Cody Hatch Photography » Featured Photography

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

Christmas Meadows Sunrise

Cody — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:39:38 +0000

Prior to this shot I had been looking for a spot in Utah where I could capture a meandering, still river with snow capped mountains in the distance. I finally came across Christmas Meadows in the Uinta Mountains of Utah and spent a few days camping up there.

When I took this shot I was battling against a cloudy eastern sky that was often obstructing the sun and fish jumping in the river. I finally was able to time it right when the sun was peaking through the clouds and the fish weren’t biting, allowing for nice, calm water.

You may notice the red flowers on the opposite bank of the river and to the right of the frame. I searched all over the place for a spot where those flowers would be on my side of the river, just before a bend, so I could place them in the frame’s foreground, but I was unable to find anything and had to settle on placing them where they are in this photograph.

28mm, 0.4 seconds, f/16, ISO 100, polarizing filter