CURRENT NEWSLETTER January 2009 January Program Our program on January will feature Cathy and Gordon Illg. Their program will look into the life of full time wildlife and nature photographers.
Although they are rarely in town for the meetings these days, Cathy and
Gordon ILLG are charter members of the UWPC, and much of what they know about
nature photography they learned from the original club leaders, Wendy Shattil
and Bob Rozinski. They have been full time professional nature photographers since
July of 2000, and their work appears in nearly every major nature publication,
including the covers of Backpacker, Defenders, National Geographic Young Explorer
and National Wildlife. They have earned numerous awards in the Nature's Best Photo
Monthly Critique Images: Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. We are in the process of planning our themes for 2009. We’ll have more information in a week or two.
Field Trips We are in the process of planning our field trip schedule fro 2009. We’ll have more information in a week or two.
Digital Corner – Winter Photography
I know that I said we’d look at additional exposure topics this month but since we are deep into winter, I thought that it might be timelier to look at some of the aspects of winter shooting. There are two areas that come to mind when one thinks of winter photography. The first is equipment and the second is selection of subjects.
With regard to equipment a whole series of things jump out. These things include care of your equipment in harsher than normal conditions, and care of the primary piece of equipment, the photographer. The subjects available in winter are more limited than other seasons but we’ll look into that as well. The use of the creative controls to achieve great images is also an important part of the process.
Let’s look at care of equipment. The two things that impact equipment in cold weather are moisture and of course temperature. Moisture comes mostly in the form of snow and condensation from your breath. The condensation can freeze and be a bit more insidious than snow because it can build up gradually. Keep a soft cloth available to remove condensation from your camera (especially the LCD screen and the view finder). Snow can become a problem if you shoot during a snow storm, so the use of a commercial lens and camera body cover or just a plastic bag can be very helpful. Also consider that when carrying your camera, whether on or off a tripod, while you move around, exposes it to a sudden “dunking” in a snow bank if you trip and fall. If you’ll be in areas with potential tripping hazards, consider putting your camera and lens in your pack or at least putting a plastic bag around them while moving from one location to another.
Batteries are very much “allergic” to cold weather. The typical digital (and most film) cameras uses a rechargeable Lithium ion battery. These batteries provide power for everything in the camera. You’ll find if you are out shooting in weather significantly below around 20 degrees that the battery will appear to lose charge after a while. Keep a spare battery or two in a warm place, like a pocket inside of your cold weather jacket. You can take the battery that has lost charge and warm it up to regain usable charge. If you are on a multi day shoot, be sure to bring adequate chargers so you can recharge your batteries each evening. Unlike the older NiCad batteries, newer Lithium ones don’t exhibit the half charge “memory”, so charging a partially discharged battery is acceptable.
There is an ongoing debate about winterizing cameras by changing lubricant on the shutter mechanism. I doubt that many of us will ever be shooting in such extreme temperatures where this will be an issue. I suggest that if you do plan to go to the deep Arctic to shoot, that you contact the camera manufacturer for guidance.
Now that we’ve protected our equipment, what about us? Modern fabrics and materials have given us a myriad of boots, gloves, coats, pants and other garments so that comfort is no longer a pipe dream when shooting in winter. That being said, we still need to make the best usage of these items. I could write volumes on the different clothing items available but suffice to say that dressing in layers plus wearing boots with insulation and moisture resistance are two basic requirements. Your layered clothing should be appropriate for the conditions (moisture resistance, insulation value, etc.). Gloves are another key piece of equipment for the photographer. I like to wear a pretty heavy pair when I’m out wandering and then have a pair of glove liners to wear while shooting to allow the dexterity I need. I’ve tried the “fingerless” gloves with liners but they are a bit awkward for me. This is a personal choice; just make sure to have adequate hand protection.
Let’s now look at subjects and creative controls. As I said before, subject matter is somewhat more limited in winter. That doesn’t mean a lack of subjects. Landscapes (both large and small) abound. Look around and see if you can find “snowscapes”, shadows, ice formations and other winter images. Make use of the shadows, shapes and patterns to get really interesting images. When shooting snow or ice, remember that your camera meter is designed to expose for midtones and snow in bright sun will become a grey/blue color. Use added exposure, your color temperature or white balance controls to get a proper color. That saves time in front of the computer correcting the balance.
Wildlife in winter is a very valid topic but more than any other season, we need to be very cautious not to stress these creatures. Getting through winter is tough enough without people adding extra stress. Watch for the classic signs of stress in an animal and back off if an inkling of stress is presence. Winter wildlife shots can be very good if you are careful. Stressed animals don’t make great shoots.
Take advantage of the season and get out shooting!
February
2009 February Program Our program on January will feature Jim Mauer. Jim’s program will highlight the national parks of the western U. S. and Jim’s efforts to document them in images.
Monthly Critique Images Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. The theme for February is “snow and ice”. With our recent weather this should not be a difficult subject to locate.
Field Trips We are still in the process of planning our field trip schedule for 2009. We’ll have more information in a week or two.
Digital Corner – Depth of field
I know depth of field is not just a digital topic but in keeping with our plan to address some of the basics I thought I’d discuss the concept. Depth of field is defined as the distant in front and behind the main area of focus that is acceptably sharp. If we look at how an image is “projected” on to the camera sensor we see:
The minimal acceptable sharpness is something called a circle of confusion. If you are really interested in the details check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_confusion
We all know that the aperture setting impacts depth of field. The reason can be seen in the following diagrams:
Light waves travel in straight lines and as we reduce the diameter of the lens opening we really extend the depth of field.
