Photographer Interview: Candace Bartlett

March 17, 2015 Sarah Marino

We are excited to be featuring landscape and nature photographer Candace Bartlett on our blog today. I really enjoy and find inspiration in Candace's photography and wanted to learn more about her and her work, so Candace has been kind enough to pull together some really thoughtful answers to my questions. We hope you enjoy the interview and Candace's wonderful selection of photographs below.

You can learn more about Candace and her photography at her website and you can also find her on Facebook and 500px.

Call of the Desert

March 2, 2015 Ron Coscorrosa

Resting Rocks, Joshua Tree National Park

“The Desert is calling, and I must go” John Muir didn’t say, but I will.

The desert isn’t as easily loved as other landscapes, like the mountains in Muir’s famous quote. Its beauty is often more subtle, rewarding only those who are willing to slow down and fully immerse themselves in it.

To those who have learned to love desert, who have smelled the creosote or sage brush after a fresh rain, who have admired the way an ecosystem often inhospitable to humans is still thriving with life perfectly adapted to it, who have appreciated the often strange and surreal geological features that call the desert home, who have an inclination to solitude and open spaces, the appeal of the desert is undeniable.

Photo Consumption, Conformity, and Copying in Landscape Photography

February 11, 2015 Sarah Marino

I will start out this post with an important note. This is not a rant due to sour grapes or feeling left out of the clique of popular kids. When I was posting regularly on 500px, my images often made it to the front page and even filled the top slot on the site on a few occasions. I am also not intending to criticize or offend any individual photographers who are active on 500px but am instead commenting on the negative culture that the site promotes and feeds. I am somewhat hesitant to post something filled with a lot of negativity but decided to go ahead since I think a dialogue on this topic is important.

Landscape photographers have been engaging in a lot of dialogue about the 500px photo-sharing site lately and for good reason (many of the discussions have been on private Facebook pages about individual photographers and photographs, but here is a link to a recent post on the topic and one from Ron from a few years ago). 500px is having a strong influence on the landscape photography community and in the views of some, including me, this is not a positive development. I am weighing in and discussing some of the arguments that others have made on this topic because I find 500px's influence to be damaging to the direction of landscape photography overall and harmful for individual photographers who feel the strong pull to conform because of the site’s dominance. And even though I use 500px as the example, the points also serve to illustrate much larger trends in photography overall.

As a fellow photographer reminded me in an email dialogue on this topic, the 500px culture isn’t going to change. So why bother even talking about this? Because photography and the sharing of photography should be a positive, constructive, and enriching experience. I have heard from enough new photographers to know that the culture of the 500px website can be highly demoralizing and a single website should not have the power to stop budding photographers before they even get started or discourage talented photographers who cannot get traction on the site.

Favorite Photographs of 2014

January 3, 2015 Sarah Marino

I really enjoy looking through the retrospective collections that photographers share each year. I always find it interesting to see where people have traveled, how a photographer interprets the places they visit, how a person’s work has evolved, and what images rise to the top of individual lists. Although I have been inconsistent with participating in this activity in the past and am a little late this time around, I feel like I have a bit more to share this year than in previous years, as I can look at my collection of photos and at least say I like them instead of seeing nothing more than flaws and imperfections as in previous years.

I am finally starting to feel more comfortable in my skin as a photographer and am happier with the overall direction of my work. While I think that most of my best images are still sitting on my hard drives ready to become something once I feel motivated or make the time, this group of photos makes me happier than similar groups in years’ past – not completely happy, but at least somewhat satisfied.

Best of 2013

January 20, 2014 Ron Coscorrosa

Here it is almost February and I am finally getting around to posting my version of the ubiquitous "Best of 2013" post. I hope I don't lose what little Internet credibility I have by being so late. Before we get started with the images, it is important to know that these aren't my best photos of 2013. Yes, the title of this post is a lie.

I haven't edited a high enough percentage of photos from 2013 to have any idea what my best actually are, and I never will. So then, these must be the best photos I've processed in 2013, right? Nope! Many of my favorites aren't included here.

I decided to try something different: narrowing my selection to only abstracts and plants. There are no clouds or skies in any of these photos. Nothing that ties any photo to a specific region or location. None were taken with a wide angle lens (the widest focal length was 44mm, the rest were taken with a 70-200mm zoom, and a 100mm macro lens). There is not a single foreground in the group.

In the future I may post a Part II or even a Part III that includes other types of photos (such as intimates and grand scenic landscapes).

The photos are listed chronologically in order of capture. Click on an image to open the series in a lightbox.

Winter in Yellowstone

January 14, 2014 Ron Coscorrosa

Note: For more photographs of Yellowstone from this trip, please check out my new Yellowstone gallery.

No one accidentally ends up in Yellowstone. To get to Yellowstone, you have to want to get to Yellowstone.

