2014, Day 212 - Flourish

It is nice to see someone enjoying the heat.  I am living in a wind tunnel until this abominable weather passes.  There are six fans in my room and I think there are occasional minor indoor tornados but it's a small price to pay for comfort.

Fuji X-E1, Fujinon 60/f2.4R
60mm, f4, 1/1250 sec @ 200 ISO

2014, Day 211 - Webbed

When most of the trees tear the temples apart this one is holding this wall together.  With time it will eventually constrict around the stone blocks and reduce them to rubble but work is underway to try to prevent that from happening.  I doubt that this will be the site of a restoration project because so much of this complex is so far gone but maybe in a few decades it will have its turn.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
22mm, f8, merged layers of 1/160, 1/80, 1/40, and 1/20 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 210 - Sentinel

I have no idea where all these stones came from.  Perhaps there was once a wall that surrounded this tower that has since toppled but it seems to sit at the pinnacle of a hill of tumbled blocks.  I love the settling, it is like discovering a wonderful treasure when you come upon a site like this when there is no one around.  That usually means getting up well before dawn but it quickly becomes habit.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
22mm, f11, merged layers of 1/10, 1/5, 0.4, 0.8, and 1.6 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 209 - Gallery

I love that photography allows you to travel in time.  This picture will be two years old this fall and I just felt like Cambodia this evening and rediscovered it when looking through my folders of unprocessed photos.  Beng Mealea has been consumed by the jungle and it appears to be of a less robust construction than many of the other temples so it is in a more advanced state of digestion.  It is that ruined aspect that makes it interesting.  Trees have torn down walls and the delicately carves stonework has been carpeted in moss.  Frog, lizards, and insects about as do the occasional colonies of bats.  It really does feel like stepping back in time and the picture brings back that sense of wonder and adventure I felt when I was there.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
23mm, f8, merged layers of 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and 1 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 208 - Valley

Between South Sister and Broken Top is Green Lake.  The hike to the lake is a steady uphill until the final stretch where the trail goes up steeply and comes down into this alpine valley.  Here the air is crisp and smells of frost.  The mountain you see pictured is South Sister and she blocks the view of her sibling North Sister.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f11, merged layers of 0.4, 0.8, 1.6, 3.2, and 6 sec @ 100 ISO

2014, Day 207 - Waiting

Some spiders wander and expend a lot of energy but others are a bit smarter and build tricky webs.  This guy built his web in front of a window near a lamp that is always left on so at night he got the most food delivered and, as you can tell from his size, it is a substantial amount.  But when the landscapers came they broke his web and I borrow a few minutes of his time to be my model.

Canon 1D X, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f11, 1/200 sec @ 200 ISO

2014, Day 206 - Zip

It's amazing how much freight we move.  Sometimes I wonder if we wouldn't be better off making more things locally instead of shipping the same stuff all over the world.  With globalization we lose our uniqueness, everything becomes a blur of sameness.  Ingenuity is sacrificed to efficiency and that is disappointing so to you I say, embrace your uniqueness, take a chance on something different and enjoy the experience.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 24-105/f4L IS
73mm, f8, 8 sec @ 200 ISO