2012, Day 38 - Beginnings

A fews days ago I was walking past a stand of grass as the sun was sinking towards the western horizon and I noticed a golden mass out of the corner of my eye.  Upon investigation I discovered a mass of seeds with tufts of hair to act as umbrellas to help them disperse in the chill winter breezes.  I like how gnarled they look twisting one way and then the other to form a haphazard mass that will spawn the growth of new grasses come spring.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f8, 1/1250 sec @ 500 ISO

2012, Day 37 - Orbs

It's Monday so time to break out a macro shot.  This was taken at Silver Falls yesterday morning and if you look at the moss you can see frost but the ice has melted on the shoots so that the sunlight reflects off the drops as if they were hundreds of little diamonds.

I am really excited for the weekend, there is so much to do before then but I am headed out to central Oregon with some friends to go snowshoeing.  It should be a blast and I have so few photos of snow-covered landscapes.  In the meantime it is back to the grind :)

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f5.6, 1/13 sec @ 125 ISO

2012, Day 36 - Falling

While so many people spent this beautiful sunny day watching football on television I took advantage of the distraction.  First thing this morning I grabbed Brian Matiash and assisted his Garmin is getting us to Silver Falls.  We trekked slowly to Upper North Falls stopping numerous times to capture the beauty of the park and when we finally decided to make our way to Lower North Falls our plans were thwarted by a closed trail.

Not to be deterred we left to return to Portland and made a few stops on the way back to capture the rolling hills of rural Oregon.  That was this morning, I then spent the afternoon working on getting caught up on processing images from the last week.  My backlog seems to be growing but it is a wonderful problem to have, too much choice.

While I was trying to get caught up Brian met with Karen Hutton and when they finished with their adventures we all met up for coffee.  For those who have had the pleasure of Karen's company she is a delightful and affable person.  Our conversation lasted until long after our cups were empty.  It was a very pleasant way to end a warn sunny weekend.  Thanks guys!

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
20mm, f8, merged layers of 1/2, 1, 2, 4, and 8 sec @ 125 ISO

2012, Day 35 - Fluff

So this evening I was wander down back alleys looking for someone to mug and I espied a tangled mass of vines on a piece of chain link fence.  As I walked by I noticed that it was backlit by a streetlight so I setup my tripod and moved around to try to find the best angle.  I had not expect this to be a shot I liked, I took it because I tend not to want regrets about the things I didn't shoot but when I got it loaded in Lightroom I immediately decided it was worth sharing.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f16, 4 sec @ 320 ISO

2012, Day 34 - Like a flash

What a hectic day, it was filled with appointments and meeting up with great people but I am exhausted.  The day ended with a little photo adventure in one of Portland's industrial neighborhoods.  Brian Matiash kindly allowed me to use his Tilt/Shift lens and off we set.  Less than five minutes into our shoot we noticed a train coming an a snail's pace so we were able to prepare for it as part of our composition.  I like this shot in particular because the cars going by were partially open so you can see the structures beyond and I like the reflection off the train because it makes it look like it is jumping to warp speed.  Jeez, I am such a nerd...

Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I can't wait to get out there again.  I have one image in particular that I am anxious to share but it will have to wait until it is perfect :)

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 24/f3.5L Tilt/Shift
24mm, f8, 20 sec @ 320 ISO

2012, Day 33 - Stormy skies

I was watching a live hangout with Nicole Young, Brian Matiash, Dave Veffer and James Brandon this evening as they talked about various aspects of photography ranging from composition to post-processing.  At one point there was a little black and white processing in Nik's Silver Efex and I watched as over a dozen different control points were dropped.  I have to admit that I was multi-tasking and only half paying attention but as I sat down to process this panorama composed of seven shots taken in the portrait orientation I decided to take inspiration from the hangout and processed it in black and white.

My goal was to simulate, in part, infrared film so the sky was made dramatically dark and the contrast was boosted pretty high.  The result is that all the little trails in the hills are highlighted which in turn gives a sense of scale to the scene.  I like it, it's pretty and grumpy just like me.

Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
70mm, f8, 1/320 sec @100 ISO

2012, Day 32 - Streaked

It is hard to believe that it is already February!  This year is off to a running start and so many thing are happening and so many things I want to do.  I need to get out to shoot more, I have been delving into the archives for the last few days so as not to focus completely on shots from the photowalk.  Fortunately the weather is supposed to be mild and sunny for the next almost week so I really need to lay off the excuses and get out there.

Maybe Silver Falls, I haven't been there in almost a year, it would be nice to go back...

Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
70mm, f8, merged layers 1/250 and 1/60 sec @ 200 ISO