Green Sea Turtle

Green Sea Turtle
Originally uploaded by Kirk Howard

This was taken with my new Canon PowerShot G10 camera and Canon WP-DC28 underwater housing. It took a week to get somewhat familar with all the controls and buttons and knobs.

However by the end of my vacation I was able to capture moments like this free diving with an very buoyant housing. I need to get the weights to help make the camera neutrally buoyant.

Schmap Destination Guide: Photo Inclusion

Pumpkin Pile
Originally uploaded by Kirk Howard

One of my photographs has been selected to be included for the Schmap Destination Guide.

I have personally never used this guide before, but I checked them out to make sure it was on the up and up. It seems to be directed to the mobile phone market specifically the iPhone.

I have included the letters that were sent to me via Flickr mail.

************************************************************************

From: Emma J. Williams
Subject: Schmap: San Francisco Photo Short-list


Hi Kirk,

I am writing to let you know that one of your photos has been short-listed for inclusion in the sixth edition of our Schmap San Francisco Guide, to be published mid-March 2009.

www.schmap.com/shortlist/p=66304943N00/c=SJ20012965

Clicking this link will take you to a page where you can:
i) See which of your photos has been short-listed.
ii) Submit or withdraw your photo from our final selection phase.
iii) Learn how we credit photos in our Schmap Guides.
iv) Browse online or download the fifth edition of our Schmap San Francisco Guide.

While we offer no payment for publication, many photographers are pleased to submit their photos, as Schmap Guides give their work recognition and wide exposure, and are free of charge to readers. Photos are published at a maximum width of 150 pixels, are clearly attributed, and link to high-resolution originals at Flickr.

Our submission deadline is Tuesday, February 24. If you happen to be reading this message after this date, please still click on the link above (our Schmap Guides are updated frequently - photos submitted after this deadline will be considered for later releases).

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides
www.schmap.me/emma.williams

***************************************************************************

From: Emma J. Williams
Subject: Schmap San Francisco Sixth Edition: Photo Inclusion


Hi Kirk,

I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo has been selected for inclusion in the newly released sixth edition of our Schmap San Francisco Guide:

Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival
www.schmap.com/sanfrancisco/events_outandabout/p=20581/i=20581_4.jpg

If you use an iPhone or iPod touch, then this same link will take you directly to your photo in the iPhone version of our guide. On a desktop computer, you can still see exactly how your photo is displayed and credited in the iPhone version of our guide at:

Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival
www.schmap.com/?m=iphone#uid=sanfrancisco&sid=events_outandabout&p=20581&i=20581_4

Finally, if you have a blog, you might also like to check out the customizable widgetized version of our Schmap San Francisco Guide, complete with your published photo:

www.schmap.com/guidewidgets/p=66304943N00/c=SJ20012191

Thanks so much for letting us include your photo - please enjoy the guide!

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides
www.schmap.me/emma.williams

Reflection at Dawn

Reflection at Dawn
Originally uploaded by Kirk Howard

An early February snowy morning in Yosemite National Park. This is a photo from Stoneman Bridge take with my Panasonic Point n Shoot.

What attracted me to this image is the glassy calm of the Merced River and the dawn colors in the reflection.

Holiday Message...

24 Beams of Light...

This was my first year to Pigeon Point Light Station to watch and photograph the light of the old first order Fresnel lens. It was a fantastic opportunity to capture the beams of light emanate from the 24 prism panels in the lens.

They light was lit at 6pm and for the first five minutes they held the carriage still to keep the lens from rotating. Giving an untold amount of photographers the opportunity to capture 24 beams of light. After the first five minutes the lens rotates beaming a signature flash of light every ten seconds.

The closer you stood the lighthouse structure the more the beams were pronounced. It was amazing to see the beams of light streak past on the distant hillsides and in the ocean.
In the lantern room the bull’s-eye lens is 100' above ground to the focal plane of the lens. Also 150' (about) above sea level to the focal plane of the lens. This height compensates for the curvature of the earth. On a clear night, light has a visual distance of 24 miles from the ocean.

It was announced on Saturday that this might be the last lighting of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse Lantern. With further investigation it may be discontinued until the necessary renovations are completed to fix the damaged lighthouse structure.

The reason why they may not light the lamp in 2009 is a safety issue and not a cost issue. The Coast Guard engineering studies report the structure may collapse if an earthquake or a very strong wind storm were to batter the lighthouse.

