Kings of the Forest

Kings of the Forest

NCAR11D-265

October 23, 2011

After a summer of light rainfall and pretty dry conditions, followed by a quick descent into fall, I had lost much hope that the fungi would bloom.  Warm, moist conditions were ideal for these all-important decomposers to put forth their fruit and spread their spores before winter fell.  However, I think with our fall storms coming through, it helped give them the boost, for hiking through Uwharrie National Forest a week ago brought close to two dozen different mushrooms into view, from Lepiota like these guys to coral fungi as big as my head.  It was impressive.  I wanted, with this image, to switch up the size orientation, get a better look at the world of the fungi not shooting down from a standing position, but instead at their level.  I like the size difference, and the image that conveys how large these fungi loom in the forest ecosystem.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Sigma 10-20 f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  11 mm

Exposure: 1/80 @ f/4.2 ISO 400

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Byers Lake

Byers Lake

ALAK11D-21_pan

July 19, 2011

Near the dominating panorama of Denali, the taiga runs out through the hills, blanketing the landscape in a verdant dark green, lush from the rains and snows, but still foreboding, impenetrable, ancient.  At the shore of Byer's lake, you have the chance to take out a kayak and explore some of this landscape yourself, paddle out into the cold glacial water and bask in the rare warmth of the summer.  Photographically, I wish I had make a couple more images that could have followed through on the rest of the boats; this panorama is a little incomplete feeling, but I still like the diagonal line of the kayaks against the water and the horizon.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 18-135 f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  135 mm

Exposure: 1/500 @ f/6 ISO 400

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Illiamna in the Sunset

Illiamna in the Sunset

ALAK09D-196

August 31, 2009

The Seldovia area has numerous volcanic islands in the bay, and when the light is just right, you're able to capture them as the sun sets in the west.  This scene was shot through the bay as the clouds parted briefly to allow the horizontal band through to highlight Illiamna from behind.  With the silhouettes of the coniferous trees of the bay anchoring the left side, I like this composition and how it shows off the volcano as a mysterious, forbidding entity.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 18-135 f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  135 mm

Exposure: 1/500 @ f/6 ISO 400

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Bumpy Macro

Bumpy Macro

NCAR10D-65

February 6, 2010

Found in the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, this strange plant that I cannot identify off the top of my head, caught my eye.  Tropical in nature, with long stems and something that looks like mini Brussels sprouts, it nevertheless captures my imagination and triggers the weird factor.  I hope you enjoy too.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 105 f/2.8 micro

Focal length:  105 mm

Exposure: 1/60 @ f/3.8 ISO 400

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Red Mountain Cirque

Red Mountain Cirque

ALAK08D-291

July 29, 2008

Red Mountain lies above Seldovia, following a long and winding road until it reaches this idyllic landscape.  The cirque in the background reminds the glacial origins of this area, how Alaska is still often covered in ice and snow.  But the stream that flows from the mountain is cold, crisp, refreshing.  It is a fabulous place to explore for the day.  The shadows were a bit harsh, due to the high summer lighting, so the left side of the image is a bit off, but the sharpness and colors really pop.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Sigma 10-20 f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  10 mm

Exposure: 1/20 @ f/22 ISO 100

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Dead Man's Tree

Dead Man's Tree

ILLN08D-372

November 3, 2008

First, my apologies.  The vagaries of grad school and life caught up with me, and I was unable to hook up five images to post last week.  So I lost some time.  However, now we're back, with all new images.  With Halloween quickly approaching, I was flipping back through the archive to see what there was from years past.  And this image, with the ghosts hanging from the tree, seemed to fit perfectly.  I love the slight hint of motion in this image, a whispy notion for the ghosts fluttering there in the tree.  And it works well in black and white.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 50 f/1.4

Focal length:  50 mm

Exposure: 20 sec @ f/8 ISO 100

Post-processing: Desaturated, minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Splashes of Color from the Chimney

