2014, Day 344 - Divot

I love images that have texture and this leaf and the drop of water in the center have such an interesting contrast in texture.  One is dull and rough while the other is smooth and shiny.  It is the fine hairs on the leaf that make the water bead up and roll across the surface.

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 60/f2.4R
60mm, f4, 1/640 sec @ 200 ISO

2014, Day 322 - Whorl

Tonight, in the wee hours of the morning, we are leaving Sri Lanka.  On our last day we had a few things planned but mostly we are preoccupied as to how we are going to spend the evening while waiting for our flight.

We got an early start and after a light breakfast at the hotel we loaded up our bags and left Bentota.  Our first stop was at Brief, the home of Bevis Bawa who was the brother of Sri Lanka's famous architect Geoffrey Bawa.  It is located in the countryside past rice paddies and into the jungle.  As you drive down a narrow lane it opens up into a circular driveway.  From that driveway there are two doors, one leads into the house and the other into the grounds.

Bevis Bawa worked on his home for years and the beautiful garden is a testament to his dedication.  There are paths to secluded sitting areas under large fragrant trees.  Along a sloping stretch of lawn there are a series of ponds leading up to the house which sits at the top of the hill.  Songbirds flit in and out of trees and everywhere there is lush sweet-smelling vegetation.  Scattered throughout the property are sculptures and statuary in hidden natural and man-made niches.

The house is interesting because although it was built in the 1920s and contains much of the original furnishings it has a distinctly mid-century modern feel.  Here Bevis Bawa entertained heads of state, kings, queens, and all manner of celebrities.  He was a bit of a rockstar and yet the house is relatively modest in size but with large outdoor living and entertaining spaces.  It is a beautiful marriage of style and location.

When we finished at Brief we resumed out journey north and soon found ourselves back in Colombo.  Here we stopped at the bank so we could pay our driver for all his help, had a quick lunch, and picked up an additional bag to relieve pressure from the straining zippers of our luggage.  After that we asked Nanda to drop us off at a hotel we booked for the night near the airport.

It isn't as though we need a place to sleep, it is more that we wanted a place to relax, maybe take a shower before the flight, and catch up on a little down time.  For less than twenty dollars it is money well spent.  So here we wait until almost midnight before we jump a cab to the airport.

Tomorrow, a sleepy day in Bangkok!

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 10-24/f4R OIS
10mm, f16, 1.1 sec @ 200 ISO

2014, Day 165 - Anticipation

There aren't a lot of water lilies in Portland but I know where to find a few.  They always remind me of my travels to Asia.  I have another trip in the planning stages and I'm very excited but it won't be real until the tickets are booked!

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 60/f2.4R
60mm, f5, 1/125 sec @ 320 ISO

2014, Day 81 - Churning

I went out to Panther Creek today with Nicole and Bonham.  We had no agenda, just a little time outdoors and hopefully a few pictures to go with it.  It is a nice way to approach photography because when you have no expectations you're open to what catches your interest.  Like this view of the water, I love the texture and sense of movement it conveys.

Fuji X-T1, Fujinon 60/f2.4R
60mm, f22, 1/5 sec @ 200 ISO

2014, Day 6 - Siphon

The cenotes in Mexico are amazing.  This one, on private property down a long bumpy road hidden away, was paradise.  We had been out visiting Tulum in the morning and the heat was tremendous.  Our reward was this little oasis.  To get here we climbed down a ladder to a small wooden dock and explored a large enclosed pool.  Swallows darted in and out and scuba divers passed thirty feet below us from time to time.  Otherwise we had the place to ourselves; all you could hear is dripping water and it was cool crystal clear water.  As we swam the ceiling got lower and after a while it opened into a large open cenote where I took this picture.  In the middle there is an island of jungle growing out of the rich silty soil.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f4, merged layers of 0.4, 0.8, and 1.6 sec @ 100 ISO

2013, Day 344 - Breaking

This was the beach just outside La Libertad, El Tunco to be exact, where we stopped to have breakfast during our trip to El Salvador.  It had been a stormy morning and we were hoping that the rain would stop so we could enjoy our day at the beach.  Things weren't looking especially promising but after I ordered my food I grabbed my tripod and wandered down to the beach for a better view.  The waves were erratic, many small but some quite big and when combined with a long exposure it gave the ocean an interesting smokey view.  Amongst the debris washed onto the black sand beach was this piece of wood worn down by the sand and water which became the foreground focal point and the iconic rock formation is the background is used to anchor the upper portion of the composition.  I can still feel the warm water washing over my feet as a light rain fell on my face.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
30mm, f2.8, 10 sec @ 200 ISO

2013, Day 342 - Translucent lace

Sometimes it is worth pushing yourself.  I woke up this morning at five o'clock warm in my bed with two of the four dogs snuggled tight against me and I asked myself "Do I really want to get up and brave the freezing weather for a few pictures?"  But the freeze is supposed to be coming to an end and I hate having regrets so I got up to take the dogs for a walk before heading out the door.

