|
|
|
|
Greetings,
Discriminating readers may have noticed the absence of an October newsletter. That’s because I was still in Yellowknife dealing with those pesky auroras!
 And upon my return, I tested positive for Covid (yes, it’s still a thing). Fortunately, I was fully vaxxed and fully boosted so the effects weren’t horrible.
For me it was like dealing with a summer allergy attack, which makes me sneezy, coughy, sore and grumpy.
Since my last newsletter I’ve been to Newport, Yellowknife, Silver Falls, and Bandon.
And I just found out about a new filter company.
So let’s get caught up!
|
|
Newport
This workshop in early September featured a wonderful afternoon photographing waves crashing over and around sea stacks. The beach just north of Seal Rocks State Park is the perfect place to play with these waves. We experimented with different shutter speeds, using neutral density filters to get different effects from the moving water. One of my favorite images was the above image, where the waves crashing over the foreground rock created a waterfall while another wave crashed over the rock just behind. I then converted it to black and white.
 One morning we went to Seal Rocks State Park to photograph the sinuous trees near the parking lot. I had been hoping for a foggy/misty morning, but instead we had an extended golden hour thanks to the smoke in the sky (due to the wildfires in the mountains).
I’ve always loved these trees but have never, until now, spent some real quality time with them. I may need to go back to Newport next year. Let me know if a Newport workshop interests you. Possibly in late July or mid-October.
|
|
Yellowknife
It was wonderful to once again be under those magical auroras.
 One night started out cloudy, but the auroras were going strong above the clouds and we photographed green-tinged cloudy skies, what I call Harry Potter skies. Maybe they should be Death Eater skies…
At any rate, after a while, there were breaks in the sky and colors started to really show through.
Since we were going to be there in late September to early October, I anticipated that the fall color would be well past its peak. As luck would have it, the colors were still looking great when I arrived on the 18th of October and held up rather well for at least the next week.
 By the second week though, wind and nature had its way, and the fall color was fading. But we were still able to find some nice pockets and some of late color in the Tamarack trees (Larch, here in the USA) actually peaked.
Next year’s tours will be in the September 6-21 date range. Each of the two tours will be limited to five or six participants. I’ve got an early notify list going (and filling) and if you want to be added to that, let me know.
|
|
Silver Falls/Bandon
To end my workshops/tours year, I finished off with a quick trip to Oregon that included both Silver Falls State Park and Bandon.
Autumn in the Pacific Northwest has been strange. Most of October saw temperatures that were much higher than normal. I think that influenced the fall color in Silver Falls. In some areas, the color seemed way past peak, in others, it seemed that the peak was still a week or two away.
 The best sunsets in Bandon are said to be in October. We had two sunsets there and one of them was pretty good.
We were also hoping for a huge crashing wave during high tide at Shore Acres State Park. But that also requires some wind and a bit of storm surge, something that’s not out of the question at the end of October. However, the weather that day was stunningly beautiful so we just enjoyed the park.
Fittingly, the storms arrived as soon as I got home.
|
|
Maven Filters
I just happened to be trolling YouTube when I saw Nick Page’s review of Maven Filters, a new company that makes magnetic filters. Nick has some high praise for these new filters so I wandered over to the Kickstarter campaign page to look into them further.
A set of these color-coded filters (very cool idea) contains a circular polarizer, 3-stop, 6-stop, and 10-stop Neutral Density (ND) filters, and what they call a “splash filter.” Basically a protection/UV filter. It also comes with a magnetic lens cap and a filter case.
 I’ve been thinking about updating my ND filter set, which is made up of filters from three different manufacturers and exhibiting three different color casts. It’s annoying.
The image to the left was made last July at Rialto Beach in Olympic National Park using a 6-stop ND. I've been using these filters more and more lately. When using a DSLR, the viewfinder gets so dark that I can't see what I'm doing. This means taking off the filter, setting composition, and then screwing the filter back on. Tedious and time consuming. Not to mention that it's not the safest thing to do when one is standing in the path of oncoming surf. So suffice it to say that I need these magnetic filters to protect my very life. (How's that for an excuse to buy new camera gear? Feel free to use it.)
I decided to back the campaign and should be receiving a set of filters by sometime in February.
As of this writing, there are about two days left in the campaign. If you’re interested in getting a set of magnetic filters at the Kickstarter price, click on over to the Kickstarter page for Maven Filters.
I'll let you know what I think of these filters after I get them and have had a chance to play.
|
|
2023 Workshops
 I currently have room in all of my posted workshops. They include:
Great Smokies National Park and North Carolina Waterfalls workshops with Cliff Zenor in late April and early May.
Olympic National Park in May
The Palouse in June
Other trips soon to be posted include:
- Sitka Whales and more in March and August
- Fall Colors of Colorado based out of Ouray, in October
- Bosque del Apache in late November
- White Sands in Early December
|
|
In Closing
Hope you all have a warm and peaceful Thanksgiving.
I also hope my Seahawks keep playing the way they have been. Such a pleasant surprise this year!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
