In the Flow
"Field and Screen - Tips and Techniques for Outdoor Photography"
I will be leading a free workshop on July 26 at Sugarloaf Cove, on the North Shore of Lake Superior, from 10:00 am 'till noon. The workshop is designed to help outdoor photographers improve their artistry and technical skills. The two-hour class will focus on two important parts of the modern photographic process: finding and capturing outdoor scenes that reflect the photographer's vision, and presenting those images in the best possible prints. Topics in the class will include:
• Avoiding the Obvious Picture
• What to take into the woods (and what not to take)
• How much money do iI have to spend to be a good photographer?
• Using Adobe's new Photoshop Elements 6 to produce great prints
The workshop will be appropriate for photographers of all skill levels, and will be held in the Cove's main Center. Attendees will also have a chance to win a print of the beautiful Cove lakeshore; it was Featured Print Number 4 for 2007, "Cove Sun Shafts."
Sugarloaf Cove is a unique, quiet spot on Lake Superior. It is on Highway 61, 73 miles north of Duluth and 4 miles south of Schroeder, Minnesota. For 30 years, Sugarloaf Cove was home to Consolidated Paper's log rafting operations. Now it is a place to learn about the natural and human history of the North Shore, with a State Scientific and Natural Area at its core. Here's a link to the Cove's Web site: Sugarloaf Cove.
Space in the workshop is limited; please call or email the Cove to reserve a spot.
New Images Added
I've loaded some new images into the "Perfection in Miniature" and "Micro-Scapes" Galleries. These are all from the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, and show off a bit of the beauty of Spring in Minnesota
Featured Print Number 4 for 2008 Available
The third Featured Print for 2008, "In the Flow", is now available - see here for details.
Who Can Go on LI Photo Expeditions?
I've gotten several questions recently about who is eligible to go on a Landscape Impact Photo Expedition. The short answer is, "almost anyone!" Our trips are open to anyone over 18 (sorry, but the current trips aren't aimed at young learners. If I get enough interest, I would set up a class just for youth.) with a minimal level of photographic skills. You need to be familiar with the manual controls of your camera, and be able to load film, batteries, flash cards and handle any other basic operations of that camera. You need to be in average physical condition, able to hike into our shooting sites on moderate established trails, and to walk comfortably around in natural settings (top of a ridge, alongside a sterambed, on a sandy or rocky beach.) The most imporatant qualification is to have an open mind and a desire to try new things!
I've also been asked about pricing for the Expeditions for younger and older participants. To address that concern, I'm making available a 25% discount for current college students (just show an up-to-date registration of full-time status) and seniors (62+.) My hope is this will encourage a wide range of age and experience, which I find make the Expeditions more fun for everyone (including Your Humble Instructor.) The "Classes and Trips" section thas been updated with this pricing option.
New Images Added - April 5, 2008
I've added a dozen new images to the Galleries, from two recent trips: one to California, the other to New York. Check out the Canyons, Color and Form, Mysterious Places, Rivers and Streams, Water, Micro-Scapes, and Perfection in Miniature galleries.
PhotoBlog Started
A new endeavor: I'm trying a blog of my photography life, attempting to capture some of the emotion and process of capturing and creating the images you see here (and lots you don't!) See what you think here.
2008 Photo Expeditions
I'm excited about the 2008 Landscape Impact Photo Expeditions. You can check the "Classes and Trips" section to read the details, but here are the high points: we're taking a trip to the North Shore of Lake Superior in early September. It is a three-day excursion that will put an emphasis on chasing waterfalls, plus shooting the amazing Lake and the surrounding woodland. The Expedition is limited to eight participants, so sign up now!
The other expedition is something new - a six-day trip to the very best shooting locations in Arizona and Utah. These are all locations that have yielded some of the most spectacular images on this Web site, and I am very pleased to offer you the chance to visit those locaitons and enhance your photographic skills. This expedition runs from October 10-15, and will only take place if there is sufficient interest. Look at the outline of the expedition, and if this gets your creative juices flowing, email in your interest and we'll hold you a spot!
Register for the email list - win a Featured Print and get unique Desktop Images!
If you sign up for the Landscape Impact email list, not only will you receive regular (but not too often!) updates about this Web site and Landscape Impact Photography, but you'll get two other benefits.
• First, one lucky reader will win a Personal-sized copy of each Featured Print. At the end of the six-week run of a Featured Print, I'll pick a name from those who have registered on the Web site, and that person will receive the matted Print free. The only restriction is that you can only win once a year...sorry!
• Second, you get free access to a non-public section of the Web site where you can download special images to use as backgrounds for your computer screen. These are images not found elsewhere on the site, and only subscribers are told the location of the images.
All you have to do is email your name and email address to info@landscapeimpact.com with the phrase "Register" in the "about" line. Of course, you can drop off the list any time you like.
New Photography Article Posted
I have a new article entitled "Timing is Everything" in the "Art and Craft" area (it was originally published online at Apogee Photo) that discusses light and time, and addresses the important photographic issue of sleep deprivation.