Splashes of Color from the Chimney

GRSM11D-34

October 8, 2011

Wrapping up this week of shots from the mountains, this last photo explodes with color.  Taken from the top of Chimney Tops trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, you can see the various shades as autumn sets in.  Reds, golden, with the evergreens still holding their own, it has a nice rugged feeling about it, though it is separated from much perspective due to the longer focal length.  (and it seems, in retrospect, that the uploader somehow crunched the photo more than I had anticipated, it seems blurrier than it did in LR).  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 50 f/1.4

Focal length:  50 mm

Exposure: 1/80 @ f/16 ISO 400

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Softness of Season's Change

Softness of Season's Change

GRSM11D-58_HDR

October 8, 2011

Hiking through the woods of NC, one thing you come to realize is that there are an astonishing number of waterfalls around.  The area is very lush, much more so than you'd think offhand, and it holds home to an incredible diversity of species, including salamanders and fungi.  And with some late-summer/early-fall rain storms that preceded our trip up to the mountains, the streams were in full bloom.  This small unnamed cascade was spotted coming down from Chimney Tops in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  You just barely get a glimpse of the colors changing, but it is a good contrast against the greenery all around, and the general coolness of the scene.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 50 f/1.4

Focal length:  50 mm

Exposure: var @ f/16 ISO 100

Post-processing: HDR image compiled from 5 images (+2, +1, 0, -1, -2 EV) in PS4.  Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Fall From Atop the Chimney

Fall From Atop the Chimney

GRSM11D-26_pan

October 8, 2011

The Chimney Tops Trail is a pretty tough slog up the side of the mountain; in the 2-mile journey, you rise close to 2,000 feet, most of which is in the last mile.  So you reach the top, having panted your way across the trail, and you scramble up the final couple hundred yards of craggy slate.  But your rewards are immense.  Perhaps not the tallest peak of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but it has commanding views of the surrounding peaks.  And when fall is in full-swing, it is quite a sight.  This image shows off the patches of color erupting through the forest, and the crags of Chimney Tops below.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 50 f/1.4

Focal length:  50 mm

Exposure: 1/80 @ f/16 ISO 400

Post-processing: Panorama compiled from 8 images, cropped own to final size in PS4.  Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Smoky Autumn Waterfall

Smoky Autumn Waterfall

GRSM11D-16_HDR

October 7, 2011

We came across this scene while driving into the park actually; from the road you could see higher up into this little creek, and the trees were alive with the colors of autumn.  So I pulled a fast turn into the pull-out, rattling my passengers, but that is the risk you take when a photographer is driving through the mountains.  We scouted around, and ended up looking down in the creek a little, looking up past this small cascade and into the fiery brilliance of the forest.  This is an HDR, a little blurry in the trees due to the wind, but still helping pick out some of the tones in the rock and river that otherwise could have been lost.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Sigma 10-20 f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  10 mm

Exposure: var @ f/13 ISO 400

Post-processing: HDR image compiled from 3 images (0, +1, -1 EV) in PS4, tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Burgeoning Fall

Burgeoning Fall

GRSM11D-35

October 8, 2011

Well, fall is here, and to celebrate I spent the weekend exploring Great Smoky National Park, my first visit to the most popular park in the country.  The park is huge, though tremendously busy, which led to some unfortunate traffic jams.  But climbing up the trail at Chimney Rocks, we came across this scene of fall, with the trees turning, broken up by the evergreens below.  Quite a beautiful day to be hiking in the woods.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 50 f/1.4

Focal length:  50 mm

Exposure: 1/80 @ f/16 ISO 400

Post-processing: Tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Fall Apple Chicken Diptych

Fall Apple Chicken Diptych

FOOD11D-84_dip

October 1, 2011

To wrap up this week of food delights, which has been really rewarding for me (and I will probably return to this theme again in the future), we go to the newest creation out of my kitchen.  Fall conjures up, to me, ovens, squash, and apples.  While there are no squash in this scene, I took the apples and chicken and combined them, roasting it in the oven with the sliced apples to give it a great flavor.  The chicken and apples also had cinnamon, which gave the dish an almost Middle Eastern flavor.  Were I to include apricots and raisins in lieu of apples, then it would be Moroccan in nature.  As it was, however, it was delish.

