Desert Landscapes of Death Valley - Workshop

Desert Landscapes of Death Valley National Park

January 9-13, 2013

The Race Track, Death Valley National Park

I will be co-leading a rigorous 5-day photography workshop with my friend, Michael Gordon, in Death Valley National Park January 2013. Death Valley is a landscape photographer’s paradise, combining large sand dunes, mountains and desert scenes all in one place. If you have never photographed in Death Valley, you owe it to yourself to witness some of the most famous geological formations in the American West. January is an excellent time to photograph in Death Valley, as the combination of moderate temperatures and shorter days make for an excellent experience. Outside of the winter months, Death Valley is too hot and days are too long to be considered good times to visit. I do prefer to be in Death Valley in the winter, as the short days allow for more star trail photography, which we will spend some time doing out on the Race Track.

This workshop is primarily a field workshop, however we will have opportunities to discuss and work on post processing tips and techniques with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom as well as some of the Nik Software plugins. We will be in the field early in the morning and early in the evening to catch the dawn and dusk light with a little bit of down time in between. We will also spend a few evenings working on star trails, which will keep us out late when combined with some long drives back to our hotel. We will have discussion and assistance while out in the field each day. Advanced techniques will be constantly discussed, demonstrated and put into practice. We will all work closely together, sharing our knowledge and experience.

The workshop will begin on the afternoon of Wednesday, January 9 at 1pm, and will finish after a morning shoot on Monday, January 14th. The workshop is limited to 10 particpants only.

Desert Landscapes of Death Valley, January 9-14, 2013

Photo of the Day - Leopard In A Tree

Leopard In A Tree

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. February 2012

Pentax 645D, 400mm f/5.6, 1/250 @ f/5.6, ISO 400

Photo of the Day - Leopard In The Grass

Leopard In The Grass

Singita Sabi Sand, South Africa. June 2012

Nikon D800, 300mm f/2.8 VRII, 1/400 @ f/5.6, ISO 800

Photo of the Day - Cape Buffalo

Cape Buffalo Stare, Singita Sabi Sand, South Africa. June 2012

Nikon D800, 300mm f/2.8 VRII, 1/250 @ f/8, ISO 400. Hand held

Photo of the Day - Lilac Breasted Roller

Lilac Breasted Roller

Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

I have been digging through some of my Lightroom catalog images of the past few weeks, looking for images that need to be reprocessed with the latest Lightroom 4 processing engine. Here is an image that I took back in June 2006, and it is likely my favorite image of a lilac breasted roller. The lilac breasted roller is most striking when its wings are spread out, and I am always on the hunt for one who is on a perch near eye level in the hope that it will fly off in a side or downward direction as to get the tops of the wings. With this image I used a flash to stop the action, but I did drag the shutter a little bit to show a sense of action and speed. I could have used a high speed sync on the flash, but I decided to keep the shutter a 1/200 sec to strike the balance between sharpness and blur.

Captain Alan G. Poindexter, 1961-2012

Today we mourn the loss of friend, former astronaut Alan ‘Dex’ Poindexter, as the result of a tragic jet ski accident off the coat in Florida. Dex was a very talented photographer, friend, husband and father. Our hearts go out to Lisa and their two sons during this very sad time. I am at a loss for words, so this is a very brief blog post today.

Leslie and I had the fortune of knowing Dex, and I wrote about our behind-the-scenes NASA visit back in late 2010 on this blog:

NASA - A Behind-The-Scenes Tour

Godspeed, my friend. We miss you.

Interview with Borrowlenses.com

I was recently interviewed by my friends over at Borrowlenses.com, and we chatted about my safari business, Gura Gear, camera equipment and the photography industry. Check it out if you have the time.

Sabi Sand Safari Report - Day 20 (our last day!)

Today was the last day here in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve in South Africa, and it was sad to do the last game drive of the trip. I am writing this entry from my seat on my flight back home on South African Airways, somewhere over the middle of the Atlantic ocean. My 17-hour flight can only be made up of so many bad movies with Nicholas Cage in them. UGH.

We had a sparse crew of takers for our last game drive, but those that went out were rewarded with good light and good sightings. What did we see? You guessed it: cheetah! Bird in hand, my friends. We were able to locate our friendly cheetah down by the break between Singita and Londolozi, and watched him pose on different trees for over an hour as he paraded around the open grass plains. The zebras nearby weren’t so thrilled, so that created yet another nice opportunity to have alert zebras in our frame.

Blurred Cheetah

Nikon D4, 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII, 1/5 @ f/14, ISO 100

Cheetah Peering Over A Log

Nikon D800, 300mm f/2.8 VRII, 1/1000 @ f/3.5, ISO 1250

Cheetah In A Tree

Nikon D4, 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII, 1/1000 @ f/5.6, ISO 800

Cheetah In A Tree

Nikon D800, 300mm f/2.8 VRII, 1/1600 @ f/5, ISO 800

Curious Zebras

Nikon D800, 300mm f/2.8 VRII, 1/1000 @ f/6.3, ISO 800

We were back at camp around 8:30, so we had enough time to pack up, eat breakfast, say goodbye to the amazing staff and shove off for the airstrip around 11am. I have led so many safaris in the past 10 years and know what it feels like to leave a place after a long safari, but this one was different in that I had a deep connection with Castleton and all who work there. Thank you to Claude, Marinda, Jane, Constance, Gloria, our guides Leon, Wade and Ricardo, and especially our trackers Johnson, Lawrence, Renneck and Emmanuel. You all are amazing people who make my business and enjoyable one. Thank you thank you thank you. Since Castleton is closing down at the end of this year, I will have to wait until 2014 when the new camp is built for me to return.

I am planning out my 2013 safari year, and if you have any interest for yet-to-be-announced safaris, I would love to hear from you. You can contact me at info@andybiggs.com.

Camera bags on this safari are sponsored by Gura Gear, which I started in 2008. Check us out. We make the best camera bags on the planet.

Some of the gear on this safari has been provided by Borrowlenses.com. I rely on borrowlenses.com for both my own needs as well as my safari travelers’ needs. When we need big lenses, cameras or anything else photographic, we turn to borrowlenses.com to help out. They are the best resource in the industry for traveling photographers.