My Photo Guides

Horsetail Fall... With Virtually no Water! On Friday morning I saw a photo from Thursday night that looked pretty good, so I had my favorite Mario Andretti impersonator Lori Hibbett drive me over in record time. The waterfall wasn't really flowing, but we hung around until sunset anyway and the sunset color on the moist rock looked a while lot like Horsetail Fall does when it's actually flowing. Eric Leslie met us, and let us know about the Yosemite Renaissance show opening that night, so headed over there after sunset. Sunrise wasn't anything to write home about (I shot the Wawona Tunnel instead of the view), but running around the Valley later, reflections in the Merced River kept us occupied with stunning mirror images. We're off tomorrow on our next adventure... Red Rock Canyon on the way to Anza Borrego this weekend, then on to Death Valley next week! https://picasaweb.google.com/107459220492917008623/YosemiteNationalPark#5714799443293108498 #WaterfallWednesday

Astrophotography Opportunities in March 2012 To get the best possible results with my astrophotography, I try to plan ahead to shoot as many astronomical events as I can. Here are some of the opportunities you'll have in the next month: March 3/4: Mars at Opposition. Mars will be as close as it gets to the earth, and will rise in the evening as the sun sets. March 5: Mercury may be visible shortly after the sun sets through March 12, but on March 5 it reaches it maximum distance from the sun. March 7: The nearly-full moon will rise just before sunset. Mars will rise right behind the moon in the evening sky. March 8: Full moon. March 9: The nearly-full moon will set just after sunrise. ... continued on my blog: http://activesole.blogspot.com/2012/02/astronomical-events-coming-in-march.html #starrynights #Astronomy http://activesole.blogspot.com/2012/02/astronomical-events-coming-in-march.html

Although Horsetail Fall wasn't flowing last weekend and we had no weather for sunset or sunrise, it's hard to have a bad day in Yosemite Valley! https://picasaweb.google.com/107459220492917008623/YosemiteNationalPark#5713719794460033234

It's not #selflesssunday , but please join me in welcoming Laura Tidwell to the photographer community here on G+. I was fortunate to meet Laura a couple of years ago as I returned from Utah to California. She and her family met me in Death Valley and we shot for a couple of days through there and up the Eastern Sierra. By sheer coincidence, I'm going to be lead a photowalk for G+ photographers around the Eastern Sierra Nevada region June 1-4! I'm working out the details, and hope to make a more formal announcement in the next few days. The timing is very be promising for broken clouds due to monsoon season moisture, and we'll have several opportunities for sunset full moon rises and sunrise full moon sets. We'll visit Mono lake, the ghost town of Bodie, Tioga Pass will probably be open for access to Yosemite, and Devil's Postpile National Monument should be open as well. I'll probably get a meeting room so we can run a hangout to include anyone not with u

Sand Dunes of Death Valley National Park Since exploring the 8 or 9 sand dune field in the Death Valley area, I rarely visit the Mesquite Flat sand dunes, trampelled by nearly every one of the almost 2 million feet which visit the park each year. Each dune field has its own character. These bad boys are over twice the height of the Mesquite Flat dunes, and require a hike of over an hour to climb from the edge to the 700 foot summit. Two feet up, one foot back... it's a great workout! https://picasaweb.google.com/107459220492917008623/DeathValleyNationalPark?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDvm87KkorjNA#5714232941236341730

Death Valley Racetrack Panorama Although I still working on images from a quick trip to Yosemite last weekend, I'm really excited to be going to shoot in Anza-Borrego State Park this weekend and Death Valley National Park next week. I'll be meeting a few G+ photographers in each! https://picasaweb.google.com/107459220492917008623/DeathValleyNationalPark?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDvm87KkorjNA#5671946319739167138

Jupiter, Venus, Moon Alignment from Sentinel Bridge Yosemite Valley isn't the greatest place to see expansive views of the night sky, but I was fortunate to arrive at Sentinel Bridge over the Merced River right before the moon set behind the valley rim. I was able to capture this frame with the moon and Venus reflected. https://picasaweb.google.com/107459220492917008623/NightPhotos#5713945726383135874 #astrophotography #starrynights

Pinterest Coming Unpinned By Assignment of Legal Liability onto its Users? People who do not care about unauthorised use of their images and who feel they benefit from referral traffic generated to their sites will tell you not to worry, but if you use Pinterest to pin others' work, the design of the site may shift significant liability onto you . Thanks Michael Russell for sharing this enlightening post. I'll include your useful comments here i this share as well: "Another interesting article on the potential legal pitfalls with Pinterest. I have an account, but so far I have only pinned my own content - the content I have repinned has been that of other photographers pinning their own content. I am not sure how useful the site would be to me overall, but I am reluctant to do much more with it before some of these legal questions have a bit more resolution. I also don't see it as a good driver of traffic as the previews on there are so large I don't know why it w

Thnaks Mike Shaw for compiling this circle of women photographers on G+. Originally shared by Mike F Shaw Women Photographer's Of G+ It has taken a while to compile this circle as women photographers only account for around 30% of the photographers currently on G+, hence the reason for the share. I have to say in building this circle (and any other circles out there) you really get to see the depth of talent that is on G+. I hope you add this as it will only enlighten your on line experience.

