Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point

Some Ideas for Cycle #2

I'm in the planning stage for cycle #2 which starts, unofficially, around the end of January. I'm intending to spend all of February in and around LA, shooting timelapse and video for my project and taking pictures for my portfolio. I expect lots of rain as El Nino is building to a historic level so plan to see lots of wet views and images. Hopefully I won't get too sick while there but who knows. I'm also looking at visiting as many parks in CA as I can, depending on the snow load and how well they are kept open. I'll then spend some time in AZ/UT, visiting places I went during cycle #2, including Zion, Vermilion Cliffs, Grand Canyon and maybe a few more. Depends on how much snow they have and how much time I have. I'm considering applying for a permit to hike into "the wave" which is something I really want to do given time and a favorable outcome of my application. I'll finish up with a few locations in NM. Expect to return around the end of April although that could adjust depending on how much I still want to do and how much energy I have. I'm hoping I can take upwards of 3-4 terabytes of data which should keep me busy for the rest of the year. It should be an exciting trip.

Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point

One afternoon, about the middle of my stay in Yosemite, I took the long drive up to Glacier Point. From this overlook one can see the entire valley and the view is spectacular. Most of the park is visible from this high vantage point and there is so much to see. Of course, you can see half dome and the waterfall but you also see the high Sierra mountains. The view really does take your breath away.

I took this as the sun slid below the horizon and only half dome and the high mountains are still illuminated. Yosemite village is in the valley below, to the left of the picture. At the center bottom you can just see the parking lot for one of the hotels. Yosemite Valley is straight ahead, to the left of half dome. This is a glacial valley, it's sides polished smooth by the massive glaciers from the last ice age as they slowly slid down the valley and then melted. It has the classic "U" shape although the bottom has been filled in over the years with wash and landslides so the valley is flat but scientific studies (using oil exploration rigs) found the rounded bottom a glacial polished valley must have. This is an HDR panorama shot from the extreme corner of the overlook facing to the northeast.

As I pointed out in a previous entry, it's difficult to get really stunning color photos in Yosemite because the granite is all gray. Compare this with my pictures from Zion or Bryce and you see what I mean. The iron rich sandstone from the Great Basin gives the whole area a very warm and inviting hue that is lacking in Yosemite. Only the amazing rock formations and the high mountains make Yosemite really special. And it's close proximity to LA and SF guarantees a steady stream of visitors.

For comparison, I've included both a color and B&W image. You can see why so many iconic images from Yosemite are done without color. By removing all color you're forced to see the amazing shapes and contours that define the valley. Maybe I should leave this image B&W. What do you think?

Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point - 16mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Yosemite Valley from Glacier Point(B&W) - 16mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Golden Gate North Tower

Crisis over...

As some of you know, Crimea lost all electricity when someone in Ukraine sabotaged the power lines feeding south from Kerson. That was in mid-November. Well, yesterday Russia turned on the second high-voltage cable feeding Crimea from Krasnodar and we now have 100% of the electricity we need. The emergency generators are being shut down and all the factories and stores that were shuttered are being reopened. The big supermarket, Ashan, where we do our major shopping, opened over the weekend and we were able to get all the pet food and supplies we have been doing without the last month. And, when we got home yesterday afternoon, we were surprised to find that our elevator was working. Oh, what overwhelming joy! No more trudging up 200+ steps carrying heavy bags or dragging my poor, old cocker spaniel behind me. My bad lungs and aching legs rejoiced at the wonder of it all. We are now officially disconnected from all utilities coming from Ukraine, ending the worst part of this mess. No longer can they blackmail Crimea with threats of shutting off utilities. Now that's progress.

Golden Gate North Tower

I've already expounded on the wonder that is the Golden Gate Bridge. It's such a marvelous construction and a magnet for photographers of all skill levels. I was there in May and, as is often the case, the city and bridge were shrouded in thick fog. It was a dark and gloomy night but great for taking pictures. I set up at the lowest overlook and spent a considerable amount of time taking shots. This image was actually a precursor for a panorama I'll present at a later date. The fog was still above the red safety light so you can see the entire bridge. The lighting is just right, projecting from the road deck upwards and the beautiful ironwork provides just the right touch. A truly amazing structure and timeless in it's beauty. 75 years old and still as magnificent as the day she was built. The city isn't too shabby either as you can see.

Golden Gate North Tower - 35mm(1.6 crop),f/11,30 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Bryce Canyon Splendor

Cycle #2

With my breathing getting really bad my wife finally broached the subject of going back to America last night. I always wait for her to bring this up as it then seems to be her idea and she can't get too irate as she's the one who suggested it. Last night was a pivotal moment as I finally crossed that threshold where even she couldn't deny that I was in trouble. I was so hoarse I was having trouble talking and I started sounding like Brando in the Godfather. And today I've started seeing junk when I cough which is not a good sign as it means I'm accumulating stuff in my lungs. So it's time to start planning the trip home. I've already done some stuff but there's lots more to do before I leave. Looks like I'll travel in mid to late January and stay for 3 months (mid-April). So look for more planning ideas from me in the next month and a final itinerary by year's end.

Bryce Canyon Splendor

I love Bryce Canyon. An amazingly beautiful place far removed from large cities and not so popular that it's ruined by all the people. Even with all the bad weather I suffered through it was still one of the high points of my trip. I got around to working through all the pictures I took there and many made it into my portfolio and "On the Fence" collections. What's so nice about the place is it's almost impossible to take a bad picture. Once you've got your camera adjusted just point and shoot. The colors are so amazing and the rock formations are truly out of this world.

Anyway, this image was taken after the big snowstorm my last night there. It was brutally cold and the wind howled all night long. I huddled in my bag and tried to get some sleep but really didn't do very well. In the morning I was dead tired but had hope (realized) that Zion, my next stop, would be much better. I broke camp and made my way to the canyon for one more session. I took several major panoramas and also some impressive shots of the better formations. This is one of them. Actually, I was driving the road that runs south from the main canyon and this was taken from an overlook. I really like this image because of the depth. You can see for miles and get the sense of 3D by the way the distant features fade into the haze. I think I'm looking to the east. It was just after noon so the sun is high but behind the clouds so I'm not fighting any glare. I'm at f/22 which is supposed to be a no-no as it creates diffraction (and blurring) but I don't see much and stopping down helped me get great depth-of-field. And the colors ... well, I'll let you decide on that.

Bryce Canyon Splendor - 16mm(1.6 crop),f22,1/25 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Yosemite's Half Dome

Shootings...

I find it very hard to comment on the state of my country. So much violence for a country that is, theoretically, not at war (except in half the world where we're fighting terror but what the hell). Finally we get another terror act in America ... one I've been expecting for quite some time ... and no one seems inclined to do anything about it. Let me say, bluntly, that it's stupid to sell assault rifles, which are designed for only one thing (killing people), and ammunition to anyone. Even the cops don't really need them except as an equalizer against all the crazies who are armored up to the hilt. And all this right-wing crap about protection from the government is just that ... crap. A clown with a gun isn't going to frighten a soldier who's faced hardened fighters in the middle east. Have you seen most of these idiots? Rejects from society and most are so out of shape that they'd probably have a heart attack if they every actually faced off against someone with a gun and it's pointed at their fat head. Let me repeat ... we don't need these guns. For 200+ years we've managed to survive quite nicely with just our standard rifle and shot gun. All this fire power didn't stop a couple (one a woman no less) from shooting up this holiday party in California. It was the cops who finished them off, not civilians. But the carnage was much worse because both of them had semi-automatic assault rifles and lots of high powered ammo. Consider how different it would have been had they been limited to more conventional arms. And maybe, instead of being shot up by all that police armor, maybe they would have been captured alive and could have helped us understand why they did it. But no, they are very dead and we can only assume they were terrorists because they were Muslim. All so worthless and a waste of precious human life. Don't you think it's time to try something else ... really?

