Bill Campbell's Photoblog

Home from Peru

2010-11-09T10:05:00.002-05:00

A whirlwind trip south of the equator. After spending 9 days at Wayqecha Biological Research Station, Gabby Salazar and I explored the Sacred Valley of the Incas starting at Machu Picchu and working our way back to Cuzco. I lost one day to illness, but it was one of our planned "down" days in Cuzco inbetween Wayqecha and the Sacred Valley. It still was not fun to experience "la tourista" first hand.. Beware, don't eat the chicken soup if you can see a chicken foot in your bowl.

The image today is a stitched pan from Machu Picchu. We got there just as the sun was rising across the mountains and the light was gorgeous. You can't take a tripod into Machu Picchu (variable enforcement, I saw one person with a small tripod) so all my pans were shot handheld. I used Photoshop CS5 and Photomerge to create this pan. After selecting the images in Lightroom 3 and playing with the White Balance and exposure on some of the images, I got the image that I wanted.

I am still sorting through the images, so I will post more (and some video) over the next several days...

Cusco Peru

2010-10-07T15:55:00.002-05:00

Flying into Lima, getting 3 hours of sleep and then back to the airport for the trip over the Andes to Cusco was not fun. The worst part was being stopped at Customs in Peru and being told that I had to pay a "guarantee" because of my equipment. They said they would return the money when I left with my cameras.. I've never been charged before to bring my cameras into a country and this is my 3 different continent in 10 months.. Oh well. I'll post if I get my money back.. Makes me think twice of bring a tour down here.
Altitude isn't too bad yet. I'm surprised because the altitude is 11,000 feet. I do have a headache that I get the first couple of days at altitude, but some coca tea helped a lot. I'm asking Rebecca to do a literature search on the effect of coca tea on altitude sickness. If it keeps up, I might buy some coca leaves from the street people and chew on them. And I really think I need a new pair of boots. I must have been asked today to have my boots shined at least 30 times.. And that was just going out after lunch and coming back by 4pm. I like my boots just the way they are, with character.
Leave tomorrow to go to Wayquecha Biological Research Station to meet Gabby. She called the other night from there on sat phone as internet is out. I have a feeling is still out because she hasn't posted on her web and hasn't answered my emails. This may be my last post for about a 10 days unless they get the internet back up. She said there are lots of birds and about 40 species of orchids blooming right now. Yippee.. Stayed tuned. Once I'm with Gabby and can use her MacBook to process a few images, I will post some here..
Buenas Tardes mis amigos

On to Peru

2010-09-29T12:28:00.003-05:00

I leave for Peru on October 6. After Joe's 16BD. Venturing down to South America for the first time to shoot with Gabby Salazar as she embarks on a 10 month Fulbright project (see her blog at roadtoamazonia.com ). We will spend about 10 days at a biology research station in the Cloud Forest at the edge of the Andes between the Andes and the Amazon. It will be spring there, so we are hoping to see a lot of flowers and birds. Part of what I will be doing is video for Gabby to help support her project. We will then venture into the Sacred Valley outside of Cuzco for over a week. This will be more fun time with us taking images of ancient ruins and local people.

We hope to experiment some with light painting and night sky photography and I hope to come back with a number of time lapse movies, also.

I will post images when I get back on my Flcker site and also Vimeo site. Stay tuned. We may even have internet access to allow me to post images and writing from Peru..

Third Trip to LA Coast

2010-08-09T08:38:00.003-05:00

Joe and I just returned from the third trip to the LA coast to photograph the effects of the oil spill. We were able to go out into Barataria Bay with Captain Dave Morino of Myrtle Grove Charters out of Myrtle Grove Marina. Spending 2 days on the water and seeing the areas that still have oil and damage from oil has a lasting impact on a person. This was Joe's first trip and first experience at a man made disaster. To still see tar balls on barrier islands, caked up oil and sand on the shore of barrier islands, oil coming up from digging down into the sand, oil damaged marsh grasses, bird rookeries with juveniles sitting on boom, vast expanses of bay and marsh with unknown contamination.. This all leaves lasting impression on a person whether they are 15 or 50. Boating through the areas that shrimpers catch shrimp in the canals and seeing oil in the areas makes you really wonder who's interest the seafood industry and the government has when they saw that seafood is ok to eat. They tell us that crustaceans and fish can detoxify the hydrocarbons they ingest in a matter of weeks. But what about chronic exposure, because the oil is still out there, no matter what the government is trying to say right now.. And clean up and documentation, not near as much as what they tell you they are doing.

I want everything to be ok in the LA marshes and the coast, but I don't think the government has done enough documentation of effected areas or testing of the environment or residents of the environment to know if things are safe or when they will be safe..

Just take a look at this Willet shorebird, walking around on the edges of the marsh that have been killed off by the oil.. And what effect will walking around and eating around these oily areas have on the bird population? Just a few things to think about as we try to digest the "facts" thrown at us by the cleanup team from the Gulf..

Refocus on Gulf

2010-07-23T10:38:00.003-05:00

Life changes sometimes pull us out of current projects. Getting married on July 3 did that for me. My last trip was about 2 weeks before the wedding, but during our trip to Oregon, I didn't keep up with all the happenings on the Gulf. I did get to talk to some people about the Gulf as we went around OR and was happy to see that even as far removed as the Pacific Northwest is, people were still interested and concerned. We didn't look at a paper or the television the entire time we were gone (OK, I watched the last 20 minutes of the World Cup Finals at a winery in Willamette Valley). I saw the headlines of the capping of the well during our stop in Denver for my NANPA (North American Nature Photography Assoc) board meeting. The meeting was nonstop from the time we got there until the time we left. During that time I was elected to be the President for 2012.. Lots of work, but for an organization that works with and for nature photographers and all others who enjoy nature photography.

