Spires - Mount Rainier, Washington

For a while now I've been planning to hit the California Coast just north of Los Angeles and do some Milky Way stuff. Finally my map is filled with a bunch of good destinations and I'm ready to make the push. We will be starting in Los Angeles and driving up to San Francisco over 5 days. Crossing my fingers for clear skies and good weather. The last blog post had a bunch of Tips on Planning for Photography Trips some of you should enjoy.

On to some other news and updates. Five more of my Star Photography Workshops have sold out, leaving 15 left for the entire year of 2014. If you are looking to attend, now is a great time to buy:) Full info and details on my Star Photography Workshops Page.

Here is a shot from one of last years summer workshops. A handful of us woke up to shoot sunrise after a long night under the stars. This is one of the locations we will shoot from this year as well.


The Shot
Last year during workshop season I would take a few pictures here and there while out with the different groups of students to show them what I was doing, and what tips & tricks were used along the way. For the most part I would wander around and help people with their own camera settings, allowing them to get some amazing shots of their own. It's really fun talking with everyone about photography, teaching, and learning about a bunch of new cameras along the way. Here is a shot I took while showing everyone my setup on the mountain. We even walked down that path a ways to do some exploring as well, then up to the main vantage point of the mountain to shoot some more. The skills used in the post processing of this shot can be found in my handy Star Photography Post Processing Video Tutorial.

Click here to buy a print

Third Dawn - Reflection Lakes, Washington

Teaching 10 star photography workshops at Mount Rainier last summer gave me a great chance to really explore the area during mornings and off time. Reflection Lakes was one of the places we would all shoot, and I still consider it one of the best locations to shoot at Mount Rainier. Personally I like it for sunrise, but some amazing sunsets can be found there as well. Interested in checking it out for yourself? Here is the exact location from which I took the shot.

This year I picked some new locations to shoot at during my In the Field Summer Star Photography Workshops, which provide student's with dark skies, and beautiful landscapes for sunrise and sunset. Many of the students have processed some of their shots from this past summer and shared them on the Star Photography Student Upload Gallery. There are some really cool shots in there that I think you will enjoy, feel free to share some of your own as well. If you're interested in joining me head on over to the workshops page which is linked above! Hope to see you out there:)

If you're new to this site you may not know that I provide a long list of inspirational photographers half way down the page on the right-hand side bar. This is a dynamic list, so there will be some new content every now and then!

I had a lot of fun writing my newest tutorial which allows you to ditch your heavy laptop and start traveling with a Google Nexus 7 or Nexus 10 as a full time travel device. When I first set this thing up, it seemed a little bit complicated, now the learning curve is gone and I can fully set everything up and start transferring pictures in under 5 minutes. The biggest win for me is carrying such a light pack, with nearly any hardware. I urge you to check out the tutorial which I have linked below. Does anyone else have a nice travel setup that doesn't include a laptop? I know some of you post process on the road some this kinda thing seems unfathomable. 

Using Your Nexus 10 or Nexus 7 to Transfer Picture Files from Your Camera's Memory Card to an External Hard Drive

The Shot

I kinda forget which summer workshop this was, but our caravan of 8 or so cars rolled into Reflection Lakes around 4 AM after a full night of shooting the Milky Way over at Sunrise on the opposite flanks of Mount Rainier. Myself and a few night owls were able to grab some really nice starry twilight shots before the sun started to rise. My favorite part about Reflection Lakes is the moody fog which always sits over the lake. Good times...

Click here to buy a print

Fire & Ice - Mount Rainier, Washington

This past weekend was my first experience traveling ( armed with a camera ) to the Southern Oregon Coast. We hit some great Oregon locations along the way such as Lost Lake, Crater Lake, Bandon, Cannon Beach as well as my personal favorite Samuel Boardman State Park. Now that all the new pictures are uploaded to the trusty iMac it's back to the road and off to Eastern Washington for the weekend.

For any newcomers to the website I keep a running diary of "On the Road" pictures including iPhone uploads and random pics taken behind the scenes... here are a few from my last trip, taken and processed with my iPhone 4. Feel free to click on any of them for a gallery view. 

Soft Blue Light Paints the Layers of Southern Oregon's Coastline / iPhone + Snapseed

Greg Annandale & Conor MacNeill Shooting Sunrise at Cannon Beach / D800

Hanging On The Edge @ Crater Lake / iPhone + Snapseed

Ok, hopefully you weren't bored by the travel pictures, I personally love seeing the shots people take while out traveling. On to the real deal...

