I cloned out an lamppost and a bit of concrete on the one side.

Charleston Trip Report

March 24, 2025

I just finished up with most of my workshops in Charleston this March. I have one more private and one zoom session to go before I head for home. I have met up with old friends, made some new ones and overall had a great time in and around the Charleston area. I included a tight shot of the pineapple fountain in downtown Charleston as I will be hanging a small frame of this shot it in my laundry room (in Charleston) for a pop of unexpected color. Thank to Linda Caden who reminded me that pops of color are good!!! The pineapple represents hospitality and is a universal sign for welcome.

Following up with color, we had an extraordinary sunset shoot at the Ravenel bridge. The sky lit up beyond our hopes and when the lights on the bridge came on, the color was peak! Everyone was thrilled. This is my favorite of my bridge shots so far.

We also visited “Avenue of the Oaks” during my regular workshop and I am glad we did. We had some early side light that added to the image IMHO. We had the place to ourselves while we photographed these magnificent live oaks. The canopy there is outstanding, I like the squiggly branches, the hanging moss and the lines on the path to complete the feel of the image.

Following up with more side light, we had some beautiful warm side light for our Old Sheldon Church Ruins photo session. The golden light stopped us in our tracks, so we all got the shot seen below the “Avenue of the Oaks” photo.

One of my favorite trees at Magnolia Gardens, I shot this in infrared and created a B&W pano look from the capture.

One of my favorite shots was this old basket with cotton. I title this one “Bread Basket”, there is a hidden meaning in the name.

We had lots of blooms to play around with during the workshops. I shot poppies, azaleas, camellias, wisteria and an assortment of other blooms. Below are a few of my faves.

I had a day of photo walks with the Garden Club of America and we had such fun creating interesting images. We had beautiful blooms of azaleas and I wanted to include this grab shot where I was showing one of the ladies where I would focus. I love soft and pretty flowers with natural bloom backgrounds.

A special thanks to John (aka Jack) Kotz for lending me his tripod for the workshops. I could not have gotten the bridge or pineapple shot without it. I shot everything here with my Olympus gear. I handheld most of it but not the early morning scenics.

Overall the weather cooperated with us. It was cooler than usual but since I am not fond of the heat, it was a blessing. I have had a lot of requests to do another one of my “Recharging Your Creativity” workshops in Charleston. I will most likely be doing this in early November if anyone is interested, let me know.

I will also be conducting another March workshop for 2026 once I get the dates set, I will let you know. I do have one listed for 2026, but it is a private group. If you are interested in a one-day mentoring photo shoot with a Photoshop session included, please get in touch. If you have a group interested in booking me for a few days or even an entire workshop, please get in touch.

Safe travels home to all my firends….

A Short Story From Japan in 2014

March 1, 2025

I wanted to share a short story from one of the days during my first visit to Japan in 2014 with Paul McKenzie. Here is my newly edited version of the day…

It was my third day in Hokkaido, I was already impressed with Japan, but the northern area felt even more special to me. The guides, the lodge, the anticipation of the cranes, it was all too much to take in at once. I needed to settle down and wait. The only issue, I wasn’t completely sure of exactly what I was waiting for. From conversations and photos that I had been shown I was expecting magic. The cranes appeared to be angels falling from the sky and their bows and dances electrified something deep inside of me. It was on that third morning I awoke to an enormous snowstorm, more like a blizzard with near white-out conditions. It was happening, everything was coming together for the great ballet. We already had three feet of snow on the ground before heading out the door and the snow was still falling and falling harder by the minute.

Photography was going to be tough, but as I put on my boots, a joy came over me and I couldn’t help but have a huge smile on my face. I was super excited to get to the crane sanctuary to see the show. The show of which I had only dreamt of.

Lucky for us, our lodge was in walking distance as the snowplows could not work fast enough to open the roads to the sanctuary. It turned out that our group had the sanctuary to ourselves. Paul had mentioned earlier on the tour that we needed to get snow in order to have clean backgrounds for our photos and in my opinion, snow adds significantly to almost every winter scene.

