Grand Canyon - Pima Point

Tax cuts ...

It would appear that the Republican tax cuts are going to pass ... what a surprise. The one thing that party can do well is give even more money to the already obscenely rich. Of course, in a few years when the deficits start to swell they will start screaming about how they have to fix that by taking more money away from the other end of the economic spectrum ... the poor and the elderly. They will leave that to the Democrats who are experts at taking things away from those demographics. It's all a scam ... you do understand that, right? It's also very unnecessary. All you need to do is read up on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) to see why. In short, taxes do not pay for government expenditures. This is something none of the congress members understands as they are almost all lawyers or doctors. They think a government should be run like a household. But a monetary sovereign (a government that controls it's money supply) doesn't have to work like a household. It prints money! No household does that unless they have an illegal printing press in the basement (but that's another story). Sovereign governments can print as much money as they need. I know ... but what about inflation? Well, excess money doesn't lead to inflation ... the last few years of rampant quantitative easing proves that. A lack of things to buy is what causes inflation. But we are awash in things to buy ... just visit a local WalMart or look at the massive warehouses being built everywhere by Amazon and others. We also have a huge oversupply of autos that are unsold and waiting for someone to find the money to buy them. Inflation won't happen as long as there are things to buy. And we need infrastructure investments ... to the tune of 3+ trillion dollars so that also applies to paying wages and buying things to fix the broken roads and bridges. The government could turn on the presses tomorrow and run them day and night for years without causing any inflation. But they won't because that would rob the bankers of their cut of the very lucrative money market where the government borrows money. We could, literally, eliminate the deficit by printing 20 1 trillion dollar platinum coins and drawing against them to buy back all those government bonds we've sold over the years. Without generating any inflation. But don't hold your breath waiting for our incompetent elected officials to fix the problem. No gona happen ... ever! Too much money to be made.

Grand Canyon - Pima Point

As always, my first stop during this last cycle was Grand Canyon. I find that this park sets the tone for my trip and it was certainly true this time. For the first time I found the campground full and was forced to leave the park after only one day. There is no overnight parking except in the established campgrounds so I was forced to leave. They are very strict about this rule. This bad start was an omen that overshadowed my entire trip. I got some very nice images along the way but the trip itself was one bad thing after another. Anyway, to salvage my trip to the canyon I wanted to get one good panorama before I drove south. I took the red line bus out to Pima Point which is about a far west as one can go on established roads and went to setup on the rim. I've never seen an overlook so overrun with people. They were everywhere, even hanging off the rim. I had to elbow my way through so I could get out on the very edge to take my traditional pano. I found a nice rock outcrop where I was alone and, for the most part, out beyond the crowds. I did catch some people in the very edge of the pano but was able to clip them out of the finished image. It was a beautiful evening with just enough clouds to get a nice sunset. What I got is below.

I have one thing that happens at least once during each cycle. I get antsy and finish shooting before the action is finished. If you've watched a lot of sunsets you know that there is a certain process to how the light ebbs. There's the anticipation as the sun approaches the horizon followed by the first big burst of color. Shutters are going like crazy trying to capture this phase.Then there's the inevitable lull where the clouds go gray and the scene gets very boring. That's the time when most people gather up their gear and exit stage left. The patient pro knows there's likely to be more and he waits. Eventually, if the cloud conditions are just right, there's a second, even more spectacular color burst that lasts only a short while. That's when the sun breaks under the clouds and illuminates the bottoms with very intense red light. Over time this fades and you enter the blue period where the sky slowly darkens from light blue to dark blue to black. You can get some very spectacular shots during this second surge but, as I said before, you have to be patient. Well, being the first day of the cycle, I forgot this cardinal rule and broke my setup when the gray period came. And I was horrified to be standing at the bus stop when the sky lit up bright red again. It was too late to run back to the rim and setup so I could only watch as an amazing picture came and went, unrecorded. But this is a time to be very careful, especially around the rim, as accidents can happen when you are flustered and in a hurry. In the rush to setup you can make a mistake and get dead. So I just reminded myself, once again, to wait until the scene if 100% over before breaking my setup. Someday I'll remember this before I make a mistake.

