“A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.” ― Eudora Welty
A sneak peek into the Johnny Cash’s family life. John Carter Cash has published a book “House of Cash” filled with many photos and poems by his father Johnny Cash. Who knew the Man in Black was a photographer!
http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/07/inside-the-cash-family-vault/
August 2011 Hiking Report
August got off to a slow start. I got home from Glacier Nat. Park and was ever so lazy! Unpacking, doing laundry, catching up with snail mail, bills, and then work kept me off the trails, but I got back in the groove. The countdown to Clouds Rest began!
The month was fantastic. With not just one hike up to Clouds Rest but TWO, and I finished the month with a Backpacking class which was fun, and it’s something I’d like to do again in the future.
The photo above was taken on the morning of my second night hike up to Clouds Rest in Yosemite Nat. Park. I made it up to the top, and across the scary narrow span. Below I am looking back at the Narrow Span. I walked across this in the dark with only the aid of my head lamp and what ambient light there was at 4:30 a.m. Unfortunately, on this hike too I suffered from altitude issues beginning around 9,000ft, but they weren’t as severe as my previous hike up the week before.
Having safely crossed the Narrow Span and making it onto the somewhat wider slab I set up my camera to take a series of shots of the sky, and took a nap. I woke up right before the sun was about to crest the mountains and I was hoping for Alpine Glow. I moved my tripod and camera over to a place I would be able to shoot Half Dome lit by the morning sun and waited. In the very top photograph the sun had just lit up the tops of El Capitan, Sentinel Dome, and Half Dome. It was a gorgeous morning. It’s an amazing view, and as for me… I’ve never trained or worked so physically hard to achieve a goal like this before. It’s been an amazing journey. I cross this goal off my 2011 list with a heart full of thanks for those friends who hiked with me, supported me, and encouraged me all along the way. Especially Heman, who put up with me interrupting his sleep at ungodly hours as I got up to train or came in late from a night shoot, and being gone a lot. I couldn’t have done it without you! ♥
8/4-7.98mi, 1,962 ft, 3h3m, PG&E trail to Vista Point
8/8 -6.32 miles, 2,197ft 3h22m, Peak Trail- The Steep Route- o&b
8/8- 2mi, 20ft– W. Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz stroll b4 dinner
8/10- 10.85mi, 2,252ft, 4h58m, Mount Madonna Several trails to make a loop
8/12- 4.30mi, 920ft, 1h36m, PG&E Trail to Wildcat Loop Trailhead & Back
8/13&14- 14mi, 3,099ft, 9h25m, Trail to Cloud’s Rest Yosemite Nat. Pk
8/17- 6.50mi, 2,169ft, 3h12m, Mission Peak-The Steep Route w/Seth
8/23&24- 14.2mi, 3,687ft, 12h30, Trail to Clouds Rest Yosemite Nat. Park
8/27&28- 10.83mi, 476ft, -REI Backpacking class Point Reyes Nat. Seashore Coast Camp
Total Miles Hiked- 76.98
Total Elevation Gain- 16,782ft
YTD elevation gain- 64,540! Can I make 100,000ft in 2011? Don’t bet on it! 😀
Canyonlands, and the Fjords in Alaska are breathtaking.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/national-parks-from-space?pid=1998
The Dawn of a New Day from Cloud’s Rest, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.
Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2011 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.
Dawn unfolding her light across the mountains. There is something magical about the way that Alpine glow can reach across the span of a valley and warm, and fill me with inner peace and harmony. In these moments when nothing else exists but me, nature, and God…it’s euphoria.
Nikon D300s| Nikkor 18mm ai-s| f22| 1/13sec| ISO 400| Manual Mode| Tripod| Cable Release
Taken from Cloud’s Rest, Yosemite National Park. The Sawtooth Mountain Range is to the right.
In case you missed it last week here’s another opportunity to pick up Lightroom 3 at a great price. At Amazon it’s on sale again. Might not be available to our friends across the pond though.
“Explore the features and functions of video production with Canon’s EOS HD SLR cameras in these educational tutorials, shot on location and hosted by Canon Digital Learning Center contributor Jem Schofield with special guest instructors.” Canon USA
There is a lot of good stuff here for photographers in general…not necessarily for Canon shooters only. Some topics are:
Using filters
Tripods
Understanding and Setting Frame rates
Zoom lenses
Prime lenses
+ more here!
Just be there….
…with Rainey Shuler
Wildlife photographers know all too well how hard it is to get a great photo of their subject. It takes long hours of studying their behavior, and being familiar with their territory.
In this edition Rainey Shuler dedicated bird photographer tells us how her experience, persistence and patience paid off in this story of the Pied-billed Grebes.
Pied-billed Grebe Nest-2009
CR: Tell us about this location.
Rainey: The location is at the Struve Slough in Watsonville, CA which has a lovely walking path for viewing many types of birds including nesting Pied-billed Grebes and American Coots. You can also find Bitterns, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Osprey, Kingfishers, Double-crested Cormorants, Black-crowned Night Herons, Green Herons and many other birds there depending on the season.
We had spotted this Mama and 7 eggs around mid May, 2009. It was close enough to the shore that I was able to sit on a chair with my camera mounted on a Tripod and chronicle the whole story. I would go there almost every day around 5-6:00 p.m. in the afternoon. I chronicled the entire family; first one chick, then two, until 5 eggs hatched. As long as the last two eggs remained in the nest the parents would not give up on trying to incubate those remaining eggs…it wasn’t until June 20th that the last of the two eggs disappeared into the slough and at that time the entire family left the site, which was four days after I took this shot.
CR: How difficult was this to capture?
Rainey: The most difficulty in getting a shot like this is just having enough patience to wait and capture certain moments. I spent approximately 2 hours just sitting and waiting for special moments to occur and during times like this I can end up shooting 200-500 shots to get just the right moment. Of course exposure can be difficult with these dark colored birds on a foggy day so the right ISO and shutter speed is very important.
CR: How did you expose for this shot?
Rainey: I used a Canon Rebel XTi and a 100-400mm lens with a UV filter. For this shot in the late afternoon I had to increase my ISO to 800 and set the shutter speed at 1000 to capture any action. I chose an aperture of f6.3. I used a tripod and natural light.
To see more of Rainey’s work visit her here.
Circadianreflections Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.