No trip to Maui is complete without a few photographs of the humpback whales !
Continue readingAuthor Archive: David
Maui Vacation 2020 – Doors Helicopter Ride
The next selection of pictures I have chosen to share with you are some of my all-time favorite images. While we were vacationing in Maui Kathy and I took a doors off helicopter ride. The helicopter trip took us over the west Maui mountains across the water and around part of Moloka’i and back down […]
Continue readingMaui Vacation 2020 – The Road to Hana
No trip to Maui is complete without driving the road to Hana. The landscape is a beautiful display of vibrant green colors and fantastic waterfalls. It is very easy to spend a couple of days driving down to the south end of the Island and back. Here are some of my best images collected on […]
Continue readingMaui Vacation 2020 – Dragons Teeth
Here are a series of images I captured on a landmark called the Dragons Teeth in Kapalua. We arrived at this area about 30 minutes before sunset and we were treated with beautiful skies and fantastic golden hour light. This area is really great to explore and I am sure you could spend hours finding […]
Continue readingMaui Vacation 2020 – Maui Northwest Shore
This image was taken on a lookout spot along the Northern coast of Maui. I love to see the winding coastline, the dark basaltic rocks and the clouds in the sky. Hope you enjoy this photo.
Continue readingMaui Vacation 2020 – Hololani Sunset
This image was captured the first night we spent in Maui. I set my tripod up in the backyard of the condo complex we were staying at. This evening there was a bright colorful sky over the island of Lana’i which you can see in the distance. Over the course of the 4 weeks we […]
Continue readingMaui Vacation 2020 – Haleakala Sunrise
One trip I highly recommend is driving to the top of Haleakala for sunrise. The crest of is at 10,023 feet and just a few days ago got a nice dusting of snow. Haleakala (which means the house of the sun) is the dormant volcano that occupies the southern portion of the island of Maui. […]
Continue readingMaui Vacation 2020 – Sunset Tree
Kathy and I just got back from a wonderful month long vacation to the Island of Maui. We had several wonderful adventures and I always had my camera ready to shoot some beautiful images. This image was taken along the a stretch of beach in West Maui. I really love the colors and how the […]
Continue readingThe Canadian Rockies – Last Day Helicopter Ride
On our way out of town on the last day we took a short (15 minute) helicopter ride. Here are a few images from that ride. It was great to see the end of the Rockies geology and the start of the open plains down into the Calgary area. Hope you have enjoyed my images […]
Continue readingThe Canadian Rockies – Lake Vermillion What a Small World
I have a great small world story to share with you. As we were nearing the mid way point of our vacation we spend 2 days in Lake Louise and then we travel down to Banff for 2 days. While we were there we explored the area called Vermillion Lakes with a backdrop of Mt. […]
Continue readingThe Canadian Rockies – Peyto Lake
Peyto Lake is known for its vivid colors due to high concentrations of rock flower in the water. I really like this view point from above and down into the lake valley. The blue-green color is off the charts ! What a beautiful place to visit.
Continue readingThe Canadian Rockies – The Columbia Icefields
After we stayed in Lake Louise for a few days we took a tour to visit the Columbia Icefields. It was really breath taking to see the source of the active glaciation going on in the Canadian Rockies. We actually took a bus up the slopes and got out and walked around part of the […]
Continue readingThe Canadian Rockies – Blue Hour Shots at Lake Moraine
We got up really early on Friday Sept 13 to try and catch the blue hour an sunrise on Lake Moraine. That morning we met at 5:30 am and drove up to the lake. We climbed up a pile of rocks and got a great vantage point over the lake. The air was cool but […]
Continue readingThe Canadian Rockies – Lake Louise
While we were here we spent 2 nights at Lake Louise. Kathy and I were dodging rain drops every time we went outside to take a walk. Here is an image I took directly out the back doors of the Lodge. While it was cloudy and overcast, it is still beautiful to look at !
