The Sierra high country is timeless. These granite mountains, these meadows, and even this tree sentinel have been here longer than I’ve been alive and will be here much longer after I am gone. They stand day after day, month after month, year after year. Not waiting for anything, not expecting anything. No deadlines, no schedules, no Mondays, Wednesdays, or Saturdays.

If you spend enough time in the mountains, you begin to tap into that endless cycle. The feeling of “having to do something” slips away, along with pressures, schedules, and responsibilities. I don’t know anything quite so pacifying and relieving as connecting with the stillness of the mountains.

Continue reading “Pothole Dome Winter Sunset, Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park” »

Global Warming, Tenaya Lake

It all started before Christmas when I saw a video of people ice skating on a frozen Tenaya Lake in Yosemite’s high country. Wow, that’s cool, that doesn’t happen very often, I thought. Then, about halfway through the video, the filmer unwittingly showed something that had my eyes bugging out of my head: thick and crunchy pressure ridges and cracks running through the vast ice sheet covering Tenaya’s surface. And that sealed the deal: since Tioga Pass is open this late into the year maybe once in a generation, I knew I needed to take advantage of this unique photographic opportunity.

The week after Christmas I set out for three days of camping, hiking, exploring, and shooting the high country near Tuolumne Meadows. My timing was just right and I had three days of incredible shooting conditions and more natural beauty than you can shake a stick at. This shot is from the sunset on the first night: a rip-roaring pink and purple glow which set the icy reflections and cracks aflame on Tenaya Lake.

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Tech notes on this photo
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Nikon D7000
Tokina 12-24 f/4 at 12mm
ISO100
f/9 – Sharpest spot on my lens, still adequate for full DOF with my crop sensor
1 sec.
Lee soft 3-stop GND filter
Cloudy White Balance

Post-Processing
———————-
In Raw Converter (Nikon Capture NX2)
- Processed single raw file twice, once for sky and foreground, and once for the granite domes
- Global contrast for added pop
- Local contrast in the foreground to bring out the cracks and bubbles

In Photoshop:
- Manual blend of two tiffs for master composite
- Selective sharpening of the ice cracks and bubbles in the foreground, as well as the domes
- A “repair” layer to clone out some ice chunks people had thrown all over the lake, as well as some tracks carved into the ice by skaters
- Soft light burn / dodge layer, dodged through luminosity masks to bring out the thin ice crack in the lower right
- Curves layer to add a little more contrast to foreground
- Color balance to remove a lot of excess purple cast from the foreground caused by the increase in contrast (side note, just realized I could’ve also fixed this issue by changing my above curves layer to the “luminosity” blend mode to affect brightness values and not color values)
- Curves layer to add a little brightness to domes
- Color balance through a luminosity mask to remove excess warm cast from trees

All the best!

~Josh

For me January represents a time not only of looking forward to the excitement and challenges of the New Year, but also a time to look back upon the great memories, photos, and growth of the past 12 months.  2011 was my best year yet as a photographer, both in terms of business success as well as creating strong images.  I find I often forget to reflect on my existing shots in my never-ending quest for the next great image, so in this post I’d like to take the time to review my 10 strongest and favorite images from 2011.

Starting with #10…

Temple of the Sun, Capitol Reef National Park

In May I took a two-week road trip through Utah…  Continue reading “My Favorite Photos of 2011” »

2011 was an interesting year for me which saw a lot of growth for me as a photographer as well for my photography business. I saw some breathtaking light at Lake Tahoe, got lost in the slot canyons in Utah, witnessed Fall foliage erupting in Zion, and saw a thousand other beautiful sights. I found some new places to shoot and got to know my old favorites, like Yosemite, better and better. I had some fantastic art shows and some downright shitty ones. I was fortunate to have four major publications, all of them thanks to Popular Photography magazine. Jim Patterson and I taught sold-out workshop after sold-out workshop and had a fantastic first year with our company, Sea to Summit Workshops, and we’re stoked to continue to expand this year (be on the lookout for Yosemite and Eastern Sierras ‘shops). And of course, I met a lot of wonderful photogs and got to be even better friends with the ones I already knew.
Thanks to all my friends and contacts out there who shot with me, went traveling, offered a kind word or critique, some advice or tips, and all the other amazing support you guys gave me in 2011. It was a great year, and here’s to an even better 2012!