This is a composite picture made from 80 separate images. I took bracketed sequences of 5 images each for a total of 16 blocks. Each block was run through Photomatix to give me an HDR image and then stitched together in Photoshop to produce the final panorama. There's a lot of work in this image as the tonal variation across the HDR blocks was very broad and I had to do a lot of cleanup. Some people think panoramas are easy ... just take your pictures and stitch them together. That's rarely all that happens. Panos can get very messy and it takes a trained eye and a lot of patience to fix all the problems. But the result is truly spectacular ... don't you think?

Pima Point - Grand Canyon 24mm,f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Mammoth Hot Springs

The Gods are not Happy...

I'm sure most of you have been reading about (or experiencing first hand) the tremendous heat sweeping across much of the US. We're experiencing much the same in Crimea where temperatures have been in the 90's most of the last week and are forecast to remain this way for another week at least. In addition, they have been drowning in Moscow for much of the summer as a persistent low pressure storm dumps massive amounts of water on the area at least once a week. They have been dealing with floods and damage on an unprecedented scale. You may not like the Russians but this is not something you should wish on your worst enemy. I will not draw any lines between these events and climate change but you can if you wish. The weather is getting very dicey of late and it is not a good thing. We are ill equipped to deal with what is happening. And America is not immune to this either. After a horrendous winter and spring on the west coast, something I experienced first hand during my last photo cycle, California is once again burning. We should all be wishing for rain in the West.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Yellowstone is one of the most amazing places. I've already written about this before but still ... one cannot say too much about all the really cools things to be found there. I was in the park for 8 days and took well in excess of 2300 images. Everywhere I looked there was something to shoot. I could have easily doubled that number had I just looked a bit further but I was at the end of my trip and exhausted so I spent much of my time resting. I will return there in the near future and intend to take as much time as is needed to visit every nook and cranny to see what I can photograph. Expect a lot of Yellowstone in this blog in the coming months.

Everything in Yellowstone is driven by the massive volcano that lies just a few miles below the surface. Heat from the underlying magma rises through the rocks and heats water which constantly percolates downward from surface snow and rain. Once heated the water rises and absorbs minerals from the rock. Depending on the combination of heat and water, various features form on the surface. If there is high heat and lots of water, you get geysers like Old Faithful. Less water but high heat gives you fumerols and mud pots. Low heat and lots of water gives you hot springs like Mammoth. This particular thermal feature is special for several reasons. One, it's not within the main caldera for the volcano. It lies several miles to the north. Second, due to the presence of abundant mineral salts the water is very saturated and, once it hits the surface, quickly evaporates to create the most amazing basins and structures. Because the caldera is seismically active, the underlying rock is constantly shifting so the springs move around meaning a great area one year becomes a barren, bleached pile of mineral structures the next. And, the whole thing is a massive breeding ground for bacteria and other organic entities which give the structures color and a fluidity that is very interesting. The whole structure is very much alive.

It was still winter in Yellowstone when I visited in late May. We had snow several evenings and cold nights. The best images are found in the early morning, just after sunrise, when the hot water creates a dreamy, steamy patina around the springs. I was there around 10 am, well after sunrise, but the cold morning air was still turning the steam into dense clouds. It was very mysterious.

This image was taken in the Lower Terrace area. I parked in the second lot above town and followed the wooden walkway upwards. You can't seen this particular area from the road but follow the walkway to the right and take the stairs leading higher into the field. Suddenly you emerge into this magical place and it's spectacular. I believe the area is called Minerva Terrace but I'm not sure. I do recommend going early as the tour buses start to appear pretty quickly and then it's almost impossible to get a clean shot with all the selfie shooters popping up everywhere. The dead tree is testament to the shifting nature of these fields. It's fairly intact meaning it was living not too long ago. The colors all come from the bacteria and other creatures that thrive in this hot water. There were even birds walking in the water, eating this living mat. Too hot for me but they seemed very happy there. What I love most about the picture is an almost painterly look. That's due to the steam and the way the bacteria soften the structure. It gives the most amazing dreaminess, doesn't it?

Mammoth Hot Springs - 78mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 400,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

There was this bear...