Continue readingThe Canadian Rockies – Athabasca Waterfall
We spent part of the morning exploring the Athabasca Waterfall in Jasper National Park ! I loved the layering within the rocks and the way the river craved deep and very steep canyon walls
Continue readingThe Canadian Rockies – Jasper and Maligne Lake
On our first day in Jasper National Park we went to Maligne Lake. What a beautiful area ! Most all of the surface water in the Canadian Rockies are sourced from glaciers. The movement of the glaciers creates friction that breaks and grinds up the rock to a fine powder called rock flour. The small […]
Continue readingCanadian Rockies Trip – The Train Ride In
On Wednesday of this week Kathy and I just got home from a ten day vacation to the Canadian Rockies. We took the Rocky Mountaineer train from Vancouver through Kamloops and then onto Jasper National Park. We then stayed 2 nights at each of these locations Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff. I took a total […]
Continue readingAustralia and New Zealand – A Trip to the Shire
One of our most favorable stop on our recent trip to Australia and New Zealand was Rotorua. Here we board a bus and drove out to the set that served as the setting for “The Shire” home of the hobbits. This is one of the few areas where the sets used in the filming of […]
Continue readingAustralia and New Zealand – The Great Gannet Colony
One of the great stops we made was south of Napier, New Zealand where we saw several large colonies of Gannets. They are birds very similar in shape and size to the blue footed boobies in the Galapagos Islands. These birds were beautiful to watch and capture in flight.
Continue readingAustralia and New Zealand – Cape Kidnappers
Our next stop on our vacation to Australia and New Zealand is Napier. Here we took a tour bus to Cape Kidnappers. The viewpoint from this Cape is stunning and allows one to look out over the coast land and see all the way back to the port at Hawke’s Bay. The first photo is […]
Continue readingAustralia and New Zealand – KaKa Bird
The next day we cruised down to the city of Wellington and visited an urban ecosanctuay called Zealandia. It was a beautiful place to visit, very green and lush, with lots of wildlife and birds. The morning we visited was very rainy and I had my camera and big lens (150 to 600 mm) stashed […]
Continue readingAustralia and New Zealand – Epic Southern Alps Landscape
This image is one of my favorite images from the whole trip, taken in the same area of the Southern Alps. I love the mountains and snow, the meandering river and the broad open plains. I was able to bring this image through post processing on my IMAC and I really like out it came […]
Continue readingAustralia and New Zealand – Christchurch and the Southern Alps
After crossing over the area between Australia and New Zealand and a few days at sea we arrived at Christchurch (plus a few days cruising at sea) , we drove out to the area called the “Southern Alps”. This area was used during the filming of the “Lord of the Rings” produced and directed by […]
Continue readingAustralia and New Zealand – Kangaroos and Koloas
Our next stop (after a day at sea) was Melbourne. There we stopped and visited the Serendip Open Range Sanctuary. This wildlife sanctuary contained wild kangaroos, wallabies, emus and Koala bears. We got to see the Kangaroos right at sunset by the time we saw the Koalas it was really dark and it required some […]
Continue readingAustralia and New Zealand – The opera house and the people
This image for me is a great combination of elements. In the harbour we see the very iconic Sydney Opera house out in the water. With the position of the camera I am shooting toward the Opera house underneath the large bridge that allow drives to cross over from one part of Sydney to the […]
Continue readingAustralia and New Zealand – Abstract Sydney
The next grouping of pictures was a new growth and new experience for me. While I was in Sydney I meet up with a local photographer and he took me around downtown Sydney. We focused on abstract images, we looked for images of color, texture and structure to create works of spacial art. We focused […]
Continue readingAustralia & New Zealand – Visiting Sydney
Kathy and I have just returned home from a fantastic vacation. We spent 18 days exploring (and photographing) Australia and New Zealand. We had a fantastic time and really enjoyed ourselves. We were expecting mid summer like weather and ended only being able to wear short one day in Sydney. The rest if the time […]
Continue readingCanyons of the Southwest – 11