Yosemite's Half Dome

Yosemite is, surprisingly, a hard place to photograph. It's beautiful, even breathtaking, but unlike places on the Grand Cascade, rock formations are a unappetizing gray color. That's why, I think, so many pictures of Yosemite are black and white. I took a ton of images while I was there and most of them are OK but few actually got my blood pumping. They are universally bland and only the sky made an impact. I'll put more on this blog as I can but they're not my best works. Also, it was near the end of my trip and my camera was extremely dirty. There were dust particles all over my sensor so my pictures look like they have chicken pox. When I combine multiple panels together for a panorama it takes a lot of work to remove all the smudges and blotches caused by this dirt and, quite frankly, the results are not inspiring. Even my HDR images came out muddy and not all that wonderful. That's why you've not seen any images from Yosemite so far. I keep looking at them and putting off adding them here because they embarrass me.

But, a few days ago I was going through images from Yosemite and came across this one. I was on Glacier Point looking northeast. I took it before the sun touched the horizon so the sky is already turning a wonderful blue but the sun hasn't yet gone to the "golden hour" reds and yellows. The entire image is very 'cool' and has a nice feel about it. One interesting point about this image ... if you look just to the right of the dome you'll see a brown 'streak' in the trees trailing off to the picture's edge. That's dead trees burned by the big forest fire they had 2 summers ago. That's how close the inferno came to half dome. This is an HDR sequence (2 shots) run through Photomatix and Lightroom.

It is really a wonderful place to visit ... but so damn crowded. Impossible to find a parking place or a camp site. I stayed at a forest service campsite 10 miles outside the park and had a 35 mile drive each way every day. Lots of gas wasted going back and forth.

Yosemite's Half Dome - 28mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Mono Lake Tufa

Some Semblance of Normalcy...

After a week of mostly darkness we finally seem to have turned the corner. 2 days ago they turned the lights on at 8:30 and left them on. We still are lacking elevators which is a severe hardship but at least we don't need to sit in the dark and can watch some TV when we want (and when the cable is working which is sometimes). We also have heat at least part of the day (it's getting cold now with temperatures just above freezing and raw winds blowing from the north and west) but almost no hot water so our electric backup boiler is getting a good workout. We've almost returned to what qualifies as 'normal' around here. Of course, the whole thing is held together with spit, tape and bailing wire and could fall apart at any time but it's a step in the right direction. Amazing how being deprived of something for a while makes one grateful for even the smallest of favors.

Mono Lake Tufa

This is another shot of the famous tufa at Mono Lake. I've already talked about them so I'll just add one additional fact ... if the lake returns to the level mandated by the court settlement between the lake and LA water district these will mostly disappear under the water. With the ongoing drought in CA that may never happen but that's the plan. So enjoy the picture while you can.

These formations lie to the west of the main grouping and I had to use my telephoto to take this image. It's a composition of a large number (110) of portrait HDR shots stitched together with Photomatix and Photoshop. Final adjustments were made in Lightroom. Amazing formations which, unfortunately, are disintegrating as the engine that made them has been cut off by the drought and the falling lake level.

Mono lake Tufa - 200mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100, license CC BY-NC 4.0

South of Monterey

Sabotage

It's been an interesting couple of days.Woke up Saturday morning to the news that a group of Right Sector thugs (the ultra nationalist group from Ukraine) had blown up several power lines carrying electricity to Crimea. One line survived despite their best efforts so we had just enough power to make it through the day. But, just after midnight on Sunday morning the power went out in our flat and stayed off for several hours. Found out later that the Ukrainian power company had shut down the remaining line due to "power anomalies". Not sure what that means but it doesn't really matter. Suddenly Crimea was down to diesel generators and we didn't have enough of those to cover all the demand. Lucky for us we live near the legislature in Simferopol (which seems to have been protected with it's own generator) and had electricity for most of the day. Not so lucky the rest of Crimea where most people have no power and not much else. My mother-in-law had basically nothing but cold water and, sometimes, a phone. Unfortunately, our luck was not to hold and we lost everything around 5:30 pm on Monday and stayed dark until early Tuesday morning. We're told we should get used to this as it's the new normal for a while. For whatever reason Crimea was not ready for this to happen despite warnings that Ukraine might cut us off at any time. It seems the earliest we can expect some relief is late December. Not sure how we hold on if the weather, which has been unseasonably warm, decided to turn nasty. It could turn into a major disaster as, without electricity to run our heater and no heat, our flat would become very uncomfortable. I can only hope for a warm spell lasting well into the new year. For once, global warming may just help us 'weather' this situation.

South of Monterey

I have to apologize for this photo. I know it was taken between Big Sur and Monterey but that's a close as I can remember. Was driving along highway 1 around 9 am and saw these rocks and it was just so damn beautiful. Spend most of an hour shooting here and came away with some pretty awesome pictures. The overcast only served to increase my saturation and obviate the need for HDR or bracketing. This is a single image, run through Lightroom. Isn't it amazing?

South of Monterey - 78mm(1.6 crop), f/11,1/10 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Point Estero Sunset

A Few Updates...

The spayed female has, to some extent, returned to her old self. She was just in pain and doing what cats do in that condition. She's still walking a bit gingerly but has started coming out of hiding and is interacting with the other cats. she's sitting on the window of my office as I type and watching me intently. Think she'll make it.

The anticipated clash between the West and Russia seems to be cooling. Russia is pounding the hell out of Syria right now and working with France and even America to form some type of coalition to do battle with ISIS. Not sure that's the best way to defeat these fanatics but if all you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail. We'll see how things work out (or not) going forward.

Point Estero Sunset

As I was driving north toward San Francisco I came across Point Estero. Just south of Big Sur it's a nice photo spot overlooking the ocean. I got there later in the day and decided to see if there were any interesting spots. It's a several mile long overlook with paths so it wasn't really very hard to walk along the cliff until I found what I wanted. Met a local who walked there every day and we talked a bit about California and what's happening in the country. I was watching the sky as we talked and was disappointed to see yet another fog layer forming. In this part of the world, fog usually doesn't come all the way down to the ground but hovers a few thousand feet up so it just tops the coastal mountains. You can get some interesting shots when the sun is peeking between the fog and the water but you need to be in the right spot. I found my rock but was unhappy to see that the sun was too far north and went behind a mountain range (to the right side of the photo). But, since I was already out there and several miles from my truck, I set up the camera and took some bracketed sequences anyway. Was hoping something interesting would come from the experience and I wasn't totally disappointed. Worked in Photomatix and Lightroom to get something nice. Sorry it's not going to knock your socks off but what can I say. Sometimes you have to make due with what nature gives you.

