|
|
|
|
Greetings,
Well, I missed November's newsletter. Tracy (the wife) and Sydney (the labradoodle) and I were on an RV trip to Arizona for a good portion of the month.
So I'm making up for it this month. Read through to the end, its definitely worth your while, especially if you enjoy tall tales of selfless heroism in the face of abject fear!
|
|
Lofoten Islands 2027
Earlier this year, I visited the Lofoten Islands in Norway for the first time. I brought two groups with me, and it was a great experience with breathtaking scenery, humor, and fun. I loved it. You can read the tour report here.
And it was so much fun and so awe inspiring that I want to go back. So, I’ve arranged another tour for Jan. 29 - Feb. 5, 2027, a little over a year from now. And from now until the end of January 31, 2026, readers of this newsletter will get $200 off the price.
Tour details and pictures can be found here. And to get $200 off, visit the early-bird page and use the password ARCTIC.
|
|
Backblaze
Recently, during a post-tour Zoom meeting for our auroras tour in Yellowknife, the subject of off-site backups was raised. My co-leader John Barclay mentioned a service he uses: Backblaze.
Backblaze Personal Computer Backup is cloud based, continuous, and unlimited. It will back up your computer and whatever drives you have connected to it continuously. And it will do this for only $100/yr.
I decided to give it a go and signed up a couple of weeks ago. The initial backup process takes quite a while, depending on how much data you have and how fast your internet upload connection is. My upload speed is somewhere between 5 and 20 Mbps and the initial backup is still going on! But it’s all getting backed up. And most importantly, it’s off-site.
My current off-site backup system involves backing up my images, catalogs, and important business records to an external drive and storing that drive in a safety deposit box. You might be able to imagine how often I go to the safety deposit box to retrieve that drive, then run a backup and then return the drive. Not often and not regularly. It makes me a little nervous. Backblaze takes that worry away and for around the same cost (or less) as the safety deposit box.
And until January 1, you can get 30% off, which made signing up a no-brainer for me.
I have no affiliation with Backblaze, just wanted to pass this along.
More info on the Backblaze site.
|
|
Sitka whales
There’s still time to join me in Sitka this March to photograph Humpback whales engaging in bubble-net feeding, probably the most spectacular wildlife behavior I’ve ever witnessed. We’ll also see bald eagles and other birds, fishing boats, possibly other kinds of whales and marine mammals and, of course, the stunning Alaskan scenery.
I still have room for few more people!
|
|
The Palouse
Have you been to the Palouse region of Washington State yet? It’s one of my favorite places to photograph, which is why I've gone back year after year for the last 20-some year. (The advantage of being a Washington native.)
Anyway, this June 16-21 I’ll again be leading a small group of no more than six or seven photographers to this area of colorful rolling hills, old barns and houses, classic old trucks, and the unparalleled aerial view from Steptoe Butte.
Besides the variety of subjects to photograph, the Palouse offers opportunities for making creative choices with filters or using infrared cameras. I don’t own an infrared camera, so I use my Maven IR 720 filter (affiliate link) to capture the infrared spectrum. It’s great fun after the morning light flattens out.
When there are clouds in the sky, I also like to pop on one of my neutral density filters and capture the movement of the clouds drifting by. They also come in handy when the wheat’s being blown around.
Being in a small group is very conducive to idea sharing and collaboration and you’ll probably get to try something you may not have thought of before. The Palouse really is an area that sparks that creative light.
Interested in joining me? Visit my Palouse page for more details and to sign up.
|
|
Olympic and Bandon
Another advantage of being a Washington native is that I’ve had the privilege to spend a lot of time in Olympic National Park. From backpacking trips to day visits to leading a bunch of photo workshops. It’s safe to say that Olympic is my favorite of all the national parks (Zion is a close second).
This May I’m co-leading an Olympic workshop with my friend and long-time photo workshop and tour leader, Margo Pinkerton. In fact, we’re co-leading a pair of workshops: Olympic National Park and Bandon, OR.
Olympic features old growth rain forests, streams and waterfalls, possible sightings of banana slugs and other native wildlife, and the wild Olympic coast with its sea stacks and colorful beach rocks.
In Bandon we’ll photograph what is arguably the best set of sea stacks on the coast, crashing waves, the gardens and shoreline cliffs of Shore Acres State park, harbors, lighthouses, old town Bandon, and more.
Hope you can join us for one or both!
|
|
2025 Favorites
I've posted a slide show of a few of my 2025 favorites over on my blog!
|
|
Tarantula
You may remember from my last newsletter that I was nearly swallowed by a bog during the Yellowknife tours.
Well, I wasn’t through risking my life!
During our RV trip to Arizona in November I came face to face with a fearsome nemesis: a giant tarantula spider.
Ok, I may be exaggerating just a bit. I should probably say “relatively giant.” Because it was the biggest spider I’ve ever encountered in the wild. It was about the size of a silver dollar. Maybe a bit bigger (and it will get bigger the more I tell this story). But as far as tarantulas go, I guess it was kind of small. (Those who know me know that I’m not a big fan of the spiders. Not at all.)
 We encountered this monster in a closed loop of the campground we were staying at. It was just walking in the road until we came along. I managed to sum up the courage to place myself in harm’s way so I could take these pictures on my iPhone. I may have annoyed it into raising its arms. I definitely annoyed it. I’m just thankful that Syndey didn’t see it before we did or she might have tried to eat it.
The very next day, at around the same time, I was riding my bike in the very same loop and saw another tarantula of the same size, walking the road and going the same direction as the first. I tried to get in front of it and take another picture, but it was having none of that, just ignoring me and continuing on its way. I was able to get this picture though, which shows the size of the beast.
Then, a bit later, I saw another in the loop we were camped in. Only this one had already met up with a car tire.
Come to find out, it was migration/mating season for these tarantulas and that’s why they were out in the light of day and in the open. And despite their ominous sounding name (and the fact that they’re SPIDERS), they’re really quite harmless. I even contemplated letting one crawl on my hand. Contemplated.
(No tarantulas were harmed or stomped or squished by me during the making of these pictures. They were only slightly annoyed. As if I know the relative level of annoyance a tarantula feels.)
|
|
Thank You!
 As a thank you for being a subscriber to my newsletter, I’ve created a discount code of 26% (for 2026!) off any purchase made through Jan. 1st in my art shop.
The discount code is “newsletter”
Click here to visit my shop.
And if you’ve seen any pictures of mine you like that are not in the shop, let me know and I’ll add them. If I can’t add them before the code expires due to travel or other time constraints, I’ll create a new code for you.
Happy Holidays everyone! See you in the New Year.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
