Author: Hank

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2012 Round-up – Top 40 photos of the year

It is once again that time of year where we assemble compilations of the best and worst of the previous 12 months. Here are the results of culling through my many photos from 2012. Looking back it was a nice mixture of birds, wildlife, and landscapes. I had great photo trips to Death Valley and Grand Teton National Parks, but didn’t spend quite as much time in the High Sierra as I would have liked. Please enjoy the gallery below. For best viewing (especially if viewing on a mobile device), please click on the following photo:

Click the photo above to see the top picks from 2012!
Click the photo above to see the top picks from 2012!

Or, just enjoy the gallery here on the page. To view larger photos in the embedded gallery below, be sure to click the icon in the lower right corner to enter full screen mode.


Hank’s Picks 2012 – Images by Hank Christensen

If you are interested in compilations from previous years, please see the 2011 and 2010 lists.

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Happy New Year

A black-necked stilt chick walks on wobbly legs, staying close to its mother
A black-necked stilt chick walks on wobbly legs, staying close to its mother

May you have a year filled with joy, rejuvenation, and rebirth. Thank you to all of you for following along on my photo exploits for another year. Here’s to a great 2013 and many more wonderful moments!

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Surf Scoter

A male surf scoter shows off his colorful bill in full breeding colors.
A male surf scoter shows off his colorful bill in full breeding colors.

As the new year approaches, I’ve been keeping an eye on the hordes of wintering birds making their way south for the season. A regular winter visitor to the bay area is the surf scoter. While likely dismissed by non-birders and non-photographers as just a dark duck on the water, this is one of my favorite winter waterfowl. The most striking aspect of the male surf scoter is its large, beautifully colored bill.

Difficult to photograph due to the dark feathers, you have to wait for the best, direct light in order to maintain detail. I only have very few photos of this bird that I am happy with, which is disproportionate to the numbers in which they can be regularly found along the bay shore. These birds are divers, and diving ducks always present their own set of challenges photographically.

The most common scenario has me putting one in my sights, waiting for it to get just a little closer and give me the perfect head angle. Just as I’m ready to press the shutter release, it slips beneath the surface for 30 seconds and pops up hundreds of yards away. However, I can also be rewarded when one pops up close to me. In that case I not only get a front row seat to view an interesting bird, but I also get to inspect what morsel it has dredged up from the deep. It is always fascinating to see these guys swallow clams whole (shell and all).

After spending the winter here is won’t be long before they’re pairing up and heading back north in the spring.

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Ghost Trees

White aspen grow in the row in front of a forest of fir trees, Grand Teton National Park
White aspen grow in the row in front of a forest of fir trees, Grand Teton National Park

On my recent trip to Wyoming, I spent quite a bit of time photographing stands of aspen. In one particular grove, there was a nice mix of fir with the aspen. One of the guys I was with found this line of leave-less trees in front of a dark backdrop of thick fir trees. As soon as I saw it, I starting thinking in black and white. I really liked the way trees seemed to flatten out in front of the firs. This was definitely not a fall color subject, but something almost morose or Gothic.

White aspen grow in the row in front of a forest of fir trees, Grand Teton National Park
White aspen grow in the row in front of a forest of fir trees, Grand Teton National Park

I began by processing this photo in color, but realized that my first instincts were correct. This needed a black and white treatment! One of the wonders of digital conversion to black and white is the ability to set luminance settings per color. This flexibility allowed me to drop just the greens close to black, which created an even backdrop from which the white bark of the trees could pop. It’s like using a magic filter with black and white film. Instead of picking a filter color that would lighten one color and darken its opposite color (for example, a red filter would darken a blue sky), I get to pick and choose in post processing which colors I want light and which I want dark.

What do you think? Which do you like better and why?

Copyright 2017 Hank Christensen