Looking for an adrenalin rush? Check out our video of CMH’s newest summer adventure, dramatic scenery where the Bobbie Burns guides have developed a new Conrad Glacier Experience for 2012 with bridges, ziplines and waterfalls.

CMH used the our video to launch ‘The Wildest New Adventure in North America”.

Brett Lawrence setting the course for the new Conrad Glacier experience, Bobbie Burns lodge

Brett Lawrence zip lining across glacial river, working with Bruce Howatt to create the newest Conrad Glacier Experience

The CMH blog written by Topher Donahue also interviews Bruce Howatt, the manager of CMH Bobbie Burns – here’s an excerpt from his post: “You’re right. It isn’t a via ferrata nor is it anywhere close to a traditional hike. The trip is hiking, navigating wild canyons using bridges and rungs, ascending colourful rock slabs right next to waterfalls, zipline crossings, traversing rock walls next to a glacier and, coming soon, more climbing, waterfalls and hopefully some crevasse crossings. All this is mixed into some of the most scenic, mind-blowing, wild mountain hiking you can imagine. Blue glaciers, dark orange rock and bright green ponds are everywhere.”

An exhilarating excursion to the summit of Mt. Nimbus along North America\’s longest and most extensive via ferrata route. Deep in the Purcell mountains, the Bobbie Burns mountain guides designed and created a Via Ferrata (Italian for \”Iron Way\”)

We also enjoyed more ‘traditional’ heli-hiking excursions from the Bobbie Burns and Bugaboos base lodges, though the experiences were far from any other hiking experience I’ve encountered in the world.

Heli - Hiking the spectacular Anthea’s - A half-day, resoundingly alpine hike along a goat trail up to a high ridge, with great views of the Conrad Glacier, looking down at towering ice needles and into looming crevasses, Bobbie Burns Lodge.

Access to spectacular varied scenery was endless with the helicopter dropping us off where the best weather and conditions prevailed. I spent a month ‘roughing it’ hiking to Everest Base camp, and while the Himalayan views certainly rivaled Canada I’ve never expeienced adventures based from refined, remote mountain lodges with a highly-trained pastry & head chef cooking with health, flavour, and presentation in mind, using the finest fresh Western Canadian ingredients!

Heli - Hiking the spectacular Ridge Rooftop, a rocky, above-timberline hike. and one of the best places to get a 360 degree view of the southern Columbias , Bugaboo Spires, and the Canadian Rockies, Bugaboos Lodge.

Enjoying my view from the top of Ridge Rooftop hike, Bugaboos Lodge

View of Bugaboos spires from Bugaboos Lodge

Here’s a few last vantage points, I’ve created 360 degree virtual reality tours of two locations, click here to view (you’ll need a fast internet connection to view the detailed hd panos)

http://andreajohnsonphotography.com/portfolios/projects/360-panoramic

For 30+ years CMH has been guiding guests on extraordinary lodge-based journeys in BC’s Canadian Rockies. Here’s a link to their website and blog with more details about these adventures:

http://blog.canadianmountainholidays.com/the-adventure/bid/76933/The-Wildest-New-Adventure-in-North-America

On June 28th, 2011 Dale R. Johnson died in a freak accident while working with an excavator to pull out a tree stump in his front yard. He was alone; the cause of death determined by medical professionals was a blunt trauma to the head and chest that broke his neck – he died instantly. Although we had recently divorced after fifteen years of marriage , we remained close and he was an integral part of my life. A celebration of life service will be held in Portland, Oregon on July 17th at 4pm – if you’d like to attend please contact me directly for details.

I have avoided speaking about my personal life in my business because I hadn’t felt it was appropriate, but I now feel compelled to share so many things I wished I’d said before. Dale was my biggest supporter, he helped establish my photography career and worked tirelessly behind the scenes. He had the patience of a saint, and was kind, spirited, adventurous, funny, creative and had an amazing capacity to care for others and love. He helped me focus on what was really important in life; beyond all the professional accolades or successes what I most cherish is the love he showed unconditionally and his ability to live life to the fullest. While I was driven and endlessly active, he balanced my energy with his calmness and ability to find peace in the stillness; he was my rock and he enabled me to become what I am today. I will forever be grateful to him for all has done and his spirit will be deeply missed by so many people whose lives he touched profoundly.

