Monument Valley

Not much to say...

I'm not usually at a loss for words but today I just can't find anything exciting to write about. Trump is doing his Trump thing, which looks to be a building disaster, and we'll wait to see how the congress reacts. Have no idea how he will govern or even if he gets Republican support so making any predictions is a waste of time. All I can say is we should expect the unexpected from him at every turn. Not sure how the foreign leaders react to him as they like someone who's steady and he's anything but. I do expect he will 'get even' with anyone who crosses him ... that's how a narcissist works. I also expect a lot of churn in his administration as he browbeats everyone (another narcissistic trait unfortunately) and they quit in frustration (or he fires them). We may be nearing the end of the US of A's run as big dog and the fireworks could be spectacular. Don't give Donald much of a chance of a second term as he'll be unable to deliver all the goodies he promised and the electorate will throw him out. He may also grow tired of being president and move on to something else. He seems to have a limited attention span. Won't be surprised by anything he does.

Monument Valley

Last year I stopped by the shops at Monument Valley but couldn't pull the trigger to make a visit. The West is covered with buttes and upheavals in all colors and shapes so paying the entrance fee to see more if the same just didn't get me really excited. This year I decided, what the hell, I'll plunk down the $10 and see what was so special. Found a seriously unimproved dirt road full of ruts and bumps and a lot of dust. And more of the buttes and upheavals I've seen all over the place. It was nice, even pretty in spots, but nothing to get really excited about. Actually spent most of my time talking to a Navajo guy who was selling jewelry. Turns out he was one of those Navajo high-steel walkers but had been forced to retire due to a bad back injury. Talked about that a lot as he was avoiding a visit to a back surgeon and that was not the right thing to do. I think he had some damaged discs and a spinal fusion would work wonders for his mobility. He was in a lot of pain and there are ways to mitigate that. Hope he listened to me.

Anyway, I was waiting for sundown as that and sunrise are the only times one can take really good pictures in the big sky country. The sun is brutal during the day and any attempt to take pictures then is usually a washout. So I hung out on a mesa that overlooked the park, waiting for the sun to get below the horizon. Just around the time the park was slated to close, I got the sky I wanted and took several sweeping panoramas. What I do like about this park is the red sandstone which makes for a really dramatic look. Obviously I'm looking to the north as the sun sets. In the center, you can see the dirt road that is the only access to the park. It's nasty ... almost got stuck climbing the final hill out with all the really loose sand. Being the eternal cynic, I think this is on purpose so most people will leave their cars at the reception center and take the expensive guided tours. I'm not one for tours as I want to go where my mind and eyes take me and work on my own timetable. I was, as always, the last person to leave the park. Always get nasty stares as I wave past the guard gate. Sorry ... I'm a photographer and my schedule is determined by a higher authority ... the sun. He commands and I answer.

This is an HDR panorama. Ran through Photomatix and then into Photoshop to create the merged image. Final touch up in Lightroom. Peaceful, isn't it? Hope you enjoy the view.

Monument Valley - 24mm, f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Sierra Nevada Afterglow

The Election...

It's been almost a week since Trump won the election and it's time for some soul searching and some thoughts. Trump's first picks are not encouraging ... especially Bannon from Breitbart. He's pretty repugnant and his position as the gatekeeper gives one considerable pause about his potential power. He could be a big problem. But I think we all need to consider a few things before panic sets in:

1) Trump is going to pick people he knows and who have been loyal to him during this run. That's always a given for a new administration but is especially true this time as Trump has few political friends and seems to be a big loyalty kind of guy. So he'll pick the few politicians he's done business with (including Rudy and Christy ... his real estate connections) and people who stuck with him during the blizzard of hate he endured after the convention. Don't think he's too thrilled with the Republican leadership who distanced themselves from him and there are few Republican rank-and-file who endorsed his run. That may mean he has few allies in the legislature who will stand with him when it comes time to get things done. He very well might have as difficult a time there as Obama. Somehow I think Hillary would have gotten along with them better. Expect him to rule by executive order if the legislature balks too much.

