Yesterday evening I noticed that it looked like it might be a good sunset.  There was a little haze on the horizon and I hoped that would translate into great evening colors in the sky.  So I grabbed my camera gear, convinced my youngest son to step away from his Nintendo 3DS and headed out on a mini adventure.  We headed out to one of my favorite locations which is only a 10 minute drive away where you can walk out into a marshy area on the edges of a lake.  We arrived a little later than I had hoped thanks to Friday evening rush hour traffic and so the sun was already starting to fall behind the hills in the distance.  We walked quickly out toward the marshy area as the light continued to change colors.  Finally we found an area to setup and I noticed what I think are Teasels (I’m not a plant guy) with these cone structures that were creating a great silhouette against the evening sky.  I grabbed my Canon 7D with the 70-200 f/2.8L IS II attached and snapped this photo.

These Teasels silhouetted against the sunset made for a really compelling image.

These teasels were everywhere and really made an interesting display against the sky.  I snapped a few more with multiple cones in the frame.

More teasels silhouetted against a beautiful sunset.

This time of year there are thousands of geese and other waterfowl inhabiting the pockets of water in the wetlands surrounding the lake.  We could hear the Canada geese honking and making quite a racket in the distance.  Occasionally we would hear a large group take flight in the distance.  Out of the corner of my eye I caught a small group flying from my right and quickly grabbed my 70-200 to capture the following image of several geese silhouetted against the colorful sky.  I really love the various layers in this image from the darker foreground slowly giving way to the lighter hills in the distance followed by the geese flying through the lighter colors of the sunset.

Caught these geese out of the corner of my eye and managed to capture them against the setting sun.

The sun was now dipping behind the horizon and the golden light rapidly diminishing into the colder tones of twilight.  We started to head back since it was freezing outside and my son was getting tired.  We briefly stopped to photograph the reflections on the pockets of water in the wetlands area we were walking through.

Sunset is now leading into twilight but the thin glow along the horizon made for some great reflections in the wetlands.

Suddenly we heard the cacophony of honking and thunder of wings as a large group of geese took flight nearby.  Hundreds of geese were suddenly flying overhead.  It was pretty incredible and my son was just amazed and in awe.  We captured a bit of what we saw and heard in this short 44 second video.

It was a great evening and we managed to capture some great images and were treated to a great display of flying geese.

“How do geese know when to fly to the sun? Who tells them the seasons? How do we, humans know when it is time to move on? As with the migrant birds, so surely with us, there is a voice within if only we would listen to it, that tells us certainly when to go forth into the unknown.” ~ Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

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We’ve had a lot of rain recently thanks to some late winter storms that finally dropped some snow in the mountains.  But the rain and now rising snow lines has created an excess of water that quickly finds it’s way into the river basins.  I took my boys down to Alton Baker Park in Eugene to check out the Willamette River and see how high the water was.  It’s pretty incredible to see the amount of water flowing right now.

While we were there we bumped into a photographer for the Register Guard who was sporting a sweet 300mm Canon lens and a monopod.  I’ve never used a monopod but I can sure see that they would be handy with that big 300mm.  I was using my Canon 7D with the 70-200 f/2.8L IS II attached and took a few photos of ducks that were enjoying floating down the now submerged bike path.

The regal head of the mighty mallard.

I’m still getting used to the focusing on the Canon 7D.  It’s quite different from my Canon 5D Mark II and I haven’t spent nearly enough time trying to figure it out and practice with it more.  I’m not sure I nailed the focus with these duck photos due to my inexperience with the 7D.  I will say that the 70-200 f/2.8L IS II is an incredible lens that is worth every penny of it’s high price.

A pair of mallards happy with the flooding.

I had the Canon 5D Mark II with me as well and used it with the Canon 17-40 f/4L mounted on a tripod to take some  landscape images of the flood waters.  I really like this combination and typically go to it quite frequently.  I saw this sign on the edge of the flood waters and got a kick out of it.  I used a Topaz Labs Adjust 5 filter during post processing to give it a gritty HDR-like effect.  I think it really brought the sky out better.

