Explore the Big Sur coast with your camera. Broaden your photographic skills with award winning photographer, Ralph Nordstrom.
After a two-year absence from Big Sur due to the landslides of 2017, it’s past time to return. The Big Sur Photography Workshop is on for next month, November 11-14, 2019 and there’s an opening with your name on it.
Big Sur holds some of the most stunning coastline in the entire United States. The mile-high Santa Lucia mountains plummet into the Pacific Ocean, creating a scenery seen nowhere else.
Big Sur is also the home to redwood groves and waterfalls, found in the streams that cascade down the face of the mountains. One particularly famous waterfall spills onto the beach in McWay cove.
Much more awaits along this 100 mile stretch of coast that will challenge and reward you photographically. Would you like to join me and experience this beautiful coast for yourself? More information can be found on this link – Big Sur Photography Workshop. Or email me at Ralph@RalphNordstromPhotography.com.
Join me for the exciting Super Utah photography workshop.
The Super Utah photography workshop is coming up next month, October 19-25, 2019 and there’s an opening with your name on it. “What’s this,” you say? Take a look.
Two of Utah’s most beautiful national parks are Zion and Bryce Canyon and we cover them both in a week of exciting photography. Zion has been described as ‘a red Yosemite’ with its red sandstone cliffs that tower thousands of feet above the Virgin River, lined with cottonwood trees that are painting themselves in fall colors. The canyon itself offers many photographic opportunities but that’s not all there is. Take the Zion tunnel to the top upper reaches of the park where another world awaits. Sandstone cliffs and hoodoos are carved with intricate patterns. And the light in Zion is extraordinary.
Bryce Canyon National Park is about as different from Zion as you can get. Instead of gazing up, you look down into the vast wonderland of fins, windows and hoodoos carved out of bright red limestone. Sunrise at Bryce Canyon is nothing short of spectacular. You will be hard pressed to find another location as exciting as this.
But that’s not all. From the Kolob Plateau to Devil’s Garden in Grand Staircase Escalante there is a rich supply of fascinating places to photograph.
Photographing the coastal redwoods of Northern California should be on everyone’s bucket list.
It’s often said that California has everything.And it’s true.From the southern border with Mexico to the northern border with Oregon, the state goes from parched desert to lush mountain slopes.
California also has the oldest living trees in the bristlecone pines of the White Mountains, the most massive trees in the Giant Sequoias of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, and the tallest trees in the Coastal Redwoods along the California coast.
Can you imagine what it is like to experience these trees?Just think of it.The oldest bristlecones were seedlings when the pharos of Egypt were laying massive stone upon stone in Giza.And both the giant sequoias and coastal redwoods were seedlings when Christ was born in Bethlehem.
The coastal redwoods are the monarchs of these mountains, especially the unlogged old-growth groves….
A journey from the craziness of the city to the serenity of the magnificent coastal redwoods.
It’s 6:00 in the morning. I’m in my car, leaving our Southern California neighborhood and making my way to the freeway. I’m heading north and have to cross the LA basin which, at this time of day, is not easy. But I have a destination that is calling me.I’m on my way to the redwoods of Northern California, 800 miles from home.I’m looking forward to feeling small and insignificant and renewed among these magnificent trees.
There are two types of redwood trees in North America and practically all of them are in California. The coastal redwoods, where I’m headed, are the tallest living organisms on the planet with the tallest topping out at 379 feet.They are found in groves that span over 450 miles from Big Sur in the south to just across the Oregon border in the north.They thrive on the fogs that are common along the coast.
The other redwood tree is the Giant Sequoia that grows on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains.Where the coastal redwoods are tall and slender, the giant sequoia are of enormous girth.They are considered to be the most massive living organism on the planet.(But a rumor is spreading that a coastal redwood was found recently that is more massive than the largest giant sequoia, and thereby giving the coastal redwoods both titles.)
I made it out of the LA basin, crossed over the Grapevine on I-5 and into the great central valley of California. This stretch of I-5 is considered by many to be the most boring highway in the country with mile after mile of pretty much the same, barren landscape. After what seems like endless hours I turn west towards the Bay Area. This will be anything but uneventful.
Making it through the East Bay is more than 100 miles of congestion and is not something I look forward to. In fact, it’s fair to say that I dread it.I enjoy the Richmond Bridge; I think I like it more than Golden Gate.But getting there usually requires navigating mile upon mile of stop and go traffic and once it is crossed, there’s more of the same on the other side. Arg.
But when it’s finally behind me the promise of the serene redwoods comes over me and I’m excited again, re-energized and eager to continue.
Depth of Field (DOF) is a staple of near-far landscape photography.It is used when the composition contains object that are very near to the lens as well as objects that are distant.Traditionally, it has been achieved by using a wide-angle lens with a small aperture or a tilt-shift lens.Using this technique, it is possible to have the nearest object one or two feet from the lens and everything is in focus from the object to infinity.
Depth of field example. The rock is 18″ from the lens but with a wide focal length (16 mm) and a stopped down aperture (f/11) everything is in focus.