As the snow continued to fall, the cranes began to arrive and the thrill of being there at that moment took over. I was setting up and chanting whoo-hoo over and over again…but was it a whoo-hoo moment. It was more like an oh sh*t moment as focusing on the flying and even standing cranes was next to impossible. Oh no, how could this be, was my euphoric moment over before it truly began? Was this going to be a big disaster? I recomposed myself and starting chanting you can do this, you’ve got this…as I gathered my thoughts and composure, I realized that I needed to use manual focus. I know what you’re thinking, manual focus for flying birds…ugh, that sounds crazy, but I managed to focus on an old Hokkaido Oak (shown above). The tree was at the same distance as the cranes. Using manual focus allowed me to see the birds and lock in on them. It’s similar to trying to focus on a leaf that is behind a bunch of branches—auto focus just hunts. As I became accustomed to their flight patterns and was able to acquire focus on them, I reverted back to auto-focus.

The Red-crowned cranes were very active that morning. They were flying and jumping like I had not seen on previous days. Their courtship dancing was magnificent, even better than I had hoped for. The cranes kicked up snow and bowed tirelessly to each other. The snow swirled as the wind hit the hill on which they stood, this created a snowy-fog look. The ballet did not disappoint!

I will never forget that day, the cranes performed for us in a way that has never been repeated. Perhaps it is like a first love, that feeling, though still strong, is never quite as intense as your first.

I used a slow shutter speed of 1/40 sec. to capture the snow streaks. I had to take many shots to get something good.

Anniversary Year ~ Japan Photo Tour Trip Report

February 25, 2025

This year marks the 10th Anniversary of my workshops with Paul McKenzie in Japan. Paul has been going to Japan for 15 years for photography and I have been going for 11 years but we have been running the same tour now in Japan for 10 years. It’s incredible to think about photographing in the same locations for over 10 years and not tiring of it a bit. We have two more trips planned in the coming years and both are already sold out. We stay at the same lodge and have the same guide. We all work well together and both Paul and I enjoy our time in Japan as much as we did on our first tour. Our itinerary hasn’t changed much over the years and we have had a lot of repeat clients.

This year in Hokkaido, the weather gave us a curve ball. In the last 11 years in Japan I never once saw Lake Kussharo without ice, it was odd to see the water flowing freely. In addition to the main lake where we photograph the Whooper swans we didn’t have any pack ice for our eagle photo session. However, the flexibility of our guide and our great location opened up other opportunities. Photography in many ways is a series of curve balls and photographers must be able to switch gears on the fly and go with the flow.

Even with many changes in our itinerary, we were able to get our clients on some great photo opportunities and I am sure that they all enjoyed their time in Hokkaido and came home with load of wonderful images.

While we were in central Honshu, we had some snow for the Snow Monkeys. It is always a treat to get falling snow in addition to having snow on the ground, so that was fantastic for all. On snow days at the park, the monkeys are active and seem to play around a bit more.

Near mid-air collision for thee two Red-crowned cranes. I used my Sony A1 and Sony 200-600mm lens for all of my crane images.

We had just a bit of now at the sanctuary

During our time in Hokkaido, we didn’t have much snowfall. Shooting the cranes in a snow storm is always high on my list of wants for the trip. We also didn’t have ice on our first visit to Lake Kussharo. Fearing the worst we were all a bit disappointed as usually the lake is frozen over. But on our second visit we killed it. Snow, ice and mist made the photography interesting.

We finally got some snow and ice for the swans at Lake Kussharo. I used my Sony A1 70-200 f/2.8 version II lens and my Sony 200-600mmlens for all of my swan images. I intentionally left the cooler tones in this image but I may rethink that as time goes on.

I tried this out, not sure if it works, but I wanted the swan to be out of focus and look more like a backdrop-I’ll keep working on it.

A frozen leaf held in time. Shot with my Sony 24-105mm lens.

Pan blur of frozen reeds by the water’s edge at Lake Kussharo. Shot with my Sony 24-105mm lens

Two hours north of Hokkaido there was pack ice as far as the eye could see but none in Rausu. However, the sea eagle trip turned out to be fan- freaking-tastic! There is a sea wall and it had snow and snow pinnacles on it. There were also a bunch of Steller’s sea eagles lining that wall. The sky was a soft bluish grey with a few storm clouds. There were random wind gusts that blew snow all around the scene making for some great conditions and photos. I used my Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 version II lens with my Sony A1 camera body for all of the eagle images.

