Workshop Announcement: West Virginia Waterfalls
Last Light on Second Wave
I am very proud to announce that I have joined the team on the Outdoor Photographer Magazine Blog! I would like to thank the staff at Outdoor Photographer for asking me to be the newest contributing photographer here on the OP blog. It is an honor and a privilege to have the chance to share my images and photography experiences alongside some of the finest photographers in the business!
My first post on the OP blog, Last Light on Second Wave, talks about a great day of exploration and photography in one of the worlds most beautiful desert locations.
Sandstone Swirls
Tech Details: Nikon D700, 24-70mm 2.8 Nikkor lens, Singh Ray LB Polarizer, Gitzo Mountaineer Tripod and Really Right Stuff Ball Head. 1/10 of a second @ F16, ISO 100.
New eBook, Five Landscape Challenges 2, now available
New eBook: Five Landscape Challenges 2
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Ian Plant & Joseph Rossbach
Tips for Mastering Five Common Landscape Scenes
Ian Plant & Joseph Rossbach
Sure, instructional books are great, but often they are long on theory and short on practical application. Master chefs have the right idea: instead of merely penning lengthy tomes teaching abstract cooking principles, they also write easy-to-follow recipe books, allowing even beginners to create masterpiece meals.
Five Landscape Challenges is the second book in a this new series. Each book in the series focuses on five different common landscape scenes, providing detailed “recipes” showing you how to get each shot right, every time, discussing the best equipment, light, and compositions. This second book focuses on the following five scenes:
- Alpine Flowers
- Sandstone Oddities
- Coastal Scenics
- Autumn Reflections
- Above the Clouds
Five Landscape Challenges 2 is a 66-page downloadable PDF eBook filled with informative text, stunning full-color images, and plenty of insights and inspiration.
ONLY $8
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| Front/Back Covers |
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| Sandstone Oddities Sample Pages |
Dramatic Skies over Blue Canyon, Navajo/Hopi Lands, Arizona
Dramatic Skies over Blue Canyon
Originally uploaded by Joseph Rossbach(www.josephrossbach.com)
These interesting badlands and rock pinnacles can be found of a lonely dirt road deep in the Navajo Indian Reservation of northern Arizona.
On this visit, I had the sky and light to finally come away with a dramatic landscape image of the main attraction in the canyon.
2011 Workshops are filling up fast! Get your reservations in soon before all spots are gone – http://www.josephrossbach.com/content.html?page=2
Sandstone Swirls Sunset, The Wave, Arizona
As promised, my image from Wave #2 , Coyote Buttes Wilderness, Arizona
This is the more traditional take on the formation. most images show the rocks bathed in full light just about an hour before sunset. I was on location in the winter when the sun set in the notch of the Cockscomb allowing for great light right p until about 10 minutes before sunset.
Walking out in the dark would have been a real challenge and even a little bit dangerous with out my hand held GPS. The terrain, slick rock and washes is an easy place to get completely lost. Once the sun set the temps dropped as well, plummeting to well below freezing. This flash froze any of the melt water on the slickrock making hiking a difficult and dangerous prospect in several locations.
The Wave, North Coyote Buttes, Arizona
I have been wanting to hike out to the Wave in winter for several years, but never had the chance. Not until last week that is. The weather was almost perfect for a day of shooting and hiking in this wonderland of sandstone with temps in the mid 30′s and clear blue skies. I started my hike before noon and arrived at the Wave only an hour later. For almost the first two hours I was out there, I spent my time studying the light and rock. Looking for strong reflected light and shadow areas to juxtapose color and form. I found it in this section of the wave at around 3:30. The far walls in the background were receiving strong reflected light from the buttes just above and the rock striations in the foreground were in a deeper shade causing them to record with a strong blue cast. The complimentary hues of warm and cool was what I was after and I got it in this shot.
click on image for a larger view
Later on in the day, I hiked out to Wave #2 for sunset. I’ll post that image tomorrow so stay tuned!
As always, thanks for having a look and best of light,
Joe
Upcoming Photography Workshops
Springtime in Charleston, South Carolina
Dates: March 25-28, 2011 Where: Charleston, South Carolina Price: $650.00 Deposit: $200.00 Instructor: Joseph Rossbach Limit:10 Lodging: To be announced Register Now Charleston is a beautiful southern city sitting on the coast. Over this workshop we will shoot the Magnolia Plantation, Bald Cypress swamps, ancient Live Oaks draped in moss, the bone yard of skeleton trees on the coast, Folly Beach and old city architecture in the city. As with all of our workshops there will be ample field instruction, classroom critiques, software training and composition and field technique lectures.Springtime in the Smoky Mountains National Park
Only 1 spot left!!!Slot Canyons and Sandstone of Page, Arizona
Only 1 spot left!!!Coal Mine Cayon Winter Sunset, Arizona
It’s been a hectic two weeks, which explains why I have not been attending to the blog lately. On January 6th, I flew into Phoenix, Arizona for the start of a eight day trip to shoot new images on the Colorado Plateau and Painted Desert in northern Arizona. after returning home, the realities of being a full time pro and owning my own photo business set in, tons and tons of office and admin duties to catch up on.
