On Photography

Moving to a new home on the web...

2010-03-09T08:54:00.000-08:00

Please come and join me at White Crane Photography to read about my latest adventures.

Thanks for following my blog!

Tahoma Sunrise

2010-01-14T22:01:00.000-08:00

Last February, a friend and I headed up to Mount Rainier bright early in the hopes of watching (and of course photographing) the sunrise. Our plans didn't quite pan out, though; we learned that the gates on the Road to Paradise, just beyond Longmire, didn't open until after sunrise. So, we headed back to the Kautz Creek trailhead, and walked out to the creek overlook for this view of Mount Rainier, and had the good fortune of having some nice clouds in the sky.

The Shape of Things to Come

2010-01-04T21:25:00.000-08:00

Now that the new year, and the new decade are beginning, what's in store for yours?

Here are some of my goals:

Return to the Enchantments
Visit the Necklace Valley
Backpack to Cutthroat Pass
Get certified to lead backcountry outings with the Sierra Club
Get certified in wilderness first aid
Return to Point of the Arches
Backpack the Glacier Peak Wilderness
Get a portfolio printed and produced
Write a photography book
Visit Camp Muir

For the curious, the picture above is from Black Canyon, outside of Ellensburg, on the eastern slopes of the Cascades. All I had time for before a cloud obscured the sun was that shot with my point and shoot, but at least I got a shot!

So what's on your docket for 2010?

A Cold Night In Heaven

2009-10-31T16:11:00.000-07:00

In early October, I joined a small group heading up to Rainy Pass. When we met at the park and ride in Lynnwood, the weather was perfect for hiking -- temperate, with a clear blue sky and some puffy white cumulus clouds.

When we stopped at the Washington Pass overlook, it was 28 degrees.

When the sun set fully, it got cold.

Fortunately, we set up camp before the cold really set in, and the Lone Pine campground has fire pits, so we had a nice warm campfire going. We spent most of the evening close to the campfire in the interest of staying warm.

Overnight, the temperature dropped down to the low teens. The jacket that I left in next to me in the tent had frost on it when I awoke. After a hot breakfast with some hot coffee and a lot of time around the campfire, we packed up and headed for Blue Lake.

On the way up, we hiked pretty quickly in the interest of staying warm. Once the sun crested the high ridges, we felt a lot better. We ended up relaxing on the shores of Blue Lake for quite a while.

This is autumn in the Pacific Northwest... rugged, beautiful, and decorated with blue lakes and golden larches.

Prusik Peak

2009-10-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

A few minutes' walk from our campsite on Lake Vivianne I found this view of Prusik Peak. There was just enough of a breeze to break up a nice smooth reflection, so I located a boulder with a lot of texture as a foreground instead. Not long after I made this photograph, we packed up our camp and headed back toward the trail head.

Though I wish that I had a color version of this, I find the black and white image has a texture and timelessness that appeals to me. I actually did expose two sheets of Astia (color slide film, for the non-film folks reading this), but the first one I lost because the clasp on the Quickload envelope jammed in the film holder, and the second came back from the lab black... I probably neglected to reset the shutter when I put the second sheet in.

The Road to Asgard continues...

2009-09-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

In case you missed them, you can find part one here, and part two here.

That evening, the wind started blowing across Lake Viviane, and the temperature dropped. We slept fitfully with the gale flapping our tents, and rattling the branches. Some mountain goats explored our camp site during the night, but they didn't bother us.

The gale didn't let up overnight, if anything it strengthened. And the morning also brought snow.

After thawing ourselves out, we embarked on the final leg of our journey to Asgard.

We planned on heading quickly up to Asgard, so that we might have time enough to scramble up Dragontail or Little Annapurna... but there was too much to see, too much beauty to not stop and admire.

We paused for a snack along the shores of Perfection Lake, admiring Little Annapurna, and began to realize that we would not have time to reach its lofty summit. For now, we were going to have to settle for admiring its graceful shape.

Onward, we passed Inspiration Lake and on to the upper tier of the Enchantments.

Crystal Lake gleamed like a jewel below us, and beyond lay the magnificent desolation of the Upper Enchantment Lakes.

Even here, among the granite boulders there are plants and wildflowers.

The wind continued to buffet us, but finally getting a look at Dragontail rising above the boulders and crags gave us the energy to continue a little farther.

And at long last, after hours of effort and toil, is our reward: Asgard Pass... and nearly 3000 feeet below lies beautiful Colchuck Lake.

The wind here was the strongest we had encountered yet. The gusts were so strong that it was difficult to stand still atop this boulder.

Wishing that we had time to scramble up to the summit of Dragontail, we reluctantly began the return trip toward the Lower tier and our camp at Lake Vivianne.

The gale didn't abate that afternoon. Or that evening. We ended up moving our camp to a more sheltered location, and bedded down for our last night in the Enchantments. We photographed during the early morning hours, enjoying the first sunny day of the trip.

With regret and heavy hearts, we turned away from this beautiful place and began the long, steep return trip that afternoon, already looking forward to a return.

Well, some of us were looking forward to returning. I found several photographs that I was not able to make on this trip, and I am keen on reaching the summits of Dragontail and Little Annapurna.

More images from the trip are available here.

The Road to Asgard continues...

2009-08-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

In case you missed the beginning of this tale, you can find it here.

After departing from Upper Snow Lake, we began the steepest part of the trip. Fortunately, this is a hiker's trail rather than a miner's trail, so it has switchbacks, unlike the trail to the Lake of the Angels... but even so, it's quite steep. We gained 2000 over approximately one mile, scrambling up and over rocks, and struggling to keep our spirits up.

The expression on Erika's face shows the elation we felt when we found the sign indicating that we were about to enter the Enchantment Lakes Basin at long last. Our destination lay just around the bend!

It was a little bit more than just around the bend, but fortunately not much more.

Looking back over our shoulders allowed us to gain a sense of how far we had come from Upper Snow Lake.

After finding ourselves a beautiful campsite on the shores of Lake Vivianne, with Prusik Peak standing above us, we headed out to do some exploring with nice, light packs. Carrying so little weight after all that grueling climbing was very liberating.

We meanderd among the Lower Enchantment Lakes for a time; since we stopped frequently to photograph or simply admire our surroundings, we didn't travel very far. We strayed from the trail of cairns frequently to get closer looks at the creeks that connected the lakes, the tarns scattered among the lakes, and of coure the trees and heather, interspersed with splashes of colorful wildflowers.

Prusik Peak, always visible from within the basin, caught the light nicely.

After our afternoon of exploration, we headed back to camp to settle in for the night, hoping to get some rest before the trip to Asgard. We planned on leaving early, traveling lightly, in the hopes of giving ourselves time enough for a side trip to the top of one of the high peaks, either Little Annapurna or Dragontail.

