Canon’s Photography in the Parks Contest

I’ve been narrowing down my choices for entry into this years Canon contest, this year we can enter ten photographs. I have a couple picked out so far but here is the first one I’m entering.  Let me know what you think..

Gigapan Systems

If you are a fan of Panoramas like I am,  you need to go check this out.

Bears in the Valley

Well,  since it’s been forever since I’ve updated this blog I thought I’d get off my butt and share what I’ve been up to.  If you have seen my website lately you’ve noticed that we took a trip to the southwest again, been doing some model shoots lately which is a complete depatrure from what I normally shooot,  but it’s been interesting.  I’ll try to cover those experiences in another post.

What I wanted to make a few quick notes baout today were the bears in Yosemite valley.

The bears have started to make themselves a little more visible in the valley lately, as happens this time of year.  And, as usual, I do my best to get up there as much as possible to see if I can get a few pictures of them.  We ran up to the park about a week or so ago and sure enough after a little looking we came across a bear,  it looked like it might have been one of the cubs from last year.   I moved in on his position slowly and made sure he knew I was there, he showed little fear of me, in fact he barely gave me a second look. (pun intended)

The fact that the bear paid little attention to me is more than a  little worrisome, it means this particular bear might be becoming used to people which is both dangerous for people and especially dangerous for the bear.

I paced him at a pretty good distance taking a shot here and there, he moved in on me until he was about 50-60 feet away,  going about his usual business for looking for something to eat on the ground.  I took a few more shots and decided it was time to leave this one alone. When I stood and started walking away the bear started off in the other direction, across a bridge and was heading off toward thicker brush.

I’m always pretty thankful about my brief visits with the bears, and that they tolerate me long enough to get a few shots.

And please remember to SLOW DOWN!
Two bears have been hit by cars this year! Seventeen bears were hit by cars last year, along with an unknown number of deer, squirrels and other park animals. Slow down and save Yosemite’s wildlife.

Take care,

Ed

Death Valley

We took a run over to Death Valley earlier this month and I’m just now finding time to sit down a share a few thoughts.  Death Valley is one of those places that people either “get it” or they don’t.   There are no beautiful waterfalls, no abundance of color or any of the oter items that one would normally associate with a National Park.

But for those that “get it” the park is just an amazing place to visit, I can’t imagine that I would ever want to live in the area, but I could spend a few weeks a year there with little to no problem.

My main goal for this trip was to see the Racetrack, for those of you that don’t know, the Racetrack is the place where the rocks mysteriously move.

After 30 miles or so on an unpaved rough road you are paid off with with a view of the Racetrack Playa, it is 2.8 miles long by 1.3 miles wide.  And on the Racetrack itself are the rocks.

The rocks apparently slowly move across the Playa when it is wet because of the dirt pushed up on the leading edge.  It is my understanding that it has never been witnessed or filmed.  I’ve head a thousand theories but have seen little proof.   Don’t ask me how or why they move ,  I have no idea

I’m content with being able to get to this place to photograph it, and if you ever have the opportunity to get out there and see this place for yourself I’d highly recommend it.

Here are a few shots from the trip.

And this one processed a little differently for printing on Fine Art Paper

Get out there and shoot

Ed

www.edhughesphoto.com

My Book

My book is finally finished, This is about 40 of my favorite pictures from recent years. I hope you enjoy it.

Days Behind th…

By by Edward Hughes

Book Preview

Monterey Area

Well,  we took of with plans on shooting some sunrise and sunset pictures of the missions on Saturday but things didn’t work out quite the way we expected.  So we ended up visiting our Otter friends in Moss Landing, they have become quite the celebrities, with as many as 40 – 50 people hanging out on the shore with cameras.  Obiviously the otters were just thrilled.

Then we ended up  in Pacific Grove for sunset.

It was a great way to spend a Saturday, my girls seemed to have a blast and got another pile of Sea Glass for our collection.

Another Shot from Maui

I’ve been digging through my shots from our trip to Maui in Feb.  I found one more I think I can live with,  it made a good looking print.   Let me know what you think.

Digging through old pictures

I was unable to get out and shoot this weekend, so I thought I’d dig through some old pictures to see if there were any gems  that I might have missed right after the shoot.   I came up with a few but here is one that I really liked.  It’s from Antelope Canyon just outside of Page Az.  I really need to head back there someday and try it again,  what a madhouse that place is with photographers,  you have a very limited amount of time to get your shots then move on.

New Series

I’m currently working on a new series of Seascapes for sale, there will be a total of five shots in the series and will be available for sale as a set soon. Here are a couple of previews. They will be available on my website. www.edhughesphoto.com

Take Care,

Ed