Editorial Travel Photographer Susan Seubert and Crater Lake for Travel Oregon Online Magazine

Today, Travel Oregon launched a story online about Crater Lake and included a gallery of my photographs to illustrate the text.  Crater Lake National Park is the only National Park in the State of Oregon and attracts close to 500,000 people annually.  The lake itself was formed when Mt. Mazama collapsed approximately 7700 years ago.  This lake which formed inside the caldera is fed almost entirely by snow melt and is the deepest lake in the United States, at just under 600 meters deep.  The clarity and blueness of the water are unique and is one of the major draws to the park.  There was no image manipulation to enhance the color in the pictures – it’s truly that blue, particularly when you visit on a sunny day, which, in Oregon, can be a gamble.  I did use a circular polarizing filter to help remove surface glare for some of the images.  The 2.2 mile round trip Cleetwood Cove Trail is the only access to the water where tourists are able to take a boat trip and explore the interior of the volcanic basin.  The historic Crater Lake Lodge, which was recently renovated, sits on the edge of the caldera and offers sweeping views of the lake from it’s porch.  It’s the perfect place to sit and contemplate the volcanism of the region whilst enjoying a local beer, glass of wine or perhaps a cup of coffee.  The rooms are cozy but if you want to stay here, it’s best to make your reservations well in advance.  Since it is only open seasonally, the rooms fill up quickly.  Otherwise, the park offers many hiking trails and the nearby Mazama Village offers some camping options.

Crater Lake as the sun starts to light up the rim of the caldera, the start of a perfect day to explore the lake

The end of the Cleetwood Cove Trail where you can board the tourist boats for a tour on the lake itself.

Fishing is allowed without a permit. For a few dollars more, one can be dropped off at Wizard Island and fish all day.

The clarity of the water and one of the many streams fed by snow melt are seen here, from the point of view of one of the tourist boats on the lake.

The so called “Phantom Ship” geologic formation that sits inside Crater Lake

A tip for photographing Crater Lake – a circular polarizer filter can be instrumental for helping take great images of the lake on a calm day.   I always have a few of these tucked in my kit as they are handy for other situations where water, or other glare, can be a problem.

Please note that all images on this site are copyright protected and may not be used without express permission from Susan Seubert.

Thank you!!!

Editorial and Travel Photographer Susan Seubert shoots Toronto for National Geographic Traveler

Greetings!  The May 2013 issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine features a story about Toronto which I had the privilege of being assigned to photograph. This was my second assignment in Toronto.   During the shoot, it was thrilling to discover such an incredible amount of diversity within the various neighborhoods.  National Geographic Traveler does not have a photo gallery of this story online, so I am posting the story here as it appears in the print edition of the magazine, but I encourage you to seek out the May issue either as an iPad edition, which features more images, as well as the print edition, which is packed full of interesting articles about travel throughout the world.

The best moments from this assignment were dreamy.  Discovering Little India was gorgeous with its saree shops and roasted corn on the street.  Queen West has a plethora of shops selling unique items from around the world along with very modern art galleries.  One lovely evening, I took the ferry to Center Island and witnessed a beautiful sunset and some great views of the classic Toronto skyline.  Canada is a great country and Toronto is one example of a fantastic urban area to explore.  Please enjoy and thank you for visiting.

The opening magazine spread from the Drake Hotel

The next page, featuring photos from Kensington Market and the Center Island Ferry

Coffee, shopping in Chinatown and the marvelous Brickworks

One of my favorites – a room at the artful Gladstone Hotel and the most adorable couple who own Chandon Fashion in Little India

A glorious day outside the Drake Hotel’s cafe and the neighborhood bar, the Communist’s Daughter, where you can catch some amazing jazz

The last spread in the print magazine: Guff, a vintage furniture store in Leslieville and the Royal Ontario Museum