This sign cracks me up a bit.

Just down from the sign was a park bench now surrounded by water.  I create one image in color and one in black & white.  I definitely prefer the black & white version.  Which do you prefer and why?  These were both long exposure images so the water looks really smooth as a result.

Water front park bench - wetsuit required.

Also in black & white which is my favorite.

I prefer this black & white version. What about you?

The rain clouds were starting to move in again and we began to feel the first rain drops of the approaching storm.  We hustled up the steps of the DeFazio bike bridge and despite the increasing rain had to stop and take a few shots from above the raging Willamette River.  I decided to shoot facing west toward the approaching rain and with a great view of the Ferry Street bridge.  I chose to do two different post treatments of this image; one with a slight HDR effect and the other with a bit of a boost in saturation.  I’d be interested to see which you prefer.

This one has a slight HDR effect applied during post with Topaz Labs Adjust Plugin.

This image was taken with a longer shutter speed to really show the speed of the water racing below.  I think it came out quite well.

I applied a bit more saturation to this one. It's subtle.

It was a great time watching the water and taking some photos.  My boys enjoyed wading and throwing rocks and sticks in.  As the drops of rain quickened we made it back to the parking lot and the car without getting too wet.  I keep all my photo gear in a LowePro CompuTrekker backpack that has it’s own waterproof rain cover.  It worked wonderfully.  I hope you enjoyed the photos.  Let me know which you liked best.

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Every year the family and I make the 1+ hour drive north to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn Oregon to take in the acres upon acres of colorful blooming tulips.  It’s really an amazing experience and one we enjoy as a family.  If you find yourself in Oregon around March and April go check it out.

I’ve been sitting on literally hundreds of photos I took at the tulip festival for several years now.  From time to time I will go back through them and process and re-process a few.  Today it dark and dreary and raining all day long so I thought why not cheer myself up with some colorful tulip photos to remind myself that it won’t be long again until the tulip festival kicks off again.  I post a few now for your enjoyment.

Tulips come in every shade of color imaginable.

I can’t say that I am ever really happy with an image.  There are many that I really like and enjoy but I always seem to be tinkering with them, processing them in different ways, playing with different crops, experimenting.  Often my original vision will change and an image will transform into something completely different.  And I’m OK with that.  I like being able to create different versions.

It's literally a sea of blooming tulips at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival.

Now that I have the Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS macro in my lens arsenal I’m really looking forward to the tulip festival this year.  Being able to take some macro shots of individual tulip bulbs is going to be pretty incredible.  Despite the doldrums of the heavy rains today winter will soon be fading giving way to Spring and what will hopefully be an incredible wildflower season.

Love the white fringing on the petals of this red tulip.

I hope you enjoyed these few tulip photos.  They are just a few of the many that I continue to work through.  You can check out more of my 2011 tulip photos on my Flickr site here and  my 2010 tulip photos over here.

Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars… and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful.  Everything is simply happy.  Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance.  Look at the flowers – for no reason.  It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.  ~Osho

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Last month I purchased the Canon 100mm f/2.8 IS Macro lens.  Previously the only macro capability I had was the macro setting on my Tamron 28-75 f/2.8.  The Tamron isn’t bad at macro shots with a minimum focusing distance of 13 inches but it’s not in the same ballpark as the Canon 100mm which is billed as a true “macro” lens.  Today I spent some time playing around with the Canon macro on the Canon 5D Mark II.  I took some photos of pantry items like eggs, lentils and then a Chinese New Year “red envelope” my youngest brought home from school today.

Even at f/11 the depth of field is really thin.

I practiced a bit on a carton of eggs.  One of the things I noticed in taking this image is that even at f/11 the depth of field is still really thin.  For all of these photos I had the camera on a tripod and was using manual focus.  For the eggs it was a bit tough to focus on the white shells so I don’t think I nailed the focus on this one where I wanted to.  The minimum focusing distance on this lens is about 1 foot meaning you can get in really close like with these lentils.