The disadvantage of this method is you must use a wide-angle or tilt-shift lens, preferably on a full-frame sensor camera body, and a small aperture.(In this image, the rock was 18” from the lens.I used a 16mm lens on a camera with a full-frame sensor and was able to get the needed DOF at f/11.). But small apertures introduce lens diffraction which work against you by softening the entire image.And what if you don’t have a wide enough lens.You couldn’t get this shot with a 24mm lens.And getting any kind of DOF with a telephoto lens is virtually impossible, even with fairly distant subjects.
Enjoy some of the photographic wonders of Death Valley National Park on an exciting photography workshop.
People sometimes ask me if there’s anything to photograph in Death Valley. At 5,262 square miles of desert and mountains, it’s one of the largest national parks. The valley itself is 140 miles long. Think of it. It takes three hours to drive from one end to the other. And surely, in all that space there should be something to photograph. And yet, most of it is desert. In fact, the valley itself is the hottest, driest place on earth. It’s also the lowest spot in North America at 282 feet below sea level. So what’s to photograph?
Mesquite Flats Dunes
Being a desert you might expect sand dunes and you would be right. The Mesquite Flats Dunes are in the middle of the valley near Stovepipe Wells. While not excessively high, they cover a large area and provide wonderful photographic opportunities at both sunrise and sunset. I prefer sunrise which means heading out across the desert while it’s still dark to arrive at the dunes just as it’s starting to get light. I go to a place that’s not heavily visited. It’s an exciting experience.
Zabriskie Point
Zabriskie Point is one of the most visited places in Death Valley. It attracts photographers and tourists alike. At first it looks like an inhospitable badlands with not much to offer the photographer except a lot of tan wilderness. But at the right time of day these ‘bad’ lands become extraordinarily beautiful.
It’s all a matter of being there at the right time.
Not long ago I was in San Francisco for some photography. I was interested in photographing Fort Point because it would be a good opportunity to emphasize design elements and abstractions. Fort Point is part of the National Park system and situated at the mouth of the San Francisco Bay. Its intent was to protect the bay from attack. Construction was completed in 1861. It never fired a shot.
If you’re interested in learning more about the fort, here are a couple of interesting links.
These “Making a Photograph” articles generally take a single, successful photograph and walk through the process of its creation from the moment of inspiration in the field to the finished product. What that doesn’t show is the scores of rejects that ended up in my memory card, what I was trying to do with them and how and why it didn’t work. I think there’s as much to be learned from the rejects as there is from the keepers.
So in this post I want to ‘air my dirty laundry’ so to speak and share with you not only the keepers but the rejects. I also want to take you through the process of looking deeper into the rejects in an effort to learn from my mistakes.
It’s no surprise that Bandon Beach in Oregon is a powerful attraction for photographers. It has one of the largest concentrations of sea stacks on the entire Oregon coast. This makes it a prime sunset destination. Read the story behind the making of a sunset photograph on one special afternoon.
The Pacific coast at Bandon, Oregon is graced with a generous collection of sea stacks of various shapes and sizes. It has the potential for dramatic sunsets and is on many photographers’ bucket lists. Some go so far as to crown it the best stretch of shore on the entire Oregon coast.
The day began about 80 miles to the south and we made our way north, stopping along the way in the Samuel H. Bordman Scenic Corridor and other locations that demanded our attention. It was overcast as we moved up the coast. But that didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for the many wonderful places to shoot. As the day continued, the clouds gave away to hazy sun. But by the time we got to Bandon Beach, the marine layer with its bank of clouds was again encroaching on to the shore.
Still, our motto is, ‘You work with what you got.’ So we gathered our gear and descended the long stairway leading from the overlook to the beach below.
Come explore the wonderful gems that wait to be discovered in the southwest corner of Oregon. Photograph the stunning Oregon coast, magnificent waterfalls, wild rivers and incredible Crater Lake. Join our photography workshop.
I knew Crater Lake would be exciting. Just think of it. Volcanic Mount Mazama emptied its huge magma chamber in a colossal eruption about 7,500 years ago. When the fireworks were over, the empty magma chamber collapsed, swallowing the mountain top and creating a crater over 2000 feet deep. Then the winter snows slowly but inexorably filled the crater with beautiful deep blue, crystal clear water.
My first experience of the lake was not with camera in hand but on a family trip as we paused for an evening while on or way to Seattle, Washington to visit more family. It was in June and the snow drifts were still piled high, preventing travel but to a small portion of the rim. And yet the experience was profound.
When I conceived of the Oregon photography workshop I knew Creator Lake had to be the culmination, the grand finale of the experience. From Wizard Island (a volcanic cone within the crater), Phantom Ship (the skeleton of a volcano that has long since passed), the Pinnacles (mysterious towers piercing the atmosphere) and the hard-to-imagine blue of the lake itself, Crater Lake is in truth a fitting highlight of the other wonders in this corner of Oregon.
Discover your personal style and use it to improve your photography.
Personal style. What is it? I like to bring up the topic of personal style in my workshops. I think it’s important to understand that each of us has a personal style whether we know it or not. It comes from the fact that each of us is a unique individual and sees the world in our own personal way. Our skill levels are different. Our life experiences are different. Our interests are different. And that leads to each of us having our own individual world view.
