Bill Hatcher Photography

Scratching through West Clear Creek Wilderness, Arizona

I learned several things on this 5 day hike through the West Clear Creek Wilderness in Arizona. I learned that whereever there is water in Arizona things will grow and that when the water flows year-round things will grow in profusion. Hiking into this wilderness I guess I just didn't expect so much greenery. The cool water and flora was a great relief from the shoots I have been doing in the scorching desert heat of Southern Arizona.

 

The object of this trip was to follow and photograph a team of botanist doing a plant survey of the entire wilderness area. This two year project is headed up by grad student Wendy McBride from the University of Northern Arizona. So far she has collected nearly a thousand plant specimens and it's expected the collection will grow to over 2,000 or more by the time she is done.

 

This was a remarkable team of scientist who were all very adept at working and moving in this rugged

Canyoning: How did he get that shot?

I don't often have another photographer along when I am shooting, but on a recent canyoning trip Rich Crowder a American photographer and climber made some photos of me making photos. You can look at my previous post about descending Juggler Canyon (Here) to see some of the photos I was taking when Rich took these photos of me shooting photos. Can you figure out comparing our photos where he shot his photos. You can actually see Rich in each photo. 

In this Rich Crowder photo he was looking down at me at the top of the rappel as I was shooting away perched on a slimy ledge above a deep pool of water. I was using a Lastolight ezybox with a Nikon SB-900 attached with a TTL cord to my Nikon D-300s the lighting was figured on manual and the camera settings were something like 1/50 at f5.6 at asa 1000. There was no way I could look through the view finder because I was leaning back to keep from falling off the ledge into the pool. 

Here's Rich's next photo of me setting up for a photo at the falls near the canyon exit.

Remember when you were just starting out in photography and to shoot a long time exposure or a self portrait you would place your camera on the ground and stack twigs and rocks under the lens so you could get the right angle for the photo?  And while trying to get the pebbles and sticks to stack correctly under the camera you were thinking, man one day I going to get one of those flashy tripods like the pros use. Well pros like me still have to resort to rocks and twigs every once in awhile. That's what I am doing here and the result seen in my previous post (here) shows that the camera was as rock steady as if locked onto my fancy heavy carbon fiber Gitzo tripod that I wisely left at home. The camera I am setting up using sticks and stones is the Nikon D-300s with a 16-35 f4 lens and a Moose warming polariser filter. Thanks Rich for sharing the photos.

 

Another canyoning adventure: Juggler Canyon

I have been told you know it's October in the Blue Mountains when the Waratah flowers are in bloom. These beautiful red flowers are the floral emblem of New South Wales, Australia. We saw lots of red yesterday on a canyoning adventure to Juggler and the Grand Canyon canyons near Blackheath. The La Nina rain cycle has hit OZ with a vengeance with about 150% of normal rainfall in October. 

On Friday the forecast was good so  Melanie, Rich and I went into the mountains. In spring the canyons are wet from winter rains and intense with color. As usual the most critical route finding was the initial hike to located the head of the canyon. Once we found the right canyon we knew it was five rappels to the end of the canyon.

On the hike into the canyon Melanie discovered why it's called razor grass. We soon had her hand patched and started down the first rappel.

 

The first rappel was a short nasty slime pitch of green goo. If we hadn't brought a rope we could have used a sled to descend this section. At the bottom of the ramp we were surprised to discover a sparkling pool of cold mountain water. Once the rope was pulled we were committed to the rest of the canyon.

We carried our wet suits because we intended to do the Grand Canyon after descending Jugglers Canyon, but on the fourth rappel Melanie took a bad fall and bleeding and bruised she had to limp out of Jugglers

Tiger Snake Canyon canyoning

This past weekend I was invited to go canyoneering in the Blue Mountains. This canyonering trip was organized by the outdoor club from the  University of Sydney. Our destination was Tiger Snake Canyon. I was told this is a dry canyon meaning there would be no swimming. But on the first rope drop my camera was tucked into my dry bag because we had to jump from a ledge into a shallow pool. What dry really means when canyoning in New South Wales is there was still plenty of water in the canyon just no swimming or extended time spent in the water. 

 

What follows is a series of photos from the days trip. I decided to improved the miserable light in the canyon by using a collaspable soft box. The softbox was a curious thing to squeeze through the passages.

Canyoning and photography in the Blue Mountains

I have discovered that winter is not the best time to visit the wet canyons in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. But I have been interested in seeing what these places look like and I had a free day this week to drive up to the Blues. I was joined by photographer Rich Crowder also an American living in Sydney. Before heading to the Blues we discussed a list of possible canyons. We settled on Nayook Canyon near Deep Pass in the Blue Mountains. This canyon is very short, not very technical (when we went there were several fixed ropes) and most importantly (since it is winter downunder) you do not require a wet suit for swims. I treated the trip as a way to test some photo setups in the canyons. It would be a nice step before heading into more challenging canyons with photography in mind.

 

Nikon D3s 1/10 sec f 16 ISO800 SB900 with a lastolite softbox.

Rich in the fern gully in Deep Pass Canyon. I found the canyons to be deep, dark, wet and very green. For photography the environment presented challenges with lighting and color balance. There was also the constant issues of dealing with the pervasive moisture and moving through the canyons and up ropes with cameras.

 

Nikon D3s 1/30 sec. f 7.1 ISO 200 SB-900 flash

At the second pool a length of rebar hammered into the rock sets the anchor for the  fixed line, a ratty piece of 11 mil. 

3 pm on a winters day  at the second pool you wouldn't want to swim. 

 D3s on a tripod 24mm lens, 1/13 sec f11 ISO 640

It was a great photo adventure. Now I have my camera and lighting kit figured out for canyoning. The kit would be my camera with a 16-35 f4 vr lens, flash with cord and small softbox. All tucked neatly in my Watershed waterproof bag. I'll just have to wait for summer or have my dry suit shipped over from the U.S. before my next trip in the canyons. Take a look at the photos Rich made while during our trip to Deep Pass on his blog here.