Swiftcurrent Lake, Glacier National Park

As I mentioned in an earlier post I wasn’t blessed with great weather while in Glacier National Park. However, sometimes the clouds in the sky can provide interesting pieces to an image so it isn’t always bad. The worst is when the sky is completely grey and overcast because at that point you have to do everything you can to minimize how much of the sky you show in the picture. Those are good days to shoot waterfalls, forests, etc… where you can minimize the appearance of the sky – if you show it all – but when you are on vacation and only in a place for a limited number of days it is frustrating since you can’t shoot what you want to. On my second morning in GNP the wind was howling as the storm was starting to role in. Several times I felt my tripod was going to blow over as I sat trying to photograph the sunrise. The colors never changed but the clouds were moving fast so I put an ND filter on my lens in order to keep the shutter open longer and catch some of the motion in the sky.

Photo of the Day – Windy Morning Swiftcurrent Lake

I have decided to post less frequently going forward – instead of daily it will likely only be three or four days a week. I’ve made it 550 straight days and the initial intention was that by making it daily I would have to do something everyday – it became an addiction and an obsession really – but unfortunately it simply stopped being ‘fun’ trying to post a picture on a daily basis. It started to feel more like a job and that isn’t what I set out to do when I started this journey into photography/blogging. I started with photography to be a stress reliever but it turned out the keeping up with posting everyday was actually doing the opposite and stressing me out more and more. A few weeks ago, I left a bar and friends early just so I could get home and post an image by midnight and that is just a bit ridiculous to feel like it needs to be that consistent. Therefore, I’m going to tone it back a bit and start remembering why I got into this in the first place and that is to have fun and enjoy the process of taking and producing photos.

I also want to continue to grow as a photographer and right now it seems I’m doing the same things in order to get an image up each and everyday which limits my opportunity to try new things. Spending a half-hour/hour each day on the blog has been satisfying but I feel like it has also kept me stuck in a rut a bit.

“If you’re having difficulty coming up with new ideas, then slow down. For me, slowing down has been a tremendous source of creativity. It has allowed me to open up — to know that there’s life under the earth and that I have to let it come through me in a new way. Creativity exists in the present moment. You can’t find it anywhere else.”

–Natalie Goldberg

Winter in the Rockies

I flew last year on September 11th as well but unlike last year I wasn’t at the airport for the moment of silence that all of them have. However, flying on this date is unlike any other – it is quieter, more somber (probably as it should be) – and much less busy. My flight from LA to Chicago which is normally packed is essentially empty. Sure it is a Wednesday but I typically don’t have rows around me empty as I did when I just looked to change seats. Maybe people purposely avoid flying on this date – I didn’t do it by choice – but I can’t imagine that other business travelers somehow can avoid this date completely.

Photo of the Day – Winter in the Rockies

Winter comes early in the Rockies – when I’m in Rocky Mountain National Park in November this is probably how the Dream Lake area will look. The lake may not be completely frozen yet but the tops of the mountain will be snow covered. I’m off to Glacier National Park in ten days. It will be my first trip back to Montana since I went to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons shortly after college. Admittedly, the grizzlies scare me quite a bit so I will not be hiking (solo) before sunrise like I typically do in RMNP where bear sightings are a very rare thing (and black bears at that). However, I’ll still be out at sunrise for pictures and staying out past sunset to get that beautiful light. I’ll just make sure to stay a little closer to civilization while doing it…..just in case.

Long Forgotten

An early morning hike in the Rockies in February – I misplaced some of these (on my hard drive of all places) and didn’t think I’d be able to find them but I was browsing through some pictures of Dearborn, Michigan and apparently had mislabeled them. Fortunately, I was able to find them. As I was going through the processing I decided to use a filter preset from OnOne Software called ‘Long Forgotten’ which puts a slight vintage edge onto the photo.

Photo of the Day – Hallett Peak

Also, some big news in the photo industry today as Google acquired software/filter maker Nik Software. This should mean big things for Google+ as they will probably integrate their software into the app. Flickr is getting some competition in the social/photo sharing community. I wonder what Flickr will do in response?

Every Second Counts

I read this quote earlier and it almost made me speechless – this captures my feelings on the subject perfectly:

“Hell is when we look back during that fraction of a second [at the end of life] and know that we wasted an opportunity to dignify the miracle of life. Paradise is being able to say at that moment: I made some mistakes but I wasn’t a coward. I lived my life and did what I had to do.”

Wow…it’s from the book “Aleph” by Paulo Coelho. I strive every day to ensure I don’t wind up facing the abyss wondering ‘what if’ or ‘why not’ – make every second count.

Photo of the Day – Early Morning Light on Bear Lake

I spent the earliest part of the sunrise on the other side of the lake catching the sun come up over the trees but ultimately made my way to this spot to catch some of the first rays landing on one of the peaks of the Rocky Mountains. I made every second count that day – early morning, late night and another early morning the next day. I’ll sleep when I’m dead.

Rocky Reflection

The wildfires going on in Colorado are crazy. I’ve been paying some attention but didn’t realize the extent of it until I spoke with a friend who lives in the area who told me that in some areas they are the worst ever.

Here is a picture I took last year as I was just getting into photography. It may have been my first sunrise shot since I woke up early and drove into the park to see the sun come up. I really didn’t know what to do but I knew I wanted to capture the reflection on the Lake.

Photo of the Day