Fort Bragg, Oregon

Video Blogging

I've been watching YouTube videos produced by Thomas Heaton. He's a young Englishman who is turning into a terrific photographer. His videos are wonderful on so many levels ... technique and humor and emotional connection. He generates such amazing content and the images he produces are beyond wonderful. I recommend his YouTube channel to anyone who is interested in improving their game behind the lens.

I'm thinking about doing something similar. I spend 3-4 months a year on the road, visiting interesting places and finding the most amazing images to capture. It would be a good way for me to gain some exposure and fill the long hours I spend waiting for the right light. I already have all the equipment and software I need so there's very little expense involved. I'm a pretty good storyteller. It just seems like a good idea. And maybe I can make a little money along the way which isn't a bad thing. At least I could maybe pay for some new equipment and my travel expenses.

Trip Plans

I haven't made definite plans yet but things are starting to come together for the next trip home. It looks like I leave in late February and return to Crimea in mid-June. I want to get to Grand Canyon while there's still some snow and I want to get to the far north in Idaho, Montana and Washington which means I have to stick around until the snow melts in late May. I'm planning to revisit quite a few places I've not seen in a while and to add a long list of new venues to my already long list. Because the West is so big and there's so many places to see I'll be occupied for many years to come just filling out all the holes in my catalog. Hopefully I'll have my trip plans in place before Feb. 1 and will let you know my schedule.

Fort Bragg, Oregon

No, it's not FB, NC. No military base for miles around. Just a small, coastal town north of the California-Oregon border. I spent a few days there exploring the local beaches. Lots to see but the weather wasn't really conducive to getting around so my catalog is a bit thin. Most of the ground was saturated and unwalkable so I had to confine my shoots to blacktop areas and turnoffs. But what I did find was really nice. Like this rocky coastline. Not sure what it's called but wow, what a beautiful area. The sea was really angry and taking panoramas like this one are very difficult when the water is tossing and turning. You have to carefully match your shot times so you get waves in roughly the same place each time or it's impossible to stitch the images together without funny breaks and transitions. What I usually do is to pick a spot where the waves are hitting a known obstacle (usually a rock sticking out of the water) and that's when I start the bracketing sequence. It works pretty well as you can see.

This is a 3 image sequence, 10 sets all told, run through Photomatix. I spent a lot of time on this particular set of images because I was testing out alternative pano stitchers and wanted to see which one did the best job. I downloaded trial copies of PTgui and Auto Pano Giga and ran the images through them along with Photoshop. I wish I could say there was a clear winner but I can't. They all had issues with the image and it was frustrating to see how they each stumbled at one point or another. Stitchers look for similar features in each image which they use as reference points during the stitch. The problem is 1) waves are not static so the stitcher struggles to find matching points on the water. It generally punts and finds references on the ground and in the sky. That leads to 2) problems when the clouds are moving relatively fast so the reference points don't really match up very well. This leads to issues on the horizon with the water not being flat ... big steps giving really funny results like a staircase. So you have to get the best you can and then go into Photoshop to correct the horizon and to fix the discontinuities in the water. It gets very nasty very fast. I've got a lot of experience with this and can fix it somewhat but I need to get one of the other stitchers because Photoshop doesn't give me access to the various images being stitched. PTgui lets me output each image so I can blend them in Photoshop if I want. APG does some serious blending internally and that's OK but it's not as easy to get to the base images. I'm still debating which one to buy (and there's another option --- Hugin which is free and open source but isn't quite as advanced as the commercial offerings but, did I mention it's free)! The commercial offerings are expensive so that's a consideration as well.

Anyway, after several weeks of messing with this image I went back to Photoshop. I had to do some tonal adjustments to the various images as some were darker than others and Photoshop doesn't do a really good job fixing those problems. Then I just messed with the various settings in PS until I got something I could live with. There's a lot of work getting this image right but I think the result is pretty good. Love the rich colors and how the water is crashing on the rocks. It's lovely and I can still feel the wind in my face as I stood on the bluff taking these images. Will definitely return soon and, this time, I get the name of the beach. Promise.

