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Phil Colla

Best Photographs of the Year

Best Photos of 2011

Best Photos of 2011 In a past "best of" post I stated that one of my goals is to make a handful of really strong images each year, images that could be included in a career retrospective portfolio. This year I will admit that another of my goals is to…
January 9, 2012
MexicoVideo

Sea of Cortez Underwater Canon 7D Video Footage

I recently finished editing still photographs made in the Sea of Cortez in November. While I was shooting photos I also took some time to grab video footage with the Canon 7D that I was using. This is a rough edit that I made from some clips, assembled in iMovie.…
January 1, 2012
Slot CanyonsThe American SouthwestUtahZion

Nature’s Best Windland Smith Rice: Photographer in the Virgin River Narrows, Zion National Park, Utah

Photographer in the Virgin River Narrows, Zion National Park, Utah I was fortunate to have three of my photographs receive Highly Honored recognition in this years Windland Smith Rice photography competition sponsored by Nature's Best Photography. 21,000 images were entered in the competition, 500 made it to the final round…
December 2, 2011
Skip's Trips

Skips Stubbs in the Sea of Cortez (2011)

From Skip: I and five friends had an 8-day diving charter out of La Paz in the Sea of Cortez in early October. We had no "set your hair on fire" moments, but great weather, fabulous food and company for sharing, and good sea conditions. The largest waves we saw…
November 24, 2011
Galleries

Stock Photo Gallery: Bodie State Historic Park

Bodie State Historic Park Photos A few years ago I visited Bodie Ghost Town, aka Bodie State Historic Park, near Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra to photograph the old buildings in early morning light. It was a great experience. I had heard that Bodie is one of the the…
November 21, 2011
AntarcticaGalleriesSouthern Ocean

Stock Photo Gallery: Antarctica Photos

Antarctica Pictures and Stock Photos of the Antarctic Peninsula I have assembled my favorite Antarctica Photos into a stock photography gallery. The Antarctic Peninsula is perhaps the single most photogenic place I have ever been. The photographs nearly take themselves and every direction one turns holds a scenic view. Some…
November 16, 2011
Galleries

Stock Photo Gallery: Gorgonian Photos

Underwater photographs of Gorgonians When I was doing a lot of diving in southern California, some of my favorite subjects were gorgonians. Gorgonians are colonial invertebrates that, as a group, form flexible calcareous skeletons several feet across. The tiny individual polyps positioned on the branches of these "sea fans" wait…
October 21, 2011
Galleries

Stock Photo Gallery: Fall Colors

Stock photos of Fall Colors I've lived in California and travelled throughout the western United States my entire life, but it was not until 2006 that I began to really look for autumn color in nature. Since then I've made a few trips to see turning aspens in the Eastern…
September 28, 2011
Sierra Nevada

California Fall Color in the Eastern Sierra

In the next month I hope to once again make a brief trip to Bishop, California to enjoy the changing colors of the quaking aspens (Populus tremuloides). Aspen trees in fall, eastern Sierra fall colors, autumn. Image ID: 23320 Species: Aspen, Populus tremuloides Location: Bishop Creek Canyon, Sierra Nevada Mountains…
September 18, 2011
Surf

The Wedge and Cylinders

A big New Zealand swell is hitting south-facing beaches, including the Wedge in Newport Beach which is seeing 20'+ faces right now. The light was terrible and the waves were sloppy and foamy. I'm glad I did not choose to shoot in the water because it would have been a…
September 2, 2011
AntarcticaGalleriesSouthern Ocean

Stock Photo Gallery: Icebergs

Stock photos of Icebergs One of my goals in January 2010 when I traveled to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica was to make a series of good iceberg photos. I think I succeeded! It was wonderful cruising around the Antarctic Peninsula and witnessing the variety of shapes, sizes and hues…
August 31, 2011
GalleriesNew Work

New Work – August 2011

If you want to go straight to the good stuff and skip my base prose, visit my "New Work" gallery! My latest sampling of new photography originates from a variety of great outdoor experiences, all with my family and a couple of good friends. All of these images were produced…
August 18, 2011
Sierra NevadaYosemite

Vernal Falls, Yosemite National Park

Photos of Vernal Falls and the Mist Trail in Yosemite National Park Sarah and I recently made our somewhat-annual hike up the Mist Trail in Yosemite, enjoying the heights and sounds of Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls, as well as the Panorama Trail. It was not a serious photography outing…
August 10, 2011
iPhone

iPhone Panoramic Photography, #3

iPhone Panoramic Photos. If you like these, be sure to see my first set of iPhone Panorama Photos and a second set of iPhone Panorama Photos. Why do I shoot photos with the iPhone when I have a "real camera"? Quite often we are out and about scouting locations to…
August 2, 2011
Grand TetonWyoming

John Moulton Barn, Grand Teton National Park

The John Moulton barn is the second of the two iconic early 1900's barns on Mormon Row in the Antelope Flats area of Grand Teton National Park and is often called "the most photographed barn in the United States": John Moulton barn at sunrise with Teton Range, on Mormon Row…
July 27, 2011
GalleriesNew Work

New Work – July 2011

I was fortunate to make a return trip to Joshua Tree National Park with Garry McCarthy to try to improve on the night time arch photos we made there earlier. I think I succeeded, producing three keepers including one large panoramic image of the Milky Way spanning the night sky…
July 11, 2011
Skip's Trips

Italy 2011

From Skip: We flew from Paris to Florence on May 9, picked up a rental car (EuropeCar) and headed out to the small hill towns of Umbria and Tuscany. These photos are from about 18 days there and include the following towns we stayed in or visited: Cortona, Spoleto, Bevagna,…
July 11, 2011
Skip's Trips

Paris 2011

From Skip: We stayed in Paris for four days sandwiching out 18 days in Italy. The main downside to this strategy is that you have to go to the Charles de Gaulle airport and back an extra time (At $90 per trip for a taxi). As we stayed on isle…
July 11, 2011
iPhone

iPhone Panorama Photos, #2

Making iPhone Panorama Photographs. See my first set of iPhone Panorama Photos. Here are a few more iPhone panoramas that I've made recently. These panoramas were all shot with my iPhone 4 by my daughter (age 11) and took about 60 seconds each to make! Normally, I stitch the individual…
July 2, 2011
Galleries

Stock Photo Gallery: Man and Ocean

I'm gradually updating my web site, which has not seen any real improvements since about 2005 (when I added a blog). The "galleries" are now formatted somewhat better and include much more recent images. First up: Man and Ocean, stock photography of the many way man works and plays in…
June 23, 2011
New Work

New Work – June 2011

See my most recent set of New Work or go back in time to see what I was shooting in New Work - June 2011. I just added some new images from Joshua Tree National Park to my stock photography archive. Take a look at a selection of my Joshua…
June 16, 2011
FalklandsPenguinSouthern Ocean

Surfing Penguins

Last year I got to cross off one of my bucket list items: surfing penguins. I was fortunate to see surfing gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) on New Island in the Falkland Islands. After hiking around some of New Island for most of the afternoon, visiting a couple of penguin and…
April 27, 2011