#TravelTuesday Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

January 14, 2014

In some places it becomes easy to see proof of the evolving Earth we live on. Fifteen miles outside of Las Vegas, Nevada is a prime example. More than a million people each year visit the site. Rock climbing and biking are very popular, and it’s a nice change from the urban jungle close by. Granite rock has been pushed up from the depths of the Earth via tectonic plate movement to form what is called the Keystone Thrust. Hundreds of millions of years ago the Red Rocks were at the bottom of an ocean but over the passing eons massive planetary forces eradicated the sea and replaced it with the escarpment we see today.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation AreaCanon HF20 — Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area
Canon HF20

Basket Level

January 10, 2014

Basketball, from a photographer’s standpoint, has some interesting challenges, not the least of which is positioning. Being along the base line gives opportunities for some great shots as guards and forwards charge down court, but pictures of action at the basket are difficult. For one thing the hoop is ten feet from the floor and even if I could jump that high there’s lots of things in the way, the backboard and the support system being the major things. One way to try and get around this conundrum is to point a remote camera at the basket at some angle that could possibly catch the ball, and a face or two, doing something awesome at the specific place we all think of when we think of basketball. So my idea last night was to point a camera, with a long zoom lens, towards the side of the basket, at the same height as the basket. (This isn’t new, but it’s the first time I’ve attempted it.) I learned a lot from the escapade and I did manage to get a few keepers from it. This one is my favorite.

Nikon D7000 Sigma 300mm f/2.8 @ 300mm f/3.2 ISO 4000 1/1000 sec.

The Focus Dilemma

January 9, 2014

The human eye is a miraculous wonder. It can play havoc with photography in very subtle ways. Our eyes automatically focus on what we look at, so looking at something three feet in front of you, and then glancing at something 30 yards away, becomes virtually instantaneously in focus. Since a photograph usually captures just one moment in time there is an interesting way to deal with this little problem.

Meet Jager (short for Jägermeister). When I took this picture I wanted both his eye and the tip of his nose to be in sharp focus. The problem was, they are different distances away from the focal plane, or sensor, of the camera. The camera can only focus accurately at one point a certain distance away. There are settings on the camera that appear to make the focal plane deeper, but even then the rest of the picture is just less out of focus. A solution, two pictures. Jager conveniently stayed still between my two photographs. In one I focused the camera on his eye, in the other, on the tip of his nose. I then laid the pictures over top of each other in Photoshop and brushed in the other area I wanted to be exactly in focus. It’s not a perfect answer (couldn’t use the idea on anything moving) but it works great for some things, like tired Labradors.

Nikon D4 Sigma 35mm f/1.4  35mm f/1.4 ISO 3200 1/60 sec — Nikon D4 Sigma 35mm f/1.4 35mm f/1.4 ISO 3200 1/60 sec

#TravelTuesday Le Grand Foyer

January 7, 2014

Inside the Paris Opera House

Opulence. It’s a wonderful word. To me it’s more than just a synonym for great wealth or abundance or affluence. It’s a word that defines a brief era of humankind. In a time in the not so long past, there existed a slice of society that brought to life “opulence” during what is called in America the “Gilded Age”. From the Newport mansions in Rhode Island to Hearst Castle in California to the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, examples from this time of decadence appear infrequently in the western hemisphere, but in the great cities of Europe it’s easy to find examples of the beauty these places were intended to preserve.

To view the Paris Opera House is a lesson in opulence. Romance sweeps any observer off their feet. Rounding a corner and being met with the sight below is breathtaking. The intricacy of the carvings along the wall and the craftsmanship required to construct such a miraculous foyer beg the eyes to wander in delight and drink in the astonishing wonder. The care of the creation of each crystal in the chandeliers, the precision placement of each brush stroke on the ceiling, the deep rich warmth of the gold hugging the foyer is delightful. The doors to the left of the hall could spread themselves wide open to let in the “City of Light”. Paris was always at the door, flooding its way into the Grand Foyer of the Opera House, inviting the opulence outside, to fill the city with its magic and beauty.

Nikon D800 Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 28mm f/8 ISO3200 1/60 sec

Longwood Gardens Clings to Christmas

January 3, 2014

Longwood celebrates the holidays long into the new year and we visited on the chilly night of January first. These are a few of the pictures gleaned from the occasion. I’m still working on the year in review but we have been plagued by yet another snowstorm here in the Northeast. Click on the pictures to open them larger.