And now we come to the end of this photo review with my personal best shot of the trip. We got up at 3:30 am the first morning in the Grand Canyon and we drove for over 1 1/2 hours to get to a spot where you can get a fantastic view of a rock […]
Continue readingCanyons of the Southwest – 10
The next day the group drove down to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. After dinner we walked down to Bright Angel Point and captured another fantastic sunset. It was extremely windy that evening I need to weigh down my tripod to keep the lens as still as possible. No matter how many […]
Continue readingCanyons of the Southwest – 9
This is a very ionic shot for Zion National Park. The large rock cliff in the background is called the Watchman and the Virgin river runs along the valley floor. The location of this photograph was along a bridge that crosses over the Virgin River. I was there right around sunset and the photograph […]
Continue readingCanyons of the Southwest – 8
Later that evening we drove out to Sunset Canyon (just outside Zion Canyon and got some great photographs. This location gives you a shot straight up a parallel canyon. The lighting was really great and I attempted to incorporate some of the lighting to shine on the foreground where there were lots of cactus plants […]
Continue readingCanyons of the Southwest – 7
This next image was taken in the Zion valley next to the Virgin River. I think it shows the tremendous scale of these sandstone cliffs. With the sun shining directly on the cliff face you can se the glorious colors set against the deep blue sky. What an incredible experience to be able to […]
Continue readingCanyons of the Southwest – 6
We entered Zion from the east side. It is hard to describe the view after you emerge from the Mt Carmel tunnel and enter the park. The sight is just spectacular, as you enter the bottom of the narrow valley there are steep cliffs rising thousands of feet into the are surrounding you. It […]
Continue readingCanyons of the Southwest – 5
The next day we left Bryce and drove down to Zion. We pulled off the road right before you enter the long tunnel on the east side. At the location of this image you could see in great detail the depositional patterns in the sandstone rock. This formation was deposited as a series of migrating […]
Continue readingCanyons of the Southwest – 4
Once the sunlight begins to fill in the Bryce Canyon valleys and walkways the Hoodoo’s begin to glow with these bright almost translucent colors. This image was taken near the Bryce Canyon edge just a few minutes after sunrise. I really love the bright incredible array of colors contained within this image. Remember each […]
Continue readingCanyons of the Southwest – 3
This next image was taken just moments before the sun rose above the walls of Bryce Canyon. It is quite bright outside and you can see the thousands of Hoodoo’s across the field of vision in the camera. I was shooting with my wide angle 24 to 70 zoom lens. In this image you can […]
Continue readingCanyons of the Southwest – 2
We got up early the first morning in Bryce and boarded a helicopter for a 45 minute ride over the park. Bryce is known for it’s beautiful display of of rock pinnacles called Hoodoo’s. These rock formations were formed by erosional forces that left thousands of these standing vertical pinnacles that range in height from […]
Continue readingCanyons of the Southwest – 1
Kathy and I have just made it home from an 8 day trip to photograph the canyons of the Southwest. The photographic workshop started at Bryce Canyon, moved to Zion Canyon and finished with a couple of days along the north rim of Grand Canyon. We had near perfect photographic and weather conditions during […]
Continue readingThe Mighty Waves of Ke’e Beach
Over the course of the time we were visiting Kauai we comeback and visited Ke’e beach several times. Just with the beautiful location it is a spacial place to photograph with the view of the extension of the Na Pali coast. But there is location right off the end of the beach on the […]
Continue readingSunset at Poipu
The southern part of the island is a great place to be at sunset also ! These images were taken either just before or just after the sunset. The multi layered clouds can create a variety of colorful streaks in the sky. Those streaks can be reflected in the water along sandy and/or rocky beach. […]
Continue readingSunset on Ke’e Beach
One of my best and most favorable places to visit when on Kauai is Ke’e beach. This beach is located on the northwest tip of the island and it provides you with a spectacular view of the Na Pali coast ! If you walk out along the beach to the north you can set up […]
Continue readingKauai Sunrise Glorious Skies !