I drove out to Vista House first.  Lately I seem to be stopping there a lot but we had a dazzling sunrise yesterday and I was hoping for a repeat performance.  It didn't happen.  But I did get some nice pictures and caught the sunrise.

Then I drove out to Latourell Falls where I slid on some hidden ice but got some great views as well.  There were a number of other places to stop but I headed straight for Multnomah Falls.  When I got there I encountered a few other people, almost all with cameras and tripod, and one guy told me he went yesterday morning but it was so packed with people (again, mostly photographers) that he left and returned today.  It was beautiful and the ice buildup was quite impressive.

When I returned to my car it was time for a tough decision, wether or not to go out to Ruckle Creek.  It is a bit of a hike in and the area is so sheltered it might not be that great.  Still, it was only a fifteen minute drive away and another ten minute walk to so I decided to make the most of the morning.  When I arrived I stopped dead in my tracks.

I had been visiting some of the biggest and most spectacular waterfalls in the gorge this morning and Ruckle Creek was by far the most beautiful.  The problem with being so impressive is the volume and velocity of the water disrupts a lot of the ice buildup and the little streams lack the flow to keep them from freezing entirely.  But Ruckle Creek has about the perfect balance of grandeur and with slow enough water movement to have really good accumulation.  I spent over an hour moving around and taking pictures from different angles; each was so different.  Then I had to switch lenses and focus more on the details.  I was wet and cold but completely entranced by the beautiful that I didn't care.

The ice took on a lacy quality.  Thin and going from opaque to translucent, it has so much delicate texture and detail to enjoy.  I love that the rocks were incased in ice and I can't tell if there is more ice forming or if the existing ice was melting but it was beautiful and I am so happy that I decided to leave the comfort of my warm bed and cuddle dogs for a little winter adventure this morning.

Canon 1D X, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
35mm, f5.6, 1/2 sec @ 100 ISO

2013, Day 333 - Stillness

This afternoon I went on an adventure with Brian, Brian, and Nicole.  We set out with a waterfall as our destination but bad directions led us astray but we made the most of the trip and came back with some fun images to share.  As dusk approached we found ourselves at Yale Reservoir and although it wasn't the vantage point we had initially wanted it turned out the be a nice evening.  The clouds were coming in and it was just beginning to sprinkle as we were packing up to leave.  Sometimes when things don't work out the way you planned you can still make the best of it by keeping an open mind.

Fujifilm X-E1, Fuji 14/f2.8R
14mm, f16, merged layers of 5 and 20 sec @ 200 ISO

2013, Day 113 - Before the plunge

Still reliving my adventures at Panther Creek.  There are so many beautiful places in the gorge that it is easy to become spoiled for choice.  I often think I should make more of an effort to explore but my favorite places have such a magical allure that I cannot help but return time after time.  I guess if I am not bored then it is working out just fine :)

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f2/8, merged layers of 1.6, 6, and 13 sec @ 800 ISO

2013, Day 37 - Laundry day

On our last day in Battambang we went to Kamping Puoy, one of the massive projects undertaken during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.  They constructed an impressive set of dams and in the process   thousands of people lost their lives to the merciless conditions in the forced labor camps.  Today it is a popular recreation site and as we explored we came upon this woman doing her laundry in the canal whose gentle flow is controlled by the dam.  All I could think as I watched her was how heavy those laundry baskets must be full of damp clothes.  It can't be an easy life but the setting is beautiful.

Canon 1D X, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
200mm, f4, 1/2000 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 362 - Pearls

The holidays are over.  Yes, I know, there is still New Year's but today marked the end of my celebration and my return to the gym.  Too much indulgence has eaten away at the progress made towards my fitness goals.  So instead of driving today I walked everywhere and when you add that to my walks with the dogs it totaled almost twelve miles.  Not a bad day and with my camera in hand I took the opportunity to explore the details of the world.

