Autry National Center

Gunfight at the OK Corral Interpretive Display at The Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, California

Yesterday I planned to photograph some attractions in Griffith Park since I hadn't done that before other than the LA Zoo. My first stop was the Autry National Center / Museum of the American West. It was an awesome museum; a mix of western art, history and the entertainment industry.

For the art portion, there were landscape paintings from the "Hudson River School" artists such as Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran. I had never actually seen these paintings before in person though they were a huge influence on what eventually became landscape photography. The historical part included information about Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and had artifacts such as costumes and weaponry. The movie part had a big role in the museum as well (This is a museum devoted to Gene Autry afterall.)

This photo is of a narrative display about the 1881 Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. The shootout was the most famous one in Wild West lore but in reality only three died. The museum attributed the fame of the event to the movies which included historical figures such as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.

Photographers Rights From a Lawyer's Perspective

Attorney At Law Bert P. Krages II has an excellent one page downloadable PDF about photographers rights. It could easily fit into your camera bag and I highly recommend doing so. If your harasser doesn't believe your rights then you could hand them this document to read. In particular, I like the section about legal remedies that a photographer can pursue when harassed. Assault...

Taking Photos While Sledding

Adventure Photographer Sledding Fast on Winter Snow, San Gabriel Mountains, California

Disclaimer: Activity not recommended for the sake of your health.

I was going to write about my sledding photography adventure the other day but you know... (see previous blog entry). Anyway, so my brother and I discovered last week that it's nearly impossible to sled on fresh snow that hasn't solidified. I decided to go back up two or three days later figuring there would still be some snow but not waist deep. It turns out the slopes were packed in and icy, ideal for sledding not so much for staying upright. So on my first run I went 3/4 of the way up the hill and had second thoughts when I saw how fast the previous sledder was going.

Sledder Wipes Out Halfway Up the Slope

I figured what the heck, this is what I'd been wanting to do for a couple weeks so I'm going to do it regardless of how scary it is. Underestimating how little traction there is on ice, as soon as I put the sled down and sat in it barely, I started flying down the hill at a fast speed! It was so scary that I think I probably got one or two blurred pictures, the rest of the time I was mentally saying my last rites. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if I had fully been situated inside of the sled but instead I was barreling down the mountain spinning in circles. I flew over the embankment at the bottom and landed on my ribs while the camera flew off of my neck thus landing several feet away. That didn't feel very good but I shook it off within a minute.

Since going up that high wasn't productive from a photography standpoint, I decided to use a less steep slope and only went 1/2 way up. Going slightly slower and being able to get situated in the sled was the only way I was going to be able to shoot photos while sledding. It worked out sort of. I was able to experiment with different shutter speeds over multiple runs. I didn't quite achieve what I was aiming to do, as I wanted to show part of the sled under my feet but I was pleasantly surprised to get my own shadow in the 1st image posted here. I don't know if what I originally had in mind is possible to do but it was certainly fun trying to accomplish it.

To sled, what I did was squat with my camera in my right hand and put the sled underneath me with my left hand. I sat down once the sled was positioned properly and then it took off. I had my camera set on a small aperture to get everything as in focus as possible before the motion blurring, then shot on rapid fire mode blindly and hoped to capture something resembling the experience. I wiped out at the bottom on almost every run except for perhaps two of them but was still firing away even while rolling across the ground.

I didn't have gloves on because they were still wet from the previous time so I lost part of a nail on one finger and another finger is still sore though with no visible damage. It wasn't too bad though I felt sluggish the next morning. But the lady in the photo below probably suffered a broken arm or ribs and had to be helped off the snow. As I was driving down the mountain, a fire truck and paramedics were racing up so I assume they were coming to rescue her.

Inner Tubing Injury, Angeles National Forest, California

Though it was fun, I won't ever try to sled with a camera again. Too dangerous. :-)

Angeles NF “Movie Slope” Business Owner Slaps the Faces of our Founding Fathers

Movie Slope Snack Bar Sign, Mt Baldy, Manker Flats, Angeles National Forest, California

Photographers Rights is my least favorite topic to write about but it needs to be done. Today I went up to Manker Flats in the San Gabriel Mountains / Mount Baldy, Angeles National Forest area not too far from the Mt Baldy Ski Lifts in order to go sledding on the snow before it all melts away. As I was walking back to the car, I stopped to shoot a few pictures of the EXTERIOR of the “Movie Slope” Snack Shop from outside in the forest because it looked rather attractive (not necessarily the above photo). Well after two patrons left without buying anything, the man who presumably owns the snack shop comes out with a smug-looking smirk on his face and asks me, "Do you have a filming permit" "No." "If you want to shoot pictures then you need a permit. Jeep filmed a commercial here and they paid a lot of money for a permit." "This isn't commercial photography." "I don't care if it's commercial photography. This is private property and if Jeep paid money to film here then you have to as well otherwise get out of here." "This is National Forest property." (He points to the trees.) "Out there it is, this building is privately owned. If you aren't going to pay money then you can't photograph this place so put that (camera) away!" "Alright man if you say so." "So get out of here then!", then I left.

