Cody Hatch Photography » 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

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

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.

Albion Basin at Sunrise

Cody — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:14:26 +0000

Albion Basin, at the end of Little Cottonwood Canyon in Utah, is currently still sitting under almost two feet of snow. It’s been a fabulous year for skiing and Albion Basin is part of the Alta Ski Resort, though in the summer it is free for hiking, camping, and other outdoor activities. When in bloom, the wildflowers are fantastic. This shot was taken during wildflower season and is looking north into Little Cottonwood Canyon.

On the drive up to the basin I almost hit a moose. He was meandering across the dirt road and I was probably going faster than I should have been for the dark conditions. It was a large moose but it was fun to watch such an amazing animal cross the road.

Later, as I was sitting in the grass awaiting the rising sun, a handful of deer passed by within about 20 yards. It was one of the most peaceful sunrise vigils I have experienced and, though this photo isn’t one of my best, it reminds me of that wonderful morning in the Rocky Mountains.

Canon Digital Rebel, 18mm, 1/3 second, f/16, ISO 100, polarizing filter

Subway Crack

Cody — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:06:36 +0000

This photograph was taken on a trip to Zion National Park where I hiked the famed Subway backcountry trail. Shortly before reaching the Subway, the canyon opens up a bit and the river runs into various cracks – this one being the largest of the cracks.

The shot was taken from a tripod looking down at the crack and the water rushing in it. The photograph doesn’t accurately depict the size and depth of the crack – it is pretty large and quite deep. I had to throw a polarizing filter onto my lens so I could stop down enough to make the water creamy through the use of a slow shutter speed. I also had to remove some ugly looking, dead leaves that were within the frame. I did not, however, place any leaves in this frame.

Lastly, if you ever hike the Subway trail, I recommend some good river hiking boots. It was quite slippery and I was grateful for the pair I had on.

Canon 40D, 22mm, 0.4 seconds, f/11, ISO 100, polarizing filter

Reflection on Boat

Cody — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:00:09 +0000

I almost didn’t take this photograph. Heidi (my wife) and I were walking along one of the piers in San Francisco, California. The sun was out, it was 65 degrees – it really was a beautiful day. One of the boats we were looking at had a blue and green hull and the sunlight was reflecting off the water onto the hull, making some very interesting designs on the hull. I thought it might be fun to see how it would look as a photograph, framed the shot, and was quite pleased. I had to crouch down on the pier to get the shot but I like how it turned out.

Canon 40D, 75mm, 1/250 second, f4, ISO 100

Golden Gate Bridge at Night

Cody — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:00:37 +0000

This is the third shot in a series of photographs of the Golden Gate Bridge. The others were shot from a bit below this location but I ended up having to move in order to avoid the waves that had begun to splash up onto the sidewalk I was standing on. As the tide was rising, the waves were lapping higher and higher until, eventually, a big wave splashed up onto my camera and me. My camera got very wet, making me quite nervous but I quickly dried it off. It seems to be fine.

As a result of the rising tide and my brush with a fried camera, I moved back further from the water barrier but because of the move, I lost the rocks as my foreground interest. Instead, I used a large chain that parallels the water barrier and sidewalk as my foreground interest.

Canon 40D, 20mm, 178 seconds, f/16, ISO 100, polarizing filter