2) Trump has a history of being very intolerant of games, disloyalty and incompetence. He fired 2 campaign teams because they didn't get the job done. I'm inclined to believe he'll do the same thing if someone doesn't toe the line or isn't effective. He'll start his administration with 'friends' but I expect that will quickly change as those people prove their inability to move the ball forward. Expect a lot of churn in his administration.

3) He'll test the limits of nepotism as he brings several family members into the administration. He'll be talking to his daughter, Ivanka, a lot and may be listening to his son-in-law too. Wonder if anyone will have the courage to bring up these issues with him. Doubt it very much. Expect to see his family providing a lot of support and advice.

4) I have no idea what his agenda is but we can already see major effects just based on his campaign positions. Would appear TPP is now officially dead as are the European equivalents. I'm happy about that and he hasn't even taken office yet. Not real happy about his insistence on withdrawing from the Paris environmental treaty and his potential appointment as head of EPA. But I really think Hillary wouldn't have been much better. Our political culture is very much anti-climate right now. Trump is just making it official so we have a more solid target to campaign against. He'll get an earful from the Europeans and the Japanese about this and maybe, just maybe, he can be persuaded to change his mind. He already flipped on dumping the ACA completely so there's hope on other fronts as well. Also, expect him to blow up most of ACA but keep a few of the better parts. Won't please the insurance companies which is a plus but that means the whole insurance thing in up in the air again. Don't expect to see single payer in this environment even though everyone, including Republicans, know this is what is really needed.

5) Trump has moved the conversation decidedly to the right. That means there's space on the left for a real movement for social justice. A Clinton presidency, like Obama's, would have been difficult to work against as the Democrats are very good at co opting any movements in this direction. But the party is in disarray right now and for a long time. There aren't any strong faces at the moment and, for the first time in 24 years, not a single Clinton to overshadow it all. Maybe Sanders and Warren and a few others can, if they want, grab the dragon by the throat and change the direction. I'm really hoping for a wholesale house cleaning that throws all the old garbage out. The party is really messed up and has it's priorities in the wrong place. It needs to walk away from the bankers and the billionaires who have destroyed it's heart. Sanders showed how to raise a lot of money without kissing up to the elites and that's the way it has to go in the future. One can always hope.

I think we're in for a really difficult time going forward. The world is lurching right in a very dangerous way and there's not much to stop the slide. The left is damaged badly and being threatened by the hatred of the ultra right so I have little hope of a resurgence of left ideas anytime soon. History seems to show that these cycles happen, over and over. One can only hope a major conflict isn't needed to swing the pendulum back to the left but that's what one sees in reading the tea leaves. I don't see Hitler in Trump but I do think that others are waiting in the wings for when he fails. Some of the clowns in the Republican stable are really scary. The future is very cloudy and I fear for my children and the generations to come.

Sierra Nevada Afterglow

I was at Mono Lake during this trip, hoping to get a really spectacular sunset. I was lucky last year and was counting on the late April storms to give me something really special. But it wasn't to be. The clouds rolled in mid-afternoon and by sunset there was nothing. I got some really nice images on the lake as the sun went down and then started driving back toward highway 395 for the tripsouth toward Monmouth Lake and a rest stop. It's about 7 miles from the tufa to the highway and it was well after sunset as I drove through the twilight. It was very cloudy and I could see snow falling heavily in the Sierra mountains. The sky was just amazing ... the sun was well below the horizon and, with some wonderful luck, was coming in under the snow clouds. Must have been clear skies to the west for this to happen. Anyway, the sky was ablaze in this blue light and the mountains simply glowed. I had to stop and take a picture. Fortunately, the road had a large gravel apron so I was able to pull well off the road and set up my gear. The first images I took were OK but something was missing. What I needed was a really long exposure so the clouds smeared out. So I put my 10 stop ND filter on the camera and was able to get an exposure of 178 seconds. That's exactly what I wanted and the results are amazing. This is a single exposure, adjusted in Lightroom but that's it. And I couldn't be happier with the result. Hope you enjoy it too.

Sierra Nevada Afterglow - 14mm, f/11,178 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Mesa Arch

Election Day...