So what can we take away from this that we can apply to our everyday shooting? Well consider the following:
a) The smaller the f stop the greater the depth of field b) The greater the magnification, the shorter the depth of field. c) Depth of field is typically 1/3 in front of the point of exact focus and 2/3 behind. This changes as we increase magnification and the good rule of thumb for macro shooting is 50/50.
Go out and play with depth of field. Try images close and far, shoot the same subject with different f stops and different magnifications. You’ll develop a whole new set of creative tools.
March 2009 March Program Club member Pat Gautier will present a program on the Snow monkeys of Japan Monthly Critique Images Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. The theme for March is “Animals in Winter”.
Field Trips We’d like to do a field trip to Monte Vista in March. I need someone to volunteer to coordinate it. Please call me (Bob).
Dues
Annual dues are now due! We collect them from March to March. Any one who has joined and paid dues since November of 2008 is paid through 2009. Dues are $15.00 per year for email newsletter. That is for a single person or family! Snail mail delivery is $24.00 per year. Given the increasing cost of postage and copying, plus the very limited number of people getting hardcopy, this will probably be the last year that snail mail newsletter delivery will be available.
April
2009 April Program Bob Dean will present a program on Atlantic Canada. He and Nadine travelled to the far flung Maritime Provinces of eastern Canada to experience food, photography, history and culture. Join us for a tour of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.
Monthly Critique Images Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. The theme for April is “Silhouettes ”.
Field Trips We’d like to do a field trip to Monte Vista in March. I need someone to volunteer to coordinate it. Please call me (Bob).
Dues
Annual dues are now due! We collect them from March to March. Any one who has joined and paid dues since November of 2008 is paid through 2009. Dues are $15.00 per year for email newsletter. That is for a single person or family! Snail mail delivery is $24.00 per year. Given the increasing cost of postage and copying, plus the very limited number of people getting hardcopy, this will probably be the last year that snail mail newsletter delivery will be available.
Digital Corner: Upgrades to Adobe Lightroom Adobe has released version 2 of Lightroom™ and has already made revision 2.3 available to Version 2 owners. Additional versions are available free of charge to registered owners of the base product. If you own version 2, then you can download any 2.x update. It’s only when they revise the base product, go from 1 to 2, you’ll need to pay. Even then, once you own a copy of the original, you can upgrade to a new version for a lot less money. Owners of LR1 can upgrade for less than $100, even though the price of a complete new package is almost $300. Lightroom™ can be downloaded directly from Adobe (http://www.adobe.com/). Keep you serial number and other purchase information. If you have a computer problem and need to reload an application that was downloaded, that information will be very helpful. It will save you the cost of re-purchase! If you are a fan of version 1, you’ll really like version 2. I did have a bit of a time getting it to recognize all of my images that were organized on version 1 but after a few minutes I had several thousand images ready to go. LR2 has all of the features of version 1 plus lot’s of new capability and ease of use. Once again I am very pleased that I use Lightroom™ and Elements™ in places of full blown Photoshop™. Lightroom is quite reasonable and you can buy on line (safely) from Adobe and quickly install a fantastic tool.
June 2009 June Program Don & Debbie Waltman - Hot air balloon photography. Now that spring is here the hiss of hot air balloons in the early morning sky is more common. Don and Debbie will discuss how to get those unique shots. Who knows, you may even start planning for Albuquerque on the first weekend in October! Monthly Critique Images Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. The theme for May is “Patterns in Nature”. Get
Well Long time and now remotely located member Andy Long has a new knee! Andy underwent surgery in early May and is now getting around pretty well without a walker or cane. You can contact him through his website email andy@firstlighttours.com
Field Trips June 13-14 - Camping trip to North Park for moose with trips to Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge (for those not going to the airshow. If you want to set up a meeting point at the airshow, contact Bob at uwpc@comcast.net Dues
Annual dues are now past due! We collect them from March to March. Any one who has joined and paid dues since November of 2008 is paid through 2009. Dues are $15.00 per year including the email newsletter. That is for a single person or family! Snail mail delivery is no longer an option as we have no current members requesting hardcopy deliveryJ. Send me an email query (uwpc@comcast.net) if you are unsure of your status. Newsletter Articles We’d like to expand what’s in the newsletter now that we are email only. If ANYONE is a budding author and wants to submit articles, we’d love to publish them. The submission guidelines are pretty simple. Send your article in Microsoft Word ™ to uwpc@comcast.net and use a subject name that includes “UWPC Newsletter Article”. Topics are pretty open but must relate to photography. Please do spell and grammar checks before you submit, check your facts and make sure you don’t infringe on anyone else’s copyright! Also please avoid political subjects as our status as a non profit 501 (c) 7 corporation requires that we avoid taking sides politically. If you really want to do a political statement, we can figure out a disclaimer that indicates it’s your opinion and not that of the club. Subjects to consider include, but are not limited to, locations, techniques, equipment discussions, or whatever! We’re looking forward to the flood of submissions. Newsletter Features This is an easy one! What would you like to see in the newsletter as far as additional features? Just email your ideas to me!!