What struck me the most during our trip to Oregon (besides the beauty of OR coast, great wine and the Columbia Gorge) is that people are all still going about their lives as if nothing has happened. Yes, the BP Oil Spill as created havoc on the LA, MS, TX, AL, and FL coastlines. But somehow we all are still living the same way. Using oil.. Using oil products. I know that change cannot be accomplished overnight, be we need to be focused with a goal of less oil dependency and strive for more efficient ways of travel. I hear the word "Staycation" bantered around for this summer. People are staying closer to home because of the expense and, I hope, because of the environment. But we all would like to travel. We have become a global society and it will be difficult to go back to being citizens of a state or nation and not the world. Being a global society means interacting with others from around the globe. Not just on the telephone or internet, but in person and seeing the wonders of their part of the world. To this end, we need to explore more efficient uses of mass transit with less of a carbon impact. I'm still waiting to have a transporter room(think Star Trek) at home (or at least in town). I just won't be the first to use it.

As you finish this summer, think of the ways that you can help the environment.. Getting a new car? Think MPG or Hybrid. Recycle. Plan trips so your car useage is more efficient. Think of alternative sources of energy for your house or business (saw some wineries using solar power). These are just the tip of the iceberg of things we all can be doing.

I'll close with an image from Washington state that proved to me that people really do care. Even in the Pacific Northwest, people want BP to clean up its mess..

Barataria Bay Oil Disaster

2010-06-23T20:25:00.005-05:00

I returned recently from my second trip to LA and AL. See previous posts for images from Bon Secour NWR and Fort Jackson bird rehab facility.

The images today are from my trip into Barataria Bay. I was fortunate to have David Newsom and Tad (sorry Tad, didn't get your last name) accompany me on a boat ride into the bay. David is a director/producer/photographer from LA and Tad is a photographer/ videographer from Seattle. They were in the area working on interviews and images from the oil spill. It was a very moving experience as we saw areas of marsh that were contaminated and marsh grass dying from the contamination. I witnessed these areas 3 weeks prior and they had no contamination whatsoever.

The birds on Queen Bess Island seem to be doing well, even if the area next to the water is contaminated. The panorama image shows Royal Terns and chicks at the waters edge with rocks that appeared to be contaminated with oil. Fortunately, when we visited Fort Jackson, we only saw pelicans affected, so the terns are staying out of the oil, so far.

Dave and I talked quite a bit about the effects of oil spills, our dependancy on oil and the effect of this particular oil spill. One of the comments Dave made was about his interview with someone from the US Coast Guard who said that they didn't know how to deal with the contamination in the marshes and had no plan on cleanup of the marshes at this time. Thinking that this might could have been prevented if LA had been allowed to build their containment system broke my heart.

Dave asked if I was hopefully about the outcome. I told him that always looked at things with a ray of hope, no matter how bleak things are. What worries me is that this land might be contaminated for many generations.. This means that my future grandkids and great grandkids might not ever get to see a pristine Gulf Coast. My kids have seen it because they have been down to the Coast. When I return in August with my almost 16yo son, it will be interesting to see his reaction. He has been very vocal about the environment and to see a disaster like this up close might help bring another voice to the side of reason. In our youth lies the potential to overcome the difficulties imposed on the environment by past generations.. Here's hoping..

Oil Soaked Pelicans

2010-06-16T17:22:00.002-05:00

I just returned from Fort Jackson facility just above Venice, LA where all the bird rehab is taking place. Was able to go in and photograph and watch birds being rescued from a potential oily demise. It takes about 5-7 days for the entire process. They are examined by a vetenarian once they arrive. Then they are allowed to "chill" for a day or so before going through the decontamination process. This is a stressful process, so the workers want the birds to be less excited and less anxious before they get bathed. The oil itself doesn't cause extreme damage to the birds vital organs, but it does cause skin and eye irritation, so leaving the oil on them for a day or so to relax doesn't harm them. Then they go through 3 stages of clean up. First a solution is applied to breakup the oil. Then Dawn solution bath helps get rid of the oil and the first solution. Then finally a rinse bath helps get rid of the Dawn. The squeeky (well, if you listen close enough I think they squeek) clean birds then go to a drying room until all feathers are dry. They proceed back outside to a holding cage (large area with several "ponds" to sit in and play in) and there they await release. They are all tagged and then transported to FL (Merrit Island NWR) and released. Not sure if any will return. The mortality once the birds reach the rehab facility is reported as very low.
It was amazing to see all the people here working so hard and caring so much for these birds,
it is just a shame that they have been put in this position by BP Oil.
Tomorrow it is out to Barataria Bay..

Images from Bon Secour

2010-06-14T22:01:00.003-05:00

Here are some images from the tar balls on Bon Secour.
Joel Sartore, National Geographic photographer, is down here too, trying to get
some images to represent what is happening.. He said that Barataria Bay was area most hit by recent oil, but seems like the oil has receded and now just dealing with the aftermath, not new oil.
Will be venturing to Fort Jackson on Wednesday to take pictures of rehab..
Will try to get out to Barataria Bay tomorrow or Thursday.. May go to Grand Isle tomorrow.
Each day is a new adventure. There is no consistent source of information to know what is going on where. I was headed here yesterday until I looked at paper and internet yesterday morning and realized that Bon Secour NWR was being hit.
Still trying to go to new areas to document for long term project..

Think real hard before you pull into a BP station to get gas..

Oil on Beaches in Alabama

2010-06-14T15:23:00.003-05:00

Off for my second trip. Spent this am on Pine Beach in Bon Secour NWR. Tar balls as far as the eye could see. On the beach, floating in the surf. Some very fresh. Some the size of marbles, others spread out the size on a dinner plate. Cleanup work has started, but there were new tar balls where the sand had already been scraped and cleaned up. Heavily oiled water and soda bottles (Coke is generic for soda in the South, ask anyone in my family).
Heard that POTUS was headed down to AL/MS/FL today. Saw Marine 1 cruise the beach while I was out shooting. I was the only person on the beach. Some heavy equipment lined up to work, but no work until about time I was leaving (10 am). Spoke to some locals who said President was supposed to be coming to Bon Secour this afternoon. Secret Service had been around for a week. Don't know if he will be here or not. Second time he and I have missed each other!
Headed to Venice, LA. Will get a chance to go into Fort Jackson facility where they are rehab ing birds. Thanks to Jamie Clark and Cindy Hoffman of Defenders for the Press Pass.
Still looking to get into the marshes again and also head into area where most wildlife being affected.. May get to post some images tonight on blog. Now just taking a break to get Press Pass figured out.. Stayed tuned.. Things are looking worse. We are definitely in this for the long run.
Thanks to Rebecca for being so understanding so close to our wedding!

