OUT ADVENTURING: DEATH VALLEY AND MOUNT SAINT HELENS

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Nikon D800 multi-frame panoramic merger from Mount Saint Helens' crater rim.

This past few days I was hoping to be up on Mount Saint Helens camping, skiing and doing some panoramic work . However, after an entire winter of spring like weather, the cascades are finally getting some colder storms. I am so excited to test out my new F-stop Satori EXP bag on an overnight ski trip that I've had it packed for over a week now as you can see below...

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Gear for a multi-day ski touring adventure. Click to see bigger.

I've been wandering in the mountains long enough to respect their moods, so... I'm pivoting and taking off with Stacey for Death Valley today. A non-profit client is hosting an event down there and asked us to come photograph it. I love Death Valley in the Spring.

We'll be back Monday. If the mountains are in a better mood, then I'll be headed up Saint Helens on Tuesday. Fingers crossed...

-Hudson 

Death Valley's Racetrack Playa

AN AMERICAN ASCENT: BEHIND THE SCENES

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Aaron Devine Protects the film crew: 24mm f9 for 1/640 at ISO100 (Click to enlarge)

Legendary NOLS instructor Aaron Devine and “rope gun" Mahdu Chikkaraju setting up a complex anchor system to protect those of us on camera as we flirted with the edge to film an action sequence in Distill Productions' new film An American Ascent which documents Expedition Denali: the first all African American team to take on North America’s highest peak (aka Mount McKinley).

The film will be screened this Saturday at 4pm at the Reading Theatre in San Diego as part of the  San Diego Black Film Festival. Here’s a link to more information and the Trailer! If you are down there I’d love to see you at it, and I hope you’ll help spread the word. 

-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

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