July 2009 July Program Calvin Carlye, from NCAR in Boulder presenting a program on clouds and weather
Monthly Critique Images Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. The theme for July is Pseudo Animals - inanimate things that look like animals
Field Trips July 11 - Mount Evans for mountain goats - early birds can do sunrise at the bristlecone pine forest. If you are planning to participate please e-mail Pat Gautier [Gautier.Patrick@geoeye.com] so we can finalize arrangements.
Photo Contest Audubon magazine is running its first ever Photography Awards, Birds in Focus. There are some excellent prizes, and winners will have their images published in Audubon magazine.
You can find out more about the competition at: http://audubonmagazinephotoawards.org
August Program Planning As we mentioned last month, the August meeting will feature our members! I need you to send me a few images (5-7 would be a good number) of your favorite or most interesting images over the last year. Please include a sentence or two for each one describing the image and why you made it! I’ll put these together in a slide program for the meeting. Please resize to <500kB and Send them to uwpcimages@comcast.net by JULY 17th. Thanks and we’re looking forward to this program.
Travel Article This month we feature Jim Mauer’s On the Road – June 2009. If you would like to publish an article in the newsletter, send it to Bob at uwpc@comcast.net
The difference a year makes! One year ago I was camped in Grand Teton National Park. In the morning I ran the furnace to take the chill out of the camper. The last couple weeks I’ve been camping in Bayou Segnette State Park, on the west bank of the Mississippi river, across from New Orleans. The last thing on my mind since hitting the gulf coast has been my furnace. Every day for the past week my outside thermometer has hit at least 100° with a heat index of 106. From the weather reports down here, I take it that a huge high pressure system that’s sitting over the gulf of Mexico, is pumping the heat out of the Southwest U.S. right across Texas and into Louisiana, Mississippi, and the Southeast. Last year I was so proud of my tiny little carbon foot print (I dry camped nearly the whole summer). This year with my air conditioner running from 8AM to 8PM my foot print more resembles that of Sasquatch. Ah the difference a year makes. Since my last missive I spent a couple weeks in Deming NM getting the trailer stocked and ready for this years’ trip. I started my long slow crawl, west to east on May 26th. Crossing Texas was a much fun as crossing Texas always is. My first stop on the gulf coast was in Winnie Texas. Winnie is about sixty miles southeast of Houston or 50 to 60 miles northeast of Galveston. If you’ve forgotten, Hurricane Ike ripped through Galveston September 13th 2008. In Winnie, about 20 miles north of the coast, most of the damage had been fixed, but the closer to the coast, the more apparent the destructive force of Ike. I visited the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge several times. It’s a little southwest of Winnie. I was amazed at the amount of debris that had blown into the refuge. I’m talking about house roofs and walls and I’m guessing that much of it came from Galveston. I was talking to a guy on the beach one day and he was telling me that a plank from his dad’s house that was located on one of the barrier islands around Galveston was found a hundred miles away. They knew it was from his father’s house because it was the part that had his dad’s name and address on it. A week in Winnie Texas was about all the fun and excitement I could take. So I made the 300 mile jump over to New Orleans. As I said, I’m in Bayou Segnette State Park, Louisiana has done a wonderful job, at least with this State park. The grass is cut weekly (in this environment it’s needed), the park is clean and picked up, other than the heat it’s a beautiful place to camp. Another real plus is that it’s only twenty minutes from the French Quarter. To sweeten the pot a little more, Louisiana honors the Federal Seniors Pass, so camping with electric and water hookups is the princely sum of nine dollars a day. The French Quarter is very cool (as in neat, not heat), this is my first visit and I haven’t wasted it eating fast food. The real deal, Gumbo, Jambalaya, and Mississippi catfish, have all exceeded my expectations. Unfortunately I’m feeling my age on Bourbon Street. The music coming out of the bars is so loud I haven’t been motivated to spend the night sucking suds and listening to the bands rock it out. I’m still looking for a little club where I can sample the real N. O. jazz scene. A little about Hurricane Katrina. If you haven’t kept up on New Orleans, it’s had a very bad problem with violence. I had several people warn me to not wonder into the lower ninth ward and other areas that were under water. So I took a Gray Line tour of the area. The driver told us that some of his passengers expect to see parts of the city still under water. Not so, the amount of the devastation that has been rebuilt is incredible and is only to be over shadowed by the amount that is still in wreckage. You go down a street and side by side there are brand new houses standing next to houses that haven’t been touched since the day of the storm. It’s a crazy quilt of new, old, and everything in between. I don’t think there is a concentration of Lowe’s and Home Depots like this anywhere else. Sometimes is seems like one every half mile. I’ve rambled on too long so let’s go to what I’ve heard from a lot of you, that you enjoy the most, the photos. I started out contrasting last year and this, so let’s keep that theme going. First a photo from last year(something new you haven’t seen), then something corresponding from this year.
Last Year, my trailer in Grand Teton National Park
This year, my trailer in Bayou Segnette State Park
A pair of Bison sparring in the grass last year.
A couple Gaters nose to nose in the swamp this year.
Here a Wood pecker poses on a branch in northwest Wyoming.
And a Great Egret gives me a profile on a boat dock.
A nineteenth century cabin slowly deteriorates in the shadow of the Tetons.