To be continued...

The Road to Asgard

2009-08-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

Erika and Orion and I met at 4:30 at Erika's place in Kirkland on Wednesday morning. Fortified with caffeinated beverages, we drove to Leavenworth to pick up our camping permits and get some breakfast. After that, we made for the trailhead.

We booted up and hefted our massive packs, then started on the trail.

After a short descent to Icicle Creek, the switchbacks began.

Ocassionally, we encountered hikers heading down to the trailhead, who offered us words of encouragement, usually relating to how spectacular the destination would be when we got there.

We also met some mountain goats on the way.

After pausing to photograph the pair, we continued onward. We stopped for a light lunch at Nada Lake, and spent some time being entertained by the camp robbers, and photographing the mountains and the lake.

Looming over Nada Lake are the Temple and Prusik Peak. The more distant Prusik Peak marks the entrance to our destination. We have a long way to go yet.

The combination of the arduous and unrelenting climb, distance, and weight of our packs forced us to rest for the night at Upper Snow Lake.

So far, we have hiked 7.5 miles and gained approximately 4000 feet of elevation.

After enjoying the spectacle of the rising sun over Upper Snow Lake the following morning, we began the next stage of our journey.

To be continued...

Voyage of Discovery

2009-08-04T23:31:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine, Nona who I met at a photography workshop

with Tony Sweet last fall, headed out to visit Seattle last week.

We met up with another of Nona's friends and wandered over

to Discovery Park looking for some sunset photo opportunities

overlooking the Puget Sound.

Discovery Park is right smack dab in the middle of Magnolia, no

more than a ten-minute drive from where I live in Queen Anne.

Exotic it is not.

That does not mean that there are no photo opportunities there, of course;

you just have to learn to have new eyes.

The Stairway to Heaven

2009-07-06T23:27:00.000-07:00

On our July 4th weekend, my friend Eve and I headed for the Olympics.

We stopped at the Staircase ranger station to pick up our back country pass and a bear cannister, then headed to the Hamma Hamma road and continued until we reached the washout. From there, we walked to the Putvin trailhead.

The first 1.7 or or so miles of the trail are well maintained, following a set of broad switchbacks along the mountainside, with grand views of Mount Pershing.

After crossing an old road, we started up the unmaintained part of the trail. It begins with a series of steep switchbacks, then levels off and follows the mountainside for a time.

Then it starts climbing. It doesn't bother with luxuries like switchbacks; it just heads straight up the wall of thise valley above the Whitehorse Creek.

This large waterfall filled the valley with its song. As far as I know, this is unofficially named Putvin Falls, after Carl Putvin.

This grueling climb lasted for at least a mile. It was like walking up a steep flight of stairs with a fully loaded pack... plus I was carrying my Ebony 4x5 setup, bringing the total weight of my pack up to around 60 pounds.

Needless to say, by the time we reached the fields of beargrass, my quads were burning.

When the trail reaches the top of the valley wall, it gets a bit steep.

It's a good thing that this moth (butterfly?) wasn't moving around, because I didn't have the energy to chase it by this point.

After walking through a meadow and through a bog, we came to the first of three ponds that we expected to find on our way to the Lake of the Angels. We thought we were there, that our destination was just around the corner... and as it turns out, that was almost true... it was, in fact, around the corner... and across the marsh, and on top of that headwall, the source of the Whitehorse Creek.

It was almost 9pm when we reached the Lake of the False Prophets, so we made camp on the rocky outcropping below the marsh, and planned on hiking up to the lake in the morning, with our new found friends Hal and Diane.

Even though we weren't able to be in the Valley of Heaven when the light was at its most beautiful, at least we had a chance to see it!

This is a beautiful place. This rock formation is known as the Pearly Gates, or St. Peters' Gate, as I understand it because they mark the entry into the Valley of Heaven from the High Divide.

Hal told me about the views he and Diane would see on their way over the ridge, including classic fviews of Mount Olympus. Eve and I didn't have time to make the ascent on this trip, so for my return I will plan on spending an extra day in the Valley of Heaven so that we can have some time to walk up Mount Skokomish and up the ridge to have a look around.

This was definitely the most challenging hike I've done yet, but having done it I feel a lot more confident about my ability to make the trip to the Enchantments later this summer , as long as I keep training and hiking!

SoFoBoMo: DONE!

2009-06-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

I finished my book!

True, the layout is very simple, and there aren't any nifty interactive features, video, music, or that sort of thing, but since it's my first book, I don't mind that.

I may go back and create another version that includes actual photo essays, but for a first book, I'm pretty happy with this effort, because I succeeded, a day early.

For those of you who take the time to check my book out, I hope you enjoy it!

SoFoBoMo: Loowit

2009-05-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

This was my first sight of the mountain, from the Silver Lake visitors' center. It was also the first time I had a chance to see it with that much snow.

This is the view from the Hofstadt Bluffs visitors' center. I wish there had been some clouds in the sky, but with nature photography you have to work with what nature gives you.

I find the new spring leaves on the stands of forest growing atop the landslide debris in the Toutle River Valley makes for a striking contrast amidst the devastation. The evening light gave their foliage a soft glow, and the snow covering the shattered stratovolcano gave it an air of peace and tranquility.

I also highly recommend the Fire Mountain Grill, at the Hofstadt Bluffs visitors' center. I ate a delicious dinner on their porch while watching this view.

No matter how many times I get a view of this, I suspect that I will never tire of it. I am also planning a Mount Margaret backcountry trip, intent on finding a campsite with a crater view so that I can get some more views of it.

This was my third SoFoBoMo photo safari. I'm now up to 22 images for the book, so I think that I'm making excellent progress, and I have a few slides to get processed as well. Now I just have to start working on the book layout. I'll most likely keep the layout fairly simple for my first crack at making a book. Maybe my second effort will be more ambitious, but that's for another time, after I'm done with this one.

SoFoBoMo: Point of the Arches

2009-05-12T00:15:00.000-07:00

My first SoFoBoMo photo safari was quite succesful.

My friend and I went out to Neah Bay,

and hiked out to Shi Shi. We

walked along the beach and found

a camp site near Point of the Arches.

After setting up camp, we spent some time

wandering about the tide pools

while the tide was nice and low, which

kept us busy until the sun set.

The haze kept us from seeing the moon rise,

so we just went to bed and

awoke at 4am hoping to see the moonset.

The overcast took care of that

though, so we couldn't see the moon in the morning, either.

The rising sun burned off enough of the

cloud cover to give us some nice soft

morning light, so we got some good

photo opportunities during that

period. The morning tide was very low, so we

were able to explore the tide pools

some more, and also get some alternate

views of the sea stacks from

close up.

