Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP

Fog ... everywhere

Just north LA it started, Fog ... every morning, every evening, every day. I like to shoot sunsets and it's hard to do that when there's fog. Mostly fog banks off shore which blocked the sun about half an hour before actual sunset and produced not exactly exciting or impressive results. So I apologize for the total lack of redness in some of the images I produce at this time. But they're still pretty nice.

Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP

Just south of Big Sur is a very beautiful but small state park. Most of it is on the east side of rt. 1 and is dedicated to the hiker. But a small part is west of the road and wow, is it an amazing part. A small bay formed by rugged rock cliffs and pounding surf. It's beautiful. It would have been overwhelming had it not been for that pesky fog bank just off shore. But I'll let you decide if the photo is good enough or not.

Julia Pfieffer Burns SP - 16mm(1.6 crop), f/18,HDR,ISO 100, license CC BY-NC 4.0

Morro Bay

Why is California so expensive

I've spent the last 6 weeks traveling around the west taking pictures. I'm appreciative of those who've chosen to take the trip with me. I've seen some amazing things and met lots of interesting people. I've also gotten a chance to gage costs of things and how they vary across the states. Most states seem to be within a relatively narrow range of prices except ... California. Everything here is just way more expensive than anywhere else. Take gas as an example. I've paid anywhere from $2.19 to roughly $3 per gallon everywhere else but this place ... figure at least $3.65 and expect to see way more than $4. Then there's the cost of camping. I routinely paid anywhere from $6 to $10 for a night in a national park. I paid more like $20 in private campgrounds and that was OK as they often had Internet and showers thrown in. In California, the state parks routinely charge more than $30 for a bare campsite and ... hold your breath ... seniors get a whopping $2 discount. Last night I paid $33 (with the big senior discount) for a stripped down campsite and no amenities at all. No internet, no showers, nada beyond a basic bathroom. And we were so close together I almost could touch my neighbor's truck while sitting in my own. What is it about California that makes everything so expensive? Is it really just the fact that it's California? Really?

Morro Bay

This place is one of those confusing things you run across in California. A beautiful beach front with a huge, Gibraltar sized rock in the harbor and they surround the thing with a massive power plant, a breakwater constructed out of the ugliest boulders you can find and a host of other insults. It's really hard to find anywhere to get a photo of the thing without something ugly getting in the way. The whole scene must have been designed by a sadist who hated beauty. I wandered around this rock for several hours before finally finding a place where I could get a good image. But it required me to crawl across the dangerous breakwater to get in position. But I found a piece of the rock that was just right ... and it was a nesting site for pelicans I think. Couldn't really see but they were big and I know pelicans are in the area ... ran into several on a pier just down the road. So I give you Morro Bay ... without all the junk.

Morro Bay Sunset - 120mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

This is a 5 image sequence run through all the usual processing. I wanted to bring out the intense colors in the sky and also show the structure on the rock. You can see the birds perched on the rocks. It was a beautiful experience.

Jalama Beach

LA large 

So, after getting the cap I loaded the truck and headed west. Took 2 days but I finally hit LA on the 14th. Immediately drove to Griffith Park to visit the famous observatory where Edwin Hubble did all his historic research. It's an amazing place with amazing views. From the building's roof you can see all of LA spread out in the valley. You see downtown, the Hollywood hills and all the way to the ocean. It's awe inspiring. But not many images came out of my many days there as I was focused on something else. I did take an HDR panorama of the Hollywood Hills but it's not on my laptop right now so I'll have to pass. I promise I'll throw it up in a few days although it's not all that exciting. You'll see what I mean when it's published.

Anyway, I spent 3 days in town and a few at a rest area north of town. LA tends to overwhelm you even if you're familiar with large cities. It is huge. You get on a freeway and drive and drive and drive ... and drive some more getting from one place to another. It takes an hour at the least. I spent several days at Griffith Observatory and an early morning and evening at Santa Monica beach getting lots of frames for a time lapse video I'm thinking about. Didn't get all the stuff I wanted as I just burned out too quickly. It will have to wait for my next visit to finish. On the 18th I finally admitted defeat and headed north on I5 toward the coast. My first stop ...

Jalama Beach...

