Check out my latest feature in the June issue of Popular Photography! My article is about photographing cetaceans, otherwise known as whales. They are my favorite photographic subject and I’ve routinely stated over the years that if I could only photograph one thing that it would be whales. My article gives advice on how to photograph them, what lenses to use, and where some of the best places are to find whales. I also share how much patience is required for whale photography. In case it’s not obvious, they spend their lives underwater, so not only is it difficult to catch a glimpse of them, it is even harder to photograph them. I have been very fortunate to accumulate many months of time with them in the last decade. You can read more about the image in the double page opener in my blog post from last year. Also, If you’ve ever wanted to photograph whales, I am co-leading a tour with Tony Wu to photograph humpback whales in Southeast Alaska and Tonga in 2012.

It seems that years of hard-work and dedication are paying off. My 10 year anniversary of being a full-time photographer is coming up this June, and I have experienced a lot of editorial success lately, including my new hiking and backpacking photography article in the May 2011 issue of Popular Photography.  In the article, I share my secrets for creating dramatic images away from parking lot viewpoints. Most readers are never going to travel to the ends of the Earth and spend weeks camped out like I do, but hopefully my article will motivate more photographers to get more exercise, enjoy nature, and find their own unique images rather than settle for the same-old viewpoints. I created the double-page opening image of Forbidden Peak at sunset while backpacking in North Cascades National Park. It was a long hike up to Sahale Arm where I camped for several nights with some friends. If you are motivated, I highly recommend this backpacking trip high into the North Cascades. The views are some of the best that can be found in Washington. I created this image with my Pentax 67II medium format camera, Pentax 90mm f2.8 lens, Singh-Ray Warming Polarizer, tripod, and Fuji Velvia 50 film. I scanned it on my Imacon Photo scanner and adjusted the masterfile in whatever version of Photoshop I was using at the time. Readers will also note that I included a photo of my Fstopgear Tilopa BC packed with all my equipment spilled out that I currently use to create landscape photos.

Click here to purchase a print of my Forbidden Peak Sunset image.

I just built some new web pages for some gear that I am trying to sell. I had great luck selling my gear last time via search engine traffic by following good SEO practices. I hope to do the same again. Here’s what I have for sale,

Singh-Ray 82mm Thin Mount LB Warming Polarizer For Sale
Singh-Ray Vari-N-Duo Filter For Sale
Singh-Ray 58mm Thin Warming Polarizer For Sale
Hoya Moose’s 67mm Warming Polarizer For Sale
Singh-Ray 1-Stop Graduated ND Filter For Sale
LowePro Photo Trekker Backpack For Sale

I am selling my Canon 5D body and Ikelite housing because I am upgrading to the new Canon 5D mkII. This camera system is still an incredible set up and has many years of use left in it.

I recently upgraded my underwater strobes to the more powerful Ikelite DS160s and now need to sell my lightly used Ikelite DS51 strobes. I have a set of UCS arms that I will include. This is a great set up for underwater macro photographers.

I am finally doing it. I am going to go almost completely digital for a variety of reasons. I always wondered when this day was going to come and here it is at last. I would like to sell the entire system at once for $1200. It includes a Pentax 67II body with AE Prism Finder and 8 lenses that cover from 45-200mm.

I am selling a couple of lenses that I no longer use. They are the Canon 20mm f2.8, Canon 28mm f2.8, and Canon 2X II Extender.

I am selling my large format camera system. I have a Toyo 45CF View camera, Horseman 69 220 roll film back, and Rodenstock 65mm f4.5 lenswith a center filter and Fotoman 6×12 cone mount.

I have 2 LaCie 80GB rugged portable hard drives for sale for $75 and a LaCie 250GB hard drive including the power cord for $50. They are all the triple interface kind that allow for USB, Firewire 400, or Firewire 800 connectivity.

I’ve been back home working for over a week while getting ready for some extensive travel coming up to Indonesia, Panama, and Patagonia over the next few months. I just finished processing all of my new sea otter images. Apple came out with a RAW converter for Aperture this past week. I was not happy how the DNG files were looking, so I wanted to wait to do the processing once Aperture supported my new Canon 50D. Overall, I am very happy with the results of using the new camera. My friend Phil Colla and I have been emailing back and forth about the quality of the images from the new camera. I’ve been very pleased with what I am getting, and have to go back to some of my 35mm film scans to realize how picky we are getting these days. The detail is so good that I am down to counting nose hairs on the sea otters. Overall, I am very pleased with the new camera, except for the fact that the larger LCD screen ends up getting covered in nose smudge while holding it up to my face. I’ll try and have more of the images in the sea otter gallery before I leave November 19th.

Please visit more of my Sea Otter Photography.