Long shadows, short days. The masses bundle up, the trees stand naked.
Winter is near.
Category Archives: Travel
White Ibis
I was somewhere in the Florida Keys. It was mid-afternoon and hot as hell with harsh, ugly light. But the White Ibis is such a cool looking creature there was no way I could resist. It may appear as if it is looking for a good spot to dig up a few crustaceans for lunch, but in actuality it was just seeking shade. Which is what smart creatures normally do.
White Ibis, Florida Keys.
Really smart creatures seek shade that also has beer!
photograph by Rachel Klein-Kircher
Friday Photo Tip: Quality of Light.
So you’ve spent a few good hours exploring a new place and you think you’ve finally found that definitive scene. You take care to shoot from various angles and try a variety of lenses. You work the composition until it feels just right.
You scroll through your images on the LCD and a sense of satisfaction washes over you. Start packing it up. On to the next location, right? Not so fast!
Yes, you’re happy with the image. Yes, you’re content with your composition. But how will this scene look later in the evening? Early next morning? What is the weather forecast for the next few days?
If you think something is worth documenting then it’s worth documenting well. You’re pleased with what you photographed in the daylight? Great. Now go back there at twilight and you’ll see something quite different. That brief period of transition between darkness and light called the gloaming will enhance almost any scene. If there is a building in your shot the interior lights can add interesting color elements to the image as well.
Time is a luxury we don’t often get to enjoy, it’s true. In those cases you just have to make the best of it. But when you do have time, take advantage. Go back to the same spot. Shoot it again. You’ll find it’s well worth your effort.
Keep The Parks Open !
According to the National Parks Conservation Association, if congress and the President fail to come to an agreement by January more than 200 million dollars will be cut from an already deflated NPS budget. This will mean various closures throughout the system. It will mean layoffs and work stoppages. As many as 9,000 Rangers could be let go. Park hours will be cut and some parks will be shut completely. The Parks budget today is 15% less than it was ten years ago. Cutting it drastically further would have devastating impacts on the entire system. Not to mention on the millions who love and visit regularly these national treasures.
Please take some time and call your congressional representatives and Senators… or at least visit the NPCA website and sign their petition. You can find it here: Take Action
A bull elk on a snowy morning in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.
Potomac River Gorge. The Book.
The book is coming !
Years of exploration and documentation of one of the little known gems in our National Park Service will soon be available in book form. Stay tuned for more details about how and when it’ll be available.
Friday Photo Tip: Get Close
One easy way to improve your photos is to get close to your subject. Then get closer. And just when you think you’re close enough, get even closer!
Birthday parties are perfect for this. Also, parades, backyard picnics and weddings. Occasions where cameras and photographers are expected and embraced. Get out there and shoot. But no sitting across the room comfortably clicking away. You need to walk over and sit down among the screechy children or get out on the dance floor with the celebrants. If the barbecue smoke isn’t burning your eyes, you’re not close enough.
And no big, heavy, long lenses. They have their uses, yes, but creating a sense of intimacy is not one of them.
Don’t be shy. Get close.
Washington DC from A Cessna 172
It’s not a view many people get to see nowadays and it requires a great deal of paper work, patience and luck. But when it all comes together, it is still way cool to fly over Washington DC.
This is the view looking west at the National Mall and the various museums and galleries. Capitol Building, Washington Monument, and Lincoln Memorial are easy to make out. Supreme Court, Native American Museum are visible. And that big group of red roof buildings on the right? That’s Federal Triangle, part of the Pennsylvania Ave. National Historical Site.
Love this city!
Climate Action
Every other summer for almost 20 years my family has vacationed on the mid-Atlantic coast of Florida. We’ve regularly gathered down there to enjoy each others company and all the diversions the place has to offer: Early morning beach-combing, tracking loggerhead turtle nests, body surfing or boogie boarding, evening surf-fishing, photographing the great variety of shore birds (ok, that’s just me!), or just generally kicking back and letting it all wash over you for a week.
Now, I would like very much for this little cutie to be able to enjoy the same stretch of beach as that young couple above when she’s their age. But I’m not the least bit optimistic it will be the same place. Changes in our global climate are being ignored by far too many in our political class. And attention needs to be paid. These changes, which are well documented and easy to find, will grow significantly in size and in scope over the next 50-100 years if we take no action. The shores we have enjoyed will become unrecognizable if we take no action. In the future homes on the bayside will be beachfront property if we take no action.
It is now an almost daily occurrence that I read about a new climate record being set. I read about extreme weather events, coastline landscapes changing, Arctic ice disappearing, long term droughts… the list goes on. Here is the most recent: U.S. On Track for Warmest Year on Record.
Climate change is happening, it is bad and getting worse, and human activity is largely the cause. But our actions can also be the fix. We can make it possible for future generations to enjoy what past generations have enjoyed. It is still possible to leave a better world for them. But the climate clock is ticking. We have to act. Today.
Kenyan-born Socialist Democratically re-elected President United States
Dear Mr. President,
Now that the voting is done. Now that the counting is complete (Florida, WTF! Again?). Now that every television commercial will not be a political ad. Now that those fatuous concerns about birth certificates and college transcripts are stuffed where they belong. Can we finally start a serious conversation about climate change?
That’d be great.
Thanks.
Recently I’ve noticed a new “hashtag” in the Instagram universe: #nofilter.
Ironically, when you come across that hashtag and click on it, you see that a great many of the thousands of images actually do have a “filter” applied. So I’m not sure everybody is getting the point of that particular hashtag. But that’s not the point of this post. The point of this post is to point out that there is no such thing as “no filter.” Even a straight-out-of-the-camera image from a $5,000 dSLR has a “filter” applied. Whether you own a Nikon or a Canon, a Droid or an iPhone; whether you apply one of the built in treatments within Instagram or use Photoshop CS5 or LightRoom3 or 4 or the Camera Bag app…”filters” are all over the place. Different algorithms for different cameras will render red, green and blue differently, also color saturation, contrast and white-balance. No matter the camera, the moment you depress the shutter reality is altered. A “filter” is applied.
Instagram and similar apps offer pre-made treatments making it easy for you to give your image the look you’d like. Some are subtle, some are over-the-top. And some people get unnecessarily exercised over these things. They think that everyone 20 years down the road will “regret” ever using things like Instagram or Hipstamatic. Can’t say that I agree. In fact, whether you’re a pro or a hobbyist, no matter the camera or the app, knock yourself out. Ignore the curmudgeons.
Experiment. Explore. Enjoy.