Drive north of Ventura and the first major city you hit is Lompoc. Just south of there you see a sign on rt. 1 directing you to Jalama Beach. The state runs the place and they do a nice job but charge a lot for the privilege. Just to get through the gate costs $10 and if you want to stay add $28 to that. I decided I wanted to see the beach but could find cheaper accommodations elsewhere. I spent the afternoon walking the beach and sleeping in my truck. Around 7 I headed out to the beach with my gear and set up near the waterline to photograph a large group of rocks in the water as the sun sank into the horizon. I knew it would be a race between sunset and the rising tide but figured I might just make it. Damn did time slow to a crawl. Kept looking at my watch and then the advancing tide and back to the watch ... it was going to be close. Finally the big show started and I kept hitting that shutter button and banging out 5 sequence HDR sets like crazy. With waves lapping at my tripod's legs I finally relented and went back to the truck. Pulled out of the park around 8:30 and headed back to Lompoc. Wasn't much available for sleeping so grabbed a quick dinner at McD before parking on a side street and sleeping vertical. Not the best sleep but sometimes you have to make compromises for your art.

Jalama Beach Sunset - 85mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

This is a 5 image set for HDR. All the usual steps were used to get the final result. Now, I do have to claim hardship here ... because of the lousy accommodations (sleeping on streets sometimes) and lack of suitable work spaces in California rest areas it took me 4 days to find a place where I could finally get images into my computer and edit them. This image was created on a picnic table under the trees in Morro Bay state park. That's not the best place to be color grading images. You get reflections on the screen and the background isn't really very conducive to creating a quality image. So bear with me ... when I get back to Crimea later this summer I'll redo all these images and make them perfect ... I promise.

Great Sand Dunes

No, I haven't fallen off the edge ... yet

It's been a while since I did an entry here. I've not disappeared or been injured or anything like that ... I've been in lala land ... California. Strange as it might seem it's hard to get a good, free Internet connection in California. You can always pay (quite handsomely it turns out) but I'm not inclined to do that. Why pay for a very slow wifi connection? That's what you usually get. A few days ago I was in a truck stop and wanted to send my family a simple email and had to cough up $2 for 60 minutes of connection. It took most of that time just to get the message out. Taught me to not do that anymore. And I'm usually in a fast food place somewhere competing for bandwidth with a few dozen others (as I'm doing right now) and uploading images is just too damn slow and painful (since the connection almost always blows up while the image is still hanging out there somewhere). So I've been taking my pictures and dreading the day when I'd have to devote basically my entire waking hours to getting out a few blog posts. That's where I am today. So, I'm going to backdate these so they are essentially in line with when the pictures were taken. I hope you'll forgive me.

Finally got the truck cap and it's great ... sort of

I finally curtailed my travels and headed back to Albuquerque for the cap. The owner told my cousin that it would arrive on Friday, May 8 so I packed up everything and drove like crazy to get there. Then Friday arrived and bright and early I drove to the store believing I'd get the cap and be on my way. Imagine my surprise when he comes over and tells me that the shipment hasn't arrived, that it's been diverted to Oklahoma and Texas first so I shouldn't expect any cap until Tuesday, the 12th. I wanted to rip his head off but realized that would probably only delay my delivery even further. Went to my cousin's house and sat there for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. Staying for 4 days in Albuquerque wasn't one of the options I considered. Paying $65/night for a hotel room was eating into my meager budget big time so I had to plan something else. Looking at a map my eyes naturally scanned north and south since going west came after the cap and I didn't want to go back to the Great Basin for a few more days. My eyes came to rest on a small patch of green on the map ... The Great Sand Dunes in southern Colorado. It was only a few hundred miles away and I remember a family vacation long ago and an very enjoyable evening under the stars with my kids. What the hell I figured. So I gassed up the truck and pointer her nose north up I25. It took a while as I got tired somewhere north of Santa Fe but on Saturday morning I arrived. It's early in the camping season and I was lucky to get a spot near the dunes. Set up the tent and headed to the parking area nearest the massive sand structure to see what photo ops I could find. That's when it happened all over again. I'm siting pictures and see this big, black cloud coming fast from the west. "oh C*&p" I thought. You can guess the rest ... soon it was snowing and coming hard, windy and cold. Finished pictures and headed back to campsite as the sun disappeared behind the black wall. Spent the evening freezing in my tent and went to bed way too early.