Well, it's election day in the US. We get the big choice between the grifter and the clown. Didn't vote this time as it's really a waste of time and energy. I've already spoken about my thoughts on this earlier so I'll not rehash old musings. If Hillary wins, as everyone seems to expect, I'm really concerned with her feelings about Putin and Russia. So far my life here has been OK as few people give me any notice but that could change real quick if the rhetoric between the two leaders gets too heated. I don't want to be thrown out and I live in a very sensitive part of Russia so that's more than a small possibility. I really don't want to become part of an international incident. I'm also leaving here in February for my yearly medical recuperation and photography trip and really don't want to have trouble either leaving or coming back. I really don't have good feelings about where this is going.

Speaking of health, mine isn't. The lung problems are getting worse as winter settles in and I'm already sucking on my rescue inhaler far too much. Even developing some junk in my lungs which is not a good sign this early in the season. Last year I waited too long before leaving so this year I expect I'll be heading home in mid-February and will stay there until mid-May. 3 months this year as I'm sicker than before and need longer to recuperate. Also, last year was just too short at 2 months. I really had to rush my travels and my photography suffered as a result. This year I want to take my time and do it right.

Mesa Arch

Mesa Arch is in Canyonlands NP, just to the east of Bryce Canyon in Utah. I mentioned Mesa Arch a few posts ago ... it's one of the screen saver images found in Windows 7. The best shots come early in the day, around sunrise. I missed that moment (and the big crowds) as I arrived a few minutes too late but it was OK because the clouds were in a cooperative mood and gave my a nice pallet to work from. I was able to catch the sun just as it met the bottom of the arch and there were some nice "God beams" to add interest to the composition. For those who don't know what a God beam is, it's the streak of light that you see when the sun shines through breaks in the clouds. You can see them in the upper center of the image. They always add a nice bit of drama. I love the amazing colors in this photo ... compliments of the beautiful sandstone that is everywhere in this area. So enjoy.

Mesa Arch - 21 mm,f/11,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Antelope Canyon

The sparse offerings...

I do have to apologize for the sparse offerings of late on this blog. I know I promised a photo a day but it's just been too hard to get my head into working on the computer of late. I've not been all that well and the wife has also had some very serious health issues that put her in the hospital for several weeks last month. Not exactly life threatening but damn close. Appears she had a minor stroke or a major epileptic seizure early last month and that left her with some paralysis in her right hand and overall weakness. She's now on some really awful drugs to help with the seizures and to hopefully return some function and energy but they leave her sick and weak. It's been a nasty adventure this last month and I just didn't have the inclination to sit at my computer in the hot sun and try to write blog posts. The weather has turned now so maybe I can be a bit more diligent. I'll be better ... I promise.

Antelope Canyon

The slot canyons on Navajo land near Page, AZ are a must for any serious photographer. They are gorgeous and very interesting. Carved by raging storm waters they have such amazing shapes and colors due to the layered sandstone that is everywhere in that part of the country. As they are on indian land there's a high fee to pay and you must take one of the guided tours so it's really hard to get good photos. They do offer photographer's tours but they happen at the same time as the other tours so you're always fighting the crowds to get good shots. And the special tours are very expensive ... $85 bucks for 2 hours. Maybe next year I'll opt for one of those. I took an early morning tour before the bright sun could penetrate the canyons so there was less light and many of my longer exposures (hand held) were blurred so I didn't get much to work with. But this shot came out very nice. It's HDR to get all the colors and tones. Taken with my new 6D and my 16-35 f/4 wide angle lens. Not a show stopper but nice none the less.

Antelope Canyon - 35mm,f/4,HDR,ISO 800,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Lebec Cloud Formation

Tweedledum or Tweedledee?