A twentieth century house that was all but destroyed by Katrina, in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
An eagle and osprey practice aero acrobatics (The eagle was flying over an osprey nesting area and was attacked by 3 osprey. The eagle is flying inverted (upside down) as he watches the osprey break off the attack).
Four pelicans fly in close formation over the gulf.
An osprey brings home the catch of the day.
A great blue heron gets ready to gulp down it’s lunch. Well that about does it for another addition of my “On The Road” series. I welcome any comments good or bad, and if you know of anyone else whom you think might enjoy it, please pass it along. If you want to send someone’s email address to be included in my list, feel free. Until the next time, live your dream, I am. You can contact me at: j.mauer@comcast.net - Jim Mauer AUGUST
4, 2009 PROGRAM August Program Members best images from the past 12months! Come and see the great work our members have been doing with their cameras Monthly Critique Images The amount of work received from members for our program will allow us to have a few critique and theme images in August, so go ahead and submit. Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the MONDAY before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. The theme for August is wildflowers.
Field Trips Next field trip will be September 26th to Kenosha Pass for fall color. Can you believe it’s nearly fall color time? If you are planning to participate please e-mail Pat Gautier [Gautier.Patrick@geoeye.com] so we can finalize arrangements.
Photo Contests
Are you aware of the Audubon Society of Greater Denver's Photo and Art Contest? Information is at http://www.denveraudubon.org/artphoto.htm. Thanks to Nancy Stocker for bringing this to our attention.
The Tehama County Photo Club, located in Red Bluff, CA is very excited about offering an opportunity to the area's photographers by sponsoring the International Photography Show, "Images From A Glass Eye, 2009." Deadline is August 13th so if you are interested, you need to hurry. http://sites.google.com/site/tehamacountyphotoclub/Home
Preparing images for digital projection
I have found a couple of articles that I thought were pretty good in describing how to resize images for projection. Take a look and see if they are helpful.
http://www.naturephotography-nz.org/files/Preparing_Images_for_Digital_Projection.pdf
http://www.brainerdphotographer.com/images/Image%20Resizing.pdf
SEPTEMBER 1st PROGRAM John Chapter, President of the Englewood camera club, will present a program on photographic judging and making a portfolio.
Monthly Critique Images Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. The theme for September is animal groups. PLEASE include your name in the image file name so we can give credit!!!
Field Trips Next field trip will be September 26th to Kenosha Pass for fall color. Can you believe it’s nearly fall color time? If you are planning to participate please e-mail Pat Gautier [Gautier.Patrick@geoeye.com] so we can finalize arrangements.
Photo Contests
Audubon Society of Greater Denver's Photo and Art Contest - Information is at http://www.denveraudubon.org/artphoto.htm
Once Again, here’s a message form Jim Mauer on his travels! Another month of summer seems to have slipped past. Is it tic toc, tic toc, or Whurrrrrrrr, WHAM, BAM, Crash? In my last message I was grousing about the heat, well for the time being as least, I seem to have left the worst of it behind me. Having finished my journey across I10 and landing on the Atlantic coast, the daily temperatures have dropped by ten to fifteen degrees. Let me tell you, the difference between 100° and 85° is quite noticeable, even if the humidity remains at 75 percent. Even better the night time temperatures have fallen into the low seventies. That means that my air conditioner has a chance to rest during the evening hours. I haven’t managed to transverse the whole of Interstate 10, but I did cross the whole U.S. with the exception of California. My map program calculates the distance at a shade over twenty-two hundred miles. I took a left in Jacksonville Florida and I’m now heading up the east coast. To back up just a bit, I was in New Orleans when I sent out my last note. I moved across town from Bayou Segnette State Park to Saint Bernard State Park. It’s only a hand full of miles as the crow flies, but because of the Mississippi River it was about twenty miles on the interstate and thus bypassing city traffic. (For some reason, I just can’t see my trailer going down Bourbon Street). If you recall the photo of my camper in Bayou Segnette you should remember not much in the way of shade. Hurricane Katrina took care of most of the old growth in that area. You can imagine my surprise when I pulled into this lovely mature tree filled park just a few miles from newly planted park I had just left. I guess Hurricanes can be as capricious as Tornados as far as totally devastating one area and sparing that right next door. I don’t know if you recall that old Johnny Horton hit single whose lyrics go something like “In 1814 we took a little trip Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip. We took a little bacon an' we took a little beans And we caught the bloody British at the town of New Orleans”. One of many gems that I’ve discovered is that the Battle of New Orleans didn’t really happen in New Orleans, It really took place in Chalmette which is a few miles down river from New Orleans. The battle field is preserved as part of the “Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve”. If you’re like me and that niche of history has long faded, that the U.S. kicked the British hinny pretty good in the battle, this, even though a treaty had been signed weeks before the battle took place. (If you’re under 50 and have no idea who Johnny Horton was, ask your mom or dad, or grandpa or grandma. They should remember) A photo from the battlefield later on. After a month in New Orleans I scooted the rest of the way across interstate 10, with short stops in Biloxi/Gulf Port and Pensacola. I spent a few days in Jacksonville restocking and catching my breath before I started up I 95, landing in Savannah. In Savannah I found a couple things. First I found more relieve from the heat. And second I found a truly beautiful southern city, centered around Old Savannah. After three days in the city I decided to stay another week. And I wasn’t because of an arctic cold front blowing through Georgia. Savannah was founded in1733 and although there isn’t much left standing from the 18th century, the mid and late 19th century are well represented with both public and private buildings and homes. Strolling through the narrow streets with their grand houses, one can easily imagine horse drawn carriages working their way down the very same street carrying southern ladies of means to their afternoon tea or of southern gentlemen gathering in