2014, Day 362 - Road ahead

I love a good vanishing point, it forces me to think about what's beyond the horizon or around the corner.  It is the result of a naturally curious disposition which is why I love photography.  Through the camera's lens you can explore light, shadows, perspective, angles, so many little variables that can drastically affect the final image.  This is why going on photo adventures with friends is such a great thing because you can all look at the same subject and see completely different ways of composing the shot.  The results are so varied that sometimes it doesn't even look like the same place despite the fact that you were only separated by a few feet.  Next year I look forward to continuing the fun!

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon 10-24/f4R OIS
10mm, f5.6, 1/125 sec @ 640 ISO

2014, Day 173 - Incoming

Out in the Yucatan we went in search of wildlife.  Along the way we crossed a river and this bridge ran parallel.  It had seen better days but still seemed to be a popular fishing spot with the locals.  Sadly those clouds on the horizon were heading for us and in another couple of hours we were getting wet but at least they made for interesting photographs.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f11, 4 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 323 - Ancient bridges

Today was, alas, a travel day and as such it is hard to get excited about it.  We allowed ourselves to get up naturally; an odd experience after so many mornings as a slave to the alarm clock before the sun rises.  After puttering around the room we ate our last breakfast in Siem Reap and then returned our room to finish packing and when you spend a week in one place you start to settle in so it took a bit longer than expected.  Fortunately we had a bad movie on the television to keep us ever-so-slightly distracted and we even caught glimpses of Cambodia's amazing temples despite the fact that the movie wasn't supposed to have been set here.  I suspect that we will forever be pointing out Angkor's temples when we see them in movies and on TV.

At ten o'clock we took our burdens to the front desk, checked out, and found Mr. Mony waiting for us one last time.  He introduced us to the driver, gave him a few instructions while we loaded our bags, and then we were off for Phnom Penh.  It was a long drive and we stopped a few times; once to see an ancient bridge from the Angkor era, another to see the stone carving village, and finally to see the "spider village" where they raise and cook tarantulas.

The first two stops were interesting but the last seemed to be a tourist trap.  As soon as we got out of the car we were mobbed by children desperate to sell us fruit.  They were extremely persistent and Araceli quickly became uncomfortable.  Every time she tried to extract herself from the crowd another child would pop up in front of her, insistent that she buy what they were selling.  It didn't take long before we were frustrated, annoyed, and ready to leave.

After being harassed for a while it was nice to get into the car again where it was quiet and air-conditioned.  Exhausted by our admittedly minor ordeal both Araceli and I dozed off.  It seemed like we were in Phnom Penh in no time.  Traffic was light through the city and although the driver got a little turned around we were soon delivered safely to Francene and Tim's apartment.

We have been living in pretty close quarters recently and it is so nice to have a big room, almost twice the size of our last two hotel rooms!  There is room to spread out our belongings and even the facilities to do laundry.  Francene and Tim had to leave shortly after letting us in because they had a wedding to go to (hence all the shopping in Siem Reap).  That left Araceli and me with free run to do laundry, find dinner, repack for our short trip to Kampot, and get cleaned up.

For dinner we wandered aimlessly until we found a busy place (at five o'clock no less), the Boat Noodle Restaurant.  We didn't get boat noodles, we ordered fish amok and a fried fish with green mango salad.  The food was great and it was cheap which is probably why the whole place was packed with locals shortly after we were seated.  Araceli and I even managed to make room for dessert, a sundae with every flavor of ice cream they had, woohoo!  And the cost for our delicious repast?  Less than ten dollars for the two of us!

When Francene and Tim got home we heard all about the wedding.  Apparently there were a lot of guests and even more food.  Everyone was dressed in their best clothes and a good time was had by all.  We ended up chatting well into the night and only went to bed when someone finally noticed the time.  So I write this to you late for me but on time for you.  Tomorrow we will be in Kampot, more to come...

Canon 1D X, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
24mm, f4, HDR of 1/5000, 1/2500, 1/1250, 1/640, and 1/320 sec @ 200 ISO

2012, Day 15 - Bridges

What is now Portland was once three cities, Portland, East Portland, and Albina.  Their divisions were based on the geography of the area with the major border being the Willamette River.  As such a number of bridges have been constructed to keep the different parts of the city easily accessible and to minimize congestion.  There are ten primary spans and in this picture you can see the Hawthorne Bridge on the right and the Marquam Bridge on the left.

I took this photo on my way home last night.  It has been a long day and I was reluctant to make the stop to take pictures but these sunsets can't possibly last and I don't want to be kicking myself over a fifteen minute delay in getting home.  As it turns out it was absolutely worth the brief detour!

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
23mm, f5.6, 1/30 sec @ 100 ISO

2011, Day 365 - Happy new year!

