Omaha Beach, Normandy

Omaha Beach Memorial, Northern France

'I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity'......Dwight D. Eisenhower

Happy Holidays

Dubai, Fossil Rock

Fossil Rock, Dubai

'What would the world be, once bereft

Of wild and wilderness? Let them be left,

O Let them be left, wildness and wet;

Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet'.....Gerard Manley Hopkins

Katy Perry, Dubai

For the past several months I have been doing some tour management work for Katy Perry. Having the opportunity to see Katy on stage - makes me appreciate her musical talent, sense of humor and overall artistry. 

A few weeks ago we traveled to Dubai for one last show in 2012. The event was the closing ceremony for the World Parachute Championships with the concert being held on the Meydan Racetrack just outside the city. Of course Katy came up with an interesting way to start the show - arriving on stage using a parachute!!!

 Stay tuned for more images from Dubai....

Brooklyn Bridge, Homage to Edward Steichen

Homage to Edward Steichen

There are so many ways to depict this bridge - my favorites being the older platinum and gum prints from Edward Steichen. Matter of fact he was the impetus for me starting to photograph the bridge -  I lived under that bridge for many years in the mid eighties.

This particular image started as a 4x5 pinhole and today I processed it on my iPhone5.....so many uses for iPhone processing and they keep getting better......

Desert Sunset

Desert Sunset

A bit out of my comfort zone on this one. At first it seemed to dark and then I realized that it worked dark - mostly because it was dark....great lesson here for me....stay out of the way...reminds me of the Garry Winogrand Quote, ''I photograph to find out what something looks like photographed'...need to remember that....off to wrap a few gifts...

Dubai, The Creek

The Creek, Dhows, Dubai

As mentioned in a previous blog Dubai is very capable of being very cosmopolitan and yet there are parts of this city that still function in ancient times.......it has been said that the  Dhow dates back to the 10th or 11th century in India...a distant cousin of the Junk.....

This image, that was made just next to the Spice Souk (market), clearly shows that juxtaposition. From Rolex advertisements on the horizon to ancient Dhows that span hundreds of years in Dubai history. There are sightseeing Dhows' which take you around the city....They are also used as water taxis' in some parts of the city not to mention you could take a dinner cruise on board one of these ancient vessels.

Detail of the Ancient Dhow

And if you are a fan of modern architecture then check out the horizon line...It has been said the 25 percent of all the cranes in the world are working in Dubai...

Fossil Rock, Dubai, UAE

Fossil Rock, UAE

Before leaving for the United Arab Emirates the one thing I wanted to do was four wheel in the red desert just outside of Dubai . My friend Alex, who lives in Dubai, did a bit of research and suggested Fossil Rock as a good location. . After searching the internet I was all in......

On Monday, Alex and his hired guide, Mez, picked me up and off we went in search of Fossil Rock. After about 45 minutes the color of the sand started changing from a pale red to the red you see in the image above. Just after the color change we started to see Fossil Rock off in the distance - I , for one, was very excited.

Fossil Rock, UAE

Next stop was to deflate the tires to grip the sand and off we went into the dunes. The dunes are similar to riding a roller coaster with a touch less stability...A cross between a coaster and being on ship in rough sea....at times we would come to a crest on top of a dune without being able to see the other side, usually a steep vertical drop that left one feeling a bit nauseous....they tell you not to eat before dune riding...

At any rate. long story short, we made to Fossil Rock. We did get stuck on the top of one dune but Mez was able to get us out....

Whoops.....

.

Burj Khalifa - Dubai

Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE

 Stayed in Dubai an additional day - way to much to see and photograph. I hired a guide and it turned out he really understood photography and what I was looking for. Matter of fact I almost stayed one more day.....maybe next time...

We started out at 5:45AM trying to catch the sunrise on the Burj Khalifa, the tallest man made structure in the world at 829.8 meters (2,722 feet). Not only that but the building opened on my birthday in 2010 - so I had to make an image...

Leaving Dubai tomorrow morning - what a neat place - desert, city, old world, modern and much more....stay tuned for more images on both blogs.

Fossil Rock, Dubai

Camel Walking

Finished up my business in Dubai on Sunday night. A local friend had a plan take me to the red desert on Monday - four wheeling over the sand to Fossil Rock. As we were driving a group of camels suddenly appeared simply walking down to road.

Our guide told us they are let out in the morning, walk around most of the day, and then return to their farm late in the day for water. I would estimate about 15-20 camels just WALKED ON BY....what an added surprise...

Grabbed a few images of the camels and headed out to the rock. Of course we got stuck on the edge of a dune for about 20 minutes but eventually the guide figured it out and off we went to Fossil.....Stay tuned for images of the rock....

 

All in all quite a fun experience. Going back out today to photograph the city of Dubai...

Zion Moon, Processed as a Tritone

Zion, converted to B/W Tritone Image

Still in pursuit of black and white imagery I processed yesterday's image as a tritone in Photoshop CS6.....Fairly simple to do:

1. GO into adjustments and choose gradient map
2. GO image and convert to gray-scale and flatten
3. You should now be able to go into Image and choose Duotone and the dialog will look like this: be sure to convert to  an 8 bit image.


4. Then you can use the Type dropdown and the custom to create duotone, tritone and quadtone images by mixing and matching to suit your taste.
5. Once finished convert back to 16 bit RGB for printing. 

Give it a shot....

Zion, Moonrise

Zion National park

'Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment'.....Ansel Adams

Zion, Detail, Vintage Truck

Deatail, Vintage Truck, Springdale, Utah 

Jimmy Johns

Jimmy John Delivery...

'What you need will be delivered - what you want can be found'......

I was in a Denver Studio last year shooting portraits for a series I have in progress. We had ordered lunch from Jimmy Johns and asked to have it delivered. So the doorbell rings and when I take one look at this gal it becomes obvious she needs to have her photo taken. 

I have been a NIK software fan for some time now - I use it with my iPhone images as well as more traditional camera images. Today's image was made using only Tonal Contrast in NIK CFX4 and Photoshop CS6....

I did post this a year ago but decided to re-visit this morning. I always find it rewarding to go back and re-process as one gains new insight in image processing. The original file is below.

Jimmy John - Original File