one of the numerous squares to smoke a cigar and discuss the latest cotton price. Hay, it works in my imagination. The preservation of Old Savannah somewhat belies the hustle bustle of modern Savannah. I was told that Savannah is the third busiest container port in the U.S. That’s easily imagined once you’ve seen a giant container ship squeak under the towering Talmadge Memorial Bridge. Add to that the fact that I 95 runs past Savannah, heading south to Florida and north into New England and Savannah becomes a transport hub to the modern south. It may be a go go town of the twenty-first century but the folks are as congenial as they must have been in 1850. After my week and a half in Savannah, I move a ways northwest to Columbia, South Carolina. Although Columbia is steeped in history as well, it’s better known today for its proximity to the research triangle and the high tech companies that have located in the area as well as being the capital of South Carolina. While in Columbia, I’ve parked my camper in Sesquicentennial State Park. It’s a beautiful, large park only a couple miles off the interstate. While here I’ve managed a visit to Congaree National Park. Although Congaree only obtained National Park status in 2003, it has the wild wilderness feel of older National Parks located in the west. Since it’s located in a swamp, elevated walkways make it possible to hike through several miles of the park without fear of stepping on a cottonmouth or trudging through ankle deep muck. The rangers (as always) were eager to answer questions and throw out little tidbits of history. The only minor downside has been the daily afternoon rain showers. It’s somewhat cut short my outdoor time, but it has been nice to have the temperatures cooled in the afternoon and some additional respite from the July heat. I believe I’ve blathered on about long enough, so let’s get to the photographs. It wasn’t all nature and swamp tours in Louisiana, I did manage to let down my hair and have some fun in the French Quarter.
This is a representation of a couple of the artillery batteries that were in place during the Battle of New Orleans. From what I could find out the canon are of the same period as the battle, their placement is quite accurate.
There have been many great movies shot in Savannah, one of my favorites is “Midnight In The Garden Of Good and Evil”. I’m going to play around a little here and first give you a screen shot from the movie and then follow up with one of my photographs of the same landmark. First is John Cusack and Kevin Spacey as they exit the law offices of Bouhan, Williams & Levy LLP.
Although now law offices the building was originally The Armstrong House finished in 1919.
Here the Cusack and Spacey walk toward Forsyth Fountain in Forsyth Park.
I have a slightly different angle on the Fountain. In the movie they were coming in from the right.
Here is the first shot of the Mercer House, construction started in 1860 for the great great grandfather of Johnny Mercer.
I got a little closer with a wider lens. By the way, if you have some loose change, it’s reported that Jim Williams sister has the house up for sale for $8.95 million.
Here’s just another grand old Savannah house.
I mentioned earlier of the container ships sailing under the Talmadge Memorial Bridge, well here is one flanked by a couple ocean tugs.
As
always feel free to pass this along, and as usual your feed back is always welcome. You can e-mail me at j.mauer@comcast.net - Jim Mauer
OCTOBER 6 PROGRAM NEWSLETTER October 6th Program Andy Long, long time member, and current resident of Tyler, Texas, will be with us Tuesday. He is getting his Colorado fix between workshops. Andy will be presenting a great program on his exploits in pursuit of wildlife images!
Monthly Critique Images Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. The theme for October is fall color close-ups!. PLEASE include your name in the image file name so we can give credit!!!
Field Trips Next field trip will be December 12th to Rocky for big horn sheep. If you are planning to participate please e-mail Pat Gautier [Gautier.Patrick@geoeye.com] so we can finalize arrangements. Jim Mauer Still on the Road This year’s trip has reached the top of its’ arch of travel. I’ve wound my way up the East coast and through New England into Maine. My arrival has beaten the changing of the colors so I have some time to kill until nature catches up to my itinerary. In my last note I was still south of the Mason-Dixon Line in South Carolina. That was early August and although I had busted out of the triple digit heat of the deep South, daytime temps in the mid nineties were still more common than not. I pushed a little farther North to Richman Virginia. Until my arrival in Richman, I had long forgotten that Richman was the capital of the Confederacy. This strikes me funny now that I was staying in Richman and making daytrips to Washington DC. Two warring armies separated by what’s now a two hour drive up the interstate. That’s two hours on a good day. That stretch of I95 between DC and Richman has to be one of the most frustrating stretches of road I’ve ever driven. I was caught in several backups that lasted from a mere fifteen minutes to one that went on for over an hour. And then after the hour long backup broke free it was followed by another one thirty miles down the road that lasted another half hour. I wonder how people who use that corridor frequently maintain their sanity. But then again that could explain Washington DC, as well as the popularity of anti-anxiety drugs. While in Richman, I was camped in Pocahontas State Park. Like the other state parks I’ve visited this summer, Pocahontas is woefully underutilized during the week. The population picked up on the weekends but during the week I felt as though I owned the place. Just another perk of being retired and traveling. It’s great having all the space during the week, but it’s even more fun on the weekends seeing all the young families and some not so young families enjoying the out-of-doors. I hadn’t been in Washington DC since the early nineties. Both of my previous trips had been “off season”. Even then the crowds were large. At that, I really wasn’t prepared for the August crush that I experienced. Even mid week visits found all of the venues full. I guess the bad economy has kept many of the East Coaster close to home. Even with the crowded streets and full Metro subway cars, Washington still has that special WOW factor. I had to visit the National Zoo and see the Giant Pandas. I’m not sure what I had expected but they were both asleep in separate compounds. I did learn that they are monitored 24/7, videotaped as well, maybe they haven’t mated, ‘cause they’re bashful. Of course separate bedrooms could have something to do with it. I managed a day trip to Shenandoah National Park. Just a few miles into the park from the south entrance I rounded a curve and there was a black bear