Fort Bragg, Oregon! Enjoy!

Fort Bragg - 24mm,f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Snake River - Grand Tetons

Happy New Year

Just want to wish all of you a very happy new year. 2017 was a very eventful and dangerous year and, I fear, 2018 will be even worse. So many things are going wrong around the world and I don't see the political will to fix any of them. Just a lot of puffed up chests and flapping gums with very little comprehension as to the long-term bad effects of all this hot air and ego inflation. How little we learn from history. So this wish is very sincere ... please be safe and try to understand your neighbors and even your enemies. When you get an opportunity, reach out to those who are less fortunate than you and offer them a helping hand. It's called "Pay Forward" and it does work. And those of you who are truly fortunate this year, who have lots of money and power, please remember that your good fortune rests on the shoulders of those below you. Think of all the things you take for granted and how many of them depend on the labor of the working class and the poor. Think what life would be like if you suddenly lost all those things because they were gone. Remember the woman who runs the booth at the local self-serve gas station; the guy who repairs your car and replaces those worn tires; the people who clean the streets and make sure those things you ordered are safely delivered. Believe me, your charmed life would be a whole lot worse if all those people failed to do their part. We all need each other in so many ways.

Snake River - Grand Tetons

I was in Grand Teton NP for 8 days and took over 1000 pictures. There was so much to experience there and every day was an adventure. One day the rangers came through the campgrounds and told us to be very careful because a large grizzly and her cub were nearby and we should be very aware. I'm not usually worried about wild animals because they are, in general, more afraid of me than I am of them but one has to have a lot of respect for a bear and her cub. She is especially aggressive and can attack without warning. It's always the best to be very alert when hiking in the back country and give these creatures wide berth if at all possible. I've certainly been close to bears in the past ... a large female came running out of the trees not 50 yards from me on my last morning in Yellowstone ... and I have a great deal of respect. You should too.

I took this photo from one of the overlooks along the main road that runs north to south through the park. This is a major state highway and is open all year round. There's a secondary road that runs parallel to this road (to the west) but that's only open when there's good weather. That's the "park" road where the visitor's center is and where the campground is located. The tall mountain in the center is "Grand Teton", the park's namesake. It's a beautiful mountain, fairly young by geological standards. There are several glaciers on it's eastern face which are receding as the atmosphere warms. They may be gone soon.

This is a blend of 3 bracketed images. I used HDR this time but want to try doing a true blend to see if I get even more spectacular results. I then used Lightroom to finish off. I really love the colors. The sun is already down and illuminating the clouds from the bottom. What's nice about this area is the mountains create clouds almost every day so there's rarely a dull sunset. There are a lot fewer clouds in the morning so sunset is the best time to get spectacular images. Hope you enjoy.

Snake River, Grand Tetons - 35mm,f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Grand Canyon - Pima Point

Tax cuts ...

It would appear that the Republican tax cuts are going to pass ... what a surprise. The one thing that party can do well is give even more money to the already obscenely rich. Of course, in a few years when the deficits start to swell they will start screaming about how they have to fix that by taking more money away from the other end of the economic spectrum ... the poor and the elderly. They will leave that to the Democrats who are experts at taking things away from those demographics. It's all a scam ... you do understand that, right? It's also very unnecessary. All you need to do is read up on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) to see why. In short, taxes do not pay for government expenditures. This is something none of the congress members understands as they are almost all lawyers or doctors. They think a government should be run like a household. But a monetary sovereign (a government that controls it's money supply) doesn't have to work like a household. It prints money! No household does that unless they have an illegal printing press in the basement (but that's another story). Sovereign governments can print as much money as they need. I know ... but what about inflation? Well, excess money doesn't lead to inflation ... the last few years of rampant quantitative easing proves that. A lack of things to buy is what causes inflation. But we are awash in things to buy ... just visit a local WalMart or look at the massive warehouses being built everywhere by Amazon and others. We also have a huge oversupply of autos that are unsold and waiting for someone to find the money to buy them. Inflation won't happen as long as there are things to buy. And we need infrastructure investments ... to the tune of 3+ trillion dollars so that also applies to paying wages and buying things to fix the broken roads and bridges. The government could turn on the presses tomorrow and run them day and night for years without causing any inflation. But they won't because that would rob the bankers of their cut of the very lucrative money market where the government borrows money. We could, literally, eliminate the deficit by printing 20 1 trillion dollar platinum coins and drawing against them to buy back all those government bonds we've sold over the years. Without generating any inflation. But don't hold your breath waiting for our incompetent elected officials to fix the problem. No gona happen ... ever! Too much money to be made.

