Adventure

Hybrid Off-Road Adventure with Rooftop Tent

Easter SUV Trekking through the Backcountry of Death Valley.

Ford Escape Rooftop Tent 

My 4WD Hybrid Ford Escape had already proven its worth on a 7,000 mile winter trip, crossing the Rocky Mountains twice in bone chilling weather with record snow falls. My sure-footed companion sips fuel like a compact car, yet offers the storage of a family van and enough ground clearance for backcountry adventures. Hybrids are fun, as long as you don't drown the battery in mountain spring water like I did. 

On location: Hovenweep National Monument

Hovenweep National Monument

One of my favorite parks on the Colorado Plateau is Hovenweep National Monument.

Hovenweep is a delight to photograph. Its remote location at the border between Utah and Colorado and its overshadowing neighboring park, Mesa Verde, make sure that this park receives only a trickle of visitors when compared to other places. It is very unlikely that you get much disturbance during your photo session and if you do, you can easily outwait everyone.

Dani finally analyzed my feelings correctly, after I stumbled through Mesa Verde with an average mood one day and suddenly lit up with delight when we visited Hovenweep the other day. Mesa Verda does not leave much to creativity. You hold your camera into the hole and that is that. Photos either look good or they do not, but your influence on the outcome is limited.

Hovenweep is different. You can have fun with compositions, go crazy with foregrounds and backgrounds, try weird twisted angles, and never tire of the limitless options that this small park offers.

How to find great places to photograph

Learn about the tools that I use to navigate to great locations!

I spent the past months hunting for places to photograph in California and then writing about it. California is famous for its photographic icons such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Yosemite or Death Valley but it has so much more to offer to photographers. Not many of you may know about the alien Tifoni formations of Salt Point State Park, the Sea Otters of Moss Landing or the gushing Whiskeytown Falls.

Read about the free or inexpensive tools I use to plot my way to these photo spots.

The photograph that almost killed me

How far do you go for your photographs?

Aztec Butte Granary

As travel photographers, we never have enough time at a location. We have to face the weather and make the best of any situation. The last time I went to Canyonlands National Park, I had to compromise between False Kiva and Aztec Butte. I chose False Kiva and I have not regretted it. False Kiva is one of my all-time favorite photographs. Even NASA linked this picture from APOD.

Happy Holidays

Horseshoe Bend I finally found some time to take new photographs. I am very busy and even my weekends are packed, but the end of the year always offers some time for photography. The weather hasn't been too kind so far, but the forecast looks good.
I still have photographs I took more than two years ago that I haven't even shown anywhere yet. Next year I will be busy writing new tutorials and extending my galleries. I have bought several tripods and heads during the last year (esp. for Christmas). This means a quick review will be coming soon.
Meanwhile I want to share one of my recent pictures. I took it with my Rebel XSi. This time I have come to appreciate the live view mode. I shot this photograph at Horseshoe Bend near Page, AZ. There is no rail and the vertical drop is nauseating. I just put my tripod (with a new revolver head) forward, turned on the live view and didn't have to look through the viewfinder down. Instead I looked at the camera which was a great relief at this location.
I hope you enjoy coming to my website next year to learn, help others or just look at some photos. Until then I hope you have a great holiday time and a Happy New Year.
Subscribe to my feed to stay updated when I start another posting marathon.

XMAS Trip 2007 - New Photographs

False Kiva

We shot many photos on our year-end trip. I have begun to upload the first batches of photos to my USA West Galleries.

I have added a new Gallery for Canyon de Chelly National Monument. This was a unique experience and one of the most beautiful parks I have ever seen, mixing unique Navajo archeological sites with wonderful landscapes and wildlife.

Another amazing place was the False Kiva (shown in the picture above) we found in Canyonlands National Park. This is another archeological wonder situated among one of the most beautiful landscapes.

Ever since my Peru Trip, I have enjoyed taking photos of ancient ruins in amazing settings. Seeking them is a great pleasure and adventure.

I will keep uploading more pictures during the next couple of weeks, mainly in my USA West Galleries.

With the help of Dani (of TripGalleries), I have written an article on Native American Sites in the Soutwest. Its a great resource if you are interested in finding out more and to see some of the things I will be uploading soon (among many other).

XMAS Trip 2007

Xmas Trip 2007

During the past years, I have been year-end traveling. This year, I am on a trip through the Southwestern States. After we bolted straight to Phoenix from the San Francisco Bay Area, suffering through a monstrous 30-mile traffic jam around L.A., we were somewhat disappointed by Phoenix. We explored sights in Southern Arizona, New Mexico and headed into El Paso – Texas, where we spent Christmas. If you can avoid this city, you will spare yourself a big industrial looking blob of no particular beauty.

After Christmas, we headed North into New Mexico and the White Sands National Monument. The park was a real treat for our strained souls. We had a good time there and I finally got to use my Jetboil cooker for some hot treats.

Albuquerque and Santa Fe were a nice diversion from mundane El Paso, although we didn’t find too much things to do, as many of the smaller parks were either closed (Puye Cliff Dwellings, El Rancho de Las Colindras) or less photogenic (old town). Pecos National Monument turned out quite nice (see picture). Santa Fe and Albuquerque are freezing with a temperature shock so far below freezing that our thin Californian blood circulates at Mach 3.

I am looking forward to heading into Bandelier NM tomorrow and then leaving New Mexico for Arizona and Utah again.

Geek Bonanza

Unknown Girl at Comic Con 2007

Last Weekend I visited the biggest Geek Bonanza in the World, Comic Con 2007. What better chance to pull out that camera and get snapping.

You can see the results of me going a bit nuts in my new Gallery: Faces of Comic Con 2007. No the picture to the left really isn't that representative, but its one that I don't mind showing on the front page.

Incidently its also one of the two pictures of that Gallery that I shot with my new Canon S3 IS camera. All other pictures were taken with my Canon 20D. I wish I had taken my 50mm prime with me, since the lighting was so bad that some pictures were blurry even at ISO1600, which resulted in a lot of unusable images. The prime would have allowed me to shoot wide open (aperture) and maybe save some pictures.

Obviously using the flash was not desirable, as I often waited in a spot (a scene with a message) for the right person to show up (who fit the scene).

Nevertheless I got some pretty nice material. This event certainly gave me a lot to work with.

Around half of the pictures were taken in the conference halls and the others were taken in the streets of downtown that were flooded with people.

As you might expect, there were a whole lot of people with full body costumes, but I wasn't too interested in those photos, as I wanted to convey emotions and faces.

Anyways, check out the Comic Con Photo Gallery.