Aurora Dreams
Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
by Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
1w ago
Northern Lights and Big Dipper, Vik, Iceland Sony a7R V Sony 14mm f/1.8 GM ISO 3200 f/2 8 seconds Even without the northern lights, there’s enough stuff to photograph in Iceland to more than fill a 10-day winter workshop. But I’d be lying if I said the prime goal of every person who signs up for an Iceland winter photo workshop isn’t the northern lights. And Don Smith and I do our best to fulfill these aurora dreams, but that of course isn’t completely under our control. (Full disclosure: our motives aren’t entirely unselfish because we get as thrilled about the aurora as anyone, and would g ..read more
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Watch Your Backup
Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
by Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
2w ago
Sunrise Gem, Diamond Beach, Iceland Sony a7R V Sony 12-24 GM 1/13 second F/22 ISO 50 A funny thing happened to me on the way to this image. And when I say “on the way,” I don’t mean taking the picture, I mean after it was safely loaded onto my computer and fully processed, it seems that someone (who wishes to remain anonymous), accidentally overwrote it with a completely different image. Oops. Establishing a backup mindset Overwriting an image is an easy thing to do; without a backup, it’s lost forever. In this case still had the raw file, but I’d have lost all the time and effort I’d put in ..read more
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Moon Swoon
Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
by Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
2w ago
Moonrise, Half Dome, Yosemite Sony α1 Sony 200-600 G ISO 200 f/8 1/50 second Given an especially intense workshop schedule to start my year, the only Yosemite workshop I originally planned for February was my annual Horsetail Fall workshop. But in early 2023 I plotted the 2024 February full moon and saw that it would appear above Yosemite Valley, directly behind Half Dome (viewed from Tunnel View), at exactly sunset on Friday, February 23. Hmmm… Checking my 2024 schedule, I noted that the year’s workshop fun started on January 22 with five days in Death Valley, followed by just a two-day bre ..read more
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Get Centered
Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
by Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
1M ago
Winter Twilight, Vestrahorn, Iceland Sony a7R V Sony 12-24 GM 1/8 second F/11 ISO 200 This day started with one of the most disturbing experiences of my photo workshop life, so finishing with a sunset like this was comforting relief for the entire group. But first let me wind the clock all the way back to our short drive to Diamond Beach for this morning’s sunrise. In February Iceland’s sunrise comes at around 10 a.m., but with the high latitude also comes extremely long twilight hours, so stomachs full of breakfast, we were on the road for the 10-minute drive to the beach at 8:30. It was st ..read more
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This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
by Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
1M ago
Golden Touch, El Capitan and Horsetail Fall, Yosemite Sony a7R V Sony 24-105 f/4 G ISO 64 f/10 1/10 second I was planning to just write a brief Horsetail Fall update following last week’s workshop, but before I get into that, I want to say a few words about bad photographer behavior. I witness it quite a bit in my many travels, but a couple of recent experiences returned it to the front of my mind. The first instance occurred in Iceland, where Don Smith and I, along with our tour guides Albert Dros and Vincenzo Mazza (look them up), guided our group to a beautiful, and slightly off the beate ..read more
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Searching for Serendipity
Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
by Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
1M ago
Dante’s Moon, Badwater, Death Valley Sony a7R V Sony 24-105 f/4 G ISO 100 f/11 1/30 second Miriam-Webster defines serendipity as, “Finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.” Wikipedia calls it, “An unplanned fortunate discovery.” Though I can’t quibble with these definitions, I think photographers can create their own serendipity by keeping their eyes and mind open to unexpected opportunities. Sometimes Mother Nature bludgeons us with serendipitous events that are too obvious to ignore—for example, a double rainbow suddenly coloring a gray downpour, a sunset that ramp ..read more
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A (Big) Mistake, and a (Small) Rant
Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
by Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
2M ago
Sunstar and Reflection, Lake Wanaka, New Zealand Sony a7R IV Sony 12-24 GM 1/320 second F/18 ISO 100 By the time you read this, I’ll be done with my break and well into my Death Valley Winter Moon workshop. I’ll have gone from a stretch of two-and-a-half months with no workshops, to a stretch of one month with four workshops (and all the travel that entails): Death Valley, Iceland (10+ days), and two in Yosemite. And while I’ll kind of miss going through my old unprocessed images, I’m also really looking forward to creating new stuff—and there’s comfort in the knowledge that I only scratched ..read more
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Back to the Future
Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
by Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
2M ago
Electric Rainbow, Walhalla Overlook, Grand Canyon Sony a7RII Sony/Zeiss 24-70 f4 1/6 seconds F/9 ISO 200 I’m coming to the end of a (much appreciated) break in my workshop schedule that has allowed me to focus on family, recharge, and catch up on necessary but less than pressing business stuff (that’s easy to put off until I stress about it). During this span I made a conscious decision to put my camera down and just chill. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t created (depending on your definition of “create”) new images, but it does mean that my recent creations have been old captures, newly un ..read more
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Peak Color
Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
by Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
2M ago
Twin Peaks, Mt. Tasman and Aoraki / Mt. Cook, New Zealand Sony α1 Sony 24 – 104 f/4 G ISO 100 f/11 .6 seconds The first time I visited New Zealand (way back in 1995), I was surprised not just by the number of mountains, but also by their size. New Zealand’s mountains reminded me very much of the familiar Eastern Sierra peaks, south of Bishop, for the way their serrated profiles tower above the surrounding landscape. And while the east view of the Sierra Crest is truly spectacular, the New Zealand mountain experience also includes glaciers, and an assortment of massive, glacier-carved turquoi ..read more
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The Exception That Proves the Rule
Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
by Eloquent Nature by Gary Hart
3M ago
Lush Reflection, Doubtful Sound, New Zealand Sony a7R V Sony 24-105 f/4 G ISO 800 f/8 1/80 second A few years ago I blogged about shooting sans tripod on my annual Grand Canyon raft trip. As a pretty rigid tripod advocate my rationale for this sacrilege was that any shot without a tripod is better than no shot at all. Acknowledging that there are some situations where a tripod just can’t be used, each time I do need to shoot hand-held has reinforced for me all the reasons I’m so committed to tripod shooting in general. That said, after my Grand Canyon epiphany I am starting to appreciate the ..read more
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