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, Moonrise

Zion National park

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

Miner's Camp, Telluride

Miner's Camp, Telluride

Awhile back I posted the iPhone version of this image. Actually misplaced the card that had my higher res images and found it today - right in the camera where I left it..

Telluride

Telluride, Colorado

'Artists do not get back to work until the pain of working is exceeded by the pain of not working'...............Annonymous

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.

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 - Black Sand Beach

Iceland - Black Sandy Beach with Vatnajökull in the distance,

Another image from Iceland. My last post was the Jokulsarion Lagoon. Today's post is very close by that location. As the icebergs are floating on the lagoon, they will, over time, collide with other icebergs and break into smaller pieces. With the tide current on any given day these structures start floating out into the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean waves then carry the icebergs back into land where you can find them on the black sand beach about 200 yards from the lagoon.

In the background of this image is Vatnajökull, which is the largest glacier in Iceland and covers more then 8% of the country. At one point this glacier existed right next to the Atlantic Ocean. Over the  years the glacier has receded causing the melting ice to form the lagoon...

The Road and the Sky.....

'I'm just rolling away from yesterday
Behind the wheel of a stolen Chevrolet
I'm going to get a little higher
And see if I can hot-wire reality'...Jackson Browne

Santa Monica Pier

Santa Monica Pier

This was not a typical weekend in Los Angeles. Instead of the usual warm sun and blue skies it was raining and very windy. Don't get me wrong - I am a fan of bad weather. Well, I could do without the rain, and on Sunday morning Mother Nature cooperated and the rain stopped. The wind, however, created really neat wave patterns under and around the pier and I was able to get over to the pier and spend a bit of time shooting. 

Death Valley, California

Death Valley Landscape

'In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks'....... John Muir

Iceland - Sunrise

Iceland Sunrise

Two images today - one from the big boy camera and another from the iPhone4.

The sunrise image was made is on the way to the Glacier Lagoon (at 4:00AM I might add). We realized we were missing the sunrise at the lagoon so started shooting on the side of the road whenever a possible image caught the eye.....twilight starts at 2:30AM with sunrise at 4:00AM....can one get up early enough in Iceland....At any rate as we made these images we knew the next next day it would be a 3:00AM departure from the hotel....

The second image is an iPhone Hipstmatic shot from the car window on the way to the airport..caught the s-curve out of the corner of my eye barely got the image...my favorite combo of Kodot and JohnS was used...Hipsta is the perfect camera for a visual diary...

Iceland Departure Image

Stay tuned for more Iceland over the next few days....

Iceland

Maelifellssandur, Fjallabak South, Iceland

'Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. 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. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail'.........John Muir  

Devil's Golf Course

Devil's Golf Course, Death Valley

'Art will never be able to exist without nature'....Pierre Bonnard

Badwater, Death Valley

Badwater, Basin, Death Valley, 2010

'Forget not that  the earth delights  to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair' ....Khalil Gibran

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite - Homage to Ansel Adams

There are times when you just have to do it......

I was in Yosemite last year  standing near the spot where Ansel Admas exposed the image 'Clearing Winter Storm', on film of course. Ansel's image was one of the primary reasons I started getting serious about making images.

Today's image was captured on February 2, 2010. This being the first anniversary of the image I decided it had to be posted. Of course my image is missing the clouds and the fog amongst a few other bits and pieces.

Thanks to Barbara Myriam Ventura for the new sharpening workflow.

Black and White

California Coast

A couple of black and white images today.

The one above was captured with my iphone4 and processed for a photo-gravure alternative process look. The low resolution of the iphone makes this possible.

The image below is a three shot high resolution panoramic stitched and converted to Black and White in Photoshop CS5.  This image was captured driving from Death Valley to Las Vegas.

Yosemite Wrap-Up

OK, got back to Los Angeles last night - 6 hours drive from Yosemite. 

Leaving Yosemite yesterday my thoughts turned to wondering why I had never visited this iconic slice of Americana before. After all, I grew up with Ansel Adams' photographs, and, of course, had read 'The Negative' and 'The Print' from cover to cover several times - as most photo students did when learning how to make photographs. And there is that Zone System.......

Seeing Half Dome for the first time was awe inspiring as were Bridalveil Falls and Yosemite Falls. How many times have I looked at his photographs over the years, but, to finally stand at these locations, well, there are no words to describe that feeling. 

At the end of the day, yesterday, we were allowed access into Ansel's Yosemite darkroom  where he lived and worked while visiting the park - a fitting end to the week. 

Here a couple of iphone images from the past few days - more Yosemite images to follow in the coming days. 

  

Juxtaposition

'No matter how slow the film, spirit always stands still for the photographer it has chosen'.

Minor White

This Minor White quote has always been one of my favorites.

The quote popped into my mind when I was scanning through images in Lightroom today. I was  thinking about deeper issues like  'what motivates me as a photographer' and started thinking about Minor White. Lately I have been working with my iphone using applications to to create images that are more 'expressionist' the 'realistic'. Then I started to wonder if I am losing touch by not spending more time working on the more realistic straightforward images.  Do I need the HDR or the IPhone to get excited about a capture?

I was also giving some thought to my visit to Death Valley while working on the photo below.  I kept thinking the photo was missing something as this image is a complete departure from other images that I have been working on over the past few weeks. I then took another look at the Las Vegas, New Mexico image above, which was one of the first HDR captures I made in 2008.

I must admit I'm drawn towards the HDR - not necessarily the more 'grunge' HDR - but I do love the painterly quality of the image that you can achieve using this process. So, in the end, the debate still exists about whether it is a photograph or an illustration. And then , again, does it really matter.

PS: Two images today - did not post yesterday.