Big Sur Again

Sometimes bad things happen...

Toward the end of my cycle I decided to head south from Albuquerque and check out a few places. White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe NP were on my to-do list. I hit White Sands and then went south to the other parks before heading north to Albuquerque again. At the end of this trip I was driving up I10 through El Paso and noticed that there was a storm brewing over Las Cruces. Storms in that part of the world are a great thing as they give you a dramatic sky to go with the wild geography. I wanted to see if I could catch a storm in White Sands as it can get really interesting so I turned east on rt. 70 and drove like a madman to get there before the storm broke. I was lucky and made it into the monument and up on the sand just in time. I wanted to get a timelapse of the storm. It took a while to get everything setup but finally the camera was rolling and getting some great shots. I watched a couple of guys get out of their car just below where I was positioned and wasn't at all surprised when one of them started climbing the sand dune straight toward where I was standing. When he was still 20 feet away I shouted at him that I was shooting and wanted pristine dunes for my shots but he kept coming. So when he got 10 feet away I told him again that I was shooting a timelapse and wanted him to change directions so he didn't interfere with my shoot. He kept coming. Just as he got about even with me I told him that I was not adverse to picking up my $2500 camera and lens and using it to beat the crap out of him if he didn't stop. That seemed to get his attention and he turned but not without giving me a dirty look and a finger. I have a hard time understanding the mentality that says it's OK to be an a**hole and simply destroy someone else's shot. He wasn't willing to explain to me why it was necessary for him to walk across the pristine sand I had chosen for my work. There are literally thousands of dunes in the monument he could have chosen to climb and why mine was so important still isn't clear to me. But I'm glad I ruined his day because soon after that confrontation he and his friend left the dunes and drove away.

The storm provided another unexpected bit of excitement as my shoot continued. The wind was blowing pretty strong but there was little sand in the air when I first arrived. In the video below, you can see about 30 minutes of the storm and the first 25 are very clear. But as the shoot progressed I could see sand far away but wasn't really worried because the wind was mostly from left to right. However, if you look carefully at the video you can see a wall of sand suddenly rising to my left and coming very quickly toward my position. I guessed it was about 8 minutes total from the time I first saw the cloud until I hit me full force. I had taken precautions for the camera, putting it in a rain sleeve so the sand didn't get inside or cause any damage but I hadn't made much effort to protect myself. As it was very warm I was in jeans and a short-sleeve t-shirt. I really wanted to stay a few minutes more and capture the full force of the storm as it swept over my position but I was being filleted by the sand which was stripping skin off as I ran back to my truck. I also wanted to get my truck out of the sand blaster but it was slow going as the road was rapidly disappearing under the sand. When I finally got to the ranger's station I showed the ranger my shots and he was amazed at how fast the storm had come. There were people way out on the sand and they had to have been in real danger as they couldn't avoid the full force of the wind. I hope they got out safely.

Anyway, sometimes stuff happens. Sometimes it's an idiot who thinks he's really important and sometimes it's something completely beyond your control. That's one of the reasons why I do this ... you never know when something really interesting will happen.

Big Sur Again

I already related my trials in Big Sur this trip so I won't rehash them. This overlook was just down the road from the spot where I took the other image from last week. I love the erosion which has created the most interesting forms in the foreground. Very dramatic and wonderful to look at. Enjoy.

Big sur - 24mm,f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Cholla Cactus - Joshua Tree NP

HDR vs. Blending

I've been a pretty faithful user of HDR over the last several years. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. In HDR photography, I take a bracketed set of shots of the same image. Bracketing means changing the exposure time while holding the F-stop constant, thus getting a series of images that capture different amounts of light with the sensor. The idea is that camera sensors don't have the same dynamic range as the human eye so you make this series of images and then 'blend' them together to get the final image. In reality, you don't really extend the dynamic range of your image ... you compress the dynamics of the image to match the limited range of the display you are using. This is called 'tone mapping'. So the HDR image you see is really a false representation of the true dynamics of the picture. You can always tell you're looking at an HDR image by the way it seems to be over saturated. HDR is OK ... a lot of famous photographers have used this technique to make their images more dynamic and attractive. But I get the feeling this technique has run its course. I find myself still using the same software but applying a much lighter touch to the controls so my images aren't nearly as intense as they were before. I've also been spending some time exploring a different technique ... image blending ... to get what I want. I've just started doing this and haven't really gotten good enough to show the results. But I like the technique. The results appear much more natural and less forced. I think I'm going to start heading that way in the near future. I just need to spend some more time getting familiar with the methods and figure out how to get the results I want. Stay tuned.

