San Miguel Photography Blog: Digital Photos and Fine Art Prints

42 new stock, nature and fine art photographs by Michael Routh in the Latest Work e-Gallery at www.sanmiguelphoto.com

Michael — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 03:00:23 +0000

Zion National Park
Virgin, Utah

Zion National Park is located in southwest Utah north of the Grand Canyon and west of Bryce Canyon National Parks. Zion National Park has 229 square miles desert terrain at the meeting of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin and Mojave Desert.

North Rim, Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Canyon, Arizona

Grand Canyon National Park is one of the most amazing sites in all of nature. The Grand Canyon is formed by the Colorado River and is comprised of the South Rim & North Rim. Grand Canyon National Park receives approximately 4 million visitors a year. The North Rim receives apporximately 400,000 visitors per year.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Paria River, Arizona

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument spans nearly 1.9 million acres of America’s public lands. From its spectacular Grand Staircase of cliffs and terraces, across the rugged Kaiparowits Plateau, to the wonders of the Escalante River Canyons, the Monument’s size, resources, and remote character provide extraordinary opportunities for geologists, paleontologists, archeologists, historians, and biologists in scientific research, education, and exploration.

Los Padres National Forest, California
Monterey County, California

Los Padres National Forest is nearly two million acres in size and covers almost 220 miles from the Big Sur Coast in Monterey County to the western edge of Los Angeles County. Los Padres National Forest has 1,200 miles of trails with steep hikes, beautiful valleys and spectacular displays of wildflowers in the spring.

California Wildfire
Santa Cruz County, California

The men and women of CAL FIRE are dedicated to the fire protection and stewardship of over 31 million acres of California’s privately-owned wildlands. The Department provides varied emergency services in 36 of the State’s 58 counties via contracts with local governments. The Department’s firefighters, fire engines, and aircraft respond to an average of more than 5,600 wildland fires each year. Those fires burn more than 172,000 acres annually.

Death Valley National Park
Death Valley, California

Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes cover nearly 15 square miles in Death Valley National Park near the town of Stovepipe Wells. The dunes are constantly changing shape due to the winds from the near by Panamint Mountain Range.

38 New stock, fine art nature, landscape and travel photographs by Michael Routh

Michael — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:08:18 +0000

Anza Borrego Desert State Park
Borrego Springs, California

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is the largest state park in California and the second largest in the United States. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park includes more than 600,000 acres of deserts, rugged mountain ranges and the Carrizo Badlands near the Mexican border and the Salton Sea.

Santa Cruz Serenity
Santa Cruz, California

Santa Cruz, California is located about 74 miles south of San Francisco along Highway 1. Santa Cruz has an eclectic population of 55,000 who enjoy year-round moderate weather. Santa Cruz is a very popular tourist destination attracting thousands of tourists to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, the Santa Cruz Wharf and the beautiful beaches. Santa Cruz is also a famous surfing, wind surfing, kite boarding and wake boarding destination.

California Sea Otters
Monterey Bay, California

Since January 1977, California sea otters have been on the Endangered Species list They are protected by state and federal laws. Only about 2200 otters can be found off California’s central coast Sea Otters reside within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary which emcompasses 276 miles of shoreline and 5,322 square miles of ocean. Sea otters have incredibly fast metabolisms. A 60-pound adult sea otter eats at least 15 pounds of food (25% of its body weight) each and every day.

Photography in the rain

Michael — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:27:08 +0000

A friend of mine called me from the east coast in late December, 2007 and said he wanted to visit in January for a California photography trip. I said great. We would photograph the Big Sur and Santa Cruz coastline, the Santa Cruz Mountains, maybe Point Reyes National Seashore and possibly Yosemite.

At the time of our conversation, I had forgotten that January is the rainy season in California. Well of course, it rained near record amounts for most of the week of my friend’s trip. By the morning of the third day of photographing “spooky mountains” in the rain and fog soaked Santa Cruz Mountains near my home, my friend was seriously doubting me when I assured him that there are excellent photographic opportunities during storms in the mountains.

After awaking at 4:30AM to drive up to Loma Prieta Peak (3,806′) which is the highest point in the Santa Cruz Mountains for a sunrise photograph of the morning light over the mountains and the Pacific, we were greeted with more rain & fog. After taking many forgettable photographs that morning, we were about to pack it in for breakfast when I decided to drive a little farther along the mountain top when we saw a faint rainbow along a distant ridge. After waiting for over 30 minutes, we were rewarded with a beautiful rainbow.

The moral of the story for me is to trust your photography instincts and experience when you have the urge to take a photograph…don’t always trust the weather forecast.

