ON THE PLANE TO PATAGONIA

I'm writing this with Stacey beside me on the first of three long flights that will take us from fall color in the Northwest to spring flowers in Punta Arenas near the southern tip of Chile. The Sub-antarctic! Several rows behind are our friends the incomparable photographers John Eastcott and Yva Momatiuk who have travelled these southern granite mountains and glaciers many times over the past 3 decades. If you haven't explored their website's galleries and read Yva's stories from the road, then you really should. Over the years John and Yva have evolved from friends to mentors and then become family to Stacey and I.

This adventure is exciting for a number of reasons. Of course it is a photographic journey I've dreamed of for years, but it is also a very special family trip. Stacey and I are bringing a new little life along inside of her. We are expecting our first child in February. A boy. 

Stacey and I can't think of a better way to season our new little guy for his arrival than by living for a month in rented vans driving through some of the planet's most spectacular mountains, lakes, and glaciers with his Uncle John and Auntie Yva. So... with our doctor's "arched-eyebrow-blessing" we are off. These four duffles are in the hold. My brand new F-stop Sukha bag is overhead with the D810, D750 and a lot of glass. Tripods, cookstoves and warm clothes are in the hold. I'll share as much as data connections in the wild allow.

Let the Adventure begin...

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS:

Viewbug asked me to create this short travel photography photo tips video for their website and I used some of my images from Europe to talk a bit about how I approach visual storytelling. I hope you enjoy.

EUROPE 2015 SLIDESHOW PART II: ITALY (Stromboli & Amalfi)

Stromboli Fire

Strombolian eruption just after sunset. Those are boats on the Mediterranean below.

Stromboli Hydrofoil

The boat that took Stacey and I from Naples to Stromboli.

Stromboli Sunset

We arrived just in time to watch the sun set behind the island volcano.

Stromboli Bluehour

Sailboats anchored off Stromboli at dusk.

Mediterranean Sunrise

Sunrises behind two sailboats anchored off Stromboli with clouds.

Climbing Sromboli

Stacey heads up the dusty volcanic trail. Boots like this are available to rent on the island.

The Fast Way Down

A motorized paraglider launches off Stromboli

Perfect Timing

Stacey watches Stromboli erupt as the sun sets over the Mediterranean.

Stromboli Smoke

Stromboli blows smoke as the sun rims down.

Stromboli Fire

Strombolian eruption just after sunset. Those are boats on the Mediterranean below.

Our Pad

Our cute Airbnb flat on the Amalfi Coast of Italy.

The Beach Itallian Style

The beach at Amalfi

Hiking the Amalfi Coast

We loved hiking the ancient trails above Italy's Amalfi coast.

The spectacular Amalfi Coast

Looking West high above Italy's Amalfi Coast toward Positano. Ridge after glorious ridge.

Atrani Sunrise

The sun rises over Italy's Amalfi Coast. The chairs are set for the day's beachgoers.

Amalfi Kittens

We found these adorable little cats in Amalfi, Italy.

Leaving Italy

Boarding the plane for Paris.

I'm writing this from a cozy rooftop Airbnb flat across the street from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. Italy is in the rear view mirror.

What a fabulous time Stacey and I had there. The beauty, the craziness, the food... Pizza in Naples, adventures on busses on insanely narrow mountain roads, climbing Stromboli, the shellfish linguine in Amalfi, hydrofoils and hiking the Sentieri Degli Dei (Pathway to the Gods). Looking back -- the past week feels like a lifetime; it will take more than 1000 words to tell the tale. Instead I'll leave you with these snapshots while we explore France...

-Hudson

EUROPE 2015 PART I: TURKEY AND GREECE

We have to leave the windmill tomorrow... Stacey and I've spent most of the past week in this amazing windmill high on the Island of Mykonos in Greece. The view is breathtaking. How amazing is Airbnb? We have so loved staying here; it will not be easy to leave behind.

Above is a short slideshow of the trip so far.