Over the years the sea spray and salt air have slowly decayed the exterior structure. In 2001 part of the west facing caprice fell (cornice on the exterior of the lighthouse fell off). The result was the closure of the Lighthouse Structure to the public.

According to Staff and California State Parks, lack the funding needed it to fix the lighthouse and lantern room. Current estimated figures are around 5 million dollars to repair and renovate the structure and rework the lens. Most of the funds required, have to be provided by private funding.
Donations can be made to restore the Pigeon Point Light Station or to Cal. State Parks Foundation.

Heading South...

Leaving for San Clemente in a few hours. We are go to see family and to surf. I leave you with the Wordle of the day.

The Wordle of the day was taken fro the City of San Clemente's website. I copied the text from the San Clemente history page and pasted it into Wordle. Fun little program... give it a try. Click here...

Maybe I can bring back some images of Hot Surf Action. Catch ya next week...

Photographer of Light…

One of Magellan’s favorite artists is Thomas Kinkade, the Painter of Light. She loves him so much just his spoken name wants to make her puke. Actually even though Magellan thinks the guy is paint by numbers artist, she admires his business skills and the ability to make a fortune out of a pile of crap.

Last weekend for our anniversary we drove south on Hwy 1 on our way to Cambria. During our trip we stopped (Forced at Lens Point) at famous landmarks i.e. Bixby Bridge, Point Sur Light Station and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.

Last year I set out to work on a photography project. This project was to help me keep my focus on an idea while improving my photography skills. My project I selected for myself was to photograph all the California Lighthouses and Light Stations.

During the Point Sur stop we took a Three Hour Tour of the Light Station. The Point Sur State Park offers two tours, one at 10:00AM and another at 2:00PM. Once you begin the tour you can’t leave, nor can you not go and stay in your car. This tour is either all or none. I recommend the tour it is well done and the restoration is almost complete.

The Point Sur stop gave me the opportunity to get closer to completing my project. While on the tour I made the remark I was the Photographer of Light. It was a spoof of Thomas Kinkade and his paintings of Lighthouses.

Here are some images I have taken since I started. One of my favorites is not of the Lantern (light) itself, but of the glass prisms from the Prism Deck at Point Sur Light Station. To see more images got to my Flickr Set California Lighthouses.

Have a good weekend…

Pigeon Point Light Station
Point Arena Lighthouse

Where's Matt...?

While Magellan (wife) was going through my blog she clicked the link on the front which took her to another random blog. On this blog where some very interesting items. One of which was a video that she shared with me that was called "Where in the Hell is Matt?" It was a You Tube video that had over 11 million views. Here is the latest work by Matt. As Magellan said "It makes me smile" The video and the link to Matt's page are below. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did...

To visit Matt's web page Click... Here.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Back to Yosemite...

Today we are heading back to Yosemite for the weekend. It's spring time in Yosemite Valley so the snow pack is melting and the waterfalls should be flowing at full throttle.

Also Glacier Point Road is open for the summer. I am sure with the heat wave we are having in Northern California, Tioga Pass Road may open this weekend too.

I will post some new images next week. Here is a panoramic image I took in Feb. However I used the sketch feature in Adobe Photoshop Express BETA. The BETA version is available online for free.

Mirror, Mirror…

Here is a picture taken in Yosemite Valley National Park last weekend. We happened to be walking on the southwest bank of the Merced River. The river was calm the surface was glassy smooth. I set up my tripod and snapped a few incredible images. Can you figure out if this picture is right side up or up side down? Hint look at the lighter spot in the upper middle left of the image.

Later in the day we hiked to Mirror Lake at the base Half Dome’s front side. They name Mirror Lake was chosen because of the reflected image that can be seen of Half Dome in the very calm lake.

Unfortunately the pictures we took didn’t turn out as expected. The water level in the lake was low and the surface was partially covered in ice. The best time to photograph half dome is when the lake is at its fullest, in late spring.