Wind gusts created some great backgrounds.

Ural owls preening. I used my Sony A1 and Sony 200-600mm lens for this shot.

Me with Dipper-the cutest Japanese guide dog ever! Our main guide Makoto Ando in the background, the cake was the star of the show, thank you Hickory Wind for this special honor to celebrate our 10th Anniversary.
Image courtesy Kathy Stearns Sergio

Yellowstone in Winter Trip Report - Group 2

February 2, 2025

I had another talented group of photographers for the second group including Jacqui Burke, Beth Feder and Donna Bourdon. Having Donna along is like having a second right hand—she is very helpful! I would say it ended up being a good mix of subjects and shooting sessions for both groups. Weather cooperated and each group had some nice conditions, including some snow.

My favorite day was the day that we saw two Bull Moose fighting. They had both lost their paddles, so they decided to duke it out “old school.” The shot I captured is not a clean and clear shot, as they were against some trees, and I had to clone a third moose’s leg out of the frame (see image below).

We also had many fox encounters and on one of the days I captured a favorite. The fox was sitting in a forest of trees (shown above). I loved so many from that day including one of them with his magnificent tail flowing down a snow mound.

I left the cool tones as it was a blistering cold day.

As we were heading back from our morning shoot, we came across a coyote that was hunting a vole right on the side of the road. We gave the coyote some distance so he could continue his hunt. After he captured the poor little vole, he played around with it before eating it. Finally, the rodent faced off with him. It was such fun to watch but we did feel bad for the vole.

We spent some time photographing the beautiful Magpies and I got one or two I liked. We spotted the Northern Pygmy owl again and spent a little time with the hoarfrost one morning. There was a red dog (very young calf) in the herd this year and both groups got a chance to photograph it. I hope it survives.

One of our favorite Pronghorn shoots was with “Stargazer”, my nickname for this adorable young Pronghorn with a mane. He was so cute we all had nicknames for him.

Hoarfrost on one of the largest trees in the park. I liked going in tight and get a close up of the frost.

I wish I got a hot of it against the mother for scale.

The roads in Yellowstone in winter can be a bit tricky and slippery. Thanks again to Michael Zajac for his expert driving and keeping all of my guests safe.

Yellowstone in Winter - Trip Report Group 1

January 27, 2025

On our first day in the park, we immediately saw a Northern Pigmy owl, it was up on top of a tree, and it was not very close. It was the cutest owl I ever saw. These owls are the size of your fist, and I have heard that they eat prey that is 3x their size. The temperature was -27 degrees Fahrenheit that day and it felt cold but not terribly cold as the winds were not howling.

During the week with my first group, we endured biting cold temperatures as low as -38 degrees. It also snowed one day, and we were all very happy about that but one day the wind blew mercilessly, and we froze our ***** off!

These Bison were captured in -38 degree weather.

Our sightings included over nine moose, some still with paddles. A herd of Bighorn sheep, and a herd of Pronghorn. Elk and large herds of Bison, a few Red fox and some Coyote. And of course a few trees.

I loved his hairdo as he searched for food

We also came across a wolf sighting and it was the Moliie pack, several of the locals were there including Rick McIntyre. For those that don’t know who Rick is, Jane Goodall referred to him as the ultimate guru of wolf behavior. He has authored several books on the Yellowstone wolves.

Rick was friendly and very generous with his knowledge. He pointed out one of the black Mollie wolves that had just rejoined the rest of the pack, near Lamar Valley. I was thrilled to get a shot of the wolf even though it was far away.

We stopped a few times for some landscape and even made time to photograph a few Magpies along the way. A special thank you to our attendees for being such nice people and hearty photographers.

Overall, our Yellowstone adventure was very rewarding and fun. I hope my images reflect the spirit of the park and the brutal conditions that the animals must endure to survive the winter. Plans are in the way for a return photo adventure next year.

PS- a special thanks to our seasoned driver Michael Zajac, who managed the icy roads with confidence. Stay tuned for part two!