Tomorrow we head off to climb Stromboli, the constantly erupting island volcano off Sicily. We take a hydrofoil from Naples! I hope you’ll join us for this adventure on Facebook and/or Instagram. I'm posting updates daily.

-Hudson

MY GEAR FOR EUROPE

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Yep, this is taken in my new studio with the big epson in the background.

Stacey and I are gearing up for a Europe trip to Turkey, Greece, Italy and France next week while working on a book about the art of travel photography. It’s always a balance between traveling light and comfortably and having the gear you really need get the images you envision. For this trip I’m limiting myself to a 10kg carryon and 20kg checked bag. Here’s the list of what makes the cut.

CAMERA:

• Nikon D810

LENSES:

• Nikon 14-24mm F2.8
• Zeiss 35mm ZF.2
• Nikon 70-200mm F2.8 VRII (may switch to Nikon 70-300mm F4-5.6 VR to save weight)
• Nikon 50mm F1.8
• Nikon 24-120mm F4 VR

SUPPORTS:

• Gitzo GT3542XLS  with Acratech GV2 ballhead
• Really Right Stuff Omni Pivot Pro panoramic adaptor.

BAG:

• F-Stop Tilopia BC with Large Pro ICU

STACEY’S GEAR:

Sony A7s with Sony 24-70mm F4 

Stacey will be shooting video and stills with this little lowlight monster. I may play with it in some dark situations as well... :-)

-Hudson

TO THE EDGE: A MOUNT SAINT HELENS SLIDESHOW

Portland Lights Siberian Haze

I wanted to photograph stars this night, but instead haze from Siberian forrest fires were lit by Portland's city lights. It was a cold night.

Not much snow this year

Stacey packs her skis up Monitor Ridge

Backlight

Andy Adkins in the sun's extreme backlight.

Skinning Up

Stacey Guggino puts skins on her skis in preparation for an ascent of Mount Saint Helens.

My pack

I adore my F-stop Satori pack for it's ease of camera access and great harness, but I wish it was a tiny bit bigger for this type of trip...

Setting up the Splitboard

Film-maker extraordinare Andy Adkins readies his split board to climb.

Waxing the skins

Waxing my climbing skins to keep them from absorbing water and balling up with fresh snow.

Headed up

Stacey puts her bindings in climb mode and starts the ascent.

Ridges far below

Andy takes in the big Alpine evening.

Climing in the last light

We hurry for the summit to catch sunset.

Crater Sunset

The view to the west as we rolled up on the Crater. Cornices are a deadly hazard here.

Sunset crater Panoramic

Ultra-hi-rez, ultra-wide panoramic-merger West to the Left; East to the right behind Andy's small figure.

Afterglow

The crater rim fills the foregroud while countless ridges stretch to the last light.

Siberian Haze

Me looking out at Portland lighting haze from Siberian wildfires from my summit bivy on Mount Saint Helens.

Dawn at the Crater Rim

Yeah, 2nd copy of this Panoramic. This is my favorite image from the trip and its the first I created this morning.

A Day At The Office

I love waking up to work in a place like this. Photo of me by Andy Adkins

Steaming Dome & Spirit Lake

Fumerols rise from the growing dome inside the crater. Spirit Lake is still covered with logs from the massive eruption more than 3 decades ago.

Sunstar

Here's Stacey with a sunstar. I love how these look with Alpine skies.

Panoramic of Crater and Camp

This shot shows Andy and work and our camp in the foreground for scale. It's another big Panoramic-Merger

On The Edge

Andy Adkins doing his film-making magic in one heck of a spot.

Crater Abstract

I ljust love the swirly patterns of snow and rock inside the crater.

Breakfast Bivy

Camped at the crater rim of Mount Saint Helens, Andy Adkins boils water for breakfast as the sun rises behind him.

Looking to Rainier

The view from the crater rim out over the dome and Spirit Lake to Mount Rainier.

Below The Rim

Andy hiking below the edge of the crater gives the scene needed scale.