It’s morning like these that makes it so exciting to get up early and be out in position to photograph the sunrise. These 2 images were taken the same morning right at sunrise at Poipu beach. In the first image I like the the silhouette of the central main Palm tree and the color strips […]
Continue readingThe Kalalau Lookout
One of the best places to visit when you are in Kauai is the Kalalau lookout. This is an area past Waimea canyon and allows you to look over the western edge of the island and look across the Kalalau valley to the ocean below. This is over a 4000 foot elevation change and […]
Continue readingSunrise on the South Coast of Kauai
My wife Kathy and I were fortunate to spend a month long vacation on the southern coast of Kauai. We stayed at an oceanfront condo in Poipu and this gave me great access to get out and explore the area for sunrise and sun set images. These 4 images were some of my favorites […]
Continue readingTop Service & Quality for my Clients
As a closing gift for my real estate clients, I ordered two 24 x 36 prints in the high gloss metal format. I was absolutely thrilled with the quality of the prints and so were my clients! Dave obviously has a keen eye and photographic knowledge and skill for teasing out images that will tantalize […]
Continue readingSmooth Senior Portraits
“David was great to work with. He made my daughter feel at ease and worked with us to give us great looking finished photos.” by Anh Vo
Continue readingWorking with the Nikolic Family
Thank you so much for capturing such beautiful fall colors with our family. Your patience and positivity was so appreciated with a squirmy 2 year old. You are always such a joy to work with and your knowledge of your camera and photography truly shows during the photos and in the final product! By Taryn […]
Continue readingFarr Law Group
By Erin Ratcliffe – Legal Secretary Farr Law Group “We used David for our office staff photos, and we were very pleased with his prompt response to our initial request and fresh ideas for our shoot. The location he picked was beautiful and his experience is something you can see in the final photos. We […]
Continue readingFarr Law Group – Professional Poses
Just a few weeks ago I had the outstanding opportunity to work with the Farr Law Group. They are a small law group specializing in estate and family matters. They were putting together some new marketing material to promote their business and expand their reach. There were 7 people in the group and they wanted […]
Continue readingMariana’s Senior Portraits
This past Sunday I had the pleasure of working with Mariana to capture her senior portraits. We met up at Pine Lake and spent the better part of 2 hours chasing the light. She was a […]
Continue readingThe Total Solar Eclipse of 2017
After traveling to Idaho to photograph the eclipse we settled on Ontario Sate park for our location to set up our equipment. We were the first ones to arrive at the park around 3 am on Monday morning. We were treated to a beautiful […]
Continue readingPuffin Island – Photographing Something Other Than Grizzly bears – Part 10
Puffin Island On the day before we left the lodge we jumped on 2 small boats and went to a small Island that is home to thousands of birds and many of them were puffins. This provided an excellent break from photographing bears and gave us new challenges. During that excursion I shot over […]
Continue readingThe Great Fish Hunt – Photographing Grizzly Bears – Part 9
The Big Fish Hunt One of my favorite activities was watching these large bears chase and catch fish. They would wait quietly until the salmon began to move upstream during the initial surges of high tide. They would wait very patiently at the mouth of the river. The bears would listen for the sounds of […]
Continue readingNursing Mom and Baby – Photographing Grizzly Bears – Part 8
Mom and Baby Nursing The bears were so comfortable around the photographers that we got to see behavior not usually seen such as nursing. When the cubs were hungry they would follow closely around mom and make all kinds of noises that they wanted to eat. When mom was ready she would lay back on […]
Continue readingMore Cute Cubs – Photographing Grizzly Bears – Part 7
More Cute Cub Photos The bears were very relaxed and comfortable around the group of photographers. We had 2 guides who watched the bears and moved us around to give the bears lots of space and room to move and eat when ever and where ever they wanted to. One afternoon we were shooting this […]