Point Estero - 35mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Pacific Grove Lighthouse

The Spayed Female

My wife is a collector of strays. We have 4 cats and 2 dogs ... all but one a stray taken from outside. While I was in America last spring she found another one ... a calico female kitten that was alone and starving outside. She was introduced to the family and fit right in. Well, she's now old enough to be fixed as the 2 males have been very interested in her of late so yesterday we took her to the vet and the did the dirty deed. Let me say, in passing, that Russian veterinary science isn't as advanced as in the west and their methods are somewhat more crude. The anesthesia they use isn't as good and the effects are not nearly as predictable. The cat seems to have survived the surgery but we've seen some serious personality changes since she woke up. She was very friendly but now is trying to hide in the darkest and most inaccessible places. She spent most of this day hiding under the bathtub and I was only able to get her out by using a short broom handle to herd her to a place where I could grab her. She's exceedingly afraid of everyone including her cat friends and that's not like her. All I can figure is the anesthesia screwed up her head and now she's more than a bit paranoid. We're all hopeful she gets over this issue and returns to the friendly cat she was only a few days ago.

A Small Correction

A few entries ago I talked about Griffith Park in LA and how it was the place where Edwin Hubble did his groundbreaking work. That's not quite true. He worked at Mt. Wilson, another observatory in the hills above LA. My mistake.

Pacific Grove Lighthouse

I spent a wonderful afternoon in Pacific Grove, a small community near Monterey in California. The coastline is very rugged there so there's a small lighthouse to warn ships about the hazards. It's not as spectacular as, say, Point Arena but it's interesting in its own right. The day I visited it was closed to the public so I was forced to shoot this picture through the chain link fence. It's a museum now but I guess the light still works. This is a single exposure with minimal adjustments, all in Lightroom. I like the composition with the framing around the trees. Although not as spectacular as many of my images, it has a nice quality that I find appealing.

Pacific Grove Lighthouse - 70mm(1.6 crop),f/11,1/320 sec,ISO 100, license CC BY-NC 4.0

Grand Canyon North Rim Sunset

Getting those Amazing Shots...

I get the most horrified looks sometimes when I set up my rig to take these amazing panoramas. As I edge closer and closer to the abyss people's eyes start to get larger and their facial expressions are of genuine fear. "You're going there?" they often ask as I carry my camera and tripod across the rocks and stand at the edge looking down into a 1000 foot drop. "It's what I do!" is my usual answer but that does little to assuage their fears. "I'd never do that" has rung in my ears more often than I can remember. But, to get the really spectacular images one has to take chances ... to go where no one has gone before. Otherwise it's just another photo like thousands (or sometimes millions) that came before and will come after. That's not me ... not even close to me. I want to bring home something unique so I go to the edge. Not that I'm careless ... I'm very careful and respectful as I approach the edge. I make sure, when possible, that the space is cleared of stray rocks and loose dirt and I never stand up or play around. I'm almost always on my knees and keep my weight leaning backwards. I often hook my tablet to the camera so I can view the sensor output from a safe distance and make adjustments without having to lean out over the edge as I rotate the camera to the extreme angles. I always hold the tripod to make sure the camera is stable and I'm not forced to grab the gear in case it starts to fall. I try to be a careful as I possible can be and, so far, that's been enough.

To give you an idea of my typical vantage point, look at the picture below. It's from the Grand Canyon and shows my tripod at the edge. One inch further and there's a long drop to the valley below. But also note that the tripod is not fully extended so I can stay low. This is for safety and also because it allows me to position the camera closer to the edge and thus to shoot more vertically as I sweep the camera through the angles for the panorama. If you look at my last post, from Horseshoe Bend, the bottom center of the image looks straight down. The camera was positioned on a very small ledge of rock jutting out into the canyon. There's no other way to get that kind of photo except by being right there on the edge. Although it looks dangerous, in most situations, it's not ... if one is very careful and aware.

On the Edge at Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon North Rim Sunset

As an example of what I discussed above, this is an image taken on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Take the road from the hotel, turn right at the fork and go as far as you can. Don't let the burn area discourage you although it's interesting in it's own right. Lots of dead trees. Just keep going until you can't go anymore. There's a large overlook just beyond the parking lot and a picnic area (designated as a place for large parties ... weddings, birthdays ... can you imagine having a wedding where a drunken guest could just walk off the edge? Scary thought for sure). The vantage point is just beyond this picnic grove and places you 1000 feet above the valley floor. It was an interesting day ... I'd seen heavy rain earlier which was a blessing as it washed away some of the junk that was obscuring the canyon. I hung around the parking lot for most of the afternoon and wandered out to this location just before sundown. I always like to get there an hour or so before the main event as it gives me time to scout the location and to get in the correct mindset. I got one of those questions from a young couple sitting a respectful distance from the edge and gave them one of my pat answers. I think they were more than a bit disturbed because they soon stood and wandered away. Guess the thought of watching someone stumble over the edge didn't sit well with them. Oh well.

As the sun sets, I start my cycle. Camera in portrait orientation and my 16-35 f/4 set to 16 mm for maximum coverage. F-stop is usually set at f/18 for maximum depth of field (I don't worry about diffraction too much ... depth of field is most important). Camera set to make a bracketed series (3-5 images per set). Shoot, rotate camera so I get at least 1/3 coverage between adjacent groupings (have screen set with 1/3 grid so I can easily judge rotation), then shoot again. When I complete the first sweep, adjust camera angle down until I can see bottom of canyon in view screen, go back to the starting angle and repeat the series. I usually get between 60 and 90 photos before I'm done. And sometimes I'll do this multiple times if I think the sunset is getting better. I usually stop when the bracketed shots are hitting the 30 second wall meaning I'm out of time and the sequence is no longer accurate. This is always well after sundown and I'm shooting the orange halo and often seeing the earth's shadow to the east (you see it in this photo as the bluish ting just above the horizon on the left side). I then use my standard technique of Photomatix to combine the brackets and then into Photoshop to create the panorama followed by Lightroom for cropping and final color adjustments. And the result ... breathtaking as always.

Grand Canyon North Rim - 16mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Rest Stop Redwoods

The Rains have Started...

The autumn rains have started here in Crimea. We go from not a drop in 3 months to daily downpours and the shock is major. My lungs, on schedule, have started to get really bad as the raw, damp weather soaks them to the core. I'm sucking on my inhaler in a somewhat wasted effort to keep thing working but it's only partially effective. If I keep to plan, in a month or so I'll start coughing up globs of goo and it'll be time to start seriously planning the next trip home.

Speaking of which ... I'm hoping to spend more than a month in LA trying to get enough footing for 2 videos. One will be dedicated to timelapse and hyperlapse where I'll really work on my technique and on covering as much of the city as I can. I'm creating a long list of venues where I hope I can shoot. I'm hoping to get enough footage for 8+ minutes which is a big deal for such a short time. The other project is my animation study and I'll be shooting more raw videos with the new Canon 5D mk 3 I'm buying. I'll use the Magic Lantern hack to get 14 bit color at 24p. The videos I've seen are amazing so I'm looking forward to testing that out. I'll also use some of the footage from the other project so I won't need nearly as much work but it's still a big undertaking. Along the way I'll also be shooting my photos so there'll be lots of raw material for my return in the spring. Should be an exhausting but exhilarating 3 months.

