Dunes and dust

A few more images that I was able to work on from the Juniper Dunes shoot. The almost sunset like atmospheric conditions were courtesy of the ATV's that were zooming about.

Juniper Dunes with Matt

I spent the afternoon with a old friend hiking in the Juniper Dunes wilderness. Both Matt and myself had unwittingly decided that this would be a place to explore so when I met up with him and the topic of where we should go came up it didn't take much time to decide. 

The Juniper Dunes area is ringed by privately owned farmland and access is very limited. However I had read online prior to meeting up with Matt that there was an easement agreement that the landowners had agreed to so that the public could access this area. Heading out we followed the directions and came to the area. Parking the car in the area designated for such we decided to hike in. After we had walked in about 200 meters up to the top of the first rise we were overtaken by a gentleman who was taking his brand new ATV for a spin. He offered to give us a ride in and being as we could increase our time in the area this way we accepted.

The ride in brought back memories for both Matt and I, who had spent a year on the island of Pohnpei many years ago. Riding in the back of the ATV with our legs dangling off the back and holding on to the side made for some fun times. Our travel benefactor mentioned an area that few other ATV's traveled so that we would have a more peaceful stay and agreed to give us a ride out to it. As we had turned off the main path the trail got more rugged and this gave us the need to hold on for dear life. The worst/best/you gotta be crazy for doing this, instance came when the ATV was gunned down a 40 degree back to pick up speed and then proceeded to climb up the other side which was even steeper. 

One must remember that we were sitting in the back of an open bed with the tailgate down and being as this was only a ATV our legs from the knees down were sticking straight out of the back. Well when that puppy hit the uphill slope and the driver gunned the engine to get it to the top a couple things happened all at once. The first bump gave both Matt and I some air... our butts were probably a good two or three inches off the bed of the ATV. Having gunned the ATV it picked up speed and decided to go up the hill. Well this would all have been good except for the fact that since our butts were not in contact with the vehicle was in danger of getting left behind. For a fraction of a second both Matt and I went into survival mode scrambling to grab on to each other and also anything else solid we could get a grip on to keep each other attached to the now speeding ATV as it finished its climb out of the gully.

After dropping us off at a spot not far from this spot we bid our new friends goodbye and proceeded to hike about enjoying being both alive and still in one piece. I must say that this is a area that I plan on going back to real soon as I only had about three hours in the area and could see that to fully appreciate the possibilities I would have to spend much more time here.

Dream Lens

I have been giving this topic some though over the past few weeks, and to some extent this might just be my own fantasy but if I was to have any say in the design of a set of lenses I would have a very specific set. Right now I have a Sigma 17-35mm, 50-500mm and a Canon 100mm (macro) as the standard set in my camera bag. However what I find is that for many of my shooting situations the ideal focal lengths don't quite cut it with what I have hence the thought put into this subject. 

If I could design my own line of lenses I would have 4. Some of which already exists. Going from wide to tele; I would love to have a Canon 16-35 mm f/2.8, The second would be a 24-135mm 2.8 IS, the third, the 100-400 mm canon lens that exists but that I cant afford right now along with the Sigma 300-800 mm lens. The last two are more for specific situations such as wildlife, birding, sporting events.

The closest lens that comes to the second exists as the 24-135 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS. While I love the range on this lens the variable aperture could be made better by going to a fixed f/2.8. There was also some wobble in the front end of the lens that I used due to the design dictated that the front element extend and therefore was on a separate tube.

When I talk to many of my friends who are also gear-heads to some extent many if not all consider to Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS the de-facto lens to have. I think that even they would agree that if the 24-135 f/2.8 IS existed the four lens lineup I wish for would be the most versatile.

But for now all I can do is play with what I have and look forward to the day when I can have the dream lineup.

Timeline

Sometimes it is important that each of us look to the future and decide where we want to be. Its is also important to look back and see where we came from. Ten years ago I would have been hard pressed to guess and or predict that where I am now would be where I wanted to be. Furthermore when I look to the future and say here is where I want to be in ten years that may not be a realistic summation of where I will be. 

