Joshua Tree Sunset

Update ... back

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

Thanksgiving

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

Joshua Tree Sunset

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

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

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

Bean Hollow SB

Hurt My Back

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

Bean Hollow State Beach

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

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

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

Mammoth Springs - Yellowstone

Another Day in America

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

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

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

Mammoth Springs ... Yellowstone

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

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