Rest Stop Redwoods

My last stop in California was at a rest stop near the Oregon border. It was an interesting stay for sure. I arrived late in the afternoon and spent the night. Now, I've pointed out before the restrictions on stays in California rest stops. They have an '8 hour' rule which means you are only allowed to stay for 8 hours in a single day. I planned on staying a bit longer as I wanted to eat some dinner and catch a good night's rest and take a few hours to get breakfast and fire up my computer to transfer a ton of images from my camera into safe storage. It was more like 14 hours but who's counting? Well, the guy who cleans the rest stop for one. As I was setting up my computer he wandered over and reminded me of the 8 hour rule. After a few moments to consider what he said, I told him I had no intention of 'living' in his rest stop and was just doing a few housekeeping chores before heading down the road. Also reminded him that it wasn't his responsibility or part of his job description to be telling me that ... he was, after all, the janitor. That put him off just enough for me to finish my work and leave. Arrogant little prick.

I digress ... what was unique about this rest stop was hidden behind thick hedges and trees. I followed a path through the trees to discover this absolutely amazing grove of mature redwoods and a world that couldn't have been more different from the asphalt and dirt of the rest area that most travelers saw. The colors were spectacular. So, being the photographer, I set up my gear and took some pictures. What a peaceful and amazing place this was. And the moss cover on the sidewalk was just icing on this marvelous cake.

Rest Stop Redwoods - 18 mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Horseshoe Bend Redux

The Russian Airliner...

The news today indicates it's highly likely the Russian Airbus A321 was brought down by a bomb planted in the cargo hold. I guess this isn't really a surprise. After Russia came in to help defend Assad it was only a matter of time until someone found a way to take revenge. The Arabs are nothing if not persistent ... especially the fanatics. I'm curious how president Putin will react. This is one of those times when he has very little choice. He can't admit he made a mistake and pull out. He really can only double down and keep bombing ... this time seriously targeting ISIS and their associated groups. He's walked into a quagmire (as did our president Obama) and now he's stuck. Funny how sometimes the enemy becomes your friend ... as now we see Lavrov and Kerry surgically attached at the hip and walking the same path together. Ukraine is forgotten as it probably should have been long ago. It was and is a mess with no easy solution. So now the US and Russia face a common enemy and an equally messy and dangerous path to vanquish this foe. It should get interesting as we go forward.

Horseshoe Bend Redux

Was going through my photos from the first cycle and came across the images from Horseshoe Bend in northern Arizona. This was one of my first panoramas and, although amazing, it was not the best work. Some of the colors were over saturated and there was distortion around the center feature. Not sure where that came from but it really damaged the overall image. I also did extensive work in Photoshop and I probably overdid some colors. So, I redid everything, using the techniques I mastered later in the trip. Went back into Photomatix and found a better set of adjustments and then, avoiding Photoshop except for stitching together the pano, I used Lightroom to find the proper color balance. I've gotten comfortable using the color adjustment tools and don't push the saturation nearly as much. I also let the depths remain somewhat dark although I did lighten things just a bit. This gives the image greater depth (almost 3D) and mystery which is something the canyon has in spades. I enjoyed my time in Page so much I may add this area to my second cycle, around the same time as this image was taken (mid-April). That was a nice time ... not too hot and not too cold. We'll see.

Horseshoe Bend - 16mm(1.6 crop),f/14,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Vidae Falls at Crater Lake

The TPP and our Doom

This isn't nominally a political blog but sometimes events happen that are politically driven and impact me (and you) in such a way that a protest must be lodged. I'm talking about TPP, the "Trade Pact" between the US and 11 other Pacific Rim nations. The text of this mess was released yesterday and it's a disaster. This clown (or should I say crook) Obama has produced an agreement that will, pretty much, destroy us all. It's all about corporations and their power. He's basically given them everything they want and more. Forget laws and the rights of the citizen to any protections. If a state legislature passes a law that a corporation objects to, they can take the dispute not to the courts but to a private arbitration board comprised of ... wait for the drum roll ... corporate lawyers. Who do you think these people represent? Do you think for even a second that their allegiance lies with the citizen and the state? Of course not. They make their living serving the needs and desires of corporations so they will always decide in the favor of their bread and butter. So any protections that threaten the profits of our corporate masters can and will be shot down. Forget environmental protections, forget worker's rights, forget any consumer protections ... they are all subject to this special, private court. Sovereignty is gone. For all your conspiracy types, this is your feared one world government coming in through the back door. Any country that signs on to this agreement will be compelled to do whatever the corporations want. Even simple municipal regulations can be thrown out and there's no recourse to correct even the most egregious outcomes. Corporations will have tremendous power to influence how government works. Is this really what you want? This is the moment when you need to get up off you ass and scream "ENOUGH". Write that worthless congressman and tell him that he'll be seeking employment somewhere else if he votes for this piece of crap. We need to make it very plain to these corrupt morons that we will not accept this sellout without a fight.

Vidae Falls at Crater Lake

I didn't know there was a waterfall at Crater Lake. It's not all that big or impressive but it's there. Take the rim road to the east (before you get to the Visitor's Center) and you'll see the signs for the waterfall. I like to use my 10 stop ND filter whenever there's moving water as you get such a creamy, almost misty effect. However, this technique tends to eliminate any structure in the water and that's not always a good thing. So, I've developed a technique where I combine a long exposure with a very short exposure (one that freezes the individual drips). I bring both images into layers in Photoshop and then use a simple adjustment of the opacity on the top layer to bleed through just enough of the underlying image to get both the creamy and stark together. I also did some contrast adjustments around the edges so I made the moss and rocks stand out and some Lightroom adjustments to bring out the colors. A nice image overall. You should try it if you have the filters.

Vidae Falls - 70 mm(1.6 crop), f/18, 50 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Griffith Observatory

Ideas...

This last week I've been concentrating on what comes during the next cycle. Right now it still looks like I'll head home in mid-January with the intention of staying until mid_April. I'm already starting to wheeze and suck on my inhaler more and that will intensify as winter approaches. Some things are very predictable, especially my health and how my body reacts to certain irritants.

I'm still pondering exactly what the agenda is once I arrive. LA plays big in all my thinking so I'm working on the tasks to accomplish once I'm on the ground there. There's a big video to film and tons of images to be taken. I'm looking at high quality videos from the new 5D Mk. 3 along with timelapse and hyperlapse sequences. I've also been looking at Blender a lot this week ... for those who don't know what that is I'll give you the short explanation. Blender is a 3D modeling application (free as it's open source) which can create entire stories in virtual reality. Think about any of your favorite fantasy movies (Terminator, Transformers ... you get the idea) and those fantastic creatures were all modeled in programs like Blender. I've been looking to see if it's possible to create a virtual human who can be my homeless lead. Why, you ask? Because it's easier to get a virtual human to do the things I want him to do than it is to get a homeless guy to do. The homeless tend to be somewhat unreliable and difficult to manage. They tend to do what they want to do and aren't really interested in listening to (or following) someone else's direction. There's also the risk issue ... working with the homeless can be dangerous as they tend to be unpredictable. Drugs and alcohol can make them crazy. And I have a lot of equipment which I'd like to keep. So a virtual actor has some appeal. I'll gauge the situation on the ground when I get there and decide which way to go based on who I find. But I want to be prepared should the facts dictate using the virtual character. So I've gotten a human 'rig' (from a free software called MakeHuman) that allows me to design the character I want and then bring it into Blender. I've already created "Screw" (my main character) and am now working to improve him so he's fully rigged (able to move) and looks almost believable. It's a lot of work and there's a ton of stuff to learn so I'm very busy these days.

