Featured LensWork Portfolio and September Updates 🍁
Published about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Hello Reader,
Happy Autumn! 🍂 Fall is finally making its presence felt here in the West. We've been in Yellowstone National Park for the past month, grateful to escape Colorado's heat in exchange for cool nights, frosty mornings, and the vivid transformation of fall foliage. We just wrapped up two fantastic workshops—each offering something special. In the first, we immersed ourselves in the night skies and the park's striking thermal landscapes by day. Our second workshop turned the lens toward smaller scenes and details, and our students captured some truly remarkable imagery.
In the coming months, we'll be compiling an ebook showcasing their work, which I look forward to sharing in a future newsletter.
Next week, we'll be bidding farewell to Yellowstone and heading toward Mt. Rainier National Park. Originally, we had planned to explore the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho, but the extreme wildfire season altered our course. We’ve never been to Rainier, so it'll be exciting to approach the landscape with fresh eyes. After that, we're off to the Oregon coast for another workshop.
I also want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who shared feedback on the Aurora ebook! Next month, I'll be releasing a new free ebook in the newsletter, featuring some of my favorite moments from Yellowstone. I hope you're enjoying autumn wherever you are, and you have the opportunity to pick up a camera and capture the changing seasons!
Wishing you a happy fall,
LensWork Featured Portfolio
LensWork Issue #169 Featured Portfolio
I'm deeply honored to have my "Anemone Choreography" project featured as a portfolio and on the cover of the September issue of LensWork. This project holds a special place in my heart—capturing the mesmerizing dance of sea anemones in the tidepools was an experience that deeply resonated with my love for the ocean and photography. Those quiet hours spent observing these delicate creatures, moving with the rhythm of the tides, were some of my most cherished moments this year. This was a 40-image project, and 20 images are featured in the portfolio. Working on photography projects is a passion that fuels my creativity, and curating this series was a joy. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to share the beauty and magic of the ocean through my lens with the world and with the LensWork audience. Thank you, LensWork, for this opportunity! If you are interested in purchasing this issue but are not a LensWork subscriber, you can do so by clicking the button below.
Where curiosity bridges the gap between observation and the art of photography
Trees That Wear "Socks"?
One of my favorite kinds of trees to photograph isn't actually live trees but dead trees with a unique background story. We just finished two workshops here in Yellowstone, and these "bobby socks" trees were a captivating subject that everyone enjoyed photographing. So, what gives these trees their distinctive socks?
The "socks" are a natural phenomenon found in some forests, but predominantly in Yellowstone National Park. Lodgepole pines that grow or get taken over by thermal features and areas are particularly prone. The white at the base of the trunks (the "bobby socks") results from mineral-laden water saturating the ground in certain geothermal areas. When the trees grow in these environments, the mineral-rich water seeps into their roots and gets absorbed into the lower portion of the trunk. Over time, these minerals, primarily silica, deposit and encrust the tree bark, bleaching the wood and creating that white, sock-like appearance. While this effect is captivating, it comes at a price to the tree, as the silica deposits block the water and nutrient channels in the base of the tree, preventing it from accessing water and nutrients needed to stay alive. Ultimately, the buildup of minerals is too much; the tree succumbs and eventually dies. What remains is a ghostly reminder of the interplay between life and the dynamic forces of nature.
While these trees are prevalent in Yellowstone, I've also seen them in Colorado's San Juan Mountains. A few autumns ago, I was surprised to see a stand of these in a clearing with a small pond. The San Juan Mountains do have areas of thermal springs.
Bobby socks trees in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado
These trees make compelling subjects. If you find yourself in front of them in the future, here are a few tips on photographing them.
⭐️ You can include them in a grand landscape or isolate them out for smaller scenes.
⭐️ Try ICM (intentional camera movement). You can pan up or down or twist your camera and lens while photographing to create dynamic and compelling ICM abstracts and scenes. I like to start with a shutter speed of 1/4 second while moving the camera and clicking the shutter button. You can make your aperture smaller to achieve this shutter speed, or in brighter conditions, you may need to use an ND filter.
⭐️ Working with these trees in black and white can be fun, as the white bases create such a nice contrast.
Eric Bennett's New Book Space,Stillness,Silence:
The Solace of the Desert
This month, I'm featuring good friend and colleague Eric Bennett's latest coffee table book. Eric's unwavering commitment to excellence has resulted in a truly remarkable publication. His meticulous attention to detail and passion for perfection shine through in every page, and I was fortunate to receive an early copy. The book, the imagery and writing is absolutely stunning and inspiring. This book is sure to be a captivating conversation starter on your coffee table, and an inspiring journey into his captivating imagery from the desert.
Sarah just released a new portfolio from White Sands National Park, along with a thoughtful blog post on constraints and connections while photographing in the park.
Jack Brauer just released a new blog post and imagery chronicling a recent trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, photographing and camping around Longs Peak.
