02-09-11 – It’s on the Travel Brochure

Love the mitten shot ranger joe.

Love the mitten shot ranger joe.

Thanks!

Some bees here.

U-Man, seems we’ve got a good bit of overlap in our subjects tonight. I’ve also got a (clearly inferior) Skydeck shot in my bees; yours is awesome – must’ve been there during a slow time, there was quite the crowd when I was there. Also like your last arch shot.

Yeah, we do overlap a good bit. You might like my skydeck, but your Epcot totally kicks my Bee.

I think we were the first group of the day for the skydeck.

Good stuff this week, all around.

Here’s another arch with some PS dodging to lighted us up a bit.

http://photos.imageevent.com/ulle17/fark/Arch_4976.jpg

hrrm…initial indications are my ‘make it look like a retro travel brochure picture’ is a fail. Such is life. I like them, anyway. Remind me of the ones I saw when I was a wee lad, seeing the stuff in person for the first time.

cam All three of my shots are from along there. The canyon is At the bottom of Fish Creek Hill. Tonto Ntl Mnmt is near the lake marina (well, the big one). I don’t believe I’ve seen Coolidge–though I may have, when I was a kid. My step-grandfather is an Arizona native, and he was 50-something at the time. Drove like a maniac in a V.W. beetle. When we moved here, my grandmother wrote the travel Arizona column in the local paper. He know the whole damned state. We went everywhere, for about 4 years or so, nearly any weekend when the weather was good. I saw more of Arizona then than most people do in a lifetime–and at a time when you weren’t likely to find a beer bottle or can, a plastic bag, etc. to remind you that someone had been there before you Things were still pretty pristine in the wilderness. 30 years later, I’ve forgotten places, then go visit them and think ‘hey–I remember this place!’. But what I do remember, is worth it.

That Tonto National Monument–I’m in a very small group in April who will be hiking up into those ruins for picture taking. They do it in the cooler months every couple weeks, no more than 7 people, and I snagged spots for myself and one other. Haven’t decided on the ‘other’ yet.

That Tonto National Monument–I’m in a very small group in April who will be hiking up into those ruins for picture taking. They do it in the cooler months every couple weeks, no more than 7 people, and I snagged spots for myself and one other. Haven’t decided on the ‘other’ yet.

I’d be begging for an invite if we weren’t expecting the baby…

Wow, Ranger Joe‘s mitten shot and swampa‘s opera house completely blow mine out of the water. I guess I picked the wrong week to use those photos.

Also, orionid, that Akaka falls picture is unbelievable-all my photos of it had a blown-out sky, and I just couldn’t get the color balance right for that incredible green. I may soon have a lot more time to practice on it, though…

Also, orionid, that Akaka falls picture is unbelievable-all my photos of it had a blown-out sky, and I just couldn’t get the color balance right for that incredible green. I may soon have a lot more time to practice on it, though…

Thanks!
The sun was high overhead to my left and barely forward, and I used a Cokin graduated density filter at a slight angle to horizontal. I was following the shadow of the valley more than anything else, just to keep the sun from blowing out the top right side. You can see the graduation if you look close.

Otherwise, I had the camera set for vivid saturation (one of the few times I’ve deliberately taken it out of standard), and brought up the contrast in post by tweaking curves.

Are you headed out island way? Would the scopes at Mauna Kea have anything to do with that? I are envious.

God, I love GND filters. My #1 favorite photography tool.

Also, yes the Mauna Kea scopes have a lot to do with the fact that I’m headed out to Hawaii. I just got an offer from the graduate program at UH Manoa, and it looks pretty likely (not 100%, but pretty likely) that I’ll be spending the next 5-6 years there getting a Ph.D. (if all goes well).