Featured Photographer: Richard Ansley

Richard Ansley is a local photographer in Salt Lake City.  We had the opportunity to do a quick interview with him.  Some of Richard’s work is currently being showcased at Red Butte Garden until July 15th.

 

Pixels: Richard tell me a little about yourself.
Richard: Spending my childhood in the cloudy suburbs of Atlanta Georgia, I never learned to appreciate open vistas and clear blue skies like those of the Western landscape until my first of many hitchhiking trips that cut through the never-ending cornfields of the plains across the desolate Nevadan sagebrush and finally to the Western shores of California in the early 70’s. It wasn’t until my first jaw-dropping site of Yosemite National Park in 1975 that I realized my real connection to the land and my lifelong love affair with the mountains and the natural world began to blossom.

In 1976, my move to Salt Lake City brought me close to the wild and rugged terrain of the Rocky Mountains and the red rock deserts of the great southwest. After 20 years of exploring and hunting, mostly in Utah and in some surrounding states, my attention turned to the camera and my desire to capture and share with others the many awesome and beautiful scenes of nature and the human element that I have been fortunate enough to experience.

 

Pixels: How did you get started in photography?

Richard: Getting into photography was somewhat of a natural progression for me. When I moved to Utah in 1976, I had come from a background of backpacking and horse packing in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. I spent most of my time in Yosemite on the John Muir and the  Pacific Crest Trail system. Living alone outdoors and sleeping under the stars was the way I wanted to live and I loved it.

When I came to Utah the first thing I wanted to do was explore, so my friend Doug and I would get out our Utah maps, pick out the most road less, remote areas of the state and do just that…explore. From the Book Cliffs in the East to the Deep Creeks in the West, the mountains and deserts of Utah became our stomping grounds. Hunting, fishing, camping, boating, four-wheeling, motorcycling, hiking, skiing and snowshoeing were all active pursuits, now I mostly just photograph.

My first attempt at being somewhat serious about photography began in 2006 with the purchase of an inexpensive Canon 35mm film camera. I studied nature photography books, shot slide film, had it developed locally, and never took the opportunity to pursue darkroom development on my own before the digital revolution really started gaining ground in 2008. For my two years of casual film shooting, I never managed to achieve an acceptable capture.

In 2008 I purchased my first DSLR, a Canon 20D and I began getting more serious about photography. Through books, on-line tutorials, a couple of workshops and a tremendous amount of trial and error, I managed to weed-out a couple of decent shots from one of my first trips to Zion National Park.

 

Pixels: What is it about photography that you love so much, or inspires you?

Richard: With seven national parks and dozens of state parks all within a few hours drive from Salt Lake City, one could not ask for a better place to live that affords the unlimited opportunities available to nature photographers. Capturing the awesome and vivid western landscape and the wildlife that it supports is very special to me and I feel most fortunate to live here.

I think what I appreciate most about landscape photography is the light. I like watching and waiting for the predawn light to climb up over the horizon and slowly creep across the land, exposing the highlights and forming shadows, that special time when darkness and light seem to dance together for a few magic minutes. Or when sunlight filters through tree leaves and forms colorful rays and patterns that are more beautiful than intricate stained glass in a cathedral. Rising early and hiking into a remote location to experience another performance of nature is both exhilarating and fulfilling, whether I capture a “keeper” shot or not; it’s always worth the effort.

 

 

Pixels: You do a lot of hiking to shoot at remote locations. Do you have a favorite location to shoot?

Richard: I really love to hike into areas of the Cedar Mesa southwest of Blanding to shoot some of the Anasazi ruins, it’s so interesting for me to see how this culture eked out an existence here for perhaps hundreds of years and to see their homes and granaries still standing after many centuries is a testament to their resilience. The reflected light that exposes details in the red adobe surfaces is brilliant and coupled with the dark shadows of the ancient interiors makes for an interesting contrast that seems to draw one into the image and bring it alive.

I also like to hike into the canyons of the Escalante, like Coyote Gulch or Buckskin Gulch down by the Vermillion Cliffs and I’d love to include “The Wave” as a favorite but I’ve never been successful at getting a permit, I’ve tried 9 times over the last 3 years. It’s really hard to chose a favorite remote area to shoot in Utah because there’s so many.

Some of my favorite “nearby” locations to shoot are the national parks with Zion, Grand T

eton and Yellowstone being my favorites. I’ve found the light in Zion National Park to be exquisite, nothing like it anywhere else I’ve been; places like the Left Fork in Autumn provides a kaleidoscope of vibrant color with terraced waterfalls, red rock, brilliant foliage and steep canyon walls that are the epitome of natural beauty. Locally, Yellowstone has the most accessible and abundant wildlife but there’s nothing like Alaska’s Denali National Park; if you’ve never been there, GO, you may never see a more wild, pristine and thrilling environment to photograph.

Pixels: What is your most memorable wildlife shooting experience? And why?

Richard: Stalking an animal and getting close enough to capture it provides a level of excitement that is unmatched by any other. Once in Yellowstone, my wife and I were shadowing the “wolf patrol”; you can always count on some action when Ranger Rick, with his wolf tracking radio receptor and his entourage are following the wolf packs around in Lamar Valley.

On this particular morning we noticed a small group with their spotting scopes all turned uphill just outside the Slough Creek campground so we stopped to inquire as to what they were looking at and were told rather blandly that it was just a couple of grizzly bears playing around, not the wolf pack they so anxiously hoped to see.

