Just a few…well maybe a little more.

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So far my time here in the Yosemite area has been amazing. On my days off I am trying to hunt down spots not normally visited by the average tourist. So that the images that I am capturing are a bit different from the rest. Not sure if I am accomplishing this but I am trying. Often people try to achieve incremental improvements rather than different. Better is good but different is better, I think anyways.

Here are a few…well maybe a little more than a few images, that I have been able to capture thus far while being here. I hope you enjoy them, because I enjoyed creating them for you.

While hiking to the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoia, I came across this beauty.
I captured this image while hiking along the middle fork of the Tuolumne River.
While hiking to Mirror Lake created this image of Half Dome, it was a good day.
While hiking along the Wapoma Falls Trail I captured this photo.
I was hiking up the Old Stage Coach trail on the north side of Yosemite Valley, when around 6:20 in the evening this rainbow started to crawl up the falls as the sun got lower in the sky.
Out on the sentinel bridge that crosses the Merced river, I was able to capture this photo of the Yosemite Falls and the Merced river.
Just to the right of Bridalveil falls there are these granite walls, one late afternoon I caught the moon nested just above.
I was a few days too late to capture the dogwoods in full bloom, however I still like the composition of the photo. With the energy of the Merced river rushing by behind the Dogwood.
This scene was along the hike to the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoia in Yosemite National Park.

I edited these all of these images pretty much the same with the exception of the black and white photos, and even those I only really modified the exposure, contrast and massaged the levels a bit. There where a three images where I had to go back in and remove some debris that had gotten between the filter and the lens. So by making the selective edits I was attempting to bring the image as close as possible to what I saw at the time I captured the image, of course with the exception of the Black and White images. Then there is the lost image in the gallery. I had previously released this image as a wallpaper a week or so ago for the April Free wallpaper. But I thought it was appropriate to include it here as well because it was also created during my time here so far.

In the future I think I am going to focus on the more intimate image similar to the Dogwood over Merced, Stones Adrift as well as Half Dome at Noon photos. Because without the many details there is no larger whole, and I fill it is so important to pay attention to the details so they don’t get lost in the chaos. Or something like that. I think the Carmel Phap, I am drinking is finally having an affect on me, I haven’t had one of these things in a long time. All I can say is, mmmmmmgoooood!

April Free Wallpaper!

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Its about DAMN! time. I am very late with April’s free wallpaper due to a lack of broadband wifi, but thanks to a coffee chain I am able to upload the wallpaper.

This scene was along the hike to the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoia in Yosemite National Park.

This scene was along the hike to the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoia in Yosemite National Park.

I was able to capture this image on the way back out from the grove. It had started to sleet and rain, so I got some shelter from a tree and set up my camera and got this photo. Of course these are not giant sequoia, that image is on the way.

Remember to click it, and share it!

Thanks.

Moving on…

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I love this image. I captured this image while on a road trip in 2003 to Durango, CO.

I love this image. I captured this image while on a road trip in 2003 to Durango, CO.

I am leaving my home, the place where I was born and raised. I grew up in the area just west of Tulsa, OK. Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Mannford, Olive, and others collected in the general area, not guilty by proximity but not innocent either. Creek county, Tulsa county, Pawnee and Osage, Okmulgee and Okfuskee, McIntosh and Muskogee. These were the names and places that we would listen for during the weather reports in the springtime. The reports would give us worry because they were to the north and west and others a sigh of relief because they were to the south and east. Either way, watching the different shades of greens and reds inch they’re way across the TV always filled me with excitement and anxiety, knowing something big and powerful was going on outside somewhere not too far away. The idea of a storm taking everything away, destroying the world you know. Sounds a bit bleak, but it wasn’t it was a time that seemed honest and simple. The sun came up you lived your life, the sun went down you went to bed, that’s it, that simple. The world at that time was black and white for me, you did what you were told, or else. You worked, then you played, if there was enough daylight left, oh and you didn’t slam the screen door. It may sound story book, to be honest it was for a short time, but then it wasn’t. The world went from black and white, right and wrong to, gray, all gray, nothing but gray. No explanation, no reasoning behind it, it just changed and that was it, thats how it was going to be for now on.

