2014, Day 357 - Fish monger

I met this charming fellow at the market in Kandy.  He is a purveyor of all things dried but mostly salty pungent fish.  I liked the quality of light the bare bulbs cast, some shadows deeper than others and the texture of his wares.  Sometimes it is best that you can't smell a photograph.

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 56/f1.2R
56mm, f2, 1/125 sec @ 1000 ISO

2014, Day 348 - Repose

I love my sweet Bort warmed by the light of an old electric heater that has been converted to a lamp.

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 56/f1.2R
56mm, f1.2, 1/90 sec @ 3200 ISO

2014, Day 343 - Beacon

This is Wat Chedi Luang and it is located in the center of Chiang Mai's old city.  Construction was started in the 14th century but the temple was not completed until the middle of the 15th century.  By the time it was finished this was the tallest building in the Lanna kingdom.  Today it is beautifully illuminated at night and, if you look carefully, you can see little points of light behind and to the right; those are hundreds of sky lanterns being released in the distance.

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 35/f1.4R
35mm, f1.4, 1/80 sec @ 3200 ISO

2014, Day 323 - Idle

I didn't really sleep last night because out flight from Colombo to Bangkok left at 1:30 in the morning.  With the time difference we landed three and a half hours later and what with insisting on serving a meal and handing out immigration forms there was almost no time at all to sleep.  So we stumbled through customs in Bangkok, collected our bags, and went in search of a taxi.

We were able to get a taxi at the queue and were quickly mired in the traffic nightmare that is Bangkok.  Our drive kept trying side streets because the main streets weren't moving.  At one point he received and made a number of calls and then explained his father had been taken to the hospital so he needed to go.  He had called another cab who would meet us and we wouldn't have to pay for the rest of our ride.  Francene had some bad luck in Bangkok over a decade ago with cab drivers and was sure we were getting scammed.  I didn't think so but you never can be sure.  However, within minutes another cab pulled up and we transferred ourselves and our luggage over and the rest of the trip to the hotel was made without incident.

Of course it wasn't quite nine o'clock yet which is too early for check in but for an extra fee they let us into our room early.  At this point we were both so exhausted that we couldn't sleep and were starving so we dumped out stuff and went back downstairs for breakfast.  Once we had eaten we decided to have a little wander and find an ATM because the cab ride took almost all the cash we had left from our time in Chiang Mai over a week ago.

The obvious choice is Khao San Road which is a backpacker area.  It wasn't terribly interesting or exciting but it gave us an opportunity to stretch our legs.  When we returned to the hotel I took a quick shower and had a bit of a nap and when I got up again I was hungry so we left to find an early dinner.  So we walked back to Khao San Road.

There were plenty of choices and we settled on a nice little vegetarian Thai place off a side street.  It was clean and nicely furnished and the food was quite good.  By the time we finished it was starting to get dark so we had a bit of a wander, stopped off for drinks and snacks for our room, and headed back to the hotel.

Our return took us on a different route and we happened upon a local street market.  Most of the vendors were still setting up but it was quite lively already and a totally different atmosphere compared to the tourist area.  We took our time and enjoyed the scenery on our way back.

Now we're ensconced in our room with the air conditioning on and relaxing.  Tomorrow we have another early start so it is probably time to start thinking about sleep again.

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 56/f1.2R
56mm, f1.2, 1/125 sec @ 2000 ISO

2014, Day 227 - Falling hard

In last night's picture the horse was saddled but this one was a bareback competition.  There is a lot less to hold on to which makes it all the more impressive.

Canon 1D X, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II with EF Extender 1.4x Mark III
210mm, f4, 1/640 sec @ 5000 ISO

2014, Day 226 - Surge

Rodeos are like living Americana.  Legends of the west, the open plains, settlement, and ranching; these are the things that people outside the United States associate with our country.  I rather like that romanticized vision even if it doesn't reflect reality.

