Quarterly Update 2022

Welcome to the first HIWalkerPhoto newsletter!

In these quarterly newsletters you will find fun stories, random thoughts, photo tutorials, and updates in my quest to photograph our beautiful world and all who live in it.

The big news since the 1st of the year was my attendance at the Outsiders Photography Conference in Kanab, Utah. I had attended last year in April and had so much fun visiting the orange cliffs of southern Utah that when they opened registration for this year, I jumped at the chance to go again. During my trip last year, I explored Capitol Reef National Park. On my first ever trip to the Southwest, Capitol Reef was the 1st park I visited, and it continues to hold a special place in my heart. During my first visit I felt the solitude of the place. Last year was so different partially from the crowds and overlooks to the snow falling on me while hiking.

You can check out the video from the trip here.

This year’s trip included Bryce Canyon National Park. Another park I had visited before that also holds a special place in my heart (Yes, they all do). My goal this year was to hike into the canyon before sunrise to catch the morning glow on the hoodoos and canyon walls. I chose the trail – the Two Bridges Trail – so I wouldn’t be searching for a place in the dark, and boy, does it get dark in southern Utah. Imagine showing up to a dark parking lot and looking for a dark trailhead. Then imagine hiking down switchbacks into an even darker dark. Add ice and trauma from falling off a cliff just 8 months before and you have a shaking and frightened Heidi. Thankfully I remembered my Microspikes! Once I got those on my boots, I felt more comfortable – that and the sky was lightning up. I made it to my destination just as the cliffs began to lighten up.

Bryce Canyon at Sunrise

I spent the rest of the day exploring more of Bryce Canyon before heading to Kanab for the conference. The seminars were interesting, intriguing, and inspiring. The conference had barely started when I felt the itch to try new techniques and to comb through old photos for new possibilities. Now just to find the time as I keep creating new images.

Back home in Washington, I began gearing up for the backpacking season. First, by completing my physical therapy for my shoulder surgery. After my fall last July, I decided to try and lighten my backpack a bit – so picked up a lightweight jacket and an ultra-light tent. Thanks to my sister, I even scored a new lightweight backpack. I started hiking as much as possible to get into some semblance of condition - and yes, I took my camera to photograph the adventures and recorded video. The last weekend of March found me on the trail with some of my new gear for a trial run. I am happy to report the new tent and jacket worked perfectly – I will find out about the backpack later in April.

On the photography front, I have found a printer to work with – Coho Prints in Sammamish. I’m looking forward to getting prints to customers.

How’s the book you ask? Well, we’re not talking about that right now.

Upcoming Events:

April 16 – Teaching a street photography workshop through the Mountaineers. This is a new format for me where we meet on location and we work together in the field.

April 23-24 – My sister’s birthday backpack. We’ll be heading to a favorite location where I spent my birthday in 2020.

April 30-May 1 – A trip to the Columbia Gorge to research the Klickitat Trail for the book with a visit to the Portland Art Museum to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit.

May 6-8 – A backpacking trip up the Hoh River.

May 14 – Teaching a Forest Photography workshop for the Mountaineers. Again, the class meets in the field for a day of instruction.

May 21-22 – Co-leading a beginning Backpack in the North Cascades for the Mountaineers.

May 28-30 – A backpacking trip in the Olympics with my sister and friends.

June is still pretty open, but I am planning a backpacking trip to Wallace Lake for more book research.

Environmental Bird Photography

Recently I was at a local park photographing a rare bird with a group of like-minded photographers. You know the type – someone says “Hey! Wanna go photograph something cool?” and the rest of us ask when and where without even caring what it might be. Then we show up with all of our gear, ready for any possibility. This time it was a rare duck that has been seen hanging out with the mallards and gulls in the north end of Lake Washington. Mandy the Mandarin Duck had taken up residence in the Seattle area – they are not a breed of duck that hangs out in Washington.

We showed up to join the rest of the crowd of photographers, artists, birders, and feeders (these are the folks who show up with inappropriate food, or rarely actual duck food, and feed the ducks). Most of the crowd of photographers had very long lenses of the 400mm to 600mm variety – the perfect lens for capturing an amazing portrait of birds far off in the distance. Only problem was Mandy hung out close to shore; he was so used to people feeding him that he’d become habituated to all the hub-bub in the park. Now, I’m not saying these photographers came unprepared, I’m sure they were able to get the images they were hoping for – beautiful portraits of a beautiful bird.

I have my fair share of beautiful portraits of Mandy. Darn right I do. I came home from that outing with over 400 photos of him. But not all of them were portraits where your subject, in this case Mandy, takes up most of the frame as with the 1st photo in the series above. At least half of the photos were like this though – ok, ok, more than half – more like three quarters of the photos were portraits. Mandy swimming left. Mandy swimming right. Mandy straight on. Mandy napping. Mandy in shadowed water swimming left, then right again, then straight on, then napping. I have plenty of portraits of Mandy.

