Mohonk Preserve, NY (with photos)

I was telling my wife the other day that in addition to being a hobby, starting this blog has inspired me to ensure that we take time out in life to do the things that we enjoy, and not spend all of our time working, sitting around the house, or generally caught up in life's hectic schedule.  

It's easy to get into a cycle in life where the weeks are running by and all you're doing is working and running around taking care of chores and other activities.  This has happened to me recently at work because I'm in the closing months of a two year project and it has monopolized my professional and personal time much more than I would like.  For example, except for weekends, I haven't had a day off since early January.  As the old saying goes, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy".  You have to break the cycle and enjoy life!

Such was the spirit behind a recent day hiking trip that I took with my wife up to Mohonk Preserve in the Shawangunk Mountains.  I took the day off from work, we put the kids on the school bus in the morning, and then we hit the road!  

Mohonk is billed as New York's largest non-profit nature preserve and the description of it on their web site says, "The Mohonk Preserve is a mountain refuge for people and nature.  It is a haven for wildlife, a living museum, and a sanctuary where visitors can come to reflect and be restored".  Very true!

On the grounds of the preserve you can enjoy biking, hiking, fishing, rock climbing (some of the best in the region), boating, running, horseback riding, cross-country skiing, and other activities.  In addition, the preserve has many sponsored activities for adults and kids so there's always something to do in this environment.  It turns into a winter wonderland during the colder months with ice skating, snowshoeing, etc.

Our plans for our day hike were to ascend Bonticou Crag, which is a stark white cliff that overlooks the entire mountain valley.  There are two ways to the top of the crag.  The most direct route is straight up the face of it in what the Preserve calls a "rock scramble".  What this means is that you climb up hundreds of giant car-sized granite boulders that have broken off the face of the cliff over the centuries and then you're on top!  The other way is to take the Bonticou Crag ascent trail around the backside of the mountain to the top.  

The rock scramble sounded interesting so we gave that a try.  It was easier said than done!  Although the rocks are huge, they are sometimes precariously perched on top of each other and the hill is very steep so this route can be quite intimidating as it rises several hundred feet into the air.  My wife gave it her best shot, but she just wasn't comfortable with the steepness of it and it was a long way up (and down!) so we turned around to take the other route up.  I will return to the rock scramble to try it again some day.  I like that kind of stuff...

After climbing the ascent trail, we relaxed on the top of the crag and had a nice lunch that we brought along.  We ate, relaxed, enjoyed the view, and talked.  A great day off!  

I would encourage people to explore Mohonk Preserve.  It has a lot to offer in every season and truly is a place to restore yourself.

Update on 5/27/09:  After a day of hiking and exploring, what goes down better than a few locally brewed cold beers and a good dinner.  Nothing!  If that's what you're looking for after exploring Mohonk, stop in the town of New Paltz on your way back toward the highways and check out the Gilded Otter (3 Main Street, New Paltz, NY and the phone is 845-256-1700).  The beer brewed on site is fantastic, the food is good, and the venue is nice and comfortable.  Nice end to a day!

The second part of this post is related to the Mohonk Mountain House.   This magnificent lodge was built on the deep-blue waters of Lake Mohonk in 1869, and it's a 265-room Victorian castle that's one of America's oldest family-owned resorts.  The buildings of this historic lodge are spectacular as they wind across the property.  They all have a slightly different architecture because they were built over a period of time, but they're all connected to create one big winding interior.  The hallways, rooms, dining rooms, common areas, and libraries are grand in nature.  They are much like the great national lodges in the western United States.

Over the years, the lodge has been expanded to include a spa, indoor pool, and other facilities.  There's even a covered outdoor ice skating pavilion!  In the warmer months, they show movies on a giant portable screen on the lawn.  You can sit on their huge porch and watch with your family while the mountain air blows around you.  Very cool...

I first stayed at Mohonk Mountain House for a 2-day retreat at work in 2007.  I later returned with my wife for our 10th wedding anniversary in 2008.  I've put some pictures of the exterior of the lodge at the link below, but for some reason I didn't take any pictures of the interior on my trips here.  That's very unlike me, especially with a place as photogenic as this, because I always take pictures inside of the places I stay, but this time I didn't.

There is so much history in this place.  There are plaques, murals, paintings, and pictures all over that explain its history.  It's interesting to stop and read them because it helps you appreciate what it's all about.  Enjoy walking around and seeing the history...

While I certainly appreciate the history of the Mountain House, the one negative aspect of it is the expense to stay there.  The per night cost does include three meals per day in the excellent dining room, but even considering that, I thought the prices were very high overall.  Our small room was over $650/night with taxes.  Some of the larger rooms and suites are well over $1,000/night.   As I said, while I did fully enjoy our stay, no hotel is worth that amount of money per night and if it wasn't a special occasion we probably wouldn't have stayed here.....I need to strike gold and become rich so I don't have to worry about paying the bill next time!

Click the image below to see some photos of the Mohonk area...

