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

Storms in the Grand Canyon

I spent a few days dodging scattered rain storms while hiking below the rim in the Grand Canyon. For the most part I avoided the worst of the deluge or found a good over hang during the heaviest down pour.This photo is out on the Dripping Springs Trail.

 

High Camera Angle of View

It's 4:41 am and two bike riders are moving through a cactus maze in the Sonoran Desert.

Dawn is starting to color the sky and I have my camera 20 feet up on a portable camera stand. There's no wind, but I have the stand stabilized by several ropes. The setup is stable enough for a sharp 25 second exposure as the mountain bikers ride through the scene. I do a few takes then move to the next location, the shoot is wrapped by 6:15 and we are off to Hotel Congress for breakfast at the Cup.

Nice when everything works out as planned.

Had a beautiful sunrise during this mornings shoot in the Tucson Mountains. The desert was a comfortable 72˚ it almost made me forget that in a few hours it'll be 110˚ on this trail.

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Tucson Mountain Park AZ Wildflower Report 2/15/14

Is a Color photo more realistic than a B&W photo?

This week I returned to Saguaro National Park to rephotographed one of the cooler looking saguaro I had photographed last month. Here's a select from this recent shoot. I nearly always publish color images, but after looking at the color image on my home computer I thought the white flower and the cool lines of the saguaro ribs might have more punch if I converted it to Black and White in Photoshop.

But I am in a quandary here because I didn't originally shoot this image in Black and White and when I shot the image I was intent on a shooting a color image. So the question I ask myself is shouldn't this image remain in the original color? 

I've often written and promoted the idea that in wildlife, landscape and news photography the photos should be kept as true to the original moment as possible. This means no excessive photoshop or editing to remove items other than dust from the photo. This concept is really just for images whose intention is to depict a real scene. Of course for creative sake an image can be manipulated to the extreme if the intention is to create an art work. I guess that's the threshold I crossed when converting this color image to Black and White.   What do you think, did the Black and White alteration I made change the original intent of this photo? My answer is probably not by much, but it is a very different photo from the original.

That got me to thinking that most news photographers publishing black and white images are usually shooting in color with digital cameras then converting the image to Black and White for publication. This is the case with many landscape and wildlife photographers as well. The reason many still produce images in Black and White is not only a style choice, but the fact that a photo in Black and White will often depict a subject with more power and emotion than a color image. Is this kind of radical alteration to a color image true to the moment? It is if the intent when the photo was shot was to make a B&W image.  The difference between what I did in altering my saguaro photo and what the B&W publishing photojournalist and wildlife photographer is doing, is their original intention is seeing the final photo as Black and White.

Late Spring in Saguaro National Park

The saguaro cactus is the iconic cactus of the Sonoran Desert. Locals are saying that with the mild warm winter in the American Southwest the saguaro is blooming early. Yesterday I saw thousands of saguaro flowering in Saguaro National Park outside Tucson, Arizona. 

These cactus can grow over 40 feet tall and live more than 200 years. Most visitors view the cactus from ground level. I used a special wireless camera rig that allowed me to look down on the saguaro from above. I've discovered there's always a unique perpective with aerials. 

 

 

 

Grand Canyon smoke and light

Smoke from a control burn near Tusayan on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park contributed to some soft light for this sunrise photo of Isis Temple. This pic was taken last week from nearby Shiva Temple below the North Rim. A long walk in, but well worth the effort.

 

Rising Oceans

In an article in today's New York Times  about rising water levels on the East coast of the U.S. I was reminded of a shoot I did last year in Australia to document the same subject. Taken in Sydney, Australia my photo illustrates where normal ocean levels will be by 2050. I shot this photo during a King Tide event. Amazing to imagine 35 years from now, during a similar high tide event, the ocean water will completely submerge this outdoor pool.

Grand Canyon Serendipity

There's a lot of chance that plays into getting interesting photos in remote locations especially when you let the unfolding events control your shots. What I've discovered is on some photo outings nothing happens; the skies are clear, the company is dull and the location sucks no matter how stunning the place might be. Then on other trips great events unfold, great light happens and making nice photos is as easy as pointing the camera in the right direction and letting the shutter fly.

This point was made clear to me again on a recent multi-day hike off the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. I was joined on the trip with two botanist, Glenn Rink and Steve Till, as well as another avid canyon explorer Bob Dye.

I was in the Canyon on a scouting trip for a future story. The others had no set determined goals so the hike quickly unfolded as a casual romp in the Park to explore some new country and have some fun. And of course I brought a camera should anything interesting happen.

I liked this shot of Steve exploring the art of flying. If I claimed that this sort of activity is a hot new sport craze, it would have the Park managers of GCNP sleepless with worry, but it's only Steve enjoying some flight-time.

Okay I did have some photographic goals during the trip. I did want to make a nice portrait of Bob Dye. Bob is incredibly knowledgeable about the canyon and displays an uncanny ability to find ancient building sites and artifacts.

Glenn Rink is the ultimate energized hiker. As we walked out of the Canyon across the Powell Plateau in a blowing fog and wet snow,  I managed to get a photo of Glenn in his element. He later admitted that when I took this photo he was freezing cold and was nearly running to stay warm.

 

So like many people I enjoyed three days of photo serendipity in the Grand Canyon and I am already planning on my next trip. This last photo is what Glenn says is the ultimate scout of Deubendorf Rapids. What I saw was the beautiful curve of the Colorado River, the steep ridges dropping off the Great Thumb and more than a few reasons to return.

 

 

 

 

A Couple of my Favorite Desert National Parks

With a possible government shut down less than 12 hours away I am lucky I had a chance to visit a few of my favorite National Parks in the past few weeks. If the shut down happens like it did back in 1996 places like Canyonlands National Park in Utah and Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado could close their gates for weeks.

Hiking up dunes patterned with dark iron rich sands containing magnetite that contrast with the lighter colored sands at Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado.

Expansive views from the top of Amasaback across the Colorado River from Islands in the Sky district of  Canyonlands National Park.