Article in Paper

2010-06-07T08:22:00.004-05:00

Dropping youngest son off at driving school (yes, almost there raising kids!), and friend was telling Joe that she saw my picture on the front page of the Knoxville News Sentinel newspaper.. In fact, several pictures.
I knew this was coming because I spoke to a friend of mine while working out last week. He is a reporter for the News Sentinel and also asks where I have been lately and what I have been doing. When I explained to him my trip to the Gulf, he asked to pursue a story.. Seems that the other people at the paper where interested enough to want to run the story.. Didn't know when it was going to run, but was nice to see some local color and spin on the Gulf Oil Spill.
Right now I am trying to get things worked out to go back down next week and shoot more..
May pick different spots this time and then go back the first week of August to follow up on all the spots I've shot so far.
Depends on how far and how much the oil is impacting over the next 2 months.
All this travel is being down while also trying to get ready for wedding on July 3rd.. Rebecca has been extremely supportive and encouraging during this environmental crisis during the preparation for our marriage.. See her image of me in the article below.

Go to Knoxville News Sentinel to see the article in Monday June7th paper...

Oil Spill continues

2010-06-02T13:35:00.004-05:00

I came back home last Friday (May 28) from Venice, LA.. It feels strange not to be down where all the action is. I became accustomed to seeing the news commentators live, not on the screen. Since I have been back, I have been through my images and am trying to organize some support to do further documentation of the oil spill. Doug Inkley, Chief Biologist for the National Wildlife Federation, said in an interview, that it would be nice to watch some of the affected areas over time to see what happens. That is what I'm prepared to do as my last trip documented images with GPS coordinates so I can go back to those areas and record, photographically, what is happening to our environment from the oil contamination. I am very disheartened by the seeming lack of effort to start cleaning up or protecting better the area around Venice, LA where I shot. It would be nice if there was some communication from someone (EPA, USFWS, BP, etc) about definite plans and organization to clean up the spill.. Maybe they're waiting until it's over..

It puts my mind almost in a state of shock to imagine the enormity of the impact of this oil spill. BP is going to owe a lot of people a lot of money for this tragedy. But all the money what make up for the heartbreak we all feel for the rape of Mother Nature.. Make your thoughts know to your Congressional Representative.. Donate money to Defenders of Wildlife and National Wildlife Federation to help with the clean.. Consider volunteering time, when they finally get around to cleaning up this mess and allow volunteers to help.

The image for today is a panorama of an area that shows how ineffective the protective boom is that they are spending so much time and money putting out..

Environmental Disaster of Epic Proportions

2010-05-28T09:04:00.001-05:00

Environmental Disaster of Epic proportions
Today I spent most of the day out in boats photographing the BP Oil Spill affected areas in South Louisiana. It was heartbreaking to say the least. As a nature photographer who has routinely tried to display the very best of nature in my images, this was difficult. To look around and see the potential beauty and as a scientist, realize the potential harm, my heart broke. I hear the stories of how the people here are being affected. Their livelihoods, their homes, their families, their beautiful backyard. They are angry and rightly so. As I watch Brown Pelicans on a rookery, some of their island was coated with oil. They are surrounded by “protective boom” to keep the oil out.. I wonder how they know to stay inside the boom. Were there training and information sessions for them on the dangers of sitting in oil slick water, or trying to scoop up fish from water full of oil, emulsified down into the water column? I think not. The boom I saw set out today was somewhat of a joke. Not maintained, not complete and any small chop blown up by wind can cross the boom and with the oil down under the surface, the boom prevents none of that.
And where is the clean up? In the past 3 days of looking around the epicenter of this ecological disaster, the only effort I have seen is the boom being placed. I have seen the presence of most of the agencies.. USFWS, USCG, Army Reserve, LA State Fish and Wildlife, but I haven’t seen the EPA around at all. I heard a story from one of the boat captains that 2 days ago shrimp trawlers were out in one of the bays going back and forth over oil that had been spray with dispersant. He asked one of his friends who was piloting one of the boats what they were doing. The reply was “breaking up the oil so it will sink”.. and this is considered CLEANUP? The government and President have said they are doing all they can to help, while there are thousands of volunteers waiting, being told that it is a liability if they get out there to help. The American people need to be told what is being done to start cleaning this up and to prevent any further encroachment of BP oil on American soil. We need to have confidence that our government is going full throttle, not rhetoric. Show us the evidence, show us your effort. You tell us you’re doing something, but I’ve been there in the heart of the disaster, and I don’t see it. We need to call our Congress representatives and tell them to get on the ball. We need to support organizations like Defenders of the Wildlife and National Wildlife Federation who are trying to help.