Canon 1D X, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II with EF Extender 1.4x Mark III
280mm, f4, 1/250 sec @ 10000 ISO

2014, Day 135 - Swing

This is a concept shot for my gym, a series of eight shots of kettlebell swing with my trainer working as my model between sets.  Being my guinea pig is his punishment for the abuse I suffer at his hands.  There are a few ideas for permutations of this concept bouncing around in my head that I would like to play with as I consider how to make a series of gym photos interesting, exciting, and dynamic to match the updated website that's using the images from their old site.  There is nothing wrong with the photographs they have other than they've already been seen so it makes the new site look a little familiar.  Anyway, the brainstorming continues.

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 10-24/f4R OIS
24mm, f4, 1/500 sec @ 2500 ISO

2014, Day 109 - Worming

I have an old electric radiator that has been gutted and turned into a lamp that serves as a nightlight.  When I walked into the living room this evening I saw Frankie laying on the floor in front of the lamp like it was keeping him warm.  Never one to miss a moment I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures.  This was as he was thinking about getting up to cuddle with me as I was crawling across the floor to take his picture.

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 56/f1.2R
56mm, f1.2, 1/125 sec @ 3200 ISO

2014, Day 65 - Squish

Puppies are just so squishable and I like that this little man is smooshing his sister.  At three weeks old their eyes opened only a few days ago and they are starting to explore the world around them.  Their mom Sky is getting tired to taking care of the kids as she is used to being spoiled but when we were visiting she happily allowed the monsters to nurse as long as she was getting attention.  While petting Sky I reached out to touch one of her little boys and his tail started to wag so I began stroking his face which got him very excited.  He stopped nursing and climbed over mom to visit with me.  When things like that happen it really weakens your resolve.

Fuji X-E2, Fujinon 35/f1.4R
35mm, f1.4, 1/125 sec @ 2500 ISO

2014, Day 27 - Gimme a little honey

Awwww yeah...  By this time of year I miss the insects, I love macro photography and my little invertebrate buddies are some of my favorite subjects.  This happy bee was enjoying the bounty at a dahlia farm last fall.  Not to be too much of a nerd, but the high ISO of this camera is amazing, there is slo little noise that the details are still totally crisp!

Canon 1D X, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f8, 1/80 sec @ 1250 ISO

2014, Day 22 - Lost

Our first day in Teotihuacan we had dinner brought to our hotel.  It was simple food but delicious, cheap, and plentiful.  After we ate we decided to go for a walk.  These banners crossed many of the streets and the streamers were made of a metallic colored ribbon that fluttered brilliantly in the cool evening breeze.  The was one of the many dogs we saw as we walked back from the local bakery with a bag full of treats.  It was rather odd how the whole town seemed to shut down after sunset.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
70mm, f2.8, 1/50 sec @ 12800 ISO

2014, Day 10 - Grinding

On our second day in Suchitoto, after visiting a couple farms and exploring the countryside, we had a free evening in town.  Like the previous night we left our hotel and just started to wander.  Suchitoto is a small town and quite safe so we explored all the interesting streets and alleys when we came upon the town's mill.  This is where you bring your corn to have it ground and the picture below is the gentleman who runs the machinery.  After many years he was rather hard of hearing but quite welcoming and happy to show us how it all worked even though he was getting ready to leave for the day.  That is how things were in El Salvador, people were generous with their time, happy to share their knowledge, and quick to smile.  It was an interesting place to visit and I look forward to going again.

Canon 1D X, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
70mm, f2.8, 1/320 sec @ 16000 ISO

2013, Day 295 - Guided

Another early start this morning but we did get to sleep in a little later than yesterday.  I leapt out of bed when I saw the sun was just beginning to rise over the lake to grab my camera and get out to capture the moment from our balcony.  Despite being a number of viewpoints around the city our balcony has the best view with the least obstructions.  I am sure there are better vantage points elsewhere around the lake but in Suchitoto this is the place to be!

Robert picked us up shortly after the sun climbed into the sky and we set off in the direction of Cinquera.  Along the way we stopped off at Cascadas Los Tercios, a waterfall over basalt columns with rather steep and treacherous access.  It was a brief detour that was followed by coffee and pastries out of the back of Robert's truck after we crossed a recently rebuilt bridge.  After our refreshments we walked on a private road that parallels the river we had just crossed to do a little bird watching.  A partial list of the birds seen includes swainson's hawks, cooper's hawks, gray hawks, kingfishers, sandpipers, herons, egrets, orioles, hummingbirds, flycatchers, cormorants, doves, and vultures.  The raptors we saw in the hundreds, mostly from a good distance, as we are on their migration route.