Grand Canyon - Pima Point

As always, my first stop during this last cycle was Grand Canyon. I find that this park sets the tone for my trip and it was certainly true this time. For the first time I found the campground full and was forced to leave the park after only one day. There is no overnight parking except in the established campgrounds so I was forced to leave. They are very strict about this rule. This bad start was an omen that overshadowed my entire trip. I got some very nice images along the way but the trip itself was one bad thing after another. Anyway, to salvage my trip to the canyon I wanted to get one good panorama before I drove south. I took the red line bus out to Pima Point which is about a far west as one can go on established roads and went to setup on the rim. I've never seen an overlook so overrun with people. They were everywhere, even hanging off the rim. I had to elbow my way through so I could get out on the very edge to take my traditional pano. I found a nice rock outcrop where I was alone and, for the most part, out beyond the crowds. I did catch some people in the very edge of the pano but was able to clip them out of the finished image. It was a beautiful evening with just enough clouds to get a nice sunset. What I got is below.

I have one thing that happens at least once during each cycle. I get antsy and finish shooting before the action is finished. If you've watched a lot of sunsets you know that there is a certain process to how the light ebbs. There's the anticipation as the sun approaches the horizon followed by the first big burst of color. Shutters are going like crazy trying to capture this phase.Then there's the inevitable lull where the clouds go gray and the scene gets very boring. That's the time when most people gather up their gear and exit stage left. The patient pro knows there's likely to be more and he waits. Eventually, if the cloud conditions are just right, there's a second, even more spectacular color burst that lasts only a short while. That's when the sun breaks under the clouds and illuminates the bottoms with very intense red light. Over time this fades and you enter the blue period where the sky slowly darkens from light blue to dark blue to black. You can get some very spectacular shots during this second surge but, as I said before, you have to be patient. Well, being the first day of the cycle, I forgot this cardinal rule and broke my setup when the gray period came. And I was horrified to be standing at the bus stop when the sky lit up bright red again. It was too late to run back to the rim and setup so I could only watch as an amazing picture came and went, unrecorded. But this is a time to be very careful, especially around the rim, as accidents can happen when you are flustered and in a hurry. In the rush to setup you can make a mistake and get dead. So I just reminded myself, once again, to wait until the scene if 100% over before breaking my setup. Someday I'll remember this before I make a mistake.

This is a composite picture made from 80 separate images. I took bracketed sequences of 5 images each for a total of 16 blocks. Each block was run through Photomatix to give me an HDR image and then stitched together in Photoshop to produce the final panorama. There's a lot of work in this image as the tonal variation across the HDR blocks was very broad and I had to do a lot of cleanup. Some people think panoramas are easy ... just take your pictures and stitch them together. That's rarely all that happens. Panos can get very messy and it takes a trained eye and a lot of patience to fix all the problems. But the result is truly spectacular ... don't you think?

Pima Point - Grand Canyon 24mm,f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Midway Geyser Basin

Notes

I'm resolving to take far more notes from now on as I shoot my images. I find myself trying to remember where I shot an image and I often can't recall. This is especially true of locations which are not well known. Today's image falls into this category. I know it's taken from the Midway Geyser Basin in Yellowstone but I can't recall the specific feature being shown. I think it's the Grand Prismatic Spring but I can't be sure. I need to carry a notebook with me so I can jot down notes which will help me remember. It truly sucks growing old.

