Landscape Challenge--Pink Reflection

Those that follow me on Faceboo know that I post a landscape shot pretty much every day, but I also post a lot of cityscapes and street photography and pictures of my grandkids and shoot pretty much anything that is interesting that I see while I used to travel. Suddenly, I am home a lot, as are all of you. This has given me some time to go through the catalog and organize to some extent, a give of time that is very rare in a busy traveler's lifestyle.

So, when I saw this landscape challenge posted on Facebook I knew I would participate, well, since I sort of do it every day. The goal is to give viewers a sense of wonder for the beauty that is out there in the natural world. No problem for me, I figured, I've got hundreds of landscape shots to pick from--and I do have that many. But I wanted to pick a shot that also gave a sense of calm as well as show the beauty in the natural world and that limited my choices. Many of my landscape shots are from out west and while I love the west and standing in those vistas does give a sense of calm, on the computer screen, I see a lot of rocks and colors and shapes and beautiful skies but those don't really give that much of a sense of calm. Not like being there. So, I thought of a couple of shots that I can post during the next few days that might fit the "sense of calm" in a landscape scene but this one, with a new HDR filter that I recently added, is my new favorite. Obviously, these are the Cherry Blossom Trees at the Reflection Basin (see some "calm" right away in the name) in Washington DC. I was lucky enough to be there in peak bloom back in 2017 and got up super early before my meetings to get out and get this shot before the sun rose. The fog was just lifting and the calmness of the water gave some great reflections to pick up even more of the pink in the trees. To top it off, I got a single duck to float into the scene to give a sense of scale. So, hope this challenge submission wins your approval. More to come.

Pointing the Way Forward

Back in the world as it was last year, two surfers looking for the best break, I guess prior to getting into the water. I hope the men and women of the water get to get back out there soon.

Old Time Shots

I have been shooting pictures for a long time. This one, for example, goes all the way back to....2017. Ok, so, not that far. Was playing with filers and made this beautiful baby blue Hudson (see yesterday's post) into a faded black and white. The beauty is parked in front of the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Actually, I have been shooting since high school from what I remember. So that would be back in 1974 or 1975 or thereabouts. Shot with a Minolta, back then but even then, I always wanted to be a Nikon shooter. I still have the Minolta. Haven't used it in decades. Maybe I should stick some film in it and see if it still works? Might be fun to try actually. I loved the satisfying click that it would make as the shutter opened and closed. They replicate that sound, best they can, in modern cameras, but it is not the same. When I shot weddings, I got to be real good in taking the film out and putting a new role back in as quickly as possible. Anyway, have to buy some film first. I will give it a go next time we are out of the house.

On the Road---Route 66

Back in 2017, I took a road trip on the way to a business trip out west. Now that we are all home bound, I think I will take a virtual road trip and go through my catalog looking for shots that I really liked or others that I never had a chance to post. This shot was posted before but I played with some filters to give it a different look. The Blue Swallow hotel is a famous stop along Route 66 in New Mexico. The hotel is one of those restored businesses that has tried to survive and thrive along the route. Definitely, worth a stop along the trip.

Opening Day

Happy Opening Day!!! Sox start at 1:10....or not. I can't wait until we sit in the stands at some future opening day and reminisce (not fondly) of the time in our lives when we couldn't leave our homes for fear of getting infected or worse, infecting others. So, here is a shot of old-time baseball, way back from 2016, with Todd Frazier at bat, which is why it is so faded. LOL. I had great hope for this season, but I always complained that the season was too long. Won't be the case this year.  Let's hope we can go to a game soon!!!

Fun with Car Lights

Just as in yesterday's post, this is another long exposure shot, this time aimed at the red tail lights of Las Vegas traffic from the bridge between New York, New York and MGM. Probably a lot less traffic on Las Vegas Boulevard this week with all the Covid-19 restrictions but back a month or so ago, we were happily obviously to what was coming. I think the red lights coming at me from the turning lane were perhaps turn signals as I was lucky to get red on both sides of the street. Usually, that side is all with white headlights like those stuck at the traffic light. Just opened up the shutter for 28 seconds at a wide open aperture (f22, in this case) to get good depth of field and make sure you are on a good tripod. So, just playing around with light.

Fun with Lights

Fun with lights. A group of photographers were walking around the strip in Vegas (back in the pre-virus days when that was allowed) with some colored lights and a model. So, what do you do? You ask the model to sit as still as possible and take the lights up and down the escalator with the camera shutter open on a tripod. This is the result. She actually is quite sharp for a 20 second exposure. Anything else that moves in the shot doesn't get picked up, except for the lights. Anything that is still gets recorded on the sensor. Not making art here. Just some light painting for fun.

