This series is for our readers and for me. I am quite good at generating ideas but I need some help with discipline and follow-through. I plan to share a wrap-up like this at the end of each month through the end of 2024 to see if it helps me stay more accountable to myself. The basic format: an inventory of how I spent the last month with regard to nature photography and our photo business, a casual discussion about the things that are on my mind, and a few non-photography recommendations at the end. Thank you to Alex Kunz for the format inspiration.
OCTOBER 2023 REVIEW
Our October started and ended with photographing fall colors. Early in the month, we stayed close to home in southwestern Colorado, taking our Airstream trailer out for a week to a spot with lovely scenery and very few people. On most days, we saw only a car or two pass by our campsite near the area’s main road and aside from two people we know, did not see a single other photographer in the area. With a little exploration, it is easy to get away from the crowds, even in a place as popular as the aspen forests of Colorado in the fall. With mostly clear skies, we focused on smaller scenes and enjoyed a few frosty mornings. And then a lovely snowstorm rolled in and … we were not able to photograph it. 😓 After getting the COVID and flu vaccines at the same time, we were feeling too tired to head out into the wintery weather. It was disappointing to miss the autumn-winter mix but I should—obviously—not feel bad since I have been able to spend a lot of time on photography this autumn.
A few days later, we headed to Utah to view the annular eclipse (see below) and then onto the area around Zion National Park. We continue to be drawn back to this landscape for a few reasons. First, I have a book project in mind and am continuing to round out my autumn portfolio from the park. Second, we always get to meet up with photo friends in this area. Third, this area is one of the best I have come across for being able to photograph a diverse range of interesting scenery all day long from relatively accessible locations. While popular areas of the park are always overwhelmed with people, it is easy to get away from the crowds here, too.
To start the Zion portion of our fall travels, we stayed at a lovely dispersed camping area for more than a week but did not head out much for photography because the weather was in the high eighties and nineties—not exactly conducive to an autumnal state of mind. Unpredictability seems like the norm for autumn now. In Colorado, the aspens were late to start changing and then seemed to go from green to gold overnight, and then stayed golden for a very long time. In the Zion area, the maples turned very early this year (and very late last year). Many of the oaks went from green to brown to on the ground in a few days and the cottonwoods at lower elevations are still mostly green. A decade ago, Halloween seemed like the best time to be in this park because the higher elevation maples would be nearing the end of their most colorful phase and the cottonwoods would be nicely yellow. No so much anymore.
The park seems less busy this year. We were able to easily get a two-week reservation in the Watchman Campground and aside from the weekends, the park has seemed pretty quiet—at least in the places we like to visit. A few familiar locations seem more trampled compared to last year, like the park management has decided to offer them up as a sacrifice to possibly keep crowds of less caring visitors away from other places. I understand that logic but it is depressing to see what was a pristine riparian area just a few years ago transformed by foot traffic.
On the positive side, we have been able to spend extended time with three close friends/like-minded photographers, which has greatly enriched this part of our autumn season. For example, I feel lucky to have a friend like Anna Morgan who will spend hours photographing dead flowers (happily, and wishing for even more time) in Zion National Park with me.
Although creating photos is a type of work for a full-time photographer—and I have been doing a lot of that kind of work—I have also been working on the second edition of our Beyond the Grand Landscape ebook (which will be a course with videos in its second iteration). We are too close to Black Friday and the holidays to launch it this year so I am planning to share it in January if I can get back to doing more non-photo work soon.
A few photos from my new collection of wildlife photos from Alaska (linked below, along with an article about being a landscape photographer trying to photograph birds and wildlife).
NEW PHOTOS AND OTHER STUFF:
Recent articles: This is my sixth weekly article in a row. I am trying to be more disciplined in a few areas of my life, including writing. Even though this is the tiniest milestone in the history of milestones, I am happy to get here. This month, I have written about seeing opportunities for black and white photography while out in nature, finding beauty all around you to help improve your overall wellness and nature photography, and photographing wildlife from a landscape photographer’s perspective. For November and December, I am going to try a few shorter-form articles instead of every post being long and detailed.
Alaska wildlife gallery: In addition to the article mentioned above about photographing wildlife, I shared a gallery of 47 animal and bird photos that I created in Alaska in August of 2023.
Brews n’ Views: Eric Bennett, Mike DiMeola, James Rodewald, and Paul Bowman are hosting this weekly YouTube show to chat about photography while drinking fancy beer. They invited me on and we enjoyed a fun, silly, and partially serious conversation, including the review of ten photos from others that I have enjoyed recently.
The 2023 annular eclipse was cool, but I don’t have the technical skills to do anything with these files.
NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY: ALWAYS ON MY MIND
As I mentioned above, we headed to the Utah badlands to see and photograph the annular eclipse on October 14. After seeing the last total eclipse in Wyoming in 2017, we decided to make it a priority to see future eclipses because the experience was so exhilarating: the sudden darkness, feeling the temperature drop, and hearing nearby animals and birds loudly ask, “What is happening?!” The annular eclipse is not quite as exciting in those ways but it was still a fully worthwhile experience. During totality, when the moon covered the sun, we could see a perfect “ring of fire” around the outer edge while the light on the landscape dimmed considerably and looked silvery in a way that is hard to describe. With a solar filter, it was also exciting to see sunspots with a standard telephoto lens.
