Alaska Brown Bears - Mother and Cubs

Alaska Brown Bears - The Crew!

Allan, Josh, Teresina, Milton, and Paul

Alaska - Land of the Brown Bear

BEARS!

Heading home from ALASKA.

Amazing encounters to share!

Speaking in London: Wild Photos Conference 2011

Pretty honored to speak alongside the most elite group of Wildlife Photographers in the world! Click on the image for a list of the speakers. I'm on Saturday, Oct 23rd.

How do I photograph fireworks?

Scout it out before dark!

Pick your vantage point purposefully. Think of your foreground.
- Local buildings or landmarks. Sunsphere! (call a Knoxvillean, and they will explain).
- Try silhouettes of people (Be careful here. Slow shutter speeds means blurry people. Well, unless they're glued to a lawn chair. Likely on the 4th of July actually. God bless America!)
- Reflective surfaces such as water, car hoods, glass, etc.
- Be careful about wind direction (choose cross wind or up wind but NOT downwind or the smoke will be a problem)

Keep it Steady!

Use a tripod and remote/mirror lock-up if you can.

Shoot Manually!

Set camera to "M"

Start with:
- ISO 100
- Aperture = f/11
- Shutter Speed = Bulb (leave it open approx 4 seconds to start)

Check your results and adjust accordingly.
- Look at your histogram and check for "blinkies"
- Use white balance to suit local lighting if including a lit foreground element.
- Daylight white balance may work best for fireworks-only shots
- Don’t use flash unless you intend to light a subject very close to the camera.
- Manual focus set to infinity
- Choose your focal length for composition – wide for strong foreground, telephoto for close up detail of the bursts.

Experiment!

If there isn’t wind, your first shots will be the best (smoke builds and detracts from later shots). If there is, position yourself upwind where the smoke will blow away from your vantage point.

If the sky still has sunset color, adjust your exposure accordingly (meter off the sky, time your shutter releases carefully).

Take tons of pictures. It's digital. Folks, here's some simple math... Digital = FREE!

Most importantly, have fun and enjoy your friends and family!

Alaska Adventure Photo Tour is FULL!

We're all aboard for a great adventure to Katmai National Park this September. It's really going to be an adventure to remember for Josh, Allan, Milton, and Teresina. Here are some images of what we'll see where we camp, where we fly, and where we encounter the Griz!

Photo Tip: Show Depth in the Landscape

In Fitz Roy last month, I placed my camera on this colorful lichen-covered rock and set my aperture to f/22. Aperture, also referred to as f-stop, controls how much of your scene will be in focus from near to far. This setting of f/22 allows nearly everything in the landscape to come into focus. Try setting your camera up this way in the Av mode (Canon) or A mode (Nikon) and shooting landscapes while having one prominent foreground element close to the camera.

Photo Class at 4 Market Square - Success!

Some feedback...

"Genuine, enthusiastic, casual, personal... LOVED IT!" ~ K-Kin

"Loved your enthusiasm and your hands-on approach when we were outside taking pictures!" ~ Cindy

"I really appreciate the way you share your extensive knowledge in a very understandable way!" ~ Claire.

Well, I suppose I'm batting a thousand on exclamation points so far. Thanks for a great class Beth, Susie, Carolyn, Cindy, K-Kin, Claire, Angie, Tammy, Denise, Katie, and Saimah.

PATAGONIA - exploring Fitz Roy

Before the Photo Tour, we spent 15 days north of Chile's Torres del Paine across the border into Argentina. This park is know for its mountain range named Fitz Roy. The following is a fun collection of videos showing our adventurous time there. Sometimes it gets a bit windy and cold when you hike up high early in the morning. Worth it!

What goes on behind the camera of still photographer Paul Hassell?

Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina.

Here's some video from the journey. My fiance Nora, our friend Lance, and I trekked all over the town of El Chaltén and up and down the trails of Argentina's finest national park.

We met the right people and found all the right places to lead a 5-day extension tour to this crown-jewel national park following next year's Patagonia Photo Tour in Torres del Paine, Chile. Stay posted for that. But don't worry; we won't throw you out there in the high elevations before sunrise. Brrrrrrrr..

Camera: Canon 5D Mk II
Lenses: 16-35mm f/2.8 - 50mm f/1.4 - 70-200mm f/2.8
Backpack: Tilopa Backcountry by F-Stop Gear

music by Balmorhea

PATAGONIA - Photo Tour: heading home

We've left it all in Patagonia. The group is exhausted and full. Full of adventure, full of stories, and ready to share it all with our loved ones back home.

PATAGONIA - Photo Tour: guanacos

On our private transfer out of the park today, I had our driver get us into some great locations to shoot the iconic guanacos of Patagonia. They're kind of like llamas. We were given impeccable light and epic scenery to shoot around them.

PATAGONIA - Photo Tour: surreal

Sometimes sunrise colors just feel like a dream. This morning was that way over Paine Grande. Quite a start to the day. Looking forward to a big day shooting Glacier Grey.

PATAGONIA - Photo Tour: pehoe blue

After our 7 mile trek in the drizzly wetness past the French Valley, we were greeted by carribean sunshine along the edge of the ever-gorgeous Lago Pehoe. We're all excited to play around and relax here at the Paine Grande lodge much of the day tomorrow.

PATAGONIA - Photo Tour: sunrise rainbow

Just before heading down to the main lodge for breakfast, this rainbow exploded into view over our cabins through the wet and dreary morning sky.

PATAGONIA - Photo Tour: fox

During our siesta today here at the quaint cabins of Los Cuernos, this cute fox decided to come visit us. Great shots by everyone!

PATAGONIA - Photo Tour: los cuernos

Today, we trekked 7 miles from our swanky hotel at Las Torres to the cabins beneath Los Cuernos. Stellar walk. Gorgeous scenery along the way.

PATAGONIA - Photo Tour: on the trail

On our first morning in Torres del Paine, we're given a surprise blast of color in the sky. We leave our hot coffee and dart outside to behold our first sunrise inside the park. The day was full of gorgeous sunshine but very high winds as well. We slowed our pace a bit due to the weather and didn't push it up to the towers (Las Torres). Larry made the jont up there and brought back images of fresh-fallen powder all around. A round of Yerba Mate was in order along the trek home to the hotel this afternoon.

PATAGONIA - Photo Tour: getting there

to Torres del Paine. The trip has started with a bang. All sorts of gifts along the road from Punta Arenas, Chile to the park... flamingoes, nandus, gaunacos, guachos, a rainbow. We made a stop for helado (ice cream) simply because that's what we do. We're excited to see what the weather will bring us when we take to the trail tomorrow after a slow night unwinding at the gorgeous Hotel Las Torres.

PATAGONIA - Testing F-Stop Tilopa BC camera pack

Greetings from Argentine Patagonia!

I'm using the Tilopa Backcountry pack down here and loving it. If you're going to be joining me for the Photo Tour in Torres del Paine, you may enjoy seeing specifically how I pack the bag. This is the setup I use when I'm trekking but staying in refugios or lodges at night like we will do on the Photo Tour. My backpacking setup (tent, sleeping bag, food, etc) is significantly more bulky.

The convenience and easy access to the camera is unsurpassed. It's held up to rain, snow, heat, and cold so far. The bag also fits great. I've enjoyed trail running with it down here in the high Andes.

According to your needs, F-Stop offers an array of different size packs and 3 Internal Camera Unit sizes (S, M, L) to custom outfit your gear securely within the pack. Get one at FStopGear.com.