So we went out to the main road, turned in the general direction of where the bears were spotted, drove about a half mile and parked. Lisa stayed in the truck as I started my climb up through thick sage, out into some open meadows and through some trees. Using the terrain as much as possible to shield my approach while making sure I stayed down-wind to hide my scent, I headed in the direction of where I might cross the path of the two bears.

As I got closer to where I thought they might be, I readied my camera, making certain of the proper settings and practicing a few “quick draw” moves, knowing that I may have only a couple of seconds to nail a shot. Since I was toting a 400mm DO lens attached to a Mark 4 body, holding a can of bear spray in one hand with my finger on the trigger and a big bore pistol stuck in my belt, this was not a very smooth process; if the bears saw me before I saw them, I’m sure they would have a big laugh.

As I climbed closer to the top of a rise where I anticipated their location I dropped to my knees and started into a slow, low-crawl through the brush. Just at the crest, I peeked over the edge and there they were, a male and female rolling around on the ground. I soon discovered that the male had amorous intentions but the female was not having it and as the foreplay continued as I cautiously watched. I couldn’t approach any closer than the 100 yard limit the park rules allow, so I just hunkered down and waited.

Suddenly the action stopped and the male stood at attention, I realized at that moment that the wind had shifted and the male had picked up my scent. The puzzled reaction of the female seamed to say “hey, what’s going on,

I was just starting to have some fun here”. But the jig was up and the male turned in my direction and spotted me. I propped up on one knee, assumed a shooting position and started clicking off some shots but the bears were now moving away and the results were only nicely framed bear butts. I stood to get a better angle but no such luck and the only face shot I captured was of the female, her head just above the brush, still wondering why the play had to stopped, I don’t think she ever saw me.

I watched the two bruins amber away and I turned to walk back to the road, I felt my head pounding and realized my heart was beating quite rapidly even though I had been rather stationary for the last half hour. I needed to stop and settle down a bit, the adrenaline rush had really kicked in and I realized how lucky I was that the male bear had chosen to run away rather than towards me, perhaps thinking I might be a threat to his inalienable right as a male bear and master of his domain.

Although I had watched the bears move away, it was in a direction that could have crossed my path back to the road and I didn’t really want to have an unplanned encounter so I was moving very cautiously and somewhat nervously when I heard a loud snort, I quickly turned and found myself face-to-face with a very large male bison! Before I even realized it, I had let loose a blast of pepper spray in his general direction, but he was not even slightly phased by this and just stood there with nostrils belching steam into the crisp morning air.

I backed up slowly and made a big circle around the beastly statue and soon I picked up my pace and made a new path through the brush. Once I had gained some distance I started to breath a bit easier and was happy to remember the change of shorts I had waiting in my bag.

Pixels: What gear do you use? Favorite lenses? Favorite filters?

Richard: As far as my gear, I’ve stayed with Canon over the years but have recently considered expanding to Nikon, especially if Canon can’t figure out how to build a higher resolution sensor to answer to the D800 and I’m still on the fence about upgrading to the Mark III for a landscape body, so for now I’ll stay with my 5D Mark II and 1D Mark IV bodies with my lens collection of 17-40 f4, 70-200 2.8, 100 Macro and a 24mm 1.4 prime. I also have a 1.4 extender, a Speedlite 580 EX flash, a Gitzo 3530 that I use most of the time and a Gitzo 2780TQR (traveler) I use when packing into more remote locations. I recently replaced my Manfrotto head for a Really Right Stuff BH55 and a Pano Kit. For most of my wildlife shoots I usually rent some long glass.

I am a big believer in filters and I’ve accumulated quite a collection. I realize it’s quite possible to accomplish similar effects in post but I like to do as much as possible in-camera. I use a combination of Lee (if you can find them) and Singh Ray, with the latter being my favorite. On Kauai last year I used both together several times to balance the light and enhance the colors.

 

Pixels: What is your post processing routine like?

Richard: Since I bought my MacBook Pro a few years ago, I’ve been using Apple’s Aperture software to do the bulk of my processing and I can’t seem to get away from it, I like the intuitive flow of it but at the same time I realize I’m missing some creative tools I could be using with Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom and I plan on incorporating their use in the near future.

 

 

Pixels: Where would be your dream location to shoot? And why?

 

Richard: It would be very difficult for me to identify ‘a’ dream location to shoot. I’ve never been to Africa and don’t know if I could ever afford to go, but that would be at the top of my list. I’ve wanted to go to Iceland for a long time and it looks like I might be able to pull that off next year. But using my past experience as a guide, I’d have to say my dream shoot would be divided into two locations: Alaska and Hawaii, starting with Denali around the end of August when the Fall colors are starting to change and the wildlife is most active. I could easily spend a month up there and I’d also love to go back in the winter, up to the far north to capture the Aurora and maybe some arctic fox.

And while this dreamboat is still afloat, let’s make a sharp turn to the southwest and cruise down to Hawaii to shoot the volcanic flows pouring into the ocean on the Big Island and then we’ll hop a flight over to Kauai and the shoot some blow holes and the Queen’s Bath on the north shore and then we’ll hike up the Na Pali coast to a little piece of paradise they call Kalalau Valley or Valley of the Lost Tribe. Wake me up when we get back.

I must add that I certainly could not have made the progress I have with my work without the friendly and professional staff at Pixels. You guys are the best and I greatly appreciate all of your help.

 

Richard Ansley’s website

Red Butte Garden

 

If you would like to be featured, or nominate a photographer email Tiffany@Pixelsfoto.com

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