Continue readingThe Quick Fox – Photographing the Grizzly Bears – Part 6
The Quick Fox While the majority of our time was spent photographing the grizzly bears there are other animals that live in the habitat. One of the more elusive is the fox. One evening were were moving to the beach locations and some saw a couple of foxes streaking through the tall grass. We all […]
Continue readingMom and Cub Evening Walk – Photographing Grizzly Bears – Part 5
Mom and Cub Evening Walk Sometimes it all comes together, being in the right place at the right time. The evening sun during the golden hour time created incredible lighting and color for my images. This mom and cub were on a walk along the tidal mud flats digging for clams. I was set up […]
Continue readingThe Cute Cubs – Photographing Grizzly bears – part 4
The cute cubs ! The young bears were so cute and playful. Here are two images I captured. I named the first one “Doing My Pilates” and the second photo I named “Mud Slingers”. These cubs were never far from their mother and she always kept a watchful eye on them. They would race around […]
Continue readingThe Big Picture – Photographing Grizzly Bears – Part 3
The Big Picture ! Once you arrive at the lodge area the planes landed and took off from the beach. The attached shot is panoramic view of the mountains and marsh area we explored this past week. You can also see 2 bears in their habitat looking for food. It was truly a beautiful place […]
Continue readingGetting there is Part of the Fun – Photographing Grizzly Bears Part 2
Getting there was part of the fun ! The flight from Anchorage to the Silver Salmon Creek lodge lasted just over an hour but what a beautiful trip it was ! Our group was divided up and spread out over 3 separate small single engine airplanes. In each plane they packed 3 to 6 […]
Continue readingLake Clark National Park – Photographing Grizzly Bears Part 1
I am both exhausted and excited ! Just a short while go I returned from a trip to Clark Lake National Park in Alaska where I photographed grizzly bears. Last week I flew to Anchorage and took a bush plane flight another hour and a half to the Silver Salmon Creek Lodge. The lodge sits […]
Continue readingWaterfall Workshop Review July 1, 2017
Tiring but excellent day learning how to photograph waterfalls. I actually shot in manual, and I vow to shoot in RAW from now on. A good day with Sue Henderson Neese and teacher David Godwin. By Tracy Bellisine Fitzwater
Continue readingKinderdijk and Amsterdam
During the last few days of our trip we visited Kinderdijk and Amsterdam. Kinderdijk is home to several working windmills. They use the windmill power and energy to pump water out and create buildable land that is below sea level and would be flooded. These windmills served the greater community keeping things dry and providing […]
Continue readingThe city of Cologne Germany
The next day of our trip we visited the city of Cologne Germany. Home of the 14th century Gothic Cathedral a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We went on a special behind the scenes tour of the Cathedral in the afternoon. It was called the Top of Cologne and it took up inside the great Cathedral. […]
Continue readingCastles Along the Middle Rhine River
One of my most favorite days was when we cruised the Middle Rhine River sonic valley. This area is designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. When you cruise this stretch of the river you are surround by steep slopes blanketed with vineyards and the highest concentration of Castles anywhere, This day we were traveling from […]
Continue readingMoats, Castles and Medieval Towns
On the 11th day of our cruise we signed up for a unique shore excursion. We got to visit 2 modern day estates of today’s nobility. The first place we visited was Schloss Mespelbrunn which is the home to Countess Grafin Hedwig Margarete. It was a beautiful castle surrounded by a mote. I was able […]
Continue readingWurzburg
This last set of images came during our visit to Wurzburg. One is a photo of the fountain in front of the Bishops resident and the other 2 are shots along the river were we cruising as we left Wurzburg for the day ! Hope you are enjoying these images !
Continue readingRothenburg ob der Tauber
We then visited Rothenburg ob der Tauber which describes itself as Germany’s most beloved Medieval City. What a great place to walk around and visit. These are some street scenes that show the cobblestone narrow streets and half timbered houses !
Continue readingBeautiful Franconian Pilgrimage Church !