Flying out of BWI early in the morning, allowed me just enough time to get into Phoenix, pick up my SUV and make the 240 mile drive north to Coal Mine Canyon just in time for sunset. Coal Mine Canyon is located on the Navajo Reservation bordering Hopi Lands about 20 miles northeast of Tuba City. From the highway it is not even visible to the casual traveler. Following a network of bumpy dirt tracks will bring you down to the edge of the canyon, and it’s multitude of spires, hoo doos and domes. Arriving only a half an hour before sunset, I knew I had very limited time to set up. Fortunately, this was my third visit to the canyon, and I had a pretty good idea of where I wanted to shoot. I set up my camera and waited for something to happen. The clouds to the east were the remnants of a small winter storm I had driven through earlier that day. As the front moved east, it provided a break on the western horizon and a chance for some great light.
click for a larger view
When the magic began to happen, it was weak at first with only a little bit of sunlight filtering from the west and beginning to paint the clouds. At this time of the day, there was to be no direct light that would reach the inside of the canyon. I could only hope that the clouds directly above would catch light and glow. That would provided the much needed bounce light to paint the canyon spires and really bring out the warm colors of the spires and badlands. Of course, the dusting of snow provided the perfect contrast to the warm light and multicolored rocks. As sunset pressed on, the glow began to build and finally peaked but for only a few moments before it faded.
This image ended up being a blend of two separate exposures. The first for the sky, was metered at -.5 to bring out a little more drama in the clouds and the second, for the canyon, was metered at + 1 to bring out as much detail and color in the canyon as possible. The two images were later hand blended using Adobe PS4.
Stay tuned for many more images from the trip to come, and thank as always for having a look.
Joe
Upcoming Photography Workshops
Springtime in Charleston, South Carolina
Dates: March 25-28, 2011 Where: Charleston, South Carolina Price: $650.00 Deposit: $200.00 Instructor: Joseph Rossbach Limit:10 Lodging: To be announced Register Now Charleston is a beautiful southern city sitting on the coast. Over this workshop we will shoot the Magnolia Plantation, Bald Cypress swamps, ancient Live Oaks draped in moss, the bone yard of skeleton trees on the coast, Folly Beach and old city architecture in the city. As with all of our workshops there will be ample field instruction, classroom critiques, software training and composition and field technique lectures.Springtime in the Smoky Mountains National Park
Only 1 spot left!!!Slot Canyons and Sandstone of Page, Arizona
Only 1 spot left!!!
Dreaming of Acadia
click image to enlarge
Another windy, cold and dry winter day here in Maryland has me day dreaming of warmer weather to come. I love shooting winter landscapes, but a lack of snow and ice this year in the mid Atlantic has put a real damper on my chances and motivation to get out and shoot. No worries, I’ll just head out to the desert for a week or more of shooting. I leave on Thursday for northern Arizona to spend eight wonderful days exploring the rez as well as shooting the slots and trips to North Buttes and Stud Horse.
I wanted to share an image from Acadia National Park I created this past June while leading a photo workshop. I shot this image only days before the start of the workshop on one of the best morning of a two-week trip. Otter Cliffs above Boulder Beach is a popular hot spot for photographers. I’ve been shooting this location for 12 years. The breaking surf, polished boulders and huge cliffs in the background are a great recipe for dramatic landscape images. Even so, I have only come away with maybe 5 or 6 really captivating images over the years.
On this morning, a bank of clouds were resting out over the Ocean with clear skies just to the east, a great chance for dramatic light. And I finally got it. You see, I visited the beach for five straight days before the conditions were ripe for drama. This is often the case. Most of the time spent in the field is waiting for something truly magical to happen. Most of the time it just doesn’t! For the shot, I took a very low angle to the rocks, only a foot or so away and just above the breaking waves. It took me over twelve attempts to get the right wave action which was essential to the drama and integrity of the image. Each shot before, was spent wiping the camera down from spray and dodging bigger waves that would come in every five or six times. I finally got it, a mix of motion and action in the same image and the rocks in the immediate foreground were still visible and not washed over by waves. Just a few minutes later the light would fade and the magic was over.
Rainbow Flow, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada
click to enlarge
The sandstone in Valley of Fire State Park really is a most amazing natural phenomenon. It gives the glit and glitter of Las Vegas a run for the money. I found this composition out on the sandstone after wandering around for about an hour. The diagonal flow and multi-colored rock in the immediate foreground, captured my attention, and I waited until the sun was low on the horizon casting warm and directional side light across the land.
Top 10 of 2010
As 2010 comes to a close, I thought I would share my favorite 10 images from the past year. I traveled far and often this past year, creating new images, leading some great workshops and finally introducing the new love of my life, my 5 week old daughter Paisley. Well here they are! I hope you enjoy them and I would like to with everyone a safe, happy and productive New Year.
Maple Abstract, New Hampshire, August
Heavens Gate, Arches NP, April
A Harsh Existence, Paria River, UT November
Old Man Maple, West Virginia September
Gift of Light, Zion NP, November
Heart Rock Reflections, Vermont, October
Fire Wave, Nevada, November
Ghost of Wahweap, Utah, March
Red Sky Dawn, Acadia NP, June
Elakala Swirls, West Virginia, May