Olympus OM-D E-M5, Olympus 60/f2.8 Macro
60mm, f5.6, 1/200 sec @ 200 ISO

2012, Day 326 - Vindication

If yesterday was a day that was fraught with failure today was a day of success!  We got up and ate a really tasty breakfast at our hotel, they use real cheese in the omelettes instead of the processed crap we have getting.  Then we grabbed our gear for the day and collected Mr. Tech to head into town.  We met our guide for the day, Sarat, in downtown Kampot and after introductions we told him about the failures of yesterday and what we were hoping to see.  Sarat was happy to show us where we went wrong and we set off.

Our first stop was at the salt fields.  These were much closer to town than the ones we went to yesterday.  As we walked through the fields and Sarat was explaining the process he espied a line of motorbikes outside one of the storage barns.  He dashed off and we followed him; inside there was a crew shoveling, bagging, weighing, sealing, and stacking bags of salt.  The foreman explained that today they had to fill one thousand bags of fifty kilograms each.  Off to the side there was a large stack of finished bags and we watched as three guys stood on the top of the salt shoveling it down to the bagging crew.  They in turn fill and weigh the bags, then the bags are passed to the guy wielding the hand-held sewing machine, finally two guys pick up these massive heavy bags and load them onto the smallest guy in the crew who stacks it against the wall.  Imagine doing that a thousand time in a single day in the heat of a small salty building.  I was sweating just watching them and all I was doing was taking pictures of the process.  Then Sarat asked if we wanted salt and of course we said we did and handed him a gallon sized plastic bag which he filled completely with the best quality salt from the top of the pile.

It would have been nice to see how the salt fields are worked but we were told that it would be a couple of months before that really starts.  With the rice harvest just beginning the farmers are otherwise occupied.  When the rice paddies are empty they will start preparing the fields by draining them of any residual mud from the wet season, packing down the earth so it is like concrete, and then allowing them to be flooded using a system of pumps and ditches with sea water.  Once filled the rising temperatures will quickly evaporate away the water leaving the salt behind.  The farmers turned salt workers will then move it into storage shed where it will continue to dry until packaged as we have already seen.  Eventually the salt will be shipped all over Asia where it still be on dinner tables and restaurants everywhere.

Salted and hot we were ready to move on to our next destination.  Sarat wanted us to see some of the caves, one he said was really nice but the roads are too muddy for cars and we decided that we didn't want to see it enough to wade through mud and slime so instead he took us to another temple cave at Wat Phnom Sorsie.  The monks and nuns were busy cleaning and preparing the temple for their annual fundraising festival where there will be music, food, and decorations while the local people vie to outdo each other with conspicuous displays of generosity.  We, on the other hand, were lead through the temple where the monks and nuns greeted us, and made our way up the hillside through the jungle and to a large cave.  Even before we arrived at the cave you could smell the bat, the guano and urine have a very distinctive aroma.

We steeled ourselves against the smell and descended into the darkness.  Inside the cave the temperature dropped and we could hear high-pitched screeching at the bats squabbled for the best spots.  A flashlight aimed upwards would incite a flurry of motion and caused the bats to rain down more liquid deterrent.  The longer we stayed the more upset the bats became and their activity intensified.  After being peed on in a small way I think we had enough of the company of our winged rodent friends so the three of us started back out of the darkness towards the sliver of light at the top.

Past the mouth of the cave we climbed to a spectacular viewpoint over the rice paddies below.  The patchwork of fields went on for miles in every direction broken only by homes and a small range of mountains.  Still green from all the recent rains, soon they will start to turn yellow and, when the rice is harvested, brown.  Our timing could not have been better to see Cambodia in her lush green regalia, it is just too bad that mosquitoes accompany the breathtaking landscape.

Next on our list was to visiting a pepper plantation to see where the famous Kampot pepper is grown.  We climbed into the mountains along a narrow paved road and turned into a driveway where we exited the car.  Sarat walked us through the pepper plantation showing us where delicate new plants were being started under a network of old palm fronds supported by the posts that would train the nascent plants upwards as they become established.  It will be years before these babies would be allowed to produce any peppercorns and over a decade before they would produce in any volume.

The pepper plantations flourished under the colonial rule of the French who quickly became the largest consumer of Kampot pepper.  Their demand was so great the even the prices of local pepper became too high for the locals who were and are still buying a cheaper imported pepper for their dinner tables.  Under the rule of the Khmer Rouge the plantations were abandoned and many of the plants died.  It has only been in the last couple decades that the pepper plants were salvaged and the plantations were reestablished.  The farm we visited was, perhaps not surprisingly, certified organic.  So after our tour and history lesson we all bought a little of this fabled spice and were ready to continue our adventure.