Travel Photographer Susan Seubert at Khao Sok National Park in Thailand

While on assignment last year in Thailand, one of the places I was sent to photograph was the Elephant Hills Resort located in the Khao Sok National Park.  This resort has two locations: 1) a luxury tented camp located adjacent to the Khao Sok National Park and 2) a line of floating luxury tents that are situated on water in the Cheow Larn reservoir called The Rainforest Camp.  This body of water was created when the Ratchaprapha dam was built in 1982 on the Khlong Saeng River.  Khao Sok National Park boasts the largest area of virgin forest in Southern Thailand.  Elephant Hills on land offers kayaking, jungle trekking and helping to care for the captive Asian elephants.  These elephants were used for logging and after those operations stopped, the elephants became part of a sustainable tourism program in Thailand.  At Elephant Hills you don’t ride the animals, but feed and bathe them while the mahout gives you guidance and education about these amazing animals.  I had the pleasure of covering both properties.  The shoots were fast and furious, a day at each location, with the usual challenges.  However, it was beautiful to kayak on the Sok River, feed the elephants and listen to the sounds of the jungle from my tent at night.

At the Rainforest Camp, I was fortunate enough to not only experience some fine kayaking and long tail boat rides, the guide took me on a jungle trek.  Within ten minutes on the trail, we were lucky enough to encounter three different types of primates: Macaques, Gibbons and Langurs.  They were very agitated and making lots of noise.

Here is an audio recording of what we heard:  khao_sok_monkeys.  I encourage you to have a listen.

Initially, the guides thought that the monkey ruckus was because of a territory dispute given that they were all in a jack-fruit tree.  We soon discovered that the monkeys were upset because there was a clouded leopard sitting in the tree directly above us, likely deciding which type of monkey it might like to have for lunch.  I looked up just in time to see it leap across the branches above my head, crawl down the back of the tree, head first, and silently creep off into the jungle.  (read: missed the shot!)  Everyone in our group was shocked as these wild cats are not expected to occur in this area.  As we continued hiking through dense ficus we ended up at a limestone cave which was filled, much to my dismay, with bat eating snakes.  I wasn’t told that we’d be heading to a cave, much less one filled with hungry snakes, so I hadn’t brought a torch.  When the guide noticed me climbing up one of the slippery rock formations to try to get a better shot of the cavernous space, he yelled up to me, “mind where you put your hands.  There are loads of snakes!” and directed his torch to one curled up on the top of a very tall stalagmite.  I froze in utter fear, then slid down the steep, muddy outcropping to safety.  We poked around the cave and found a few snakes in the wall crevices.  One had a very full belly, an indication of a successful hunt.  We finished off the day with a long tail boat ride back to camp where we immediately hit the mammal identification books to confirm our leopard sighting.  It was a marvelous experience and an assignment I’ll never forget.

Another day at the office! Taking a long-tail boat back to the camp for breakfast after a dawn shoot.

Feeding the elephants at the Elephant Experience at Elephant Hills Resort

The mahout helps the elephant give me a kiss!

You can see more images from Elephant Hills in Thailand on my stock photography site here.

Thank you for visiting!

Oregon’s Bounty – Food Photographs by Susan Seubert

Yesterday I received a stock request for some local food. As I was digging around in my archives, I was reminded about yet another reason I love Oregon – the food. For restaurant variety, quality and price, Portland is hard to beat. Of course it’s upstaged by the major cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, but we still are regularly celebrated in the national press for some of the greatest restaurants in America. However, this may not be possible without the amazing behind-the-scene scene: the farmers and fishermen that harvest and grow the bounty of Oregon. The slow food movement abounds here, and sustainability is practiced like a religion. My favorite thing to do is to visit the farmers’ market in downtown Portland on a Saturday in the summer – to marvel at the outstanding quality and peruse the amazing variety of produce, meats, cheeses and treats, then stock up for meals for the week. Here are some images from the Portland Farmers’ Market to enjoy while we wait for summer to arrive.

Oregon Blackberries

Hood Strawberries – the sweetest!

