Templeset... Salt Lake City, UT
Sunset + Salt Lake City Temple = Templeset.
Monumental.

#jarviewalk

#WindowWednesday #WomenWednesday #WomanInWindowWednesday :)

"When Day Becomes Night"
Photo Thoughts--- This was last nights sunset over the Colorado Rockies and the National Wind Research Center outside of Boulder. It is kind of funny, I was REALLY trying to get to a location to shoot this sunset as my original location was blocked off because the dang highway was shut down. So driving around like a bat out of hell trying to get to a spot I finally found a couple that would work. At first I wasn't to keen on the green energy windmills but then I thought to myself that maybe I should actually try to work it into the composition and actually try to have a shot that would go beyond just a landscape. It wasn't exactly easy and quite challenging to try and do that as the landscape was just massive in size....one of those views that you can never have a wide enough angle lens for. If I zoomed in, I would lose the sky completely, so that wouldn't work obviously. In the end I decided to go with this composition which I felt was the strongest. I used my tripod, a wireless shutter release, a CPL and a 4 Grad ND to get it all. It was really a sight to see and photograph!
---John

#plusphotoextract #exposedphoto #landscape #landscapephotography #landscapephoto #nature #naturephotography #natureartthursday #naturephotographers #landscapephotographer #sky #sunset #breakfastartclub #colorado #coloradophotographer #photo #photography #boulder #bouldercounty #whateverwednesday #vibrantwednesday

Samal Island (Davao, Mindanao)

Every April, millions of female red land crabs emerge from the forests on the south coast of Cuba and head for the ocean. There, they lay their eggs then make their way back the way they came. The journey can be up to several kilometres each way, and many don't survive it.

Crossing the road is a particular problem where they get run over in huge numbers. I can personally attest to this. When we got caught out by the crabs in large numbers, we drove slowly and carefully but try as we might it was impossible to dodge them all. In places, the road before us was more squashed crab than tarmac.

Fortunately for the crabs, this confrontation isn't completely one sided. We had been warned earlier that cars often get punctures from the hard shells, but I didn't realise quite how serious that warning was until we discovered one of our tires had gone down later that evening. Upon closer examination we discovered no less than four large pieces of crab shell embedded deeply in two tires. One pointed piece of claw buried in the tire was about 1cm wide and 5cm long! That explains why there was so few cars on the road...

I guess it's not surprising the locals are adept at fixing these punctures. We whipped the wheels off and took them to a man's backyard, just next door to our casa particular. He had the holes patched up pretty quickly with very basic tools. In fact two of the holes he "repaired" in about 10 seconds by jamming condoms into them with a metal prong! Though I was a bit sceptical, the repairs lasted us just fine for the remaining week of our journey. Colour me impressed :)

All in all a surreal experience that I won't forget in a hurry. I'd quite like to go back in two months time to witness the many millions of baby crabs when they too make the journey back from the sea to the forest.

Another one for #WildlifeWednesday , curated by +Mike Spinak

For #wholeweekwildlife , #PlusPhotoExtract #Wildlife_Photo #Wildlife #Africa #Canon #WholeWildlifeWeek #wednesdaywildlife curated by +Mike Spinak

Kalahari, South Africa

Looks like a good slap ;-)

Bright Future

"Waianapanapa Moon" , Waianapanapa State Park, Near Hana, Maui, Hawaii

Is this the view on a remote beach on a distant planet? Read on....!
(Expand post for details, and click to see the big version!)

Details

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 17-40L @ 22
2 minute exposure @F14
LEE soft ND grad (100x150mm) 0.9 + 0.9
Lee foundation kit filter holder with Lee 77mm adapter ring
ISO 50
No polarizer
RAW file processed with Capture One by Phase One
TIFF file processed with Photoshop
Small Slik Sprint mini II tripod
Manfrotto 322RC2 pistol-grip ball head

The Story


This black sand beach is actually located on the island of Maui in Hawaii. It is near the town of Hana on the north shore.

Large waves have broken down the hard lava rock into sand and larger rounded stones. After shooting the sunset, I waited for the moon to rise.

I truly felt like I was on the shore of some exotic distant planetary sea. The air temperature and the water temperature were about 80°F or 27°C. There was a soft breeze blowing through the palm trees. Nothing could be more perfect. Although the waves were fairly large, I decided that a long exposure was the best way to convey the feeling of tranquility and peacefulness that I felt.

Exposure time is a great thing that you can use to convey the feeling of a place. A short exposure time would convey the power of the waves and ocean. While a longer one isolates the elements of the rounded stones and the trees and clouds and brings a sense of peacefulness to the image.

This is how I remember the place. And often the best photos evoke the best memories.


Other stuff

My pictures are featured on the front page of California Governor, Jerry Brown's website http://gov.ca.gov

Resources

I wrote a 325 eBook that describes exactly how I went about learning photography starting in 2006. I did not learn the usual way. I have studied the great masters of painting and hope to find that light in the real world.

http://www.patricksmithphotography.com/Photography_Book.html


A great weather mashup map of the world with local temperatures, weather and nice popups. See where it is hot and not! (Must wait for slow commercials first, but worth it!)
http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/
Google Earth
http://earth.google.com/

Simply the best way to scout out locations that there is. You can see sun angles and pre-visualize light under lots of different conditions. Sometimes you can actually pre-compose your shots! This has saved me many thousands of vertical feet of climbing by avoiding spots with blocked views etc.

Satellite imagery (choose 'National' for a local US region or use your fave website)
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/?wfo=mtr

Tide charting and preditions: (chose your area in US, other countries have similar websites)
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/tide_predictions.shtml?gid=235

Wave Heights (I choose 'North Pacific from Global')
http://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/waves/index2.shtml

Or Here:
http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/shtml/RP1bw.gif

Photos of every inch of the California coastline from a small plane. Excellent for close in detailed views.

http://www.californiacoastline.org/

.

Let there be Light!

Loved the stripes and colors that showed up in Fairbanks.

#PlusPhotoExtract