Twin Peaks Wilderness

Way overdue for a blog post. Thought I'd share a couple of brand new images from a hike last Friday to Lake Blanche, Florence, and Lillian in Salt Lake County's Twin Peaks Wilderness. This is one of my favorite Wasatch Mountain destinations and sometimes it feels as if I've taken the same photographs over and over again. Sundial Peak reflecting in Lake Blanche is such a great image it's practically impossible not to photograph. Just beware of falling into the trap of trying to include everything (sky, mountain, and lake) in every frame. On this day I focused my energy and my lens on some of the details that make this place so magical, and by including less created stronger images.

Life Aquatic, Lake Blanche, Twin Peaks Wilderness, Utah

Cedar Waxwing

One morning in early June as I contemplated heading to the mouth of Emigration Canyon for a quick birding expedition, I noticed a commotion in the mulberry tree adjacent to and overhanging my back yard. Apparently the mulberries were at their peak of appeal to the neighborhood birds.

The commotion was twenty or so American robins battling for control of the tree and generally coming to rest in perfectly spaced zones until displaced by another robin entering their zone with a flourish of wing beats. Several other smaller species feasted as well, but with less bravado, including one of my favorites, the Cedar waxwing.

For about a week the mulberries were like candy to the birds, and the clear whistles of waxwings were constant. I photographed them several times during this week and was able to make a few nice portraits. This one is my favorite.

2013 Utah Arts Festival

Carmelite Monastery, Highway 1, California

Swing by my booth (#35) at this year's Utah Arts Festival, June 20th thru the 23rd, 2013 on Library Square in downtown Salt Lake City. I will be offering a huge selection of one-of-a-kind hand made pigment transfer prints on paper, canvas, wood, stone, and even metallic surfaces. The festival runs from noon till 11pm daily. For more info check the festival website.

Pelican Panorama

American White Pelicans, Baylands, California

Keeping with the bird theme - this post was originally published November 21, 2012.

This is my first ever wildlife panorama, stitched together from four generously overlapped horizontal frames shot handheld. Come to think of it, this has to be my first handheld panorama, as well. Shot at a fast enough shutter speed, camera shake wasn’t an issue. Movement of individual birds during the sequence wasn’t an issue either, as I was careful to allow a generous amount of overlap between frames, around fifty percent, and place the edge of each frame between pelicans. I also needed to leave enough room around the line of pelicans to crop in on the panorama slightly in case my individual frames didn’t line up perfectly, which they didn’t.
These birds crack me up; they’re like caricatures from some cartoon. Not only do they fly in line, they stand in line as well. The Sibley guide uses the adjective ponderous to describe them. Slightly larger than a male turkey, their landings may not be graceful, in the air they soar on nine foot wingspans.

The Birds Are Back In Town

Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus), City Creek Canyon Utah — Black-headed Grosbeak (*Pheucticus melanocephalus*), City Creek Canyon Utah

A short hike in City Creek Canyon reveals a number of migratory bird species back in town from their wintering grounds. I was able to see and photograph Lazuli Bunting, Black-headed Grosbeak, Western Tanager, Chipping Sparrow, and Black-chinned Hummingbird. Made some progress on my Western Tanager trophy shot, but I haven't nailed it just yet.

Western Tanager

The Western Tanagers are in. I just found out a few days ago, on a short hike in Killian Canyon, where I was lucky enough to capture this image. The subject is sublime, even the situation with spring green leaves and red branches of dogwood creating the backdrop is ideal. The execution leaves room for improvement, and I'm looking forward to trying.

Really the only thing wrong with this image is the blurry foreground branches cutting across and cluttering the frame. However, they're also likely what's making this bird comfortable enough to stay put for a moment at close range. The compositions in my mind may require a lot of time in the field or very cooperative birds, and quite possibly both.

Not too many weeks ago I was staring at the snowy ramparts east of Salt Lake and daydreaming about photography in the high cirques of the Wasatch. Seeing flashes of red in the greening canyon bottoms has fixated my mind on other photographic goals. Right now is the time to be in the green zone photographing brightly colored birds alighted on flowering branches, as if in an Audubon print.

California Birding

Golden-crowned Sparrow, Baylands, California

Originally published December 7, 2012

It’s been over a month since I was in California, but before moving on, I wanted to share a little about my new discovery. (Thanks, Chris) At the south end of the San Francisco Bay, on the edge of the city of Palo Alto is Baylands Nature Preserve, a premier west coast birding location. Preserving one of the largest tracts of undisturbed marshland in San Francisco Bay, Baylands has fifteen miles of trails through the wetlands. You don’t have to go far to see a wide variety of birds though. In fact, as soon as I was out of the car, I was greeted by a Northern Mockingbird. The highlight of the afternoon was seeing and hearing flocks of Marbled Godwit and American Avocet take to the air en masse and circle around. The numbers of birds and the variety was truly inspiring. Here’s a link to a map of birding hot-spots for Baylands, and a list of bird species and the time of year they’re likely to be seen.