After three hours of sledding in which I had lost part of fingernail among other things, I didn’t feel like hassling with this clueless guy though I had every right to be there. If it is visible from public land that it is fair game for taking pictures. I have a U.S. National Forest Adventure Pass and since I was behaving in a non-threatening manner just like any other tourist there this morning then he had no right to harass me for taking pictures. If he doesn’t like that then he should pack his bags and set up shop elsewhere. He clearly has no idea about good PR and marketing skills. I get tens of thousands of visitors to my website each month and that kind of free exposure is potentially invaluable to a small business. However he would rather try and extort money from an Average Joe photographer such as myself by citing the TV commercial thus he missed out on potentially good PR not to mention having quite the opposite effect as a result. No one was paying me to be there and nor did I have a cast, crew nor props. There is a major difference between what I was doing and what he was referring to.

The National Parks rules regarding photography states that commercial photography requires permitting through the NPS system. That is understandable because commercial shoots require security and cleanup costs that potentially disrupt the environment. However, editorial / journalism / personal photography is protected by the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Now if I was inside of the property he would have a legitimate argument but since I was outside where others were then that is B.S. I was acting in a manner not unlike that of any other tourist.

I emailed Photography Rights Attorney Carolyn Wright, Esq. about this situation (again!) and here is her response about this: “Hi Richard. I understand your frustrations. Think about what happened if you did not have a camera in your hands. Would you have been at risk for being arrested? It doesn't matter if you are trying to shoot or have a camera. Your actions are what's important.”

Photographers must stand united in the fight to preserve our Civil Rights because there are many cases of our liberties being stripped away these days by uninformed citizens such as the owner of the “Movie Slope” Snack Shop. I have a permanent link to this article regarding similar incidents published in Popular Photography magazine on my blog already but here it is again if you haven’t read it. The article is an interesting read.

“The War on Photographers.”

Adventure Photography

Adventure Photographer Enjoying Fresh Snow on Mount Baldy, Angeles National Forest, California

My brother and I went up to Mount Baldy this morning after a big storm yesterday. As mentioned a few blog posts ago, I wanted to get some sledding photos. Well the snow was so pristine that we were unable to get the (cheap) sled moving for the most part because we sank into the snow every time we sat on it. I did get it moving twice and wiped out: camera included... The sledding photos sucked because I couldn't keep the snow and water off the lens in addition to fogging up but it was quite an experience nonetheless. I probably will have use a polarizer next time also in order to get a decent motion blur in my images.

I hadn't seen so much snow on trees before and it was amazing. Someday I will probably get snow shoes in order to better take advantage of the winter photography opportunities and not suffer frostbite in the process. This photo is of my brother, Eric holding the sled, my tripod and backpack.

Rose Parade Floats

On New Years I went to the 2008 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena. This year the theme was "Passport to the World's Celebrations." And fittingly there was the Chinese Beijing Olympics float which was nice looking but the impressive part was the outfits of the chinese dancers. It was beautiful to witness, well through the viewfinder anyway. :-) Then there was the El Salvador High School marching band that rode by bus for five days to get here. That was touching. I find the most interesting aspects to photograph are the people in the parade and the protesters of which there were a lot this year. The parade is so crowded near the beginning of the route that it is hard to shoot but it was a little easier to get photos at the post-parade rose float viewing yesterday the day after New Years.

When I first got to the Rose Float viewing at Pasadena High School yesterday morning, it wasn't too crowded. But by the end it was just as busy there as the parade was. Some guy even tried to start a fight with me. Aside from him it was quite enjoyable though. It's awesome to see in close detail what the floats are made up of.

Red Roses on Rose Float, Pasadena, California - 2008

Tiger on Rain Bird Rose Float, Pasadena, California - 2008

I do almost all of my travel and landscape photography on the 17-35mm lens because it is a higher quality lens but I used the 17-85mm lens this time so I could focus in on the details of the rose floats in addition to shoot a few wide angles when necessary. Around this time of year I get a fair amount of traffic to my website from people looking for rose parade pictures so I wanted focus more on the details at the float viewing because that is an area in which I had lacked pictures of previously.

Happy New Year!

2008 Tournament of Roses Parade Photos Available for Instant Licensing!

2008 Rose Parade photos available for instant licensing.