Black and White Photography – Page 5 – Circadianreflections Blog

MM2 25/52: Chasing Ligthning

August 26, 2015August 26, 2015Posted in Black and White Photography, Lassen National Park, Lightning, Monochrome Madness2, US National ParksTagged Black and White Photography, Lassen National Park, Lightning, Monochrome Madness2, Night Photography, Summit Lake Lassen National Park, US National Parks15 Comments

Several weeks back several photographer friends and I spent the week-end in Lassen National Park hoping to making images of the Night Sky. Unfortunately, as the shadows of the day grew longer the clouds got thicker. They made the sunset lovely, but foiled are hopes of night imaging.

We photographed the Sunset at Lake Helen image here then we walked back to the car and on the way we saw Lightning! That’s a BIG DEAL for me and my friends because, we rarely see lightning where we live in the San Francisco Bay Area. It wasn’t bolt to the ground, or is it ground to sky lightning bolts? It was the type Eric our mid-westerner in the group called “cloud to cloud” lightning.

It was behind the mountains and lighting up the clouds so, instead of packing up we set up to photograph the lightning.

After 10 minutes or so shooting it we decided to get higher to see if we could see Bolts and try to capture that.

It was quite dark by now, and we still hadn’t seen any Bolts, just the sky lighting up. This image is one image I made of the sky being lit up by a strike of Lightning.

While we were shooting the rain started, so we packed up and moved to the other side of the lake hoping to get in a few more images since it was only sprinkling.

I had just got set up to start shooting when the sky opened up and the rain started pouring down. I managed to get this one image of the sky lighting up from lightning then we packed up and raced to the car all of us and our gear wet, but thrilled to have seen lightning.

Heads-up!

Next week my MM2 image will be posted on Leanne’s page, but not on my own until the following week. I’ll be offline next week.

I’ll be back online Sept. 6th, and catching up with all I missed while offline.

If you have time please click over to Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness2 post here to see all the images that were shared this week.

More to come…

Monochrome Madness 2 22/52 Bridges

August 4, 2015August 4, 2015Posted in Black and White Photography, Bridges, Cable-Stayed Bridges, Monochrome Madness2, Sundial Bridge, ThemesTagged Black and White Photography, Bridges, Monochrome Madness2, Redding CA, Santiago Calatrava, Sundial Bridge, Turtle Bay13 Comments

It’s “THEME” week over on Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness 2. The Theme is Bridges.

I pulled this image out of my archives because I didn’t think I’d have enough time to shoot a bridge over the week-end and get it to Leanne on time for today’s posting. I’m glad I thought ahead!

I made this image back in 2011 when He-Man was competing in a 100 mile Bicycle Road Race (a Century). Myself and 3 friends went up with him to Turtle Bay, Redding, CA. USA to photograph the area, and waterfalls. At the end of the day we found ourselves back at Turtle Bay for sunset. This image was taken just before the sun went down.

Nikon D300s| AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| Tripod| Cable Release

For the Historians:
The Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay crosses the Sacramento River in the heart of Redding, California. Opened July 4, 2004, the bridge links the north and south campuses of Turtle Bay Exploration Park and serves as a new downtown entrance for Redding’s extensive Sacramento River Trail system.

The bridge celebrates human creativity and ingenuity, important themes of the 300 acre Turtle Bay Exploration Park. The steel, glass, and granite span evokes a sense of weightlessness and the translucent, non-skid decking provides for spectacular viewing at night. The bridge is also environmentally sensitive to its river setting. The tall pylon and cable stays allow the bridge to avoid the nearby salmon-spawning habitat there are no supports in the water while encouraging public appreciation for the river. Plazas are situated at both ends of the bridge for public use; the north-side plaza stretches to the water allowing patrons to sit at the river’s edge.

In addition to being a functional work of art, the Sundial Bridge is a technical marvel as well. The cable-stayed structure has an inclined, 217 foot pylon constructed of 580 tons of steel. The deck is made up of 200 tons of glass and granite and is supported by more than 4,300 feet of cable. The structure is stabilized by a steel truss, and rests on a foundation of more than 115 tons of steel and 1,900 cubic yards of concrete. The McConnell Foundation, a private, independent foundation established in Redding in 1964, funded the majority of the bridge’s $23 million cost.

World renowned Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava conceived the Sundial Bridge’s unusual design, his first free-standing bridge in the United States. Calatrava has built bridges, airports, rail terminals, stadiums, and other structures around the world. His notable designs include the new PATH transportation terminal at the World Trade Center site in New York City and several projects at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, including the main stadium where opening and closing ceremonies were held.
~Turtle Bay Exploration Park

FWIW- He-Man finished the ride earlier than we expected, so he had a yummy BBQ lunch the race organizers put on for the riders and gabbed with other riders while we finished up. We met up with him for sunset. He-Man and I stayed for hours. There was an astronomy night sky group there that night with telescopes to view the stars, and planets that He-Man enjoyed while I was down on the beach photographing “Blue Period”. That image is here.

There are bridges from all over the world being posted this week on MM2. If you have time click over to Leanne’s MM2 page to view them.

More to come…

Monochrome Madness 2 19-52- Key

July 14, 2015July 14, 2015Posted in Black and White Photography, Monochrome Madness2Tagged Black and White Photography, Key, Monochrome Madness29 Comments

The key is in the lock of our Grandfather Clock. I usually wind it once a week, but with all the banging, drilling, sawing going on here, and it being covered on and off depending on where the crew is working I’ve let it run down and haven’t winded in months. I think that might be safer than having the rods vibrating all the time.

