Denali National Park – Alaska
In a recent post on the Luke Austin Photography facebook page I asked for peoples input as to which image I would post next. I requested that they state specific dates within a two year period. My challenge was to take the first responded date and find an image I had shot from that day.
I realised I had not yet posted the image to the blog. So here it is.. August 30 2010… Alaska, Incredible place.
Somewhere to Ponder
A dead calm Lake Quinalt blanketed in the morning fog.
Olympic National Park, Washington.
Lupins – Alaska
Below is an image I captured while in Alaska in August/September of 2010. I was surprised to find these Lupins on the mountainside on the hike up to the Harding Icefield. All the wildflowers at a lower elevation were well past their best before date but as I slowly climbed higher the foliage and wildflowers were in far better shape. I decided I would continue on and upward and shoot the Lupin on the way back down later in the afternoon.
Once I returned to the area I had briefly scouted on my way up it began raining, only for a short period however. There was just enough rain to line all the leaves with tiny beads of water (clearly visible in print) and make the mountainside wet enough to cause me to slip n slide all over the place. Trying to hunt out a composition that I felt worked in the slippery conditions was frustrating and after one bad spill it became painful (a rock in the behind will do that to you. I said ROCK!). Anyway after finding a composition I was happy with I sat, waited and recovered.
Sol Duc Valley – Olympic National Park – Washington
Just a quick image taken in September last year in Olympic National Park prior to attending a workshop with Kevin McNeal and Adrian Klein of Photo Cascadia. It was great to get back to this area again as it has a lot to offer in regards to rainforests and rugged coastline.
I was absolutely drenched at this point as it was continually raining the whole time I was in the valley. The camera stopped working for a period and I had to leave my 45mm tilt shift lens out to dry. Poor baby.
On another note… There are some incredible images and videos surfacing from the Earthquake / Tsunami / Nuclear crisis in Japan at the moment. An amazing event. My thoughts go out to all those affected.
Hopefully the image appears alright as I had to make a few final adjustments from my macbook. I try to avoid processing on the macbook display, but hey….. I needed to post something.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All
I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I am now back in Perth and looking forward to the Christmas and New Year period catching up with friends and family.
I was hoping to have some new material up over the last few weeks but unfortunately my mac was out of action. It was put into a local Perth business for an upgrade but they managed to make a mess of it. I had to return it several times over the course of a 3 week period. Valuable downtime wasted. The matter has now been resolved and I am hoping to have some more images up over the next few weeks.
All the best to everyone into the New Year.
Denali National Park, Alaska
Monumental
Monument Valley is an incredible place.
This is one of those images that just looks great printed large. I have seen it printed at 90 x 36 inches and was impressed by the quality and impact.
Nikon D3X, 7 image stitch.
Click image for FULLVIEW
Death Valley – 2 minute window
On the drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles we took a small detour and headed through Death Valley National Park. What an amazing place. Just as we arrived in the park the rain began to absolutely bucket down, here I was thinking it didn’t really rain in Death Valley.
The storms that had been battering the Californian coastline had managed to head further east into and beyond Death Valley. From the time we arrived in the park (noon) until just before sundown it had been continually raining and the skies were grey and dull. Then suddenly in a matter of a few minutes things started to get interesting, the skies began to open a little and I could see light hitting sections of the surrounding mountains. Then after another minute or so it opened right up and a rainbow appeared……. It was one of those ‘get set the f*#k up and take a shot of something’ type of situations…… I quickly pulled over, sprung out of the car, ran around like a nutter trying to find something, anything to throw in the foreground
WOW! a shitty little stream of runoff – you’ll do!
The whole show was only a matter of minutes so I had to make do with what I was given.
Unfortunately we were on a tight schedule and were only in Death Valley for less than 24hours. It is the type of place you could easily spend a week or so shooting as there is so much on offer. Hopefully I will get back there sometime.
Wrecked
It’s been a while.
Well…… I have not been out shooting in the past month and it is slowly driving me mad. It has been a couple of months since my last post and although I haven’t been shooting in the past month I did do a little trip in January throughout Southern Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California, and Hawaii. Images from this trip will come along in dribs and drabs.
This is an image from that trip which was taken during my 2 day stay in L.A. It rained nonstop while I was there and many areas were flooded due to the storms battering the area. I felt B&W along with a square crop would suit this scene well. It was just a matter of waiting until a wave washed ashore and withdrew back into the ocean to get the shot I was after.
Merry Christmas and a Snappy New Year
I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. Thank you all for your comments and feedback. Also thank you to those that drop by to view the blog but don’t necessarily leave any comments.
2009 has been a great year, and I am really looking forward to 2010.
Here’s to 2010!
Mono Lake Panoramic View
Mono Lake is situated within the Bodie Hills, on the eastern side of the Sierra Mountains. I really enjoyed shooting this area. It has a lot to offer and I would loved to have spent more time here. This image was shot just before proceeding to the shoreline of the lake and shooting the Tufas (calcium carbonate limestone towers).
Sausalito
Here is another shot from the morning shoot of Sausalito, San Francisco.
I hope you like it.
Sausalito – San Francisco
This image was taken from Sausalito looking out toward Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay area. Myself and Neal headed to the location about 30 minutes before first light which proved to be a good move as this is when I found the light to be at its best for this particular morning. It was still dark so the city lights reflected nicely off the low lying cloud and light fog that was about. We were also hoping for a spectacular sunrise but unfortunately the cloud was too heavy on the horizon.
Luck comes into play in a big way when you only have that one or two days to shoot a particular location. You can do as much research as you like, and have allllll the gear at hand, but having the weather do exactly what you want, when you want just isn’t going to happen. I bet if Jesus was here today and into this whole photography thing he would capture some incredible images.
6 image stitch
L U K E A U S T I N P H O T O G R A P H Y 