Elizabeth Carmel's Landscape Photography Blog

Sierra Wildflowers are in Bloom / High Sierra Expedition

The wildflower bloom here in the Tahoe Sierra is in full swing. Despite the smoke & haze from all the wildfires the wildflowers seem to be doing very well this year. Maybe the hazy skies are prolonging the lives of the fragile blossoms for a little longer, sparing them the worst of the harsh mountain sun. The fire haze has made this a very difficult season for sweeping landscape vistas, but has actually made the macro and detail shots a little easier thanks to the filtered sunlight. This shot of Squaw creek, near Squaw Valley  was taken on a smoky evening when ash was falling from the sky!  I will be working on photographs from other high country locations over the next month.

My major expedition this summer will be a trip for 1 week into the high country of Sequoia near Mt. Whitney. I will have more details on this trip in a future post, but at this time I can share that it will be a fully supported pack mule trip to the very highest reaches of the Sierra, and also include a complete solar charging station for all the photo & computer gear.  A variety of artists will be going, including invited writers & painters from around the country. I was pleased to be invited as the landscape photographer. This will be an unprecedented opportunity for me to work at remote locations and high elevations that are difficult to reach without a supported expedition.

I will be posting more of my wildflower discoveries here as I capture them. Many readers have probably heard about the new 50 megapixel Hasselblad that was introduced - the megapixel arms race continues!

Ansel Adams Gallery Blog / Flickr

There was an article on the Ansel Adams gallery on the front page of the New York Times a few days ago. I also discovered the new blog from the gallery staff, which is a great way for photographers to stay in touch with what is happening in Yosemite.

I also finally started uploading images to my Flickr account. If blog readers are interested in being a contact on Flickr, you can access my images & info via the Flickr bar to the left. I have just uploaded some of my poppy images, but will be adding more later. There is a great plug in for Aperture that makes it easy to upload any image via the Export menu.

Off to Maui

We are off to Maui for a week, so I hope to have some new Hawaii images to share when I return. We hope to have a chance to visit with our friend Randy Braun while we are there.

A recent interview has been posted at the website Photography Sites, so you can check that out for some additional info on my work.

Aloha!

New Wildflower Images

I have completed a selection of 9 images from my recent photo shoot in the Sierra Foothills using the new Nikon D3 and the 14-24 zoom. It was mildly windy so I used the D3 at iso 400 to 600 and shot with a small aperture to maximize depth of field. Using the high iso I was able to get shutter speeds of over 1/200 second, enough to stop the blur of wind movement and still maintain depth of field. I love the wide angle 14mm - all of the close up shots were taken at the widest angle possible. I was able to get very close to the poppies and still get a large range of view to make dramatic images. I am very pleased with the image quality from this system. While it cannot even begin to compare with the detail of the H3D, I was able to get shots that would not have been possible with the H3D due to the wide angle and need for fast shutter speeds with small aperture.
Here is a link to the images on my web site: http://www.elizabethcarmel.com/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=7

I only spotted one rattlesnake, laying across the trail on my way back. I'm glad one did not surprise me while I was crawling around in the poppies! I almost stepped on one a few years back in a similar area, so I keep an eye and ear out for them when I am in areas like this in the Sierra foothills.

Wildflower Season is Starting

There is still alot of snow on the ground here in Truckee, but the lower elevations are starting to bloom. There are 2 good sites for getting wildflower information. One is a new one hosted by my friend in Big Sur Tom Deyerle. The link to his blog is: http://web.mac.com/tdeyerle/Site_6/Blog/Blog.html

The other is the Photocal website which can be found here: http://www.calphoto.com/wflower.htm

I will be working on images in the high Sierra this summer, the bloom in the high country does not happen until July. I am planning photo shoots in Kings Canyon, Sequoia, and Yosemite. I will also be working on photographing some of the Sierra glaciers, which are rapidly disappearing due to global warming. THese will be part of my upcoming book "The Changing Range of Light, Portraits of the Sierra Nevada." If you are interested in knowing when the book is available, please sign up for my email newsletter. Here is a link:

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Amazing Yosemite

I went to Yosemite this past week to attend the Yosemite Renaissance opening at the Yosemite Museum, and ended up getting some photos I am very pleased with. Here is the link to the images on my website. Late February is a great time to get shots of the last rays of light on Horsetail Falls. I had the perfect combination of clear weather and good flow in the falls to get a great shot of this iconic image, which was taken on Feb. 28 - the following night the falls did not put on quote the same show since the sun went behind the clouds, so I felt lucky to get this image. I was pleased to have a chance to meet William Neil and Michael Frye, who both had wonderful images in the Yosemite Renaissance show - all 3 of us were next to the Merced River getting shots of horsetail falls right before the opening party started on Feb 29th.