We then hopped back into the truck and continued further down the road towards Cinquera.  Not more than a couple miles had passed when we took another detour, this time to a farm.  There we met Tomas (pictured below), his wife whose name escapes me, and his granddaughter Estephanie.  His wife and granddaughter proudly showed us their embroidery and jewelry respectively.  Estephanie's jewelry was made from seeds and nuts on thread.  They were pretty impressive and some were rather ornate.

Tomas took us on a hike down narrow trails clogged with heavy mud and cattle dung, through the jungle into the cultivated fields and off to a large stone in a rather remote area with Incan petroglyphs.  It was interesting but perhaps not worth the grueling hike in the ninety degree heat ankle deep in mud and torn up by the thick brush.  Still, it was an interesting site recently discovered and proudly displayed by one of the farmers.

When we got back to Tomas' house Estephanie showed us where we could rinse off the mud caked all over our legs and feet.  Feeling slightly better we again returned to the truck only to stop five minutes later at a small women's cooperative where they make more jewelry with seeds and nuts.  Most of it had heavy Catholic influences and I fear to touch any of it lest I burst into flame on the spot.

And again we pressed on towards Cinquera.  It took a little while down bumpy unimproved roads to reach the small town where we stopped for lunch.  Again I had beans and rice with tortillas; the lunch yesterday was better but only because it was exceptional, this was quite good too.  We also found out why there are what looks like built-in baby gates, to keep the stray dogs from wandering in to beg.  It is always tempting to offer them a few morsels but it only encourages them to beg and when more come and competition increases fights will follow to which the people will not respond patiently.  So I resisted with difficulty.

Once we had eaten Robert introduced us to his friend Raphael.  Raphael was a rebel fighter during the civil war and talked to us, with Robert's assistance, about his experiences.  In fact the public square has the tail end of a downed helicopter on display as well as wrought iron fences decorated with old inoperable machine guns.  Now Raphael works as the senior park ranger for one of the largest national parks in the country and he is a leader in the community projects.

One such project is an iguana farm which we went to see.  They had large enclosures with corrugated steel walls that extended five feet underground topped with wire holding hundreds of young iguanas with a few large breeding females mixed in.  I asked what they intended to do with all these lizards and the response was that they hadn't decided.  Step one, breed lizards, step two, well, we will get to that once we achieve step one.  So now they have to start thinking about the future.  Do they make lizard hide products, do they sell them for food, do they work with the government to obtain permission to sell them as pets at home and abroad.  They even have a few green iguanas that are actually blue in color.  They are not the endangered blue iguanas but a mutation in the green iguana that causes turquoise blue coloring.  If these are what people in the pet trade refer to as axanthic they could be worth hundreds of dollars each.

By this time Francene and I were pretty beaten up and ready for some relaxation so we headed back to the hotel.  It took quite a while due to delays caused by road construction but we made it eventually.  We stopped by our room briefly, rinsed more mud and dirt off, and went for a swim.  It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon and we watched the storm clouds roll in.  Eventually we had a nice fish dinner on the veranda while watching the colorful sunset.  They we went back to our room to rest until Francene went out again with Robert to the old leftist bar in town.  I stayed back because I don't drink and wanted to get some photos processed and blogging done.  Now you're up to speed and I am going to bed!

Canon 1D X, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f4, 1/250 sec @ 8000 ISO

2013, Day 36 - Evening stroll

I took this picture on our second night in Battambang.  It wasn't especially late but night comes rather early and quickly in Cambodia.  Francene, Araceli, and I had finished a nice dinner and opted to walk back to our hotel from the city center.  It wasn't a long walk and even though the sun was gone it was still hot and humid.  I can vividly remember the sweat dripping down my back as we walked but it was pleasant despite the heat.  Plus we had enjoyed a large meal and the walking helped to jump start digestion.  I love seeing cities at night, the may be lively during the day but there is a whole new heartbeat at night.

