ShareOne man’s sorrow is another man’s joy, or so the saying goes (I assume it applies equally to women). And so it is in the Yukon Territory, where oil, gas and precious metal interests have discovered that the Canadian province may hold vast, untapped resources. That’s good news for the economy and perhaps bad news for the environment. We’ll soon see.
In winter I usually review some of my past year’s work and, lo and behold!, I found some images that I had forgotten about. Without taking a stand on Yukon’s …

ShareA friend, Morgan Melekos, just sent me this image he took while I was photographing a Vermont stream scene. It was around 1 degree Fahrenheit that day. Although I sometimes have to get into a stream to photograph, I don’t do so lightly. I advise my readers to always take proper precautions (see the ScotteVest column I did entitled “Don’t Take The Plunge!”: http://www.scottevest.com/company/photography.shtml).
If you are curious, the camera is a Hasselblad H4D-50 with a 28mm lens and a Hasselblad tilt-shift mechanism between the lens and camera. Clothing includes my …

ShareI was visiting my daughter and 3 grandchildren in Vermont’s Northern Kingdom this past week. The weather was atrocious, not for the cold, but for the fact that an unusually warm couple of days produced rain instead of snow and washed all the snow from the trees. Man, was I bummed! There went my pre-visualization of a snowy stream.
On my last day I had aborted a trek to a beaver pond when I stepped into a marsh and broke through the ice, filling my boot with ice-cold water and marsh …

ShareI’ve been visiting global cold weather spots for many years and there is no question in my mind that climate change is occurring. From melting permafrost to retreating glaciers, I see this every time I venture north.
I am not taking sides on how much is human-induced and how much is naturally occurring. From the data I have seen so far, I am convinced that human activity has accelerated this process. But I also believe that more research is needed on this vital issue that will affect humanity and our natural …

ShareI continue to test out my Hasselblad H4D-50 as I prepare for a major installation of my work in a Baltimore teaching hospital. Part of that installation will involve taking images of iconic Baltimore scenes, a process that Bob (my associate) and I have already begun. Whenever the weather is nice we run down to Baltimore and grab some shots, each time hopefully ticking off another site from our lengthy list.
Here are a few images taken with the Hassy, along with some background info for those of you who might …

ShareI’m sitting on the deck of my motel room in Zion National Park. Thankfully, I was able to recover from my back spasm within 48 hours and so rebooked my flight and arrived two days late, just grateful to be here. After a day of photographing the gorgeous scenery, I fell ill to altitude sickness and dehydration, two maladies to which I have always been susceptible. Headache, vertigo, yuckiness. So my morning was spent in bed, trying to make believe that there is an alternative reality somewhere in space and …

ShareIf you wonder what the state of photography is and where it is headed, PhotoPlus was the place to be last week. The annual show was held at the Jacob Javits convention center in New York City. It was not just huge, it was mammoth. Vendors of every major camera brand had large, walk-through display booths. Accessory makers had tables or even, in some cases, display booths themselves. Thousands of people streamed through the show.

There were several developments that impressed me. Of course, digital photography will continue to evolve, much …

ShareFinally, I made a decision. It wasn’t easy to do, but after investing much more money than I had originally budgeted,  and lots of time, I’ve decided to give up on 4×5 large format (LF) film photography. In fact, if you’re looking for a great deal on my equipment, all in great condition, just write me… les@lesterpickerphoto.com.
Why I Went for Large Format
I told you I’d keep you posted on this as the year – and my experiment- developed. I first got into large format because my clients often request large …

ShareToday my 5th visit to the Yukon is over. After 24 days in this majestic land, I’m heading home on Air Canada on a route that has by now become familiar to me. I’ll process some photos, write a bit, read a good novel (right now I’m reading Eventide, the sequel to the acclaimed Plainsong by Kent Haruf)), and begin thinking about my next visit.
Take Our Workshop!
Which brings up an interesting point. Richard Hartmier (www.hartmier.com)  and I are planning a photo tour of the Yukon next summer, stretching over the …

ShareKlondike Gold Rush fever spread through the world in 1898, bringing tens of thousands of dreamers, mostly Americans, into the harsh and frigid reality of the Yukon. Dawson City was its epicenter, but to get there those Klondikers had to endure a months-long journey against Mother Nature that was brutal beyond imagination. During its peak year, almost 90,000 people lived in and around Dawson City, where before there had been a tiny outpost and First Nations dwellers.
When the gold rush ended, gold mining by larger corporations continued until the early …