Despite its remoteness, it is one of the most visited national parks in the US with almost 3.5 million visitors a year, only trailing the Smokies, the Grand Canyon, and Yosemite. For every resident of Wyoming, there are almost six visitors to Yellowstone National Park each year. They all go out of their way to visit the world's first national park, but there is a small problem: they almost all go at the same time.

Over 80% of the parks visitors visit during June, July, and August. The park is beautiful during these three months, with lush vegetation, swelling rivers, and elk and bison calves running around. While it is always possible to get away from the crowds in more remote areas, some of the more interesting highlights, like the Upper, Midway, and Lower Geyser basins or the Mammoth Terraces are packed during these summer months.

The remedy is simple: Go when it's less crowded. Late September and early October offer the best opportunities for seeing the entire park easily when there are less people (with the chance of catching the first snowfall of the year and elk in rut), and winter offers the best opportunity to enjoy solitude (less than 5% of the annual visitors visit during winter months).

The benefits of visiting in winter extend beyond solitude; the entire park has a completely different character. For photographers, scenes that are normally too complex are greatly simplified with snow (boardwalks are often covered by snow and steam hides other non-natural artifacts). The geothermal features of the park produce copious amounts of steam because of the low air temperature, often frosting nearby vegetation.

The struggle for survival of the parks' animals is even more evident as they have to work tirelessly to forage for vegetation buried in snow (not all of them make it, much to the delight of the wolves who are often responsible for their demise and to the coyotes, ravens, and other scavengers who clean up where the wolves leave off). Distant wildlife is easier to spot as well, standing in stark contrast to the snow rather than blending in with the similarly colored landscape.

Yellowstone accessibility in winter is however severely limited. All of the park's interior is closed to vehicle traffic. The Mammoth Terraces and Lamar Valley to Cooke City (both accessed through the north entrance) are the only roads plowed and drivable during winter.

To access the interior, one must purchase a roundtrip ticket for a snow coach or go on a licensed snowmobile tour operating out of the parks' major entrances: West Yellowstone in the west, Gardiner/Mammoth in the north, and the south entrance (which is about an hour north of Jackson, WY on the north side of Grand Teton National Park). The snow coaches and snowmobiles are expensive and slow, though the snow coach operators are extremely knowledgeable about the park. The snow coaches also have some scheduled stops along the way (we made stops at Gibbon Falls, Firehole Canyon Drive, and Fountain Paint Pots) - though the stops are usually too short for one to produce any photographs without feeling rushed.

Hotel/motel-like accommodations are open during winter at Old Faithful, smack in the middle of the Upper Geyser Basin, which is within walking (or snowshoeing or cross-country-skiing) distance of many of the parks' best geothermal features. There is a lot of walking involved, up to 4-5 miles roundtrip for some features, but it never seems that long as there is always interesting scenery along the way (and you are almost guaranteed to see some random geyser go off while walking around). Any area that cannot be accessed by foot must again be accessed by a licensed snow coach or snowmobile operator - often at considerable expense - for day trips that are not always suitable for photography. Food options are also limited, there are two restaurants at Old Faithful - neither of them are great (but only one of them expensive). A limited variety of snacks and drinks are available for purchase in the gift shop.

The other consideration of a winter visit are the cold temperatures. Temperatures below freezing are to be expected, and temperatures below 0 Fahrenheit (-17 Celsius) are not uncommon. The topic of winter clothing could take up another blog post by itself, but in general having multiple layers (a synthetic base layer, thermal layers such as fleece and down or both, and an external wind and water-proof layer) is critical (avoid cotton!). Along with the layered clothing, you should bring a warm wool or fleece hat, gloves, wool socks, and insulated (with at least 400g of insulation) winter boots. Micro-spikes and snowshoes are also very useful (snowshoes may be rented but the hours aren't conducive to sunrise and sunset photography).

Cold temperatures necessitate special care with your camera gear as well. Never bring your freezing cold camera or lenses into a warm hotel room without leaving it in the camera bag or a ziplock bag, otherwise interior condensation will result leaving you, even if temporarily, without a working camera. Tripods that have any moisture in them can freeze shut, so I would recommend extended them while inside and letting them dry out before taking back outside (alternately, you can always leave the legs extended, it's more cumbersome to walk this way, but it's always possible to get a lower camera position from an extended tripod, but not always possible to extend your tripod if it's frozen shut!).

For our visit in winter, we spent three nights at Mammoth/Gardiner (arriving the first night), exploring the Mammoth Terraces and the Lamar Valley during the day. We took a snow coach from Mammoth to Old Faithful and stayed at the Snow Lodge at Old Faithful for four nights, exploring the Upper Geyser Basin, and then returned to our car at Mammoth via snow coach and drove home. An alternate itinerary, and one we will probably do in the future, is substituting Mammoth and the Lamar Valley for the Tetons (which are likewise stunning in the winter), and approaching Old Faithful from the south via snow coach.

