Iceland, Farm Tools

Farm Tools, Iceland

This is the inside of an old farm building in Iceland. No windows - had to straddle my tripod over the door frame and sit on a stool outside to make this image happen - the only light was from the door so a three exposure HDR was necessary.

Iceland Panoramic 2

Iceland Landscape Panoramic 2

Iceland never fails to amaze me. You are driving down a two lane road on a one of the most perfect days and, wallah, you are confronted with the sheer beauty of nature. You can see the road to the upper right of this image - look for the yellow poles.

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.

Dumont Dunes #3

Dumont Dunes #3

Still experimenting with leaving the off-road tracks in the images using them as graphic elements instead of  distracting lines....I used Viveza2 to enhance and sharpen the lines in this image before going over to ColorEFXPro2 for final adjustments. I tend to use a good deal of photoshop masking with both CFX and VV2 including using the brush option in the software. 

Red Church, Iceland

Red Church, Iceland

This image is from two years back on my first trip to Iceland. On this day it was off and on rain with a few moments of decent light when the rain would stop. This image, posted today, was made through the bus window during a particularly hard rain using my Canon 5DMKII. This was the first time I realized if you kept your lens wide open most of the moisture on the window would not be apparent in the final photograph. Point in fact it actually made the image appear soft and, and for lack of a better word, semi foggy....which I think actually made the image work.

There are times when I get into thinking images always need to be sharp and have a full dynamic range - I might need to get over that....

I was able to process this image in a way that worked for me using Photoshop CS6 Beta, NIK Color EFX Pro4 and Lightroom4.

Dumont Dunes

Dumont Dunes, Death Valley

'Artists are visionaries. We routinely practice a form of faith, seeing clearly and moving toward a creative goal that shimmers in the distance - often visible to us, but invisible to those around us'......Julia Cameron 


These dunes are new to me - first time there. I had heard about them so I sought them out last Sunday while cruising around the Death Valley area. It was love at first sight when I pulled up to these dunes - problem was they had been through a weekend of off-road vehicles chewing up the pristine sand. I decided to make a few images and see what I could do to turn the tracks into texture, which in the end I felt good about.

The areas in and around Las Vegas and Death Valley are ripe with imagery - well worth a trip if you are in the area...

Las Vegas,Red Rock Canyon

Red Rock Canyon, Panoramic 

Stopped off at Red Rock Canyon on the way back to Vegas on Sunday and caught some decent light. This post is a three image stitch using my Canon 5DMKII and photoshopCS5 (have not had the chance to play with 6 yet). 

Death Valley, U, We, Wash

U, We, Wash, tecopa, California

Last week, for the most part,  was spent in a hotel in Las Vegas. Being in Vegas for that long you lose touch with the outside world. Almost anything can be going on outside your 'climate and smell' controlled environment.

So yesterday I jumped in the car with a few cameras and headed out for the day to clear my head. The area just outside Las Vegas is really great for losing ones-self in a much more natural landscape so I headed out for Dumont Dunes. Little did I know that the dunes were located just outside of Death Valley. As many times as I have been to Death Valley I never traveled Route 127, and now that I have, it is on the list for another day of more extensive exploration.

The Dunes were really interesting but more suitable for a sunrise when there is less chance of tire tracks covering the sand from off road vehicles.  I did, however manage to make a few images that will be processed on another day.

Today's post was located near a trailer park just outside of Tecopa, California, a small town that is home of the Tecopa Hot Springs. Usually I content aware out the wires but for this image I thought they they needed to be left as is....some sort of a last connection to civilization. Actually sights like this are not uncommon in this area of California....a surprise around every turn..

Zabriske Point

Zabriske Point

'When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world'.........John Muir

Ireland, Farm Buildings

Ireland, Farm Buildings

When I first saw this scene I fell in love with the color and the cloudy sky. Also liked the juxtaposition of the background mountain against the foreground buildings. .

 After importing the raw image it just did not live up to what my mind was telling me I saw at capture - I don't really like the word capture but can't think of another word at the moment. Frankly, I am of the mindset that one can vaguely remember the color, but not exactly like it was.  - yes there are those who will say they can.

In the end the iamge seems to work being a bit more organic - I do prefer the detail in the less subtle color

The image below is right after import....

Orignal IMage

Still Dancing

'Dancing: the vertical expression of a horizontal desire legalized by music'......George Bernard Shaw

Dancing with the Stars

Dancing with the Stars 2008

This image is from the opening of the Dancing with the Stars Tour in 2008. The first show was in San Diego and then went on to tour the United States for two months....Try as I might simply can not remember who this is.....

Eye Captain......

Meet Thy God.....