The image itself was combined as a diptych, a before and after scene.  I like the ingredients all laid out before hand, showing them off in their raw quality, and then contrasting it with the browned, complete dish at the end.  Both images had a sort of Lomo-esque look applied to them before finally constructing the image.  Enjoy!

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 18-135 f/3.5-5.6

Focal length:  var.

Exposure: var. ISO 400

Post-processing: Tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4, final assembly of diptych created in PS 4.

Crispy, Cheesy Pie

Crispy, Cheesy Pie

COLO09D-93

December 27, 2009

Continuing on with the food trend, today comes from one of my favorite pizza places.  In the world of pizza, the champion still remains Zachary's in Oakland/Berkeley, and that one cannot be upset so far.  However, a close second comes from Colorado, and BeauJo's pizza is dynamite.  The sweet honey wheat crust, piled with whatever you want.  It is a special kind of pizza, and exceedingly tasty, and thus it graces the blog today (and because I'm jones-in for a good piece o' pie right about now).  Enjoy

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 50 f/1.4

Focal length: 50 mm

Exposure: 1/80 sec @ f/1.4 ISO 400

Post-processing: Tone adjusted with LR 1.4

Bhutan Yak Cheese

Bhutan Yak Cheese

BHUT10D-165

November 19, 2010

It is inevitable, that as you travel you are taken outside your comfort zone, and exposed to new experiences that you've not encountered before.  Frequently this is in the form of food, as there is a variety across the globe that Americans can only wonder at (and watch in the form of increasingly popular food-travel shows).  This image today encapsulates that.  In Bhutan, a common snack is a dried form of yak's cheese.  These bricks are about the consistence of a large gum eraser, or what an eraser would taste like were I to chew on one.  And you cannot really chew and swallow it; rather, you let the digestive enzymes in your mouth go to work on the cheese, and it slowly disintegrates in your mouth.  It has a salty tang to its flavor, and lasts a long while.  I kept mine in my mouth for the better part of a 3 hour car ride, and it was still barely half gone before I gave it up in favor of lunch.  Still, it was an experience, to be sure.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 18-135 f/3.5-5.6

Focal length: 44 mm

Exposure: 1/400 @ f/4.8 ISO 400

Post-processing: Tone adjusted with LR 1.4

Sour Cream Baked Goodness

Sour Cream Baked Goodness

FOOD11D-25

March 12, 2011

Continuing on the food theme this week are these sour-cream cookies.  Cute little drops of dough have a tang to them, and topped with a Mexican chocolate buttercream, with hints of cayenne, cinnamon, and vanilla.  They are delicious.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 105 f/2.8 micro

Focal length: 105 mm

Exposure: 3.6 sec @ f/5.6 ISO 100

Post-processing: Tone adjusted with LR 1.4

Peach Globes

Peach Globes

FOOD10D-3

July 21, 2010

For some reason, as fall approaches, I get the urge to cook.  Maybe it is the changing weather, the coolness of the day makes me feel like turning on an oven (though I do a fair bit of grilling in the summertime), or maybe it is lower light levels.  Who knows.  But whatever the reason, this weekend I hit the kitchen hard, and thus this week I'll be digging out photos, some old, some new, of food.  Some that I've made, some that I've traveled to find, some that have found me.  While this blog has been primarily nature photography, which is one of my over-riding passions, I cannot deny that I have a powerful attachment to food and cooking and food.  

To kick off the week, we have these peaches.  Southern peaches are a summer fruit, and there is no better flavor than fresh peaches.  Well, perhaps grilled and slathered over ice cream.  That's pretty darn good too.  These three, even a year later, I remember as probably the best peaches that I've ever had.  Soft, juicy, with a bright flavor that burst in your mouth.  And hopefully this photo does them some justice.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 105 f/2.8 micro

Focal length: 105 mm

Exposure: 1/8 sec @ f/3.2 ISO 100

Post-processing: Tone adjusted with LR 1.4