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

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.

Day for Night

Day for Night

'I came to mistrust my desire to explode the picture and supercharge it in some way... what is more important is a feeling of strength in reserve – tension beneath calm'.....Richard Diebenkorn, American Painter, San Francisco

Harvest, the Palouse

“Sometimes I arrive just when God's ready to have someone click the shutter.”

Ansel Adams

Framing Angst

Landing in Bali

Nothing like driving to the frame shop thinking about what I had printed, how it was printed and what else I missed - fairly typical of that moment just before one looks at the work ready for the show. Somewhere I understand that feeling in the gut having been in the entertainment industry for most of my life. But this was my work and my vision so of course it must be different - but it is not....

In the end it is simply another brick in the wall (music metaphor) on the way to the next step of the learning process - which I believe never ends....

At any rate the images looked really good framed - and the sports metaphor of 'you have to finish' comes to mind....

Singapore

Fishing Boat, Bali

Today is the last day in Asia. Posting a couple of my favorite images from the trip - both from Bali. More when I get home and get a decent look at what images I made on this trip......

Harvest

Toledo Gallery Show

Caddo Lake, East Texas

Time for the annual gallery show to benefit 1Matters.org, an organization that works to provide provide domestic autonomy.. I wil lbe posting more about this show in the coming weeks but you can learn more about 1Matters and the show by clicking the link below.

1Matters.org

Last year I presented music images and this year the show will consist of landscape work, a good many from our National Parks.Also including images from the iPhone4s and more traditional cameras. It becomes harder and harder to use the term 'traditional cameras'....

Stay tuned to this show as this show will be traveling for the rest of the year...

Multnomah Falls

Multnomah Waterfall, Columbia Gorge

After the recent iPhone workshop in The Palouse I stopped by a few waterfalls just outside of P{Portland, Oregon on the way back to the airport.  There are several waterfalls along this route all easily accessed without much hiking. I am told there are many others that can be reached by foot - something on this particular day was not in the cards for me.

Multnomah waterfall is on the Oregon side of the Columbia River. The upper part is 542 feet and the lower is 60 feet.

The Palouse, Sunset

Sunset, The Palouse

I was out looking for images on the last evening shoot in The Palouse with Sam and Cecily. We had just finished at an old abandoned hotel and decided to get back to Colfax for dinner. We drove about 200 yards and noticed great color in the sky so we pulled over and starting making images. Thinking the good color had passed we got back in the car and started into town. Not!!!! As we drove the sky lit up in rays of light and we started to look for a place to pull over....Cecily was driving while Sam and I shouted out stop,. no not here and on and on...We finally got into a valley and that was the spot, right down to a cow staring at us...As Minor White said:

'Be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence'...Minor White

All three of us agreed we could now go home with a smile on our faces... 

The Palouse, Farm Gear

Farm Symmetry

Found this farm as we were leaving Colfax yesterday and simply could not resist pulling out the big boy camera for this image. After spending 8 days in this part of the country I have a new found respect for family farming.

On a personal front the people we met cold not have been nicer - we were pretty much allowed free access to photograph their farms . One farmer, Rod Hubner, even took our group on a combine ride while he and his hand were out harvesting the wheat and lentils.

Stay tuned for more images from The Palouse.

Iceland, Jokulsarion Glacier

Jokulsarion Glacier

'The poetry of the earth is never dead'.........John Keats

Icelandic Horse

Icelandic Horse

Sometimes there are just no words to describe an image.......This one fits that description...

Badwater Basin, Sunrise

Badwater Basin, Death Valley, Sunrise

Today's image was processed in Lightroom4 only. Lightroo4 seems to run a bit slow but the upgrade has added features that one just has to pay attention to, and, I am sure Adobe will fix that quite soon.

This image is part of a sequence I am working on for a show of my landscape images, both single frame and panoramic, for September in Carmel, Indiana. Then in October the show moves to Toledo for the second annual benefit show where all the proceeds are donated to 1Matters, an organization that assists individuals and families achieve domestic autonomy.

In all likelihood this image will be part of both shows.

Death Valley - Dante's Peak Sunset

Sunset, Dante's Peak, Death Valley

'Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves'...........John Muir

Iceland, Hraunfossar Falls

Hraunfossar Falls, Iceland

'I believe in God, only I spell it Nature'.......Frank Lloyd Wright

Valley of Fire, Nevada

Valley of Fire, Nevada

'The poetry of the earth is never dead'.......John Keats