Cholla Cactus - Joshua Tree NP

I've already commented on how difficult it is to take photos in Joshua Tree NP. Most of the living entities are just not that photogenic. Certainly not the Joshua Trees which are down right ugly. You need to look very carefully to find shots that are exciting and nice to look at. Such is the case with this blog's photo. This is a Cholla Cactus. There's one spot in Joshua Tree where they appear. You're driving along Pinto Basin Road and suddenly there they are. Ugly things on the whole but, if you look very carefully, you can find some very intriguing compositions. I was coming from the south, right around sunrise, when I got to this location. I wanted to shoot there before the sun got too intense and washed out everything. That's how you shoot in a place like Joshua Tree. I found a cactus that was just starting to flower and was able to get very close so the flowers were basically the only thing you could see. I also wanted to get some sky which was very blue at that moment and I wanted the background to be out of focus. Notice the f-stop of 4.0. The lens is wide open.

You also have to be very careful around these cacti. They are barbed on the end and will do some serious damage to any exposed skin. While I was there a park ranger was attempting to extricate some of these nasty thorns from a guy's leg and it wasn't going very well. He was using a pair of needle nose pliers but the spikes are very fragile and hard to get out without breaking. The guy was in some intense pain. He was advised to visit a hospital emergency room to finish the repair. Was his fault as there are signs everywhere warning about how dangerous these cacti are. He was wearing shorts! Not a good idea in this place.

Anyway, this is made from 5 bracketed images, run through Photomatix and then finished in Lightroom. I really like the contrasts and the composition came out pretty good too. Joshua Tree NP ... definitely a place to visit but not in the summer. It's really hot and dry. Bring plenty of water and arrive early. And watch out for the cactus thorns.

Cholla Cactus - 35mm,f/4.0,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Multnomah Falls

Too Many People...

I've written about this before but it needs to be talked about a lot. There are too many people in these venues and they are causing lots of problems. This is pertinent to my image today because this particular falls, in the Colombia River Gorge, is literally overrun with people. They come by car and by bus and it's getting more and more difficult to take pictures with them all over the place. The bridge in this picture was constantly filled with people and their presence spoils the mood I'm trying to create. I'll talk more about this later but I do want to make some points now. First, there is a striking lack of reverence toward the venues being visited. This is particularly a problem with foreign visitors, many who show absolutely no respect for either the venue or the other people who are there to see it. They swarm the place like ants, talking loudly, standing in front of the other photographers and just making asses of themselves. Some just can't resist vamping for pictures which is disrespectful in the extreme. I remember last year when I was in Arches NP, at Delicate Arch, and there was this woman who insisted on dancing in the middle of the arch with a huge purple scarf while her husband/boyfriend took pictures. Delicate Arch is a very special place and this stupid behavior was not right. Certain nationalities seem to have this idea that the venue is nothing more than a backdrop for their selfies. They are in every picture, hogging the spaces where serious photographers need to set up and take their images. I've had confrontations with these people on several occasions and it's really irritating. This leads to the second point which is just about volume. My generation, unfortunately, has this idea that the ideal retirement involves a huge RV and driving all over the country. These monstrosities take up lots of space and are very noisy. I use generators for my computers but I always respect the hours posted as I know how irritating it is to listen to a noisy generator when you are trying to sleep. But I've had that happen all too often when people park next to my truck in the middle of the night and fire up their generators. They literally don't care if it bothers you. This last trip was especially bad for some reason. I've almost always been able to find a campsite in the national parks but this last trip I had major problems finding places. When you look at the campgrounds all you see is these big RVs and camp trailers. They have satellite dishes and ATVs ... hell, one guy even projected movies on a screen and invited everyone to come watch. All the comforts of home. But the bedlam they create is hard on everyone around them including the animals. I don't have an answer unfortunately. They have the right to do whatever they want but the impact on these places in major.

Multnomah Falls

I'm sure most of you have seen a picture of this waterfall. It's part of the Colombia River Gorge NP. What an amazing place. Because it's so popular there is a major issue with crowds. I talked about this above so I'll keep it short. Too many people spoils the mood of a place like this. You really want to just stand quietly and drink in the beauty and serenity of this location. Almost impossible because too many loud, obnoxious people are swirling around. The parking lot was almost full. And because this is a popular spot there are signs everywhere about taking your valuables with you so no one can steal them. I always laugh at that because my truck is filled to overflowing with valuables and there's no way I can take even 10% with me. I have a suggestion for the local authorities ... if this is such a big problem, why not station law enforcement around the lots to keep people from breaking in. You make a lot of money off this traffic and maybe you should spend some of that on keeping people's valuables safe. Maybe?