There is a saying "Shoot for the moon, and if you miss you will end up in the stars". While this lofty goal is both admirable and insightful it by no means makes it valid to the here and now. Can I say I am among the stars now because I missed the moon of my prediction ten years ago? What if my goal now is and always will be the same as that I had in the past...? Am I supposed to do a "U" turn and go for it. 

As far as I can tell humans have not developed a method for traveling through time. Well it is possible that someone may have discovered how to move forward in time at a rate faster than the rest of us and my one of these days appear to us miraculously at the same age as when he or she left the past but what good is that going to do them. OK so the didn't have hi-def TV and microwave ovens back then but really is the world that much of a better place? Hopefully they bought some stocks that didn't crash in the last couple weeks and they are rich or else they are sure to not be able to buy gas for their time machine. But I digress.

So what's up with setting a goal for what one wants to be. We ask little kids what they want to be when they grow up. What a horrible thought. Well kid, what profession would you like to be in so that you can work too many hours a day to pay for things you want to have but cant afford in the first place. 

There is the idea that we should get a job that we like doing and not one that we have to do. True, but, some ones got to wash the dishes and clean the cobwebs... and after all this you could be hit by a bus in the morning as you cross the street and its all over. The latin saying "carpe diem"  says that we ought to seize the day. Live for today, or as a recruiter for the army might tell you "Be all you can be". But what does that mean. Am I being less than I could right now. Maybe I could be learning to juggle with my feet while my fingers tackle the keys on the computer. Am I more than I was? 

Goals and timelines only point out what could happen. Who you are right now is all you can be right now. Maybe in the next minuet you will grow a second head and be more than you were the minuet before but till then you are always all you can be. Then you can once again be that child and say I want to be a grownup when I grow-up, but for now I am a child who on the whole has less of the worries of the world on my shoulders. Timelines and goals... someday I am going to look back and say, ten years ago I was wondering what the deal was with timelines, now I understand. Well maybe I will by then or I might still be wondering that, in any case I hope I outlive the timeline.

Weekend on the coast

This last weekend I had the opportunity to spend some time on the Oregon coast. The initial excuse was to take pictures of the surfers on the surf trip but it turned out to be more of a photo exploration for my self. 

New Technology going "Huh?"....

While browsing through the piles of information jumping from link to link, I came across an article in the online New York times that caught my attention. I new type of silicone coating that may have wide influence and impact on many different areas of science and industry. 

Times article link.

What most intrigued me about this piece not so much the effect it may have on the photographic industry with a more sensitive sensor or one that can detect IR radiation to a new level which would make my new found interest in IR photography go to a new level..... but what got me it the statement, "In science, the most exciting expression isn’t ‘Eureka!’ It’s ‘Huh?’” said Michael Hawley. And I guess this is true for most areas that we are newly delving into. The chance of a "Eureka" only comes after someone goes "Huh?" and then despite the "Huh?" decides to keep going and figure it out. So I guess going "Huh?" is not a bad way to start off...

More trees

This past weekend while out shooting I seems to have stumbled on to a series to photograph. Trees in infrared. I think by the end of the month or so I will make some prints and present it to a gallery in town. I don't think anyone else in the area will have something similar and I might be able to carve out a nitch market.

Color and you

As a photographer and more importantly as someone who looks out on the world and appreciates the colors of the world I have been curious about how we perceive color. During my wonderings on the world wide web I have come across several interesting sites that helps to give you an understanding of the connections that goes on between your eye and brain...

To test your ability to distinguish hues....

Understanding the combinations of colors....

More Games....

And one cannot forget the Apple site,

A video on perception....

More to come as I find them...

700 Billion

So they passes a bill to give Wall St. a big chunk of change... in case you like numbers and pictures check out these two sites that puts things into perspective. 

A little perspective...

And more perspective in relative terms...

Hmm... Poor college student looking for someone with too much money... anyone... anyone...