michael anderson

The last beams of daylight filter through an old lattice window onto a

praying monk in a rarely visited temple in Bagan, Burma.

Very nice.  The body language goes well with her facial expression. 

Sunrise in the surreal dunes and lakes of Lencois Maranhenses,

Brazil. This is one of the most unique,empty and unknown

wilderness areas in the world.

The dunes of Lencois Maranhenses are like nature's canvas- the golden white sands reflect the full spectrum of sunset colors into the watery atmosphere, intensifying and bathing the scene in dazzling light like nowhere else I've ever seen.  There are a few rare places on earth that have just the right atmospheric conditions to create extraordinary light; Patagonia, the high altitude Himalaya, the white granite walls of Yosemite- but this little known corner of the world, empty and quiet,  just might have the best atmospheric conditions of them all.

Lencois Maranhenses Sand Dunes, Brazil.

A stormy twilight illuminates the surreal landscape of the Lencois

Maranhenses. This was taken half way through my barefoot multi-day

trek across the dunes. This is one of the most unique and spectacular

landscapes I've ever seen; a shining emerald in Brazil's National Park

system. This scene reminds me of the some of Salvador Dali's

surrealistic paintings. It was pure magic to stand there alone in the

gentle breeze and silence and watch the pastel colors fade into the

black of night.

Sunset light is filtered through the heavy mist of Iguazu Falls, one of the

seven wonders of the world. My photos of Iguazu Falls don't do justice

to the experience of being there, feeling the ground rumbling, the warm

spray raining down, watching the light rays dance in the mist. It's pure

majesty! Thanks for any commentary or critique!

Marc,

I love the top part of this image- that part truly captures the deep, dark canyon sensation that is paradoxically lit with areas of glowing light.  I'm not as psyched about the blue water- it seems like it would be more white in real life, even though I know film and digital see colors the eye cannot.  I just wonder how this would look with the blues toned down just a bit, or left to the darker margins of the water flow rather than the heart of the white water.  Just an observation...

-Mike

'Sing Sing Tambaran' means 'Dance of the Spirits' in Tok Pisin (Talk

Pidgin), the language of Papua New Guinea. This was an impromptu

celebration on the beach at Tsoi Lik Lagoon in the exotically remote

Lavongai Islands.

A lone starfish shines in the late afternoon light of Tsoi Lik lagoon,

Papua New Guinea. The Tsoi Islands are a secret South Pacific

paradise with spectacular white sand beaches surrounding a stunning

turquise lagoon. Thanks for looking!

Outstanding work on this one!

The swirling waters of the Iguazu River tumble into the sunset mist of

the rainforest.

Killer shot Chip!!!  I love the diffuse glow of the background that pulls the drama of the splash right up to me with an surreal intensity.

Resident Llamas catch the golden light of a timeless sunset on the

edge of the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu.

Thanks for looking!

Iguazu Falls in full flood after the heaviest rainfall in 25 years. This was

taken from a platform on the Brazil side that takes you out to an island

in the throat of the falls in an area you could never reach by foot. It's not

exactly wilderness here, but the sheer power, sound and feel of the

water puts it near the top of all the natural spectacles I've ever

witnessed.

Thanks for the insightful critique everyone.  I will look into all of your suggestions before I print this.

Thanks again,

Mike

The warm rays of sunrise begin to burn off the morning fog over the lost

city of Machu Picchu, Peru. This was the first day in nearly 4 months

that the park had received any visitors after disastrous floods in the

winter. This is a fairly standard composition, but the light was pretty

special... Thanks for looking!

AWESOME image Karl!  Wow, that is an ominous sky and the way you composed it with the people on the edge of warm light really emphasizes the power of the coming storm.  Great work as usual!

-Mike

A fiery sunset illuminates the cold icebergs of Laguna Torre, one of the

most beautiful lakes in all of Patagonia.

Thanks for any critiques and commentary.

-Mike

Aaron,

This is FANTASTIC!  Incredible scene perfectly composed and the story of your pre-visualization of the image makes it all even more compelling.  I can see how you would want to go back to fine tune your vision, but this is already a home run!

-Mike

The most spectacular sunset I've seen in a couple years unfolded after a

cold, rainy and windy day in Patagonia. As tempting as it can be, you

can't hole up in bad weather in Patagonia or you will miss the

spectacular light. The sensor of my 5D Mk II could barely handle the full

color spectrum and intensity of this sunset. I actually had to DE-

saturate the sky slightly to keep the yellows in check.

Thanks for all of the supportive commentary and critique on my last

post. I really appreciate it!

Passing clouds filter the tropical sun, throwing brushstrokes of light

across an endless sea of dunes.

Daniel,

I used a 2 stop hard graduated neutral density filter to keep the foreground and background in check.  Other than cloning a water spot out of the sky, I didn't have to do hardly any other adjustments- it looked this nice out of the box.

Amazing Marc!  This one stands out from the 40 new images in your New Visions and THAT is saying something! A deserving 7/7 from me.

-Mike

I could hear falling water in the distance so I decided to hike cross

country down to a canyon away from the trail to Fitzroy basecamp.

When I got down to the river, I found this beautiful series of cascades

rimmed with fresh ice after a cold autumn night. A few days later I got

up at 3am and planned to hike solo back to this location for sunrise. As

I came around a bend in the trail, my headlamp illuminated the eyes of

a crouching puma, only a few feet away next to the trail. I was alone, it

was pitch black, and the body language of the puma convinced me to

slowly back away and abandon my plans for sunrise...

A powerful thunderstorm darkens the sky over the dunes of Lencois

Maranhenses National Park. I spent three days trekking barefoot fifty

miles across the dunes in May, 2010. The drenching rains from

powerful equatorial thunderstorms fill the depressions in the dunefield

with crystalline fresh water lakes which makes the area unique among

the great landscapes of the world.