Anyway, there's always a problem with photographing such a venue. It's been shot millions of times, often by professional photographers and the basic image is well known. How do you shoot a place like this in such a way as to be different? No photographer wants to take a "me too" shot. Well, in my case I wanted to really capture the serenity of this place. That's best done without people. People spoil the shot. I also wanted to take a very long exposure so the water took on a soft, almost dreamy quality. That required me to use a 10 stop neutral density filter and that lead to exposures of 3 minutes or more. Keeping the bridge empty for 3 minutes was almost impossible so I had to take many shots of the same scene, hoping at least one would be sans people. I got lucky with this one shot.

This is a single exposure of almost 3 minutes. I ran it through Lightroom to bring out the colors and that's about it. There's very little done to "fix" this image. I really like how it came out. I understand why this place is so special. It just grabs you and won't let go. It's on my bucket list for another visit, early in the morning before the crowds arrive. I just want to shoot this place over and over. It's that special.

Multnomah Falls - 35mm,f/18,151 seconds,ISO 100, license CC BY-NC 4.0

Wyoming Sunset

The Eyes...

I've had more than my fair share of eye problems of late and, unfortunately, the issues continue. The biggest problem has been hemorrhaging in both eyes in the last few years. Laser surgery sealed off the leaks but there's serious side effects that continue. I have a lot of debris in both eyes and that makes seeing a big issue. I have "spider webs" in both eyes, collagen webs that hang in my vision and cause distortion. When I was home this last trip I noticed that they seemed to be falling apart and debris is floating all over the place, including near my retinas. So occasionally my vision simply blurs and I can't really distinguish much of anything. Not a good thing when you are a photographer. Usually I can move my eyes and the blurring goes away but it's still a major inconvenience. I'm hoping the problem abates but might take a long time. I still have the webs in my right eye and the surgery was several years ago. The eye doctor assures me they will go away but, at my age, time is fleeting and I don't have years to wait. Not sure what I can do to fix the problem.

Wyoming Sunset

It's funny. Most of the time, to capture the images I put in this blog, I have to work very hard. I have to find the location, often carrying a ton of camera gear on my very broken shoulders, deal with the elements, sometimes risk life and limb to get in a place to make the image, and then hope that the results are worth all the effort. Out of thousands of images I take each cycle I'm lucky if I get 100 that are useful. Of course, some of that bulk is simply due to taking lots of cycles looking for just the right light. It's not unusual to take 50 sets of images to get one final presentation. That's just the nature of the beast.

Then there are the rare occasions when the image comes to me. It literally drops from the sky and hits me square on the head. Such was the case for this photo. I had just left Yellowstone, heading south toward Albuquerque and my trip back to Russia. I was in a rest area on I80, near Laramie, WY. It was located on a hill above the highway so I could see a long way in all directions. It had been cloudy most of the day and was very windy. I was sitting in the truck, feeling it rock as the wind roared up the hillside, reading on my tablet. I was facing east with the sun setting over my shoulder. For some reason I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the beginnings of a spectacular sunset. Everything was perfect. I was really tired, having been up since 4 AM but I knew that I'd really kick myself if I let this event slide. So I grabbed the camera and my tripod and headed out into a field near the parking area. Several people had the same idea I had and we all stood there, our cameras at the ready, watching this majestic sunset unfold. The colors were amazing and the clouds, interacting with the strong winds, created the most spectacular shapes. This was, by far, the best sunset I'd seen on this trip. It was a wonderful way to finish the trip from hell. I guess the gods were feeling sorry for me and decided to give me a little pick-me-up as a going away present. This is the west at its best.

Wyoming Sunset - 16mm,f/11,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Golden Gate Bridge

Nothing in Particular...

It's one of those days where nothing much gets through the daily fog of plodding through the motions. I've been struggling with severe pain the last few days, caused by my arthritis. It's everywhere and when it flairs up I find it very hard to concentrate or to do much of anything other than try to get through the day. Taking pain relievers isn't my thing as they have their own dynamic and I'd rather not become dependent on more pills if at all possible. But you can probably tell that I'm distracted and pain is certainly part of the reason why. I'm also trying to work through some issues that will seriously impact my life going forward and I want to be sure that whatever direction I take it has been carefully vetted.

That said, I can't avoid the fact that my country seems to be spiraling off into oblivion. My president ... oh how I hate to admit that association ... my president is in Hamburg, Germany trying not to look like the fool in front of the world's leaders. I don't think he is succeeding. That may be a good thing as I think it is time for the US of A to pass the baton, to let others have a crack at solving the world's problems. We seem to be failing at that lately. Everything we touch turns to ... excuse my vulgarity ... shit. At a time when we need to be working together to solve some very serious problems, our government is being stupid and greedy. We need to figure out how to survive what's coming and that's not possible given the current political situation in America. We seem to be going backwards, to be looking to the past for answers and that's not what is needed. I wish I could help ... wish I could come up with answers, but I'm too old and too sick. So it's up to others to find a way forward. I wish you luck.