One of our vacation days we travelled around the Franconian countryside and visited a beautiful Pilgrimage Church. Here are some images from that visit. What a beautifully decorated sanctuary and spectacular church !
Continue readingVisiting Regensburg
Here are several images from Regensburg Germany. The first of these images show the narrow cobblestone streets that make up a maze of criss crossing roads in the city center. The last image is from inside St Peter’s Cathedral. It was really cool to see the streets lined with ancient houses.
Continue readingFrauenkirche of Our Lady’s Church
One of my favorite places to visit was “Our Lady’s Church of FrauenKirche” in the city of Nuremberg. The construction of the church began in 1352 and was completed in 1361. Nuremberg suffered almost complete devastation during world war 2 but was completed restored later.
Continue readingCruising the Wachau Valley
We had wonderful weather during most of our trip down the Danube river. On one of the days we were cruising down the river in the Wachau Valley. This was an area filled with history and beautiful castles and Cathedrals. Hope you enjoy these images !
Continue readingVisit to Passau Germany
The first city in Germany we visited with Passau. It is know as the city of three rivers and rests at the confluence of the Inn, Illz and the Danube rivers. It is a beautiful city to approach from the water. While we were there we were treated with a lunch time organ concert. The […]
Continue readingNew Travels – Budapest to Amsterdam Part 1
Just got back ! Kathy and I have just returned from a 2 1/2 week river cruise in Europe where we went from Budapest to Amsterdam beginning with on Danube River. What a fantastic trip and the photo opportunities were endless. This first image was taken on the Buda side of the river looking out […]
Continue readingHilo Botanical Gardens
While these images don’t exactly fit into the category of recent trips, they were taken a few years ago when my wife and I visited the Big Island of Hawaii. One of my most favorite places to visit is the Hilo Botanical Gardens. I can easily spend hours here photographing images […]
Continue readingVisit to Depoe Bay Oregon
Title “Morning Walk Along the Oregon Coast”. This image was taken about a year and a half ago when my wife and I were visiting places along the Oregon Coast. This particular morning was cold with temperatures in the low 30’s, but the sky were clear and crisp. The sun was just at […]
Continue readingVisit to Leavenworth
The image in this posting was taken late in October last fall at Enchantment Park in Leavenworth. This is a great place to spend a few days wondering around the shops and hiking in the parks along the river. We visited […]
Continue readingRockport Eagle Rafting Trip
In mid December last year, my good photography buddy Rick May and I attended a raft adventure down the Nooksack river to photograph bald eagles. The Skagit valley is home to a large congregation of Bald Eagles during the winter months. There are several companies that give river tours where you can get up close to the birds in trees and along the river banks.
The morning Rick and I went was clear and very cold. When we arrived in the morning the outside temperature was hovering around freezing. There was a lot of ice covering the ground and the wind was blowing 10 to 15 miles per hour. We chose to tour in a boat called a jet sled and it allowed us to traverse up and down the river several times over the course of the few hours we were there. When the birds were up in the trees they pretty much did not mind us going back and forth in the boat. The eagles on the river banks were a bit more skittish and we had to approach them very quietly otherwise they would fly away up into the trees.
The peak viewing season only lasts from about mid December through mid January. The challenge in capturing great images is the movement of the boat in the water. All of the photographers on board had large telephoto lenses. I was shooting with my Tamron 150 to 600 mm zoom lens. The motion of the boat and trying to hold a big lens steady is tough. Most people will adjust the exposure to have relatively fast shutter speeds above 1/400 of second. Usually the f stop will be set to give you a shallow depth of field. This will soften the background and make the eagle stand out better in the image.
Attached to the blog entry are several of the images I captured during this trip. I hope you enjoy them and they encourage you to go and try these workshops yourself. Let me know if you have any question.
Welcome to my New Website
I am excited to welcome you to my new website ! This website is designed to support the delivery of my photographic products and services. As you work with me I hope you see how dedicated I am to providing you with top professional quality services to meet your needs and projects. My value proposition […]
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