Happy Monday Everyone!

I’m a little late in the game, but I came across this awesome photo contest called “Capture the Color” and I loved the idea so much that I thought I’d enter. The contest is hosted by Travel Super Market and basically, the idea is to write a blog post with five images that portray the colors red, green, yellow, white and blue. I highly suggest that you check it out and enter and I nominate these five photo bloggers:

Adam Allegro
Kristi Hines
David Shield
Marty Cohen
David LaSpina

The prizes are absolutely awesome. They’re giving away an iPad 3 for the winner in each color category and £2000 to the overall winner! If you haven’t entered, it’s not too late! The deadline is August 29th! Here are my entries:

Red – “Sandstone Waves”

This is one of my all time favorite photos – perhaps even my favorite. While Lower Antelope Canyon isn’t quite as impressive as its counterpart, there is something much more real and lively about it to me. I love spending the time winding my way between the narrow sandstone. In places the slot gets very narrow and you can’t help put your hands out to steady yourself. The texture of the sandstone and the feel of the lines on my palms are one of my favorite things. I remember crouching in a little hollow to get the right perspective for this shot.

White – “Monochrome Mono”

One of the things I’ve always admired about photos from Mono Lake is the beautiful clouds and colors that the lake seems to attract. Of course, when I got there it was rainy and completely overcast. I walked along the tufas in a light rain with the smell of salt in my nose. I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed as I new the sun would not penetrate the clouds for a sunset but I decides to isolate the interesting shapes of the tufas. The clouds made for nice even light and I decided to shoot some long exposures. The whole time I was shooting I was thinking of black and white and I love how this came out!

Blue – “Liquid Sky”

This is another one of my favorite photos! As I was shooting a sunrise at Tioga Lake in Yosemite National Park, I realized that sunrise is my favorite time to shoot. The feel of the world when it’s not quite awake is so peaceful. The silence in the air, the lack of other people around, and in this case the beautiful light and clouds all made for such a relaxing and peaceful experience.

As I was waiting for the light to grow, I found myself drawn the the ripples and textures of the lake. I spent several minutes just watching and listening trying to decide exactly what was so fascinating to me. I realized that the reflected blues in the water contrasted with the deep blacks spoke to me of the change from night to day. The more the light grew, the less dark colors and shapes were reflected in the water and the more beautiful blues. After playing with this idea for a little while, I ended up with several shots – this being my favorite!

Green – “Emeralds & Sapphires”

Pink sapphires I mean. Bear Canyon near Camp Verde, Arizona remains one of the most unique places I’ve shot. Most of the slots canyons I’ve been in and photographed are made up of the beautiful red Navajo Sandstone like Antelope Canyon. Here however, the colors of the canyon are completely unique. While exploring this canyon, everything looks and feels green. The vegetation, the moss growing on the walls, even the water that I had to swim through to get here.

I’ve been to this place there times and each time i’ve been struck by this scene. The canyon gets very narrow in this area and the cool wind starts blow until I’m shivering in my wetsuit. Then, the darkness of the narrows start to open up into these pink and yellow hues and the warm daylight beyond. After swimming in 40 degree water, it’s truly a blessed moment!

Yellow – “Bambi at Sunrise”

While photographing reflections just after sunrise along the Merced River in Yosemite National Park, I again was struck by the peace and quite except for the gentle flow of the river. Before long, I heard the noise of snapping branches from behind me. It sounded to me like a deer was walking through the area and I decided to investigate.

As I walked the hundred yards or so from the river, I was struck by the beautiful golden light coming through the trees and as soon as I spotted the young deer I knew I was in for something special!