Cody Hatch Photography » Cody

Mount Timpanogos in Winter – Utah

Cody — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:02:58 +0000

Mount Timpanogos in Utah is one of my favorite mountains. It is surrounded by beautiful country and is accessible. I wanted to shoot it during the winter and had some time on a January day a few years ago. It was brutally cold and there had been a fresh snowfall but the crisp air was great for photography. I had to drive several miles through a foot and a half of snow before I got to a suitable location. Once there, I setup my tripod and enjoyed the freezing vigil until the sun arose, which is when the action began.

As a note, it was so cold that my breath froze to the camera’s LCD while I looked through the camera’s viewfinder.

Canon Digital Rebel, 70mm, 1/6 second, f/11, ISO 100, polarizing filter

I also love the light along the ridge and snow drifts within the shot. Here is a closeup from the above photo:

Closeup from the photo above

Battery Point Lighthouse – Crescent City, CA

Cody — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 03:13:14 +0000

This was shot from an overlook to the north of the lighthouse and I must say, it had a nice view west toward the ocean. Unfortunately, the sunset wasn’t something I could get into the shot from this angle. I would’ve had to have been south of the lighthouse in order to have done that. As the sun set, the other photographers and visitors departed and once the lights turned on at the lighthouse, it made a nice shot with the reflection leading one’s eye into the frame.

Canon Digital Rebel, 200mm, 6 seconds, f/13, ISO 100

Albion Basin Bluebells

Cody — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 18:29:00 +0000

It is spring time in Albion Basin, Utah. Albion Basin is located at the end of Little Cottonwood Canyon on Forest Service land that doubles as part of Alta ski resort in the winter. With the late snow melt (I went skiing up there on July 4th!), the wildflowers are currently at their peak – crazy for mid-August.

Anyway, the family and I went up there to view the open meadows full of beautiful wildflowers. They are very impressive and I highly recommend heading up to see them if you are in Utah. I had scouted out a great spot overlooking a large meadow of indian paintbrush, daisies, and bluebells, all with the canyon below, when a bride and her entourage moved in below me so they could take her bridals. They completely gummed up the shot. They saw me but, rather than be rude, I waited patiently for them to finish and move on. They didn’t, however. They practically camped out below me, taking shots, milling around, and generally testing my patience. Unfortunately, my lighting came to an end as clouds moved in. The shot would only work with appropriate lighting, so I was miffed.

Since it was cloudy, I moved on to another location where I knew there were bluebells surrounding a nice, small stream. As it turned out, there were no bridals being done there so I had it all to myself. I took several shots but ended up with this one being my last. I had swiveled the main shaft of my tripod around to a horizontal position, placing the camera out over the stream. This provided the best composition of the bunch since the stream leads the eyes into the shot much better on this composition than the others I took. I sure love being able to quickly do that on my tripod.

Canon 40D, 48mm, 2 seconds, f/16, ISO 100, polarizing filter

The patterns of hot air balloons

Cody — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 18:19:27 +0000

A couple of years ago I attended the hot air balloon festival in Eden, Utah, nestled in beautiful Ogden Valley. I had never been to a hot air balloon festival so I had no idea where to stand, what type of activity to capture, or what the lighting conditions would be like. One of the mornings had weather that would allow for balloon sailing (high winds are a no-no) so I headed over to check it out.

This shot is the result of me being lucky. I ran around frantically trying to capture various images but things were moving quite fast and I was struggling to capture something I liked. I ended up being drawn to the various patterns on the balloons and this shot, where from my vantage point two balloons were overlapping, is a result.

Canon Digital Rebel, 70mm, 1/80 second, f/8, ISO 100

Lyman Lake Canoe – Uinta Mountains, Utah

Cody — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 03:04:43 +0000

My family spent several days at Lyman Lake in the Uinta Mountains of Utah. Most of the days were overcast, making for some pretty dreary photography, but one of the evenings had breaks in the clouds so I took advantage with several shots.

It was my turn to make dutch oven dinner so my options for photography were pretty limited. I had already scouted a spot near the lake that would work in a pinch if there was anyone on the lake and, to my luck, there was.

Normally I would have used a polarizing filter but my filter for the lens I used broke a couple of weeks ago. I had forgotten to order one before this trip and I regretted it. I think I would have had more detail in the clouds and contrast in the valley.

Canon 40D, 62mm, 1/10 second, f/16

From My Lightbox: Still Out

Cody — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 03:33:30 +0000

I’m still out on various projects – related to photography, family, and work (too bad work isn’t photography – how does one get there?) – but wanted to quickly post links to some of the most inspiring photography I’ve seen lately.