It was a Photographer Weekend in Yosemite On this morning on the Merced River I met Brian Rueb with an Aperture Academy workshop, Ken Hornbrook and the Pasadena Photochromers , and I saw a third group which I later learned was Michael Frye with a few customers. I was shooting with Lori Hibbett and Eric Leslie, and the night before at the Yosemite Renaissance 27 reception we met Michael and his wife Claudia Frye, David Hoffman and Charlotte Hoffman, Franka M. Gabler, and I started lowing track of names at that point, but Penny Otwell was there and apparently I just missed William Neill (I was too busy shooting the Jupiter -Venus - Moon convergence to arrive earlier... priorities!). It was great seeing and meeting you all! #mirrormonday curated by Gemma Costa and Elizabeth Edwards. #photoplusextract

Quick Trip to Yosemite Friday morning Lori Hibbett saw a photo of Horsetail Fall the night before which looked good, so we headed over to Yosemite to see if we could catch it. Upon arriving, we met up with Eric Leslie, but the water wasn't flowing. We stopped at Sentinel Bridge to catch the moon setting, along with Venus and Jupiter reflecting int eh Merced River. Continuing on to the museum, we met Michael Frye David Hoffman and Franka M. Gabler at the opening reception for the Yosemite Renaissance XXVII. The sunrise wasn't dramatic the next morning, but conditions were great for shooting reflections in the Merced River. https://picasaweb.google.com/107459220492917008623/YosemiteNationalPark#5713719819820566178

Ribs of the Earth Sandstone patterns in Valley of Fire State Park near Las Vegas. I'm going to try to get back here April 6-7. I can't wait! https://picasaweb.google.com/107459220492917008623/ExpeditionImages2009#5712576435267990082

Flickr Photographers on G+ I started on Flickr back in 2006 or so and have over 3000 landscape and nature photos over there. I think many of us are more active now on G+, but there are a couple of features we could still use over here (groups, etc). Google's off to a great start winning over the hearts and minds of photographers, and I'm optimistic that many of the features we're accustomed to, or are hoping to see, are coming. Let's reconnect with old friends from Flickr, and make some new ones. Who should I add to this circle?

Flickr's Resuming Development, or Just Getting a Cosmetic Makeover? Surely any sign of life over there opens the door for progress. What do you think Flickr should change, revamp or add? Not necessarily to improve Flickr... but to result in a better photo sharing site, which Google is probably in a much better position to develop. I think that the G+ community reaction to the removal of the Google+ Incoming stream demonstrated a clear desire for content discovery. To use Flickr features as an example, Explore is a nice start, but they should offer a dashboard presenting several different algorithms for content discovery. If G+ would like to do that first (and patent it), all the better! It would be cool to select from 3 or 4 algorithms, and have the results displayed as thumbnails in 3 or 4 infinitely scrolling columns. In addition to discovery algorithms, let me choose to display thumbnails of the most recent (or most popular) photo posts from selected or all circles! What f

Congrats Kevin McNeal for having your long exposure from Pfeiffer Beach the California Coast go viral and receive over 1000 +1s! https://plus.google.com/107185271908509011656/posts/6WmYLWfDJmD Check out his stream; his other work is just as worthy. Below is a direct view through the natural tunnel through the rock, showing a large wave back-lit by the setting sun. https://picasaweb.google.com/107459220492917008623/Spring2011#5671270628251283506

After speaking with Jean Day last night about her trip to Yosemite over the weekend and reading Michael Frye's blog post on the meager flow of Horsetail Falls last week, I think I'll skip my own planned pursuit of Horsetail Falls this weekend. It's a tough collection of circumstances to catch just right! http://www.michaelfrye.com/landscape-photography-blog/2012/02/19/quick-horsetail-update/ http://www.michaelfrye.com/landscape-photography-blog/2012/02/19/quick-horsetail-update/

For more on the story of Horsetail Falls, here's a link to the Yosemite Nature Notes video produced by Steven Bumgardner, including interviews of Michael Adams, Tony Rowell and Michael Frye. For more Yosemite Nature Notes videos, here's a link: http://www.nps.gov/yose/photosmultimedia/ynn.htm http://youtu.be/oyoa-QfeGho http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyoa-QfeGho

Horsetail Falls in Yosemite National Park Here's another view of Horsetail Falls in Yosemite National Park, lit up orange by the light of the setting sun. Anyone catch it this weekend? That's amazing that my last post of this annual event from another angle got so many views and +1s! Did it get featured on What's Hot, or did it get picked up on a blog or other external Web site? https://picasaweb.google.com/107459220492917008623/SomeFavoritesUpTo2008OrSo#5633693154497108162 #plusphotoextract

