you using a large format set up?  Have you retired your large format gear?

 

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Tips on honoring the Creative Process

Thanks to the folks at the Nutter Crew, we can see a realistic approach to the Creative Process.

The Creative Process, shared by the Nutter Crew

Pardon the language but I agree with this timeline.  Right now I’m in the Panic and All the Work while Crying stage, two days from the Deadline.  I have a few suggestions for the times when you know that work has to get done, but it seems like you have PLENTY of time when you’re in the Fuck off stage.

1. Clean the Studio.
2. Write your blog.
3. Visit your homies on facebook.
4. Watch your favorite Netflix series (Downton anybody?).
5. Talk on the phone. A good time to catch up with the news.
6. Go to the movies.
7. Eat out every night.
8. Send out invoices so you earn the money to move ahead with the project.
9. Wait till the last minute to make the money to do the following:
10. Order the frames.
11. Order the mattes (32×40 sheets are the biggest bargain).
12. Order the glass (who is cutting it to size?).
13. Order the printing paper and cartridges.
14. Make the prints.
15. or Better yet, send them to a service bureau and wait for them to arrive.
16. Do all your ordering with 2-3 day shipping and get reamed.
17. Start the project.
18. Edit the portfolio
19. Choose final images
20. Mess up the studio with the packaging from all those deliveries.
21. Have the fun of making your art important.
22. Remember that you love to work on your art.
23. Lock the studio door.
24. Turn up the volume.
25. Burn the midnight oil.
26. Get er done.
27. Repeat.

I have an exhibition set for delivery this coming Saturday, but I can stretch the deadline until Monday.  Another delay tactic? I’m excited to be showing black and white prints of explorations in the Canyon Country and the Colorado Plateau.  I live in Durango, and as you may know, I travel to Arizona, and Utah often.  My collection of images from the Four Corners is large and editing the portfolio has been the most difficult.  This exhibition is by invitation and I feel honored to be chosen.  One of my favorite writers, Craig Childs, will be at the opening reception, and these images are to complement his slideshow and lecture about the Colorado Plateau, Land of Ghosts, Travel in Ancient Places

With two days left to complete the portfolio, I’m on target.  All the images are scanned from 4×5 negatives and chromes, the color images have been edited for grayscale in Photoshop.  I round-tripped from Lightroom to Photoshop in order to mix the red and green channels to my liking.  The black and white negatives were scanned and edited directly in Lightroom.  Each scan was about 190MB, 400dpi (so I could crop if needed) and output to 16×20 prints, matted to 20×24 frames.

Bears Ears, or Honey I’m Home! ©Kit Frost

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