Tentative Plans

I'm starting to plan the next trip. I think I'll be leaving Crimea around mid-February and be staying in the states into the summer. Probably return in late June as I want to get to Montana, Idaho and Washington this time and that means I have to wait until the snow is gone or at least the roads are passable. That means June sometime. I'll spend the winter months in the south somewhere and then head north if I have the inclination and the energy.

I also hope to start shooting more people. I see interesting folks as I travel around and I want to start shooting them when possible. I really want to start highlighting people who are struggling and who are on the street. There are so many of them and they have such interesting stories to tell.

There's also the videos I want to shoot. I create some very unique images and I want to show people how I do that. So there will be some videos covering not only location selection but also composition and processing. I think I've progressed far enough in my studies that I have something to give back to the community. And I have time to create them so why not?

Midway Geyser Basin

I got up early to get to this area before the buses full of tourists showed up. They tend to swarm an area and once that happens you can't get shots without people everywhere. This picture was taken at 7:30 am and, as you can see, I had the place pretty much to myself. I like how the walkway curves into the picture, leading you eyes further into the frame. The morning steam also helps to establish some mystery.

The colors come from bacteria living in the hot water. One would think they couldn't survive but they do. It's a whole study just to understand how they cope with the caustic environment.

This is a pretty standard shot. I blended 3 images together using Photomatix and then finished off in Lightroom. I really like the mystery of this shot and the amazing colors. Hope you enjoy them too.

Midway Geyser Basin/Yellowstone - 16mm,f/16,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Joshua Tree Sunset

Update ... back

Getting back to normal with the damaged back. It's been a few weeks now and I can finally say that the pain has gotten manageable for now. Still some weakness and loss of range but I am able to do most things reasonably well. Thank goodness for small favors.

Thanksgiving

It's thanksgiving day as I write this. I've not celebrated this holiday for a long time since my move to Crimea. Not a lot to celebrate unfortunately since our transition to Russia. Times are tough here with the sanctions and many are suffering. Prices are most food are higher than in Moscow and St. Petersburg so most of people's earnings go to food. Utilities also eat up a great deal of the month's budget leaving very little for other things. It's a very hand-to-mouth existence for most. I don't see an end to this as both sides are very firm in their positions. Russia will not let Sevastopol go under any circumstances so we are pretty convinced this goes on for a long time. What a mess!

Joshua Tree Sunset

I keep returning to Joshua Tree NP because it's just such an amazing place. I took this photo at sunset. I found a way to incorporate these trees into an interesting photo. As I've stated before, Joshua trees aren't very attractive and finding a composition that uses them is hard. But by back lighting one against the setting sun I think I've found a method that works. The interesting part of this image is the weird cloud formation running left to right through the trunk. It was very real and I looked at it for a long time. It was like a long finger sticking out of a cloud bank to the north and it went on for miles. Some kind of wind anomaly I would guess. But definitely interesting.

This was made from 5 bracketed images, 2 ev apart. The sky was so bright and the background so dark that I had to go from -4 ev to +4 ev in order to get all the areas exposed correctly. I ran this through Photomatix and then finished in Lightroom.  So, one more time ... Joshua Tree NP.

Joshua Tree Sunset - 20mm,f/13,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Bean Hollow SB

