Yellowstone Revisited

in

My favourite landscape photography trip to date was to Yellowstone in January ‘18. At that time of year the park is carpeted in a thick blanket of snow and the only way in is by tracked snow coaches driven by experienced park rangers - getting stuck with temperatures less than minus twenty would be seriously dangerous.

The landscape is amazing and the coating of snow simplifies it greatly, it’s a dream to photograph. But of course the main attraction are the animals because Yellowstone is home to more than 200 species, from grizzly bears to bald eagles. Bison are the most common and their unmistakable outline against the white snow makes for some great images. I was super lucky to see a wolf pack on a bison kill - the wolves’ howl is something I will never forget.

I need a landscape image for an upcoming competition so I looked through my Yellowstone archive and found this image taken at Mammoth Hot Springs, a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine. It was created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate. On the day I was there the temperature was minus twenty-two so even hot springs freeze at that temperature. I’ve processed several images from this one morning shoot (very unusual for me) and there’s probably a few more yet - but I think I’ll keep them in reserve so I can have the pleasure of re-discovering them as I did with this one :-)

Minus Twenty-Two #3, Mammoth Springs, Yellowstone

Minus Twenty-Two #3, Mammoth Springs, Yellowstone

A Dive in Cuba

in

Most of my underwater videos cover specific shooting situations so I thought you might find it interesting to see a general dive. I'd say 50% of my dives are like this, I don't go underwater with any specific objective in mind, I just look around for interesting subjects & click away... & there's always something interesting underwater :-)

Underwater Photography 3 - Sharks, Sea Lions, Caverns & Whales

in

My third underwater talk will not be available until April ‘21 but I’ve released details now because I know camera clubs like to make bookings well in advance.

Although 90% of the talk is complete I’m delaying launch to allow me to include material from a trip I have planned to the Dominican Republic to photograph humpback whales (Feb ‘21). Covid may yet cause it to be postponed - but I’m really hopeful it will go ahead.

If you’d like an idea of the content take a look at the video below.

Creating an Underwater Studio

in

I try to plan all of my shoots to give myself the best chance of success - and it’s no different underwater. I knew when I went to Cuba that I’d stand a decent chance of getting good shark action because Jardines de la Reina has been a protected marine reserve for 60 years. That means there are lots of fish and they support lots of sharks. I was also particularly lucky because my guide for the week (Luis) is a shark fan too, so he was very comfortable around them and knew exactly where to take me for the best opportunities.

We’d plan our shoots together on the surface, create our underwater studio and then invite our models for the day, in this case caribbean reef sharks, to join us on the shoot.

Take a look at the video below & you’ll see how we go about it.