Mohonk Preserve & Mohonk Mountain House

New material soon!

It's been interesting getting feedback from people on this blog. Just by the nature of the way Blogger.com is set up and how it uses the information you put in your Profile to feed searches that people do, word of this blog is spreading in almost a viral way with little effort on my part. Interesting stuff...

I have a series of travel and technique posts coming in the next week. Most importantly, I plan to get back to putting up more entries related to my "Auto-everything" post from 2/15/09.

If you're spending some of your valuable time to visit and check out this blog, I hope you find it interesting.

Thanks for visiting!

East Branch Reservoir, NY (with photos)

I'm fortunate to live in a nice place, specifically a large suburb about 45 minutes north of New York City...perhaps you could say it's right on the edge of being rural.  The next town up from me starts the "farm country" in this area.  Lots of trees, rolling hills, etc...

Although it certainly is nice and I'm definitely not complaining, I wouldn't exactly call it a "photographer's paradise".  I often find myself lacking inspiration when I photograph my immediate home area because I see it every day and it has become somewhat commonplace over the years.  I'm sure many photographers might feel the same way about their home town, except of course if you live near a picturesque location that offers continual inspiration.  

Inspiration is easy to find when I travel out of my home area to other places that I don't see every day.  The exception to this feeling is when unique photographic circumstances present themselves close to home.  Then my mind explodes!  Such was the case this weekend...

There is a large reservoir near our house called the East Branch Reservoir that's down about 50 feet (or more) from it's normal water level this spring due to drought conditions and some bridge work that the surrounding towns are doing that necessitated that they lower our water level.  The full story can be found at this link.  The reservoir was formed when the towns of Southeast Center and Milltown were flooded over, sacrificed in the name of progress.

Fifty feet is a lot!  Because of these conditions, almost the whole reservoir is empty and features that are normally below water have been exposed for the first time in decades.  It's a very uncommon event, and you guessed it, one that was well worth grabbing the camera for.

You can hike all over this enormous space where there is typically only water...It's almost like being in an alien landscape.  Submerged waterlogged trees are exposed and dried out.  There are old stone walls all over that used to mark farms before the area was flooded for the reservoir.  Dead fish, furniture, golf balls, fishing lures, etc.  It's all here to explore.

Some of the stone walls are massive.  I would like to research the history of Southeast Center and Milltown to understand what was here before the towns were flooded.  It's very interesting.  Especially all of the walls.  I mean...they're big!  You can see roads that have been marked and lined with boulders.  Old bridge foundations.  Even the stone foundations of homes, barns, etc.

I spent three hours photographing and hiking with my family inside the reservoir on two occasions already, and plan to go back for more before they fill the reservoir back up.  It's an oddly peaceful place to walk around.  Very quiet.  It's like exploring a huge piece of the past right in my own back yard.

The moral of the story is.....Never give up on your own town!  It might not be the most stunningly, overtly photogenic place in the world on a typical day, but there are special times when it will expose itself and call you back.  Take advantage of those opportunities and enjoy it while they last!  Take some pictures!

Click the image below to see some pictures from inside the East Branch Reservoir...

East Branch Reservoir

Opacity.us

I stumbled across a great web site that I thought was worthy of being specifically mentioned here. If you're interested in photography of abandoned buildings, old factories, mills, forts, historic locations, etc, then Opacity.us is the web site for you!

It's run by a guy named Tom Kirsch in New York. The web site is truly a labor of love. Tom travels around the world to photograph all kinds of abandoned sites and then posts his photos on his site with some historic background to add to the story told by the pictures.

If you're interested in this type of photography then you could easily become lost in the Opacity web site for hours as you explore these fascinating pictures of abandoned locales. Tom's photos have a definite style to them that really portrays the loneliness and solitude of these places. Many of them are a little spooky!

When I view photos like these I find myself asking what these sites were, what they were used for, why they were abandoned, who abandoned them, when they were abandoned, etc. And that is, after all, one of the major goals of photographers.....To make a picture that's interesting and possibly generates some thought in the viewer. Tom succeeds on all levels with his site!

Panorama

Talk about interesting! This weekend I tried shooting a panorama for the first time and stitching it together with the Photoshop CS4 PhotoMerge function, and the results were a lot of fun to look at!

I've never been motivated to experiment with panoramas before. My perception of the high effort required to post-process the individual pictures into a usable panorama photo kept me away from bothering to try it. I couldn't have been more wrong!

I was on a hike this weekend in the reservoir near my house and I came upon some great subject matter. Yes, I did say "in" the reservoir. We're having a spring drought in this section of New York this year and our reservoir is down at least 30 feet or more. These low water levels reveal all of the hidden things that you can't usually see when they're under the surface of the water. All of the old stone walls that used to mark the farmlands, strange rock pilings, old wood, etc. Interesting stuff!

So I'm looking at that scene before me and thinking, "I wish I could capture all of this in one photo", and then I thought.......Shoot a panorama! I didn't have a tripod so I knew I was going to have to try it handheld. I was hoping PhotoMerge would be able to handle the probable shakey results.