In terms of photographing the eclipse, my main conclusion is this: how can anything meaningful be created—by me—in four minutes? While the full eclipse lasted for two hours and fifty minutes from start to finish, totality lasted for a little longer than four minutes. During that time, I was able to take one series of files for the wide-angle composition I had set up in advance, a few extra files to try to block some lens flare, change from the wide-angle lens to a telephoto lens, and take four photos of just the eclipse as it exited totality. I also tried to pause for a few moments just to enjoy and observe the experience.
This last week, I spent about an hour and a half photographing milkweed flower pods going to seed in a canyon in Zion National Park. This is my preferred way to work: slow, precise, and relaxed. While I can adapt to quickly changing conditions in some cases, I just do not have the skill set to plan, photograph, and process an eclipse scene like this one. First, I am not a planner. When I opened up The Photographer’s Ephemeris app on my phone, it asked me if I wanted to update the date from July 6, 2019—the last time I opened up the app. The vast majority of my photos are created by choosing a spot and wandering around without any plan whatsoever so trying to match a location with an eclipse is not exactly in my photography skill set.
On the technical side, you can see the dramatic contrast difference from the exposure showing the eclipse (top left) and the exposure for the land (bottom right). Although I am a little embarrassed to admit this publicly, I have no idea what to do with these files in terms of processing so I probably will do nothing with them. Although the telephoto views of the eclipse are fun (see below), they are not personal enough to earn a spot in my portfolio.
A few years ago, all of this would have been really disappointing and frustrating. Now, it feels like a worthwhile experiment but no big deal that it didn’t work out in terms of photography. I’m more confident in the type of photography I focus on now and that feels like more than enough, and I am better at feeling like the experience itself is more than enough. I want to continue to try new things within the realm of nature photography (see: trying wildlife photography) but this experience confirmed that photos that require planning and more advanced processing skills are not where I want to spend my time.
This was my favorite photo from the 2023 annular eclipse but it will not end up in my portfolio. I liked the partial ring more than the full eclipse, mostly because the full eclipse photographed with a telephoto lens looked a little like a white circle with a slightly fuzzy edge created in Photoshop.
THIS MONTH’S RECOMMENDATIONS
Among friends, I am known as the person who is always sharing recommendations. I continue that tradition here.
Down Socks 🧦 Although I greatly dislike the idea of using down products, I have come to terms with the fact that it is the only material that helps me be comfortable out in nature, especially at night, because I get so, so cold. I bought down socks from Goose Feet Gear last year and they have helped me be much more comfortable when we are camping, both in a tent and in our Airstream trailer. I’m wearing them as I finish writing this on my phone from my tent in the Zion National Park backcountry. 🥰
Article 📖 This article from The Atlantic is a quick but quite interesting read about how purple martin birds have adapted to nesting only in human-made bird houses and structures. With fewer people invested in maintaining these houses, the future of the birds remains uncertain.
Best YouTube Channel Ever 🐱 This YouTube channel has brought a lot of laughs and joy to our household over the last few days so I have to share it. A few favorites: Let Me In, Please Go Away, and 5 AM Cat Collab. A warning: these catchy songs will get stuck in your head.
Recipe 1 🍲 My favorite recent meal for cold nights: polenta bowls with a hearty tomato sauce: Make some polenta (Bob’s Red Mill is good, 1+ cup per person cooked). Make some spicy (or not) tomato sauce (1 cup per person or more, see below). Roast or saute some cauliflower (1 medium head per two people) until it is golden brown, adding a lot of minced garlic near the end of cooking. Layer the polenta, cauliflower, and tomato sauce in a bowl. Sprinkle with pecorino cheese and some fresh basil. If you do not have homemade sauce, the Victoria White Linen marinara from Costco is my favorite jarred sauce. Add some fancy mushrooms as a bonus.
Recipe 2 🍅 Slow-cooked tomato sauce: 4 big cans of crushed tomatoes (28 oz), 1 small can of tomato paste, lots of garlic, olive oil, plus salt, dried basil, dried oregano, and chili flakes to taste (usually 1 to 2 tsp of each). In a large enameled cast iron pot, lightly saute the garlic in about a half cup of olive oil. Add the tomato paste and cook until darkened. Add the other ingredients, cover with the lid, and put into a 300 degree oven (sitting the pot on a cookie sheet can help keep your oven clean). Cook for a very long time, like all day, stirring every hour. Leave the lid slightly ajar as the sauce cooks to help thicken, if needed. This dark, rich sauce is one of my very favorite things to eat. I make a big batch of tomato sauce and freeze portions for future use since I always like having this on hand. Calabrian peppers, made into a paste with garlic, is a great substitute for the standard chili flakes if you like spicy food. Perfect for winter.
Photo-Related Recommendations 📸 Subscribe to our newsletter! I share a list just like this but entirely focused on nature photography in each issue of our newsletter.
Sarah Marino is a full-time photographer, nature enthusiast, and writer based in southwestern Colorado. In addition to photographing grand landscapes, Sarah is best known for her photographs of smaller subjects including intimate landscapes, abstract renditions of natural subjects, and creative portraits of plants and trees. Sarah is the author or co-author of a diverse range of educational resources for nature photographers on subjects including composition and visual design, photographing nature’s small scenes, black and white photography, Death Valley National Park, and Yellowstone National Park. Sarah, a co-founder of the Nature First Alliance for Responsible Nature Photography, also seeks to promote the responsible stewardship of natural and wild places through her photography and teaching.