Orcas, surveying the scene

It was a perfect day for photography! It rained through the night and the morning air was calm, and cool. The sky was featureless, and the clouds low and very, very grey. Like I said, it was perfect! As I stood on the deck of our whale watching boat, the Naiad Explorer, I could see the dorsal fins of a pod of orcas in the distance. With the hydrophone in the water, I could hear their haunting songs.

I’ve always thought of whales as amazing creatures and during my trip to the west coast of Canada in August of last year I finally got the chance to photograph them.  My interest in whales goes way back in elementary school, when in my sixth grade science class I had to write a report and do a one minute presentation on an endangered species and I chose the Humpback Whale. To this day, I remember how stressed I was when I found out I had to do the presentation in front of the whole class. Well, the stress has long since passed but my interest in whales has remained strong.

The narrow Johnstone Straight located between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia is one of the best places in North America to see and photograph orcas and that is why my girlfriend Kate and I chose this location for our adventure. While there are several whale watching tour companies on Vancouver Island, I chose the family run Mackay Whale Watching based out of Port McNeill. Captain Bill pilots the MacKay’s boat, the Naiad Explorer. The Naiad Explorer is a 17m aluminum vessel custom built for whale watching. It’s fast, comfortable, and stable all of which make it an ideal platform for photography.  The tour lasted almost 5 hours and in that time we saw dozens of orcas, several humpback whales, countless dolphins.

Coming from landscape photography where I can set up the shot ahead of time and then just wait for the light to be perfect, I found photographing whales to be a bit of a challenge. Of the hundred of shots I took that day there are only a handful that I’m really happy with. The biggest obstacle is that no one can ever be sure exactly where a whale is going to come up. And when it does come up, you’ve only got a few moments to compose and focus and release the shutter before it disappears again.

In the end, it was a fantastic day out on the water and I came away from the experience with an even bigger appreciation of whales than ever before. Having the opportunity to witness and photograph orcas and humpbacks in the wild was truly an awe-inspiring experience. One I can’t wait to do it again.

Orca (Orcinus orca)

Bull orca (Orcinus orca)

Naiad Explorer

I had hoped to post this earlier in the month but once again, time got away from me. My apologies!

February’s “Photo of the Month” is entitled “Multnomah Falls” and was made in Oregon in the summer of 2011. Multnomah Falls has been on my “shoot” list for many, many years. It’s a beautiful waterfall; in fact the whole Columbia River Gorge is beautiful and I wish I had more time to explore the area.

This photograph is a stitch of two frames (one top and one bottom) shot with my 24mm tilt-shift lens.  I deliberately chose a long shutter speed to create the silky look of the water.

SPECIAL OFFER: Receive a 25% discount on the purchase of an original fine art print of this image (all sizes available). This offer expires at 11:59pm MST, April 30, 2012. To order a print of this or any other image click here.

Click on the image for a larger view!

This month’s image, entitled “Autumn in the Rockies” is actually one of my favorite images from 2011. It was made on a sunny afternoon in mid October in a somewhat remote part of the Canadian Rockies – although only about 30km (as the crow flies) west of Saskatchewan Crossing, one needs to travel around 100km on gravel logging roads to get there.

On this particular day I was out exploring with a few non-photographer friends. I don’t normally shoot much when I’m out with non-photographers because I don’t want them to have to wait for me.  Those who know me know that I am slow.  If I have to do something quickly, I get anxious and nothing seems to go right.

This day, although I was on a trip with a bunch of non-photographers, the very moment I saw this scene I knew I had to stop and photograph it. I was just wowed by the awesomeness of the scene and knew instantly how I wanted to compose it. I “quickly” took four shots with slight variations and packed up my camera.

On the technical side this image is atypical for me for a couple reasons. One, I was shooting handheld (I almost always use a sturdy tripod for landscape photography) and two, it was shot at 2 o’clock in the afternoon! No golden hour photography here!

SPECIAL OFFER: Receive a 25% discount on the purchase of an original fine art print of this image (all sizes available). This offer expires at 11:59pm MST, February 29, 2012. To order a print of this or any other image click here.