Yellowstone has been on my wish list since I started this whole process several years ago. Not only is it the oldest national park in the world but it is also among the most spectacular. They've got just about everything ... wild animals, spectacular scenery, geothermal features out the wazoo (over 10,000) ... there's something for everyone. I'd been intending to go there earlier in the trip but was told that the park was mostly closed due to heavy snow so it would have been a waste of time and money to try getting there. But I had time at the end of the trip so I made the 1000 mile drive from Albuquerque to the park in the middle of May. Spent over a week in Grand Teton and Yellowstone and it was worth every minute I invested. I could have easily spent another week and still not visited all the areas. I took almost 3000 images in that week, almost half of all the images I took for the whole trip. It was amazing and made the cycle worth the effort. Had I not gone I would have written off the entire trip as a waste.

One of the attractions is the big animals. They have buffalo, elk, moose, bear, wolves, coyotes ... in abundance. I was in Mammoth Hot Springs for 5 days and almost every day there was a large herd of buffalo living in the center of town. I also ran into them on the road several times, so close I could have rolled down my window and stroked their flanks. Not a good idea of course because buffalo are know for their hair trigger tempers and they can destroy a car in a heartbeat. Also ran into several bears including a mother and her cub that took up residence on the side of the road and disrupted traffic for several days. It's almost comical to watch people when they see bears. They slam on the brakes and pull off the road, oblivious to traffic and anything else around them. They will literally chase a bear with their cameras trying to get a shot. Of course, only an idiot chases a bear and there are "accidents" every year between people and bears ... the bear almost always wins unfortunately. Also, unfortunately, quite a few bears are killed or injured by cars driving too fast on the road. There's a reason why the speed limits are 35-45 mph on roads that look like they can easily handle 60. It's all about the animals.

Anyway, the last day in Yellowstone I wanted to take a sunrise at Yellowstone Lake. That required me to get up really early, like 4 am, and drive down past Old Faithful to a town called West Thumb which is on the lake. Coming down the hill above town I see a good spot to set up my camera so I hang a quick u-turn and park off the road. Set up the tripod and camera and start shooting. After a few minutes I hear loud billowing coming from the valley below but don't think anything off it. Figure it's a moose or buffalo. Keep shooting when suddenly, there's a loud crashing noise and a medium size black bear, probably a female, comes blasting out of the trees not 50 feet from me and goes barreling across the road and down the slope on the other side. Not even sure she saw me but she was definitely in a big hurry to get somewhere. I guess I should have had a "holy shit" moment but I can't say I was really too excited. Heart rate barely changed and other than being startled by all the noise I had almost no reaction. Since the bear was between me and my truck I'm not sure what I could have done other than start yelling like crazy and flapping my coat. I would have used my tripod to keep the bear at bay so I could maneuver to my truck but that would have been the extent of my efforts. Had the bear really wanted to attack me I wouldn't have been able to do much. But man, that was definitely one of the biggest rushes I had. Definitely an interesting way to end my trip. Only wish I'd been able to point the camera and get a picture. Now that would have been something to capture!

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

One of the attractions in Yellowstone is the "Grand Canyon". Not nearly as large as the one in Arizona it is still pretty spectacular. The Yellowstone River has, over millions of years, carved a nice ditch through the soft rock which is several hundred feet deep and very impressive. I was there in the late afternoon and, fortunately, the place was pretty much deserted so I was able to set up my tripod and get a good panorama. I really like the drama it captures, of the darkening sky and the cliffs and the river far below. This is a pretty standard process, HDR in Photomatix, blending in Photoshop and finishing in Lightroom. All I can say if, if you have some extra time on your hands, please make a trip to the Northwest corner of Wyoming and spend some time exploring Grand Teton and Yellowstone. You won't be disappointed.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone - 24mm,f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Yosemite Valley

Russian Drinking...

