Lunar Eclipse

Tonight we had a full lunar eclipse. Despite it being cold, I went out on our front porch every 15 minutes or so to see if I could shoot it. I Googled how to shoot a lunar eclipse and came away as confused as ever ... good thing that I shoot digital and could waste a bunch of pixels playing around.



Settings for this image:

ISO 400
1/250 sec
f/16
300mm lens (450mm equivalent)

Death Valley Sand

I think that my favorite images are the ones of the sand dunes. One evening we hiked into the dunes while it was light so that we could catch the sunset. Of course this meant that we needed to hike out after it got dark. Then the next morning we hiked in the dunes while it was dark so that we could catch the sunrise. I was a little worried about snakes until someone pointed out that it is too cold for snakes right now.

The dunes have wonderful shapes - always changing. We were lucky that there were some wind storms right before we got there so that there weren't that many foot prints. But with a dozen photographers and others climbing over the dunes, the footprints did appear.







While the snakes may be sleeping at this time of year, there is certainly wildlife moving around out there. I saw all kinds of tracks.



This last image is one of my favorites. This was one of the last images that I shot of the dunes on our morning trip on the way back to the cars. Of course it took us a long time to get to the cars because we kept stopping to take pictures. We were on a photo tour after all!

The only casualty of my trek into the dunes was my camera. It took a tumble into a dune and got a little sandy. I'm fairly certain that the crunching sound I hear when I zoom the lens is not good. It is now at the camera repair facility getting a nice professional cleaning (and repair).

Watch for more images.

Death Valley Visions

Before I went to Death Valley, I thought I knew what to expect ... but it suprised me. This place was more diverse than I thought it would be. And I had visions.

In the ghost town of Rhyolite (technically outside the National Park), sculptures punctuated the stark landscape.

Somehow I didn't really find it unusual that a ghost would ride a bicycle or ...





... that there would be a giant miner and penguin among the scrub.

Not too far from the art of Rhyolite instead of scanning the landscape for my visions, I had to look much closer to find them. These next images were shot with a macro lens in Titus Canyon.



Do you see the monster in this image ... or the fairy dancer in this next one?



And can you see the waterfall in this image taken along the Badwater Road?



These phog posts don't always turn out the way that I first intend but watch for sand next time.

if you want to see a larger version of any image posted on the phog, just click on it

Death Valley Abstracts

I got back late last night (my flight landed just before midnight) from my Death Valley Photography Workshop. It took me much of today (once I woke up) to get all my images downloaded from the cards and my Nikon Coolwalker storage device. I shot 1342 images over the week. But this is nothing compared to the number of images that some of my fellow workshop participants shot. Of course we shot the amazing landscapes of Death Valley but our leaders, John and Dan, encouraged us to shoot "outside the box" and work on abstract techniques. Here are a few images that were my attempts at shooting outside the box:

This is a shot of the Bottle House located in the ghost town of Rhyolite. I think that this may have been my break through abstract shot of the trip. John was so happy to see me turn my camera "wakerjaw" to get a different angle on the outside wall of the Bottle House.



These next three images were shot at Artist's Palette, a stop on Artist's Drive. Once the sun starts setting on this location, the pastel colors of the cliffs come alive. The first is a normal shot of the cliffs. The second and third are shots in which used I the panning technique. This technique is accomplished by shooting a long exposure and panning (or moving your camera) while depressing the shutter. You can pan in a straight line (as many people do) or you can pan in a curve. With my current tripod set up, I had better control with the curvy method. I had been practicing panning shots for several days before I got these. I finally felt that I had done a good job on this tricky technique. But as I learned from my fellow workshop participants, you can shoot hundreds of these things and only get a handful that you are pleased with. So ... practice, practice, practice.









I will continue to process more of my 1300+ shots over the next days, weeks, months ... and post them every couple of days.

It's cold outside ...

My local photo friends got together earlier this month and promised that we would shoot something every week. I shot that next week but haven't shot anything since ... but I have an excuse. I am attending a photography workshop in Death Valley next week so I am saving up my photo energy for the trip. Yeah, that's it ... saving my photo energy ... a good excuse, eh?!!!

Anyway, here are some of my shots from the week that I did shoot something. I bought some tulips and played with my macro lens. I need to work on this!!!

CPV Party Pics - At least the first batch

I started uploading pictures from the CPV Holiday Party at the Egan's (on November 30). Here is a link to the my smugmug gallery where they now live:

http://beyondmerewords.smugmug.com/gallery/3950528#229495708

The uploader started misbehaving so they are not all up yet. I will try again this weekend.

- Nadia

Headshots

Working with the New Camera

Well, the new D300 got a bit of a workout at a holiday party at the Egan's place in Potomac.



Some of my first shots were family portraits of the Egans. If you're all dressed up and looking fabulous, you should have your picture taken.



But you shouldn't take yourself too seriously - and you should have FUN!!!

I wandered around the party taking pictures of various people. Here is one of the shot. I will post more shots in the next couple of days.



On Saturday, Joe played with the new camera and managed to get Ivan to pose a little. This shot really shows that Ivan is part of the family. He is closing his eyes - just like my mother does in lots of pictures.



He is such a beautiful pup.

November - Come and Almost Gone

I've always liked November since it is my birth month. I have not done as much photography this month as I would have liked.

I kept looking at the fall colors saying ... I'll catch that tomorrow. I missed a few things waiting until tomorrow.

The tree in front of our house was an incredible color yellow this year. And just across the street was a beautiful red-orange tree. I kept trying to figure out how to capture both colors in one shot. Luckily I did shoot this before the leaves were rained and blown away.



Skip ahead to Thanksgiving weekend. Charles' parents were visiting and I have been promising to take a portrait of them. And I was doubly inspired since we went to see the Ansel Adams and Annie Liebowitz exhibits at the Corcoran Gallery of Art on the day after Thanksgiving.



And time for my annual holiday shots of our friends' kids - twin 5 year old boys. I asked if they knew how to make fish faces. They did.



Since I hadn't used my lights in a while, rearranged some things in the studio, and was going to take some portraits, I tried to get Ivan to do some posing for me. He only cooperates so much.

Cross a place off of my list ...

I'll soon be able to cross a new place off of my list of places to go and take pictures ... DEATH VALLEY.

I signed up for a week long February 2008 photography workshop in Death Valley today given by two photographers, John Barclay and Dan Sniffin. Just from my interaction with them both today over email, I know that they are great guys ... and their work is beautiful.

John's website: http://www.barclayphoto.com/Index2.html

Dan's website: http://www.dansniffinphoto.com

What fun!!!