We found that little crab early in the morning after the sunrise.

Naturally, I'd left my macro lens back at the tent, so I used

the lens I had on the camera, which was my wide angle. It

worked out better than I hoped.

The waves were picturesque, and the fog layer on the

mountains was beautiful.

This hermit crab was feasting on this, as far as I can

tell.

This ended up being one of my favorite shots from the trip.

That tree made its way into quite a few of my images, both at

sunset and at sunrise.

So my SoFoBoMo month has begun. It is on :)

SoFoBoMo: Update... starting soon

2009-05-05T22:22:00.001-07:00

Now that SoFoBoMo has officially begun, it's about time I got mine started. I'm not going to worry about upgrading my copy of InDesign, CS3 will do the job just fine.

I've been thinking about the scope of my project a bit. I realized that I may not be able to make it out to eastern Washington during the specified time period... and I'm going to Victoria next weekend.

That means that it won't be a full portrait of Washington, not that one could do justice to Washington in a month!

This weekend I'm heading to the Pacific Coast, specifically to Point of the Arches, and so I'm going to start my project with that trip. Next weekend's trip to Victoria should yield some interesting new images, and for Memorial Day Weekend, I'm planning to be at Mount Saint Helens. The first week in June, I'm going to the Enchanted Valley, and on the first weekend in June, I'll be attending a Feeding Crane Kung-Fu seminar with Liu Chang. I probably won't get to do much photography there, but you never know.

Rounding out my photography trips, I'm going to take a few dawn and possibly dusk trips to the Washington Park Arboretum, and I'll probably pay a visit to Kubota Gardens as well.

These are from the grounds at my condo complex. We have a pretty nice display of flowers in bloom at the moment. It just goes to show, you don't have to go far to find worthwhile subjects to photograph!

SoFoBoMo: Thoughts

2009-04-06T22:10:00.000-07:00

Since it's nearly time for SoFoBoMo 2009 to start, I suppose I should start thinking about what I'm going to do...

As far as software goes, I'm using InDesign. I used it to create the one edition that I handled of the newsletter for the North Bethesda Camera Club in Maryland (I ended up moving to Seattle shortly after publishing it), so I've been through the learning curve already.

I would like to have a physical book as well as a PDF, so I'll probably get some prints done; since I'm most likely going to be hosting my web site on SmugMug, or at least using SmugMug as my back-end, I'll give their partner a try to see how they do.

These pictures are of flowers around my condominium complex. I suppse these are further signs that spring really is here at last.

I used my 105mm Nikon Micro lens with a Nikon 2x teleconverter. There was a bit of a breeze, so I used 1/250th shutter speed and aimed my Metz flash into the silver side of my reflector to get enough light to freeze their movement.

Spring is here at last!

2009-04-05T22:50:00.001-07:00

One of my friends organized a trip up to Mount Vernon on Friday. I left Seattle at around 4:25am, met up with the crew, and arrived in Mount Vernon at around 6:15. We puttered around a bit, looking for the "best" daffodil field, and parked.

The "best" daffodil field is a tough one to determine, because they don't look that different from each other. The one picked had a bit of a hill, and more space for us to park than the others. :)

The first shot here is an attempted HDR, showing the sky, the flowers, and one of the farmhouses in the area. I merged the HDR in Photoshop CS4. It seems to work fairly well; I'll have to keep experimenting. I have a lot to learn about working with HDR images.

Although I did do come up with some wide-angle shots like the one above, most of my images are, as usual, close-ups.

I found this bug while setting up a close-up on one of the many daffodils in full bloom. The insect didn't move while I set up the shot, so I had plenty of time, one advantage of being out there so early in the morning.

I don't know whether the insect was hiding there, or feeding. Possibly both. I need to learn more about daffodils and insects, I suppose :)

This was some dew that I found on one of the daffodils. I like seeking out little details like this, there's always something new to discover if you look closely enough!

The hard part is setting up the shots, more than just finding them. With the magnification that I was using (Nikon 105mm VR Micro + Nikon 2x teleconverter), there was very little depth of field available, so I couldn't get all of the dew drops in focus. Instead I had to pick one, and attempt to arrange a composition around them that that didn't require that the rest of them be sharp. Even then, it wasn't an obvious setup, and it took several tries to get it to this point. I'm still not entirely satisfied with this image, because I think it needs to be sharper.

I'll get a second chance when we go back to the Mount Vernon area in search of tulips. :)

Photography Books

2009-03-08T23:45:00.000-07:00

I have signed up to do SoFoBoMo 2009. For more information on it, look at:

http://sofobomo.org/2009 and for my specific page, http://sofobomo.org/2009/books/RakeshMalik/

During the February ArtWalk in Pioneer Square, I showed my prints to the folks at the National Parks Conservation Association (http://www.npca.org/northwest/) and they liked them enough that we started discussing the possibility showing my work there in fall. They interested in a show focussed on Mount Saint Helens, because they are working to raise interest in getting Mount Saint Helens promote from the status of National Volcanic Monument to National Park, to improve its budget and to provide more protection for its environment.

So when I spoke about this with the friend who is helping me design my web site, he suggested also writing a book about it. Since I thought that was a good idea, I mentioned it to the NPCA folks, and it seems that they might be interested in helping me out with it. So I'm going to work on putting together a book about Mount Saint Helens this year.

The photograph above is one that I took tonight at Golden Gardens Park near sunset.

Kitty Portraits

2009-02-16T17:16:00.001-08:00

A few days ago I purchased a set of Elinchrom SkyPort radio triggers, a Wescott double-folding umbrella, a Justin clamp, and a Manfrotto Nano light stand. Naturally, that meant that I had to play with my new toys, and who better to try my first portrait lighting setups on than my cats? :)

They're not really camera shy, more camera curious; they like to investigate the gear when I pull it out, especially when I turn the lens in their direction.

So, I set up the light stand, flash, and umbrella, and waited. In case you're curious, I put the flash, with a hot-shoe adapter, on the ballhead on the Justin Clamp, bolted the Justin clamp onto the light stand, and used the clamp to hold the umbrella.

After setting the gear up I waited until the cats got over their curiosity and started napping. Loki took up his usual spot on the back of the futon, and I took the opportunity to get some shots. He didn't seem to be bothered much by the flash. I used my 105mm VR macro lens and my D300. The SkyPorts triggered the Metz flash flawlessly once I set it to manual mode, and gave me plenty of light.

Usually Calypso is the easier of the two to photograph, because she's more placid, but last night she was being either frisky, or in my lap. Even so, she did pause long enough to let me take a picture or two, and I realized that I should have turned down the power on the flash even more; her white fur is very white :)

Mount Baker

2009-01-17T23:29:00.001-08:00

It has been much too long since my last post. I haven't been doing as much landscape photography lately either, so it was about high time I did some.

