Bill Hatcher Photography

Saguaro bloom 2018

It is said that deserts don't have seasons, but I can say they do. In southern Arizona the "seasons" are those times that are often dictated by the actions of the desert plants and animals. You will know it's late spring in the Sonoran desert because of the saguaro cactus blooms. These flowers bloom when the desert starts to heat up in May and June. By the second week of June most of the flowers have bloomed and summer is just around the corner. In July when the seed pods on the saguaro will ripened to a bright red and the monsoon rains arrive.

 

 

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Mountain Biking across Alaska circa 1996

 

These are images are from a National Geographic magazine story I shot in 1996. My mission was to document three adventurers Roman Dial, Paul Adkins and Carl Tobin as they mountain biked the length of the Alaskan Range. They started at the Canadian border and rode 775 miles to Lake Clark in Western Alaska. The trip took them 7 weeks. I joined them on four segments of the trip. I photographed the start as well as the last week of the trip plus I joined them during the major mountain and glacier crossing sections of the trip. I utilized Alaska bush planes to rejoin the group.

The biggest challenge was actually riding and shooting. I would alternate riding in front, to the side or if I wanted to capture the landscape they were riding into I would hold back as they rode into the scene. Probably the most anxious moments on the shoot were the glacier crossings. Falling into a crevasses when riding across snow covered glaciers was a deadly hazard. In the photo below Paul has just stepped into small crevasse. He is tied to the other cyclist as well as to me. Notice how the rope is tight on Paul, If he plummets further a tight rope will keep us from being jerked off our feet. If he does fall into the abyss and our light 7 mm rope does not snap when shock loaded we will try to arrest his fall and then haul him back to the surface. On the trip I fell into two crevasses and I only needed to be pulled out of one crevasse. Romans advice was I should step more softly.

Another danger were the numerous river crossings. It's bad enough to fall during a river crossing and to be swept down river. This did happen to me once, but because the water is glacier melt and the air temp is in the 40's hyperthermia is going to set in fast. When I lost my footing on one river crossing. I heard Roman yell for me to hold onto my bike. If I lost a grip on on the bike it would be lost in the rapids. As soon as I made it to shore a bonfire was lighted and I was warmed up. During that particular swim I drown my Nikon f4 camera and the 24 mm f2.8 lens. I was left with one more camera body, my back-up body, and two lenses a 70-150 zoom and a 16-35 zoom. I didn't swim anymore rivers so the single body lasted until we reach our next supply 5 days later.

  What is amazing about this trip is it was my first trip to Alaska. The landscapes I passed through probably see a a handful of visitors a year if even that. The trip pressed all my buttons. The vast landscapes, the adventure and to roll through this country on a bike was truly extraordinary. 

 

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I have to hand it to these three adventurers they lead me with their extensive wilderness knowledge and strength safely through one of the most dangerous wilderness regions in North America. We had mishaps, Paul previously frost bitten feet were made worse by having constantly cold wet feet. The condition made it difficult for his to walk during the last few days of the trip. I lost nearly 15 pounds of body weight as I couldn't get enough calories with the freeze dried food and energy bars ration. Roman and Carl suggested I bring more snickers bars next trip.

It was also on this trip that I learned a lot about light weight packing, packrafts for crossing rivers and the importance of good organized logistics to keep everyone healthy and to insure a successful expedition. You go out into this country unprepared and inexperience you will suffer the consequences. Despite all of the hardship and the many long climbs with the bike on our back we did get in miles and miles of great mountain biking. What I didn't realize at the time was this thing we were doing, Roman called it "hell biking" was to become a popular world wide adventure activity. In 2018 it's got a catchier name, bikepacking and there are gear manufactures who sell to the growing number of people who chose to travel this way. I can say that this trip was maybe my second or third hell bike trip and 

 

today, 22 years after this trip I am still bike packing. Today my bike is a full suspension carbon fiber and I have a slew of specialty light weight gear to stash my goods for long over-night bike adventures,  but that's simple progress. What I really enjoy is with the passing years I have never lost the will to get out there and suffer to see beautiful new country.