I also ended up with an amazing shot of a colored rainbow on upper yosemite falls - I was actually photographing another subject when I turned around and noticed a rainbow forming around the top of the falls. The color slowly moved down the falls as the sun rose, and near the base of the upper falls I captured this shot. It was a singularly amazing moment for me, it seemed as if the water from the falls was raining down color in vast multichrome sheets. This was taken with the Hasselblad HC 300 mm lens and 1.7 teleconverter.

Tahoe Snowstorms

We are having a great, snowy winter here in the Tahoe area. We must have about 8 feet of snow on the ground and more is on the way. The powder skiing is great, and even though the storms have been windy the trees are still holding snow on their branches. I went out yesterday and took this shot in the Mount Rose area of Nevada - the trees are plastered with snow at the higher elevations, and make for wonderful winter shots. I liked the different needle patterns of the various tree species, and the way the snow emphasizes these differences. I lightened the shadows up on the tree trunks - this image almost has the look of an pen/ink drawing. It was taken with the Hasselblad 300 mm lens. I have posted the image on my website in the Winter's Grace portfolio

I have also had a chance to catch up on completing my portfolio of images from Venice and Burano - even though I went there in 2006 I did not finalize all the images until recently. I have posted them on my website at this link:Venice and Burano. Most people know about Venice, however many are not aware of the charm of Burano. It is an island in the Venetian Lagoon that is sort of a rural, countrified version of Venice. The streets are all canals, and the colors of the buildings and boats are wonderful. It is a must see for anyone going to that part of Italy.

This series uses the sepia / handcolored toning technique I explained in one of my earlier blog posts:

Tritone & Color Technique

Crystalline Forest

New Winter Portfolio

I have posted a new portfolio of contemporary Sierra landscapes, which I have titled the "Pale Sun" series. These were all inspired by the pale winter sun of early January. The images were taken in the north Tahoe area, including the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe and the Truckee river. The portfolio can be seen on my web site under the Pale Sun series link.

I am also experimenting with an assortment of new papers that have more of a luster finish, so far my favorite is the Crane Museo Silver Rag, which has great depth and warm tone.

New Baja Portfolio

I have added a new portfolio to my website called "Wild Baja" - this is not intended to be the Cabo Spring Break kind of wild, but to emphasize the real wilderness of the various islands within the Sea of Cortes. The image below was a sunrise shot taken on one of these islands - it was the morning before the weather changed, so the "red sky at morning" warning we have all heard was actually accurate in this case. This image was developed using Adobe Camera Raw, and I have not added any kind of saturation or color - this is how the sky looked that amazing morning - it is one of the most spectacular sunrises I have ever witnessed - I really enjoyed the deep blue color that appeared with the magenta and orange colors. The shapes in the image are of the various sea stacks that ring the islands - they give some interest to the image even though they are just silhouettes.

Back from Baja

We returned from Baja late last week - the islands in the Sea of Cortez are amazing locations for photography. We were able to get ashore for some sunrise and sunset shots, and also had many chances to photograph the marine life from the boat - whales, dolphins, sea lions, boobies, pelicans, etc. I had never been to Baja before, and was very impressed with the scenic landscape, wonderful snorkeling, and (mostly) warm climate. We did have some high seas at times, but for the most part the trip was smooth sailing. We had the chance to go into the northern part of the Sea of Cortez, which is rarely visited and very wild. It is an amazing place that is very accessible with a short flight from LAX to Loreto. I am still in the process of reviewing my images - I hope to have a new Baja portfolio up on my website in a few weeks. Here is an underwater shot with the Olympus 790 SW - It is a pretty noisy image file from that little camera, I'm not sure if that camera is a keeper, I think the shots with the Canon Rebel in the Ewa Marine Bag are better.

Also, I would like to thank everyone who came to my presentations last week in LA and San Diego. I enjoyed meeting everyone who came to the event. My next event is in San Francisco on January 17. Please sign up ahead of time with Calumet if you are planning to attend. That is also the same week as the Macworld Expo in SF.