The next morning my tent was covered in snow. Cleaned up as much as I could and then jumped in my truck for the 30 mile drive to Alamosa to send my family an e-mail. On way back I spotted the perfect picture. I was still several miles from the park but realized I could use my 70-200 to compress the sand and mountains into a really awesome image. Only problem was the final dimensions. To really capture the dunes in all their majesty I needed an image that is very wide and not very tall. I'll let you see it and then continue my comment.

Great Sand Dunes Snowstorm - 200mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100, license CC BY-NC 4.0

Click to get a much bigger image. There's 85 base images in there. Somewhere in those clouds is a 14k foot peak. The sand is covered in snow and the contrast is amazing. I could, of course, take just a portion of the image and create something impressive but I couldn't get anywhere close to this masterpiece. The clouds hanging on the mountains gives it just the right touch of ominous. Damn it looks good ... doesn't it? You should see the original! Let me know what you think.

The Zion Watchman... Redux

The Zion Watchman

Sorry, no pithy comment this morning. A friend of my wife is seriously ill and my thoughts are with her and her family. Since I'm in Albuquerque there aren't any new images to throw your way so I thought I'd return to an image I captured a while back but just processed this morning. The watchman is an impressive rock formation at the entrance of Zion National Park. Because of the canyon's north to south orientation, not many of the beautiful formations get light during the golden hours. It's frustrating to say the least. But the watchman makes up for this by putting on a marvelous display every evening. It's such a beautiful structure and is the most photographed location in the park. Every night people congregate at the Canyon Junction bridge to snap photos as the sun baths it in warm light. This image isn't from that location but was taken further south near the history museum. The sky was so blue and the fluffy, white clouds framed the rock so well I had to take this picture. It's a 3 frame bracketed image, worked through Photomatix with minimal adjustments and then finished in Lightroom. I'll refrain from the technical details (which I think you can surmise pretty well) and just let you enjoy the result.

The Watchman - 35mm(1.6 crop),f/18,1/160 sec,ISO 100, license CC BY-NC 4.0

Painted Desert

Almost done in Albuquerque

Arrived in Albuquerque this morning after another night on the road. Was able to get my little Canon's sensor cleaned which is a big relief. Had worries that the contamination was so bad it would be hopeless. Also visited the shop that ordered my cap and they are sure it's on the way and will arrive sometime tomorrow (Friday) and I might even get it installed. That means I can blow out of here tomorrow night and start the long trek to California. Really antsy to get to LA and start working on my big project which I will talk about more once I get there (it's kind of a secret maybe). Also got the new Wacom tablet and wireless kit but haven't tried it yet (it's charging and needs 6 hours to finish). And, just like that, it's ready so I'll see how good it works before going to bed. All in all it's been a good trip so far.

Painted Desert

Driving down I40 in eastern Arizona I saw signs for the Petrified Forest National Park around exit 285. I was ahead of schedule and wanted to see this small but very special park. The southern part is the petrified forest, a 220 million year slab of rock covered with the crystalized remains of ancient tropical trees. A long time ago this area was a swamp filled with trees and ancient amphibians related to alligators. According to the resident experts, when these trees fell, the geology was down south around Peru and a whole lot warmer and really wet. But conditions changed and the trees, along with their resident creatures, were buried under high silica content sands. The silica kept the trees from decaying and, over millions of years, converted the trunks into crystalline rock. Time and erosion brought them all to the surface where they were discovered by settlers and railroad surveyors. Unlike most national parks, this area is as much a scientific laboratory as a place for the curious to visit.

The northern extent of the park is the painted desert. Vermillion reds mix with other colors to create a riotous range of impressions ... like an artist's pallet. In full sun, of course, the colors are muted and not much to photograph. Unfortunately, the park closes early and I didn't want to be driving after dark so I was resigned to getting nothing but luck was with me again ... there were lots of clouds in the area and rain. Clouds can create the most interesting patterns while muting the sun's full intensity and the rain gives any image a darker and more interesting texture. So, I pulled out my camera (with the very dirty sensor) and did a single row panorama. There weren't deep chasms to lend a more ominous aura so it made little sense to waste shutter cycles photographing dirt under my tripod. The result is interesting and certainly pleasing to the eye. You decide if you like it ... I do.

Painted Desert - 16mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Nothing really all that different with processing. In photoshop I did use some overlay layers to bring out the reds and greens (selected using the color range tool from the Select menu) which were muted even in the HDR panels. That's the only divergence from my usual workflow on panoramas. This is a 3 image bracketed series. You know the drill for the rest.

