Russ Bishop Photography | Nature Photo Blog

March 4, 2025March 4, 2025

American Galapagos – Channel Islands National Park

The Channel Islands of California are a chain of eight islands located off the coast of Southern California in the Santa Barbara Channel. Five of the islands (San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, and Santa Barbara) were designated Channel Islands National Park on March 5, 1980 as our 40th national park, and are co-managed by the National Park Service and the Nature Conservancy.

Often referred to as America’s Galapagos, the Channel Islands are home to over 2,000 plant and animal species and 145 of those are found nowhere else on earth! The island fox (shown here) is one example – a dwarf fox native to six of the eight Islands. Due to their geographic isolation these curious creatures have no immunity to disease brought in from the mainland, and as a result their population dwindled to near extinction in the 1990s. Fortunately they were federally protected as an endangered species in 2004, and efforts to rebuild fox populations and restore their ecosystems have been quite successful.

The archeological and cultural resources on the Channel Islands span a period of more than 12,000 years of human habitation. The Chumash Indians lived off the sea for thousands of years followed by Spanish and American cattle ranches that thrived in the nineteenth century. Over the years, archaeologists have unearthed an amazing timeline dating back to the Pleistocene, including the world’s most complete pygmy mammoth specimen discovered on Santa Rosa Island in 1994.

The Islands are also part of one of the richest marine biospheres of the world. The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary protects the surrounding waters six nautical miles off Anacapa, Santa Cruz, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Barbara islands, where a whole new world invites exploration above and below the surface.

February 17, 2025February 17, 2025

Happy Birthday Ansel Adams

Happy birthday Ansel Adams! The master of landscape photography, who was born February 20, 1902, had a profound affect on my creative direction and continues to be an inspiration to generations of outdoor photographers.

Adams pioneered the idea of previsualization, the concept of seeing the final image in the mind’s eye before the photo is created. He also co-founded Group f/64 with other photographic masters Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham, and he developed the Zone System, a technique for translating perceived light into specific densities to allow better control over finished photographs. Though he lived well before the time of megapixels and monitors I think he would have embraced the creative possibilities of the digital age.

As a strong advocate for the environment, his iconic black and white images of the American West influenced powerful decision makers in Washington and helped preserve places like Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks and California’s iconic Big Sur coast. Ansel was also largely responsible for photography being accepted into the world of fine art, culminating in major exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 1980. And shortly after his death in 1984, the Minarets Wilderness in his beloved Sierra Nevada Mountains was re-named the Ansel Adams Wilderness in his honor.

Thank you Ansel – your legacy lives on!

“Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.” ~ Ansel Adams

February 6, 2025February 6, 2025

Cold Snap – Tips for Successful Winter Photography

Cold Snap – Tips for Successful Winter Photography. The last of autumn’s leaves have fallen and it’s time to focus on the next photographic season (and one of the most challenging!). Winter is a wonderful time to explore and create striking images, but preparation is the key to success. Here are a few tips to make your next photo outing both comfortable and rewarding.

1) Warm Clothing. This might seem obvious, but being comfortable for long hours in the elements will allow you to focus on photography and not your numb toes. Waterproof snow boots are essential along with a hat, gloves, and layers so that you can adjust your body temperature during the day as temperatures rise. Two of my sponsors REI and Patagonia have a large selection of gear to keep you warm and dry.

2) Hand Warmers. Chemical hand warmers can be purchased at most sporting good stores, heat up instantly, and last up to 8 hours. They are excellent inside gloves, for keeping spare batteries warm, and in pockets when you need to warm your hands after taking your gloves off to change batteries or memory cards.

3) Spare Batteries. Today’s lithium-ion camera batteries are a modern marvel of compact energy and perform quite well in the cold, but keeping them warm inside your jacket will extend their life even more. I always have one or two spares and avoid excessive image reviewing in the field. Turning off features such as camera sounds and lights can also greatly help to extend battery life.

4) Tripod Care. I always recommend using a tripod to maximize sharpness and winter is no exception. But when shooting in snow you need to be careful not to over extend the legs and damage the tripod. To avoid this, simply keep the legs together as you sink the tripod in the snow and they will naturally expand to form a solid base. Covering the legs with custom covers or pipe insulation also makes them easier to handle in the cold and more comfortable when carrying over the shoulder.

5) Expose for the Snow. Back in the days of film this was easy to forget and would often result in an entire roll of underexposed images. The problem is your camera’s light meter sees everything as neutral gray (including snow) and adjusts your camera settings accordingly. In scenes with large amounts of snow, this results in images being up to 2 stops underexposed. Fortunately this is easily detected and corrected with today’s digital cameras by setting the exposure compensation dial (typically 2 stops overexposed, but check that histogram). As long as the light is consistent, this works well in both auto and manual metering modes.

6) Breathe Easy. It’s not that standing in the snow is physically exhausting, but your breath can be detrimental to your photography! If it’s cold enough that water vapor will create a sheet of ice on the back of your camera, which is difficult to remove and could cost you the shot. It takes a little practice, but breathing out of the side of your mouth or holding your breath while composing works well to prevent this.

So don’t let the cold keep you from enjoying this wonderful season. It’s a special time with unlimited photographic possibilities, and with a little preparation and care you’ll be experiencing one of nature’s best displays and capturing all that beauty in comfort.