Landscape, Nature and Travel Photography

Before the end of the short work week I wanted to wish everyone in the U.S. a fun and safe 4th of July weekend. For those that are lucky enough to get out this weekend make the most of your time and be sure to stop and enjoy the show nature puts on daily. Have a great weekend!

Technorati Tags: seascape, photography, photo, stock photo, surf

California Sea Otters certainly have an air of relaxation about them.  As relaxed as they seem they’re actually quite active eating 20% of their body weight in food per day. Their constant pursuit of food is a reflection of their fast metabolism that helps them survive in the frigid northern California water. Their diet includes mostly invertebrates such as sea urchins, mussels, abalone, clams, scallops, crabs, sea snails, chitons, octopus and squid. You might say they have similar taste to humans. Sushi anyone?

California Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris)

Technorati Tags: California Sea Otter,   Enhydra lutris,   photography,   wildlife

This fall I will be leading (2) two California Sea Otter photography tours near Monterey, California and you’re invited!

From the comfort of a pontoon boat those in attendance will have the ability to photograph the natural behaviors of California Sea Otters and potentially other species including Harbor Seals, California Sea Lions, Cormorants, Pelicans, Grebes, Surf Scoters and many other shore birds. Each tour will be limited to 5-8 people to ensure everyone has the opportunity to get great photos and interaction with my assistant and I.

Learn more about the September 7th, 2008 and September 14th, 2008 California Sea Otter Photo Tour. See you there!

California Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris)

Technorati Tags: California Sea Otter,  Enhydra lutris, photography, wildlife, tour, workshop

On my birthday this past weekend I took a much needed break and stopped off at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The last time I was there was in 2004 just after I got my 1D Mark II. Well this time around I had the luxury of photographing this great aquarium with my 1Ds Mark III.

One thing that I have to commend the Monterey Bay Aquarium on is their commitment to education. Recently the Monterey Bay Aquarium started up a Twitter account MontereyAq and its been a source of great information. Following MontereyAq has given me quick insight to their Seafood Watch program that enables people to make choices for a healthy oceans and their campaign to raise awareness to the growing problem of plastic waste in our ocean “Laysan Albatross & Plastics“. If you’re on Twitter I recommend you follow MontereyAq to get the latest news from the aquarium.

Also on the topic of plastics in the ocean if you’re interested in learning how severe of a problem this is I came across a very powerful grassroots video series Garbage Island via VBS.tv.  I’m still working my way through this series but it is amazing what a huge impact our plastic waste is having on the environment. If you can tolerate it this is a must view video series.

View more photos from Monterey, California

Technorati Tags: Monterey Bay Aquarium, aquarium, photography, photo, stock photo, iphone

California’s coastline is hard to beat as a photographic subject. I’ve seen just about every mile of the California coastline from San Diego to the Oregon border and to this day one of my favorite areas is the coastline along Big Sur, Carmel and Monterey. What makes this stretch of coast so photogenic is the combination of surf, coastal rocks and rich kelp beds.

Sunset on the Rocks - Monterey, California
View more photos of Monterey, California

From a photography perspective when taking coastal photos you always have to be careful and keep an eye on the surf as I’ve blogged about in the past, especially if you plan on getting up close and personal. After all it only takes one rogue wave to ruin your day and potentially take your life. On this day I timed my visit to coincide with the tide transitioning from high to low tide. Before setting up shop I thoroughly scouted out this area to find not only a photogenic subject but a safe spot. As a precaution I tucked my camera bag with my other gear higher up and farther back from where I set up. For this photo I decided to take a chance with a very wide focal length (16mm) and getting very close to my subject (a matter of inches). This particular set of rocks was only a couple of feet above the water line and the front element of my lens was only a few feet from the waters edge. With one eye on the waves in the distance and the other on my subject I captured quite a few photos.

As most experienced coastal photographers know my setup was rather precarious. Although I knew better I decided the photo was worth the risk. Well it didn’t take long before I got a little too into my subject and realized while looking through my lens that a wave was getting a little too close for comfort. Only problem is when looking through a wide angle lens by the time you notice something close up it is REALLY close up. I was able to pick up my camera still attached to my tripod, shield it with my body and take two steps before I got clobbered from behind by this wave.

I really got soaked and although my camera and lens were wet I was able to dry them off rather quickly with the few patches of dry clothing I still had. I ended up trekking back to my car to wipe down my clothing with a towel, inspect my camera and air dry while enjoying the glare of several people who took in my “genius” moment. I ended up deciding not to test my luck again with that particular photo, but did endure the chill of my soaked clothing for another hour or two to capture a few more photos later in the evening from this very spot. I’ll post one or two of those images another time.

The California coast… beautiful, but always unpredictable.

Technorati Tags: Monterey, California, sunset, photo, stock photo, photography, coastal, seascape, wave

One thing over the years that I’ve learned is to never keep your eyes too far off into the distance when trying to get your next photo. While photographing seascapes in Monterey, California I was rock hopping and paused to see what exactly I was hopping over. I was pleasantly surprised to see sea anemones in a rather small tidal pool. With a nice overcast sky I took the opportunity to switch out my wide angle lens for my macro lens and photograph them. Fortunately for me they were very cooperative subjects unlike the sneaky surf that caught me in a later photo (more on that later).

Sea Anemones & Pebbles

For the techies who read every word of my posts I should add this is one of the first macro photos taken with my Canon 1Ds Mark III. The detail in the full size version of this photo is mind blowing. If curious I can post a 1:1 crop later to give an example of the detail captured.

Update: See below for the 1:1 crop of the image above. The detail captured from the 21MP sensor in the 1Ds Mark III never ceases to amaze me. The native image resolution is 5632 x 3750 pixels. Enjoy and do take advantage of clicking on the image to enlarge it.

Click to enlarge

Technorati Tags: anemones, tidal pool, pebbles, photo, photography, stock, California, coast

Sea Otters are one of the more interesting wild animals in Northern California. From their playful interaction to their use of rocks as tools to eat their favorite food it’s hard to get enough of them. Photographed below is a wild Sea Otter in Monterey, California who kept his paws are on his ears while basking in the sun

Sea Otter fur is unique and the main reason they were hunted so aggressively in the past. They have the thickest fur of any animal with 850,000 to 1,000,000 hair follicles per inch! Their two coats, outer and under coat, traps air close to their body insulating them from the chilly ocean water. In this photo you can see the fur around the head freshly groomed and dryer than the rest of his body. What I find fascinating is the contrast between the look of the dry and wet fur in this photo. If you look at the stomach you’ll see the Otters reflection on his wet belly.

Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris)

Learn more about Sea Otters via the Marine Mammal Center

Technorati Tags: Monterey, California, wildlife, photo, photography, stock photo, sea otter, Enhydra lutris

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the best aquariums in the country let alone California. Even though I’ve visited several times it’s difficult not to be amazed by the beautiful display of sea life. This candid photo of an aquarium visitor displaying that moment of awe at the Sea Nettle Jellyfish display is a perfect example of that feeling you get when visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I have to admit I get an extra sense of nostalgia with this photo as it was one of the first taken with my digital SLR back in the day. I was blown away by the image quality in low light. You might say I got a double dose of awe while visiting the aquarium.

View more photos from Monterey, California

Technorati Tags: Monterey, California, aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium, sea life, jellyfish, sea nettle, Chrysaora fuscescens, sea, ocean, aquatic, stock, photo, photography