Book review – Andes by Andrew Gibson
Craft and Vision has just released a new e-book: Andes, the print and the process, by Andrew Gibson.
The Andes have always been a place I would like to travel to one day. Andrew Gibson also had that dream and captured his trips to this region with beautiful black-and-white images. He also shares wonderful stories from along the road, gives travel advice and plenty of helpful tips about photography. So if you also dream of traveling to the Andes one day, I suggest you download this e-book. You can find a link to it here.
Special Offer on PDFs
For the first five days only, if you use the promotional code ANDES4 when you checkout, you can have the PDF version of ANDES, The Print & The Process Series for only $4 OR use the code ANDES20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more PDF ebooks from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST August 6th, 2011.
Spanish braid in black and white
This past weekend I attended the Eastern Regional Andalusian Horse show in Hadley, Mass. I just love how the mane of the Spanish horse gets braided and decorated with wide ribbons for shows. This one was particularly beautiful. I converted the image to black and white using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
Upon request – here is the original color version of the image
Mammoth hot springs
Yellowstone is constantly changing. This became very evident to me at Mammoth hot springs. I had been there once before – 27 years ago – but still remembered the beautiful Minerva terrace. White terraces with blue water. It looked so beautiful and I was very much looking forward to photographing it. So you can imagine my surprise when instead I just saw grey rock! As it was explained on a sign, Yellowstone is always changing, springs dry up and might resurface at a later time, and new ones emerge. The image below is from one of these new sections. It started to form only 5 years ago and has since overtaken trees and a boardwalk. It’s not the Minerva terrace, but the colors were beautiful.
More images from Yellowstone can be found on my website here
Dawn at Oxbow Bend
I could not have asked for a more beautiful sky that early morning at Oxbow Bend. And fortunately there were no crowds of photographers either. A beautiful start to the day in the Grand Tetons! Moments like this are so worth the early wake-up call.
More images from my trip to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone can be found here.
Grand Prismatic with a bonus
Sometimes you just need a bit of luck – or maybe even a lot of it. Luck was definitely on my side in Yellowstone. One place I had very much looked forward to photographing is Grand Prismatic spring. So when I arrived in Yellowstone that afternoon and the weather was pretty decent I headed there straight away, since the forecast for the next few days was rather a mixed bag. I hiked down a trail behind Grand Prismatic and climbed up a hill to get a nice view from above. I had just set up my camera when my eye caught some movement at the edge of the woods. A herd of bisons. And they were heading straight for Grand Prismatic spring. I just kept pinching myself when they walked right past the edge of the spring. What a sight!!!
After they left I shot a few abstract compositions and then packed up since a thunderstorm was approaching. On the trail I bumped into a few other hikers, also eager to get back to their cars. But there was one big obstacle – the bison!! Not far from the parking lot they were all standing in the middle of the trail, moms and babies, not willing to budge and it was not possible to walk around them. By now it was raining pretty good and for a while our small group had a stand-off with the bison. We were all minding the words you hear from every ranger: “Do not approach the bison – they are dangerous and can charge.” Especially with the babies around we were a bit concerned. One brave soul finally had enough and decided to walk right through the middle of the herd. He made it. So the rest of us took a deep breath and followed. Grunts left and right, but we made it to our cars! Big sigh of relief and happy to be out of the heavy rain.
You can find more images from my trip on my website here
Yellowstone abstract
Yellowstone is a great place for abstract photography. This particular one was taken at Grand Prismatic Spring. I would have loved to spend more time there, but a thunderstorm moved in and I decided it might be a good idea to head back to the car.
Puppies at play
Well, not your average puppies. Coyote puppies to be exact. I had a great time observing them and desperately wished I had a longer lens!
Morning at Schwabacher Landing
I just returned from 9 wonderful days in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. My first time ever in the Grand Tetons (but certainly not the last)! Spring arrived rather late in the area this year – I was told by about 3 weeks. I was surprised to find the trees still bare and the day before my arrival it had snowed. The long range forecast was a rather mixed bag, but it was supposed to be nice the next day. So I decided to set my alarm early and head to Schwabacher Landing for the sunrise. It was a beautiful calm morning, the conditions were not right for a nice pink predawn light, but at least it offered some beautiful reflections.
Here is one of the images I took that morning. For a couple more you can click here.
Dandelion in black and white
This afternoon while enjoying some rather rare rays of sunshine (we had a lot of rain lately) I noticed how the sun was lighting up one of the dandelions in the yard. A few body contortions later, I finally ended up with a composition I liked. I converted it to a monochrome image using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.
Extreme Perspectives
Are you ready for some extreme mountain photography? Even if you are not, you should do yourself the favor and download Craft and Vision’s newest e-book “Extreme Perspectives” by Alexandre Buisse.
There is plenty of advice about gear, technique and composition that can be applied to other genres of adventure photography, not just mountain photography. The images in this book are absolutely breath-taking and alone well worth the $5. Until May 15th you can purchase this e-book for only $ 4 by using the Coupon code EXTREME4 during checkout (Use EXTREME20 and save 20% if you buy 5 or more e-books). You can download the book by clicking this link here.
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