Beatles One Show Las Vegas

Took this in the world long, long ago before "Social Isolation" (new shorthand: SoIso) at The Beatles One show in Las Vegas with my cell phone. The lighting is definitely a challenge to phones but they still take amazing shots, considering the light and motion going on in the shot. I've seen the show three times and enjoy it each time. As Circ du Soleil changes the show up from time to time, this is the third version of the show that I have seen. No plot that I can detect, just Beatles music and the Circ things that go on. Fun times. Hope we all get back to these days soon.  

The Triple Jump

Ahhh....the famous triple jump. This allows you to give your opponent room to hit the shot and keeps you in place for the return shot. At this level, if you jump with the proper timing and height, you will be ready to re-kill the shot. From the 35th Annual IRT Shamrock Shootout at the Glass Count in Lombard. The team in blue, De La Rosa and Beltran won this match and the IRT Pro Doubles. The tournament started on Thursday with the world rapidly closing down around us. Players were already in from all over the US and South America so we played on, trying to maintain our distance. Hopefully, we pulled it off without any contagion. Good luck to all.

Jump, Jump

If you don't want to get hit in racquetball, sometimes you have to jump really, really high. From the 35th Annual KWM Gutterman Shamrock Shootout Tier 1 Pro Stop Presented by My Pillow racquetball tournament at the Glass Court in Lombard. Second seed, Alejandro Landa vs Adam Manilla; round of 16. Landa eventually lost to Men's Pro Winner, Kane Waselenchuk. 

Green Shoots

A famous social commenter, Chauncey Gardiner, an advisor to presidents, once gave this quote when asked if government can stimulate economic growth with temporary incentives. He said, "As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.” ... He explains that “growth has its seasons.” And, yes, “there will be growth in the spring.” Brilliant words for these times. Can you recall who spoke those words and the movie? 

Signs of the Times

This is what we have come down to. Signs of the times.

A Road Less Traveled

Lake Mead National Recreation Area is just south of the Valley of Fire is another wonderful area to explore, especially being only 25 miles or so from Las Vegas. Lake Mead is in the opposite direction from where I took this shot but this view was equally spectacular.

Valley of Fire---A Good Hike Coming

How do you get down there? Just follow the path. Not as bad as it looks actually with the path being a series of stone steps. Wonderful hike in the Valley of Fire, about an hour outside of Las Vegas.

Valley of Fire--Lens Effects

Just for fun, used a fisheye lens to give a curiously curved perspective to the scenery. No reason. Just wanted to try something different!!!

Jared Platt--Slot Canyon

On one of our Valley of Fire hikes, a wonderful state park near Las Vegas, we got to go through a small but beautiful slot canyon with wonderful light bouncing all around off the sandstone walls. I got a nice shot of professional photographer, Jared Platt, striking a pose for the camera.

Valley of Fire--Beautiful Desolation

Hard to publish pano's on Facebook or anywhere on the internet. Hard to see the details in the shot unless you click into the shot. In the Valley of Fire you can stand anywhere and get a great shot. Beautiful desolation. I was very happy not to be there in the middle of the summer. It would be brutal with all the heat and no shade. A very cool place to visit, especially in winter, spring and fall.

Valley of Fire--Sun Flare

It easy to get a sun flare. Set your camera to a small aperture so that the light enters into the camera sensor through a narrow opening. Then put the sun at the edge of a building, a tree or a hill as I did here. Typically, you will get a flare as I did here. Lots of fun to get a different view of the environment.

Valley of Fire---Lines of color

When I took this shot in my trip to the Valley of Fire last week, I was thinking this might be a "shot of the year" candidate. I don't think so now but I love the shot and the beautiful leading lines from the colors into the shot. I think being there is better than this shot shows as the field of view is too limited versus seeing it in person. Still, love the shot, love the colors. Hard to believe that scenes like this exist in the real world.

How did the Valley of Fire get its name?

The Valley of Fire is a great one day side trip off of a vacation to Las Vegas. Gives you something healthy to do amidst all the nightlife of the Strip. The valley gets its name from the red Aztec Sandstone that lights up like fire when hit by the sun at sunrise and sunset. We were there later in the morning and the views were still spectacular. I wouldn't necessarily want to go there in mid-summer. Those view will be offset by intense heat and no shade, making the very easy hikes in the area super challenging. In any case, a great place to visit and an easy drive out of Vegas to this amazing state park.