I love the color of these lentils.

With this lentil shot I was focusing as close as I could and lit the shot with a single Canon 580EXII flash in a Lumiquest Softbox III. I wanted the spilled lentils to be in sharp focus while the remaining lentils in the jar blurred.  Even though these lentils look orange in color they are either red lentils or pink lentils (we have both kinds and I didn’t label them).

Inside this "red envelope" my son brought home from school was a chocolate candy.

My son brought home a red envelope from school today where they learned about the Chinese New Year celebrations and culture.  He proudly informed me that this is the Year of the Dragon.  So I took his envelope and decided to see how much detail and color I could get with the 100 macro.  It’s pretty impressive.

I still have lots to learn and get used to about this lens but I have to say my initial impressions are very good.  I love how close I can focus with this lens and am looking forward to Spring flower season.  I also love that it has a wide aperture of f/2.8 which means it should perform well in low light situations and with the image stabilization (IS) shooting handheld at slower shutter speeds should still produce sharp images.  Next I’ll try some portraits as I think this lens would make a great portrait lens.  Let’s see if I can get my kids to sit still for a bit.

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One aspect of photography that I’ve always struggled with is printing my photographic work.  I would love if the image I see on my screen matched the image that gets printed but far too often that doesn’t seem to be the case and it’s frustrating.  I’ve really noticed the difficulty in matching up the two when it comes to bright colors like reds, oranges and yellows.  For example I’ve been trying to get a nice print of some tulips and having some real difficulty in getting the correct color of the reds where it doesn’t change hue or intensity.

It’s been incredibly frustrating and trying so when I saw that Craft & Vision was coming out with a new e-book called Making the Print – Printing Techniques For the Digital Photographer by Martin Bailey I knew I had to pick it up and see if it contained the secrets I needed to overcome my printing trials and tribulations.

I had really high expectations for this book and in many ways those expectations were met and in some ways I felt there were some missing pieces.  When it comes to a great overview of the techniques and tools involved in making a print this book really excels.  It does however focus entirely on printing via your own printers and not necessarily using a lab or service (which is what I currently do).  But with that being said, the principles and techniques should work equally as well in each situation.  I had just hoped that there would be some specific information related to off-site printing.  However, the techniques Martin presents can be applied even if you utilize a lab or off-site service.

The e-book starts out talking about various printers and paper types and a few of the common problems seen when first starting out printing, namely that the prints come out looking too dark.  I’ve seen this as well and the solution presented is to simply lower the brightness of your monitor.  I’m using a Lacie 321 which has a built in color calibrator that automatically connects to the monitor and adjusts it to my specifications.  As far as I am aware I cannot independently control the brightness of my monitor.  Instead I have the option to increase or decrease the luminance setting which I’m not sure is the same thing.

This book does go into detail about using a color calibrator to not only calibrate your monitor but also your printer and camera.  I was really hoping for big things in this section as I have had a lot of questions regarding color calibration and what settings should be selected but unfortunately they were not answered in this book.  There was no mention of what gamma, white point or luminance settings should be selected or what each really means.  But despite this there was still a lot of good useful information and if you are just getting started with color calibration and profiling you will definitely find this section very useful.

There is a great section on printer calibration using tools like the X-Rite i1Profiler but again, if you are using an online lab this is not something you would be doing as in most cases you would utilize the printer profile provided by the lab.

One section that I found really useful was the section on soft proofing.  I’ve been soft proofing my images trying to get them to better match what I see on my screen and using the printer profiles I download from the various labs I print from. Recently I started using a technique of adjusting saturation on only those areas that are out of gamut and have been having some success.  Currently I do all my soft proofing in Photoshop although I have heard that in the recent Lightroom 4 beta that is out that soft proofing is an option now.  I’m looking forward to checking that out if that is indeed the case.

So while there were a few things with this book that didn’t meet my high expectations (namely profiling for external labs and monitor calibration) there were plenty of other things that did meet and exceed them and for me make this book a worthy purchase, especially for anyone that wants to start printing their own prints at home.