Take a look at the other images that were posted over at Leanne Cole’s Monochrome Madness 2 blog here.

Nikon Df AF-D Niikkor 105mm micro| Hand-held| CS6 and OnOne Perfect Black and White

More to come…

Monochrome Madness2 15/52: On the Verge of Blooming.

June 16, 2015Posted in Agapanthus, Black and White Photography, Flowers, Flowers of Summer, LensBaby Composer Pro, Macro Photography, Monochrome Madness2Tagged Agapanthus, Black and White Photography, Flowers, Flowers of Summer, LensBaby Composer Pro, Macro photography, Monochrome Madness24 Comments

The Agapatha’s are blooming in my yard, and as you can imagine I’ve been out imaging them with my LensBaby Composer Pro and my Macro lens while the blooms last.

For this week’s Monochrome Madness 2 I present a single blossom on the flower on the verge of blooming. It reminds me of praying hands.

If you have a moment please click here to go to Leanne Cole’s Blog to see all the other wonderful entries to this week’s MM2 Challenge

Nikon Df| LensBaby Composer Pro w/ Soft Focus Optic and 16mm Macro attachment| f4| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| Hand-held

More to come…

Monochrom Madness 2-13: Water

June 2, 2015June 2, 2015Posted in Black and White Photography, Clear Lake, Lakes of California, Monochrome Madness2, WaterTagged Black and White Photography, Clear Lake CA, Lakes, Monochrome Madness2, Reflections, Water6 Comments

Clear Lake in Lakeport, CA

To see all the entries into this week’s Monochrome Madness 2 head on over to Leanne Cole’s webpage here

Nikon Df| Nikkor 17-35mm| Tripod| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| CS6 & Silver Efex Pro 2

More to come…

Monochrome Madness 2/12: Clark Grebes Courtship Dance

May 26, 2015May 26, 2015Posted in birding, Birds in the Wild, Black and White Photography, Clark's Grebes, Courtship Dance, Mating Dance, Monochrome Madness2Tagged Birding, Birds in the Wild, Black and White Photography, Clark's Grebes, Clear Lake CA, Courtship Dance, Eyes of the Wild Boat Tours, Mating Dance, Monochrome Madness2, Nature1 Comment

Over the week-end several friends and I went up to Lakeport, CA to view Western and Clark’s Grebes doing their annual Mating Rituals. Part of the ritual is the Courtship Dance. It’s absolutely amazing to watch. We went out on the lake with Eyes of the Wild Pontoon Boat Tours at 5:45am. We followed several large groups of Grebes and watched, and photographed their mating behavior.

The males and females come together talking then they get really low in the water face to face, and their voices/tones change then in an instant they’re up; dancing together across the water’s surface!

Sometimes they come together low in the water, talk a bit then change their minds about dancing, other times one will get up to dance and find he or she is all alone in the dance. 🙂

It was a fascinating, and entertaining morning on the lake.

To see all the other entries to Leanne Cole’s week 12 of Monochrome Madness 2 click here.

Nikon D300s| AF-S Nikkor 300mm + Tamron 1.4x TC| Hand-held| Hoodman STEEL High Speed Digital Film| CS6 & Silver Efex Pro 2

More to come…

MM2/11 Whaler’s Cabin

May 19, 2015May 19, 2015Posted in Black and White Photography, California State Parks, Monochrome Madness2, Museums, National Register of Historic Places, Whaler's CabinTagged Black and White Photography, California State Parks, Monochrome Madness2, National Register of Historic Places, Point Lobos State Park, Whalers Cabin9 Comments

Over the week-end I joined my friend Hai who was hosting a Meet-Up Photography trip to Point Lobos State Park in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA. A lot of people canceled at the last-minute so there were only 5 of us; which was a lot of fun, and made it easy for everyone to stay together. The weather wasn’t perfect, but there wasn’t a lot to complain about either. We had an overcast sky most the day with occasional bits of blue peeking out of the fog, and clouds, there was no wind, and the ambient temperature was perfect for hiking.

For Leanne Cole’s weekly Monochrome Madness2 this week I’m sharing an image I made of Whaler’s Cabin.

It was built over 160 years ago by Chinese Fisherman. It overlooks Carmel Bay, and Whaler’s Cove.

My image shows the side of the cabin with a huge Monterey Cypress tree growing up against the wall of the cabin. I really liked how the branches frame the little window. The upper branch framing the window looks as if it split, but it’s still alive! The Monterey Cypress trees, and the Cypress grove here in the park is one of two groves, and they are the only two that remain on Earth. The other grove is across Carmel Bay at Cypress Point.

Today the cabin houses the Whaler’s Museum which houses some Whaling Tools, and artifacts. I made the image below of some of the things inside the Museum back in May 2010. Can you imagine how heavy that scuba diving suit must be?

Outside the cabin there are whale bones, and the huge “try pots” that were used to boil the Whale blubber to render oil.

The Cabin is a Registered National Historic Landmark, and you can read more about its history here.

Nikon Df| AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm| Tripod| Hoodman STEEL Ultra High Speed Digital Film| developed in: CS6, Silver Efex Pro 2, and Perfect Black and White

More to come…

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