We kept a journal of our personal journey – our round the world trip from Oct 2000 to December 2001, which I’d recently archived in this blog (see archive entries by those dates). Below is a summary of a life well lived, details of moments behind the photographs I haven’t shared with many before now.

Dale in 1994, portrait I took right after he proposed on ferry en route to Victoria, Canada

Our wedding reception in Portland; this photo ended up on the cover of the Portland bridal guide book

In October of 2000 we quit our jobs and began a 14 month journey backpacking around the world. The first leg of the trip was riding our harley down highway 101 from Portland to LA.

Portrait of us riding the harley through wine country in Napa

Australian Outback Highway. We bought a used subaru and drove over 10,000 miles throughout Australia, camping in remote locations. This photo really is more Dale's than mine - before I feel asleep I asked him to find the perfect straight road and puffy white clouds, when I woke up a few hours later he's stopped the car in this spot.

Scuba diving with 60 year old turtle in Sipidan, Borneo & portrait of us in Fiji. Together we logged over 100 dives in Hawaii, Belize, Fiji, French Polynesia, & the Philippines - our favorite was the month spent in Palau, Micronesia. Dale was a much better diver than me, able to photograph while maneuvering through very technical and challenging terrain.

Rock climbing in Koh Phi Phi, Thailand. We were on this island during Sept 11, 2001 - our Muslim friends were incredibly kind and hospitable. We stayed on the island for three months & became rock climbing instructors and website designers for a Thai friend, Suchard who owned Phi Phi Climbers. After the tsunami hit this tiny island in December of 2004 we helped raise over $2,500 to help in the rebuilding and relief of this island community.

Our tandum bungy jump off 141 foot Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown, New Zealand - the world's 1st Commercial Bungy Jump. In addition to the scuba diving and rock climbing, we were constantly enjoying adventure activities together including mountain biking, white water and sea kayaking, snowboarding, and trekking. In Nepal we hiked independently and carried our own packs from Jiri, near Kathmandu to Everest Base camp, spending a month along the trail and covering over 60,000 feet of elevation change during the journey.

Dale strung this prayer flag near Everest Base camp in honor of his mother who was battling cancer at the time (she has successfully recovered twice). Mt. Everest is the center peak with least amount of snow, deceptively Nuptse appears taller in the foreground.

Sunrise over Himalayas near Everest Base Camp, Khumbu region, Nepal. Although I took this photo, I hardly remember it. Dale woke me early one morning and helped guide me outside the teahouse; I was suffering dysentery and a scratched cornea and only took two slides of this scene, miraculously this handheld shot turned out and became a signature from our trip. If you view this image 90 degrees counter clockwise you'll see the spirit of the himalaya profile.

These portraits were taken at the end of our 14 month journey in Thailand, where we returned briefly to recover from our Nepal trek. During our adventure we'd continued to simply our lives, and by the end our out journey we managed to live off US $20 dollars a day total expenses. We'd lost 15 and 20 pounds but were healthy, strong, happy, and balanced.

Portrait of me standing inside the Wave, Coyote Buttes, Paria Canyon Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness National Monument, Arizona. After Dale & I returned from our overseas journey we decided to explore the natural wonders closer to home. This photo was truly a collaborative effort, and helped give me the confidence to begin my freelance photography business when it was chosen by National Geographic Adventure magazine as a contest winner - see link below.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0312/readers_photo.html

Dale hiking in Alabama Hills with Mt. Whitney in background.

Dale & I dressed up in theme for his 40th birthday party at our house, August 2003.

Our front yard summer of 2004, one year after we'd completely redesigned the landscape. Dale worked with the Dave, Drew, and Dan Porter to create this oasis, a five foot and two foot waterfall feeding into two streams and small pond. All the plants were native and hardy (with the exception of the bamboo borders). Dale continued to work with the Porters/ BCI contracting to construct wetland restorations in large scale throughout Oregon & Washington.

