Have you picked your ONE favorite photo of 2022? You have a week to decide and share it with me for the end-of-the-year slideshow. It's my fav tradition here at Photorec.tv and I am loving all those photos submitted so far! Visit http://photorec.tv/slideshow for the submission link and all the details.
It's often in these final days of the year that I realize I have so much I still want to share with you. Like this series of gulls from the Katmai Alaska trip back in September. Yes, just gulls but I found them to be beautiful, graceful and usually photogenic...swipe to the end for a different view :) The 3rd pic in this series is a failure. I love the pose but I wish I had either focused on the beak/body or just had a little more depth for front-to-back focus here. Slide 4 is a great example of why I love Topaz Photo AI - a couple of quick clicks and the photo is sharper and cleaner. It's such a simple program that really does a good job. It is on sale right now for the holidays - 25% off. visit photorec.tv/topaz to take advantage of that deal.
#gull #herringgull #katmainationalpark #alaska #islandc
Returning to Death Valley NP next year - drop your name on the interest list http://photorec.tv/dv
Prehistoric lake sediments deposited millions of years ago being carved into the most wild landscapes - Death Valley! Capture from Zabriskie Point
Do you see the shadow of the rhino about to kiss an open mouth crow? I am just reporting what I see people...
Looking forward to returning to Death Valley with @scurich this week and our last workshop of the year. Fitting to finish the year in DVNP when I started it with my Seattle to DV roadtrip in January. Trying to figure out where and when to squeeze in a road trip next year….
That time I stood very naturally with my @thinktankphoto Backlight Elite camera bag gazing lovingly at one of my favorite Iceland waterfalls ;) Skogafoss, Iceland.
0.5-second shutter speed.
#freehugs
I have a secret... this is my favorite workshop we lead.
The potential for amazing, once in a life time experiences on this trip are high. We are returning August 2024 - I know that feels far away but don't isn't it nice to have such an epic adventure to look forward too? :)
#katmai #katmainationalpark #alaska #thinktankphoto #sonyalpha #bealpha #islandc #GeographicMarineExpeditions @mckaylivephoto @mckaylive.
In the opening of the book "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" the three main characters find themselves looking at a painting that slowly becomes real and they end up stepping/swimming through into a world of fantasy.
I vividly remember standing on the deck of the Sea Spirit as we cruised past this scene - a world almost completely monochromatic except for the vivid shades of ice blue and yet it feels like some fantasy world that doesn't really exist.
71°27'15.447" N 25°37'1.183" W
On the recent Mckay Photography Academy Workshop I bright along the #DJI #Mavic3 and captured photos and video from the air of the stunning Greenland landscape.
Continuing to share photos from my Iceland road trip with @timmyscottphotography
We weren't sure if we were going to make Öxarárfoss before sunset but except for the total mud jam/creek crossing on the way out of Brúarfoss our journey was smooth and we made it with time to spare.
0.4 second exposure using @michaelthemaven new magnetic filters, CPL and 3-stop ND.
Kickstarter for Maven Magentic Filters
#öxarárfoss #thingvellirnationalpark #icelandtoday #todayiniceland
walk up the steps past the stunning Skogafoss waterfall and you enter a broad valley that the river runs through and several more falls and although this isn’t a particularly impressive falls in any quantitative aspect it is in a beautiful location.
When I shared the last post about racing north for Aurora I wrote that we stopped for snack and groceries but forgot that we had a quick Icelandic Horse break too- a little before sunset with some lovely soft light we saw a big herd just waiting for someone to stop and say hi. When we did many wandered over, including this momma that brought her baby.
I am pretty sure all good adventures start with a total scrapping of the plans literal minutes before you set off? You see Timmy Scott Photography and I had been planning our Iceland road trip for a few weeks - tons of map pins and in the days leading up to the adventure I had come up with a pretty solid plan that started with a leisurely drive along the SE coast but after dropping my workshop group off at the airport I started to study the forecast in a little more detail and noticed that it really looked like we had just ONE chance at clear sky and aurora and that was tonight... and that was in northern Iceland at Goðafoss, a 6 hr drive... it was almost 3 pm when I met up with Timmy at the van, explained the situation and he was game. I think he said something like "we will never know if we don't give it a try". For the next 5 hrs we drove north under cloudy skies - quick stop for gas station snacks and some groceries. About 30 minutes from Goðafoss we started seeing stars and then about 20 minutes from Goðafoss one of us said - what's that in the sky?... DUDE - it's FUCKING aurora!! I may have been a little speedy those last few kms into the Goðafoss parking lot. It wasn't crystal clear but the aurora filled the sky for the next couple of hours as we shot from all the angles. There was definitely some high-fiving! Written at the top of the planning document, above all the day 1 stuff that we ignored was “Goals - Photography the aurora above cool shit!” And here we were just hours into the trip doing precisely that! Swipe over for the following morning light on Goðafoss.
#Goðafoss #godafoss #icelandtrip #icelandroadtrip #twogoofsiniceland #reasonsiloveiceland #sonyalpha #sonya1 #sony20mmf18
Unedited Aurora Photo Below -
I have never photographed the Aurora
from a moving boat! I really wasn't sure how it would all work out.
But almost a 1,000 frames later and I can say it really does work :). Again, the crew of the Sea Spirit and @poseidonexpeditions did an awesome job of piloting the boat smoothly through the fjord allowing us to capture one of the best showings of Aurora. This was a series of stills captured from the back of the ship while we cruised in Scoresby Sound Greenland.
Simple Aurora Photography Tips
#greenland #auroraborealis #northernlights #timelapse #epidemicsound
We talk about each snowflake being unlike any other but each iceberg is unique too and Greenland seems to provide some of the most unique and most impressive and in incredible quantities. Here are four examples of free floating ice I captured last week. And I apologize that I don't provide you a good sense of scale on the first photo - these soft wind sculpted ridges were each about 30-50 ft high and the whole floating iceberg was about the size of 20 soccer fields... maybe more.
#eastgreenland #icebergsofinstagram
1/400 f/6.3 ISO 500 at 300mm with the sony 100-400
Seeing a musk ox in the wild has been high on my list of desired experiences for a very long time and I am so happy and feeling quite lucky that this Greenland trip with delivered.
45 seconds before I snapped this photo Trevor said "Hey Toby - lay down on your belly - he might chase a salmon right toward us" and then BOOM this big male was thundering through the water - eyes 100% focused on salmon that had just seconds left to live. This photo was captured at just 158mm! This is why you work with good guides - they know where to be, where you should be, and understand bear behavior well enough to make solid predictions... I was only able to capture this photo because of Trevor. I love learning bear behavior and being able to spend time in this truly wild environment quietly observing such awesome creatures. Captured while leading a Mckay Photography Academy workshop with Geographic Marine Expeditions.
I mentioned in yesterday's post that I would be sharing some of the reasons our bear photography workshop in Katmai is one of my favorites. Alaska is beautiful - the Alaskan coastline of Katmai national park is another level. No signs of human habitation - just true wilderness and we anchor our own little boat in these protected coves and bays. Waking up in these spots is absolutely breathtaking. Take a spin to see sunrise lighting up the landscape.