The more complex logistics and lack of mobility make a winter trip to Yellowstone difficult, but the payoff is more than worth any difficulty. The amount of diverse and unique natural landscapes and wildlife in Yellowstone make it a great destination for nature photographers any time of year, but coupled with snow, steam, and frost, along with much lower visitation, a winter trip is especially fruitful.

A Bad Year

October 14, 2013 Ron Coscorrosa

It was a bad year. A historically bad year.

After arriving in the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado to photograph fall colors for 10 days, we agreed with the general consensus of other photographers.

An Evening at Ibex Dunes

September 25, 2013 Ron Coscorrosa

It turns out that January 23, 2012 was a good day to be at Ibex Dunes.

My plans were to photograph that sunset at Badwater, it had been raining off and on all day and I was hoping that there might be some water accumulation on the saltpan. As I drove by, I didn't see any pockets of water glistening from a distance, but I did see a bunch of people and photographers. I had already photographed Badwater on this particular trip, with decent conditions, and didn't want to have to compete with other tripods. So I made an impulse decision to try my luck at Ibex Dunes.

This was a gamble - I had never been to Ibex before and I had no idea what the road conditions were like, nor, perhaps more importantly, what the dunes themselves were like, and I wasn't going to have any time to scout. The weather was overcast with intermittent rain and it didn't look like the sun was going to pop out to light the dunes or clouds. I planned on camping overnight, so even if the conditions were not great at sunset I could do a little scouting prior to sunrise.

Avoiding the Internet Popularity Trap

September 3, 2013 Ron Coscorrosa

The Internet is great. Photography is great. Together? The results are mixed.

Everyone has their reasons for why they photograph, but I would like to think most photographers start out with noble intentions. That they try to produce photographs that are original, creative, and personal. Somewhere along the way things get confused, and praise and popularity become the goals and the photographs are simply the means to that end. As a result, their photography (and photography as a whole) suffers. I'm not just talking about newbies who just got a DSLR last Christmas, I'm also talking about extremely talented and gifted photographers.

It's easy to fall into this popularity trap. I fell into it and have been slowly clawing my way out ever since. Fortunately (?) for me my natural tendency is to be dissatisfied and unhappy with everything I produce, so I never truly fell that far and was (and still am) naturally skeptical of any praise. Others aren't so fortunate and soak up praise like a wet sponge. The Internet, and social-media specifically, is the most perfect praise-exchange (and photo replication) system that has ever existed.

The Joy of Macro Photography

July 23, 2013 Ron Coscorrosa

I like to say that there is no such thing as bad light, there are only bad photographers. That statement is usually true but with a macro lens, it's always true. Whether photographing in bright sun or overcast skies, there are always subjects worth photographing with a macro lens.Macro photography also allows you to break the formula so common in typical wide angle landscapes (strong or leading foreground element, dominant background element, and dramatic or colorful skies), and focus on more abstract features like colors, shapes, patterns, and textures. While the compositions may not be as obvious, to me they are usually more personal and more creative, and they can also help develop your eye for all types of natural photography, including wide angle landscapes, intimates, and abstracts.

One other major benefit of macro photography is that there are subjects everywhere, from your backyard, to flowers and foliage in neighborhood parks or trails and wilderness. You do not need to plan an expensive trip to find worthy macro subjects, and while an area might only yield one good wide angle landscape photograph, it could easily yield a dozen good macros.

For example, I took the following photographs on a single visit to the Denver Botanic Gardens, on a hot summer day without any clouds (usually not good conditions for landscapes but perfect for macros!).

SmugMug Interview

June 7, 2013 Ron Coscorrosa

I recently did an interview with SmugMug talking about my decision to quit my job two years ago and focus exclusively on travel and photography (and not so much, as is apparent, on this blog). So, please read it if you're interested in what I've been up to the last two years: http://news.smugmug.com/2013/06/07/quit-your-job-and-run-for-the-hills-ron-coscorrosa-speaks-out/

2012 - Year in Review (Sort Of)

December 28, 2012 Ron Coscorrosa

I haven't written a blog post in over a year - and it's not because I have nothing to say (I do!), but I have been incredibly busy traveling, photographing, and moving from Seattle to Denver to move in with my girlfriend (and gifted nature photographer) Sarah Marino. All great things and all much more important than keeping this dark lonely hole of the Internet universe partially illuminated. Also, and this is the real reason: I'm lazy.So instead of writing about all of the great things that have happened in the last twelve months I'll just briefly recap the year by showing some of my favorite photos that I have processed to date.

Many people are doing their "12 favorites of 2012", so in order to be different, and because I can't edit photos, I'm going to show my 20 favorites of 2012 (20 is in 2012 too, damn it!).

The photos are arranged in chronological order with the location above each photo.

Cannon Beach, Oregon