This Isn't Venice Italy

2010-05-26T19:44:00.003-05:00

Having just returned from a trip to Greece and Italy, I thought the next time I would tell someone that I’m going to Venice, it would be a trip to Venice, Italy since we didn’t go there back in March.. Then certain events in life change your entire perspective.. The BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has done that.. Within days of realizing just how large the spill was and considering the impact on the Gulf Coast environment, I knew I had to come photograph what was happening. Rebecca and I were walking with another scientist from her department when I told her that I might want to be gone for 1-2 weeks to photograph the oil spill.. She said no problem.. To put this response in perspective, our wedding is coming up on July 3 and we still have some planning and details to work out.. What a great support, but that is one of the many reasons I am marrying her..
On to the Oil Spill. Today I was fortunate to get on one of the boats that the National Wildlife Federation put together to get a first hand look at the oil on the water. There were scientists from LSU and FSU, reporters and photographers and videographers from Reuters, AP, NBC, PBS.. I actually got to meet Tom Bearden of the MacNeil Lehrer Report for PBS.. Nice guy. There was even a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) or submarine that a scientist from LSU brought to look for oil under the surface of the water. He went down about 250 feet and saw globules of oil floating consistently down the entire water column. We saw no fish, no dolphins, no birds.
All of this is very disturbing. The thoughts that the impact may be for 10-15 years, maybe even a lifetime. This oil spill may affect all of the Gulf States coastline and maybe the Atlantic States coastline up to Cape Hatteras. The amount of wildlife and wild areas that may be affected is staggering. This trip is my start of document, over time, the affects of the oil spill on wild life and wild areas. My wish is that the images will get no worse than the ones I’ve seen.. But I know that is only a pipedream..
You can follow my on my Twitter page, bcphoto3 and this blog.. Feel free to pass it one or to leave comments…

Bon Secour NWR and Gulf Oil Spill

2010-05-23T20:46:00.002-05:00

I have been here since Saturday afternoon.. Talked to a bunch of people and walked several beaches and some trails. The only evidence you see here that there is something coming is the barriers the Alabama National Guard has put up on the Sound side of Fort Morgan area. These barriers are lined with a felt like material and will be filled with a polymer that binds to hydrocarbons and will not release them once bound.. Supposedly the polymer can then be used for paving or even burned with a higher BTU than lignite coal.. The polymer is not toxic to wildlife, even ingested while loaded with hydrocarbons.

The US Coast Guard has also been mobilized as 500 Reserve USCG have been deployed from all over the country to the Gulf coast to try to respond to any threat of oil coming on shore.. The group I talked to is from Hawaii.. A long way from home..

Tar balls, even though I haven't seen any yet, are normal to come on shore. They don't know where they come from.. Speculation is oil leaking from fields underwater, oil rigs leaking, tankers with oil leaking, etc.. I have been told that all the tar balls found have been tested and are not from the Deep Horizon event.. But we were also told that only 200000 gallons a day were leaking from the site and now appears that may be a gross underestimate.

All in all, people are mobilizing to try to deal with the eventual onslaught of oil.. Whether that will be beaches black with oil slicks or just a few tar balls, no one seems to know..

LA is getting hit very hard and that is the next stop on my trip by Tuesday afternoon..

I'm hoping to keep coming back to these areas to document photographic the effect of what some people say is the worst environmental disaster in American history.. Stay tuned..

Gulf Oil Spill

2010-05-18T16:17:00.002-05:00

Waiting to hear from Jamie Clark.. May be going down to LA, MS, AL, FL coast to photograph the results of the Deep Horizon BP Gulf Oil spill. Have all my gear ready. I will try to blog and tweet about my adventures. I have usually tried to photograph the positive images of nature as I want something good that people can focus on... But this oil spill along the coast of where I grew up vacationing ( and was just there last May) really makes me consider that people need to see the bad that goes on in nature too. Especially when it is man's fault. To raise awareness of how we treat our environment and what our dependence on oil is doing to our environment seems to pull at me. I am a positive person by nature, but if I have to use negative images to create a positive response, I will.

Off to South Africa

2009-11-28T14:07:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting in airport in Knoxville TN waiting to board plane. By this time tomorrow (11/29) I will be in Johannesburg South Africa. By the evening of Monday, will be in Kruger NP.. I am going to attempt to publish some while on the road, with some images, if possible.
Stayed tuned.. Two weeks in South Africa will be stunning and hopefully come back with lots of great images..

Bill

Weighing in on Health Care Debate

2009-09-28T09:17:00.005-05:00

Ok, most of what I write here is usually nature and philosophically related. I hate politics and usually don't like to get caught up into political debate. Many times it is a struggle of one power (read money) against another power (read more money). I have always thought that we should have terms limits across the board (yes, that includes the Supreme Court) and maybe, just maybe, we would have more statesmen (and stateswomen) come forward to serve their country, not the politician with agendas to fill and pork to send home. We would also have to have election reform because you cannot get elected without lots of money backing you (and usually one of the parties, but don't get me started on our party system!).

What has brought me out to want to voice my opinion is the health care debate. So many of us are tired of paying huge prices for health care and being totally at the mercy of the insurance company. We all want affordable health care. But the plan ahead of us thinks that by putting slight pressure on insurance companies that they will mend their ways.. HA. If you are old enough, think back to when insurance was to cover going into the hospital or catastrophic injuries. ER visits were covered because people usually only went to the ER for true emergencies. Doctors office visits were reasonable, medicine didn't cost as much and tests weren't as sophisticated and expensive.

Insurance companies came in and said we can cover all of this, just pay us a bit more.

And they did and everyone one seemed happy. Most people didn't know that the coverage they now had greatly increased the hospitals and physicians overhead. Now it seems there are more people working in hospitals and doctor offices to keep up with the billing and insurance paperwork than actually are there to help you feel better. And I have never met a "poor" insurance executive.. If you want to see a great video, go to http://pol.moveon.org/insurance_execs/?id=17285-2656214-4O57_7x&t=2 and see Will Ferrel talk about health care reform.

Medicine is a healing art. We need to decrease the big business aspect of medicine and decrease the cost of medicine in this country. Having a single payer system with possible supplemental insurances is something to think about. Look at the French system. Are we too proud to realize that our system is broken and we need to look around at ones that are working? We as Americans also need to step up and claim some responsibility. Many of the diseases are self inflicted.. Look at our habits, our diet. If we took better care of ourselves, our health care cost would go down and this has nothing to do with access to health care. This has to do with taking charge of your own life and eating better and exercise more. This 2 things would lead to healthier Americans and less health care costs.. It's up to us.