eating berries along the road. I pulled over and watched it eat until something spooked it and it melted into the foliage. As I continued down the hill a bike rider came pedaling up, I stopped and ask her if she had seen the bear, she told me that she had spotted it and had stopped until it went back into the forest before she was welling to continue on. It’s one thing to put your bike between you and an angry dog, it would be a whole different story to try that move on a black bear. After packing up the camper, my next move was a short hop to Gifford Pinchot State Park, just south of Harrisburg Pa. The park surrounds a beautiful lake and is tucked away several miles from the city. It was nice getting back to an agriculture area after traveling through coastal byways for the last few months. Seeing all those fields of corn reminded me of my home state of Nebraska. Of course the occasional tobacco field was a little strange. Lancaster and Amish country was a short drive from where I was camped. I spent a day touring the area around Lancaster and Strasburg. Thanks to the Mennonite information center in Lancaster I have a better understanding of the relationship between the Mennonites and the Amish. This was a great starting point for a day of touring. I spent a day in Harrisburg as well, touring the state capital. The city has several fine old areas that have been well preserved and are a reminder of a grander time at the turn of the twentieth century. My next hop was the longest I’d made for quite some time. I traveled from Harrisburg PA to Boston MA. The 425 miles wouldn’t have been bad if I hadn’t gone through New York City. Even that wouldn’t have been all that bad if it hadn’t been for the George Washington Bridge. It took one hour and an $18 toll to cross the bridge. I don’t think my GPS has found a toll road it doesn’t like. That one taught me to map my trip the old fashion way and not just depend on the new technology. Better learned late than never. Where to camp with a 30’ fifth wheel in Boston? Wompatuck state park of course. Another beautiful state park and only 20 minutes from the heart of Bean Town. This was beautifully located south of Boston, not far from the freeway that goes down to Cape Cod. This was really handy for my several trips down to the Cape. An friend from my time in Tucson flew in from California and spent a week touring and catching up on old times. I shared my first weekend in Boston with hurricane Danny. To be sure, by the time Danny had traveled that far up the coast it had lost much of its punch and had been downgraded to a tropical storm. No matter what you call it, there was still a lot of rain. By Sunday August 30th Danny had moved far enough out into the Atlantic to give me the brake I needed to make my first trip down Cape Cod. The first day of a two day art festival in Hyannis had been completely washed out. Sunday provided a modest crowd for the festival. If you’ll recall this was the week that Teddy Kennedy passed away. Almost every shop window in Hyannis had some sort of homemade tribute to Ted, the good folks of Massachusetts sure do love their Kennedys. While in Hyannis I was able to see the Kennedy Compound. It was as impressive as I had imagined it would be. A day trip into Boston allowed me to see the Kennedy Library. I was in high school when JFK was assassinated, so much of the memorabilia and photographs were not just abstract history. The architects of the library have done a fine job in freezing time to the early 1960s. It did feel a little strange standing in the same place where Teddies’ memorial tribute had taken place just a week before. While in Boston I also got to see The Old North Church as well as several other National landmarks. As I look back, two weeks, I could have spent two months in the Boston area. But you do with what you have. So another trip south to Plymouth gave me a chance to view some even older history. Plymouth Rock was always a kind of abstract idea, so seeing the rock with 1620 engraved into it was neat and allowed my imagination to run wild and picture the pilgrims coming ashore at that vary spot nearly four centuries ago. Leaving Boston and heading north, deeper into New England was the next leg of the trip. The Lakes region of New Hampshire was a wonderful surprise. After Boston and a short two hour drive, I felt as though I had arrived back in rural America. The distinct New England accent gets stronger and you pass fewer Beamers and a lot more pick-up-trucks. I couldn’t find a suitable state park but I did find a charming small private campground, that was primarily a long term rental camp with a few transient spots. Located near Tilton just off I93, this was really convenient, in that it allowed me to roam up and down the interstate through the lakes and into the white mountains. I snuck in trips to Concord and Manchester as well. Not bad for jamming all that into one week. I would have stayed longer but there was a NASCAR race in the area and the camp had been booked that week, months in advance. I had always associated NASCAR with the south, but I guess the Yankees like the oval track as much as their southern brothers. And that brings me back to Maine. Another short hop and here I am in south-central Maine. I’m in another commercial camp, this one just outside Poland Maine. If Poland is too small to register, it’s not far from Lewiston, which is about thirty miles north of Portland. After setting up I went online and discovered a traveling group I belong to (the LoWs Loners on Wheels) were having a campout just thirty miles up the road. I drifted up that way Friday the 16th to see what was going on. I was warmly welcomed into the “Mainely LoWs” and felt right at home. That’s the way the group is supposed to work, but it’s still nice to feel so welcome after being on the road for months. After a cheery Friday afternoon happy hour I went home to return Saturday to meet the group at a fall festival in Bethel Maine. I think I can safely say we all had a good time viewing the art and sampling the loaded baked potatoes and dozen or so varieties of New England Clam Chowder. And if that wasn’t enough food we went back to their campsite and had a potluck dinner. So to all the new LoWs on my email list, Hi and thanks again. The colors are just starting to turn in this area, but they are supposed to be coming along nicely farther north and inland. I’ve been exploring the area both north and south. Portland is a thriving coastal city that has many fine lighthouses to see and photograph. I’ve also traveled to Lewiston and to the state capital in Augusta and farther north to the coast and Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. That’s a lot of jumping around in one week. Just another excuse for being late with this edition of the newsletter. My publishing philosophy has always been, ‘it’ll go out whenever’. With that I’ve about run out of words again, so let’s do some photos.
