All Posts By

Phil Colla

AntarcticaPenguinSouthern Ocean

Standing Around Looking Cool

These Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) in Antarctica seem unable to make up their minds which way to go. In fact, they are on a mission, walking from their nests on Paulet Island to the edge of the water, to swim out to sea and forage. I had earlier laid my…
April 13, 2011
iPhone

iPhone Panorama Photos

Making Panoramic Photographs with the Apple iPhone 4 First, a Bit of Background... I recently shared a fun roadtrip with some buddies for a bit of fresh air and landscape photography at a handful of iconic American Southwest locations. Each of us had the iPhone 4 so naturally we spent…
April 4, 2011
AntarcticaSouthern Ocean

Tabular Iceberg Photos

Photos of Tabular Icebergs in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean Some of the most impressive sights I beheld during my trip along the Antarctic Peninsula were enormous tabular icebergs. Tabular icebergs are sheets of ice, sometimes many miles long, that detach from Antarctica and travel with currents about the Southern…
March 25, 2011
CanadaSalmon

Adams River Sockeye Salmon Swimming Upstream

Sockeye Salmon swims upstream in the Adams River. This is another sockeye salmon photograph (Oncorhynchus nerka) that took a while to grow on me, but which is now one of my favorites. Usually underwater photographers spend much of their time trying to eliminate backscatter and bubbles from their compositions, hoping…
March 21, 2011
CanadaSalmon

Sockeye Salmon Migrating Up The Adams River

A group of sockeye salmon school tightly as they migrate upstream in the Adams River. In reviewing some images I shot last year I realized I almost trashed this one during the initial edit. I'm glad I saved it, because in the months since I shot it last October it…
March 20, 2011
Wisdom

Photography Travel Gear Checklist

Below is my pre-trip photography gear checklist, to make sure I don't forget anything. On any photography trip I take it is guaranteed that I will forget something important, but by using my little list I keep the forgotten gear to a minimum and I can usually improvise with what…
March 2, 2011
PanoramasWisdom

A Tale of Two Panoramas and One iPhone

Recently I encountered two panoramic photo situations in which the software that I am accustomed to using for stitching panoramas failed. It gave me the impetus to try Photoshop for panoramas, with mixed results explained below. And the biggest surprise of my recent panorama efforts has been with, well, you'll…
February 24, 2011
DesertThe American SouthwestWildflowers

Palm Canyon Brittlebush

This brittlebush photo, at dawn in Palm Canyon in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, was one of only a handful of desert wildflower photos I made last year. It is raining again, the second bout of rain the coast of Southern California has received this week. This is on the…
February 19, 2011
Skip's Trips

Backyard Wilderness

From Skip: I jokingly suggested to Phil that I should do a blog entry titled ”Skip Stubbs in the wilds of his backyard” based on my rejected photos for this year’s nature’s best backyards contest. He said “sure, we could do that.” So here we go. All photos were taken…
February 10, 2011
CaliforniaHarbor SealWildlife

Cute Harbor Seal

This harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) was quite animated. Most of the harbor seals lie on the sand throughout the day, resting between foraging sessions in the ocean, while younger/smaller seals seem to exhibit most of the activity. It is nearly February and just about time for newborn harbor seal pups…
January 27, 2011
Beautiful Views of San DiegoLa JollaSeascapes

Torrey Pines Sunset

Torrey Pines State Park Sunset Tracy and I were treated to a spectacular sunset cloud show at the Torrey Pines Gliderport in La Jolla recently. These two photographs were made just a few minutes apart. The first looks south along Black's Beach towards La Jolla, with the Scripps Institution of…
January 25, 2011
Beautiful Views of San DiegoLa JollaSan Diego

La Jolla Photos

La Jolla Photos I have been having fun recently making new photographs of one of my favorite cities in California: La Jolla. I spent about 10 years living in La Jolla, first in undergrad and graduate school at UCSD then a while longer before moving to North County (Del Mar,…
January 19, 2011
Skip's Trips

Skip Stubbs at Bosque Del Apache NWR 2010

I spent a few days with my good friend Skip Stubbs at Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico. We photographed cranes and geese and enjoyed the surroundings at this bird refuge along the Rio Grande river an hour south of Albuquerque. Click the big image to see a selection…
January 4, 2011
Best Photographs of the Year

Best Photos of 2010

Best Photos of 2010 A good friend once told me that his photography goal was to shoot two or three really good images each year. I've tried to keep that in mind in the years since. It is only on looking back over the last year's photographs, having now removed…
December 31, 2010
CaliforniaLa JollaPelicans of La JollaSeabird

La Jolla Pelicans

I was recently contacted by a fellow from outside the country who would like to visit La Jolla to photograph, among other things, California brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus), but was concerned about access to the bluff where these birds are best photographed. Since I had not been down to…
December 24, 2010
Southern Ocean

The Drake Passage, Southern Ocean

The Drake Passage is rumored to be the nastiest, meanest, toughest ocean crossing in the world. Many who round Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America relate the impressiveness of the Drake's ocean swells. It is a crossing of the Drake, typically a two-day affair during which the…
December 23, 2010
AntarcticaHumpback WhaleSouthern Ocean

Neko Harbor, Antarctica

Photos of Neko Harbor, Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica I awoke this morning to find us in the calm anchorage of Paradise Bay. The water was glass, and bergs were slowly drifting by the boat, riding tidal currents. I set up a time lapse sequence on the stern of the boat and…
December 20, 2010
AntarcticaSouthern Ocean

Peterman Island, Antarctica

Photos of Peterman Island, Antarctica Soon after passing through the Lemaire Channel we arrive at Peterman Island. Peterman Island is a relatively low-lying, somewhat flattish granite island with scattered gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) colonies and some small ponds. Rounded rocks along the edge of the island are awash with small…
December 18, 2010
AntarcticaSouthern Ocean

Lemaire Channel, Antarctica

Soon after leaving Port Lockroy in our wake, we arrive at the famous Lemaire Channel, noted for its narrow confines and spectacular cliffs rising on each side. About six miles long, the LeMaire Channel takes about one hour to navigate (depending on how much ice is in the channel). Conditions…
December 17, 2010
AntarcticaSouthern Ocean

Port Lockroy, Antarctica

Photos of Port Lockroy, Antarctica It was quite early in the morning that our day began, traveling down the Neumayer Channel to tiny Goudier Island on which the Port Lockeroy base resides. The skies were heavily overcast, so we did not have an opportunity to see the magnificent surroundings that…
December 16, 2010