I talked about Russian drinking in my last post and just wanted to touch on a ancillary issue that's become a big story in the press here. Last week 48 people died from drinking methanol laced solutions ... all in one town. Turns out the cost of legit (really not legit but at least drinkable) alcohol has gone through the roof lately, mostly due to increases in taxes. The state is trying, laughably, to cut down on the huge issue of alcoholism in this part of the world. Of course, the ever resourceful Russians just move to other 'alcohol' based solutions, some of which are deadly. This latest incident involved bottles of 'skin tonic' which was basically all alcohol. 93% according to the label. In the past the alcohol was ethanol but, for some reason (probably because methanol is cheaper), the maker made a substitution to the toxic alcohol. There were warnings on the label but no one here pays any attention to the warnings. They all 'know' that the contents are safe. For a significantly reduced price people are able to get plastered. But this time it was very fatal. The government is making all the usual huffing noises about regulations and whatnot but the fact is there isn't much they can do. The people who make these elixirs will just move on to some other delivery vehicle. It was reported that people were actually buying 'legit' bottles of Jim Beam and Jack Daniels which were bootleg and made with methanol. Imagine paying a huge price for a bottle of Jack only to have it kill you. That's how bad it's become. Some reports say up to 70% of all the liquor sold in Russia is bootleg and a lot of it is very dangerous. No wonder people load up with alcohol at the duty free shops before heading home. It's just common sense in this place.

Yosemite Valley

If you take the road to Glacier Point, the first stop is Tunnel View, just before you enter the long tunnel heading west. There's a grand view of the valley and the overlook is always crowded with photographers doing their thing. I really was happy this day because the sky was loaded with low storm clouds and the valley was aglow in the most beautiful diffuse light. The clouds were just below the mountain peaks so there was some added mystery to be experienced. I spent several hours at the lookout, taking a huge batch of images. I know I won't use most of them but pictures are cheap these days and I want to have a large selection to choose from.

In this image, I'm looking to the east as the sun gets low in the sky behind me. The bright glow mid-image is the sun hitting some high clouds and reflecting back. To the left, the large granite monolith is El Capitaan while to the right is Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil Falls. One thing to notice is the large number of dead pine trees. I heard an estimate that up to 100 million pines are dead in the High Sierras due to the 5 year drought and the number is growing at a frightening pace. Not only are they unsightly but there is a real fire hazard from all the dead wood. Really hope they get some relief this winter or things could get real dicey come summer.

This is a 5 image sequence minimally processed through Photomatix and then finished in Lightroom. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I take back an earlier comment about how Yosemite was better seen as B&W. This is really an amazing image and I wouldn't change a thing.

Yosemite Valley - 35mm, f/6.3,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Old Woman and the Night Sky

Windows 10...

I've been holding off on upgrading my big workstation to Windows 10 because, quite frankly, I don't want to be constantly fighting with software and my operating system when I'm trying to do my images. It's hard enough getting everything right under the best of circumstances so adding in a balky new OS only makes things even more difficult. And, up until now, Windows 10 has been balky and strange. So I held off, staying with Windows 7 until the last moment. Well, yesterday was the moment. I really like Windows 7 but am not too enthused by the idea of spending $129 to upgrade to 10 after July 29th. It's always a toss up ... do I stay with what I have and am comfortable with or do I take the plunge and upgrade to the unknown. The real problem is compatibility ... I have tons of software that is really happy with 7 and much of it can't be simply upgraded without some serious expense or other issues (Adobe and the cloud SAAS they've foisted on everyone is one example). But I also don't want the headaches associated with an old, out of date OS either. The only redeeming policy from Microsoft is they made provision for going back to the old OS if I wanted to. That clinched the deal. So yesterday, after an overnight download of the install package, I bit the bullet and installed 10. No big issues with the install and I'm running on it as I type this post. It seems to be OK and all my software, so far, seems to be OK with it. I'll upgrade to the big bug release coming next month and see how everything is working. If there aren't any major issues I'll stay with 10 but still have a separate solid state drive with 7 just in case. This constant churn in technology drives me to distraction. Some of it is OK but the need to always come out with something new is really wearing over time.

Old Woman and the Night Sky

I was in Death Valley twice this trip. In mid-April I was on the salt taking sunsets but the full moon made it impossible to get any reasonable star photos so I went down toward LA for a few weeks and came back in early May. I spent a night on the salt and got some really spectacular Milky Way shots (including a long sequence of 268 images for an eventual time lapse clip).

