Roadtrip! Rocky Mountain National Park (pt 2, wildlife)

Here's some of my favorite digital images from my trip last September (2012) to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.  On this trip I was able to base camp in the park for 4 nights and day tripped to several locations within the park for some hiking and photographing.  

My camp was at about 8000 foot elevation, the day I got there, I found a white-tail buck about 10 feet from my picnic table just sitting in the shade.  That blew me away, the deer deep inside many of the national parks are ambivalent toward people - just the opposite of the deer everywhere else I've been (where people shoot them for food).  Anyhow, I was glad to get a few shots.

Later that afternoon his buds showed up at the campground.  They were between my neighbor's camp and their car.

I was taking a rest on the hike up to Alberta Falls, and saw a Stellar's jay in the tree above me.  Apparently these birds only live at high altitude, and have a reputation for stealing people food.

Another day I was wandering around in a meadow at about 7500 feet, photographing a little stream, when a herd of elk came grazing in.  I must have stood there for half an hour taking photos of the cows and calves (I counted about 30 individuals) as they hopped into the stream for a drink and pretty much acted like I wasnt there.  It was one of those amazing life experiences that I'll never forget.

Most of these were taken with my 70-200 on full frame A900, many of the cows came within 20 feet of where I was standing.  I found it odd that there were no mature males with them, until the ONE bull elk showed himself.  He was clearly much more wary of the small crowd of humans who had gathered.  Here he is.

Roadtrip! Rocky Mountain National Park

September 2012 I drove from southwest Louisiana up to Colorado to camp, hike, explore, and photograph in Rocky Mountain National Park.  I think I got some good stuff.  These are some of my b&w film images from a Mamiya 645E.  Elevation range for these photos is between 8,000 and 13,000 feet above sea level - not bad for a flatlander like me, living at about 10 feet.

Rebirth Workshop 2012 - Digital Photos

It's been a long time since my last update, and I wanted to show some of my work from last year, so here goes.

Each spring, several photographers descend on Clarksdale, Mississippi for an amazing week of creative exploration and challenges.  I previously posted some of my film images, since I've been trying to work in medium format black and white recently.  Here's a few of my digital images from the workshop, this year's theme was "Transformation" and the week ended with a gallery show with one image from each of the participants.  The first image is the one I used for that show, the rest were taken and processed that week.

And my most favorite "transformation" of all, at Rendezvous Ribs in Memphis, TN.

Well, that's it for now.  Up next, some landscape work I did in Colorado, September 2012.

Venus in Transit

Here was my favorite attempt at capturing Venus in front of the sun on June 5, 2012.  Lake Charles, Louisiana, 6:24pm CDT.

Heather's Headshots

Heather needed a quick turnaround on some headshots for an upcoming pageant and scrapbook.  I was happy to oblige, we took these at high noon (a terrible time for lighting) on the Lake Charles lakefront.

Rebirth Workshop 2012 (non-digital techniques)

Last week I had the great priveledge of hanging out with some amazing photographers at an equally amazing location in Clarksdale, Mississippi.  It was five days of creative energy at the coolest hotel I've ever stayed in, the Shack Up Inn.  For information on next year's retreat, go to http://www.rebirthworkshops.com.

I didn't get to make one, but Sarah Hodzic also taught many of the participants how to make encaustic wax images from digital prints.  The technique is one of the oldest known methods for painting, and creates some very unique one-of-a-kind pieces.  Hosting the entire event (and the gallery show) was Will Jacks, while being assisted closely by Chris Willams, Chris Pike, and Jessica Del Vecchio (among others).  I can enthusiastically recommend any of these photographers, and thank them immensely for putting on the workshop.

Lately I've been working a little more with film, and this was an opportunity to just get out and play.  One of the formal activities was to make an image using a 4x5" view camera - then print that image using palladium.  Here's the final result (it's a beer growler, with my reflection).  This work was led by New Orleans Photographer, Thom Bennett.

Another formal activity was to create an image using one of the oldest photographic techniques, wet plate colloidon, on an aluminum plate - the so-called "tin type".  (This is very similar to the process which was used to document the Civil War)  Of course I couldn't pass on the opportunity to be in one - so I made a self-portrait using a replica outhouse on the property.  Instead of a Sears and Roebuck catalog, I was reading a Wal-Mart sale ad for an excruciating 60 seconds.  I'm really not fond of black widows or brown recluse, both spiders are notorious for hanging out in such places.  Wet plate colloidon photography was led by the enigmatic Euphus "Butch" Ruth.

Oh, how I would LOVE to make glass plate negatives for contact printing to palladium or silver... (next year?)

As stated above, I also played with film cameras.  My personal weapons of choice for the week were my trusty Agfa Isollette and a borrowed (about to be purchased) Mamiya 645E.  I had a remnant roll of color film in the Agfa, and the Mamiya ran nothing but black and white.  Both use 120 size film.  Here's a few of my favorite scans.

2012 Miss Greater Baton Rouge Pageant

On February 5, 2012, I photographed the Miss Greater Baton Rouge and Miss Capital City Pageant in Baton Rouge.  The pageant was held in the auditorium at Woodlawn High School.  But you're probably not here to read about it, I bet you'd rather see some photos of the winners, right?  Well here they are!  AND HERE'S THE REST OF THE PHOTOS

From Left to Right:

Miss Capital City's Outstanding Teen Jaryn Waguespack

Miss Greater Baton Rouge Junior Teen Makayla Williams

Miss Greater Baton Rouge Fleur de Lis Princess Brynn Weber

Miss Capital City Kassy Sanchez

Miss Greater Baton Rouge Megan Miller

Miss Capital City Fleur de Lis Princess Desiree Green

Miss Capital City Junior Teen Katelyn Scannell

Miss Greater Baton Rouge's Outstanding Teen Rachel Segreti

One of my favorite things to photograph pageants like this one (part of the Miss America System) is to try and capture the contestant/performers either in the air (dancing) or with great still poses.  This one did not disappoint, as several of the girls danced, one played Jewish fiddle, and some others sang and played piano.  A few of my favorite performance photos: