Travis Rowan Photography Blog

Costa Rica Wildlife Photography...from a hammock

2011-05-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

Costa Rica Wildlife - Images by Travis Rowan Yeah, that's right. Many of these Costa Rica photos were taken while I relaxed in a hammock. This is how you balance a relaxing holiday with wildlife photography; go to a place so rich in flora and fauna that you can sit back and let it come to you. A little extra reach on the lens

An incredible story behind the images of the Time cover shoot in Burma by Platon.

2011-01-07T10:22:00.000-08:00

This is a great video (6 minutes) from Time magazine. Photographer Platon speaks of his experience in Myanmar (Burma) capturing a portrait of Aung San Su Kyi. (there is a short advert at the beginning) What a wild ride. I especially appreciate him sharing his interaction with her, his approach, words and ultimately the portraits. No technical info here, just another extraordinary experience in

2010 | The Year in Pictures

2010-12-31T10:22:00.000-08:00

click full screen option for best viewing of the slideshow The Year in Pictures: 2010 - Images by Travis Rowan This past year has been has been one of the most unusual and unexpected journeys that I can remember. (Both photographically and in life) It's been a year of firsts and hopefully some lasts. A quick review: I've

Updated images in my underwater and animals portfolio

2010-12-22T19:34:00.000-08:00

click the full screen option for best view Underwater/Animals - Images by Travis Rowan

Surf photography on the North Shore part 2

2010-12-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

Check it out in full screen mode.North Shore Surfing Part 2 - Images by Travis RowanDay 3 photographing surf on Hawaii's North Shore. Billabong Pipeline Masters had another lay day due to nasty weather and small swell, but there was plenty of free surfing action, and line up images to get out there. Cool, diffused light set the

Surf photography on the North Shore of Oahu.

2010-12-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

North Shore Surfing - Images by Travis RowanHere are my latest photos from Oahu's North Shore. I'm here to photograph the Billabong Pipeline Masters surf event. The north shore is the epicenter of surfing. This is the only place where you can find all of the world's best surfers concentrated in one small stretch of coast in

Sporting History in Puerto Rico. Kelly Slater wins his 10th World Title!

2010-11-06T10:41:00.000-07:00

Kelly Slater wins his 10th World Title - Images by Travis RowanSports history has occurred at the Rip Curl Pro Search Somewhere in Puerto Rico. Nine time world champion and surfing legend Kelly Slater has claimed his tenth world title. Slater secured this unprecedented sporting feat during the ninth event of the 2010 ASP World

Tax dollars at work:US Navy LCS (Littoral Combat Ship)

2010-08-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a look at the US Navy's new generation of high speed warships. It was moored along side the Austal facility in Mobile Bay, Alabama. Whenever there is an opportunity to photograph something cool like this, I jump at it. I happened to be cruising through Mobile in March 2010 and docked across the river from the LCS 2 Independence.No special access required, just lucky to be in close

Inspired in Seattle: Part 1

2010-08-07T21:03:00.000-07:00

Finding a place that hasn't been photographed to death isn't always easy. Especially in a city as interesting and photogenic as Seattle. I was searching for a nice skyline viewpoint and with a simple Google search I found Kerry Park in the Queen Anne neighborhood. I figure if a place is that popular it must be good or easy... or both. Anyway, when I'm new to a place these are often good places to

Panama Canal: Time-Lapse photography and video

2010-06-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

I recently transited the Panama Canal on a large private yacht. This being my third time in the canal, I decided to play around with video and incorporate some time-lapse images too.This is not HD as I'm not really a video shooter, but I have to admit that I enjoyed trying to tell a story with moving pictures in addition to the stills. So I may find myself investing in something better soon. All

Canon G11: new gear

2009-11-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

I picked up a new tool (toy) today and can't wait to put it to work. The Canon G11 is a pretty sweet pro quality compact that I've had my eye on for awhile. I have a Lumix LX2 already, but haven't really been impressed with the image quality. What really drew me to the Canon is the hot shoe for off-camera flash possibilities and it's ability to focus at 1cm. I intend to use it as a small carry

Burmese Nightlife: Star Trails Through History

2009-11-15T12:06:00.000-08:00

Shooting at night is always a challenge. First off, the low light means long exposures and additional equipment. (tripod, cable release, flashlight etc.) I've always enjoyed shooting in low light, showing motion and in general the technical challenges of creating images in the dark. In addition to my photography addiction, I also have an "Indiana Jones" complex at times. Those two coupled

The Black Cat-Halloween edition

2009-10-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of Halloween, here's a shot I put together using the Nikon CLS system. I'm really getting to love the possibilities.First off, the cat is one of my favorite animals and "Eddie" this black persian is a fine specimen. (He's named for the rock guitar icon Eddie Van Halen)I first imagined the shot one morning when I saw Eddie sitting illuminated by the streaming light coming through a

Walking the docks in Antigua

2009-10-25T06:25:00.000-07:00

Yachts are like birds, they go south for the winter too. I shot these two yachts last December in Antigua. Caribbean skies, underwater lighting and $100 million dollars worth of toys. The two yachts pictured are the 60 meter M/Y Amnesia (left) and the 90 meter M/Y Nero (right). Gear: Nikon D2x / 17-55mm 2.8 / Manfrotto tripod and ballhead.As always, click any image for the larger version. TR

Mirrored Aviators

2009-10-25T05:42:00.000-07:00

This is a fun shot for a lot of reasons. It's a simple recipe, if you can get the ingredients together: -a beautiful woman. -a white sand beach in the Caribbean. -mirrored Aviator sunglasses. -a little Photoshop masking. Done. I shot Mallone on the beach in St. Marten. The mirrored shades are always fun to play with as is mixing color and black and white. It's an easy technique in Photoshop: I

Zoo Portraits: part two

2009-09-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

In a follow up to my previous Zoo Portrait Post, I wanted to share this new shot from...the zoo. By shooting a tight frame, the lions could be anywhere. The late afternoon back light added some nice dimension and detail.I followed up the RAW processing with black and white conversion in Nik Silver Efex Pro.Gear: Nikon D300 / 80-200 2.8 lensExposure: ISO 400/ F5.6 / 1/640thAs always, click any

Borobudur Temple and the Moon

2009-09-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

On the island of Java in Indonesia, is one of the largest Buddhist temples in the world. Borobudur Temple is just outside the city of Yogyakarta and a stone's throw from the active volcano of Mt. Merapi. A stone's throw, assuming it was the volcano doing the throwing. At over 1100 years old, Borobudur is from the same time period as the other Buddhist sites of Angkor in Cambodia and Bagan in

On top of the world in Bangkok

2009-09-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

Bangkok, Thailand is famous for its ubiquitous food stalls. Thai food is world famous and the immense diversity of places to eat in Bangkok is ridiculous. You can spend $1 or $30, but the only real difference is usually the venue in which you choose to eat. The food is always good.Here is a shot of the rooftop restaurant and bar called Sirocco. It's open air and perched on the 63rd Floor of a the

DAM!-cool buildings in Denver-part two

2009-09-29T14:54:00.000-07:00

The Denver Art Museum...I could photograph this building all day. There are so many angles and different lighting possibilities and I didn't even go inside yet.There's no message in the above shot, I just thought the red looked cool against the blue sky.There was a little problem with this shot though. The stop sign was in shadow while the building was bathed in beautiful afternoon light. Nothing

Life on a Boat

2009-09-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned this before, in my other life, I work on yachts. After my eight month break / slash photography session, I'm returning to work.Yachts not only pay well, they are a fun job and afford a unique platform for seeing and photographing the world. If you can find the time....Above is M/Y Tuscan Sun, a 145 foot private yacht. I grabbed this shot while I was on the foredeck preparing to

DAM!-cool buildings in Denver

2009-09-29T13:35:00.000-07:00

I've been back in Denver for about a month now. I grew up here and left as soon as I figured out how. Denver is a great city and a beautiful place and it's also where my family lives. I visit once a year or so but typically only stay for a week or less.This time, I'm in town for a month and have taken the time to check out the city again and actually get out and shoot it. It's been well over ten

Firelit family portrait with a little flash

2009-09-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

Group family shots don't have to be boring. Here's a fun example of my sis and family hanging out in their backyard on a summer evening.Fire is always fun to shoot, so I jumped at the chance to get some shots when my sister lit up the fire pit and busted out the skewers. (I also enjoy marshmallows on occasion!)For the shot, I knew I wanted to blur the flames a bit and keep it in the foreground.

Street Portraits-Fast and Simple

2009-09-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

It’s never easy approaching complete strangers on the street, not for me anyway. I like to photograph people though and I’ve found that shooting with a long telephoto lens on the sly can yield interesting candid portraits, but it’s cowardly and some might say a little creepy. I think the word is paparazzi. If you want to get nice intimate portraits of your fellow humans you just have to go up

Update: SOLD-Macbook Pro and Lumedyne for sale on Ebay

2009-09-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

I've just put some equipment up for sale on Ebay. It's all nice gear in excellent condition. Check them out here: Lumedyne 400 w/s strobe kit 15" MacBook Pro

Studio in the Garden

2009-08-23T23:41:00.000-07:00

This praying mantis was hanging around the garden of my little bungalow in Bali. It was late evening so I decided to get out some flashes and get a few "portraits". I had picked up a Nikon D300 a few months ago so I could start using the iTTL Creative Lighting System. (CLS). For the non-photo-geek, that means I can shoot with multiple wireless (infrared) Nikon flashes which I can control

TED talk: David Griffin of Nat Geo talks about photography. (video)

2009-08-18T00:16:00.000-07:00

I'm a huge fan of TED.com. I just watched this presentation by David Griffin, photo director of National Geographic. Good stuff. If you can't see the entire frame, click HERE to go directly to it on the TED website.If you don't know about TED.com already. Check it out. Interesting, intelligent, successful people discussing something that matters. Beats the hell out of facebook, twitter and the

Time-Lapse video, Building a Yacht

2009-08-12T00:53:00.000-07:00

I’ve always been fascinated by the time-lapse movies of huge construction projects like what you see on the Discovery Channel. This was an opportunity to make my own miniature version. The movie is made up of 2400 photographs taken at intervals ranging from one every 30 seconds to one every minute. Although this project took several months, the movie only shows a few decks of the yacht coming

Obama, the Future President

2009-08-09T02:33:00.000-07:00

There’s a saying: “It’s the journey, not the destination.” I normally subscribe to this little nugget of wisdom, but this was not the case in my effort to photograph the future president. For me, the journey sucked but the destination was great. I was based in Virginia for about six months in 2008 on a yacht project. The presidential campaign in was in full swing and I heard that Barack Obama

Extreme Airport + Video

2009-08-06T17:21:00.000-07:00

There is a place in St. Martin, Dutch West Indies where you can stand on a picture perfect Caribbean beach and get jet blasted into the water. Not your standard postcard moment. You would never be able to get this close to a huge passenger airliner anywhere else in the world. In this day and age, it’s hard to believe they still allow it. But they do and it makes for some really interesting

Rainy Season Blues

2009-08-06T01:23:00.000-07:00

“Don’t go in the rainy season.” That’s what the guidebooks say, but for photography, rain is not always a bad thing. If you only have a few weeks, you probably don’t want to go in the rainy season. (Especially if you’re headed to tropical Southeast Asia.) Understood. I’ve traveled to Angkor Wat in Cambodia two dozen times. Sometimes shooting for assignments and other times on personal projects.

Zoo Portraits

2009-08-06T00:44:00.000-07:00

Animal portraits can be hard to come by. Wildlife photography is a very specialized and challenging art. Not only do you have to be able to survive “out in the wild” you‘ve got to know your subjects very well and wait for them to appear. You could easily spend months waiting for a shot to come together and you rarely get a second chance. Hats off to the wildlife photographers who spend their

Tanah Lot Temple, Bali

2009-08-05T01:57:00.000-07:00

Tanah Lot sea temple is one of the most sacred Hindu sites in Bali. Balinese temples aren’t generally known for their size or extravagance but rather their spectacular locations. Tanah Lot is perched on a natural lava island that lies just offshore above the pounding waves. It’s joined to the shore by a lava bridge that appears at low tide. After winding your way through the maze of tourist

Tropical Waterfall and Blurred Motion

2009-08-04T19:52:00.000-07:00

Waterfalls just beg to be photographed. I can’t pass by one without getting a few shots. It’s never a quick process though. You see, I’m fascinated by moving water and I feel the need, especially in the case of a waterfall, to show that motion. That means setting up the tripod and a cable release, trying different shutter speeds and then discovering a new perspective and repeating the process.

Petronas Towers-a New Look at an Old Favorite

2009-08-04T19:21:00.000-07:00

No matter where you go in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia you can see the Petronas Twin Towers. At one time, they were the tallest buildings in the world but were quickly outdone in 2004 by Taipei 101 in Taiwan and this year the Burj Dubai will take the crown. At 88 stories, the Petronas Towers are still the tallest "twin towers" in the world. More shots below. They’re impossible to ignore. The towers

Angkor Wat and the Fountain of Sorrow

2009-08-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

One of my most memorable moments traveling and taking photographs was on my first trip to see the 1100 year-old Buddhist temples of Angkor in Cambodia. It was in October 2001 and I arrived at Angkor Wat at 5am to photograph the temples at sunrise. It was still very dark so I stumbled around the temple grounds looking for a place to set up my camera and watch as Angkor appeared before my eyes.

A Home in the Hills. Colorado

2009-08-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

Having a blog is a great place to show some nice shots that don’t necessarily belong in my portfolio. This is one of those. It’s a quick shot I grabbed while in Colorado a few years ago. I was up in the mountains to see the aspens changing color but I was a few weeks late to see the real show. We ended up down some back road and came upon this beautiful log home fronting the most colorful aspens

F22 Raptor at the Miramar Airshow

2009-08-03T01:21:00.000-07:00

Ever since the movie Top Gun came out I’ve been fascinated with fighter jets. As a kid, I went through a phase where I built model airplanes like crazy. It was a bit of an obsession. At times, I would build 2 or 3 models a week. More than 20 model planes and helicopters hung from the ceiling of my bedroom and I knew all the specs for each aircraft. (Girls were discovered later.) More shots below

Tripod on a boat?

2009-08-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

I always get a funny look when pull a tripod out on a moving boat. I understand. I mean, where can I set it up so my camera won’t move? Believe it or not, there are ways to use a tripod on a moving boat. I was on as an event photographer for the Andaman Sea Rally in 2004 which is a sailing race from Phuket, Thailand to the Andaman Islands, India. Nearly 14 days of sailing, one of the most casual

How to Photograph: Stage Lighting

2009-08-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

This is a shot of a Balinese dancer during a traditional Barong dance performance. Photographing shows in stage lighting is challenging. In bad stage light, it can be a nightmare. With stage lighting, I normally shoot in Manual mode. Spot lit performers against dark backgrounds will fool a camera’s meter every time. The subject will end up overexposed. Stage lighting is usually very uneven

Beach Cottage and Small Flash

2009-08-01T02:46:00.000-07:00

There are some really interesting little hotels in Indonesia. I was staying in this cool little A-frame cottage just a few steps away from turquoise waters of the Gili Islands. It was a great little room with a beautiful outdoor bathroom (Bali style). It was midday with the sun high, which meant a lot of shadows and not much color in the sky. I used the nice foliage to frame the cottage to give

Osprey chick on the Great Barrier Reef

2009-07-31T01:12:00.000-07:00

I was in Australia out on the Great Barrier Reef a few years ago. On a small spit of sand not far from Lizard Island. I came upon this young osprey chick that had been blown out of its nest. The wind was steady at about 20-25 knots and this young bird was still discovering his wings and wasn’t able to fly yet, especially with the strong winds. He was perched on a large piece of driftwood on the

Frog-Macro with Flash

2009-07-28T19:11:00.000-07:00

I was in far north Queensland, Australia shooting for the magazine Asia Pacific Tropical Homes in 2004. I was photographing interiors and architecture of some of tropical Australia’s most distinct private villas. I was lucky enough to be staying in one incredible villa situated back in a lush rainforest. At night, the sounds of the jungle were deafening. Insects, birds, bats and frogs all trying

Cyclo Driver in Phnom Penh

2009-07-27T01:41:00.000-07:00

I was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia shooting various assignments. I was instructed to photograph various aspects on the cyclo drivers that pedal people and goods all over the dusty capital city. I had this idea for a shot that could be a good opening spread for the story and I just needed to bring all the elements together. I set out with a motorbike driver around 4pm to cruise around and look for

Angkor Wat and small flash.

2009-07-25T00:25:00.000-07:00

Angkor Wat in Cambodia is one of my favorite places in the world. The 1100-year-old temples are the jungle ravaged remains of the mighty Khmer Empire. I have been lucky enough to visit Angkor more than two dozen times and it seems I always find something new. This shot of the apsara relief in the central gallery of Angkor Wat is a good one to demonstrate the need for off-camera flash. It was

Super Yachts and Lingerie.

2009-07-20T01:57:00.000-07:00

In my other life, I work on yachts. Simply described, they are the big, luxurious toys of the super rich. It pays better than photography (in my experience) and working and living on these beautiful boats does have its perks. We were docked in St. Martin in the eastern Caribbean last year for few months. Of course, I can’t ignore a great photo opportunity. I spent most of my down time

Fire Dancer on the Beach

2009-07-18T00:13:00.000-07:00

This is a good example of how many complex shots come together. You have a plan then everything changes and you have to improvise and get creative. This is a shot of Christina fire dancing on a beach in Mexico. I had intended to photograph her much earlier in the evening. I wanted the sky to have some nice evening blue to complement the orange fire, but we missed the window. More shots below It

Handheld Flash Underwater

2009-07-15T01:47:00.000-07:00

It doesn’t take long to discover the limits of having a strobe mounted on a fixed arm. The first time I went diving with a Nikonos V and 105 Substrobe, I did like most people and mounted the strobe on the arm and base plate blah, blah, blah. It made sense, it was part of a kit and that’s how it looked in the manual. Good job. I found a huge moray eel back in a dark crevice and was futilely