The book is broken into two sections, a getting started section that talks about the buying a printer, selecting paper, making a print, printing with borders and evaluating your work.  The second section steps it up and goes into color management namely monitor and printer calibration, profiles, soft-proofing as well as discussing different types of papers and inks, large format printers and finally wraps up going into detail about gallery wraps.

I definitely recommend Making the Print for anyone that wants to print their own work.  For anyone that wants to use a lab to print the information is still relevant but doesn’t’ specifically address that particular situation.  But at only $4 for a limited time using code PRINT4 ($5 after January 21st) you really can’t go wrong if you have any interest at all in printing your photos.

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As a photographer that loves to travel and photograph people, cultures and landscapes it’s important to me that I am able to at the very least speak a bit of the local language.  Not only is it helpful in getting around and making sure that what you just ordered isn’t going to blow your socks off by being too spicy, but it’s also a way to show respect to the people and country you are a guest of.

I’ve been married to my wife who is Indonesian for over 10 years now and I’m really embarrassed to admit that I still cannot speak her native language.  I really have no one to blame but myself and I take full ownership of this failure.  So with this being a new year I have made it a challenge to learn to speak fluent Indonesian by the end of the year.  That’s 12 full months to start learning and building good language habits.

Recently my friend Tristan King who runs the popular blog Language Musings has made it a little bit easier for me to start building those learning habits and explore some different ways of learning a foreign language by publishing his methods in a book called “Conquering Foreign Languages – An Uncommon Guide to Reaching Fluency in Any Language”.  Tristan has a genuine passion for helping others make language learning a part of their everyday lifestyle.

At the start of the book Tristan talks about who this guide is for:

• You have tried to learn languages and given up because it was too hard, you didn’t have time, or couldn’t find the motivation.  CHECK!
• You are interested but haven’t tried to learn yet because you think it will be too difficult. BEEN THERE!
• Are learning a new language now but are not progressing as fast as you want to. CHECK!
• Have always wanted to visit exotic places and blend in with the locals, or impress your partner who speaks another language. MY PRIME INCENTIVE!

The thing I love about this book is that Tristan is so down to earth and realistic with the tips he provides.  He writes as a person that has struggled through many of the same things that I have.  At the end of each section he provides an “Action Plan” with steps to take and things to do to get you thinking about language learning and then doing it.  For example, in section I of the book one of the things he talks about is learning the quirkiness of language and then challenges you to find and use three quirky words or phrases in your target language.  I can definitely relate to this one as I find that some of the more strange Indonesian words are the ones I more easily remember regardless of whether I will ever use them in the future.

Sprinkled throughout the book are Tristans own personal experiences with learning languages with specific examples of the techniques he talks about.  One of the biggest things I took away from his experiences was that I don’t need to remember every single little thing about Indonesian.  I’d often find myself memorizing phrases and words that I knew I would probably never use.  I just need to remember the words that I think I will use on a regular basis.  For this Tristan talks about different ways of remembering vocabulary and making word associations.

Recently my kids and I posted sticky-notes on all the items around the house with their Indonesian names.  On the chairs we posted “kursi” and on the table “meja”.  When we go outside we see a sticky note on the door that says “pintu”.  It’s a great way to always be reminded of and thinking about your target language.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and along with my podcasts from Learning Indonesian is a great tool for helping me build my Indonesian language learning skills.  If you are struggling or have struggled with learning a language this book will give you some actionable ideas on how to rapidly improve your language learning.  Like most things though what you get out of it is only equal to what you put into it.  No book will teach you how to speak a language.  It takes effort and dedication to put in the time learning and practicing.

“Conquering Foreign Languages – An Uncommon Guide to Reaching Fluency in Any Language” is available in PDF as well as Kindle for $7.99.

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We never intended to be walking the trail in darkness so how did we now find ourselves blindly stumbling down the now barely visible path? Late in the day on Sunday we had decided to do a family hike up Spencer Butte in Eugene for some well needed exercise. We pulled into the parking lot and realized that half of Eugene had the same idea as the parking lot was full. So we decided to take the longer way and backtracked to a different trail head which was a bit longer of a hike but where there were a few parking spaces free.