I had planned on doing the Boulder River hike today, but it's not accessible right now; apparently not many of the Darrington area hikes are. So instead, plan B became a trip to Orcas Island.

When we left Seattle, the fog was almost thick enough to cut with a knife. It stayed with us for the entire drive to Anacortes. About five minutes after the ferry pulled out of the quay, the fog cleared and gave us great views of the island we were passing. It also gave us a nearly crystal clear view of Mount Baker.

It seemed like a promising start.

At Orcas Island, we headed for Moran State Park, and followed the roads toward Mount Constitution. There some snow on the road, but not much... until we reached a closed gate. We parked there and walked the remaining 1.2 miles or so; it was a pretty easy jaunt up the road.

When we arrived, we found a dazzling view of the North Cascades. Though it was almost lost in the haze, we could even see Mount Rainier in the distnance, and one peak that we think was Glacier Peak.

The layer of clouds over the straight was also interesting; throughout most of the afternoon, it broke up as it passed Orcas Island, but as the evening progressed, the ragged edge started moving eastward, eventually filling the strait below us, yielding the sight I showed above.

In other semi-related news, I now have six prints up at Energy Cafe in Ballard. Printed by Neil Buckland at Luemars, coated with a protoctive and glossy coating material and glued onto 24x30 inch pieces of plexiglass, they look very detailed and very vibrant. If you get a chance, head over and let me know what you think :)

I hope that the sheets I exposed today come out well, so that I can add some images of Mount Baker to my small but growing collection of prints.

My FIrst Print is UP!

2008-11-11T23:17:00.001-08:00

Although this image is not new, the print is. Neal Buckland at

www.mimeosquare.com printed it for me on canvas at 42x50 inches,

coated it, and had it stretched onto a frame for display.

It's now hanging at Energy Espresso in Ballard, and it looks

quite impressive, better than I had anticipated.

It was expensive, but hopefully someone will like

the results enough to buy it :)

White Mountains

2008-10-11T00:15:00.001-07:00

The rising sun over the ridge, seen from an overlook in Bear Notch, in White Mountain National Forest.

I spent most of last week in the White Mountains with Tony Sweet's photography workshop. The group consisted of ten students, with Tony Sweet and Susan Milestone as our instructors.

In the mornings, we went out to the overlooks to photograph the magic light on the mountainsides, so we were out bright and early. We headed over to a second location after the dawn to shoot some more, and then broke for brunch. In the afternoons, we showed some our images for critique, and then we went out and did some sunset photography.

The critiques were great, because in addition to getting some feedback on our images shown on a big screen, we also got a chance to see what everyone else in the group had come up with in the same places.

The other photographers in the group were quite talented. Seeing their work was very inspiring.

The shot above is from the second morning. While shooting the hillside as the rising sun cast its soft morning light on the hillsides with the developing color, I saw the sun beginning to crest the ridge to my left, and quickly swung the camera over and captured it, intentionally leaving the aperture at its smallest (f/22) and letting the foreground fade to a silhouette.

A leaf closeup, shot through
a frame of reddening maple leaves.

This was from the first day. Tony and Susan were showing us how to do a "shoot through" where you use an extremely out of focus foreground to frame the subject with washes of translucent color. Susan got us started framing white birch trunks with coloring leaves, but I wasn't having much success with that. Instead, I started framing green leaves with colored leaves, and ended up with this, which I was quite pleased with.

Naturally, I have quite a few more images to sift through, so I will be posting more of them over time.

Phantom Ship

2008-10-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

The Phantom Ship is a remnant of Mount Mazama's original cone before it's cataclysmic Plinian eruption 7700 years ago. Whent he dome collapsed, some of the magma dikes survived, and this is one of them. The water immediately around it is only around 20 feet deep, but only 40 or 50 feet away from it, the depth increases drastically to over 1000 feet.

It really looks like a tri-masted square-rigger, and it's even about the right size, and its spires are nearly the right height for the masts.

The only way to get close to it is to take one of the ranger-guided boat tours around the lake. The park service only allows its tourboats, one research vessel, and a their skiff in the water, so there aren't that many options for exploring within the lake. Around it of course, you can explore to your heart's content, and there's a lot to explore in that park.

Watercolor

2008-10-04T13:18:00.000-07:00

The water in Crater Lake really does look that blue. Since the walls of the caldera are so steep, it the gradations in color are suprisingly sharp. Some of the overlooks near the Crater Lake Lodge give you a view of such an area, and that's what caught my eye here. Since the deep, blue color is from a combination of reflected sky and scattering in the water, the deeper the water, the bluer it looks.

Blazing Star

2008-09-24T21:30:00.001-07:00

At Lava Beds National Monument, my mother and I hiked to the summit of Schonchin Butte, the one cinder cone in the monument that you're allowed to hike on. There is a fire lookout station at the top of the 700-foot-high butte, but there was no ranger on duty when we made the trip.

The view from the summit is impressive. You can see Mount Shasta quite clearly from there, as seen in this photograph. In this view, you can also see some of the Medicine Lake Volcano, which has an enormous 800-square-mile footprint, but not that much height, only around 4000 feet.

And here is an exmple of a blazing star (Mentzelia laevicaulis).

The summit of this cinder cone is pretty incredible. On the one hand, it's not much but a pile of tephra and pumice with a huge lava flow originating at its base, but at the same time, it has a surprising amount of vegetation on it. And yet, to the northeast, you can see the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge alongside the fertile farmlands of Tule Lake.

Aavlanche Lilly

2008-09-24T21:12:00.000-07:00

Here is a shot of an avalanche lilly that I captured during the last hike to Van Trump Park. It had become cold and rainy while we ate lunch, so we weren't all that keen on lingering, but I couldn't resist these beautiful flowers. Though I regret not being able to get a good shot of the south summit of Mt. Rainier, known as Point Success, at least I got one of these!

I used my usual macro setup, the 105mm VR macro lens with my Metz flash aimed into my reflector (silver side) that Kelli held for me. Because I was raining, I shot this one hand-held.

Newberry National Volcanic Monument

2008-09-14T15:55:00.000-07:00

We stopped at the Lava Lands visitor center on the way back up north from Klamath Falls. It ended up being a very worthwhile stop, even though we didn't have time to explore the whole place; I've heard that Benhma Falls, a direct result of the lava flow here, is very picturesque. This flow is from a parasitic cinder cone, formed on the flanks of the volcano whose summit lies nearly 20 miles southeast. Yes, it's a huge volcano, occupying close to 500 square miles, and littered cinder and spatter cones.