There is something to be said about the square format in photography. To me, photographs that are square are often very enjoyable and calming. The rectangular, 3:2, 4:3, or 5:4 format of most cameras today isn’t necessarily always the “best” format to use, so why use it? Although many people may not think of it, there is absolutely no reason to be bound by the format specified by the camera manufacturer.

In his new eBook “Square”, Andrew S. Gibson writes all about using the square format in your photography. The eBook shows you, with specific examples, how the square format simply works better (than a rectangle) for some photos. It’s important to note that you can’t just crop a rectangular photo in to a square. The square format is unique, and therefore requires you to think differently about the composition. The eBook also not only teaches you how to create square photos with your digital camera but, also with Instagram or a Holga toy camera. It also talks about a few presentation options for you square images – diptyches, triptychs, and montages, and features a couple case studies of photographer who work with the square format. To top it off, Square also includes a few tutorials that I think  you may find useful.

Like Andrew’s other eBooks, including “Beyond Thirds”, this one is very well written, and full of outstanding photographs.

Special offer:

Receive Square for only $4 (a 20% discount) if you purchase the eBook before Wednesday, November 30, 2011 23:59 GMT by using the discount code square20 at checkout.

A photograph is nothing without composition and composition is much more than the “rule of thirds” most photographers are familiar with. Composition is about balance and energy.  A photograph often just doesn’t feel right if the subject is too centered or if one side is visually heavier than the other. What about where your eyes go when viewing a photograph? Do they travel between the elements nicely?

I like to think that I mostly compose by feel. I look through the viewfinder; take a step to the left or to the right (and up and down) until the image just feels right and then click.

I do believe however, that it’s very important to be consciously aware of the principles of composition. Only then, can you knowingly or subconsciously apply them to your photography. Andrew S Gibson’s new ebook “Beyond Thirds – A Photographer’s Introduction to Creative Composition” will help you learn all about composition in the world of photography. The ebook is very well written and easy to read. It’s full of good examples, creative exercises and wonderful photographs. Best of all, it costs only $5.

 Special offer:

Until midnight (PST) November 19th, 2011 use the promotional code BT4 at checkout, to receive Beyond Thirds for only $4. Or use the code BT20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection.

“Winter Geese”

This is a photo I made back in March of this year. Winter was still hanging on and on this particular day everything was grey and covered with hoar frost. I feel that this photo captures the mood of the day perfectly.

“Valenciennes River”

This past weekend I went camping near Bush River in British Columbia, about 70km north of Golden. On Friday afternoon, we went for a walk through the Valenciennes River Canyon and along the way I made this photograph.

“Trees”

This weeks Android photo was inspired by Darwin Wiggett’s beautiful tree photographs. Once again, this photo was made in a local park on one of my lunch hour walks.

“Rain on the Sunroof”

Kind of ironic isn’t it? This shot was made while I sat in the car during the rain storm. I was sitting there, drinking my tea when I looked up at the sunroof and saw these drops of water pooling on the sunroof window. It’s fortunate that my phone camera has a fairly decent macro mode.

Darwin Wiggett has just released his latest eBook in the How to Photograph the Canadian Rockies eBook series. This book is focused on the beautiful and world famous Banff National Park. The eBook describes over 50 of the best locations in the park and I would highly recommend it to any photographer. Not only does the book tell you where to go, it tells you what time of day the best light is and in what season. Each and every location also has its GPS coordinates listed which not only makes it easy to find, but also tremendously helps with trip planning ahead of time (I like to use Google maps).

The second eBook just released on the How to Photograph the Canadian Rockies website is entitled The Icefields Parkway: Wildlife Edition and is written by one of Canada’s best wildlife photographers John E. Marriott. In this book, John shares his knowledge (from his many years of experience) of the best places to view and photograph wildlife along the Icefields Parkway in Banff and Jasper National Park. Again, if you are planning a visit to Canada’s mountain parks I would definitely recommend you get this eBook!