The Best Way Down

There is nothing like descending on Backcountry Skis. If only there was more snow this year.

Well Deserved Cold Ones.

It's always good to bury a treat in the snow for your return to the car...

End of a Great Trip!

Can't wait for the next adventure!

What a trip! A couple of weeks ago I skied Mount Saint Helens with Stacey and my friend Andy Adkins. Andy and I bivyed overnight at the crater rim. Not only did we create a bunch of great photos and video, but we also had a really fantastic time.

Like any mountain expedition, we had surprises. Knowing there was little snow this year, we were still shocked at how little there was down low. Temperatures at the rim were a lot colder than forecast and haze from Siberian wildfires obscured the Milky Way, but gave us a crazy light-show all it's own.

At the top is a 26 image slideshow of the trip. I've briefly captioned each slide to tell the story. Hope you enjoy the adventure.

If you haven't already, I hope that you'll sign up for my free newsletter with tales of adventures, prints, workshops, tips, tricks and all things photographic.

Special thanks go out to Outdoor Research, Black Rapid, and F-Stop for helping us make this trip possible with their amazing gear and support. These guys make incredible gear that shines in demanding expedition use. Also thanks to Andy and Stacey for the shots with me in there...

-Hudson

An Important Trip to a Special Place

As Stacey and I get ready to board a plane headed west this morning, my thoughts are turning back to 2013. Last year was a rough one not only for my family, but for a number of my close friends' families as well. It was a year that contained a lot of loss in my circle. Last fall, after the passing of my grandfather that summer, we lost a truly inspirational and incredible woman, my Nana Georgia Henry.

Nana lived, loved, laughed and left the world a better place for having walked it. Even in her final hours she showed strength, grace and an innate sense of what was most important. She loved a good adventure and understood my wanderlust like few others that I've known. Her favorite place on earth was the North Shore of Kauai, and since I first stepped foot there nearly 20 years ago, I have shared her deep respect and love for the power of that place.

Today we are honored to join family from as far away as Perth, Australia who are boarding planes bound for Kauai to bring her ashes home. Every trip to Hanalei is special, but this one feels doubly so...

-Hudson

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Georgia Henry (with my grandfather Gil on the left).

Desert Milky Way

I'm finally getting around to editing some of my recent desert images. This is one that I have been excited to process for weeks now. 

The cracked patterns on the surface of the Alvord Desert are captivating. This enormous playa (dry lake bed) stretches East from Steens Mountain. My friends, Rick Lepage, Susan Witcraft, Peter Kinnan, Andy Adkins, Matt Kloskowski and I spent some fun days and nights camping and exploring this crazy landscape.

The patterns of the Alvord have always seemed mysterious and otherworldly to me. To capture this feeling I decided to create a vertical panoramic of the cracks with the milky way above. Thankfully we had a clear moonless night to work with...

To keep the foreground cracks in focus and clean of noise, I created my first image at dusk 2 stops underexposed using a lower ISO, middle aperture, and close focus. Once I had the image of the cracks that I wanted, I tilted my Sachtler head up until only the mountains were at the bottom edge of my frame, focused on infinity, covered my lens and left it waiting for the milky way to line up in my composition. Right before going to sleep I returned and captured the stars at ISO 1600 for 20 seconds at F4. 

As usual I developed my RAW files using Adobe Lightroom and then applied the finishing touches to the sky and foreground in onOne's Perfect Effects 9. Using onOne's Perfect Layers 9 I composited the two images into one using the dark outline of Steens Mountain as a natural blending point.

I can't wait to print this big and get it up on the wall.

-hudson

Look who is featured in onOne's cool new ad.

I've been a big fan of onOne's for years. Fortunately the feeling is mutual. Their new Perfect Photo Suite 9 is out and it is more powerful and intuitive than ever.

Andy and I created this footage and images for onOne during our recent backcountry trip on the Olympic Coast. What a crazy, fun adventure.

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