The Lava Lands visitor center is near Lava Butte, which also has a road leading to its summit, with a trail circumnavigating the summit crater, as well as a paved trail meandering through a small section of the lava flow.

These shots are definitely record shots. The light was pretty harsh when we were there in the middle of the afternoon with a nearly cloudless sky.

Here is an image showing part of the lava field, with the Mount Bachelor and the Three Sisters on the horizon.

In the next image, the forked tree trunk in the foreground is framing Mount Bachelor. The other mountains are the Three Sisters, with Broken Top in the foreground.

The final image is of a bush that I have not yet identified, growing in the lava bed, with the same set of mountains in the background.

Back from Oregon

2008-09-07T22:25:00.000-07:00

I'm back from a week in southern Oregon, specifically Klamath Falls. I'm a bit behind on blog postings, still needing to post on the trip to Mount Dickerman, and the trip to Hurricane Hill.

However, right since Oregon is more fresh on my mind, I might as well start there :)

The image above is a stitched panorama shot from Garfield Peak in Crater Lake National Park. It's a moderate hike starting at the Crater Lake Lodge, with a total round trip of around 3.3 miles. Garfield Peak is not the highest in the park or even the highest on the rim of the caldera, but it offers great views of Wizard Island and the lake, as well as of the Phantom Ship. The mountain on the right in the panorama is Mount Thielsen, another majestic peak in the Oregon Cascades.

Comet Falls and Dinner in Paradise

2008-08-12T21:29:00.001-07:00

The hike to comet falls is pretty tough, especially if you're carrying a 4x5 system in addition to extra layers, rain gear, and survival gear.

When we began the hike, it was pleasantly warm, and the clouds ere breaking up. It's about a half mile to the first crossing over Van Trump Creek, right above Christine Falls. After that, the trail starts climbing, and really doesn't stop. The trail follows the creek, which has cut itself a nice, deep channel to rush through. There are quite a few cascades and waterfalls along the route; it reminded me of the White Oak Canyon hike in the Shenandoah National Park... only with bigger trees, more wildflowers, taller waterfalls, and more water flowing through the creek.

There were avalanche lily, tiger lily, shooting stars, beargrass, and even some Indian paintbrush along the route.

And the falls themselves, pictured above, were well worth the trip.

We didn't stop there, of course; we continued on up to Van Trump Park. Past the falls, the trail is even steeper, and once in Van Trump Park, it's steeper still.

But even so, Van Trump is worth the visit... it's like Paradise Meadow, but with fewer people; most of the hikers we met turned back at the falls. The meadows of Van Trump were ablaze with wildflowers. We got a brief view of The Mountain when we arrived. It didn't last long, because the clouds rolled in and obscured it pretty quickly, before we reached an area where I could place some wildflowers in the foreground for a near-far shot.

We stopped atop a ridge in the park, with a commanding view of the mountains to the south and east. We couldn't see Mount Adams or Mount Saint Helens because of the clouds, but the views were still spectacular. As the weather closed in and the temperature dropped, we heated up some freeze-dried Thai food, just the thing for chilly weather. We were both glad that we had our extra layers with us.

We began the trip down in a light rain, that stayed with us for most of the remainder. By the time we reached the car, it was pretty chilly, and the cloud cover was solid. We had dinner in the Paradise Inn -- the food there is quite good, and the fireplaces are welcome, even in August :)

It was a long day, but it was also the best hike I have done yet. Already I am looking forward to doing it again, though I hope that the clouds reveal the summit long enough for me to get a good shot next time!

The Taylor River

2008-07-09T08:01:00.000-07:00

I hiked the Taylor River trail as far as Big Creek Falls with these two lovely ladies a few weeks ago.

I had hiked the same trail in November before the snow started, and ended up with this shot of Otter Falls. The lake that it pours into is Lipsy Lake. I had wanted to return in spring to get some shots of the falls in higher flow, and also for the spring foliage and wild flowers.
On the first trip, the sky was overcast and the quality of the light was very soft and diffused. It made waterfall photography very easy. The second time, the weather was great for hiking; the sky was clear and blue. The light was harsher though, so it wasn't as good for waterfall photography the second time around.
So instead I photographed mainly wildflowers and my companions. :)
Here is a trillium:

I photographed this with my 105mm VR micro lens with a Nikon 2x teleconverter. I used my RRS focusing rail, and a reflector to balance the light out a bit.

I am not sure what this berry is, but I liked its look and the background.

And this is Otter Falls in spring, photographed with my Sigma DP-1.

You don't need exotic places

2008-07-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

To find interesting subjects. I found this spider perched on a flower right outside my front door while I was unloading my gear from my car, so I took a few minutes out to photograph it, while my cat Calypso kept calling me from inside. She loves attention and does not like to be denied :)
I used my d80 with the Nikon 105mm VR micro and a Nikon 2x teleconverter. I held my reflector above the spider and aimed my flash into it to light the spider.
If anyone reading this can help identify this spider, I would appreciate it. I'm certainly not an expert at identifying arachnids, but I would like to learn!

Tiger Lily

2008-07-05T18:41:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to the Quniault National Forest on the Olympic Penninsula, I found several of these tiger lillies in bloom. Naturally, I stopped to photograph them.

For this one I used a Nikon 105mm VR macro lens with a 2x teleconverter. I had one of my fellow hikers hold my reflector with the silver side facing the flower, and aimed my flash into the reflector, with the flash's secondary emitter enabled.

The dark background is a result of using a fairly high shutter speed because I was hand-holding the camera, and the background was in shadow. I usually prefer to record some of the background along with the subject to give it context, but sometimes the black background works, because it allows the viewer to see the subject with no distractions.

Mount Saint Helens

2008-06-19T00:34:00.000-07:00

We left Seattle at midnight, at the very end of Triskadekaphobia Day, also known as Friday the 13th. When we arrived at around 3am, the sky was very dark, and we marvelled at the intensity of the stars, the fact that we could clearly see the Milky Way while we put on our hiking boots and all that. The sky lightened quickly though, so we didn't get very many star shots.

The sky was very clear, as we were above the thick clouds in the valleys. By the pre-dawn light, we could see the dense layer of clouds that filled the north fork of the Toutle River Valley; normally an expanse of desolation five miles wide, this time it looked like a sea of clouds.

Beaches at Low Tide

2008-06-07T20:41:00.000-07:00

The tides during this time of year are lower than usual in the Puget Sound, so a few friends and I went to Lincoln Park to wander along the beach and see what the receding tide would reveal.

What we found exceeded our expectations; we found sea stars and sunstars bigger than our hands, anemones and even sunstars all over the place under the pier. Most of spend most of our time doing macrophotography, zeroing on in the creatures that we normally can't get to because they're underwater. To get most of these shots, I used an on-camera flash fired into a reflector that one of my friends held for me. The resulting lighting was much softer than direct flash, and I was very pleased with the results.