Appearances Elsewhere....
The DoubleExposure Web site - a good education and inspiration destination - has just completed a "Flora and Fauna Challenge." I'm very pleased to have one of my black-and-white shots from southwestern Minnesota selected to illustrate their "how to" page at http://www.doubleexposure.com/DEChallenge_FloraFauna.shtml.
Featured Print Number 4 for 2008: "In the Flow"
Every six weeks, I'll post a Featured Print here. These are images that I feel merit special attention, and that I want to put under a spotlight for a limited period of time.
The fourth Featured Print for 2008 is "In the Flow."
I took this shot at one of my favorite locations on the North Shore of Lake Superior - Gooseberry Falls State Park. Gooseberry has a series of waterfalls that cascade down into Lake Superior, turning as they flow to their destination.
The day of this shot, the Middle Falls were running moderately, which let me place my tripod a ways into the flow of the Gooseberry River as it tumbled down the rocky gorge. This set up a vantage point that I think captures both the power of the Falls and their delicate aspects. I was also very pleased with the range of colors in the riverbed that day.
The Featured Print is available in all three print sizes, at a discount of 30% from the usual prices for those sizes, and that discount is only available for the six week period. The usual series print limits apply: if there are prints available after the six weeks, they will be at regular prices.
-- Chris Sandberg
Previous Featured Prints
Here are all the previous Featured Prints. These are all back "into rotation" as generally-available prints.
Featured Print Number 3 for 2008: "Zabriskie Solo"
This Featured Print is image is from Death Valley National Park in southeastern California. Death Valley contains the lowest elevation within the continental Unites States, and boasts sand dunes, snow-capped mountains, canyopns with multicolored rock layers, mud flats, three million acres of wilderness, and some of the most starkly beautiful landscapes in the far West.
Zabriskie Point is one of those landscapes, with folded layers of colors rising and falling in waves that remind the viewer of the lake that covered the Park nine million years ago. The darker layers are lava; the other layers include saline muds, gravels from the adjacent mountains, and volcanic ash. This sunrise shot catches the folds of the Point, the shadows of the morning, and a solitary human figure overlooking the severe landscape.
Featured Print Number 2 for 2008:
"A Day at the Races"
This Featured Print is an image from Death Valley National Park in southeastern California. The area of Death Valley captured in this Print is Racetrack Playa, at the northern end of the Park. It is a huge. flat dry (ususally) lake bed. The name for the has arisen due to the strange rock feature found there. Across the southern end of the Playa, rocks ranging from softball to basketball size lie embedded in the hardened mud, with distinct trails showing that the rocks have travelled across the lake bed!
While no visitors have reported being present to see the rocks move, there is no doubt that they have slid quite a long way, and gouged their trails into the mud. The prevailing theory is that, after a rain turns the surface of the Playa to slick mud, the prevailing winds are able to push the rocks along; as the mud dries and hardens, the rocks are caught in place, with the depressions left in their wake. It is an amazing sight; I came across quite a few rocks late in the afternoon, each with its trail to the north, each glued in place where the trail stopped. One group of four rocks looked as though they were heading for a photo finish at some invisible circuit. This solo traveler had a beautiful, fine blue finish that contrasted in every way with the dull and broken surface of the playa.
Featured Print Number 1 for 2008: "Virgin Gold"
This Featured Print captured a golden sunrise ove the Virgin River in Zion National Park. The Virgin has cut its path through themain canyon in the Park, and here it flows in front of the Court of the Patriarchs. The monolith framed in this shot is named for the biblical figure Abraham.
November was taking its toll on Zion the morning I took this shot, leaving some gold on the trees to mirror the gold in the flowing river. It was a crisp sunrise, and the rapids at this bend in the Virgin echoed in the canyon. This late in the season, there was no one else around to share the scene.
Order No. 14211
2007's Featured Prints
Here are the Featured Prints from last year. 
"Fall Flames"
I stayed close to home for the last Featured Print of 2007, "Fall Flames", one that reflects the beauty of Fall in Minnesota.
This image was taken at the Sibley House historical site in Mendota, Minnesota. The site is located near the junction of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers, and honors one of the most prominent figures in Minnesota in the nineteenth century: fur trader, frontier politician, military leader, and public spirited citizen, Henry Hastings Sibley.
The building these amazing wild grapes have taken over is not one of the historical buildings, but is a modern addition. I found the brilliant colors on a early November afternoon, and was captivataed by the contrasts of vine, wood, wrought iron, and brick.
We never know whether we'll get a colorful Fall in Minnesota, or one where the leaves just turn brown and fall off. This year has been more of the latter, so these flaming leaves were truly a bright spot in an otherwise dull season.
Order No. 12791.
"Kissed by the Sun"
The sixth Featured Print for 2007 was "Kissed by the Sun." Blue Mounds State Park lies in the southwest corner of Minnesota. The park features an eclectic range of topography and geollogy, including a 100-foot tall Sioux quartzite cliff, a bison herd grazing on the original prairie above the cliff, and prickly pear cactus tucked in among the rocks! It's one of a handful of sites in Minnesota where the original prairie survived the westward expansion; large slabs of rock lie right at the surface here, and plowing was impossibe.