Canon 1D X, Canon 24/f1.4L Mark II
24mm, f1.4, 1/80 sec @ 1600 ISO

2012, Day 100 - Release

This photo was taken on my last trip to Thailand.  My friends and I had a late return into Chiang Mai and went almost immediately to dinner.  As it common the temperature dropped a few degrees as night fell so we decided to go for a bit of a walk.  The air was heavy with the sweet scent of the plumeria mingled with the occasional waft of incense.  As we wandered the streets of Chiang Mai's old city we saw a sky lantern rise gently towards the stars before getting caught on a slight breeze and setting off into the distance.

Energized by the sight we quickly made out way to its point of origin and came upon Wat Jediluang.  There we found s few people waiting for the hot air to collect into the lantern before releasing it to the heavens.  These young monks were testing the air to see if enough had collected to carry their lantern away and moments after taking their picture it was drifting lazily into the sky.  Some nights are just magical and this is one that I will never forget.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 24/f1.4L Mark II
24mm, f1.4, 1/125 sec @ 1000 ISO

2012, Day 51 - Trial

This photo was taken as a test to figure out what kind of exposure time would be necessary to capture the stars.  To the naked eye not all the clouds were visible but I still took another shot at a lower ISO.  Unfortunately the clouds were coming in and at the end of that five minute exposure almost no stars were visible.  That left me with my test shot which I processed and share with you now.  While it isn't ideal is it better than what I ended up with which is why you never delete anything until you've had an opportunity to review it on your computer.  In fact I don't delete anything, sometimes the best shots look terrible as you are chimping (reviewing your photos on the back of your camera).

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f2.8, 25 sec @ 8000 ISO

2011, Day 340 - Relax

Yesterday was one of those days where nothing works out as planned and I had to spend the whole day chasing people with a pointy stick to make them do their job.  Today was entirely different, I was able to get a lot of work done, I had breakfast with a friend and I had the pleasure of visiting with Dawson and his buddy Preston.

For those people who haven't been following my antic, I volunteer with a greyhound adoption group and one of my favorite couples had recovered from their recent loss enough to bring another dog home.  So I made arrangements for this handsome guy to come to the Pacific NW from Oklahoma.  The last leg of his trip I drove from Portland to Seattle and back in a very early morning.  On the way he wiggled his goofy way into my heart.

When Dawson's father became a temporary single parent and stressed by a morning of hectic activity I was asked if I could come by to check up on him and his buddy Preston.  Why wouldn't I?  Dawson I adore and Preston I was about to take home when my friends decided they were ready for another dog so both these dogs are some of my favorite hounds.  So I got to cuddle with the two goofy guys for about an hour between other obligations and then had the mandatory sniff-down when I got home and my hounds could smell that I had been snuggling with other dogs.  Good thing my boys are the understanding types :)

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

24mm, f1.4, 1/125 sec @ 1000 ISO

2011, Day 326 - The mountain

This dignified looking gentleman is Fuji.  I suspect the name is in tribute to the Japanese film giant and camera maker but he puts me in mind of Mount Fuji with his substantial size and enormous personality he is a very charming guy.  And, like the mountain, if you are in the wrong place he will completely obstruct your view of what is going on around you.  When Fuji wants attention you'll know it because he will stand in your lap and use you as a giant scratching post as he kneads you with his catcher's mitts. I suspect he is going to be a super happy guy soon because his mom is returning from her trip to Vietnam this weekend.  Nicole, I am holding him hostage for a good bowl of pho, I hope you picked up some cooking experience on your trip!

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f2.8, 1/50 sec @ 3200 ISO

2011, Day 101 - Baby blues

While picking up dog food I made a new friend, this tiny little Australian shepherd who could bare sit still but I managed to get one shot capturing her pretty blue eyes and emphasizing her puppy innocence.


Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 24-70/f2.8L
48mm, f2.8, 1/80 sec @ 1600 ISO

2011, Day 100 - Beats

I went by to see some friends at their bar/diner and took this after lending a hand. I liked the light and the deep shadows.


Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 24/f1.4L Mark II
24mm, f1.4, 1/160 sec @ 1000 ISO