 

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Food for Thought

As an adventure photographer you develop a keen sense of curiosity to a degree that it becomes almost second nature, but it is still important to keep your eyes wide open and always be thinking outside the box. In the past few years that I have been living and working from my new home base in Tucson, Arizona I've found myself working on jobs that I would have never imagined a few years ago. Subjects as diverse as exploring wild jaguar habitat, tree reforestation in Mexico, hydro projects on the Upper Amazon, tourist development in the Grand Canyon and youth programs to develop green space on the Mexico Borderlands. To me all these stories share the same thread people engaging with nature in the outdoors. 

When I was contacted to do a story for NPR about an organization in Tucson enabling U.N. refugees to gather food, called gleaning, from trees growing in public places and neighborhood yards around the city of Tucson and Phoenix you can bet I was interested. I had not heard of gleaning before this shoot, but on the day of the shoot I was to learn plenty. The most shocking revelation happened when I was given a tour of my local shopping center, the El Con Mall, there I was shown 40,000 pounds of quality dates hanging from the 90 or so decorative date palms scattered in the parking lot. I had visited the place many times, but had never thought to see the palms as a source of food. If the dates are not harvested soon they will simply rot on the trees. Here is a link to the NPR article.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/10/26/559550143/healing-through-harvesting-gleaning-unwanted-fruit-helps-refugees-in-need

Photo Exhibit: Lens on the Border

I am excited to be showing work in this photo exhibit "Lens on the Border". The opening is October 20 in Tucson, Arizona.

 Information about the show and the photographers and artist. 

Recent Works in the Summer of 2015

Summer is winding down and my photo shoots have been as diverse as always. This is a selection from some some of those shoots, as well as recent published materials. Looking at the photos reminds me that the best part of the work is visiting new places.

 

Outdoor Photographer                                                     Science

 

Arizona Highways 

 

 

Sonoran Institute

 

 

Bob Brown Foundation

This is an on going pro bono support for this group's forest campaign in Australia, a place I have spent many months on magazine assignments.

 

 

 

 

 

'Roid Passion 10 pack.

In the film days the standard 35mm 36 exposure film roll encapsulated so many hopes and dreams of the photographer. When on location where I might shoot 30 rolls of film a day, I was always asked how many good photos do I usually get off of one roll of film. My usual reply was 1 to 3 photos. The reason is in the time it took me to shoot 36 exposures I usually never experienced more than a couple of unique scenes. All of the other shots on the roll were part of my in camera creative process to get the right photo.

The creative process with shooting Polaroid or 'roid is the same, but things move even slower to get the right shot. A ten pack might get me 1 shot or maybe not. But the creative process is such a blast.

These are two photos I shot while out in Death Valley they are from one pack of instant film. First I worked a wide shot then moved in for a close-up, each image is unique. I made the file print using the not disposed of negative from the Fuji FP100c instant film. 

 

 

 

 

You should celebrate National Parks! That's why this is my favorite photo from my Grand Canyon spread in the March 2015 issue of Smithsonian magazine.

Saguaro National Park in the Black and White series

More Black and White photos from this week in the desert under a nearly full moon. It's crazy and fun to explore the desert at night in Black and White. I am careful not to step on snakes, one close encounter is enough! This is for my personal project on Saguaro National Park I started last year and plan to finish this summer.

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Help count flowers at Saguaro National Park

The Sonoran Institute: Mexican Farmers Working for Conservation

I was excited when the Sonoran Institute recently sent me to photograph their Colorado River Delta restoration project in Baja California, Mexico. The Sonoran Institute is a U.S. non-profit that works to

You Can Save the Grand Canyon

The Smithsonian magazine has published David Robert's story "Who Can Save the Grand Canyon" in the March 2015 issue of the magazine. I was the photographer on the story.

On the last day of the shoot I made this photo from Cape Solitude. It shows the location where developers plan to build a mile and a half long tram from the rim into the Grand Canyon.  Construction of the tram can start as early as this year.

I liked Robert's and the Smithsonian's choice of a title for this story. It reminds me of the ad that the Sierra Club ran in the New York Times and the Washington Post in June of 1966. The NYTimes Sierra Club ad was a call to action when two dams were being proposed on the Colorado River up stream from the confluence. I believe the ad was the brainchild of David Brower who was president of the Sierra Club at that time.

The Canyon is under threat again, I wonder if the public will rally again to protect the Canyon?