I'm not real political as a rule. I hate getting my hands dirty in the shit that passes for discourse these days. In my opinion we've not had a good president since FDR and he was really a great leader by accident. A smart man, something quite lacking in most leaders unfortunately, he realized that in order to save capitalism and the US he had to make major changes in the way the government worked. He put his personal interests aside and did what he felt was right for the country. Such a noble act. His actions brought us back from the depression and guided us through most of the war. But since his time we've had a string of crooks, opportunists, grifters and simpletons. We've seen these clowns take a great nation and make it into the laughing stock of the world. Living in Europe I get to see this up close and personal. But nothing prepared me for what we have now. We get to choose between the ultimate grifter and the buffoon. Between the ultimate insider and an 'outsider' who is more inside than even Hillary. Both so obscenely rich that they are absolutely disconnected from the daily existence of all but the most wealthy. I'm so disgusted with them that I'm not even making the effort to vote. It really doesn't matter anymore who is president. Neither of them will be effective as the real power behind the throne sits in the C-suites of major banks and corporations. Big money and large corporations are in control now. In control, that is, until they run the whole mess off the cliff. The idea that only the investor matters is so corrupt and stupid that it's laughable were it not so tragic. Greed is not a good basis for society ... sorry Gordon Gecko. We all live on this rock ... a small, fragile stone circling a minor sun in a minor galaxy. It's all we have and we're destroying it so a few people can grab even more obscene wealth. But when the wheels come off ... and they will come off pretty soon ... all that money won't be worth anything. Sorry to be so negative but that's our reality.

Lebec Cloud Formation

When I'm in LA, especially in the northern suburbs, I drive north up I-5 to a rest stop near Lebec to spend the night. It's only30 miles but seems light years from the frantic climate in the city. The air is cleaner, there's open sky and I can let my system wind down just a bit. Round trip burns about 4 gallons of gas in my little truck so I save quite a bit over even the cheapest motel and I don't have to take all the gear out of my truck. All in all a good deal.

Anyway, this last trip into LA I was sitting in my truck reading on my tablet. It was just after 8pm. I happened to look up to the north and saw this cloud. It was amazing and the most unusual formation I've ever seen. I grabbed the 60D with the telephoto zoom and walked out into the surrounding brush. I tried to take a timelapse of the cloud but something wasn't right as I found major fluctuations in the exposure levels between shots. Even using my custom deflicker program I was unable to stabilize the footage so, for now, it's going to wait until I can figure out a way to fix the problem. But I did get some excellent stills of the cloud. It had formed over a series of low hills just to the north of my location. I'm not sure of the dynamic but have to assume there was some striation in the upper level winds interacting with the wind deflecting off the hills. The cloud was quite fluid and dissipated over a 40 minute period. The sun was setting to the west (to the left of the frame) and much of the fluctuation, I think, is the amount of light being reflected by the ice crystals in the cloud. The color changed too as the sun set over the coastal mountains. It was an amazing sight for sure. Anyone out there who can offer a reasonable explanation for why this happens?

Lebec Cloud Formation - 70mm(1.6 crop),f/11,1/250sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Mono Lake Tufa

Update

It's been almost 3 months since I came back to Crimea and a few things are becoming clear. The love affair between the folks here and the Russian government is ... let's be blunt ... on the rocks. Prices have gone through the roof so bad that people from Moscow and St. Petersburg are complaining about how much it costs to vacation here. Food prices are obscene and the government keeps raising the costs of utilities and other fees to the point where it's not even funny. People can't afford these prices and so many of our friends are struggling right now. It is now obvious that the crooks are in control of the economy and much of the life here. We have an election coming up in September but no one expects anything to change as the ruling party ... Russian Unity ... will not allow anyone else to gain power. I'm not sure where this goes but it has to improve or some serious conflicts are almost a given.

Adding to this irritation is the ever worsening asthma. Despite using a very strong steroid inhaler I'm still chronically short of breath. This leads to fatigue and a lack of desire to really do anything. Anyone who has asthma knows what I mean. I'm sleeping 10 hours a night and exhausted by early afternoon after only a few hours of exertion. Not sure what I can do ... can't afford the obscene prices the vulture drug companies are charging for some of their more exotic inhalers ... even here in Russia where the government controls prices to some extent. I'm really concerned about what happens once the summer is over and the fall allergens start popping up. Last year my problems started in the fall and got progressively worse into the winter but this year I'm already beyond where I was last year. Contemplating an early exit from Crimea (maybe as early as October) and not returning until late in the spring next year (if ever but that's another story for another time).

