Photography Blog

This blog offers a window into our journey as we chase light, wanders through wild landscapes, and find meaning in the quiet moments we encounter. Join us for stories from our travels, lessons learned in the field, and the small joys that come with a life spent outdoors. Some posts explore the practical side of photography while others focus on the wonder of seeing the world through a lens. Whether you’re a fellow photographer or simply enjoy a good story, we invite you to join behind the scenes and along the road.

That Time In Colombia All Of My Camera Gear Was Almost Stolen : A Cautionary Tale

The Set-Up   “Beware of fake policemen.” This is what the sign to the right of the door at the hostel I had just arrived at in Bogota, Colombia read. Being accustom to traveling in countries that have their fair share of crime and social issues, this type of thing was nothing new to me. There are certain scams and cons that you see the world over with just slightly different takes on them depending on where you are. For instance, all over South America from the Caribbean of Colombia to the southern most inhabited city of Ushuia in Argentina, you may encounter this scam; A usually well dressed man points out that you have mustard, paint or spit on your back or shoulder and offers to help you clean it off. In some countries they will conveniently have paper towels or napkins with them and when you take your

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How to: Rear Illuminated Foliage

I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. This has incredible advantages in the summertime if you are the outdoorsy type of person, which I just happen to be. During the fall, winter and spring, however, it tends to be both grey and drizzly along with darkness falling fairly early – the sun sets earlier than 4:30 pm in the middle of December. When I am actually at home during this time of year and not out roaming other parts of the world with better weather, I will often try to think of things to challenge my creative side and I’ll usually end up learning something about photography or lighting techniques while doing it. I have an area in my house I can turn into a tabletop studio and this has been the breeding ground for all types of images during the dreary time of year in the PacNW. From elaborate

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Backing Up Your Images – Protecting Your Memories

Think of your favorite photograph that you’ve ever taken. It might be an epic sunset or it could be your children peacefully playing in the park together. It might be of a majestic lion you encountered on a once in a lifetime safari, it’s mane blowing in the dry winds of the Serengeti. Think about how that image and the other images like it that transport you back to another place and time make you feel when you look at them. Now imagine never seeing that image again. In today’s digital age, backing up your files is important. Your images, in addition to almost all of your important information, is nothing more than data; one’s and zero’s that make up your life. If you only have information like this on your computer and an issue occurs like a hard drive crashing, you can loose everything! Luckily there are many ways

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Mountain Goats Usually Win in a Game of King of the Hill

After wrapping up a trip to the amazing Washington Coast with a fellow photographer and a model, we decided to stop by Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. This National Park is high in the Olympic Range with sweeping views of the surrounding mountains, the salt water of The Strait of Juan de Fuca and the southern coastline of Vancouver Island in Canada. This is a place I have been to quite a few times and while my friends went off to explore and shoot on their own, I set off to a high viewpoint to film a time lapse of the clouds forming over a valley. This park is not only a beautiful alpine vista, but it’s home to black tail deer, black bear, mountain lions and mountains goats just to name a few. The first three are endemic to the area while the mountain goat, although endemic

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Seeing Light at Night

Just because the sun has gone down doesn’t mean its time to put the camera away Whether I’m out in nature or wandering a city, I am just as likely to be spotted with my camera and tripod close by at night as I am by day. Not only do you tend to have places that by day might have hundreds if not thousands of people roaming around and taking similar photographs to yours, you also have an opportunity to see and capture light differently than most people ever will. After all, no matter what time it is you are creating an image; you are only capturing how the light falls on your subject. In fact the word photography literally means to draw or write with light. At night subtleties of light and color are much more pronounced and the dynamic range of your scene (the difference from bright to

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Making RAW Files Less Scary

  I have worked in the camera industry for almost 15 years, and watched the evolution from film to digital take place. It doesn’t matter if I was behind the counter selling cameras at stores or these days if I am teaching a class or a workshop, when you say, “Shoot RAW, not JPEG,” there are always gasps of opposition to it. “But I have to edit every photo,” they say. “The files are sooooo big!!!” is intoned over and over. I myself, what seems like eons ago, was one of those people. Once I learned what a RAW file is and exactly why its a better way to capture images I never went back to shooting JPEG’s. Here is an example of the power of RAW. When I was taking the image on the left I wanted to make sure not to loose the sunlight spilling from the clouds

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