I guess that about puts a wrap on another edition of my On the Road newsletter. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and as always your comments and criticisms are always welcome. If you would like to be dropped from the list just send me an email. By the way I have a facebook page so you might drop by there from time to time. I occasionally post a new photo or comment on my travels there. Suggestions are always welcomed at j.mauer@comcast.net Live your dream Jim Mauer
November 3rd Program Jim Durkee and Helena Auyang, long time members and world travelers, will present a program on Kenya east Africa - Maasai Mara, Lake Nakuru & the Samburu Nature Reserve.
Monthly Critique Images Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. The theme for November is fall color! PLEASE include your name (not just initials) in the image file name so we can give credit!!!
Field Trips Next field trip will be December 12th to Rocky for big horn sheep. If you are planning to participate please e-mail Pat Gautier [Gautier.Patrick@geoeye.com] so we can finalize arrangements.
Digital
Corner
The digital corner returns this month with a diatribe on computers. I know a lot of you have a love/hate relationship with your MAC or PC and I join with you. I’ll recount the last two weeks and then provide some ideas for you to ponder when (not if) your computer needs to be replaced.
My PC starting acting weird a couple of weeks ago (some people would say that is the normal situation) and I decided to buy a new, more powerful system. The fun part (the love part) was exploring the new models and looking at the powerful processors, large RAM and enormous hard drive options available today for quite reasonable prices. I selected my model and ordered it on October 22nd. That date has significance (the hate part?). October 22nd of 2009 was the day that Microsoft™ made available to the world Windows 7™. This new operating system was supposed to be the latest and greatest operating system and fix Vista™ as well. I can report that it is much cleaner and works (so far) a lot better than Vista™.
Let’s now look into the mechanics of moving to a new computer. There are a myriad of decisions. First you need to decide on options for your hardware. That is a task driven by what you want your PC to do. I’ll limit my comments to photography being the principal use. If you have enough power for that, email and balancing your check book will be a breeze. The simple answer on what to buy is the age old “buy as much power and memory as you can afford”. Power is really the processor. In days of old, this meant how fast was your processor, 2, 2.2, 2.4, GHz etc. “clock speed” was the telltale specification. Today however the design of processor chips has evolved to include dual and quad cores. What does that mean? Simply the more “cores” you have the more parallel work your processor can do and the faster it will do that work. So a 2.4 GHz quad core computer may actually do work faster than a 2.8 GHz dual core. For the photographer, the more cores you have the better, as most photo processing software will run faster with parallel processing. Next is memory, which shows on specifications as RAM or random access memory. This is the local storage that the processor uses to hold information while executing programs. It is “volatile” in that when you turn off the power, all the data is erased. The more of this type of memory that you have the faster you processor can work. The other storage media is the hard disk which is dramatically larger and much slower. The processor essentially loads the RAM with information from the hard drive when you “boot up” a program. The processor then uses the RAM as temporary storage while doing its work. If you don’t have sufficient RAM, the processor needs to swap data between the hard drive and the RAM. This takes time and slows downs the software. So what should you buy? That changes from day to day. I selected a quad processor running at 2.5 GHz with 6 GB of RAM and a 640 GB hard drive. That is a dramatic upgrade from my 4 year old single core system!
Now on to software! As I mentioned before, Windows 7™ is available and our good buddies at Microsoft™ have given us a lot of options. I took the plunge and upgraded (for 75 bucks) to the 64 bit “professional” version. I did this because the literature claimed it would “seamlessly” run software that was designed for Windows XP™. I have a lot of that. So far I am very pleased with the performance and only a little disappointed with the ability to migrate older software to the new machine.
Once I decided to buy the new computer, the realization that my applications and data where spread across a lot of places hit home. Windows has a nice feature that allows you to migrate from an old computer to a new one, requiring you to only buy a cable to interconnect the 2 systems. In my case I didn’t want to use that method for two reasons. First my older system was flaky (technical term) and I didn’t want any corrupted application data being migrated to my new computer. Second reason was I didn’t buy a new monitor, choosing to use my old one with the new computer. In this case there are several things I did ahead of time. I dug through all of my records (paper as well as soft copies) to find the serial numbers and enabling codes for my applications. I needed to find those for Elements 7, Lightroom 2 and Helicon Focus among others. I found all of them! I was lucky. This time I’m creating both a paper copy and a soft copy on my computer in one place and I’m vowing to add new purchase information to that file as I add software. With that information in hand I was able to go to the individual website and download the applications (latest revision) and install and license them pretty much without problems. After downloading the application I was able to go (in my case) the HP website and download/install the full application package for my inkjet printer. With that under my belt, I tried to install the driver software for my rather ancient HP S20 photo scanner. I was concerned when I saw the last time that HP updated the software was September of 2001. Sure enough my trusty S20 is no longer supported in the latest operating systems. Oh well, after 11 years I should probably treat myself to a new one. Then again I do have an old laptop that is still running XP…..