Spencer Butte is a noticeable landmark on the cities southern border and tops out at 2055 feet. The last half mile or so is a scramble over rocky outcroppings but the rest of the trail winds through beautiful green forests. From the trail head we made our way up through a field of brown grass and into the edge of the forest. Here there were old-growth trees towering overhead. The trail was wet and muddy from recent rains but this only made it more enjoyable for my kids. The trail had several switchbacks as we climbed higher and higher through the forest where breaks in the trees offered views of the city below.

Finally we reached a junction in the trail and had a decision to make. We had just hiked 1.3 miles and the summit was still another 1.25 miles. The sun was quickly sinking and I really wanted to get to the top and capture some sunset photos. We took a quick family poll and the vote was to continue to the top. In the back of my mind I made a mental note that we didn’t bring a light with us for the hike back but this thought was quickly overruled by my desire to get a good sunset shot.

After a bit more hiking and some time to allow for my lungs to catch up to the rest of me we made the summit. We had just missed the setting sun but the glow was beautiful and made for some stunning photographs.

The view of the afterglow from the setting sun from the top of Spencer Butte.

There were still lots of people at the top all watching the sun first disappear and then finally the afterglow melting away into the deepening blue color of dusk.  It was dark now and we realized we still had to traverse the rocky scramble and then 2.5 miles of trail in the dark without any light except for the light of the full moon.

The afterglow of the setting sun as seen from the top of Spencer Butte.

My wife and kids started down the trail as I stayed a few more minutes to capture more images of the city lights below.  It was an amazing view with the fog bank rolling in over the city and the lights of the streets glowing through in patches.  The light reflecting off the fog as incredible and I only wished I had more time to capture it, but my family was somewhere along the trail and that was where my priority lay.  I quickly snapped off a few more shots and packed up my gear.

The view of the city below with a fog bank rolling in. I love the lights reflecting off the fog and glowing through in spots. Such an incredible view!

I caught up with the family and we carefully made our way down the rocks to the trail below with the help of other hiking down who had a nice little flashlight built into their cell phone.  But I found the light to be a distraction and took away from my eyes own ability to adjust to the darkness.  It was a full moon and there was actually plenty of light to see by.  As we made our way down the trail and toward our waiting car I secretly enjoyed the experience.  This was an adventure and how life was meant to be lived.  I felt alive!  My kids were enjoying it as well and seemed unfazed by the darkness, navigating the dark trail like seasoned pros.

A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world.  ~Paul Dudley White

It seemed like hours before we finally traversed those last miles of trail and began to see the first hints of civilization glimmering through the trees.  We had survived!  As we arrived safely at the parking lot and unlocked the car I couldn’t help but reminiscence about my days working as a wildlife biologist and all the early morning hikes in the dark doing marbled murrelet surveys.  I gave thanks that my kids could experience the simple joy of hiking a trail in the quiet darkness of the night.

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.  ~John Muir

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My sister who is President of Decipher Inc. recently had the opportunity to spend a bit of time on the ground in the island paradise of Bali.  I’ve been to Bali as well back in 2005 and fell in love with the culture, people, scenery and incredible beaches.  Some of my sister’s time in Bali was spent volunteering at the Bali Animal Welfare Association (BAWA) which is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of animals in Bali.  It was founded by long time resident and American Janice Girardi and local veterinarian Dr Dewa Made Dharma.

It’s estimated that there are over half a million stray dogs in Bali.  I remember seeing lots of dogs roaming the streets and beaches when I was in Bali.  In fact I experienced a rather tragic event that really highlights the plight of so many dogs in Bali.  We had stopped at a roadside fruit stand to sample and buy some of the delicious mangos and other exotic fruit and noticed this dog roaming around.  He seemed to have no fear as cars and motorcycles whizzed by at high speeds.  In the back of my mind I worried about the dog and then it happened.  As he trotted across the road he got hit by a car.  The car slowed but then kept going as the dog lay off on the side not moving.