I have not been a fan of Michael Moore and his films.. To be honest, I haven't seen any of them. But his newest film on Capitalism also strikes at the heart of medicine. He made a film on a single payer health system, but we don't have unlimited resources to run any and every test on any person that wants it. To say health care is a right is placing the emphasis on in the wrong direction. It is a privilege that we enjoy by the prosperity of living in the this country. But to abuse ourselves abuses that privilege and to expect all of us to pay for a person's choice of lack of self control when it leads to adverse health is wrong. A single payer system will only work when we are also made accountable for the health care choices we make.

When we look at nature, there is hope. We can change and have a rebirth. Just like the butterfly, it takes stages to reach the beautiful flying jewel we see. We are at a stage where we have to make a choice of responsibility or self indulgence. The fat cats of big business would love to see us more self indulgent, because they will just get richer.. But there is still a choice!

Training for Wildlife Photography

2009-09-03T12:43:00.006-05:00

Practice makes perfect. If you are want to capture moving wildlife, but need some practice, sports is a great way to practice. I have shot mainly soccer and football(some tennis, baseball and track) and it helps to see how your equipment works, especially if you are making a big trip to Africa to shoot wildlife. During an expensive trip is not the time to learn how your equipment works. It is best to learn how it works, get familiar with all the controls and also have a good idea about outcome of an image before you take a trip.

In shooting sports, I use a monopod, because I'm moving up and down the touchline (sideline for those of you unfamiliar with the most watched sport in the world, soccer) and have to be able to jump out of the way of a ball or player headed my direction. I use VR on my Nikon 200-400 and usually zoom out to watch action and zoom in when I see what I want. I always pre shoot some images of players to make sure my exposure is not blowing out highlights. I shoot in A priority and watch my shutter speed to make sure that I have enough speed to capture action sharply. Watch your image count on your card, it's a shame to have 5 images left and start ripping off what should have been 10-20 images and miss the best action because your card is full.

I have gotten some great shots of soccer and football over the years and know that it helps when I am focused on shooting wildlife action. It helps if you have kids that play sports. My oldest son played HS soccer and my middle son plays HS tennis and the youngest is playing HS football (and hopefully soccer in spring). Rob Sheppard, a great friend of mine, has done the same thing with baseball and soccer, his 2 kids sports. He has advanced to college soccer as Sammie now plays in college. You can hone your photography skills while being involved in your child's life. Pretty much a win/win situation. To see some images from my most recent football shoot, go to www.flickr.com/photos/bcphoto3/ .

Get out there and practice and spend some time with your kids..

Window with a view

2009-08-30T15:09:00.003-05:00

As I was sitting at the computer, transferring files (in LightRoom), Joe said, "Hey Dad, there's a deer eating your wildflowers in the front yard.".. I went to the front window which overlooks the yard and flower garden and, sure enough, a doe was comfortable downing my wildflowers like I had set a buffet table for her.. I grabbed my 200-400 and handheld out the window (ISO 400 with VR turned on) and started snapping.. She ambled her way down the yard and then paused to leave us a present.. Talk about lack of gratitude for not chasing her of or putting out things to scare deer off.. I might have to rethink this open attitude about deer in the yard if they are all going to be this indignant about eating out.. still seeing the flock of turkeys in the neighbor.. Rebecca wants me to catch one to fatten up for Thanksgiving.. Might not be a bad idea..

ARRGGHHH, Lightroom

2009-08-27T12:28:00.005-05:00

Ok, it's my fault, but I just spent the past day reconnecting folders that I moved outside of Lightroom.. For those of you using Lightroom, a word of caution, move folders (within a HD or to different HD) within Lightroom.. Otherwise you will be reconnecting for a while.. So, the big HDs are up and going, but transferring everything (and making sure there are backups) is proving to be a painstaking task.. Once this is done, it should go smoothly from here on out..

Some of you may know that I lost my father to an accident this April (actually the accident was in September 2008, but he held on for a long time) and then my niece in May.. It is amazing how emotional drains like this can really affect your creativity.. I am just getting back into the swing of things and hope this fall will be good for photography and my soul..

I am putting together teaching for 2010 and am working on the website now... Have a trip planned to South Africa in December with 2 friends.. One is the editor of Nature's Best for Kids, an online publication (now, started out as a print publication). Hope to bring back great images of Africa and maybe some unusual images ( light painting and HDR and time lapse).. We'll see how things work out..

Here is the last in the Jewels found.. Monarch in full glory..

PS-- have moved 300+ GB so far.. on my hard drives...

More Jewels

2009-08-25T10:56:00.004-05:00

Ok,

Initialized two 1.5 Terabytes HDs last night.. Started at 445pm and the computer was still working on them at 11pm.. Now comes the task of moving currents images to HDs and importing all those older images into Lightroom.. Each has 1.36 TB of storage capacity after formatting..

Will begin transfer today.. If takes a lot of time, then will try to start before going to bed each night and hopefully wake up each morning with transferred images..

In following along with found jewels, this Monarch chrysalis is from a time I went out and found monarch eggs and raised them to butterflies.. Great experience and several images from that are among my best selling images.. Several books, more than several magazines have run images from this series..

Enjoy.

Jewels while converting

2009-08-24T13:08:00.004-05:00

No, not religions or sex, but converting images from multiple hard drives to one hard drive (with 2 backups).. I have just gotten three 1.5 terabyte drives to put in my Burly Towers and will be pulling all my images together onto one drive (the other 2 are backups).. I still have lots of older digital images that have not made it into Photoshop Lightroom (v2) yet and this will allow me to organize everything efficiently in Lightroom and into one large photo folder..

If you are a photographer and are wondering how to manage your images, look no further.. Lightroom is the way to go.. Apple has an alternative-- Aperature, but most photographers have jumped on the Lightroom bandwagon.. Most everything you need to do to an image can be done in Lightroom, and without knowing how to use Photoshop (which can be very daunting to the uninitiated).

I will post some stats as I go through the conversion process.. I'm hoping to find some more jewels like this one ( Monarch caterpillar).. I will actually be posting 2 more stages over the next 2 days so you can get a glimpse into the raising of a monarch butterfly..