28 new photographs in the Latest Work e-Gallery at http://www.sanmiguelphoto.com/

Michael — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:22:19 +0000

McQuay Falls
Big Sur, Monterey County, California

The Big Sur region is located along California’s Central Coast from Carmel in the north to San Simeon in the south. The 130 miles of coastline is considered one of the most beautiful areas in the world. Highlights of the Big Sur region include the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, the Ventana Wilderness, Los Padres National Forest, the Hearst Castle, Carmel River Valley, the Bixby Bridge and the Point Sur Lighthouse.

California Wildfire
San Jose, California

47,760 acres burned in the Henry Coe State Park in California’s second largest state park in just over a week in early September 2007. Over 1,900 firefighters responded to the man-made wildfire that cost $10.2 million to contain. To visit the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection e-Gallery, click here.

Santa Cruz Serenity
Santa Cruz, California

Rainbow Over Mt. Dana
Yosemite National Park, California

Mount Dana (13,053′) and the Dana Plateau is located at the eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park on Tioga Pass Road. Mount Dana is the second highest peak in Yosemite National Park. Yosemite National Park is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of central California. Yosemite National Park is probably the most famous and beautiful national park in the United States.

Driving while tired - Rainbow photograph over Yosemite National Park

Michael — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:32:44 +0000

I was driving home from Owens Valley and the Eastern Sierra Mountains in July after camping in Coyote Flats (10,000 ft) for 3 days. We left Bishop, CA late around 5:30PM for our 6-hour drive home to San Jose after enjoying our first “real meal” (at Denny’s) after our backcountry adventure. By time we filled up with gas and started driving up California Highway 120 into Yosemite National Park, it must have been after 7:00PM. My Lexus LX-450 Land Cruiser when its loaded with 2 people, 3 dogs, kibble, camping equipment and camera gear drives like a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. So the climb into Yosemite was SLOW. When we reached the crest of Tioga Pass (9,943 FT), just before the eastern entrance to Yosemite, I noticed a very sweet light over Mt. Dana to my left. Being at the end of a photography trip, I didn’t want to pull over and take a photograph because I was TIRED and had a long drive in front of me. But as soon as I left my truck and started setting up my camera, an amazing rainbow appeared in the sky. The rainbow was small at first and then continued to grow until it was a complete 180 degrees over the horizon. I took as many photographs as I could for the next 30 minutes.

If you would like to see my other photographs of the rainbow over Yosemite, please my Latest Work e-Gallery.

Photography - Moon setting over Owens Valley and the Eastern Sierra Mountains

Michael — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:09:58 +0000

One can always tell a nature photograher who needs to be out in the field more when they look through their old un-developed images and find a nice shot. Charlie Cramer (http://www.charlescramer.com/) told me during his Advanced Digital Printing workshop that sometimes it is best not to develop your images soon after a shoot because you are too “emotionally attached” to them. Also, an un-developed image may not look like what you saw in the field so you pass it over. When you go back a few weeks later you say, “Hey, that image looks pretty good…” Well I never follow Charlie’s advice on this. In fact, I can’t wait to buy the Epson® P-5000 photo viewer so I can look at my images before I go home from a shoot. Regardless, the message is that it may be well worthwhile to go back through your old photos (on a rainy Sunday afternoon) to see if there is a “winner” hiding somewhere in your files.

I took the photograph to the right in 2004 and for some reason decided not to develop it until recently.

Getting Off The Couch

Michael — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 20:08:28 +0000

Yes I admit it. There are those Saturdays and Sundays when I don’t have enough motivation to awake at 3:30AM and drive 2 hours for a sunrise shot in the mountains or to stay out in the field until after 9:00PM for the last light. Don’t get me wrong, I am a very motivated photographer. And if I am not, my two Rottweiler photography assistants Maggie & Rocket are always motivated!

Where I live in San Jose California, the summers are long, dry and hot. Usually, it doesn’t rain a drop in San Jose from mid-May until October or mid-November. Mornings in the summer are often cloudy until around 10:00AM when the cloudless blue sky appears for the remainder of the day and evening. It’s not my favorite time of year for photography.

So last April, when a late Pacific winter storm was blowing in the Santa Cruz Mountains near my home, I knew it could be the last photo opportunity for “dramatic light” until the fall. But wait, it was a Saturday afternoon and I was “stuck to the couch”! My mind kept saying, “It will take over an hour to drive to the mountains.” “What if it is too cloudy in the mountains?” And my favorite, “I wonder what’s on TV?”