This was the dog that didn't make it. Tragically hit by a car on the roads of Bali.

With over 500,000 stray dogs roaming the island this is probably an event that plays itself out numerous times.  Another issue with so many stray dogs is that many of them have rabies and in fact Bali has had a rabies epidemic since 2008 that has killed 78 people.  BAWA plays a role in addressing this issue by relieving suffering and overpopulation through medical care, spay and neuter, adoption and education in animal welfare. They have a staffed clinic, a 24-hour animal ambulance and a variety of community education and animal adoption programs.

One of many dogs I saw roaming the beachs of Bali.

Through the month of January Decipher is supporting this organization through the Decipher Facebook charity program.  Here’s how you can help.  The best part is it’s really really easy.  Simply follow this link to the Decipher Facebook page and click the Like button.  For every new “like” in January that Decipher gets on their Facebook page they will donate $10 to BAWA.  So if you are on Facebook invest a few seconds to press that Like button and let’s help make a difference for the animals of Bali.

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I‘ve always liked and been amazed with some of the time-lapse videos I’ve seen so I decided to try making my own.  I thought a bit about what I wanted to create and finally decided to mount my camera in the back seat of my car with a wide angle lens and shoot while I drove through the city.  I really had no idea what I was doing but one of the best ways to learn how to do something is to experiment.

The equipment I used included:

• Canon 5D Mark II
• Canon 17-40 f/4L
• Manfrotto tripod and head
• Phottix TR-80 Intervalometer (remote switch)

I set the tripod in the back seat with one leg wedged into the back seat crack and the other 2 legs on the floor of the car.  I used a heavy sandbag to brace the rear leg and boxes between the front seats and tripod legs to keep the tripod from moving.  I mounted the camera on the tripod and adjusted the view so that I included as wide of a view as possible.  To get this I used my Canon 17-40 f/4L lens set at 17mm.

I took a few single test shots to make sure I was getting a proper exposure.  This was really just trial and error to see what I liked best.  I used aperture priority mode but afterwards I think I should have used manual.  With the camera operating in Av mode the shutter speed would vary and I think the effect would have been better had both aperture and shutter speed been set.  I’ll have to try this again with manual.

I focused the camera on the dash of the car and then turned off auto-focus so that the camera would never shift focus while driving.  While I generally shoot RAW, in this case I shot large JPEG so that I could more easily import the frames into Adobe Premiere without having to do excessive post processing.

I then attached the Phottix TR-80 and adjusted it to take one frame every 5 seconds.  If you are planning to shoot time-lapse an intervalometer is an invaluable piece of gear.  You will definitely need it.  With my interval set and my camera settings locked in I simply drove around town.  Well, I did drive a few blocks and then stop and checked to make sure the images were exposed correctly.  After that I drove around for a bit.  I ended up with 363 individual images which if my math is on target is about 30 minutes worth of driving.

The next step involved pulling the images off the card and putting them into a folder on my computer.  I used Adobe Premiere CS5.5 to make the video but honestly I don’t have a clue what I’m doing in there and didn’t really know how to import the folder of images into Premiere.  My first guess was to import the images individually but that was a mess.  So Google to the rescue I discovered that you can import in a series of images as a clip.  It’s really simple.  In the Import window select the first image of the series.  Now down at the bottom left of the window is a little check box labeled Numbered Stills.  Check that and then Open and #BOOM all the images are imported in as a clip.  Pretty sweet!  I’m sure there are lots of other video editing applications that will work as well.

Now that the clip is in Premiere there are an unlimited number of things you can do with it.  I slowed the video down a bit by stretching the timeline out and added some simple text.  Below is the end result of the video.  Not the greatest but I think it came out fairly well for my first attempt.

I definitely plan to do some more time-lapse photography and have a few ideas on what subject I’ll attempt next.  It’s always good to be learning and trying new things so don’t be afraid to give time-lapse photography a try. If you have any questions about my experience feel free to ask away in the comment section below.  Have a time-lapse video to share?  Post a link below.