Of course, there's also those photos to take so, while I'm in LA, I'll be using my spare time to visit interesting locations and to get amazing images. I'm also intending to work on my TL and HL sequences as they can be interesting and challenging. Learning new techniques is never going to stop as long as I'm still breathing.

Beyond LA things get a bit more iffy. I want to visit lots of places throughout southern California and Arizona in the time I have left. At the very least I want to see Joshua Tree, Death Valley and the White Mountains in CA and maybe a return to several places in AZ. If I have time I may work further north but I don't want to duplicate the 10K mile wander I did last spring. That's just too hard on me and my truck. I may also just hunker down in either Joshua or Death Valley for a while and work on all the images and videos I'll have accumulated in LA. I need to do preliminary screening and color correction on all that stuff. So it's highly likely I'll get a place in either park and just spend most of my time doing that. Maybe a week or more. This may change but the basic framework seems to be gelling nicely.

Griffith Observatory

During my stay in LA I spent several afternoons and evening in Griffith Park. The Observatory, high on a hill overlooking downtown, is especially interesting. Edwin Hubble did all his groundbreaking work there (yes, that Hubble from the space telescope fame). It's now a major attraction in the city and every night it fills up with an overflow crowd who come to see the amazing views of LA and the Hollywood hills.

The last night I spent in LA I decided I wanted a timelapse sequence that combined the observatory and downtown. To do that I had to walk a steep road high into the surrounding hills. As I'm asthmatic it was a challenge but I took my time and manged to find the perfect place. I set up the camera with my telephoto lens at 70 mm focal length and framed both locations. The sky was filled with clouds and the threat of rain was ever present but I felt getting the sequence was too important to worry about some water. As the sun set I started shooting and this went on for about an hour. I got some really nice images. This is the last image in that sequence. If you look carefully there's rain already falling downtown. I grabbed the camera and walked 'briskly' down the hill, arriving at my truck just as the sky opened up. It wasn't rain ... it was buckets of water and soon the road was a river. I sat patiently, waiting for the deluge to stop and then headed out of the city and toward the coast.

Griffith Observatory - 70mm(1.6 crop),f/11,13 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

King's Canyon Cliffs

Things are getting Strange...

If you've been keeping track of the news, you know that Russia is sending equipment and some troops to Syria. You also know about the disaster that's happening in Europe with all the refugees. As I'm in Russia right now (Crimea) I get these stories every day, with a Russian slant. Fortunately, the government hasn't limited my Internet (yet) so I can also read the Western press to get another perspective on these events. It would appear the two sides are headed for a collision, like two big horn sheep smashing heads. The noise is almost too much to bear but it's the underlying heat I worry about. There are too many hard heads and hardened positions at play in this mess and I really am concerned that the two sides may be getting themselves into positions where they have no reasonable way out. If Russia actually puts ground troops and jet fighters in Syria (a real possibility from the chatter I hear) they will cross a Rubicon that the West  has indicated is unacceptable. It could very easily lead to confrontation in the air at the very least as there are American jets (among others) bombing across the country. Russian pilots are highly trained and very effective and there would most likely be casualties on both sides and lots of destroyed hardware. What will these two bulls do in that case? There are massive egos involved and too much political capital to be lost should one of them back down. This is how wars start. It's getting very hairy around here and one false move could spell disaster. If you are religious, now is a good time to start praying.

Sometimes the Best Plans Run Astray...

It's funny but cameras sometimes don't see the same scene as the human eye. It may be the transition to 2D which flattens the image or it might be color and light ... sometimes it's not even obvious why the image from the camera is so different from what you remember. Today's image is a perfect example of this phenomena. I was in King's Canyon National Park (near Sacramento), traveling along the King River. There's a spot, about halfway between the park entrance and the far end of the road where a massive cliff rises from the valley floor to tower over the road. I noted this spot on my way in and, while driving out, stopped to take an HDR panorama. The cliff was super impressive with lots of texture and color. Down at the bottom, perhaps a 1000 feet below, was the river, raging through the narrow gorge. It was a really impressive spot. I grabbed the camera and tripod and very carefully crawled out on a narrow and dangerous ledge so I could shoot down into the canyon as part of the pano. The ledge was covered with loose gravel and dirt and I was very concerned that I might slip. But I felt the scene was too impressive to just back away. So I clung to the ledge and very gently took my pictures. I put them in my computer and waited for a time when I could process them into a majestic picture.

Jump forward a few days. I finally found time to set up the computer and did the usual work of merging my images into HDR and a huge panorama. Because the images were from the cliff face the pano software had a hard time finding matches. It took over an hour to get a final image. Imagine my disappointment when it finally emerged. To say it was lifeless would be an understatement. Several issues came to light ... first, the river all but disappeared in the distortions created by the panorama. What was an impressive torrent became an afterthought in the final image. It all but disappeared. And the cliff ... well, let's just say it was less than earth shattering. What I saw was a bland wall of gray with a few colors and one or two plants. Nothing like the massive stone wall I'd photographed. Maybe if I'd taken another row higher up, showing some sky, it would have impressed me more. who knows. So, disappointed, I put the image away and forgot about it.

King's Canyon Cliffs

A few weeks ago I was working through my backlog and came across the cliff picture. It was still bland and disappointing but I saw a glimmer of hope. Back into Lightroom it went and I started manipulating all the sliders I could find to see if something, anything, would emerge. Lightroom gives you a lot of power to tug and coax color out of your photographs. I didn't add anything (cheating) but used every bit of latitude Lightroom gave me to get an image that's not only acceeptable but even a bit tantalizing. This is, at some level, the image I remember as I clung to that ledge. It's not perfect but still ... perhaps worth teetering precariously above that abyss after all. I'll let you decide.

King's Canyon Cliff - 16mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Los Padres Sunset

DaVinci Resolve

I've been spending the last week learning about new things. Lots of reading from the internet and dipping my fingers gently into new software. All in preparation for the next cycle when I want to get more heavily into video and extend my mastery of the photographic and the moving image. I'm not sure yet what type of project that will be but it happens in and around LA. I'm narrowing my choice for the next camera (hint ... it's between the Canon 5D Mk 3 and the Sony A7 Mk 2). I'm convinced I want to stay away from the really high resolution rigs for now as they are 1) very expensive and 2) fraught with issues. With the 5D Mk 3 I can get reasonable resolution (22.1 Megapixels) plus can install Magic Lantern and get 14 bit raw video at HD resolution and up to 30 fps. Imagine ... video with higher color depth than a professional movie camera costing a large fortune. I've seen some of the video from this hack and it's almost orgasmic. And I can color grade it in DaVinci Resolve (lite for now as the full package costs almost a grand). So, for the last several days, I've been reading and playing with a very powerful and capable system to color correct and grade my footage. It's not for the faint of heart as the software is the exact same code used by the major studios to grade their movies. But mastering this package gives me the ability to really extract the maximum from that raw footage. That's if I get the Canon ... no such capability from any of the Sony cameras unfortunately. All 8 bit and that's not all that good. One would get the impression I've made up my mind ...