After getting all of my applications reloaded, it was time to migrate my data. One of the last things I did with my old computer before closing the lid was to move all the data files I could find to an external USB hard drive. I did that using the plain old windows copy commands so I could select which files I wanted and had a chance to review them to make sure they weren’t the ones corrupted. That took a while but in the long run it was worth it. I was able to build a new file system on my new computer that makes more sense. I’m hoping to be able to keep that file system and not let my data spread across the entire computer so the next time I need to do this, I can do it with less effort.
Most of the work was pretty straight forward and was accomplished without a lot of trial and error. There are a few applications that are pretty common however that are not yet covered in the Microsoft 7™ help files. I had a very interesting time moving my email files and address book over. I finally mastered the export and import functions and it all moved over, including the UWPC mailing list! I also found getting my iTunes music library moved was challenging. I'm now in the process of re-importing all of my slide into Lightroom. It gives me a chance to clean up the metadata so it's not all bad!
I hope this has been both amusing and a little bit helpful. When you need to move to new computer, planning is important as is patience!
December 1st Program As is our norm, we welcome back Wendy Shattil and Bob Rozinski to present their year in review. Wendy has asked that I pass on her thoughts about the presentation.
2009 was a different sort of year for us. We exhibited prints in twice as many art festivals as usual, which reduced the time to photograph new images. But we did have the opportunity to extensively work a new location in Wyoming. We were hired to photograph all aspects of a ranch that will eventually be a corporate retreat and lodge. From wildlife and landscapes to horses and cattle, cowgirls and recreation to interiors and fireworks, we came up with an entire spectrum of images for the ranch’s promotional materials and website. At the other extreme, Wendy photographed the border wall in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of south Texas early in the year. This was part of a project of the International League of Conservation Photographers. A team of 13 photographers shot from San Diego to the Gulf of Mexico, documenting the effects of the border wall on wildlife and the environment. Prints from the shoot were displayed on Capitol Hill in conjunction with legislation regarding continued construction. The exhibit is now traveling throughout North America. Bob continues to find amazing images at Cherry Creek State Park. Cottonwood Creek, which feeds into the reservoir, was newly designed to improve the water flow and general habitat. The bonus was that Cottonwood Creek became a magnet for diverse wildlife species and birds in particular. We look forward to sharing our year with you at the December meeting and catching up on your adventures, as well.
Monthly Critique Images Please submit up to 3 images, for normal critique and 1 image for theme. Please remember to size the images to less than 500kB and send them before the meeting (a week is good, not later than the Sunday before) to uwpcimages@comcast.net so we can include them in the monthly program. If you need help on the sizing process, go to the page on our website on “digital submission specs”. The theme for December is wildlife portraits! PLEASE include your name (not just initials) in the image file name so we can give credit!!!
Field Trips Next field trip will be December 12th to Rocky for big horn sheep. If you are planning to participate please e-mail Pat Gautier [Gautier.Patrick@geoeye.com] so we can finalize arrangements.
Meeting location
I did mention that I'd bury directions in the newsletter :). Classroom 201 is on the second floor, behind the Expedition Health exhibit. Come in the usual way, past the guard but go right instead of left. Walk just into the main lobby area and then turn left and take the escalator to the second floor. Once on the second floor, turn back to the north and walk toward the Health exhibit. Just before getting there, turn right and walk all the way back to the far east wall. Signs will show you the way to the classrooms.
Digital Corner
For this month I thought I'd do a short set of reminders on winter photography and how to make the most of your time outdoors during the cold weather. First, some words of caution for you and your equipment.
Cold weather is very hard on batteries. Keep spares with you at all times and keep them warm. An inside jacket pocket is a good place. When batteries appear to quickly drain because of cold, warming them up will typically restore them. Keep recycling between the camera and the warm pocket! When shooting in the snow, do your best to keep your camera and lenses out of prolonged contact with snow and ice. They are after all water and when they come in contact with a warm camera, they melt and can cause a lot of problems.
When you go between cold and warm with a camera and lens, especially a big lens, remember about condensation. Bringing a cold item into a warm place can cause moisture to condense on surfaces, including inside ones! Tightly wrap your camera and lens in a plastic bag before coming in from the cold and leave it there until it comes to the room temperature.
While taking precautions with your equipment, don't forget about yourself! Hats, gloves, boots and layers of clothing are very important so we avoid problems and enjoy our photographic passion. The latest in clothing technology has been a boon for photographers. Check out some of the new light weight, weatherproof gear.
One final note, remember about proper exposure for snow! Your camera's metering system is designed to render images mid tone or 18% grey. With digital cameras we can continue to overexpose snow scenes or adjust white balance instead. Re-read your camera manual and be prepared for getting white snow instead of grey or blue.
Enjoy this marvelous winter season and get some great shots to share.
Urban
Wildlife Photo Club
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