There's a problem however. 268 shots of the salt are really boring. They had serious floods in Death Valley last fall and the old, interesting salt formations were all washed away. What's there now is really new and really white but there aren't any really fascinating shapes yet. Those will come over time if more flooding isn't in the works. And, to be really honest, a really nice time lapse of the Milky Way doesn't impress anyone anymore. What's needed (and demanded) is an interesting composition of the stars and a really impressive foreground structure. That's a wonderful idea, of course, but out on the salt there really aren't any cool foreground structures at the moment with the new, monotonous (did I say white ... really white) salt stretching out as far as the eye can see. So, enter the old woman.

If you head up the road from Badwater (and the salt) to Furnace Creek and keep going for a few more miles up 190 toward Stovepipe Wells you'll get to Mesquite Flat sand dunes. When you hit the parking lot you'll notice a small stand of dead trees, preserved by the extremely dry air and in amazing shape. One of those trees, the one most to the west, is the most interesting. Stand to the east and look at the tree and you'll see an old woman, her arms held out as if welcoming you to her embrace. She's truly a wonderful sight. I studied that tree for a long time, trying to find a way of incorporating it into a Milky Way sequence but I just couldn't see any angle that worked. First, to see the old woman you have to be facing west and everyone knows the Milky Way only shows due south so that's not going to work. On top of that, Tucki Mountain is due south of the dunes, cutting off any view of the rising galaxy. So I thought about all this for a while and realized that the only way I'd get the old woman and the Milky Way was to take shots of each one separately and then combine them in Photoshop. It took 3 days to make that happen. Mostly it was the building of the mask ... the black and white image that separates the tree from the background ... that took all the time. I had to break the process up into 8 separate areas because the bright background is too much like the tree to get a really strong contrast. The only way to get what I wanted was to work in individual areas and play with the contrast until I got enough separation to pick out the tree from the bright sky. There was a great deal of repair work even with all this isolation so it took 3 days to get everything right. But WOW, the result is really nice, don't you think? So I give you the old woman and the night sky. Isn't she spectacular?

Old Woman and the Night Sky - composite image, license CC BY-NC 4.0

Grand Canyon Yaki Point Storm

It's Been a Wonderful Trip ... NOT

As most of you know by now, I spend part of my year in Crimea. A few years ago, just after the Maidan disaster in Ukraine and after the corrupt president, Viktor Yanukovitch left the country, Russia came to Crimea and basically took us from Ukraine. There was a referendum but no one the west accepted the result. Despite this contention, Russia annexed Crimea in the spring of 2014. The west responded with crippling sanctions that cut the Crimea off from all international banking including Visa/MasterCard, Western Union and SWIFT. But, until this last trip I was always able to access my accounts in my financial advisor (who shall remain hidden as I don't want any trouble). Not so this time. I found I was locked out from all my accounts, unable to use my ATM card even for purchases in the US and unable to do anything in my IRA. I got home with a few bucks in my pocket and a big itch in my trigger finger. I went to my advisor's local office and they told me that due to my being in Crimea and actually "living" there they had the right to essentially confiscate my money and there was nothing I could do about it. The conditions for returning the money were horrendous to say the least and a circular firing squad with no resolution.

The big instigator of this problem is a little known US office called the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC for short). OFAC monitors and enforces all the sanctions on all the countries presently in the US doghouse. That includes North Korea, Cuba (still), half the Middle East, other assorted bad boys and Crimea. OFAC sets the rules for any financial transactions that transpire between the US and the sanctioned country. No two situations are the same. But, and it's a big but, my financial advisor wanted to apply the same rules to all sanctions and wanted to apply the most draconian rules to all of them. Now I know, from personal experience, that the OFAC sanctions on Crimea allow me access to my money when I'm not in Crimea and also allow me to transfer money to my family for personal expenses. Only business and 'charitable contributions' are not allowed. I tried, for 4 days, to get this across to my advisor but he refused to comply or even talk to OFAC for guidance. He held that it was within his right to enforce rules that were more stringent than the OFAC guidelines and there was nothing I could do. His instructions were so ludicrous that I won't even repeat them here but the essence was my wife and daughter had to leave Crimea. Not going to happen in my lifetime so the money was trapped. In desperation, I sent an email to OFAC explaining the situation and requesting their help in solving the problem. They came back with the same stipulations I outlined above. I gave this email to my advisor and waited. It took 2 days for them to get in touch with OFAC and get told, rather forcefully I'm understand, to cut out the crap and give me access to my money. That they did and I'm in the process of moving all my assets to another location. So pox on my financial advisor for being a total jerk. If you're nice to me I might even tell you who it was. One of the big boys I'm afraid.

