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