Grand Canyon ... one more time

It's Still Raining...

Day three of the unusual rain pattern that seems to be stuck over the canyon. Last night was very uncomfortable as the wind blew and the rain came and went throughout my night's sleep. Woke early and lay there thinking how wonderful it will be when I get a bit lower (presently at around 7000') and find some warm, dry air. That happens later today after I finish this post and visit a local gallery that may be interested in my stuff. Keep your fingers crossed that they want to work together ...

Not the smartest move...

As I was waiting for the library here at the park headquarters to open, an older woman came limping in requesting help. Turns out she had been through major surgery a month ago and her doctor had said it was OK for her to travel. Don't think she told him her mode of travel ... an old van which was her bedroom and everything else. Last night she went through a very miserable time as the cold weather finally got to her. The park rangers suggested, rather forcefully, that she go to the clinic here and see someone. Not sure if she did but I hope so as she was in pretty bad shape. Certainly not well enough to undertake the long drive back to the east coast. I feel for her as I've spent more than a few mights freezing my a** off but I'm in reasonable shape and have the gear to survive a really cold night. I wish her luck as she tries to get home.

The Canyon ... one more time

We've had some miserable weather here in Grand Canyon as I'm sure you know from my previous notes. Rain, cold and wind have made the last couple of days pretty miserable. As you also know, bad weather is the best event a photographer can ever hope for. Just before and certainly after a major storm the air is very clear and the clouds provide all the drama one can ever want. Well, on Saturday we had a big rain that broke, fortunately, in late afternoon so, by the time I got to the canyon rim, much of the fury was spent and only the dark clouds remained. This time I set up on a rock outcropping east of the visitor's center because, quite frankly, I was exhausted and had no desire to ride a bus back and forth to some remote location (especially after dark) and freeze while the event unfolded. I was quite surprised when I found a very nice spot, with a big rock sticking well out away from the surrounding rim and right over a large side canyon. As you may have surmised by now, my pictures get most dramatic when there's a very deep plunge near the bottom center. Well, we got that and then some with this picture. I'll let you enjoy and then come back with the details (which you probably know by heart by now).

Grand Canyon from Mather Point - 16mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 200,license CC BY-NC 4.0

This is a 5 exposure bracket. Again I went through Photomatix to get the tonemapped images and then, because my sensor is still crapped up, into Photoshop to do some cleanup. I then took the collected images back into Photoshop to merge into a cylindrical panorama. Cropping and final color correction was performed in Lightroom. Hope you enjoy and please comment. I really want to know what you think.

Raindrops

Tragedy at Grand Canyon

It happens every year I'm told. Someone fell from the canyon edge last Thursday. 400 feet and the end was his death. There's no way for the park service to limit access to the often steep drops that are all over the canyon. They have long walks that traverse the edge and it's very easy to walk out onto a protruding rock and wonder at the beauty. One false step and there's no way to return. I spend lots of time on these outcroppings as my panoramas require shots down into the depths of the canyon. But I'm very careful, always looking where my feet are and what the condition of the ground is. There are small rocks and loose dirt so you have to be exceedingly careful. Tragedy can and does happen here and all one can do is be very aware of the place you're occupying. My condolences to the family of this victim. It is a warning but rarely heeded...

Raindrops...

I'm sure you've grown tired of these sweeping panoramas of Grand Canyon and want something else. Me too quite frankly. It's fun (and challenging) to get the images and takes a fair bit of processing (and some luck) to get the spectacular results but repetition can be boring. So today something a bit different. It rained yesterday in Grand Canyon. Of late that's a rare thing. Big thunderclouds swept the canyon and we got quite a downpour. I was sitting in my truck, watching the raindrops course down the window and decided to take out my camera and see what happened. I had the 16-35mm on so depth of field is always hard to shorten but I moved right up to the glass and set the f-stop at 4. Even close up this lens gives amazing clarity. I had the camera set for a bracketed shot so there was plenty of material to work with. I ran the images through Photomatix and, as is my custom, worked with the black and white points plus strength until I was happy. Then into Lightroom for some final tweaking. I like the result ... don't you?

Raindrops - 24mm(1.6 crop),f/4,HDR,ISO 100 ,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Desert View

It Doeth Sucketh...