So we returned to Kep for a third and final time.  Having seen it briefly from the car when it was light we wanted to be dropped off on the beach from which we would walk back to the crab market where we gorged last night.  With all the recent rains it was nice to see that the ocean was a clear blue rather than churned up muddy waters of the rivers that we have visited so far.  There were fluffy clouds high in the sky and fishermen were working the waters.

There are countless small homes that dot the waterfront, most of which have been abandoned for decades.  Years ago, as the country stabilized and property prices were low, real estate speculators bought up many of these derelict homes.  Today they sit as ruins waiting for someone to reinvest in this really pretty waterfront town.  Kampot may be a bigger city but Kep has some very pretty if rather small beaches and remarkable views of the Gulf of Thailand.  Against Araceli's better judgment, Francene and I were determined to explore at least one of these houses.  As we wandered through with warnings of impending collapse ringing in our ears we found the structure to be remarkably sound with a nice, if rather cramped, floor plan.

When we finished exploring the ruins the three of us continued along the waterfront.  The scattered trees provided some relief from the scorching sun as we walked and with time we made it back to the crab market.  This time we ate at a restaurant that Sarat recommended and while the menu was less extensive that that of last night the food was still good.  Araceli was the only one who wanted more crab; Francene and I ordered tom yum soup with prawns and a fish curry.  The soup was more prawn than anything else so I left the bulk of it to Francene while I worked on the fish curry.  A few more vegetables would have been nice in the curry but it is hard to fault the flavor.

After lunch we wanted to run out to Bokor.  There seemed to be some confusion as to whether or not our guide could take us because of a misunderstanding with his boss but we got that ironed out pretty quickly.  So we got back in the car and drove through and then beyond Kampot to the mountain atop which Bokor Hill Station is perched.  Built in the 1920s by colonial French settlers as a cool mountain retreat from the blazing Cambodian heat, over nine hundred people died during the construction and before the road was replaced recently it was a three hour drive from the foot of the mountain to the peak.

In the 1940s Bokor was abandoned by the French and was eventually served as one of the last strongholds of the Khmer Rouge during the 1990s.  During the invasion by the Vietnamese the Khmer Rouge took refuge in the Bokor Palace Hotel while the invaders dug in at the old Catholic church.  The old hotel was heavily damaged during the Khmer Rouge occupation and until recently it sat as it was left, windows broken, roof leaving, and riddled with bullet holes.  Today the hotel is undergoing a complete renovation, the exterior has been patched and repaired and work on the interior is well underway.  According to a worker that Sarat spoke with the hotel is slated to become some kind of a museum but in its current state they apparently don't care about keeping people out.  Araceli, Francene, and I were able to run freely through the building to marvel at the amazing art deco architecture and the large guest rooms.  The rooftop terraces were totally accessible but the cloud cover spoiled most of the view and we retreated inside when the rain started.  Even empty the hotel is a bit of a maze and we played a sort of modified game of Marco Polo trying to find each other when we got separated.

I feel so fortunate to have been able to see the hotel in its current state.  In a few months they will be much further along in the restoration process and we would not have been able to run freely throughout.  Once completed much of the recent history of the site will be concealed and, hopefully, it will be a beautiful example of early 20th century architecture again.  But now it is probably the last time it will be seen as the shell it became during the occupation by the Khmer Rouge.

After leaving the Bokor Palace we stopped off at a small temple and monastery, Wat Sampao Pram.  The temple had an odd orange look and upon closer inspection the color was found to come from a kind of moss that was enveloping the old stone.  Behind there was another amazing view down to the ocean through clouds broken by spears of sunlight.  We stayed at the viewpoint for a little while enjoying the relative cool before walking down the hill to find Mr. Tech.  Fortunately he parked next to a pond surrounded by a low stone wall where a couple of macaques were lounging.

Who can resist monkeys?  We watched them rest, forage, and eventually wreak havoc on a pickup and then a motorbike as a small crowd gathered.  A monk tried to tempt them with part of a baguette but they were more interested in the roasted pumpkin seeds that Sarat was offering them.  Monks and tourists had them almost completely surrounded but rather than feel trapped the monkeys appeared nonplussed by the attention.  After a while they decided it was time to lounge again on their favorite wall so we took that as our queue to leave.

We dropped Sarat off back in town and then went in search of dinner.  I don't think we were too hungry or particularly picky so we ate a quick meal and headed back to the tower.  Tomorrow we're returning to Phnom Penh for Thanksgiving with Tim so we are going to need to get some sleep if we're going to pack and hit the road early.  I suspect we're going to have a really mellow day once we arrive in Phnom Penh and that can't be anything but a good idea.