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On this last day of 2011 I wanted to do something special so I woke up before dawn and got in the car and drove to Mount Pisgah which has nice 360 degree views of the surrounding area.  I wanted to catch the last sunrise of 2011.  I arrived at the parking lot and turned off the headlights.  The darkness surrounded me as I stepped out and slung my camera pack over my shoulders and grabbed my tripod.  I hiked in the dark the only sounds breaking the early morning silence were my footsteps and heavy breathing (must get in better shape in 2012).

About halfway up I stopped at a vantage point and looked down on the twinkling city lights where I could only assume most people were at home, warm in their beds.  It was cold out, really cold.  I had failed to take gloves and my skin felt burned already as they clung to the aluminum legs of my tripod.  I frequently switched hands keeping the free hand in a pocket to soak up any warmth.

Overlooking the cities of Eugene and Springfield as the light of dawn begins to emerge.

The recent rains had left their mark on the trail and any water stored in the gravel path was now ice and at times treacherous to walk on.  I picked my steps carefully in the dark as the deep blue of dawn crept over the mountaintop ahead of me.  I quickened my pace a bit not wanting to miss the sun as it crept over the hills and rose into the sky in all it’s blazing glory.

Others had joined me now and as we passed we exchanged a “Good morning!” and “Happy New Year!”  I don’t know if it’s just me but mornings in the outdoors makes for happier and more friendly people.  The path continued to meander up and up and I was now feeling pretty good.  My body had warmed up and my lungs were no longer burning in rebellion against the workout in the frigid air.  At last the top was in sight and I was thankful that I had made it in time.

Looking west the thin layer of clouds in the cold air turn pale red and pink. Just a perfect morning to take in the last sunrise of 2011.

At the top I brought out my camera and tried to hold onto it with freezing and burning hands.  There was a good wind blowing and the wind chill must have been several degrees below freezing.  I made a mental note to bring gloves and a hat next time.  I decided to shoot with my Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon 17-40 f/4L although I also had a Canon 7D and Canon 24-105 f/4L IS to utilize as well.  This was also my first opportunity to use and experiment with my Lee ND Grad Soft filters.  I screwed on the 77mm wide angle adapter and mounted the Lee Foundation Kit onto the lens.

Note: Some of the Lee filters and holders are hard to get and unless you can find them in stock take some time to get delivered.  If you are in the market for a filter though the best place I’ve found is 2filter.com.  They are about the nicest people you will ever meet with prices you can’t beat.

I inserted a 0.3 ND Grad filter into the holder and took a few shots.  Not dark enough in the sky so I added in a 0.6 and finally a 0.9.  The photo below is taken with the 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 ND grad filters all stacked.

I used a Canon 5D Mark II coupled with the Canon 17-40 f/4L lens with the Lee ND Grad filters (0.3, 0.6, 0.9) all stacked.

I really liked using the filters and I think in the end they made a huge difference in the images.  To accomplish the same I would have had to take multiple exposures and composed an HDR image.  Overall the filters worked great and I plan to use them more extensively for my landscape photography moving forward.  I’ll be writing more about their use and performance at a later date.

The fog settled into the valley leaving the higher altitudes clear, sunny and really cold.

After about an hour of shooting the cold finally got the better of me and I started to make my way down the path.  The icy gravel that made walking so difficult on the way up was still frozen and at times forced me to try out some fancy footwork.  More people were now making their way to the summit but they had already missed the last sunrise of 2011.

As I write this we are about 4 hours away from ringing in the New Year.  I want to wish each one of you who reads this blog and enjoys the photos a very Happy New Year.  Make 2012 the best year of your life yet.  I have big plans and changes for this blog and for my photography in general.  It’s been a long time coming and I am excited to share details with you very soon.

I leave you with this quote by Douglas Pagels; “Each new day is a blank page in the diary of your life. The secret of success is in turning that diary into the best story you possibly can.”

Happy New Year!!  See you in 2012!

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