Was at Desert View, a remote area near the east entrance to Grand Canyon for a few days. Really beautiful area with amazing views of the canyon. You can actually see where the Colorado River widens out to become the Grand Canyon. Got some great shots but now have a problem with my camera. The sensor is dirty. Several streaks of junk run across my images requiring me to do major repair surgery on every one. When I look at the sensor I can see them so they are definitely real. When the final image is composed of upwards of 20 separate HDR images that's a lot of repair work to do. Of course, this happened in a remote area where there aren't any repair shops so I'm stuck until I get back to Albuquerque later this week. I'm going to do some internet searches to see if there's a way I can do it but that's probably risky. I want a clean camera, not a broken or destroyed one.

Desert View and the Grand Canyon

As you head east out of the Grand Canyon on Rt. 64 there's a small outpost called Desert View near the park's entrance. Back in the 20s they erected a tall tower on the canyon's rim so people could climb up and get a major impressive view (not that you need any added incentive to be impressed but what the hell). As is my custom, I wander along the rim, searching out spots where I can get out over the abyss and see as much of the canyon depths as possible. That's why my panoramas are so dramatic. I found several possible spots and shot one each night as the sun went down. Unfortunately, the sunsets were not really all that impressive because a band of clouds always sat stubbornly on the horizon, blocking the sun at just that critical point when the sky should light up in the most spectacular way. Something about the geography and interaction with the prevailing winds seems to cause this problem more often than not. Most of my canyon shots exhibit this issue but what can I do? Don't have a direct line to the weather god so I've got to live with what I'm given.

Anyway, last night I positioned my now crippled camera on a very precarious ledge about 200 yards west of the watch tower and waited. Again there was that pesky band of clouds just at the horizon only this time there was a small crack just wide enough for the sun to shine through. There weren't any impressive displays of fireworks but still a nice, muted show of color. The result is shown below. If you look just to the right of center, you can see the Colorado River as it emerges around the corner from it's deep slot canyon into the Grand Canyon.

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

5 exposures per position, into Photomatix for merging and a bit of color enhancement, into Photoshop for repair work to fix the dirty sensor streaks and then into Photoshop to create the panorama. Finished off in Lightroom with final color adjustments and some spot removal of shadows caused by dirt on the sensor. Damn ... I hope I can find someone to quickly clean that sensor or it's going to be a long road ahead. Enjoy and let me know your impressions.

Grand Canyon - One More Time

Sorry About Not Keeping the Google Map up to Date

Living in a tent and depending on spotty Internet access really puts a crimp in my blogging style. When I was in Zion National Park a while back I had to drive 20 km to find a good connection. Here in Grand Canyon there's really only one connection that's not an arm and a leg to access ... at the library in the park admin building. So every morning I lug my laptop (sans battery which has swollen so big it no longer fits in the space allotted) there and plug in. The connection is dirt slow but it's all they have so I'm grateful. So, I have to make choices and the Google map is low on my priority list at this point since my following is a bit slim right now. Once I get in better shape with a loyal group of companions I'll do better.

Grand Canyon for the Last Time ... for a While

I'm leaving the main part of Grand Canyon to explore an area close to the entrance ... Desert View. They have a primitive campground there and not much else. But it's a different part of the park and I'll get different views to admire and capture. So bear with me for this last image. I took this at a place called Yaki Point which lies just to the east of Grand Canyon City. I crawled out on a large rock formation away from the crowds who came to watch the sunset and waited patiently for the main event. You can usually judge a sunset (or sunrise) by the clouds floating around and how clear the air is. Last night there were some very nice clouds, in about the right place and the canyon air has been exceptionally clear the last few days. So I expected it would be at least nice and perhaps spectacular. But ... there's always a but isn't there ... as the sun approached the horizon a band of clouds appeared in just the wrong place and obscured it's progress. So, instead of a fiery sky I got some backlit clouds and a bit of red but nothing to really get excited about. Since I was there anyway I took a sequence. 5 photos per view this time because of the strong contrast between the sky and the deep canyon. The processing is pretty standard so I'll not bore you with those details.

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

I'm reasonably satisfied with this picture given the sun's bad behavior but it could use a bit of touchup in Photoshop. Because my Wacom tablet died I'm not really able to do that right now. I've been told the new tablet is on its way so I'll pick it up next weekend. When I get time, I'll go back to this image and make the necessary adjustments. When that's done I put it here again.