Los Padres Sunset

I drove the California coast from north of LA to almost Eureka and saw an amazing number of beautiful shots. I've got thousands of images to work through and that's going to take some time. But one of the best images came from an overlook in the Los Padres National Forest somewhere south of Big Sur. I was just driving along the coastal road and came upon this place. As is always my way, I parked the truck, ate some lunch and took out my tablet to read while awaiting the sun's end. One never knows what to expect as the afternoon drags on ... will it get too foggy or will all the clouds disappear or ... will everything come together and give me a special image to capture. That's what makes this business so interesting and so damn frustrating. I've read stories of photogs who hung out in one place for days awaiting that perfect set of conditions. I didn't have time for that this cycle but next time I'll be doing just that ... spending days in one place, taking the same images each time but waiting for the best conditions. I'll be covering southern California very thoroughly so expect some really interesting results.

Anyway, this is an HDR panorama of the little bay as the sun set behind some really nice clouds. It wasn't exactly stormy but could have been. I think the plants at the bottom are a form of sage which was blooming at the time. It's always nice to have living ground cover instead of ugly rocks. Would have been nicer with some waves but one can't be too choosy given I only spent one afternoon there. So, grab a beer or something more refined and sit back to enjoy the view.

Los Padres Sunset - 16mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Santa Monica Pier

Burning Man is Over

I guess the latest burning man ended on Sunday. I've always wondered what it would be like to spend a week in the dust and heat of summer Nevada with 70K other slightly crazy people. I've heard it was much better before it became a success so maybe I'm not really missing anything. That's always the problem with these things ... they start out as really cool ideas and then, because they're cool, they become popular and then mainstream and then ... they're toast because all the people and all the expectations destroy that which made them good in the first place. Every festival like this should have a limited shelf time ... a few years ... and then should be discontinued as a bad idea. Nothing good lasts forever. Humans attach themselves to anything that's too good and destroy it. So it is with burning man ... the extremely wealthy carve out their own little 'gated community' and fill it with million dollar buses and keep everyone else out and ... ruin the whole thing. There ought to be a rule that excludes anyone with too much money. Can't the rest of us 'little people' have something that's exclusively ours?

Santa Monica Pier

It's probably one of the most photographed ferris wheels in the world. Right on the beach, just below the million dollar flats and expensive homes and high class hotels ... there sits the pier. It costs a lot of money just to park there for a few hours. Fortunately, for us photographers, that's not a big concern. The parking concessions shut down around 7 at night and don't start up until well after sunrise so I was able to skip most of the costs. But I had to walk a long distance with my heavy equipment so that's the trade off one has to make. Anyway, I got to the beach just after 7 and lugged my gear down the beach sidewalk until I was pretty close to the pier. Most people had already abandoned the beach and most of the exercisers had already finished their routines and headed for the showers so it was just me and a handful of other photogs wanting to get that signature image. In the spring there's already afternoon fog so getting a blazing sun behind a thin layer of clouds is a long shot at best. And, the air is already pretty heavy with smog so it's problematic one can get that iconic shot. So I put the 70-200 f/4 on the camera and concentrated on the pier. It's really quite colorful with the lights on the wheel and the brightly painted rollercoaster so there's plenty to please the eye. It's a 3 exposure HDR and finished in Lightroom. I worked with the sliders quite a bit to bring out the colors. Hope you enjoy the ride. Keep your arms and legs inside the car at all time and absolutely don't scream!

Santa Monica Pier - 70mm(1.6 crop),f/11,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Grand Canyon Sunset from Desert View

The New Cameras...

It's been a big year for some of the camera manufacturers. They've been busy pushing the envelop with new sensors and new bodies plus more than a few new and exciting lenses. Canon fired the first shot with the 5DS(R) cameras containing a mind boggling 50 megapixel sensor. The photos are amazing and I think many serious Canon shooters have already made the transition. However, the sensor does have some serious noise issues (as do all Canon sensors) and the files are very large. This is a tripod only camera for in-studio use and for dedicated landscape photographers who are comfortable with that. Not good for action and, seriously, only outputs HD video ... when many in the world are already shooting 4K resolution. Hope that's just a software issue and not a limitation on the hardware because Canon, who really pioneered video from DSLR cameras, is now behind the 8 ball on that score. Then came Sigma ... yes, Sigma ... who are creating a whole new line of lenses called the ART series and these are really good glass. I think they just introduced a new zoom but the primes are truly amazing. I'm looking at the 24mm f/1.4 for astro work and it's as good as the much more expensive Canon offering. At less than $900 it's a real bargain. On my wish list as I write this. Then Sony came out with the new A7R ii and it too is an amazing camera. A forest of new features including 5-axis in-camera stabilization, 399 cross focus points so the camera can track action, a new back-lit sensor that is very low noise and sensitive and has 42 megapixels and 14 stops of dynamic range at low ISO. Almost ... and I say that with great hesitation ... almost a perfect camera. But there are increasing reports of overheating when recording 4K in-camera video (4.2.0 which isn't great but a first for a mirrorless camera none the less and 4.2.2 to an external recorder). Not a good thing if you plan to use this camera as a backup or primary when recording interviews or other long time sequences. Seems the problem is so bad the camera shuts down after 15-20 minutes even in a cool environment. If I was primarily planning to shoot video I'd bypass this camera but I'm not ... I'm shooting high resolution, high dynamic range stills mostly so I don't think this is an issue for me. So, as I type this the A7R ii is on my wish list too. It's not cheap ... only a few hundred below the Canon 5DS so I'll be selecting based on performance and how clean the images are. Oh ... and Sony has a lossless compression in the mix so that's also an issue. Why, I wonder, would they go to all the trouble of developing this amazing sensor and then crap all over it with a lousy compression algorithm? Rumor has it they've been listening to the wailing and are working on a new software fix to give users the option of getting the 14 bit RAW right from the sensor as an option. I hope so. Even if it slows down the shooting speed a bit. Please, give us the RAW data ... we can handle it.

Grand Canyon Sunset from Desert View

As you enter the south rim of the Grand Canyon on Rt. 64 there's a campground called Desert View. In the early days they constructed an observation tower on the rim so you could see the Colorado River deep in the canyon. It's a much quieter place than Grand Canyon City further to the west and the views are even more spectacular. I spent several days there, capturing sunsets and the amazing beauty of the canyon. This image was taken from a vantage point to the east of the tower and shows the river and red bluffs in beautiful detail. This is, of course, an HDR panorama. If you haven't been to Desert View, I strongly encourage you to make a stop the next time you're in the area. You won't be disappointed.

Grand Canyon Sunset - 16mm(1.6 crop), f/18, HDR, ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Golden Gate Bridge

Where am I?

I'm not ignoring you ... I'm just off doing other things. I have a family that needs some attention from time to time and I'm still working on that software project. Plus I'm starting to think through what I want to do on the next cycle which starts probably after the new year. I'm thinking hard about spending a long time in and around LA to work on my timelapse video and then what do I do? I don't want to be driving nearly as much as I did last time ... almost 10k miles and a lot of money. This time I want to be more localized and concentrate on southern California. I think that's possible. And since I want to do a nighttime video I can sleep during the day and avoid most of the issues around night camping and rule breaking. There's lots of issues to be resolved and plans to be made so I'll be busy for the next 4+ months. I'll still try to cull my photos so there's a constant stream of new images but I have other fish to fry too so bear with me while this gets done.

