• Cactus,  landscape,  Plants,  sunrises

    A Bit of Pink

    August 26, 2012
    Just Before Sunrise

    This mornings sunrise was completely different than the day before. Clouds filled the sky and the stars were not to be seen. I arrived at a new location and was greeted with the same quiet as the previous morning. The quiet is amazing to experience, especially for us city dwellers. But before I knew it the desert awoke with the songs of cactus wrens breaking that silence. I would not see the sun rise over the horizon on this morning. Yet, nature gave me a small bit of pink to enjoy.

    I should be picking up Paul Lester today and taking him up to Mount Evans, 14,000 feet. This way he can look to the east and see all of Nebraska he just drove through. We hope to meet up with John Strong for a bite to eat sometime in the afternoon or evening.

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  • Cactus,  landscape,  Plants,  sunrises

    Breaking the Horizon

    August 25, 2012
    Just Breaking the Horizon

    It was still pretty dark when I arrived along Peralta Trail and stars sparkling in the clear skies. After turning off the engine I was surrounded by an eerie quiet. All my senses were perked. Shortly before sunrise I was greeted with the yelping of coyotes and the songs of the cactus wren. The desert was awakening. I looked compositions that would show the rugged terrain along with the plant life of this desert region. Seems like my eyes were constantly roaming. I was not sure exactly where the sun would rise but had a good guess. I felt lucky to be where I was with the ocotillo and the saguaro as the sun began breaking the horizon. This was the reason I woke up early.

    When I arrived at my parents house I noticed my tripod head had come apart and some of it was missing. So when this image was taken I was clamping my camera to the head with a c-clamp and watching it like a hawk. We found the missing part the next day as it had fallen off when I get out the car in my dads garage. All is better now. 🙂

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  • landscape,  mountains,  sunsets

    New Software

    October 7, 2011
    Peralta Trail

    I was one of those photographers who carried two GND filters, a one stop and a two stop. A year or two ago I removed them from the bag and started bracketing certain scenes for HDR images, even though I did not own any HDR software nor did I know what the technology would evolve into. I also did know how well it would be acceptable by myself or others. The only cost to shooting more images would be a small amount of my time and disc space. So, why not.

    Just as any software there is a learning curve involved. We all go through the steps. I mumble to myself a question like: What happens when I do this? I watch the image form on the screen then mutter something close to “Yuko!” I then quickly hit command “Z” and try something else. I’m quickly noticing how important it is to expose them correctly. A good series of images will make a good final image.

    The scene above was taken while visiting my parents in January of 2010. I took a total of seven images, bracketed at one stop each. This scene is created with three exposures, one at metered, the second at plus one stop and the third at minus one stop, and using one of the presets in Nik HDR Efex. I settled on the Nik HDR Effex software over Photomatix because it was more intuitive for me. Only time will tell if I made a sound decision.

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  • Avian,  sunrises

    Just Before Sunrise

    November 20, 2009
    Awaiting Sunrise

    While visiting my parents in Gold Canyon AZ, I decided to rise early and drive out to Peralta Road on the south side of the Superstition Mountains for some sunrise shots. I was given more than just a sunrise as I discovered this owl perched on a saguaro. I believe it is a Great Horned Owl and is probably searching for one more morsel before finding a cool place to spend the day. There is something special about being there just before sunrise.

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  • Avian

    Harris Hawks

    November 30, 2008

     

    Harris Hawk and Trainer
    Harris Hawk and Trainer

    The Harris’s Hawk or Harris Hawk, formerly known as the Bay-winged Hawk or Dusky Hawk, is a medium-large bird of prey which breeds from the southwestern USA south to Chile and central Argentina. It is a hawk of the arid Southwest, the Harris’s Hawk hunts cooperatively in pairs or trios. The Harris Hawk is famous for its remarkable behavior of hunting cooperatively in “packs”, consisting of family groups (most raptors are solitary hunters).

     

    A wonderful place to experience these birds in flight is at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum near Tucson, Arizona. My sister and brother-in-law took me to this facility and we enjoyed it immensely. The Desert Museum is a large facility and is more than just a museum. It is a zoo, an arboretum, a desert garden, and much more. It contains buildings where education programs are conducted for young and old a like. When your feet are tired from walking you can find benches to rest, or better yet enjoy a double-stack Byers ice cream cone under a shade tree. If you visit there make sure you plan on the whole day and have fun!

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