Farmers’ Market display and sentiment

Dungeness Crab at the Portland Farmers’ Market

Wild harvested Chanterelle Mushrooms

Justin Woodward named finalist for James Beard Award Rising Star Chef of the Year

Castagna Restaurant in Portland, Oregon not only happens to be in my hometown, it is also one of the finest restaurants at which I’ve had the pleasure of dining.  One of many things in life I’m grateful for is the fact that my husband loves to cook and has quite a talent for making everything – from dashi to demi-glace, simple pastas or seared duck breast with peppercorn infused, poached pears.  Because of this, it’s very difficult to find a restaurant that can out-do what my amazing partner in life creates in our humble home kitchen.  Castagna is the only restaurant we’ve been to together where when we sit down, we prepare for the question that always arises, “how did he do THAT?”  The food at Castagna is art and is often celebrated, (and criticized), for the same reasons.  However, there is one undeniable fact – you can’t eat like this anywhere else West of the Mississippi and most definitely nowhere else in Portland.  The food at Castagna has amazing attention given to not only the quality of the ingredients, but also the beauty of them.  The service is absolutely world class.  The desserts, like this chocolate dish, are some of the best I’ve ever encountered, thanks to the pastry chef,  Eve Kuttman. Although I love the food scene in Portland, I’ve always felt that Castagna is in a class of its own.  This year, the chef Justin Woodward is receiving the recognition from the James Beard Foundation in the form of a nomination for Rising Star Chef of the Year.  Congratulations Justin!  Thank you for all of your creativity, hard work and the delicious, incredible food.

Executive Chef Justin Woodward of Castagna Restaurant. Nominated for Rising Star Chef of the Year by the James Beard Foundation

The dining room of Castagna Restaurant in Portland, Oregon

cherries, almond ice cream and birch

Cucumbers, salmon cured in cypress and yogurt

Bon Appétit Names Pok Pok and Swan’s Oyster Depot in their top 20 Most Important Restaurants in America

One of my favorite photographic subjects to cover is food.  I have found food to be one of the best ways to learn about a culture, explore a city, or use as an avenue to common ground with just about anyone.  Food unites us in so many ways, so I’m always interested in making sure that some aspect of food is included in most of the feature travel stories that I am assigned.  I’ve been extremely fortunate to have photographed two of the 20 Most Important Restaurants in America that appear in this month’s Bon Appetit Magazine.  You can read the story online here.  I like the way they laid out this story on their web site.  Most locations have a lead image, then there are details of the food or interiors in a smaller slideshow – images that give a sense of place – in a gallery under the main photograph.  For our home town pride of Portland, Andy Ricker represents, founder of Pok Pok, the Whiskey Soda Lounge and Ping, and is featured in the article.  When I was working on a story about San Francisco, I was excited to cover Swan’s Oyster Depot – a classic San Francisco eatery where locals dine on some of the freshest seafood available in the city.  Bon Appetit used my image to illustrate the restaurant in the story.

A nice summer’s evening at Pok Pok, Andy Ricker’s famous Thai restaurant in Southeast Portland, OR

Restauranteur, Andy Ricker with freshly pressed sugar cane juice at his Portland, Oregon restaurant, Pok Pok

Swan’s Oyster Depot in San Francisco has been open since 1912. Fresh oysters on the half shell.

The interior of Swan’s Oyster Depot in San Francisco, which often has a line out the door.

All images on this site are copyright © 2013 Susan Seubert and may not be used for any reason without express permission from Susan Seubert

Thank you!!!

Happy Birthday Grand Central Terminal!

Grand Central Terminal, New York City

Today marks the 100th anniversary of Grand Central Terminal, that iconic building where many people from all over the world have visited to marvel at the architecture, catch a train, visit the coolest bar in New York City, (the Campbell Apartment), go shopping or simply people watch.  When I was on assignment for National Geographic Traveler Magazine, I was assigned to cover this icon of New York architecture.  I learned many things about the massive complex, which included a tour of the underground tunnels designed for the purpose of evacuating presidents and other dignitaries in the case of an emergency.  The ceiling has been restored, but one small patch was left to show how much environmental pollution from the trains had damaged the original fresco.  There is still the hole in the ceiling from where a rocket was displayed back in the 1950′s when NASA miscalculated the height of the rocket by 6 inches, the zodiac on the ceiling is depicted backwards, (with speculation that this was a mistake by the artist), and the clock faces above the information desk remain the most valuable items in the main hall as they are made from the precious stone, opal.  Christie’s and Sotheby’s estimate the clock to be worth between ten and twenty million dollars. This image has stayed in my portfolio for many years because I find it to be a constant reminder of my love of New York City.

Happy Birthday Grand Central!