Golden Gate Bridge at Night

I spent a total of 2 days in San Francisco. I've already explained why I cut my stay short so I won't bore you repeating the obvious. I spent almost all that time around the bridge as it's the most obvious landmark in SF. Such an amazing construction and one of the few man made structures that actually enhances it's environment. The guy who designed it made a really excellent choice with the color ... international orange ... which lets the bridge stand out from it's surroundings while actually complementing the colors of the hills and city. A true work of art. And, if you've noticed, one of the few human constructions that appears in my pictures.

It wasn't easy taking this panorama. I had originally hoped to take this picture from the highest observation point in the park but fog got in the way. I was parked high above the bridge, awaiting sunset and the chance to take some really awesome pictures but, as is often the case in northern California, the afternoon fog rolled in and pushed the ceiling down until the bridge disappeared totally from this vantage point. I was forced to work my way down the observation overlooks as the ceiling fell until I was pinned at the lowest observation point. But the insults weren't finished yet. Every time I got out of my truck to set up, some clown would pull into the parking area and leave his lights on so my shots were ruined. Finally, in total frustration, I crawled into my truck and hunkered down until very late ... almost midnight ... when all the gawkers had finally gone home to bed and I had the place all to myself. Fortunately, the fog remained just above the tops of the bridge stanchions so I could see the red fog lights and traffic flowing across the span. It's a very nice picture but not perfect. The fog and mist gives all the lights a halo which is both nice and not so good. Also, some of the sections are a bit overexposed. I plead to frustration ... after all the negative pressure going back many hours I was just rushing to get any image and get back into my truck. At midnight it's really cold and raw up in those hills and standing outside for long periods trying to get the perfect picture is very uncomfortable. If I get back there this next cycle I'll do better ... I promise.

Golden Gate at Night - 16mm(1.6 crop),f/11,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Shiprock Sunrise

There's More to Life Than...

It's been a while since my last post. I've been busy with other things. I'm working a lot on my software project ... an application to help me remove flicker from my timelapse sequences. You've seen the flicker ... the video looks like something from the old hand cranked camera days with each frame having a different brightness. It can be very disconcerting to see something like that in a modern sequence and I work very hard to avoid getting that effect. Sometimes it's impossible to avoid like taking a sequence of images at a waterfall in the moonlight. The amount of mist changes from shot to shot so the intensity of reflected moonlight causes the image to 'flicker'. In that case you can do very little to fix it as it's part of the scene. The flicker I'm talking about has more to do with variations in shutter speed and aperture from one shot to the next and I can do something about that. I've been working on this program for several years now as it keeps getting shelved as my interests shuttle from one project to another but this time I'm intent on getting the thing working, at least for my purposes. It may never see any commercial success but that's OK. I want this for my purposes and that's good enough for the present. Right now I'm working to get bugs out and to make sure there's enough capability for my workflow which, at the moment, means making sure I have the ability to read in images in the correct format and to output images in the proper format. Right now that means being able to read Adobe .dng files and to output the same or DPX movie frames. I got that working yesterday (all except for the .dng output part). I also want to add some capabilities to the effects I can use to give me more latitude in how I fix the flickering. I think that takes maybe a few more weeks. When I'm finished I'll post a few examples so you can see what I'm doing.

Shiprock Sunrise

My first stop on this last cycle was Shiprock, NM. It's in the 4-corners area. I've written about it before so won't bore you with a rehash. I slept on the indian reservation so I could be at the rock at sunrise. When I awoke, the sun was just starting to lighten the sky so I was able to set up my camera and take a quick panorama of the colors in the sky. It was the first sunrise I'd seen in a long time and was very spiritual in a way. There's something very different from a sunset which has an ending quality about it. With a sunrise there's renewal and the feeling that there's hope for the new day. At day's end you know whether there was success or failure and your emotions are colored by those outcomes. The new day offers a chance at starting over and that's special.

Shiprock Sunrise - 17mm(1.6 crop),f4.0,2.5 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Zion Virgin River Dream

Sony Takes a Gamble

I've been contemplating a new camera body this summer. I've grown frustrated with how easily my sensor gets contaminated when I switch lenses all the time. By the time I finished the last cycle my Canon 60D took images that looked like they had chicken pox. I had to spend a small fortune to get it cleaned but I know that the dirt will return as soon as the next cycle begins. The only way to keep a camera clean is to never open it. But since I have several lenses (with another one being contemplated for astro photography) the only solution is to buy more bodies and commit each one to a certain lens. I'll do that for my 2 main lenses (the Canon wide angle and telephoto) and only swap in the astro lens when I'm doing night shooting. I'll have to set up a system for making those changes as clean as possible (maybe inside a big plastic bag to minimize environmental contact) and keep them to a minimum.

Anyway, I've been watching the camera market intently since January and it's become very interesting. Canon opened the bidding with their 5D SR, a 50 megapixel monster that sells for almost $4K. It is an interesting offering but has one serious drawback ... the same noise issues that plague my 60D. Canon sensors are just horrendously noisy and there's no getting around that. I'd need to get seriously dedicated to noise reduction and to buy some not so cheap software to help mitigate the issues this noise creates. But I'd at least not have compatibility issues with my lenses.

Sony offers the only serious competition for the Canon bodies. Their mirrorless design leaves room for adapters that allow the use of almost any lens from any manufacturer but, up until now, there were big issues. Auto focus was painfully slow and often failed so manual focusing was almost a given. That's OK most of the time but when you're trying to take candid photos (like on the street) it's a huge problem. And the image stabilization systems in most lenses didn't work very well either. It was a mess and, quite frankly, the first version of their high pixel count camera, the A7R, had some serious issues with shutter noise, vibration and lifetime. I know a lot of pro photographers made the switch but they were not all really happy with it. But, just this month, Sony introduced the next round ... the A7R II, and it looks like a game changer. It has a big sensor, 42 megapixels, so it competes directly with the new Canon but the really exciting ideas involve 5 axis image stabilization in the camera (by moving the sensor) and auto focus is now fast because they have 399 phase detection sensors spread across the sensor and they work with Canon auto focus lenses. I've seen several videos and the system is very fast indeed. They also seemed to be listening to their customers and made major changes in the software so HDR shooters have more bracketing options and video shooters can now shoot 4K internally to the camera. This last item is a huge advance ... a small camera that shoots ultra HD to the internal memory card (not everything is great ... only 8 bit and the color space is somewhat limited but still...). And the new sensor is very low noise so I can do my HDR thing and my star photo thing and even my video thing all with the same camera. Price is an issue ... $3200 ... and $399 for the adapter, but it's still a major step for them and for me. I can now get the resolution I want, a full-frame 35mm image and some really nice features that will make my life a whole lot easier. Now, all I need to do is find that $3600 and I'll be set to go ... hmmmmm.

