Well, over the past week our winter has resurrected itself. It snowed much of today and 5" to 10" more is forecast to fall by Friday night. The images below were taken today near Silver Creek.
Heron & Fence.
Wheel Lines.
Winter Storm & Aspen.
Bud Purdy
Bud Purdy, a Picabo, Idaho legend celebrated his 96th birthday last night at the Picabo Angler. One of his goals is to be back in the cockpit and fly from Picabo to Carey, Idaho by May 1st.
Bud was 10 years old when he spent his first summer working on the K-K Ranch in Picabo. In 1883 the Picabo Livestock Company was established by 6 brothers from Nebraska, one of whom was Bud's grandfather. Later, in 1955, Bud purchased the Kilpatrick Company and the rest is history.
Bud Purdy. 96th birthday party. Picabo, Idaho. 2014.
Damsels In Disrtress by Sharptail Media
This is an incredible short video by Sharptail Media.
Silver Creek Callibaetis
Below is an image of a Callibaetis Spinner taken last September on Silver Creek. I managed to overlook this shot until now.
Callibaetis Spinner. Silver Creek. Idaho. September.
Embracing The Flaws
A terrific photographer & photography teacher who I admire, Chris Orwig, discusses, "embracing the flaws." That concept was likely brought to the surface for him when he was talking with the musician Seal about photography. Seal mentioned to Chris that, "When I shoot digitally I look for the flaws and when I shoot film I embrace the flaws." While I do not shoot film at the moment, the idea of "embracing the flaws" has not left me. Perhaps it's those imperfections that can, in the long run, make an image resonate.
John Huber making a January cast. Silver Creek, Idaho.
A lens I frequently use for fly fishing photography--the Nikon ƒ2.8 14-24--is a flare machine. The two arcs on the left side of the above image appear in many images of mine when shooting into the sun with my 14-24 lens. Why not just embrace the marks the flare makes?
Licensing An Image
Below is an image I just licensed to Penguin / Random House. It's of False Hellebore found in South Central Idaho.
False Hellebore. Idaho.
Silver Creek In January
Warm dry weather here. Below are a few shots taken yesterday, 1/24/14 on Silver Creek. The water clarity is a little off making for pretty good streamer fishing.
Black & White Italy
Below is a slideshow of black and white images from Venice to Tuscany to Rome. From the landscapes to the people to the details... All of the images were taken from the end of December through early January.
Below is a three image pano of St. Marks Square. Crowds disappear at night and the giant square takes on an entirely different feel.
St Marks. Venice, Italy.
The Drake Magazine
Below is an image of mine in the new issue of The Drake magazine. It's of a midge along the bank of the Big Wood River near Ketchum, Idaho.
Winter Midge. Big Wood River, Idaho.
Venice, Italy At Night
Christmas Eve from Ponte Academia. Venice, Italy.
Nikon D3s & Nikon ƒ1.2 50mm lens
Italian Mediterranean
The image below was taken in Viareggio, Italy.
Flotsam & Horizon.
Venice, Italy Pano
The image below is a pano taken in Venice over the holidays. It is of the Grand Canal and St. Maria of Salute Basilica. In the days to come I will be posting a few slideshows of my recent trip to Italy.
Nikon D3s & Nikon ƒ1.2 50mm AIS lens
Tuscan Landscape
It was quite wet the week I was in Tuscany which made for a saturated and moody environment. Most of these landscapes were shot wide open--ƒ1.2 on the 50mm lens I used.
Storm & Tuscany. Near Lucca, Italy.
Moody winter weather near Lucca, Italy.
Dirt road & trees. Tuscany.
Windy road near Gombitelli, Italy.
Breaking storm. Torre, Italy.
Rome Fishermen
I just got back from a 3 week trip to Italy and had one particular photographic goal: to get portraits of people who stood out to me. I purchased a used copy of Nikon's 50mm ais ƒ1.2 lens prior to leaving. From changing the aperture to focusing, it's a fully manual lens. It slows me down and has, when wide open, a very shallow depth of field which is exactly what I am looking for. It stayed glued to my camera for about 90% of my trip.
I took the images below of the only fishermen I saw over the course of my entire trip. I saw these two men from a bridge that crosses the Tiber River in Rome not far from St. Peters. I knew I had to walk down and talk with them, I don't know Italian, and try and get a portrait of one of them if not both. Knowing some Spanish went a long way in talking with these two men.
Portrait of a Fisherman. Tiber River. Rome, Italy.
These two men were fishing for carp and the catching had apparently been slow. Recent rain had caused the Tiber to go brown. They tied off the butt of their rods to a small wooden stake to lessen the odds of a fish taking one of their rods downstream for a ride.
Tools of the trade.
Fisherman. Tiber River. Rome, Italy.
Happy Holidays
Fog & Grand Canal. Venice, Italy.
Minimal Landscapes
It was super foggy from Bellevue, Idaho all the way down to Picabo today. Below are a few images from today.
Camera: Nikon D3s
Lens: Nikon 35mm ƒ2
Pheasant & English Setter
The below image was taken today near Picabo, Idaho.
Ordinary Landscape
Here's another image that is part of my series called, "Ordinary Landscapes."
Post Beaver Creek Fire & Snow
Below are a couple of images taken yesterday on Carbonate Mountain near Hailey, Idaho. This was the southern flank of the Beaver Creek Fire that burned in excess of 111,000 acres this past August.
Below, a yearling moose grazes near a sibling and mom. Gannet, Idaho.
Ordinary Landscapes
I have been working on a self project for the last couple of years I have titled, "Ordinary Landscapes." The image below never made it to this web site until now. It was taken in the middle of the summer with smoky skies. It was during a drought. I have mentioned this project here before and the aim is to capture something that is truly ordinary and perhaps even mundane and reveal it in an extraordinarily simple way. It needs to be compositionally simple as well.
Camera: Nikon D3s
Lens: Nikon 24mm pc-e