Dale's portrait of me taking a break from snowshoeing around Crater Lake, winter of 2004. We continued to explore and photograph together whenever possible, though it became challenging to balance our new businesses and time together.

Dale kayaking at dawn with Mt. Hood in background. This photo was taken for a VIA magazine cover and feature story. Dale helped behind the scenes and was the model for countless photographs.

Dale at home Sept 2006

To see more photos of Dale, click the link below

http://andreajohnson.photoshelter.com/gallery/Dale-Johnson-memorial/G0000pKVz6hjomCE

Before I began my freelance photography business in 2000, I worked for a variety of sports companies (Nike as a photo producer, Aunt Mable’s and Nice Snowboarding as head of marketing, and Oregon Outdoors Magazine covering a plethora of outdoor adventure sports). Recently I’ve begun integrating my favorite passions – adventure travel and sports with wine & food, and enjoyed two bicycling assignments from Oregon Wine Press and 1859, Oregon’s Magazine. It’s the perfect balance for me, and I’ve continued to play in my own backyard hiking & biking and enjoying a variety of wine & food dining experiences on a regular basis in preparation for an exciting opportunity ahead – stay posted for details soon. Here’s a few selects from my adventures in Oregon.

Wooldridge Vineyards patio overlooking the Applegate Valley, Southern Oregon

Bicycling Klickitat trail, Columbia River Gorge, Washington

Bicycling at Cannon Beach offers closeup views of Haystack Rock, Oregon

Bicyclist silhouetted by Salmon Street Springs water fountain at Tom McCall waterfront park, Portland, Oregon

Colorful bicycle culture at Portland Pride Celebration parade

Hikers enjoy close-up view of rainbow underneath Multnomah Falls, Oregon

Hiker enjoys view of Latourell Falls, Columbia Gorge, Oregon

More Oregon photos on my stock site – http://bit.ly/Andreajohnsonphotography-Oregon

I wish I’d written this myself or shared it sooner – unfortunately it is a recurring situation that all professional photographers face. Originally posted in the Photo Society blog by Tony Wu, shared by a group of contributing photographers for National Geographic Magazine. A link to this original blog is below:

http://thephotosociety.org/blog/how-to-respond-to-requests-for-free-photography/

Reasons Why Professional Photographers Cannot Work for Free

Dear potential photo buyer,

If you have been directed to this page, it is likely that you have requested the use of an image or images for free or minimal compensation.

As professional photographers, we receive requests for free images on a regular basis. In a perfect world, each of us would love to be able to respond in a positive manner and assist, especially with projects or efforts related to areas such as education, social issues, and conservation of natural resources. It is fair to say that in many cases, we wish we had the time and resources to do more to assist than just send photographs.

Unfortunately, such are the practicalities of life that we are often unable to respond, or that when we do, our replies are brief and do not convey an adequate sense of the reasons underlying our response.

Circumstances vary for each situation, but we have found that there are a number of recurring themes, which we have set out below with the objective of communicating more clearly with you, and hopefully avoiding misunderstandings or unintentionally engendering ill will.

Please take the following points in the constructive manner in which they are intended. We certainly hope that after you have had a chance to read this, we will be able to talk again and establish a mutually beneficial working relationship.

Photographs Are Our Livelihood
Creating compelling images is the way we make our living. If we give away our images for free, or spend too much time responding to requests for free images, we cannot make a living.

We Do Support Worthy Causes With Images
Most of us do contribute photographs, sometimes more, to support certain causes. In many cases, we may have participated directly in projects that we support with images, or we may have a pre-existing personal relationship with key people involved with the efforts concerned. In other words, each of us can and does provide images without compensation on a selective basis.

We Have Time Constraints
Making a leap from such selective support to responding positively to every request we get for free photographs, however, is impractical, if for no other reason than the substantial amount of time required to respond to requests, exchange correspondence, prepare and send files, and then follow-up to find out how our images were used and what objectives, if any, were achieved. It takes a lot of time to respond to requests, and time is always in short supply.

Pleas of “We Have No Money” Are Often Difficult to Fathom
The primary rationale provided in nearly all requests for free photographs is budgetary constraint, meaning that the requestor pleads a lack of funds.