Zion Virgin River Dream

Take the Zion park shuttle to the very last stop ... the Temple of Sinawava ... and take the path toward the narrows and you find the Virgin River. This river made the Zion Canyon and the narrows and pretty much the whole park so it's a big deal. In this area the river runs through a lot of rock fall, stuff sloughing off the nearby canyon walls, which makes for many turbulent pools and small waterfalls. It's an extremely picturesque area so I spent most of a day there. One place, in particular, caught my attention. Many rocks had pushed together to create an elevated pool which cascaded over the resulting dam and waterfall. I'm always looking for moving water as it gives me a chance to work with my 10 stop neutral density filter (here and here and you'll need an adapter ring to fit your lens). You've seen the effect I'm sure ... cascading water turns into the neatest mist. You achieve this by using this really dark filter which pushes your exposure times out to 30 seconds or longer. The result is an exposure that obliterates all evidence of individual drops and shows only a ghost of what's actually there. You get an image with some really sharp features (rocks mostly) and everything else is so ethereal. It's a really interesting effect.

Anyway, I spent quite a while at this waterfall and took many images. This one is probably the best of the lot although I'll develop all of them to make sure. This is a single exposure, extensively processed in Lightroom. I used several radial filters to highlight the rocks (especially the one in the middle) and worked with the colors to pull out the water and rock colors. Very dramatic I think.

Zion Dream - 106mm(1.6 crop),f/22,30 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Great Sand Dunes Snowstorm

Water, water everywhere but...

Traveling the West was an education in water and the lack thereof. Everywhere I went I confronted the impact of the devastating drought that is topic number one throughout that part of the country. I saw it in the empty reservoir behind Glen Canyon Dam, in the complaints of rangers in Grand Canyon about the complete lack of essential spring floods and the accumulation of damaging sand and silt in the Colorado River, in signs everywhere to conserve water ... I couldn't get away from the impact. And then there's California's Central Valley. You'd never know there was a drought given the massive amounts of water they use to keep their crops alive. I was amazed at some of the things the farmers were doing. I saw more new orchards being planted and watered than made sense given the water is running out. And, in the heat of the day, I saw massive watering operations going full tilt ... imagine the evaporation and how much water never got to the thirsty plants. I seems many haven't gotten the message that water is RUNNING OUT. Farmers think it's an infinite resource along with several large municipal water authorities (I'm looking at you LA). In Mono Lake the LA water authority came around in the 1920s and basically confiscated all the streams that fed the lake. You can imagine the outcome ... the lake almost disappeared. It took decades of fighting and court battles to get even a little of that water back and now the drought is sapping that supply to death so the lake is still very much in trouble. And you read about the convoluted legal arrangements and you no longer need to wonder how this all came about. It involved politicians so the outcome was foregone ... an absolute screw up. They made the mistake of creating fixed allocations ... each entity got a certain absolute amount of water and, unfortunately, the amount they worked with was a historically high measurement. Now there's not as much water but everyone still wants their fixed allocation and screw everyone else. It's a huge mess and I'm not sure if anyone, but especially politicians, can square the circle to fix it. But fix it the must because the future of the West depends on finding a solution. It should be interesting ...

Great Sand Dunes Snowstorm

As I've stated before, I spent a month in the Great Basin of Utah and Arizona because the cap for my 15 year old Nissan pickup needed to be special ordered. When the day came to have it fitted I was informed by the store that the truck carrying it had been diverted down into Texas and Oklahoma and would be delayed for 4-5 days. I wasn't about to sit around Albuquerque waiting at $65/day in a hotel so I jumped in my truck and headed north into Colorado and the Great Sand Dunes. I got dumped on big time ... two nights of heavy, wet snow (which collapsed my tent at 3 am) and froze my proverbial ass off. But bad weather makes for amazing photographs and I got a ton. The dunes were covered with a frosting of white and the sky was heavy with storm clouds ... a photographer's dream for sure. So I put the 70-200 mm f/4 zoom on the DSLR and went hunting for nice compositions. Along the road into the park there were downed trees and that's where I found exactly what I wanted. This is an HDR of 3 images with some Lightroom touches at the end. It's nice and pleasing to the eye and those storm clouds ... what more can I say.

Great Sand Dunes - 70mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY NC 4.0

Humboldt Redwood Renewal

From the Bit to the Small...

It's often amazing the diversity of images I get involved with. Most of the time I'm shooting the big, even colossal works of nature. Take the Grand Canyon, certainly among the biggest of features one finds on this planet. I've made dozens of panoramas of the canyon, a few which I've already shown you (with more to come over the next few months). Or Yosemite or Bryce or Crater Lake ... they are all massive in scale. They are usually the images that get the most attention when posted on 500px or Flikr. That's because they are grand and impressive and have a major WOW factor. That's how it should be.

But I also shoot the small. You've seen a few ... raindrops on my truck's window or the Spruce cones would be another example. I love those shots because they show the beauty in the simplest of nature's many offerings. To not shoot them is to overlook a majority of the beauty around us. To not stop and admire the new growth on a Redwood tree would be a shame as it can be and often is amazing. So, next time you're somewhere spectacular, turn your eye toward the small and see the beauty that's all around you. It makes the greater beauty even more magnificent.

Humboldt Redwood Renewal

It was early summer when I hit the Humboldt Redwoods in northern California. But at the altitude where these majestic trees grow it was still spring and new growth was everywhere. It's almost iridescent against the dark green of the mature trees. You really have to be blind to miss it. I was wandering through these huge stands of trees and this bright green was all around me. So it was only natural that I'd turn my lens onto these little jewels and start shooting. I love this one because the light, softened by the shallow depth of field at f/4, frames the growth perfectly. A pristine gem on the smallest of scales.

Renewal - 35mm(1.6 crop),f/4,1/20 sec, ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Grand Canyon North Rim Storm

Flush the Summer Goodbye...

It's been a bummer summer here in Crimea. I was really looking forward to spending at least part of this summer on the Black Sea with the family but that appears to have gone in the proverbial crapper. We've had zero good days this month so far and it's already 2/3 done. It's either too cold and/or the wind is too strong making the beach uncomfortable. And this year the bus company that provides transportation to the beach changed from a very nice VW bus with comfortable seats to this POS Bogdon municipal bus that overheats and is exceedingly uncomfortable to endure for the hour+ it takes to get there. Add to that the insult of raising the price 33% and you've got a good formula for not ginning up the excitement needed to make the trip. So we've been a grand total of once so far and it doesn't look to get any better going forward. No one is happy about this but there's not much we can do to fix it. Just grouse and bitch and hope, against hope, that it gets better soon.

Grand Canyon North Rim Storm

My last stop on this cycle was at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was a roll of the dice so to speak as I knew the camp grounds and even the cabins would be booked full and then some. They also have a policy of no 'overnight camping' which is a polite way of saying ... no sleeping in your car or RV in the parking lots or overlooks. I decided to challenge that position and slept in my truck for 2 nights in the parking lot at the lodge. No one bothered me but I think that's probably from oversight more than anything else. The single ranger had other things to worry about than people sleeping in their cars. So I got away with a slight transgression.

On my second day I went out to Royal point which is the eastern most overlook. It's near the spot where the Colorado enters the main canyon. It was a very hot day so I found a shady spot not too far from the bathrooms, ate my lunch and settled back to await the evening. Around mid-afternoon the sky darkened and it started to rain. As any photographer knows, rain is a good thing as it creates drama. Mundane scenes suddenly become interesting and photogenic. I had already selected a nice overlook to visit in this event so I drove as quickly as possible there and set up the camera. The result was a very pleasant surprise and I have now processed the files for your enjoyment.

Grand Canyon North Rim Storm - 16mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY NC 4.0