Grand Canyon Yaki Point Storm

After 5 days of beating my head against a brick wall I finally got my money. I was exhausted and needed someplace that would lift my spirits. That place is and will always be the Grand Canyon. I have a few friends there and I love the beauty and serenity of the canyon. So I packed up all my gear and headed west. Due to the El Nino warming, the weather in the West has been a lot wetter and somewhat colder. Last year it was very dry but this trip we had lots of rain and cold winds. Didn't matter really. It was just great to be there. I visited some old photo sites and found a whole new look due to the clouds. One such place was Yaki Point, a few miles to the east of the main encampment. This is a beautiful overlook and the heavy clouds gave it a very different feel. I shot this during the daytime but the image is still very dramatic because the sun is being filtered by all the cover. I like it very much and hope you do too.

Grand Canyon Yaki Point - 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

Winter Wonderland

The Most Expensive Photo Ever

I read yesterday that a photographer, Peter Lik, recently sold a photograph for a whopping $6.5 million. The buyer is, of course, anonymous (if I'd paid that kind of money for this B&W photo I'd want to stay safely in the shadows too). The photo was taken in Antelope Canyon, Arizona and shows a dust cloud, shaped vaguely like a human form, being illuminated by a beam of light from above. Quite frankly, I've seen better and more pleasing images taken in roughly the same place and they've not sold for anywhere near that amount. I don't know much about Lik other than he's a very aggressive character who has several galleries around the world where he sells his images for very high prices. The approach uses high pressure sales techniques and targets the less than knowledgeable 'walk in' trade. He sells limited edition (if one can call 950 copies limited) and increases the price for each image as the number remaining dwindles. It's brilliant marketing but I'm not sure it's fine art. The article I read (can't find it again unfortunately) was highly critical of both this piece and his tactics in general. I can't comment on any of this but do find the idea of pressuring buyers is unethical at the very least. Of course, it's always nice to see photos sell for high prices but one hates to draw negative attention to the business as it hurts all of us. I'm not sure yet what the long term impact will be but wish the photographer's reputation didn't lend some uncomfortable color to the record.

A Strange Snow Day

Although Crimea is in the extreme south of Russia (as of last spring we're no longer part of Ukraine ... that's another interesting story I'll probably tell over time in this blog) but we get some very brutal winter weather. Earlier this year it was -27 degrees C (that's -17 degrees F for the metrically challenged) and, damn, it was cold. The tears froze on my cheeks as I walked our dog. Anyway, most of the time it's a bit milder and we get snow. One morning I went outside to walk the dog and discovered that sticky snow had stuck to all the trees but was mysteriously missing from the ground. I assume the ground temperature was just above freezing and the snow melted on contact but the trees had gotten cold enough to capture and preserve the snow as it fell. The effect was magical and I spent a long time wandering around, enjoying the beauty of the moment (fleeting as it was ... in a few hours the wind had knocked most of the snow down). When I got home I took my camera and shot down on the trees from our eighth floor flat. The image below was the best of the lot.

It was a dreary day and the initial image wasn't too exciting. The histogram was a single, broad hump near middle intensity with some strong side lobes at lower values. To fix this I created a luminescence mask that selected the snow and used a neutral overlay layer and a white brush to selectively paint in the highlights. When I finished I had 2-humped camel histogram which was what I wanted. My final step was to change the image to B&W.

I love how the main vertical branches seem to disappear into the dark background, as if the tree is floating in the darkness. It gives an ethereal quality to the image. The random scatter of the branches gives the image a surreal quality that I find very appealing. What do you think?

Winter's Beauty - 70 mm (1.6 crop), f/8, 1/20 sec, 100 ISO (license CC BY-NC 4.0)