Stats today before jumping into conversion are

RAW 1 -372 GB,

RAW 2- 80 GB,

PSD - 65 GB,

Legacy - 400 GB

HD 3 and 4 - 40 GB

So a total of 800 GB of images to be transferred.. After transferring I will have

1 Photo HD

1 PSD (Photoshop work) HD

1 Movies HD (these are HD movies I've shot and Time Lapse Movies I create)

1 Work HD (teaching files, Website files, created music for slide shows, articles, book manuscripts)..

These 4 HDs will be backed up each time new data is written to them.. Each one will also be backed up once a week with a removable drive and store offsite... This is the triple redundancy that you will here about when talking to IT (read computer geek) people..

Should be fun.. I will also share backup software I find to make the automatic backups easier.. But remember, I'm on a Mac, so all you who haven't converted to the Light, I might not know what's best for the PC, but I will look around for you guys too... Or you can go down to the Mac store and pick up your first Mac.. tell them Bill sent you..

Backyard Wildlife

2009-08-21T09:57:00.003-05:00

For about a week I have been seeing a flock of turkeys in our neighborhood. Yesterday I found and turkey feather in the driveway.. This morning while coming home from errands, the flock was ambling across my neighbor's front yard.. I have made it a practice to keep my photo bag and tripod in the back of the car to be able to shoot at a moment's notice..

I pulled out the 200-400 Nikon (eat your heart out Canon users) and my D700.. I decided to use my monopod (usually only use it for sports, but it fit this situation) and started working my way closer.. Finally got a good shot.. I'll spread some corn out in the woods in my back yard and see if I can lure them in closer.... Who knows, if they stick around for a while, maybe we'll have wild turkey for Thanksgiving....

Wandering around the yard

2009-08-20T13:18:00.003-05:00

In between watching DreamWeaver video on Lynda.com yesterday, I wandered around the yard looking for images to shoot..

I came across this flower (from a plant that I keep trying to pull out of my flower bed).. I reminds me that sometimes we try to deal with things before we know fully what they will become.. and sometimes the final result is a work of beauty..

Trying to be patient and look to the future and not be in a hurry to change something we don't fully understand or appreciate yet is a trait I am working on in my own life...

and it's funny how art really does imitate life... or is it life imitates art? Enjoy...

2009-08-19T09:02:00.005-05:00

Boy is my back sore.. We've been renovating our waterfall/ pond and I took the mortar and rock that we took out of it to the landfill and unloaded the pickup by myself by shovel and hand, all 1900 pounds of it..

Made it harder to bend over and squat today when I was outside shooting some flowers and designs in the yard..

I was going to share one of those today, but I played with my images from Canada and one of my HDR (High Dynamic Range) images came out very nicely.. This is a combination of multiple exposures (in this case 5 different exposures)..

I use Photomatix Pro to combine them ( I used to do this in Photoshop, but Photomatix is much easier and quicker)..

After a couple of people said "wow" when I showed off the image, I thought it would be nice to post.. Just one of the types of photographic techniques I will be teaching in some of my classes in 2010..

2009-08-18T08:00:00.004-05:00

I saw a wonderful movie the other night with my Rebecca.. "Julie and Julia".. As Rebecca says, it is not a chick flick but a food flick.. I disagree on both accounts.. it is a flick about challenging yourself and learning about yourself and overcoming obstacles, no matter what.. I have picked up the gauntlet thrown down in the movie (at least in my head and life) and am rising to the challenge. I am going to be offering teaching again about photography, digital photography and Lightroom (with a little Photoshop thrown in) starting in 2010.. I am working on the dates and schedule right now and should be posted soon on www.billcampbelldigital.com.. I have also challenged my self to make images at least 5 days a week.. I would like to post an image every day, but right now with the strain of still working a lot in the ER, 5 days is a good compromise.

As a nature/ travel and fine art photographer, I find myself always thinking about light and lighting.. Maybe that's where my son gets his love and joy of lighting from.. He runs the lighting at church, local playhouse and other events around town.. Has lightboards and lights of his own and still has time to play HS football.. We shot a staged image of him this Sunday after service for the local newspaper article on kids doing volunteer projects.. I am so proud of him and what he does and his convictions.. I love to teach adults photography, but this next year I will probably offer at least one session for teenagers.. Still in the works so keep looking..

Here is Joe and his passion...

Is bigger better?

2009-08-15T21:37:00.002-05:00

Ok, it seems that in the country that bigger is better.. Cars, hamburgers, sodas; they all come in larger sizes and it seems that advertising has programmed us to think that more is better.. Maybe that's why we have fallen into the economic mess that our country is presently struggling to dig out of.. This all brings me around to my present dilemma. I had been shooting with the Nikon D2X until the D700 came.. the D700 has essentially replaced my D2X (anyone want to buy a used D2X?).. When the D3 came out, it was a great camera but the pixel size was about the same as my D2X, so why bother.. I decided to wait until the D3X came out.. Hence the D700 in the mean time. Now the D3X is out, I find my self struggling with the cost vs megapixel dilemma.. Talking to friends, the D3 is a great camera and the D3X might not be up to speed in the higher ISO the way the D3 is.. And for a nature shooter, the D3 is faster... Can I justify larger files for more money and slower speed, if the quality of the files falls some at higher ISO.. I'm planning to go to South Africa in December, so the decision needs to be made soon... Or Nikon could just give me one of each to use! Tune in later for more on the megapixel debate..