Such requests frequently originate from organisations with a lot of cash on hand, whether they be publicly listed companies, government or quasi-government agencies, or even NGOs. Often, it is a simple matter of taking a look at a public filing or other similar disclosure document to see that the entity concerned has access to significant funding, certainly more than enough to pay photographers a reasonable fee should they choose to do so.

To make matters worse, it is apparent that all too often, of all the parties involved in a project or particular effort, photographers are the only ones being asked to work for free. Everyone else gets paid.

Given considerations like this, you can perhaps understand why we frequently feel slighted when we are told that: “We have no money.” Such claims can come across as a cynical ploy intended to take advantage of gullible individuals.

We Have Real Budget Constraints
With some exceptions, photography is not a highly remunerative profession. We have chosen this path in large part due to the passion we have for visual communication, visual art, and the subject matters in which we specialise.

The substantial increase in photographs available via the internet in recent years, coupled with reduced budgets of many photo buyers, means that our already meager incomes have come under additional strain.

Moreover, being a professional photographer involves significant monetary investment.

Our profession is by nature equipment-intensive. We need to buy cameras, lenses, computers, software, storage devices, and more on a regular basis. Things break and need to be repaired. We need back-ups of all our data, as one ill-placed cup of coffee could literally erase years of work. For all of us, investment in essential hardware and software entails thousands of dollars a year, as we need to stay current with new technology and best practices.

In addition, travel is a big part of many of our businesses. We must spend a lot of money on transportation, lodging and other travel-related costs.

And of course, perhaps most importantly, there is a substantial sum associated with the time and experience we have invested to become proficient at what we do, as well as the personal risks we often take. Taking snapshots may only involve pressing the camera shutter release, but creating images requires skill, experience and judgement.

So the bottom line is that although we certainly understand and can sympathise with budget constraints, from a practical point of view, we simply cannot afford to subsidise everyone who asks.

Getting “Credit” Doesn’t Mean Much
Part and parcel with requests for free images premised on budgetary constraints is often the promise of providing “credit” and “exposure”, in the form or a watermark, link, or perhaps even a specific mention, as a form of compensation in lieu of commercial remuneration.

There are two major problems with this.

First, getting credit isn’t compensation. We did, after all, create the images concerned, so credit is automatic. It is not something that we hope a third party will be kind enough to grant us.

Second, credit doesn’t pay bills. As we hopefully made clear above, we work hard to make the money required to reinvest in our photographic equipment and to cover related business expenses. On top of that, we need to make enough to pay for basic necessities like food, housing, transportation, etc.

In short, receiving credit for an image we created is a given, not compensation, and credit is not a substitute for payment.

“You Are The Only Photographer Being Unreasonable”
When we do have time to engage in correspondence with people and entities who request free photos, the dialogue sometimes degenerates into an agitated statement directed toward us, asserting in essence that all other photographers the person or entity has contacted are more than delighted to provide photos for free, and that somehow, we are “the only photographer being unreasonable”.

We know that is not true.

We also know that no reasonable and competent photographer would agree to unreasonable conditions. We do allow for the fact that some inexperienced photographers or people who happen to own cameras may indeed agree to work for free, but as the folk wisdom goes: “You get what you pay for.”

Please Follow-Up
One other experience we have in common is that when we do provide photographs for free, we often do not receive updates, feedback or any other form of follow-up letting us know how the event or project unfolded, what goals (if any) were achieved, and what good (if any) our photos did.

All too often, we don’t even get responses to emails we send to follow-up, until, of course, the next time that someone wants free photographs.

In instances where we do agree to work for free, please have the courtesy to follow-up and let us know how things went. A little consideration will go a long way in making us feel more inclined to take time to provide additional images in the future.

Wrap Up
We hope that the above points help elucidate why the relevant photographer listed below has sent you to this link. All of us are dedicated professionals, and we would be happy to work with you to move forward in a mutually beneficial manner.

Note to photographers: You can use the above text under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Please ensure that you include a link to this page. If you’d like to add your name to the list below, please use the contact form. Text by Tony Wu.