Category Archive

Pectoral Sandpiper near Seward, Alaska.

I think this is the last of the shorebird photos – the birds have now move on.  This will give me the chance to get caught up on the Ask Ron questions.   Read More

Mount Alice viewed from some beach driftwood, Seward, Alaska.

I located this cool looking stump on the beach about a month ago, and have intended to photograph it for some time now.  I can see myself returning to this spot and trying different compositions in varying light.   This was from last night at about 10:15.

Since the sun was off the driftwood, I played around with some off camera flash.  It probably would have been better with two flashes, but I just had one with me.  This was with my 24-105mm lens set at 32, with my aperture set at the smallest opening of f/22 to maximize the depth of field.  Shutter speed was 1/5 of a second.  I had to bump the ISO up to 400 to increase the strength of the flash which I had manually set to full strength (1:1).  I hand held the flash off to the left of the driftwood.

A Least Sandpiper resting near Seward, Alaska.

Seven years ago I walked away from a great job with full benefits, a wonderful boss and awesome co-workers to pursue my dream of being a photographer.  Janine had left her job a couple of years before to begin building the business and it was time to take the plunge.  It was the scariest, but one of the best, decisions I have ever made.

I find it interesting, at the time I was consumed with “making it”.  I really wanted to succeed, and would work as hard as possible to achieve that success.  If you had told me then that 7 years later we would be traveling, taking photos and making a comfortable living, I would have breathed a big sigh of relief and would have been thrilled at the thought of actually “making it”.  But now that I’m here, I still worry about the future, and continue to have those thoughts that I hope we can “make it”.  As someone told be recently, it is probably a good thing to feel that way.  I know one thing – it sure has been a wonderful journey!

A Least Sandpiper near Seward, Alaska.

This was from earlier this week – I liked how the sandpiper appeared to be checking out its reflection.

I wanted to thank everyone for all the constructive comments and emails I recived on the sandpiper blur image – lots of great insight, I really appreciate it!

Rain-forest, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

There is more to the Copper River Delta area then just birds – actually, a lot more!  This was from my recent trip.

A flock of shorebirds, Copper River Delta, Alaska.

It is fun to return to an area like I did Cordova recently to see what kind of new images I can come up with – I like the challenge.  It seems I’m more likely to experiment and try different compositions, techniques etc. on subsequent visits to a location in an attempt to top what I did before.  Admittedly, different isn’t better, but the same is never better – let me elaborate.   Read More