The Shot
During one of this summer's star photography workshops, Jason Williams gave me the great idea to bring some steel wool up to the mountain.  Well that was an easy decision and it seemed to go over really well at the next group of workshop students. If you are interested in doing it on your own I found this article by Photo Extremist to be very helpful. Here is one of my favorites from the night... and if you're into learning how I process or take this type of shot my Free Star Photography Tutorial & Star Photography Post Processing Video Tutorial should be right up your alley. Enjoy!
Click here to buy a print of this picture

A Fading Desire - Mount Rainier, Washington

Here we go again, that crazy ( moonless ) time of the month is rolling back around. For me that means long nights, not much sleep, tons of driving, exploring, photography and oh yeah; Teaching 18 new star photographers at Mount Rainier. Awesome!

FREE Star Photography Tutorial
Online Star Photography Post Processing Group Workshop

Star Photography Post Processing Video Tutorial

Complete Star Photography Picture Portfolio

The Shot

Here is a snap looking towards the Tatoosh Mountain Range from Mount Rainier. It's been a while since the picture was taken, but I believe we took a hike up here late last summer since the wild flowers are in full bloom. One of the best parts about letting pictures sit on the computer for a few months, or even a year in some cases, is finding stuff that you totally forgot you took:)

Lost: In the Valley of Dreams - Mount Rainier, Washington

Does anyone ever wake up and hope for clouds & rainy skies? Seattle has been so sunny lately, waking up to some dim & gloomy skies this morning was definitely welcomed. One of my buddies Paul Rutherford is in town for the weekend and we ventured up to the top of the Space Needle for sunset. The colors were great & the city lights up nicely a bit after sunset. Highly suggest a trip to the top if you are in the area.

PS: One spot just opened up in my Online Star Photography Post Processing Group Workshop if anyone wants it. 

The Shot

A few weeks ago a group of 9 students and myself were out taking pictures at Mount Rainier. The night was absolutely perfect for Milky Way shots, we even got some air glow here and there. It's a blast taking a bunch of awesome photographers out to capture the night sky, especially on a clear night like this. Thanks to everyone that came out to the In the Field Workshop!

Click to hang this picture on your wall!

Tatoosh Dreams - Mount Rainier NP, WA

Where to go what to do? Any ideas? I'm on the verge of heading off to Guilin, China for a few weeks later in the year. It has been my dream to explore this part of Asia for a while and I finally have the time to pull it off. As always my Online Star Photography Post Processing Class is still filling up so grab a spot for the next class:)

The Shot

Wandering around Mount Rainier National Park in the summer months is one of my favorite activities, this was taken on one of my many adventures up there this past summer.

Rainier Falls - Mount Rainier National Park, WA

I am on the hunt for new backup and computer file storage options. Alot of people suggest Drobo and stuff like that, but I am leaning more towards two 6TB Western Digital Drives. I have always used them without a problem. Any suggestions would be great....

The Shot

This is a shot of Mount Rainier looking East-ish from the Reflection Lakes area. These falls are an awesome place to shoot if you can find them:)

Reach for the Sky - Mount Rainier National Park

I have added another location to my Under the Stars Photography workshops for the summer. And the location is... drum roll.... Crater Lake National Park. This is one of my favorite spots to shoot the stars and I wanted to share in the fun with everyone. I have also updated my workshops page which can be found below.

Under the Stars Photography Workshops

The Shot

Walking through the woods in the early morning and mid afternoon always produces some amazing light and shots, here is another one I captured at Mount Rainier National Park.

Chasing the Sun

Ever wish you had someone who's sole purpose was to post pictures for you on every social platform? I definitely do.... Anyone wanna work for me:)

The Shot

This was easily one of the best sunsets I have seen in the Pacific Northwest. While waiting to take some star/milky way shots at Reflection Lakes I snapped this one off. There may have been some wine involved as well:)

The Photographer's Apprentice

Sitting here at Panera Bread writing this blog post and waiting to take my Macbook Pro over to the Apple store for some work, I foresee trouble in my near future. First off leaving the Apple store without a new toy(s) is next to impossible for me. Secondly, REI is in clear view of all these places. Hopefully I will escape before going broke...

If you missed it, here is my last blog post including the new Post Processing Workflow Video Tutorial!

The Shot

This is a massive pano comprised of 6 different shots taken with my Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G lens, which equates to a massive amount of megapixels. The mountain in the background is Mount Rainier, which reflects into Reflection Lakes, imagine that. Upon completion the photo is 226 Megapixels and more than 125MB in size. If you look closely you can see my "moon" shadow on the bottom lefthand side.