Return Not from the Dead

2009-07-08T09:29:00.003-05:00

It seems that turning 50 has been a whirlwind of emotions and events, none really having to do with passing the half century mark.. Within the past 18 months my life has been a roller coaster ride (well, most of it low points with very few "wee" moments). Divorce, death (father critical injured then 7 months later dying, 14 yo niece dying suddenly 5 weeks after my father), buying house, moving (just within same town), sharing custody of boys, dating again after 25 years, finishing book project.. Really wish some of this had been postponed or never happened.. But that's life and you just push forward and keep on going.. In the vein of keeping on going, I am trying to start back up my teaching in 2010.. Along with taking on new photographic challenges (people, commercial, selling more fine art prints).. A new website (actually 3-4 sites) will be up and going within 2 months.. a new billcampbellphotography, a new billcampbelldigital, a photoshelter image licensing site, and a book site to purchase the Smoky Mountains Photographer's Guide and, when it is printed this fall, the Cumberland Trail book.

Thanks to all my faithful friends who have been concerned and emailing and calling.. I am surviving and 2010 will be a year of thriving, not surviving..

Bill

Our Community

2008-03-15T06:35:00.003-05:00

I've just returned from the 14th annual NANPA Summit in Destin, FL. I know that I haven't been very active on this blog recently and wanted to explain a little bit of why. My personal life has been in turmoil for almost a year. We suffered through a father in law discovering cancer and living at home on hospice (us mainly, 24hours a day) for 6 weeks before he succumbed. It was very hard for me to watch him suffer, because he kept asking me to help me die, that he didn't want to suffer any more. And I could have, but didn't.

Then an 18 yo son going through the angst of growing up. Deciding not to accept the academic and soccer scholarship offered him and moving out of the house to discover the world of waiting tables and making ends meet. I'm proud of him in that he at least is listening to his heart and not trying to please everyone else. He is smart and will eventually find his own way. But it's hard on parents.

And to top it all off, I am now about to join the ranks of one of the most common statistics in America. No, not overweight, but divorced. It has been an up and down struggle. Mostly down until recently. That's where the title of this blog comes from. My wife (very soon to be ex-) told some of our friends that she was worried about me and if I had any support. She has no idea how many friends I have.

During my darkest hours, I considered withdrawing and giving up photography and just working in the ER to exist. Then I told some of my best friends about this (most are in the photography community) and they called and supported me and convinced me that this wasn't in my best interest. So, I went to NANPA and got reminded that friends are always there when you need them and that life sometimes sucks, but not forever. I have even realized that this change is changing my entire direction in life towards my dreams of the past 15 years. My photographic endeavors have multiplied greatly and life on the other side is looking wonderful and not bleak.

And I owe all this to my friends. My community. I now realize that my community is composed of all those like minded souls who care about our world and environment and nature and want to have a part in sharing and protecting and loving this world we call home. It's all the other photographers, editors, publishers, printers, agents, naturalist that share a common bond. We all love to photograph or see the photography from beautiful areas but realize that it is not the photograph that is the final result, but what we carry away from the interaction with nature or our fellow man.

My life is now mending in a completely different direction than I ever thought. My photography seems to be central to this new direction (well, it was the direction I've been wanting to go for some time, but could never get on the right path). So, thank you to all who have stuck with me and you will be seeing much more here as I travel and expand my life and my work to display the passion that I have.

I especially want to thank four people who have been instrumental in helping me up from the bottom: Cheryl, Jamie, Rob and Jim. Without you, I know where I would be right now and it would be miserable. And to Tim Z, thanks for always listening. And Jere for being so concerned.

Now, get out there and make some great images, because that is what I'm going to be doing and sharing and teaching. All of you who have been waiting (rather patiently, i might add) for me to resume some teaching, I will be teaching for Great American Photo Workshops in April in the Smokies and for Horizon Workshops in October in the Smokies. I will be posting a more complete list as it comes available. Thanks for all the emails from those concerned.

Parting note: one good thing about my divorce, it has given me inspiration to reclaim the physical part of my life and I am now back exercising regularly and have lost significant weight. So if you think it's me, but I look different, well you're looking at the me that I see in the mirror even when I'm overweight. It's hard for an athlete to see themselves as anything other than trim and in shape and that's where I am right now. No magic, just hard work and exercise and moderation in eating. And I'm back down to my college weight and feel GREAT.

Until next time---

Bill

Gifts from Above

2007-11-26T18:50:00.000-05:00

Many times we overlook things close to us and don't see the beauty in our own yard. Our 15 yo son woke us up at 11:30pm to say he thought an animal was injured in our back yard. I had heard an owl hooting somewhere in the back yard earlier but didn't think much about it. The next morning, our 13 yo son told us that there was an owl up in the Tulip Poplar tree and had fought off an "eagle". Sure enough, there sat a Great Horned Owl about 15 feet off the ground. I grabbed my Nikon D2X and 200-400 and shot as I worked closer and closer. I noticed that it didn't try to fly away and finally noticed that it's left wing was injured. We contacted our local raptor rehab center (they're actually in town http://creso.acs.ac/CRRC/CRRCMain.htm) and they came over and captured the injured male and are going to try to save him. While I was waiting, I managed to get a number of great images. So don't ever overlook what can be found in your own yard. God does provide us with wonderful opportunities close by when we are receptive.

Take time to explore your own backyard and don't get caught up in having to venture afar to create great images.

Bill

BCPB#6

2007-09-29T08:13:00.000-05:00

At long last... Bill is back running his blog and photographing. This spring and summer has been a rather difficult time personally and this has greatly impacted my photography for a while. I am now starting to dig back out from the morass of difficult experiences and finding the joy in my photography. When I teach about the 4 components of creating a great photograph, component number 4 is conditions. We usually are thinking about weather (wind, heat, cold,etc) but I always finish with the thought that our emotional state can greatly influence our creativity. I experienced this full force this spring and summer, but things are starting to get more on an even keel.
Pellissippi State Technical Community College (where our oldest son has decided to go for the time being just out of HS) has a balloon festival every fall. I haven't been in about 12-13 years (back in the days of film) and was pleased that the festival was held on a weekend without away soccer tournaments (I coach and our youngest plays). I was able to shoot the "glow" on the opening night. If you read this today (Saturday Sept 29) the festival is still going on with tethered balloon rides. The weather and lighting is great. You might want to visit Clay Thurston's Photography booth in the Arts and Crafts section while you are there.
I will be posting much more regularly now. Thanks.