Hurt My Back

I've always had a touchy back. There are spots where I have little feeling and some even tingle at times. I'm also quite susceptible to sprains. Last year I did a number on my upper back and, just last week, did a real number on my lower back. Not sure how it happened. I painted the kid's bedroom on the 3rd and 4th of November and also had to get on a ladder and clean the top of her big closet on the 6th. No big issues at that point but a few days later ... WOW. Was sitting on the couch watching TV and went to stand up. Full scale pain explosion which literally brought me to my knees. Couldn't walk or bend at all and even sitting was a real painful experience. No idea where the damage originated but it was a major episode. I applied heat and started pumping ibuprofen like crazy in hopes I could cut the pain down a little so I could function. It took most of a week until I got to the point where I was able to do anything useful and now, 9 days later, I'm off the meds and able to move around for the most part. Still have some pain ... where the back muscles attach to my hip bone ... and some stiffness. Really hoping this gets significantly better or I'm in trouble with this year's trip. No way can I carry around all my camera gear and hike long distances with a back like this. No real physical therapy in Crimea so I'm out on that score. If I'm still troubled I'll have to bite the bullet and find someone in Albuquerque who can maybe help me. A chiropractor would be a good choice and maybe someone who can give me some pain meds when it gets worse. Damn ... I hate growing old.

Bean Hollow State Beach

Travel down California rt. 1 from San Francisco and you come to the town of Pescadero. That's where you'll find Bean Hollow State Beach. What an amazing place. The ocean has carved the most intricate shapes in the soft sandstone. All kinds of hollow spots and interconnecting ridges make for the intricate webs one finds walking around the place. I was fortunate to be there on a day when the clouds and sun cooperated. It was a bit stormy and waves were crashing on the rocks. I got really lucky on this shot as a wave was just cresting as the shutter cycled. It actually looks like some aliens sculpted these rocks. It's surreal. I highly recommend visiting if you're in the area.

This is a sequence of 3 images, run through photomatix and then finished in lightroom. Hope you enjoy.

Bean Hollow SB - 28mm, f/22,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Mammoth Springs - Yellowstone

Another Day in America

I believe this was the headline on the Huffington Post yesterday. Another mass shooting in America ... Ho Hum. Nothing to see here ... move along. 26 people this time, in church. A crazy guy (no sane person does these things ... that's a given) walks into a Baptist church during Sunday services and blows away half the congregation. Half were kids. The shooter had a previous domestic violence charge against him but the military ... he was ex-military it turns out ... the military had forgotten to record this little tidbit on his record so he was able to get his gun without problems. And once again we have this conversation ...

Trump says, as one has come to expect from him, that this isn't a "gun" problem but a mental health problem. I wonder, just for the hell of it, what would have happened had this guy been carrying just a knife. You think 26 would be dead? Really? I think as soon as the knife appeared someone in the church would have gone after him and we'd be talking a different story right now. Maybe a few people sustained "minor" wounds disarming a crazy guy. But that's not what we got, is it? We got a semiautomatic weapon and lots of dead/wounded people. A bit different I think. And the "hero" who shot at him, missed of course because he wasn't trained and was nervous so he missed. I wonder how many of the slugs they dig out of the victims came from his gun? Anyone willing to make a guess? So no, he wasn't a hero. His gun made no difference in the outcome. It certainly didn't stop the killer did it?

I look at my country and wonder what the hell went wrong. When did the crazies take control of the country? When did we start selecting the most insane among us to be our leaders? I can't even begin to describe just how nuts we've gotten. Look at our leaders, local, state and federal, and tell me that they are the best of the best. They're not even the best of the worst. They're mostly just crazy. Is that the new normal for our elected leaders? Do we need to institute a mental exam and they have to "pass" by getting the highest crazy scores possible before they can run for office? We are heading for the abyss and everyone seems OK with that. Well, I'm not.

Mammoth Springs ... Yellowstone

I've already talked about Mammoth Springs in earlier posts so I won't bore you with a repeat. This image was taken on the other side of the walkway from where those earlier images were shot. The water has cooled somewhat by this point and the structures being deposited have gotten lower and less pronounced but are still extremely interesting. You can see, in the upper left corner, some calcium carbonate which has dried and bleached out. It is stark white. The colors in the frame are created by living organisms thriving in the warm, mineral rich water. Mostly shades of brown but I've also seen yellow, green and blue in other pools throughout the park. Life always finds a way to thrive, even in the most adverse conditions. It's truly amazing how they do that. So sit back and enjoy ... Mammoth Springs in Yellowstone.

Mammoth Springs - 35mm,f/18,1/100 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0