Limited Time Offer For the next 2 weeks, the light of the setting sun will backlight Horsetail Falls just before sunset... if the waterfall is flowing and if clouds don't block the sun! I just cancelled reservations for 2 rooms at the Yosemite Lodge for Feb 24-26 Weekend. I'll still be going, but I decided to camp instead. Come on up and shoot Yosemite in the Winter! https://picasaweb.google.com/107459220492917008623/MyTravels20062009#5293901653794383122 #plusphotoextract

Yosemite Valley Fog Timelapse Hopefully I'll get more of this when I return Feb 24-26, May 4-6 and May 18-20. Who wants to go? Best viewed in HD and full screen of course! http://youtu.be/BT0TM7E5Ydg?hd=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT0TM7E5Ydg

Snow Arrives in the Sierra Nevada There have been a few small storms over the past week, but not enough to bring the snowpack up to normal levels. One snow survey report I read last week put the water content at that station at 1/9th the level of last year at the same time. If we don't start getting big storms soon, the Spring season will be early and short, and waterfalls in places like Yosemite Valley will not be at peak flows for long. I skied on Saturday and Monday last weekend, and we still need 3-4 more feet just to have many of the expert trails open. I'll go again this weekend, along with hordes of people coming up for Presidents Day holiday weekend. With more light snow falling this weekend, the roads (and lift lines) are going to be a mess! #plusphotoextract

I've been fortunate to meet and shoot with filmmaker Tom Lowe in the Eastern Sierra several times over the past couple of years, as he worked on his upcoming film Timescapes . The image below of my daughter Nicole Sullivan was captured on Tom's Red MX digital cinema camera in 2010. Hopefully that footage will make it into the final release! For samples of the mind-blowing footage you'll get to see in Timescapes, see Tom's post of his trailer here on G+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/115733604509184177258/posts/TY9GSwMcf6k Originally shared by Tom Lowe Bridgeport, CA.

Cloud: A Dolphin Wearing a Cowboy Hat? Even our clouds have a Western theme around here!

A Message From Pandora In this short documentary produced by Avatar director James Cameron, he and Sigourney Weaver describe one of 60 dams planned for the Amazon Basin. Much of the electricity is to subsidize mining, and further destruction of the Amazon rain forest. Tens of thousands of native residents will be displaced. The accelerated loss of rain forest accelerates climate change, which will affect you and your children. The project and resistance to it are reaching a critical point this week. Please consider signing the petitions and sharing this. Credo Action petition: http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/belo_monte_dam/index2.html Amazon Watch petition: http://amazonwatch.org/take-action/stop-the-belo-monte-monster-dam Full 20 minute video on Vimeo: http://amazonwatch.org/news/2011/0907-message-from-pandora http://amazonwatch.org/news/2011/0907-message-from-pandora

Please Help the Kayapó Indians Please help tens of thousands of native people prevent their land from being taken, to subsidize electricity for mining development in the Brazilian rain forest. Credo Action petition: http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/belo_monte_dam/index2.html Amazon Watch petition: http://amazonwatch.org/take-action/stop-the-belo-monte-monster-dam Already planned to be the third largest dam in the world, Monte Belo is only the first of up to six dams which will need to be constructed: "Belo Monte will be one of the most energy inefficient dams in the history of Brazil. It will produce only 10% of its 11,233 megawatt (MW) installed capacity during the 3-5 month-long dry season, an average of only 4,462 MW throughout the year, or 39% of its nominal capacity. To guarantee a year-round flow of water, the government would need to construct a series of large dams on the Xingu and its tributaries that will gravely impact forests and forest peoples." "The

Stop the Belo Monte Monster Dam http://amazonwatch.org/work/belo-monte-dam Although the photo below was clarified last Summer as being described slightly out of context, an update on the situation this week underscores just how critical it is for people around the world to show support for Chief Raoni and the Kayapo people: "Crooked ranchers and illegal settlers have sent armed thugs to try to intimidate Kayapo and Juruna communities in attempts to encroach upon their lands. However, rather than being intimidated, armed Kayapo warriors have gathered in a nearby village, heightening the specter of violence and bloodshed . Yet legendary Chief Raoni and his people want to avoid violent confrontation at all cost. He has called for support from people around the world to pressure the Brazilian government to respect their rights and protect their lands." Full story and links to the petition: http://amazonwatch.org/news/2012/0213-urgent-chief-raoni-and-the-kayapo-under-attack#readm

Moon - Venus Conjunction from Memorial Point, Lake Tahoe Here's a vertically composed image from the moon and Venus conjunction on December 27. I was fortunate to be driving along Lake Tahoe at sunset, providing some great light and compositions for this astronomical event. Here's the horizontal composition I posted on December 28, which ended up being one of my favorite shots of 2011: https://plus.google.com/107459220492917008623/posts/fbAkSJoRbUk #StarryNights   #astronomy   #planetconjunction