The sun has risen and set on yet another year of daily photos.  It is hard to believe that 2011 is already gone but what an amazing year!  I have been close to home all year but had the opportunity to explore so many of the wonders of Oregon.  Family has been a huge part of the year with my sister's wedding and my nephew entering his second year with us.  Life changes so quickly (as does my waistline, damn you tasty Portland food) and my love of photography has helped me to capture some of the most most important events this year.  Sadly, this has been the first full year without any of my grandparents but while they may be gone I think about them often and imagine how exciting they would find life's events.

I decided to take a leaf out of Jacob Lucas' book and share with you my photo statistics from the past year.  If you aren't a photo nerd it probably won't hold much interest for you so you can just skip to the next paragraph.  This year I took almost 30,000 photos; 22,231 with my 1D Mark IV and 7,605 with my 1Ds Mark II.  My most used lenses from highest to lowest were 70-200/f2.8, 100/f2.8 Marco, 16-35/f2.8 and 24/f1.4.  The vast majority of my photographs were taken between 200 and 800 ISO but heavily weighted at the lower end of the spectrum.

The photograph below was taken at Island Park in Springfield, Oregon last week as I made my way to California for the holidays.  As I approached Eugene the sky started to lighten and as soon as there was color I took the next exit and pulled over to get some help from my GPS to find a good vantage point to catch the sunrise.  There was a small burst of orange as the sun crested the horizon and the waters of the Willamette River below were kind enough to catch the light.

I hope that the new year has wonderful things in store for all of us!

Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
23mm, f11, merged layers of 0.6, 5 and 10 sec @ 100 ISO

2011, Day 266 - Crane

It was another one of those days where you work really hard to stay in the same place.  The first frustration was Facebook.  There have be a lot of changes and people don't like change, for my part I don't mind the cosmetic changes, the updates to the user interface or the introduction of new features at the expense of the old familiar ones.  What I take issue with is the constant and repeated attempts to invade my privacy in the name of profit.  Facebook keeps changing how you can restrict access to your personal information; not the stuff that strangers see when they look you up but the information that Facebook collects when you use their service to sell to third parties.  It seems that there is some new loophole that they have opened for you to surrender your privacy and the only way to close it is to dig through menu after menu and opt out.  This doesn't happen once or twice a year but almost constantly.  This morning's privacy warnings were the last straw for me, I am deactivating my Facebook account because I can't trust them not to sell my personal information, I cannot stand their passive consent practices.

That was the big issue and the one that still bothers me, everything else has been addressed, taken care of or fixed in some way.  Yes, it is work to keep things moving along on the same trajectory but that is the best you can expect some days.  With all that craziness and my ranting diversions I didn't make a much-needed trip to the grocery store at a decent hour so after I walked the dogs this evening I went and on the way home I took an hour-long detour along the Willamette to take a few pictures.  This is a view of the Markham Bridge that moves traffic on Interstate 5 from the west side to the east side with the city and the west hills in the background.

These mild comfortable evenings are a perfect reminder why I love Portland and that helps to make the insanity of the day a distant memory.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
21mm, f8, 159 sec @ 200 ISO

2011, Day 223 - Riverside

Tonight's picture is a good reason why we need to try new things.  This is another long exposure, three and a half minutes long, and one of the effects of a long exposure I was not aware of is that the light sources have that star effect.  The longer the exposure the longer the arms of the stars.  That big star in the upper left is actually the moon, it caused some flare but I kept it, I like the authenticity and given that the moon doesn't look like the moon it doesn't really matter.  It was a fun experiment and now I have my eye on a 10-stop neutral density filter for some long exposure fun during the day.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
18mm, f22, 3 minutes 32 seconds @ 200 ISO

2011, Day 007 - Light at the end...

While I am no longer jet-lagged I either have a touch of the flu or am developing agoraphobia because I've been unable to leave the house unless absolutely necessary for the last few days. I think it is the former as my sister Laura had the flu when I was in California and now I'm tired, achy and all around gross.

However, this evening, when I woke up from the last nap of the day (you know, the one that immediately precedes bedtime) I decided that I needed some new material so with the help of Google Maps I went out towards the rail yard. Unfortunately it was already quite late and the tracks were not well illuminated but the wooden frame bridge made for an interesting subject and the floodlight in the background really helped to make it special.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 24/f1.4L Mark II

24mm, f2, 2.5 sec @ 200 ISO

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 24/f1.4L Mark II

24mm, f1.4, 1.3 sec @ 200 ISO

2011, Day 003 - Sundial at night

And goodbye California. The continuing saga of jet lag had me up at a little after three o'clock this morning so I decided to get the car packed and head back to Portland. On my way through Redding in the early hours I decided to stop and check out their Sundial Bridge. Fortunately it was indeed illuminated and the fog rising off the river gave a cool effect.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II

16mm, f4, 15 sec @ 400 ISO

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II

16mm, f2.8, 2 sec @ 400 ISO