Golden Gate Bridge

I spent several days in the Bay Area, most of that time around the bridge. I love this construction. I'm not a big fan of most human endeavors but building this bridge is very high on my list of great machines. It was an engineering marvel when built in the 30s. But what I like about it is the way it actually enhances the gate. It could have been an ugly, stupid monument (some of the early designs would have been horrible) but a few individuals understood that this bridge had to be not only functional but beautiful. The engineer, Joseph Strauss, and architect, Irving R. Morrow, produced a miracle that has stood the elements for almost 90 years. I hope she stands for 90 more. What an amazing sight.

This image was taken from the bay side of the south anchorage at around 8 am. There were few cars on the bridge at that hour which helped set the mood. It was a very nice morning to visit the grand lady of the gate. It consists of a bracketed set of 3, run through Photomatix and finished in Lightroom. I hope you enjoy this wonderful picture. I certainly enjoyed making it.

Golden Gate Bridge - 35mm,f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Cape Blanco Light

Politics in America

I've always been interested in politics. I can remember watching the conventions leading up to the second term for Eisenhower. I was 12 that year if I remember correctly. It was hypnotic ... all the pomp and bluster just enthralled me. I was really hung up on the whole patriotic thing when I was a kid.

Now fast forward to this moment. We have a certifiably insane person in the White House and a building full of crooks and liars just down the street on Capital Hill. The Supreme Court is a joke and the idea of being patriotic is more like a nightmare.. I haven't voted in years because it makes no sense to even make the effort when I'm given the choice between 2 corporate bootlickers who are essentially the same except for a few cosmetic differences. I'm all for gay rights and a long list of social issues but it's really hard to focus on those when the political elites of this country are hacking away at the very roots of our most basic liberties. Because I travel around a lot I run into the police state all the time and it's very troubling. Drive around southern New Mexico or Texas and you come across BCIS checkpoints where a heavily armed border guard asks you very probing questions about who you are, where you come from and where you are going. Getting in their face is an open invitation to trouble. Did you know that there is a 200 mile wide "rights free" zone all along the border? You basically do not have your constitutionally guaranteed rights whenever you enter that zone. You are well advised to not pick up any hitch hikers in that zone as they could be illegals and you might find yourself in a cell being charged with transporting illegal immigrants. Now, maybe you think that zone just applies to the Mexico border. WRONG! It applies to the entire country and think just how many large cities are within 200 miles of a border. Most of us live in that zone and don't even know it. So far these check seem concentrated near Mexico but it wouldn't take much for them to expand. We live in a police state ... a fact I've been reminded of on many occasions when I talk to foreigners as I travel around. They are very concerned about the "in your face" presence of heavily armed cops. Even the National Park's rangers are starting to display gestapo tendencies. Something you and I should be thinking about whenever we tell someone we live in "the land of the free, the home of the brave." Neither applies I'm sorry to say.

The Fallen

I'm going to be adding a new section to this blog the next time I head back to the states. I see a lot of homeless people as I travel around and I want to start documenting their plight. I have all my camera gear and an ability to approach people as I often look like them as I drive around in my ratty clothes and beat up truck. They are in desperate straits and only a few people, like Chris Arnade, are talking about them. They need more places that are telling their stories. So look for "The Fallen" when I make my next trip to America.

Cape Blanco Light

There are lots of light houses in Oregon. I guess in the old days there was a light every 30 miles or so but many have been retired. Some are gone, some are in disrepair and a few have been turned into tourist attractions without working lights. Cape Blanco is an actual working light as far as I can tell. It was running while I was there. No one really needs them anymore as most ships have good radar and GPS so they know their locations very accurately. But in the old days they served a big purpose. As a ship navigated along the coast, it could tell it's location by finding the lights and triangulating relative to several at the same time. Each light had a distinctive flash pattern combining time and color so a ship could tell which light it was. They saved a lot of lives. It's both wonderful that some are being saved but sad when one is allowed to fall apart. The US Coast Guard mans most that are still working but the original Fresnel lenses have, for the most part, been removed as they are often broken and in poor repair and there are no shops anymore that can supply glass segments. I'll have more on this in later posts as I work through my collection of light houses from this trip.

Anyway, this is Cape Blanco Light. Beautiful isn't it. The weather was difficult but that's when I get the best pictures. I always try to show more than just the light. I think it's important to show the context for the light's function. I want people to see the hazards too so they can understand why the light exists.

Cape Blanco Light - 35mm,f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-|NC 4.0