I have only done astrophotography a few times, it is a photographer’s rabbit hole! It takes a fair amount of planning and post-processing to pull off a decent image, though these days, it is much easier with contemporary equipment.
This was a project for FRC Inc. to document an epic concrete pour for a novel water reclamation cistern that will hold 1.5 million gallons of water when complete later this year. This will collect runoff during the rainy season to be used for irrigation during the Summer months, saving precious well pumped groundwater.
Here is the culmination of a 4+ year project to document the creation of a one-of-a-kind custom residence, located in the Myacamas range of Sonoma County. The project started in January 2018 for my first visit to the site where only part of the foundation had been poured. Monthly visits to document the progress using still, video and aerial images resulted in a gallery with over 2,000 images for the client. The home is nearly 8,000 square feet and was architecture and interior design by Harris & Kasten Inc. of Santa Rosa, CA. Inspiration for this residence was from the Alhambra palace/fortress in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. During the middle of the project in October 2019, the Kincade wildland fire swept through hills under red flag conditions and burned over the entire property but due to adequate clearance around the home coupled with the homes’ fire-resistive building construction, the home was spared.
Some of my select photos from a photo trip to Death Valley National Park in California.
Breathing new life into a vacant building in Petaluma CA. This project by FRC Inc. is transforming this historic building so it can be enjoyed once again. This will be the new taproom for the growing Crooked Goat Brewing of Sebastopol CA.
Another fine athletic field by FRC Inc. for Ukiah High School.
The was one of the most heartfelt projects I have been involved in, to document the movement and installation of a hand-built windmill from solid redwood planks that were recovered from the 2017 Tubbs Fire in Sonoma County, CA This was quite the set up with 1-time lapse camera that was stationary at the pickup point, then transferred to the back of the truck pulling the flatbed trailer with the windmill and finally on-site for the installation. I also use two still cameras which is my normal setup for most shoots which allows me to stay nimble and not have to change lenses very often. The final piece was capturing drone video and still images of the actual installation. Here are the results in a 3min video.
Some select photos from my first trip to Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
I started underwater photography in 1986 after becoming a certified scuba diver. My first camera was a borrowed Hanimax from my father. From the beginning of my scuba diving adventures, I have always taken a camera to show others what lies beneath our oceans. The Hanimax, a point and shoot film camera, broke on the first dive and I quickly realized I needed something more robust. At the time, that was the Nikonos line of cameras. I bought a used Nikonos II, also a film camera but no batteries, no light meter but very reliable.
Then in the late 80’s a used Nikonos V which at the time was a ground breaking camera, compact 35mm film, TTL auto exposure and excellent variety of lenses but still no auto focusing. It was a rangefinder camera so you had to estimate focus for every photo.
Finally in the early 1990’s I moved up to a “professional” custom housing for a used Canon F1n 35mm film camera. This housing was gigantic and crude by todays standards but with the Canon camera, it took amazing photos in it’s day.
In 2005 digital 35mm cameras had finally arrived and began surpassing the quality of their predecessor film cameras. At the time and to this day, the pinnacle of underwater housing was and is Seacam. I upgraded to the first full frame 35mm DSLR camera, the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II. This camera and housing allowed me to take my photography too beyond next level. All of my Great white shark photos were shot with this camera and housing, actually all of my underwater photos since then have been taken with this system and it has served me flawlessly for 15 years. Canon no longer services the 1Ds Mark II and technology has advanced in many areas related to underwater photography.
After a year of searching I finally found a used Seacam housing on eBay to house my Canon 5D Mark IV DSLR camera. While we are still in the wild west of mirrorless digital cameras this made sense for me vs buying a new housing and mirrorless camera. The 5D Mark IV has many advantages over my previous system: 1. will double my resolution, 2. improved autofocusing, 3. more compact camera and housing, 4. can shoot video, 4K.
A huge thanks to Stephen Frink (world renowned underwater photographer who sold me my first Seacam housing and camera), and to Harald Hordosch owner of Seacam who made some modifications to my new-used housing to work with the Canon 5D Mark IV camera.
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I had the opportunity to spend the day with wildlife photographer Daniel Dietrich at Point Reyes National Seashore. Daniel has done what anyone should do if they want to photograph wildlife, without baiting, without staging and in their natural habitat. You must make an investment in time. Daniel has spent a number of years daily, weekly, monthly and yearly exploring and learning the habits of Point Reyes’ amazing wildlife. This holds true really for all forms of photography, it’s not about the gear but about learning the craft.
Here are a few of my selects from Point Reyes National Seashore. Bobcat attempting to get a gopher in the late afternoon light but came up empty…this time.
Fall can have some of the best diving conditions off the Central California coast and on this particular day, 11/01/2020, we had exceptional underwater conditions! This un-named spot off Point Pinos on the southern tip of Monterey Bay is quite a ways offshore and 170 feet deep, a very challenging dive. Jutting up from the sandy bottom are gigantic slabs of granite that are covered by spectacular strawberry anemones. Feeding off the cold nutrient-rich waters that are continually in motion due to strong currents and surge from passing swells they have found a perfect home to flourish. The dive to capture these images lasted 75 minutes with the first 25 minutes spent photographing the bottom structure before having to spend the last 50 minutes decompressing before returning to the surface. Well worth the effort!!!
While completing a 20-minute decompression stop in Monterey Bay we were greeted by thousands of Sea nettles. These gelatinous bundles of stinging cells enveloped us and stinging the exposed skin on our faces. Fortunately, after a few hours the stinging sensation subsided and all was good. These jellies are pretty amazing, traveling up and down to depths of 3,600 feet in a single day. With climate change, there is an over abundance of these creatures. They feed on tiny ocean going animals and sometimes inadvertantly sting scuba divers that can’t get out of their way.
New to me moon photography techniques. The results are promising!
The comet Neowise was my first foray into astrophotography. Each final image is a stacked image using 50 individual images and stacking software to reduce the digital noise from high ISO and long exposures. Not long ago you had to purchase a motorized tracker which is still a great way to go but with stacking, you can get pretty amazing results! I set up both of my cameras each with a different focal length lens to capture each image.
A red-shouldered hawk takes flight from a perch in a bush at Point Reyes National Seashore.
I have been an outdoor photographer for over 30 years. My photography has taken me underwater to some of our most pristine and fragile ecosystems. Above water, I have photographed while backpacking in the Sierra Nevada mountains to a number of our National Parks, State Parks, and local parks. In the age of highly capable cell phone cameras to the lastest evolution to mirrorless cameras coupled with instantaneous worldwide dissemination of our photos, it has never been more important for photographers of all kinds to be deliberate in how we treat these natural areas and to think about what effect posting our photos has on these natural areas.
Nature First is an alliance of like-minded nature photographers with common-sense pledge to think about and be deliberate in how we treat and photograph our natural environments which are under increasingly more pressure and quite simply being loved to death. The principles are common sense and many photographers area already practicing them but even for a seasoned nature photographer like myself, they are a reminder to be deliberate in how we treat our natural environments and encourage others to do the same.
THE NATURE FIRST PRINCIPLES
- Prioritize the well-being of nature over photography.
- Educate yourself about the places you photograph.
- Reflect on the possible impact of your actions.
- Use discretion if sharing locations.
- Know and follow rules and regulations.
- Always follow Leave No Trace principles and strive to leave places better than you found them.
- Actively promote and educate others about these principles.
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Contact
Email keith@keithflood.com
Telephone 707.478.9686
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