Canon 1D X, Canon 24-70/f2.8L Mark II
50mm, f5.6, 1/640 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 184 - Farewell rain

Today is the last day of clouds in the forecast and I am sad to say that I think summer may officially be here. The temperatures are set to rise into the 80s and while that may seem cool to the rest of the country I can assure you that for those of us here it will feel sweltering.  Oh well, I guess it is time for fireworks, BBQs, watermelon, berries, the drone of fans all night long and early walks to beat the heat.

Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100, f5.6, 1/125 sec @ 400 ISO

2012, Day 174 - Beyond a trickle

Today I felt like a return to nature.  Recently there have been a lot of flower shots but I wanted something wild so I went back through my archive to the photos taken at Panther Creek.  Initially this photo wasn't a top pick but the more I looked at it the more I liked it.  So into Photoshop it went and this is the result.  I like the misty foggy effect of the moving water obtained through a long exposure.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
32mm, f22, 30 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 162 - Reacquainted

Last night I had the pleasure of taking a photo walk with Garrison Hullinger, noted designer and friend of many years.  He has said on more than one occasion that he wanted to spend some time behind the lens and get reacquainted with photography.  Unfortunately his schedule is such that he has little free time but we managed a little waterfront walk last night.

It was a brisk evening and you could hear the sounds of the bands on the waterfront playing for the Rose Festival.  Why is it that music at these kinds of events always sound the same?  Kind of like at the state fair...  Anyway, I shot five bracketed shots knowing that some details would be easily lost.  I needed one exposure just for the freeway along the left side but decided to allow the reflection in the water to get blown out to serve as a visual anchor.  Then I had to recover some of the details in the sky and the water while keeping the rich contrast on the buildings and bridges.  The result is iconic Portland, I love this city!

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 24-105/f4L IS
24mm, f5.6, merged layers of 8, 15, and 30 sec @ 200 ISO

2012, Day 147 - Blue hour

This was one of last night's test shots to try to keep the exposure right with the rapidly diminishing light.  I wish the shutter speed would have been fast enough so that there was no motion blur in the barge being pushed out into the river laden with fireworks but you work with what you have.  What caught me was the sky, the roiling clouds that look so angry.  Portland is, without a doubt, a beautiful city.

Canon 1Ds Mark III, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f5.6, 1 sec @ 160 ISO

2012, Day 140 - Obstruction

Another return to a photo from my Panther Creek adventure of last weekend.  It was a study in making the most of the prevailing conditions; it was early afternoon, we had a hot sun overhead, and there was high contrast light filtering through the canopy.  With those obstacles a wide angle lens was practically useless, too many changes in lighting throughout the scene to get anything useful.  That meant that isolated parts of the landscape were the only possible subjects and neutral density filters were a necessity to get smooth flowing water.

I sought to juxtapose the detail of the trees with the smoothness of the water, the dark against the light, the movement against stillness.  This particular section of the creek was ideal because the flow of water wasn't perfectly flat, submerged obstacles caused undulations which in turn created contrast between the creek and the turbulent water.  The rock peaking through the flow caps it off, it provides just a little extra visual interest to draw the eye towards the bottom left corner of the image.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
155mm, f22, 20 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 55 - Painted peacock

I thought I would try my hand at something a little different tonight.  I've always wondered what an alien sky might look like and found this quite pleasing...

Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
18mm, f8, 120 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 53 - Clear and fuzzy

I hadn't planned to go out this evening but when Dave Sanderling posted he was going out and looking for company I decided to join him.  Who cares if the subject matter is similar to that in recent days, hopefully I am learning and growing.  So we wandered the southern end of the east side esplanade and the sky transitioned from cloudy to clear to cloudy.  At least it makes for an interesting photograph and it's always nice to have company when you're wandering around after dark :)

Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f9, 120 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 31 - Building bridges

Many cities look better at night when the lights highlight what you are supposed to see and the shadows conceal neglect and decay.  Portland isn't one of those cities; it is clean, well maintained and very nice to look at by day.  However at night it looks so much more like a city than what it really is, a large town.

I posted another panorama a couple days ago and this one was taken further down the river.  On the left is the Morrison Bridge and on the right is the Burnside Bridge.  I like that you can also see the Fremont Bridge under the center span of the Burnside.  If you know what you're looking for you can also see parts of the Steel Bridge and the Hawthorne Bridge in the distance.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
35mm, f8, 3.2 sec @ 320 ISO