This Featured Print was captured in September, 2007, early in the morning as the sun was starting to warm up the quartzite cliff and bring out the reds and yellows in the rock. This area of the park was once a quarry, and the surrounding clilff is a favorite for rock climbers in the Midwest. The shrub halfway up the cliff reminded me of a climber, pausing to admire the beauty of the climb, before setting out for the summit.
Order No. 13616.
"Full Sail"
The fifth Featured Print for 2007 was "Full Sail." Shiprock Peak is the remains of long-dormant volcano (formed 12 million years ago during the Pliocene Era) in northwest New Mexico. The Rock rises 7,178 feet above sea level. Early white exploreres in the area saw a resemblace to 19th century Clipper Ships and applied the name by which it is now generally known.
The Diné name is Tse Bi dahi: the Rock with Wings. That name is based upon a folk myth which teaches that Rock was once a great bird that transported the ancestral people of the Diné to their lands in New Mexico. Tse Bi dahi has been a place of pilgrimage for the Diné, and out of respect for its sacred nature, climbing has banned snce 1970.
The Featured Print was captured in July, 2007, late in the afternoon as the clouds rolled in from the east and the lowering light gave the Rock dimention and color. This shot is from the south, taking in the rugged flatland that surrounds the Rock, except for a long lava wall to the southwest. It is a solitary location, and a sandstorm blew in while we were shooting and forced us to take shelter as it whipped across the high desert.
Order No. 13367.
"Cove Sun Shafts"
Featured Print Number 4 for 2007 was "Cove Sun Shafts." Sugarloaf Cove is a remarkably beautiful and unique site on the North Shore of Lake Superior. For 30 years, Sugarloaf Cove was home to Consolidated Paper's log rafting operations; now it is a place to learn about the natural and human history of the North Shore, with a State Scientific and Natural Area at its core. Sugarloaf Cove is located on Highway 61, 73 miles north of Duluth and 4 miles south of Schroeder, Minnesota.
This picture was taken just after sunrise on June 30, 2007, at Sugerloaf Cove. I was participating in an artists' day there, and wanted to create a special piece showing visitors just what beauty was around them that very day.
The sun and clouds decided to cooperate for us, presenting this wonderful set of colors and light, with the rugged lava flow of this part of the Cove contrasting with the smooth colors of daybreak.
Order No. 12774.
"Antelope Layers"
Featured Print Number 3 for 2007 was "Antelope Layers." Antelope Canyon is a fantastic slot canyon in northern Arizona. The two sections of the Canyon (Upper and Lower Antelope) sit within the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation, in a Navajo Tribal Park. The Diné name for Antelope Canyon is Tse' bighanilini, which means "the place where water runs through rocks."
The mysterious forms of Antelope Canyon have been carved from sandstone by the force of silt-laden water pouring through the narrow slots, which range from as wide as 12 feet to so narrow that you can touch both sides at the same time. The water flows from the surrounding plains through the canyons into Lake Powell.
The wonderful colors of the Canyon that show in photographs are the result of the light filtering and reflecting down from the surface, which is as much as 120 above the bottom of the Canyon. The light plays across the curves and protuberances in the Canyon, producing the purples, blues, pinks, and oranges in the rock.
Order No. 8330.
"Last Light at Devils Tower"
Featured Print Number 2 for 2007 was "Last Light at Devils Tower." Devils Tower is the nation's first national monument. It lurks in southeastern Wyoming, a solitary tooth rising 1,267 feet above the meandering Belle Fourche River. No one has a definite answer as to how exactly Devils Tower was formed, other than that it was an igneous intrusion into the sedimentary layers above. As the lava cooled, hard columns formed, and erosion stripped away the softer rock layers, revealing Devils Tower.
This Featured Print was taken from the southwest corner of the Tower, just as the last bit of the setting sun touched the very top of the Tower. The rock is glowing in the beautiful light, and the clear blue sky sets off the reds, yellows, and ochres of the vertical ribs. It was truly a magical moment in a mystical setting.
Order No. 9735.
"Reflections at Sun's Eye"
Feature Print Number 1 for 2007 was "Reflections at Sun's Eye." This image was taken in Monument Valley in November, 2006, at a magnificent natural cave known as Sun's Eye. Water and wind have eroded the de Chelly sandstone, carving out the large cave and opening a window in the “roof” of the formation - thus the “eye.”
It had rained a week or so before we shot in Monument Valley, and our Diné guide took us to Sun's Eye at the end of the afternoon (this formation is in the large part of the Valley that cannot be entered without a Native guide.) The reflection in the transitory pond was so compelling that I never got close enough to shoot the usual shot up through the cave to the eye.
Monument Valley only gets about 3—5 inches of rain total in an average year, so finding this standing water was unexpected. To find it in exactly the right place at the right time of day was little short of miraculous. I set up quickly and got this sinuous reflection while the light cooperated.
Order No. 11785.