Well, I managed the fight my way off the couch and go up to the Santa Cruz Mountains. After waiting about two hours in the cold blowing wind, I was rewarded with the God Beams in the photograph below. I consider this photograph my Signature image for my Santa Cruz Mountains collection of fine art prints.

Backyard Photography

Michael — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:29:32 +0000

I sometimes fall into a trap of thinking that to take a great photograph, which is the goal, I always have to:

Drive a 1,000 miles to Moab
4WD into a dangerous desert canyon (alone)
Hike on a difficult trail lugging 30 lbs of camera equipment
Climb on top of an impossible rock
And then wait (hope) for good light to take a photograph

But as we know, many wonderful photographic subjects can be found close to our homes – if we can let go some of our preconceived ideas of “the only things I photograph are…”

I took the two photographs below at my friend’s home two weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon. She has wonderful gardens filled with a variety of beautiful flowers. (I can never remember the names of the flowers.) She also has two very sweet Cocker Spaniels. So I decided to dust off my Canon 180 macro and explore her flower gardens. I came away with 6 very nice shots. As for her dogs, I waited until they had calmed down a little and used the 70-200mm for a close-up.

What it Takes: Setting Up A Landscape Photograph

Michael — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 00:03:53 +0000

People who look at my photographs usually don’t realize what I did (went through) to take the photograph. Countless numbers of times, I awake at 2:00AM, 3:00AM or 4:00AM to drive two hours for a sunrise shoot. Typically, when I am on a trip, I only have about 3-4 hours of sleep per day. Often, I have driven to a very remote location (alone), and then hiked or climbed to a special area for a photograph. For every photograph on my web site, there were many, many times I went out in the field and did not take a great photograph.

To take the photograph on the left from the “Badlands” of Anza Borrego Desert State Park, I had to drive 500 miles to Anza Borrego. Then I drove 15 miles in a very sandy desert river bed (in the middle of nowhere). Then I had to 4WD 3 miles into a very narrow, rocky remote canyon that was no wider than ten feet at times. Once I made it to the end of the canyon (without getting stuck), I had to climb/scramble 1,000 feet up a very steep hill/mountain/rockslide carrying my usual 30 lbs of camera gear to reach a high vantage point for my photograph. Once I was high enough, I had to wait 2-3 hours in cold 20-30 mph winds for the best light for the photograph. (Safely returning from that location in the dark is a whole other story…)

Recent Travels of a Professional Digital Landscape Photographer

Michael — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:47:21 +0000

In February 2007, I traveled 500 miles south from San Jose to Anza Borrego Desert State Park in southern California along the Mexican border. Anza Borrego Desert State Park is the 2nd largest state park in the country behind Adirondack State Park. I attended a one-day “advanced” four wheel drive (4WD) recovery class sponsored by Bill Burke. Bill Burke is considered one of the foremost 4WD instructors in the country. I describe him as a combination of “Crocodile Dundee” meets “MacGyver” (from the TV series) – meaning he has had every backcountry adventure imaginable and he can fix anything with a Swiss Army Knife and a piece of wire. The course was an opportunity to practice getting unstuck using a winch and hi-lift jack. And yes, I took some photographs too…

In early January 2007, I traveled 8 hours south from San Jose to Joshua Tree National Park, the Salton Sea and Anza Borrego Desert State Park in southern California. Joshua Tree NP is a challenging place to photograph in my opinion because the park doesn’t have many “prominent” landmarks like other national parks, other than Joshua Trees. I plan on returning in the spring some year when the Joshua Trees are blooming. While in southern CA, I attended the North American Nature Photographer’s Association national convention in Palm Springs.

Late in November 2006 and early December 2006, I traveled 1,000 miles (16-hour drive one-way) to eastern Utah and Arizona to photograph Canyonlands and Arches National Parks and Monument Valley. I can’t begin to describe how COLD it was. Daytime high temperatures were often around 15 degrees with a strong 30 mph wind. For several days, we couldn’t use the windshield washer in my truck because it would freeze on the windshield even while the defroster was on high.

At the end of October, 2006 I traveled east to Utah visiting Zion National Parks and the Grand Staircase Escalante in Utah. The fall foliage in south western Utah around Zion and the Grand Staircase was exceptional.

In early in October 2006, I traveled to Owens Valley in the Eastern Sierra Mountains of California to photograph the fall foliage. Owens Valley has been described as one of the most beautiful places in the world. Because California had received lower than usual rainfall in 2006, the color of the fall foliage lower than usual.

Don’t forget to check out the What’s New e-Gallery to see all the latest photographs.