The first shot is of an anemone submerged under around six inches of water. With a friend holding my reflector, I set up the camera on my big Gitzo tripod. I used my 105mm VR macro lens with a Nikon 2x teleconverter. One of my friends held the reflector for me, and I pretty much just aimed the flash into the reflector.

The 2nd and much creepier looking shot is of what we think is the breathing tube for a clam or oyster. It was gradually opening and closing, making the small mound of wet sand surrounding it look as it it were breathing. It was quite a sight. The setup was pretty much the same, except that this was above the waterline.

There are some more images from this trip on my Pbase site.

Rhododendron

2008-06-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I went to the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle for the first time. A lot of rhododendrons were blooming when I visited, with red, white, and pink flowers. The ones that seemed freshest were the pink ones like the Rhododendron Puralbum pictured above, so they were the ones I spent most of my time on. The red ones were showing signs of some wear and tear, so I suppose they bloomed earlier.

There was a little bit of a breeze that day, which made the closeup photography a bit challenging, since I didn't bring a flash with me. A lot of my shots ended up showing just enough motion blur to ruin them, but there were a few that worked out pretty well, like this one.

For this shot I used my 105mm f/2.8 VR micro-Nikkor lens, set atop my large Gitzo tripod. I used a Really Right Stuff macro focusing rail for precision focus.

Portrait of a Rattlesnake

2008-05-08T22:57:00.000-07:00

I went to the eastern side of the Cascade Mountains over the weekend with a fellow photographer (http://www.flickr.com/photos/27336152@N00/), and he introduced me to this spot in the desert.

It was not a particularly warm day, but the sun came out for a while toward late morning, and we found several rattlesnakes sunning themselves on the rocks. One in particular was surprisingly cooperative, allowing us to take our time to get the shots framed and focussed.

2008-04-30T12:09:00.001-07:00

Q: Hi Rakesh, welcome to Askablogr. Looks like you haven't yet installed your widget or a text "ask" link, so let me know if I can help with that. (Great photos btw).

Asked by Chris DeVore

A: Thanks!

Installing was flawless, you just beat me to it. I'm glad that you like my photography!

Ask Tamerlin a question.

Macrophotography in Tide Pools

2008-04-19T09:53:00.007-07:00

When we visited Ebey's Landing, we gave up on getting a sunset shot, because the weather was pretty nasty; it was getting cold and windy, and intermittently raining. While we ate dinner, the sky started clearing, so we decided to take a chance and stop at Deception Pass on the way back.

Since the tide was out, were able to explore some tidepools while waiting for the sunset. I found quite a few subjects in those tide pools, and also discovered how difficult it can be to photograph them.

These anemones were quite small; I had my macro lens nearly so close that the lens shade was nearly touching the water's surface. Of course, at that magnification, the light loss is pretty severe; in order to get some depth of field, I had this stopped down to around f/32. The tidepools were also in shadow, so even though the sky had cleared enough to let out the sunlight, I was still limited to a shutter speed of around half a second. So there is a little bit of motion blur in most of my images from that trip.

This one was relatively free of motion blur, though it was still very difficult to get the focus right. These anemones are also quite small; they were in the same little tide pool as the ones above, maybe 8 inches in diameter (that's 2oomm for those of you who are used to using a good system of measurement ;)).

There were a few barnacles that had their gills extended. It turned out that they were very sensititve; the slightest hint of a shadow falling across them was enough to make them retract their gills. I attempted to photograph them a few times, but every time I wound up making them retract their gills while I was trying to get the composition set up and focussed. Maybe I'll have better luck with them next time.

Technical Details

Since there may be some photographers reading this who are interested in how I shot these, I'm including a little technical info here.

Because I was trying to fill the frame with these small subjects, I was getting pretty close to them with my Nikon 105mm VR macro lens. To make up for the loss of depth of field, I was shooting at an effective aperture of f/32. The resulting shutter speed varied from 1/4 to a few seconds, so hand-holding the camera wasn't an option. I used a Really Right Stuff ground pod with a Really Right Stuff macro focussing rail. This helped a lot, because the tripod was small enough to be manouverable in the small area I had available, while my large Gitzo would have gotten in the way. The focussing rail gave me a bit of extra flexibility as far as positioning my camera, since I could use it like a rotated center column, a bit like the one on the Gitzo Explorer series tripods. The lead screw made focussing fairly easy once I had the composition set up.

Even with all that, setting up the composition was pretty tough. Some of the subjects I was photographing were very difficult to see without magnification, and in some cases just the glare on the surface of the water made them hard to see was underneath. For the same reason, additional lighting would probably not have done much good, so in spite of the slow shutter speeds, I didn't miss the extra lighting gear.

For some shots, there was still some glare from the sky reflecting in the water, and since I was shooting without a polarizer (I need to get a polarizer that will fit my dSLR lenses, the 105mm that I use for my large format is too unwieldy on a smaller camera, and it's also linear rather than circular), I had to shade the water with my hand while shooting. To avoid shaking the camera by pressing the shutter, I used the timer release since I don't (yet) have a cable or remote for my Nikon dSLR. In any case, with the shutter speeds being so slow already, using a polarizer might have backfired due to the potential for additional subject movememt. Even in these tiny tide pools, the water and the creatures continue to move. At least not all of them are as shy as the barnacles!

Setting up these shots was quite challenging. I'm glad I got a few decent shots, but it's going to take quite a bit more practice before I can get some great ones.

First Stitched Pano Attempt

2008-03-28T00:38:00.002-07:00

During the same trip to the Cowiche Canyon, I tied shooting a series of images for a stitched panoramic. I wasn't as careful to keep the rotation angles even as I probabl should have been, but it still stitched quite well in Photoshop CS3. It stithced together surprisingly nicely.

For those that are interested in how I did it, here's some technical info:

I used a Nikon D80 with a 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro lens. I use a Really Right Stuff generic L-bracket for this camera, as it mates perfectly with my RRS clamps. The tripod is a Really Right Stuff groundpod, and the head is a suprisingly small RRS BH-40. I used an RRS panning clamp, and for a nodal slide I used my RRS macro focussing rail. I shot seven images.

To stitch the images together, I used the included action in Photoshop. The only post-stitch tweakig I did was a little bit of cropping and a little bit of levels adjustment to boost the constrast a bit.

Spring is Here

2008-03-28T00:27:00.002-07:00

Our last photo safari was in Cowiche Canyon, near Yakima. Though it was raining when we left Seattle, and snowing in Snoqualmie Pass, the weather was petty nice when we arrived at Cowiche Canyon.