Ridiculously amazing capture of Yosemite. Timing, lighting, and environment were perfect. The fact that it was captured on large format is all the better. (QT Luong)

I love the colors in this one. I’m not sure why, but they look fabulous to me. It also inspires a serenity that most other photos do not. (Gary Crabbe)

This shot of a tree in Kenya shows some great timing. That sunrise is awesome. (Rick Sammon)

The foreground waves in this shot really make it. I can’t imagine how many shots were taken to get that timing just right, but it was worth it. The story behind the photo is equally great. (Ian Plant)

From My Lightbox: Google+ Domination

Cody — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:44:42 +0000

Google+ continues its domination as a source for finding inspiring photographs. I wish photographers were posting links to their own site that I could reference rather than posting the photo directly to Google+, but that seems to be the preferred method of late. Where I can easily find it, I will link to the photographer’s own site. Until then, Google+ it is!

The most inspiring photos I’ve seen of late:

I have always been a fan of good portraits, largely because I do them poorly, so my friend’s monochrome portrait with just a slight splash of color is inspiring (Blake Beus)

I’m generally not a fan of HDR but I really like the action in this shot of a horse being trained in a corral (Eric Leslie)

My favorite part of photography is simply being out in nature. This shot makes me want to get out and be there. (Giuseppe Basile)

Death Valley plus beautiful lighting, water, and reflections. Amazing. (Jay Patel)

This photo is gorgeous. Makes me wish I had just climbed out of my tent to this vision. You can taste the fresh, clean air. (Varina Patel)

Probably the coolest cityscape I have ever seen. (Manik Photographe)

I love the colors and lighting in this shot – layers of lighting. Simply stunning. (Peter Lik)

Out on a project

Cody — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:56:58 +0000

I’ve been out working on various projects that have taken me from any sort of phone or Internet access, which accounts for the lack of posts of late. I’ve got a bunch of photos to process and still more to come so hopefully there are some good captures among the pile. We’ll see…

From My Lightbox: The Social Media Revolution

Cody — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:11:57 +0000

I’ve decided to implement an idea I have been kicking around for some time, inspired somewhat by the flood of photos I see in various social networks each day. I decided to curate and filter that flood into some of the main photos and other types of content that I have really appreciated over the past week, naming it “From My Lightbox” as an ode to the awe I used to feel when viewing a beautiful slide exposure on the lightbox.

This week I wanted to point out that all but one of these links points to a social media site (Facebook or Google+) as the location of the photographer’s content. When I see something on that photographer’s social site, I do not have a corresponding link to it on their personal site, leaving me to link to the social media site and creating an ever-increasing dependence that photographer has on Facebook, Google+, etc. I am finding that photographers are posting to social media before they even post to their own site, placing them at the mercy of the social media organizations. It is a great way to share, but I hope it doesn’t have unintended consequences.

Unbelievably beautiful colors, grand sky, and even a rainbow in this desert shot (Guy Tal)

Great mood and color tones in this shot of San Francisco and the Bay Bridge (Patrick Smith)

Amazing shot of a climber in Lofoten Islands, Norway. This looks surreal! (Henrik Johansson)

Monsoon over canyon country (Guy Tal)

Winter sunrise on Resurrection River, Seward, Alaska (Ron Niebrugge)

One of the most beautiful highway shots I’ve ever seen. It just makes me want to be there. (Gary Crabbe)

A discussion on Google+ about the post frequency sweet spot (Colby Brown)

Salt Lake City in Miniature

Cody — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 19:36:34 +0000

Not too long ago I took my kids to a model train set convention. My kids, as almost all kids do, really dig trains so I figured they would appreciate the model train sets on display at the convention. While they did enjoy the model train sets, I kept my kids very close to me. Have you ever seen the folks at model train set conventions? Fat, greasy, social-retards are the norm. I thought, “Good grief, I don’t want my kids to turn out like these guys. Let’s get out of here.” I like the miniature look, though. Perhaps I can enjoy the same miniature model look to photos without rubbing shoulders with Grizzly Adams?

I have always been intrigued by the miniature effect that can be had through the use of tilt-shift lenses. Unfortunately I don’ t own one, though I am considering purchasing one, primarily for the infinite focus they provide for landscape photos. Perhaps I’ll rent one someday.

Anyway, I like the miniature effect, where a photo looks as if the subject was actually a scene from a model train set rather than of the real world. It’s a cool effect but won’t work on just any photo. I realized that I could get a very similar look through some Photoshop effects so I decided to head to Salt Lake City and give it a try.

I think Photoshop recreates the effect pretty well and I had a lot of fun trying to find subject matter that would look good as miniature. I’ll definitely give it another try sometime.