BCPB#5

2007-02-16T10:02:00.000-05:00

Now that things are settling down a bit after NANPA (www.nanpa.org), I have worked some with a few of my light paintings from Joshua Tree. This is one of my favorites and larger views display the thousands of stars visible in this image. To bring out the number of stars, I had to composite one image derived in ACR (Adobe Raw Converter) for the stars and another image for the tree. Both were taken from the same RAW Nef file (Nikon RAW file). I then dragged one on top of the other and then used a layer mask to create the combination.

Light painting is not that difficult with digital, it just takes some practice. You will need fresh battery(ies), a flash light ( I use a Maglite with colored gels, a Brinkmann QBeam 2 million candle power spot with filters that come with it, and Streamlight Stylus lights for small work), a cable release with long exposure capability (I use a Nikon MC-20 with my D2X), camera and tripod.

Put your camera into Manual mode and set your aperature to your desired depth of field. Make sure that Long Exposure noise reduction is active on your camera. Choose a time (start with 1-3 minutes) for your exposure. It should be short enough to exclude whatever ambient light is around (or not if you want a different feeling for your image). Then paint with your light over your subject. Keep the light moving, otherwise you will get a hotspot where it lingers. Wait for your image to process. Check you painting technique on the camera's view screen and modify as needed. It will take some practice to use this technique, but digital makes this so much more fun than when we did it with film. The only drawback is not having REALLY LONG exposures with digital (I mean 1-4 hours at night for great star trails). I am working on ways to capture star trails with digital, but if anyone out there has any ideas, let me know. Until next time, keep shooting out there.

BCPB#4: More Lessons from the desert

2007-01-25T13:09:00.000-05:00

NANPA Summit and Joshua Tree NP were my focus for last week. Our tour for NANPA into JTNP went well with Rob Shepperd, Jim Clark and myself. It was lot's of fun to share that area with other photographers and especially help them out in the evening learning about light painting. I'm hoping to get images back from everyone and create a slide show to demonstrate their creativity.
Speaking of creativity, after I thawed out a bit (it was 7 degrees F one morning in JT), I was exploring different ways to express the feeling I had being in the desert with the Joshua Trees. I decided to walk around with a 12-24mm Wide Angle lens and try different looks. I was walking around helping participants on our morning shoot when I thought about getting really close to the trunk of the Joshua Tree and shooting up against the blue sky. Blue sky is need for this kind of image so the "tree limbs" don't get lost in the sky. I was rather happy with this view of the Joshua Tree because it is different from most of the views you normally see.
NANPA was a blast and is scheduled of Destin, FL next year at the end of Feb/ beginning of March. I am proud to be a member and tell people that NANPA is like a family and every year I go to the Summit, my "family" gets bigger as I meet more people. This year was no different and I got to meet some really nice people and have more to put in my list of friends. If you get a chance, check out NANPA at www.nanpa.org.

I'll be posting a light painting from JT later this week and describing the technique.

Bill

BCPB #3: Lessons from the desert

2007-01-17T11:27:00.000-05:00

NANPA is in Palm Springs, CA this year and I just finished leading a tour for the pre Summit with Jim Clark and Rob Sheppard. We scouted for a couple of days looking for the right location for 30+ people to shoot. I arrived to record cold in the CA Mojave desert with Sunday morning getting down to 10 degrees by the thermometer on my car. My personal goal was to find a way to represent the wild beauty of this Mojave wilderness that is rock and sand and Joshua Trees. Naturalist tip: Joshua Trees ( Yucca brevifolia) is actually a yucca and not a tree or cactus. It belongs in the Lily family which has surprised a number of people. I finally decided to do some light painting at sunset to show off the trees. Light painting is easy and fun and I will write about it later. If your interested in more light painting, go to Dave Black's website at www.daveblackphotography.com. I hope to take back some spectacular images to show to my family to make up for missing Luke's 14th birthday.

More later from NANPA. -- Bill

BCPB #2: Never wait till later

2007-01-09T11:59:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning to my wife saying it was snowing and it was a good chance to get some snow images on the Cumberland Plateau. I got ready and snow was still coming down hard with already an inch or so on the ground. As I walked out the door, at least 6 male cardinals were sitting in one of our trees, waiting their turn at the feeder. I weighed my options and decided to get some images of the birds in the snow. After an hour, I packed everything up, got in the Suburban, and headed toward Wartburg and the Cumberland Trail. By the time I got to Coalfield (half way there), there was no snow and it was starting to rain. I was really glad that I had stopped to get some images while it was still snowing. This brings up one of my credo, whenever an image or situtation presents itself, never say-"I'll shoot this later." Because later may never come. The light will be different, your subject might be gone, the snow might have melted (as it did by the time I got back to Oak Ridge). Rule #1, if you see something worth taking a picture of, stop and get your image because you may never get a second chance.

Bill

January 7, 2007

2007-01-07T21:08:00.000-05:00

As the holidays come to a close and I prepare to depart to CA for NANPA's yearly summit, I thought I would share a few interesting tidbits I picked up. Since Santa was so good to me and I am now a proud owner of a iPod 30g video (Actually this is a BirdPod, but more on that in a later post), I wanted to share some cool things that iPod videos will do. With the latest version of ProShow Gold 3.0, you can convert your slide shows to a version that can be displayed on an iPod. You can then share it with others on a TV (or projector) with the iPod AV Cable. For instructions on how to convert your slide show to your iPod, go to http://www.photodex.com/training/howto/feature.html. Once you have your slide show on your iPod, connect your cables to your TV. If you just try to play the slide show, you will hear the music, but not see any images. Now go to your iPod>Video>Video Settings>TV Out and click in "on". Now you can play your ProShow Gold slide show from your iPod and share it with several people on a TV. If you want to see this in action, see me at NANPA and I will show you. For info on NANPA (North American Nature Photography Assoc) go to www.nanpa.org.
Until next time, enjoy any time you get to shoot.