At the canyon we started on the ridge trail. Sagebrush surrounded us, and in the distance we could see the jagged, snow-capped Cascade mountains. Among the sagebrush was a fair variety of flowers, including the ones shown here.

Unfortunately, there was a bit of a breeze. In the morning it was not too bad, and we were able to find flowers that were sheltered among the sagebrush and in depressions. Later in the afternoon, the wind picked up enough that even the sagebrush was quivering, making it very difficult to photograph the flowers.

I made this photograph of a pair of yellow bells around that time, during a brief lull in the wind. I would have liked to be able to shoot it again, with the flower on the left a bit more out of focus and not cut off, but with the wind being what it was, I didn't get another chance, and even this shot was a little bit rushed because of the wind. I am surprised that it turned out sharp; I was expecting some motion blur, but I supposed I was fortunate this time.

The Setting Sun Over the Sea

2008-03-02T19:12:00.005-08:00

We headed up to the Chuckanut Mountains just south of Bellingham for a winter hike. The weather was beautiful, surprisingly warm when we reached the trailhead. We began be heading up the Pacific Northwest Trail from the parking area one mile north of the Chuckanut Manor Inn. Our goal was Oyster Dome, and eight-mile loop hike with a 2000 foot elevation gain.

On the way out, we decided to take a detour for a scenic overlook. The view from there was gorgeous, and would probably make a stunning sunrise or sunset shot. We could see from the Cascades to the Olympics, though the cloud cover was enough to obscure Mount Rainier.

From there we tried following “Max’s Shortcut” to get back on the trail rather than going back the way we came. It wasn’t much of a shortcut though; it added a mile or more to our trip. It was also buried under three feet of snow for most of its length, making it rather slow going. When we got back onto the main trail we stopped for lunch alongside Lake Lilly.

After that we started heading back to the car along the route we left on. The downhill stretches were pretty tough going for a while, because the snow was packed down and slick, and carrying a 50-pound pack certainly didn’t help.

We missed the turnoff for the trail to Oyster Dome which was our primary goal, so we’ll have to go back for that. We did find the turnoff for the “Batcave” at least.
The Samish Overlook is about a mile from the trailhead. We reached it on the way back around half an hour before sunset, and after chatting with a couple that was sitting there watching the show when we arrived, we decided to stick around for a bit to see how the sunset went. I was reluctant to make my friend wait for an extra half an hour knowing that we were already out later than she’d hoped, but she’s a sweethart, and wait we did.

We passed the time for a bit watching some bald eagles circling overhead, and I gave my 200-500mm lens some excercise, but not with much success; I’m not that good at wildlife photography yet. Having autofocus helped though, it’s much easier to track birds in flight when you don’t have to focus on them manually at the same time :)

As the sun vanished behing the upper cloudband you see here, I set up the tripod and the 4xt with my 300mm Fujinon lens, and waited. I ended up shooting this at f/64, in the hopes of getting a bit of a sunstar from the resulting diffraction, and it worked better than I expected. I also got more of a reflection from the water than we could see, and it didn’t last long enough for bracketing, so I’m very glad that my first shot was properly metered and exposed.

Mount Saint Helens

2008-02-12T00:24:00.000-08:00

A view of Mount Saint Helens, showing the crater and the lava dome. The large hunks of rock in the foreground are the hummocks, parts of the summit deposited along the Toutle River Valley during the landslide that occurred during the eruption in 1980. This was from my second trip to Mt. Saint Helens; on my first trip, the cloud cover obscured the crater the entire time I was there.

2008-02-12T00:10:00.000-08:00

Even when the falls are not in full flow, they can make for beautiful photographs. This is an image of Lipsy Lake, and the trickle flowing down the rock face in the background is the 1800 foot high Otter Falls. There was a lot less flow than any of us had expected, and the lake was suprisingly small, but still very peaceful. It isn't even a particularly difficult trip, as long as you reach the trailhead; the forest service road leading to the trailhead is pretty rough, and Snoqualmie Pass has been getting a lot of snow lately.

Tagged

2007-12-17T12:01:00.000-08:00

From Kubota Gardens

(1) Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
(2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
(3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
(4) Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So, for my random facts:
1. I love photography.
2. I'm a 4th dan in Goju and Kobudo.
3. I'm a cat person.
4. Thanks to Mitch, I've gotten to like horror films.
5. Fantasy and science fiction are still my favorite genres.
6. I need to update my blog more often.
7. Moving is a pain.
8. Snowshoeing is fun.

Into the Great Unkown

2007-09-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

This may be my last post before moving to Seattle to take my new job with Amazon. Having never been to Seattle, and obviously never before worked for Amazon, it's actually two unknowns for me; new job, new city, new landscapes.

I had quite a gathering yesterday afternoon, lots of friends came by to wish me well on my journey. It was a combination reunion and introduction, for some friends I haven't been able to meet up with for nearly a year, and others who hadn't met each other before.

I may have some time to scan and post my photographs from my last trip to White Oak Canyon in Shenandoah, which was also my most recent photo safari to Shenadoah. Though I'll probably do some more photography in Shenandoah some day, it will be a while, since my next few visits will be for things like meeting up with friends, and hopefully closing on the sale of my house in Silver Spring.

I suppose today is the calm before the storm; tomorrow I'll have to get my things organized, separating out the things that are going into storage and the things that are going to the temporary residence. Then Wednesday and Thursday will be packing and loading days, and Friday I'll be heading for Seattle with my two terrified cats and my friend Katie, who is coming along to help courier the cats.

And then I'll get to see Seattle for the first time, and Monday I start work at Amazon. It will be quite a week!

Ebony Repairs

2007-08-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

The camera's back in my hands, and looks nearly as good as new. And here is a photograph from my first trip out with it, at the Kenilworth Aquatic Garden in Washington, DC.

Mishaps

2007-05-29T07:34:00.000-07:00

One of the disadvantages to photographing storms is wind. When you use a wooden camera with a bellows, that's particularly dangerous... this weekend, while racing to pack up the camera before the storm hit, a gust of wind blew it over, shattering the ground glass and jamming the focussing rail. The body took a beating also, but I suppose it's a testament to the strength of the construction that it held up as well as it did.

Fortunately, Ebony is known for doing as good a job on repairs as they do in building the cameras in the first place, but unfortunately, they're in Japan, so it's going to be a while before I get it back. And it will probably be a fairly expensive repair, unfortunately.

Getting Competitive

2007-05-29T07:29:00.000-07:00

This image won third place in the North Bethesda Camera Club open competition in May. For a larger version, follow the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/Tamerlin/SpringSmokies/photo#5001921687866376210

Birds Not in Flight

2007-04-08T17:53:00.000-07:00

And sometimes it seems like they know that they're being photographed; this guy kept moving around every time we got a lock on him. Of course, since I was stuck with a shutter speed that ranged between half a second and several seconds, his (her?) constant motion lead to some blur no matter how carefully I focussed.

