How to photograph the Fern Canyon (Redwoods National Park)

American Road Trip Journal #11: Fern Canyon

This is not an easy place to photograph! And it's even harder in black and white. I wasn't prepared and that shows in my photos, they are not good... at all.

You need to find a strong composition to succeed here, and that requires some time. I didn't have that time (and you probably won't either unless you are prepared - it gets very cold once your feet get wet) and that shows on my shots: they are bad.

I made several mistakes, the first one was to use wide apertures and short exposures. I did this because my first shots were handheld and also because there was some wind that was moving the ferns.

Possible approaches to capture this canyon in these conditions?

• take longer exposures of the canyon using smaller apertures, f/11 at least to get most of it in focus.
• close-ups of the stunning vegetation, the walls of ferns are very cool. You'll need wide apertures here to compensate for the wind, but it will be easier to keep your subject in focus.
• try to take silhouettes of the trees and the top of the canyon against the -most likely- overcast sky.

We didn't see them there -we ran into them later that morning though, in a different area of the park-, but there are elk and they can be aggressive. But I'd be prepared just in case you find them and they are far enough to take some safe shots.

From the trailhead, you can access a beach. We didn't because, you know, no dogs in national parks, but probably another good place to take some shots before heading out.

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American Road Trip Fun -and not so Fun- Facts

• We were on the road for 54 days
• We saw some of the tallest trees on Earth - the Coastal Redwoods
• I saw some of the oldest trees on Earth - the Bristlecone Pines in the White Mountains
• We woke up with a view of the tallest peak in the contiguous 48 for 7 days in a row - Mt Whitney
• I walked on the lowest point in North America - Badwater Basin
• I drove through the city with arguably the worst traffic in the country - LA
• We drove 10,000 miles
• 13 states - WA, OR, CA, NV, AZ, UT, NM, CO, TX, OK, MS, IL, IN
• Camped with the waves of the ocean as background noise in Salt Point in California, then another two nights under the star of the stunning desert night sky in Joshua Tree (CA) and Valley of Fire (NV)
• We stayed at 15 different places. That means we had to "move" 15 times...
• ...and I say "move" because we were carrying everything we own with us. We believe we didn't lose anything.
• We had to leave one of those places at 2am because of some crazy dudes pounding our door.
• We ran into very nice, and very rude people.
• Our diet could have been better, having a kitchen at some of the places helped a lot.
• I lost count of how many sunrises I witnessed. It doesn't get boring though.
• I shot and developed some 70 rolls of 120 film. I took hundreds of digital photos, a few rolls of 35mm and dozens of videos.
• I miss it already.
• This is a vast, and beautiful country!

Putting your own platform first

This is a recurrent new year's resolution, but this time I'm very serious about this one: putting my own platform, aka this website, first.

I use and plan on keeping using many social networks: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube... I believe they are very important to reach people who might be interested in what you do, no matter what that is.

But I also believe that you should have a centralized place where anyone can find almost anything about that thing that you do. A place you can refer someone to, instead of giving them your Instagram handler. And this website is not that place. At least not yet.

I've been prioritizing other platforms, posting my newest content there first, but that changes in 2018.

Let's do it.