Mono Lake Tufa

Mono Lake is such an interesting place. I've written about it before so I won't rehash all that. This year it was very stormy around the Sierra Nevada Mountains so I got a very different look. I once again visited the south tufa field and spent a whole day wandering around the various structures looking for some new and interesting compositions. Much of the day was clear but in the afternoon storm clouds came rolling over the mountains to the west and it really looked like we might get some serious rain or even snow. I'd hoped to do some astro photography that night using the tufa as my foreground element but it soon became clear that wasn't in the cards. Hard to see the Milky Way when the sky is full of clouds. But I didn't want to go empty-handed. So I set up the camera and took some interesting pictures of the tufa and the storm clouds. Didn't have any big expectations for the shoot but I've come to understand that sometimes the camera sees things that your eyes don't. This is one of those cases. The colors and shading in the clouds are a perfect complement to the green waters of the lake and the snow covered mountains in the background. And if you look very carefully you'll see the sunset far in the distance ... a subtle hint of red on the clouds. That was the extent of the sunset but still, isn't the sky amazing? Taken with the Sanyang 14mm f/2.8 lens I bought this year. Takes very reasonable picture on the whole, don't you think?

Mono Lake Tufa - 14mm,f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Upheaval Crater

Olympics...

When I was a young lad I really loved the Olympics. Would sit by the TV for hours, watching the most obtuse and weird sports and really, really enjoying it. Even went to the winter Olympics in Lake Placid. It was such a rush. Fast forward to the present and what a difference. I just can't gin up any enthusiasm for the games. Not interested at all, even in the sports I might have some connection with. Why? I think it has to do with all the controversy around the whole process, from the greed and corruption of the various committees to the professionalism of so many of the sports. Do I really want to watch basketball superstars who make millions go through the motions of playing the game? I enjoyed it when they required amateurs to play. Same goes for tennis and a whole host of other groups. Take track and field where there are very rich superstars ... most of them so doped up on performance drugs it's hard to see the human anymore. And who can overlook the politics these days ... the Russian doping situation for example. Why, I wonder, did the Olympic committee see fit to not punish the Russian athletes who are most likely guilty but throw the book at the para-Olympic team? Think maybe money had something to do with it? Just maybe? So I'm avoiding any Olympic coverage. Why would I be interested in Michael Phelps and his 21st gold medal? Been there, done that a long time ago. It just gets so uninteresting after a while. Quite frankly, it's much more interesting to watch the Russian Tank Olympics. Don't know what that is? Think big tanks and teams from various countries and obstacle courses and shooting at targets and ... you get the idea. It's really interesting to watch a huge tank going 60 mph while literally jumping into a huge tank filled with water. Some make it ... others don't. Now that's cool!

Upheaval Crater

Canyonlands National Park is one of those obscure parks that gets far too little attention. It's quite large and has some major attractions but I doubt most people have even heard of it. But I would guess you've probably seen pictures from there. Anyone who has Windows on their computer and uses the included landscape images as their screen's wall paper has probably seen the picture looking through an arch at the distant scenery. That's Mesa Arch in Canyonlands. I've been there and have some amazing pictures I'll show you later. It's definitely worth visiting if you're in the area. Just 'across the street' from Arches NP so do stop by.

One of the more interesting features there is called 'Upheaval Crater'. As one would expect, it's a big hole in the ground but that's where the similarity to any other similar feature stops. It's such an unusual shape and has such a strange composition that even the best geologists can't get a handle on how it formed. There are several craters, one inside another. The outer crater looks sort of like an impact hole but the edges are highly polished and smooth ... like one would expect to see in a water erosion canyon. That doesn't fit with an impact crater. Then there's the inner crater which appears to be blasted out of very hard bedrock. But there's very little blast debris to be found. It's not a volcano. It's really strange and mysterious. But, it's amazingly beautiful. I was lucky to get there on a day when the sky was unsettled and bad weather was threatened. I like those times. I get the most interesting images. The wind was blowing so hard I couldn't stand on the edge. Had to sit low with the tripod spread out so the camera wouldn't blow over. And the colors are really striking ... we're at the top of the grand cascade in Utah so we have lots of pink and red sandstone to work with. It's really an interesting place. I'd recommend it to anyone. Definitely add it to your bucket list!

Upheaval Crater - 24mm,f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0