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Tech notes on this photo
———————————–
Nikon D7000
Tokina 12-24 f/4 at 12mm
ISO100
f/9 – Sharpest spot on my lens, still adequate for full DOF with my crop sensor
1/15 sec.
Lee soft 3-stop GND filter
Shot in Monochrome mode

Post-Processing
———————-
In Raw Converter (Nikon Capture NX2)
- Processed single raw file once
- Many local brightness/contrast adjustments to maximize global and local contrast while keeping the brights and shadows in check

In Photoshop:
- Selective sharpening of some of the most prominent textures
- Soft Light Burn / Dodge layer through a combination of luminosity masks to touch up some minor brightness issues

All the best!

~Josh

Zion National Park in Southern Utah is pretty darn beautiful. The towering rock walls remind me of a red Yosemite. The first time I visited the park in January 2010, ice and snow blanketed the ground and many of the hikes were inaccessible or dangerous to do. But one of the most iconic hikes in the park, The Narrows, was open so I decided to give it a whirl. But I was unprepared for the nature of the hike and consquently spent 8 hours in 40° water without much protection. Brrrrr. An enjoyable day, but thoroughly freezing.

Continue reading “Fall Color, The Narrows, Zion National Park” »

Exactly a month ago, Jim Patterson and I were in Death Valley teaching what turned out to be a most outstanding photography workshop. We had a fantastic group of students who shared a great sense of camraderie and a love for photography. We saw some killer locations, like the Mesquite Dunes, Badwater Salt Flats, Devil’s Speedway, Golden Canyon, Zabriskie Point, and Dante’s View, just to name a few. And we had some amazing conditions to boot: crazy dramatic clouds, crystal clear night skies, a roaring sunrise, and some beautifully mellow sunsets. You can read more about the workshop and see a ton of pics from it on our blog: http://www.seatosummitworkshops.com/blog/2011/11/24/death-valley-photography-workshop-the-desert-landscape/ This shot was taken at the iconic Badwater Salt Flats the morning before the workshop started. What started as a colorless and fairly mundane sunrise quickly developed into seriously dramatic skies. With the pure white salt flats, and the moody clouds, the scene was nearly monochromatic, so I decided to process this in black and white to bring out the atmosphere, details, and textures.

Continue reading “Badwater Salt Flats, Death Valley National Park” »

Yesterday there was much brouhaha about the total lunar eclipse, but did you know that at this time of year another interesting atmospheric phenomenon occurs? At Pfieffer Beach in Big Sur, the setting sun shines at just the right angle to shine through the keyhole of a mighty arch to illuminate the sea spray and crashing waves on the other side. Here’s my shot, “Keyhole” from Friday, December 9th, 2011.  This was taken while leading a private, all-day photography workshop in Big Sur.

SpringFest in the Custom House Plaza

The lovely Spring weather we all love has returned and so I am back outside, exhibiting my photos as much as I can.  This weekend I’m excited to be participating in SpringFest in the Custom House Plaza in Monterey.  The Plaza has been a great venue for me in the past and I’m really looking forward to being back there and showing off my photography.

Brand New Booth

Another reason I’m looking forward to SpringFest this weekend is that it will be my first show with my new booth display.  I’ve spent the past two weeks hammering, drilling, and sawing to create a brand new set of display panels designed to highlight my work and create a “sanctuary of space” in which to view my photos, and now I am eager to put them to the test!  So come on out to The Custom House Plaza this weekend in Monterey to say hello, check out the new display, and look at all the new photos I’ve added to my portfolio since I was last in Monterey.

10% Off All Prints

As always, here’s a 10% off coupon available only to my fans and supporters.  Just print it out and bring it to the show to save 10% on any of my prints.

Take care, and hope to see you at the show!

Josh
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http://www.joshuacripps.com
209.728.7982

p.s. can’t make it to this show?  check out my events calendar to see what else i’ve got coming up

Last week I called up my friend and fellow photographer Jim Patterson to see if he felt like going shooting. I didn’t have whatfor in mind, so Jim suggested a place called Pebble Beach near Pescadero. We cruised up the coast, being buffeted by high winds the whole way. We got to the beach, and hopped out of the truck to scope out conditions, and that’s when we began doin’ the Panther Beach shuffle.

Continue reading “On the Prowl (aka Doin’ the Panther Beach Shuffle)” »