Spooky Snowmobile ride

Had a little scare on Friday when we went for a part day snowmobile ride up Bountiful. At the beginning of our ride we dropped into the head of Heartscrabble and to make a long story short I was caught in an avalanche as I was re-entering the bowl. When the slab broke loose all around me, I was not able to maneuver at all, and was rushed straight down hill into a band of dense pine trees. Looking ahead of the slide, I was not able to see a line threw the trees, it was not a good feeling. I was able to beat the moving snow to the tree line and then bailed off my sled, and scrambled to the lee side of a large tree. Thank goodness my friends were watching and were there in seconds. I was pretty shook up, but, it was a good reminder for all of those present that we need to be more careful. Needless to say I was very content with just taking pictures the rest of day. Luckily my sled sustained only minor injuries and my emotional damage should heal in time. Here are some pics from the days events.


D700, f/14, 1/400 sec, ISO 200, 18mm


D700, f/14, 1/400 sec, ISO 200, 18mm


D700, f/16, 1/320 sec, ISO 200, 14mm


This is where my sled stopped, right at the leading edge of the slide.




This is a look from where the slide came from


This is a shot from the adjacent slope, of the slide.

Kauai, Seascapes

I got up every morning at 5:30 or 6:00 to enjoy the sunrise, at was absolutely amazing!!


D700, f/22, 1.6 sec, ISO 100, 31mm
This is probably one of favorite shots of the trip, this was shot threw a 8 stop neutral density filter, 2 stop circular polarizer, and a 2 stop split neutral density filter to block out the sky. Very little if anything was done in post.


D700, f/13, 48 sec, ISO 200, 14mm
It was pretty much dark during this exposure, no post lightening at all, but it took 48 sec during the exposure.


D700, f/20, 0.6 sec, ISO 200, 35mm
To slow the shutter down enough to blur out the water, I again had to shoot through my 8 stop filter, 2 stop polarizer, and 2 stop split filter. This is one reason mornings and evenings are so wonderful.


D700, f/20, 6 sec, ISO 200, 14mm


D700, f/18, 0.4 sec, ISO 200, 24mm


D700, f/22, 1/80 sec, ISO 200, 14mm


D700, f/18, 1/200 sec, ISO 200, 70mm


D700, f/20, 0.6 sec, ISO 400, 18mm


D700, f/20, 2 sec, ISO 200, 14mm


D700, f/18, 30 sec, ISO 200, 14mm


D700, f/18, 1/125 sec, ISO 200, 14mm
This was the first time I really wished I had a wider angle lens, I don't like the crop with the horizon in the middle, but I couldn't bring my self so crop out the sky or the see. Thus the last photo in the post.

Kauai, Sunsets

We were usually very busy in the late afternoons and evenings but we still found time to enjoy a couple of cool sunsets. Michelle was even kind enough to allow me to photograph a few sunsets while she was getting ready, it worked out great.


D700, f/7.1, 40 sec, ISO 250, 21mm
This shot was taken pretty much after dark


D700, f/13, 30 sec, ISO 200, 24mm


D700, f/16, 1/15, ISO 200, 14mm


D700, f/2.8, 3 sec, ISO 200, 16mm
Grand Hyatt

Kauai, Whales

I had no idea Kauai was going to be so awesome, I took just over 2,800 photos during our vacation. One of the things I was most excited about, was the new underwater housing I got for our Canon G10. It proved to be well worth the money. Catching a photo of a whale in action, while being thrown around by the sea is no easy feet, especially if you want that photo to be in focus! It was a lot harder than I thought.


D700, f/7.1, 1/500 sec, ISO 200, 270mm
This was a male whale attempting to get the attention of nearby female.


D700, f/7.1, 1/800 sec, ISO 200, 270mm
Here a calf partially breaches just after her mother, to bad I missed the mom, she came right out of the water!


G10, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO 80, 6.1mm
It may not look like much, but this is the mother and calf that swam right under our boat. By the time I swithed cameras, and pushed my little G10 under the water for some luck shots, we had drifted farther away. According to my camera, this whale was 70 yards away. I had no idea what to do, I just pointed it in the general direction, and hoped for the best.

Cool or Creepy

I had this great idea, but i'm not sure if it flopped or not. I had visions of it being so cool, but I'm doubting the outcome. I originally made this banner for our family blog, but i'm not sure it is cool enough? Maybe it's the text, maybe it's the layout, i don't know. but I spent so much time creating it, I wanted to post it somewhere. It was fun taking pictures of the kids, they really got into it. It was pretty easy, one off camera strobe hard left of subject triggered wirelessly from camera flash. Anyhow cool or creepy, you decide.