I grew up wanting something, not really knowing what it was, but knowing it was something else, something other than here, now, and connected to this place. However, the last few years I’ve really started to love the here, now and things connected to this place. So my decision to leave, to move on, to escape (not sure what to call it yet) has caused me some real anxiety, pain and confusion in my heart.

The morning sun shines on the sparkling ice covered Osage Hills.

The morning sun shines on the sparkling ice covered Osage Hills. This is just one of those places I’ve really started to love. Just Northwest of Tulsa between Bartlesville and Pawhuska, OK.

Looking back, you know hindsight being 20/20 and all, I can see different opportunities that came and went, but I was unaware of at the time but grew in clarity as time past. But this time there is one of those opportunities that is staring me square in the face. An opportunity to move, to move all the way to Cali-forn-ia, to a town called Groveland, just outside of Yosemite Nat, Park and take a job at a lodge. This job will allow me to work on my photography in a place of historical importance to our collective environmental view and direction that our country, or parts of our country have taken.

I hope that this turn in life is the correct turn, the turn to a higher level of creativity and insightfulness, or something like that. However there is a quote that keeps whirling around in my mind, “no matter where you go, there you are,” well here is where I’ve been and still am, and there is where I want to be and hopefully soon will be.

…blah, blah, blah, enough with the rambling and self…

…so this is my journey.

I hope to capture this trip to my new home, job and place of growth, then share it with everybody. My last day at work here in Tulsa is on March 26th, I leave the next day on the 27th, with the hope of it being an early departure. The day I leave, all of my belongings that I plan on keeping will be in or on my car, yup me and “Tom” are hitting the road. I just hope  my journey has a better ending than the “Joad” family.

Finally! the Free 2013 March Wallpaper!!!

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Tuck and Roll, Tuck and Roll.

That is the Motto for this months Free Wallpaper. Amid all the chaos and obstacles the 2013 March Wallpaper, happen to slip through the fingers of the machine. So here it is.

The day was cold, the sky was clear except for a few of these cotton candy clouds. All together the day was a success shooting in the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve.

The day was cold, the sky was clear except for a few of these cotton candy clouds. All together the day was a success shooting in the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve.

One of the things that I’ve learned this month is keep moving forward. Stand up when you fall and keep moving forward. Don’t stop thinking and moving forward.

UPDATE…

I captured this image at the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve northwest of Pawhuska, OK. I had gone up there to photograph not only the Bison but also the landscape and whatever else it may be holding at the time.

That morning I had intended to be up there before sunrise, however do to my fight against the evil clutches of sleep, I finally arrived an hour or so after the sun had revealed the landscape. That morning had been clear for the most part, so I was excited to be able to capture icy stems against the cotton candy clouds.

On a side note, while I was shooting this bush and it’s surroundings, I took out my iPhone to capture it, and see if I could get a strong enough signal to post something to FB or Twitter. Well it didn’t turn out the way I had hoped. As you can see the stems are covered by ice, and so it would stand to reason that the ambient air temperature would be, well FREEZING-BUTT-ASS-COLD!!, and yes, I think that is the technical term. Back to the side note, I took my phone out, turned the camera app on, worked to compose the image, moved my finger to take the picture then…nothing, a black screen. Come on I thought, pushed the home button to bring it up, nothing, I through it on the ground and jumped on it, still nothing, I mean that worked last time why didn’t it work this time. So I thought, maybe it just shut down, so I tried to power it back up…nothing. Then I remembered, it’s BUTT-ASS-COLD!!, out here. So I placed my phone back in my pocket, continued to photograph  the icy stems and by this time not so cotton candy clouds. I made my way back to my car, settled in, plugged my phone in and volia it came to life. Lesson in all this, iPhone’s do not like BUTT-ASS-COLD!!!, days.

Tall Grass or Bust!… Revisited!

