Sunrise Over Kilimanjaro

This image is from a climb of Mt. Meru, outside Arusha, Tanzania . I left the saddle camp with my Climbing-Ranger Jafari before 2am to make Rhino Point at 13,000 feet before dawn. (Jafari is a saint and an artist at heart). Rhino Point has an EPIC view into Mt. Meru's massive crater.

As I finished shooting the first light on the crater, the clouds lit up with color around Mt Kilimanjaro across the valley. I pivoted the tripod. Then... serendipity! The rest of my crew came up the trail into my frame. I merely shouted "stop and check out the light on Kilimanjaro!" Then I framed up the image you see above.

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Dawn Lights Mt. Meru: Technical Details: Nikon D700, Nikkor 14-24 at F5.6 for 1/320sec at ISO200 (click image to enlarge)

I always advocate that people planning a trip to climb Kilimanjaro allot an extra three days to first climb Mt. Meru (15,000 feet) in order to acclimatize. Having climbed them both, I can positively say that Meru was my favorite of the two. There is more wildlife, better views, less regulation, fewer people and much less expense involved. It's a wilder, more scenic mountain in many ways.

I've been slowly auditing my collection of past images. It's fun to look at favorites like this one with a fresh eye. One of the amazing benefits of our digital age is the ability to go back to a RAW image and rework it like a fresh piece of undeveloped film.

-Hudson

Playing with Time (Columbia Gorge)

My friend Rick invited me on a hike in the Gorge last weekend. He and I are gearing up for a big fall photo/backpacking trip in the North Cascades and he wanted to break in a new pack. Rick's one of my favorite people and the Gorge is one of my favorite playgrounds, so I jumped at the chance. The forecast was for overcast, but I decided to lug a big tripod and gear up "just in case." I'm so glad I did. There were tiny cloud-breaks playing shadows across the river and hills. Not spectacular enough for dramatic stills, but just the kind of thing for time-lapse photography.

It is so fun to play with time in the landscape this way. I love the way the clouds and their shadows play across this scene. It's like a natural background symphony that dwarfs the manmade movements of boats, trains, and cars. Perspective.

I'm playing with some really fun new gear and put several new pieces of kit to the test here. Namely my new Sachtler FSB 6 fluid tripod head, Zeiss 35mm F2 lens, and Nikon D810 body. I took a gamble and checked Nikon's new "exposure smoothing" setting in the D810s built in intervalometer and was very pleased to find no flickering exposure changes to deal with in post production. Nice work Nikon. 

Hanalei Valley, Kauai: A Special Place

The north shore of Kauai is one of those powerful places that I can't stay away from. It is so lush, wild and full of it's own special energy. From the exposed trails of Na Pali to the island's amazing beaches and reefs, Kauai is the perfect place to have an adventure then relax and recharge all in one location; I keep coming back to find it fresh and exciting time after time.

Last fall I visited again on the final family trip with my ailing grandmother (Nana). She had lived in Hanalei when she was young and the place was very much a part of her.

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Technical Details: Nikon D800 Nikkor 14-24mm 11 images at F11 for 1/4th sec at ISO 100 (panoramic merger) (click image to enlarge)

As I drove into the Hanalei valley I noticed a freshly harvested taro pond and wondered if it might reflect Mt. Waialeale and the surrounding hills at dawn. I've seen many photographs of this view, but none reflected from this angle. My mother is an early riser, so she accompanied me on my dawn mission. 

As the sun rose, high clouds turned color and created lots of drama in the sky, but a low cloud bank to the east blocked the first dawn rays from lighting the landscape below. I created some images emphasizing the cloudscape while enjoying the antics of the shorebirds with my mom.

As the color left the clouds we started thinking about breakfast and coffee. Then the sun partially broke through the clouds to light the landscape just as a rainbow formed over the taro pond.

I quickly set up my Nikon D800 on a Really Right Stuff panoramic adaptor and shot a 32-image, multiple-row, panoramic merger of the scene (see the top of this post). I've just gotten around to assembling and editing this 300 megapixel composite image and I couldn't be happier with the result. It looks great printed huge and reminds me of why this amazing place evokes such passion.

My family will be returning here this year with Nana's ashes to leave her in this special place. I can't imagine a better spot to rest.

Expedition Denali Sierra Magazine Cover

This past summer it was my honor to join Distil Productions, and NOLS (the National Outdoor Leadership School) to document Expedition Denali, the first African American expedition to take on America's highest peak. 

The January / February 2014 Issue of Sierra Magazine, the Sierra Club's national magazine, celebrates the historic expedition with the cover, a number of pages of my photos from the expedition as well as an interview with expedition members: Erica Wynn, Scott Briscoe, Rosemary Saal, and Stephen Shobe as well as our legendary NOLS instructor KG (James Kagambi).

Sierra is a world class publication with a very broad, intelligent and informed subscriber base; I'm more than pleased to have my image grace it's cover.

It's fun to watch the media coverage ramp up as Distill Productions continues editing the feature-length documentary.

Purchase an Expedition Denali print in the adventure gallery of my store.

-Hudson

The Fire Maple

The Portland Japanese Garden is a source of inspiration for me personally and photographically.  Explosions of fall color, falling leaves, reflections in water, and thousands of tiny details reveal themselves to the open observer.  Of all the garden’s marvels however, this one maple tree stands out.  Every fall I find myself moved at the sight of this tree.  Despite being one of the most photographed life forms on the planet, I set out to create a new and iconic image of it.  It is always a challenge to photograph the familiar in a new way. 

The first step was to examine what it is about this tree that is so moving.  Of course the color is dazzling, but the underlying structure is what really captures my imagination.  There is something about the way that the strong base supports all those medium branches that lead to the smaller finger-like branches. It reminds me of the nature of life itself on both the macro and micro scales.  I see new young productive life supported and nurtured by the older and wiser that came before.  I also see nature's cyclical pattern of life, death, and renewal: the fallen leaves and the strength of that structure to withstand winter and start again in the spring.  On the micro level I see all sorts of vascular and neural systems alive within myself reflected in this tree.  

I really believe that my ultimate goal as a photographer is to feel something about my subject and find a way to use the tools that I have to capture that feeling.  In this case, I was patient for just the right light to silhouette that structure against the color of the leaves with perfect contrast for a digital sensor.  Other great photographers have photographed this tree, but my innovation was to use a wide-angle-panoramic technique to show a 180 degree view of its structure using soft overcast light in a crop that is reminiscent of the human field of vision.  It just looks natural and captures how this beautiful tree emotionally impacts me.

You may feel something completely different about the image based on your own experience and perception, but viewers universally seem to feel something.  A photo is successful when it makes you stop and take notice.  A photo fails when it fails to convey a feeling or a story.

-Hudson