To get a good mirror image you have to break one of the golden rules in photography. In order to get it to look like a mirror image you line the shot up right in the middle. The will give you an equal amount of mirror image.

gi•nor•mous…

ginormous - gi·nor·mous Pronunciation: \jī-ˈnȯr-məs\ Function: adjective, Etymology: gigantic + enormous, Date circa 1948 : extremely large : humongous

I have to say this describes the trees in Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove exactly. Over the long weekend my wife and I went back to Yosemite National Park. Mariposa Grove is one of 75 groves of the Giant Sequoia Trees. We hiked six miles in the snow, up hill both ways to the Giant Sequoias in Mariposa Grove, and to see the Grizzly Giant. The Grizzly Giant is the largest Sequoia in the Mariposa Grove. It is estimated to be over 3000 years old. According to the literature, the lower limbs of the Grizzly Giant are larger in girth than any other non-sequoia tree trunk in the Mariposa Grove. Ginormous...

We also went back to the valley floor. We had scheduled a walking photo tour early Saturday morning. The tour was hosted by a photography pro at the Ansel Adams Studio Gallery in the Yosemite Village.

The tour took about 2 hours. It is designed for all levels of photography. The guild showed us techniques of framing and depth of field etc... He also took the group to some of the places Ansel Adams took some of his famous pictures.

There were about twenty-five of us in the group, and the only person shooting on film was the guild. Some of his instruction was about film and darkroom processing. I noticed that 90% of the people on the tour had a strange blank look when he spoke about the use of film.

This is my take on film vs. digital photography:

Film – Film photographers are like snipers. One shot one kill. Film users require more technique and a higher level of skill to master. Since you have a limited amount of pictures per roll of film, you have to make sure your shot is almost perfect. Paying close attention to lighting, focus, exposure, framing, detail, depth of field, blah, blah, blah… You will never know what you really have until your film is processed, and in a roll of 36 Fuji Provia slide film, you might get one, one good kill. Film photography doesn’t make you lazy.

Digital – Digital photographers’ are like an infantry soldier. The grunt grabs his M16A4 riffle and sprays lead until he has to reload or gets tired. Just like the grunt a new digital photographer can shoot pictures until his digital media storage becomes full or he gets bored and or tired.

Even though most skilled photographers that switched to digital still use proper technique and discipline, for the most part we can get lazy. If we don’t like the picture the first time (delete) and shoot it until you get it right. We can shoot until the cows come home, and in a thousand images we will be happy if we get ten decent images.

Abracadabra...!

As the sun sets and the light starts to fade I witnessed a migration of animals. This wasn’t any ordinary animal this was the stalking photographer.

My wife and I had just emerged from the trail on our way back from the base of Yosemite Falls. We decided to cross north side drive and head into the meadow (sentinel meadow). The meadow was covered with snow. In some places we sank up to our hips in snow. This would make for some great pictures in the fail afternoon light.

As I set up my camera on my tripod to take some pictures of Half Dome and the surrounding landscape, I witnessed a migration of photographers about 100 yards in front of my position. I would say there were about 30 or 40 photographers marching in a straight line into the middle of the meadow.

I thought this was a peculiar image so I captured the moment, of photographers lined up to take pictures of half dome. Once I got the shot I was looking for, I grabbed my gear and took my place in formation along the line.

Once I got set up I asked Kevin, a photographer from Fresno what was going on. He explained that during certain times of the year, as the sun sets, the last rays of light hit the upper part of the Yosemite Valley and turns Half Dome a reddish orange color. He continued to explain that capturing the image is a rare event due to the time of year (February) and weather related issues. Fortunately we were in the right place at the right time and it was going to be a good day to get a good photograph. The weather had cooperated all day and the sky was clear, almost too clear.

As time moved on and the valley darkened, we waited patiently in the cold. Did I mention that we are at 4000 feet elevation and in the middle of winter? Yes, it was cold and as soon as the sunlight disappeared in the valley floor the temperature dropped fast.

Finally, as we watched the shadow creep up the face, and you think that the magic light or as they put it the “color” wasn’t going to happen. Poof it happens. You see the color change on the face of Half Dome from the granite gray to a light pinkish orange. The color continues to deepen to a reddish orange. The “color” only lasts for a few minutes, and then it’s gone.
Once the last of the magic color had gone, the herd of photographers packed up the 200+ thousands worth of photo gear, and retreated to the warmth of their cars. Since my arse was already frozen to point of no feeling, I decided to wait out the light and try to capture Half Dome in the very last light of the day.

I forgot about the feet. I couldn’t do it. I had to leave before I wanted to. My feet lost feeling, and I knew when that happened I was toast. I had to abandon my post and retreat to the warmth of the Element, and change my wet socks. At that point I was done.