'The story of life is quicker then the blink of an eye, the story of love is hello, goodbye'...... Jimi Hendrix

Northern Ireland, Carrick-a-Rede

Carrick-a-Rede, Northern Ireland

This is my first time posting from an airplane. I truly love the modern technology - between my computer and the ipad it passes the time quickly....And I might even get some work done....I am short of hard rives up here at 31,000 feet but did find an image from the last trip to Ireland. The place is called Carrick-a-Rede in Northern Ireland. It is where the famous rope bridge can be found. That particular day was much too windy so no one was allowed near the bridge so I turned around and of course there was an image behind me.....

I can not get enough of Ireland....

Kenny Aronoff, Drummer

Drummer Kenny Aronoff

Hitting the way-back time machine today. This image from the mid-nineties made in Bloomington, Indiana when Kenny was drumming for John Mellencamp. At the time I was Mr. Mellencamp's Tour Manager and we were making images for a book that would be sold on the upcoming tour. I was in a 4x5 camera phase at the time and albeit this image slightly soft I have always wanted to see it finished - and that has now been accomplished.

Kenny has played with John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Chickenfoot and so many others. He is also a session drummer and I am sure on more then a few albums or CD's in your collection. Check out the Kenny Aronoff website for more information.

Death Valley, Badwater Basin

Sunrise, Badwater Basin, Death Valley

Sometimes it happens that you are in the right place at the right time....I was in death valley with a few friends a year or so ago and we were shooting a sunset from atop Dante's Peak. I can't remember what our plan was for the next morning but after looking down on the basin from Dante's the plan quickly changed. I have been to Death Valley 4-5 times now and had never seen the basin with that much water --- so the next morning at sunrise there we were mucking through the basin waiting......well worth getting up at 4AM......

This image was made using a Phase P65+ on a Mamiya 645 - 80MM Schneider Lens.....Processed in Lightroom4 and PhotoshopCS5.

This image is part of a Death Valley Series I have been working on.

 

Death Valley Sunrise

Sunrise, Death Valley

'How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!'....John Muir

Modern Technology

Reworked Image

It is great to be making and processing images with the technology that we have at our disposal today. There are so many choices at our fingertips to make our images conform to what we see in our head - and I am not talking manipulation per se - just having the ability to make changes in a short period of time that would have taken hours in the darkroom - and PS, it is done with the lights on. And there are always those who complain vehemently against new technology but it is here to stay......Hey, it happened when Dylan went electric and music is still around...it is happening now with the iPhone right down to those who believe images should only be processed on the iPhone or iPad...I get it but why stifle your art with limitations - the very meaning of being creative is to use whatever it takes to get to the final image in your head....OK, I am done now....this is not the theme for today...

The image today is circa 1972. It sat in a shoebox grave for many years - I simply was unable to make the print I saw in my head....and then several years ago I got into Photoshop.....still took awhile to figure it out but I finally got this image to a place that resonated for me...Ha to move bit and pieces around inside the image but in the end was able to make the save....

Original Tri-X Image

The original was made using a Nikon F Series Camera and tri-x film moved into the digital world using an Imacon/Hasselblad scanner..

Boston, Massachusetts

Boston Sunset

'Yeah, down by the river
Down by the banks of the river Charles (aw, that's what's happenin' baby)
That's where you'll find me
Along with lovers, fuggers, and thieves (aw, but they're cool people)
Well I love that dirty water
Oh, Boston, you're my home (oh, you're the Number One place)
Frustrated women (I mean they're frustrated)
Have to be in by twelve o'clock (oh, that's a shame)
But I'm wishin' and a-hopin, oh
That just once those doors weren't locked (I like to save time for
my baby to walk around)
Well I love that dirty water
Oh, Boston, you're my home (oh, yeah)'.........THE STANDELLS 

Night Baseball - Boston

 I was browsing the archives this morning and realized there were a few images of Boston made over the past 4-5 years. I was big into HDR back then - a bit over the top about it - but have re-processed and toned them down a bit.....I am not a big fan of HDR these days but do like the way it renders these difficult images.  

Boston - The Charles River

Ireland Rainbow #2

Ireland Rainbow #2

This image is from two years ago very near the Cliffs of Moher in County Claire, Ireland. These cliffs are just east of Shannon, south of Galway. We were traveling some back roads when the rainbow suddenly appeared. For the most part in Ireland you just stop the car, grab a camera and shoot - there is usually never a place to park..

As it happens quite frequently in Ireland when we arrived at The Cliffs about 15 minutes later the fog had rolled in and the rain was coming down.  On the bucket list for a summer visit...

This is a 5 image panoramic stitched in Photoshop.