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On the morning of Feb, 2nd 2013 there was a man with a plan, and that plan was to get up and go photograph in the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve northwest of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, before sunrise. Unfortunately the grip that sleep had on this man was a strong grip, a grip that not much could pry loose. Thankfully this man’s resolve and commitment to seeing the job finished was the one thing that could set him free of the steel like grip that sleep had on him. Blah, Blah, Blah, Thank god for some 5-hour shots and a Odwalla juice smoothly.

Anyways, this is a preview of the shots from that day.  This shot was taken along HW-60 west of Bartlesville, Oklahoma on heading towards Pawhuska. Luckily the struggle with the steel like grip of sleep caused me to run a bit late, otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten this image of the Morning sun of an ice-covered Osage Hills.

The icy sparkle of frozen trees in the Osage Hills.

The icy sparkle of frozen trees in the Osage Hills.

Stay tuned for the rest of the story…

…well what an issue!  The day after I posted the above photo and description. I checked on it, to view it from another computer, work computer, and I was not too happy with the way the image was displaying on the monitor at work. At work we use PC’s and at home I use a Mac. I hadn’t come across this issue for a very long time. None the less I have re-edited the image to compensate for the difference, or at least I think I have.  That is where you come in. Here is the newly edited version of the image.

The morning sun shines on the sparkling ice covered Osage Hills.

The morning sun shines on the sparkling ice-covered Osage Hills.

So if you would please, comment and let me know if you think the newly edited version is an improvement over the previous one.

The main issue I had been the hard transition in the gradient of the upper two corners. I had applied a soft vignette to the image, however when viewed on a PC monitor the transition was none so soft and easy but hard and difficult. Along with modifying the vignette I also fine tuned other elements in the image.

Thanks for you consideration and time.

Re-re-visited!

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Calving area of Holgate Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward, Alaska.

Calving area of Holgate Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward, Alaska.

I’m revisiting my archives, and sifting through the images from the past. I am doing this for my new portfolio/stock site, Billy Sauerland Photo.

I also recently have finally purchased Lightroom, and with this am learning some new editing procedures. I am also taking advantage of some presets that I have gotten from David duChemin via his latest book The Print and The Process. I have been a big fan of David’s for a long time. The first book I read of his was VisionMongers, and since then I have kept an eye on his site and what he is up to, for knowledge and inspiration.

Now the image above was captured while I was on a trip to Alaska, with my mother and niece. During this trip we had taken a tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park, with a local company Kenai Fjord Tours. During my recent archive diving I came across this image from that day on the water. Looking for an image that might benefit from one of the presets that I had downloaded I set to work on it. I settled on Venice Cool, then I tweaked some of the sliders a bit until I reached a point I was happy with then I exported it as a PSD then continued editing it in PhotoShop, to I had what you see above.

If you are interested in purchasing this image as stock click here, Billy Sauerland Photo, if you are interested in purchasing a print, then you can contact me here info@billysauerlandphoto.com

1st Time Lapse!

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I went out to shoot my first time-lapse video after work, trying to capture downtown Tulsa, OK during sunset. This is what I got, hope you like it, remember to click it and share it.

I was trying to set up the tripod and camera quickly before I lost all the light and the attempt to shoot the time-lapse during sunset became mute. All this while trying to not to set my stuff or stand in goose droppings, since this area is heavily traveled by Canadian Geese, nice! Because we all know there is nothing like a little salmonella to go along with your time-lapse video.

The camera I used Nikon D800, lens Nikon 24-70mm f2.8. After settling on aperture (f16, for a larger depth of field) I took a couple of test shots to double-check the exposure. I also adjusted the circular popularizer to help the contrast and saturation. I then set the shot interval and the time frame (expose every 15s for 1 hour), then set it in motion.  After a few exposures I realized that I forgot to set it to manual instead of aperture priority.  So now as the sun sat the exposure time grew, this of course lessened the desired effect of the sunset.  But I still think it turned out pretty good for my first time. However since I wasn’t able to get the exact look I was going for, I have to deem this first attempt a failure. But I like it anyways. I hope you like it, let me know in the comment section below if you would please. Oh and don’t forget to Click it and Share it!

Thanks agin!