Oh well... he (or she) was a very elegant bird, even if I didn't get a particularly good photograph that night.

Bird Photography with Manual Focus

2007-04-08T17:46:00.000-07:00

Gah... manual focus isn't ideal for bird photography, especially when the birds are in flight. Three hours, and this is about as good as it got. And Digital ICE has its limitations, as you can see here by the dust spots all over this image :/

Unfortunately, a large-aperture lens just isn't in the cards in the short term, since that's a $7000+ investment. So for now, I'll just let the folks with the really big glass get the in-flight shos. :)

Scanning and Image Processing

2007-04-05T13:24:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm shooting regularly, I'm already getting behind on the scanning and processing part. And naturally, since scanning and optimizing images requires developing skills that I don't have yet, the results of my scans are a bit wild.

But I'm practicing and learning, a little at a time, one image at a time.

LightRoom is turning out to be very helpful for image management, and for quick processing. It helped for processing a bunch of old RAW files to send to someone, but for actually optimizing images, I'm finding LightZone to be much more useful. For one thing, LightZone lets you apply changes locally, so I can fix exposure in hot spots, and selectively correct color shifts caused by tweaking the global exposure (or by Lightroom's Vibrance control). Also, LightRoom's sharpening tool is much more powerful and effective than LightRoom's, which doesn't appear to do anything. On top of that, LightRoom simply won't load an image larger than 250 MB, while LightZone loads them happily now that I'm up to 2 GB of ram. Unfortunately however, LightZone has some trouble loading SilverFast's TIFF files directly, though it loaded a monochrome image without any problems.

So far, however, the LightRoom -> LightZone workflow is great for scanned 35mm slides. With a little experimentation, I think it will work for 4x5's also, though I think it will work out much better when I get Photoshop CS3, hopefully later this month.

Rocks and Ice at Great Falls

2007-02-13T21:02:00.000-08:00

During a recent trip to Great Falls, I found some pleasing patterns in the ice alongside Great Falls. I would have liked to try the shot with a polarizer to cut some of the white glare on the ice to see how it would look, but I didn't have any polarizers to fit the lens I was using at the time.

My review of Tamron SP 200-500mm f/5-6.3 Di Auto Focus Zoom Lens with Hood for the Maxxum & Sony Alpha Mount, with 6 Year USA Warranty

2007-02-13T20:46:00.001-08:00

Originally submitted at Adorama

Tamron SP 200-500mm f/5-6.3 Di Auto Focus Zoom Lens with Hood for the Maxxum & Sony Alpha Mount, with 6 Year USA Warranty

Lightweight, inexpensive super-tele

By Tamerlin from Silver Spring MD on 2/13/2007

Pros: Lightweight, Clear Glass, Strong Construction, Easily Accessible Controls

Cons: Slow aperture

Describe Yourself: Hobbyist/Enthusiast

Best Uses: Landscape, Wildlife

Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

This lens does not have the largest aperture out there, being limited to f/5 at the 200mm end and f/6.3 at the 500mm end. However, the advantage is that the lens is much smaller and lighter than the Nikon and Canon equivalents which do have larger apertures.

For the price, it's a hard lens to beat; the manual focus is nice and smooth, and the images are sharp even wide open. It's not going to match up to a 400mm Canon L, but it also costs 1/5th as much, and weighs a lot less, so that's the tradeoff.

My interest in the lens resulted froman interest in a long lens I could carry along with my 4x5 kit, and a big, heavy 400mm f/4 lens would, even if I could budget it, not fit that bill, as my 4x5 kit already weighs nearly 40 pounds.

Since my Nikon body is a manual focus body, I have not tried the autofocus, so I cannot comment on its performance. I can only say that I have gotten good results using this lens to photograph birds, and that it is best used on a tripod, especially at the long end.

With those caveats in mind, I would recommend this lens to anyone looking for a lightweight supertele lens on a budget.

(legalese)

Hybrid Hawk

2007-02-13T19:42:00.000-08:00

Also under the care of the Northern Virginia Raptor Conservancy, this hybrid escaped from the falconer who presumably bred it. Being a hybrid, the conservancy cannot release it back into the wild, so they are taking care of it. I do not remember whether this hawk was male or female, unfortunately.

Hawks at Meadowlark

2007-02-13T17:17:00.000-08:00

A peregrine falcon with a broken wing, rescued by the Northern Virginia Raptor Conservancy.

My review of Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens with Case and Lens Hood - USA

2007-02-12T07:18:00.001-08:00

Originally submitted at Adorama

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens with Case and Lens Hood - USA

Excellent wide-angle lens

By Tamerlin from Silver Spring, MD on 2/12/2007

Pros: Easily Mounted, Easily Accessible Controls, Strong Construction, Clear Glass

Describe Yourself: Hobbyist/Enthusiast

Best Uses: Travel, Photojournalism, Fun

Bottom Line: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

I used this lens for close to two years, with no complaints whatsoever. I stopped using it when I gave it to my mother, who still uses it quite a bit.

The image quality is pristine, as is usually the case for Canon's L lenses, and the autofocus is similary quiet and responsive. It does not have any visible barrel distortions that I have seen, but I have also not used it on a full-frame camera, only on a Digital Rebel. In spite of the crop factor, it is still wide enough to be a bit of a challenge to compose with, but when it works, it works well.

For the money, this is an excellent lens.

(legalese)

Meadowlark Photo Expo

2007-02-09T09:34:00.000-08:00

I attended the Meadowlark Photography expo last weekend. It was considerably larger than I had anticipated, and there was quite a bit going on -- too much to fit all of it in.

The juried photo gallery was spectacular. Kudos to the photographers who contributed; I only wish that we could have seen larger versions of some of them.

The show sponsors included Nikon, Canon, Tamron, REI, and even Carl Zeiss. Due to time limits, I wasn't able to try out the Zeiss 25mm Distagon, but I think I'll be getting one for my Nikon FM3a as my wide-angle lens for that format. It can focus close enough (under 6cm) to double as a macro lens, and it's hard to go wrong with Zeiss for image quality. I did have a chance to try out the 200-500mm Tamron zoom when I did the hawk photoegraphy session with the Raptor Conservancy of Virginia. I will be picking up the film tonight, and hopefully there will be some images worth posting from that shoot. I was not able to make it for the owl session, because there simply wasn't enough time.

The bird handlers deserve a lot of gratitude for standing out in the cold for so long, telling us about the birds and trying to get them to pose for us.

For me the highlights of the show were the presentations by Chuck Veach and Tony Sweet. Their enthusiasm is infectous, and their photography is amazing.