I showed up with my Sony a6000 mirrorless camera and the lens I have for that camera is the Tamron 18-300mm all-in-one zoom lens. I LOVE THIS LENS. It’s the perfect get up and go lens. There’s no switching lenses between different types of scenes. I could get portraits of Mandy and his friends (there was no shortage of ducks, gulls and other swimming birds at the park) at the longer end of the zoom and still create environmental images of the ducks at the wider end of the zoom. I’m not writing this to tell you that you need to buy this lens. I’m writing this for the exact opposite. Even if you don’t have one of these grand lenses toted by me and other photographers, you can still show up and create beautiful, and more importantly, interesting images of wildlife.

Back when I was taking photojournalism courses, we had an assignment for make portraits of business people. The assignment was very specific in the types of portraits – we were to create a headshot (head and shoulders), a mid-length portrait (upper body with an essential of their profession), then an environmental portrait where we see them interacting with their surroundings and the people there. As an example, we might be creating images of a mechanic. We’d get the headshot which tells us very little of who the person is and what they do – you might have some clues from their apparel. Then we’d step back a few steps and create another image – this time you’ll see more such as the manner of their attire, maybe they’re leaning against a car and you can see grease on their hands and maybe a rag hanging out of their pocket. You start to get the idea that this person is a mechanic. Finally, step back a few more feet and photograph them looking at a car engine, the walls behind them filled with tires, timing belts and cans of oil. You still see the mechanic, but you see them in their environment which tells so much more of the story than just the headshot. (Not knocking headshots, there is an art and skill to get good headshots.)

You can take this same assignment and apply it to your wildlife images. If you can, get the headshot or detail image of the animal. It takes skill and sometimes great equipment to get these (think 600mm lens). But if you don’t have that lens, go for the mid portrait where we see more of the animal with a bit of environment, such as the 1st image above. You can get these types of images with a 70-200mm zoom which most photographers have – or a good zoom on your camera phone. Especially if the animal is close. Then zoom out, get your subject in its environment. A majestic elk standing tall on a ridge with the mountains falling behind. A lovely duck swimming among his mallard friends and rocks near the shore of a lake. We then know so much more about the story of the animal. It’s a story that tells itself in environmental portraits.

Even if you don’t have the best lens for wildlife photography, you can still create beautiful environmental portraits that speak to you. The next time you hear that there’s a cool animal to photograph, grab whatever equipment you have and tell their story.

In A Moment

On my walks from my office to my physical therapist’s office, I pass by a short, squat, slate grey building. Sandwiched between historic brick apartments and shiny new condos, this little building looks more like an out of place relic than a structure of use. There was once a use for this building - not much more than a shed. I don’t remember what it was used for - maybe outreach for the homeless in the area, a place to get a sandwich and coffee to reduce the sting of hunger and abandonment. Now this little shack is empty and abandoned; its windows boarded up, the door locked.

To be honest, I never really thought much of it as I strode up the hill. I am usually in a hurry not to miss my appointment.

But on a cool October day with the sun reflecting off the glistening towers nearby, I stopped. I was across the street from the little shack and something stopped me mid-stride. I turned and looked at the lonely building, boring and grey.

Two trees stood on either side of the building. The trees had begun to turn yellow as trees often do in the fall. I was struck by the improbable beauty of the scene. As light reflected down to the street, the trees glowed. And the little shack was shadowed be the trees on either side remained grey. There was something there though- a story of life and death, of value and disgrace, of beauty in every moment.

I knew that I’d need to bring my camera back that weekend before the storms whipped through the city and shook the trees bare. I even created a little video. I watched through the winter as the leaves fell and thought “this too might be a good photo.” But it was not to be.

As with much of modern life and development, heavy machinery rolled onto the street to begin new construction. The beautiful trees protecting their little grey shack were sacrificed for the growth of the city. The shack is still there , for now, but seems even more lonely and sad than before.

I am not sure what will happen to this little building, but I am happy I was able to capture a moment in the landscape of Seattle.

Welcome to the New Website!

Please let me extend a hearty welcome to my new website. The old one was due to retire. It served its purpose well but with a re-imagining of my self, my writing, and my photography, a new website is needed.

What will you find on this new version?

As always, you will find galleries of images from my adventures; selected not only for their photographic excellence but also their storytelling ability to connect with you.

You will find this blog. Stories of my adventures, ideas, accomplishments, and life will be shared here – always accompanied by a photo that exemplifies the written word.

If you want to follow me on my adventures, then be sure to check out the link to my YouTube channel. And of course, like and subscribe while you’re there.

While here on the website, peruse my workshop offerings and products. Prints will always be available for purchase, and make sure you check in for calendars and seasonal cards. Is there a product you’d like to purchase but don’t see it offered? Drop me a note with your suggestion.

And finally, keep up to date with my offerings, products and adventures by subscribing to my newsletter. I promise not to spam you as newsletters come out once a month.

Again, welcome. Enjoy your time spent here and come back often.

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