Celebrate Earth Day and National Park week
Today is Earth day, created 43 years ago to raise awareness to environmental issues, and also the beginning of National Park week. From today on through Friday the 26th, admission to all National Parks is free. So celebrate the beauty of nature by visiting your favorite National Park. To find a Park and activities offered you can follow this link.
The above image was taken Mammoth Hot springs in Yellowstone National Park, the oldest of all the parks and one of my favorites. There are few places on earth where the forces of nature are so evident.
Art Wolfe’s blog
I am extremely honored to be featured on Art Wolfe’s blog today. Art’s work has always been an inspiration to me and without him my photography wouldn’t be what it is today.
So I invite you to head on over and check out his blog here.
How to pack a hot air balloon….
On my recent trip to Myanmar I experienced an amazing hot air balloon flight at sunrise over the ancient city of Bagan.
What fascinated me afterward is just how quickly the balloons were deflated and packed (it took only about 20 minutes). So here is how it gets done….
After a picture-perfect landing
you have the ground crew squeeze out all the air out of the balloon….
squeeze really hard…..
fold it all together…..
but wait, this will never fit!
This requires a bit of extra effort 
there you go – all packed up!
For more Myanmar images feel free to visit my website at http://www.beatedalbecphotography.com
The Maeklong railroad market
During my visit to Bangkok I had the opportunity to visit the Maeklong railroad market, not far from Bangkok. This market is probably unique in the world. Vendors have their produce on both sides of the tracks and when the train passes through (which happens a few times each day) all they do is fold back the awnings and move a few baskets. When I arrived with my friend Gavriel Jecan, the train was already in the station and the tracks were prepared for it. As it was passing through vendors were rebuilding their stands right behind it – all in a matter of a couple of minutes. Before you knew it, it looked as if no train ever passed by.
The year in review
2012 started off with a bang. I had submitted four images to the Greater Lynn Interational, had all four accepted, received the “Children of the World” medal for my image of a young monk in a monastery in Yangon
and a FIAP Honor Award for my Bison at Grand Prismatic.
The “Children of the World” award surprised me even more, since prior to my trip to Myanmar, I had extremely little experience in people/cultural photography. It made this recognition even more special.
During the month of April three of my images where accepted and displayed in a juried exhibition at the Plymouth Center for the Arts, in Plymouth, MA. It was a wonderful collection of pictures of New England Photographers.
The end of June I headed to Maine with my friend Vicki Braden to photograph puffins on Machias Seal Island. On the way to Cutler, ME, we stopped in Acadia National Park for 2 days. Thanks to extensive rainfalls that week, the water in the streams was at a very high level and provided some nice photo opportunities at Cobblestone Bridge
and Waterfall Bridge.
Thankfully the rain stopped when we reached Cutler and our trip to Machias Seal Island was a go! We spent 2 wonderful days with the puffins and razorbills on and around the island.
In October I headed to the Pacific Northwest together with my mom, who was visiting from Germany. We did a 10 day whirlwind tour, starting in Seattle, on to Mt. Rainier, the Painted Hills (where we were accompanied again by my friend Vicki) then headed to the Columbia River Gorge and returned via the Olympic Peninsula to Seattle, where we finished the trip with a wonderful dinner with friends.
The Pacific Northwest had experiened an unusual dry summer and even during the first 8 days of our trip we had bright glaring sun – not exactly photography friendly. We still had a great time at the Painted Hills,
I did manage to find a couple of waterfalls with decent waterlevels,
and – yes, I know it has been photographed thousands of times – got my shot of the Japanese maple in the Portland Japanese Garden.
By the time we reached the Olympic Peninsula it started to rain quite steadily which made for some nice conditions in the Hoh rainforest.
When I returned home I learned that I was a Semi-finalist in the Nature’s Best -Windland Smith Rice – competition. Even so I did not make it any further in the competition it was nice to have gotten that far in such a prestigious event.
I also had a wonderful time photographing horses and dogs for friends and clients. I always feel honored if someone appreciates my photography enough to have one of my pictures hanging on their walls.
Unfortunately for the first time in 25 years I am now horseless. In November I had to send my wonderful Iberian mare into early semi-retirement due to an injury. She is now living on a farm in upstate New York and will hopefully have some beautiful foals.
To see more of my images taken this year, please visit my website at www.beatedalbecphotography.com .You can also click on each thumbnail for a larger version of each image.
So, what is ahead for 2013? I am heading back to Myanmar in January! I can’t wait! I will first spend 2 days exploring Bangkok with photographer friend Gavriel Jecan and then I’ll have 15 great days of visiting one of my favorite destinations.
Sometime in the fall I will be heading to Germany to visit family and friends and obviously photograph! In the meantime I will be exploring more of New England.
I’ll keep you posted on this blog, so stay tuned!
For all of you, I wish you a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year 2013!
An evening at Trillium Lake, Oregon
During my trip to the Columbia River Gorge I had hoped to catch a nice sunset reflection of Mt. Hood in Trillium Lake. It seemed like a calm afternoon that particular day, so I headed to the lake in plenty of time for sunset. When I arrived there was a strong breeze, the water was quite choppy and definitely no reflection. But there were some beautiful whispy clouds over the mountain in an otherwise clear sky. So I put my initial plan aside and concentrated on the clouds instead.
I had hoped that the clouds would stay for the sunset and turn to a beautiful pink, but it was not meant to be. But instead, the wind calmed down and so did the water in Trillium lake. I did get my reflection after all! And with some nice alpenglow on the mountain. Never give up too early!
A visit to the Painted Hills, Oregon
Do you like to work with colors, lines, textures? Which photographer does not?! The Painted Hills (also know as the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument) in Oregon are a great location for all of the above and they had been on my “places to go” list for quite some time. If you go, plan on spending some time there so you get to photograph the hills under different conditions.
You can find interesting details like animal tracks leading across the hills.
Or how about these dry mudballs? I found them only in one spot. I assume they form during the rain when dry pieces of sagebrush pick up mud and get swept down a small stream (which was now dry). They were about the size of a bowling ball.
When I was there the Sagebrush was in full bloom and provided a beautiful foreground.
And don’t stop shooting after the sun goes down! The colors in the hills change dramatically in different lighting conditions and after the sun goes down it is a different look alltogether again. All the color nuances become much more obvious.
There are other interesting subjects besides the hills. This dead tree caught my eye and I managed to capture the setting sun in its branches.