My simple steps:

1) I metered for the first picture and recorded the meter readings.

2) I switched the camera into full manual mode and entered those meter readings for the first picture. I did this so that all four of the photos I was planning for the panorama would use the same exposure settings (very important when it comes time to stitch things together!).

3) I set the camera to manual focus so that once I focused for the first picture, that focus would remain for all four photos.

4) I planned out the four pictures in my head and then took them one after the other, overlapping them by about 25% to give PhotoMerge some room to do its work and find a good place to seam them.

5) I took the four photos in sequence, being careful to hold the camera as level as possible.

That's it! I came home, pointed CS4 Photomerge at the four pictures, and let it do its thing in complete auto mode. The results were astounding! I couldn't believe that with practically no effort on my part, Photoshop correctly stitched the four images together with absolutely no signs of where the stitching was done.

The resulting panorama was a real eye opener! It presented the scene I saw before me in all its splendor. I was truly impressed, and everyone who has seen the photo said the same thing, "Wow"!

This experience opened up a whole new creative thought process for me. Not every subject is suitable for panorama format, but now that I know how easy it is, I'll think more along these lines when a situation like this presents itself again. There are many odd sized places in our house that could use a nice panorama print to fill the space. Of course, the issue is finding an easy way to print these pictures because doing it on a standard size printer at home wouldn't be easy. I will investigate labs that handle this and perhaps try a sample print to see how it comes out...

More to come on this topic!

For an interesting video on this topic, see this PhotoMerge tutorial at Layers Magazine online.

Update 6/14/09: Here's an article that mirrors what I said above, but adds a few more tips.

Kaaterskill Falls, NY (with photos)

Here is an excerpt of a description of Kaaterskill Falls from the Gunks.com:

"Kaaterskill Falls is one of those rare, glorious, big pay-off hikes that doesn't require too much time or sweat. The 260 ft. double-tiered waterfall between Haines Falls and Palenville in Greene County New York is an awe-inspiring body of shale and rushing creek water. The water drops 175 ft. from the top, past a natural amphitheater created by the overhang of the upper falls cap rock. The lower falls then drop another 85 ft., spraying mist against the sides of rock, wetting the nearby craggy greys and dark browns. At the bottom, the massive fountain of water calms as it flattens into a rocky Kaaterskill Creek bed that flows alongside the .4 mile trail back to the road".

The description above is precisely what intrigued me enough to want to take the family on a drive up to the area around Hunter, NY to take this hike and see the Falls. We were not disappointed. What a great day!

We arrived at the Molly Smith parking area on Route 23A just up the hill from the Kaaterskill Falls trailhead around mid morning on a summer day, and the parking was already tight. The lot is small and can't fit many cars so the next choice is to try parking on the narrow shoulder of 23A itself. I would have thought you wouldn't be permitted to do that, but every time I drive by there cars are always parked on the side of the road with no tickets.

The fun began once we walked down the hill from the parking lot to the trail head. At the bottom of the hill you cross a small bridge under which the bottom of the Falls stream rushes. If it's been raining a lot in the days leading up to your visit, the water will be rushing all around you. The sound of it is great. It sounds powerful!

The hike up the mountain alongside the rushing Kaaterskill Creek to the main Falls is a gentle slope up most of the way, only getting steep in a few brief spots. The tricky thing is that the steeper sections are rocky and/or covered with fallen trees, branches, and puddles. It takes some doing to get around these sections and the ground is often wet, so careful stepping is necessary.

Once you get closer to the top and start to hear the roar of the main Falls, you know you're almost there. When you finally reach the pools below the lower Falls and see them for the first time, you just stop and stare to take it all in. If it's been raining and the Falls are full, it's an impressive sight and sound, especially since there are not many waterfalls of this size anywhere near here.

Note that I did talk to a friend who made this same hike in the middle of a very dry summer and he said the Falls were merely a trickle. Plan your trip accordingly....Make this hike after a few days of heavy rain to ensure a good viewing experience.

Once at the base of the lower Falls, you can wade into the cool water, watch it stream around you, and enjoy sitting a while to look at the sights centered around this large double waterfall. We saw many photographers and painters on the hike up making their renderings of the scenes.

For the extra adventurous, you can hike up the very steep hill to either side of the Falls to get to the natural amphitheater at the base of the main Falls. This extra section of hiking is discouraged on many websites that discuss Kaaterskill Falls due to the complexity and steepness. I didn't try it because we had our kids with us, but I saw several people who did. I would imagine that it's quite impressive to stand at the base of the main Falls, so I will try this hike one day with an abundance of caution.

For the ultra-extra adventurous, you can continue past the base of the main Falls and its amphitheater and continue up this very steep hill to get to the top of the Falls to look down on the whole scene from above. Again, this is something that I would never try with the family, but I'll give it a try on my own with a good pair of boots some day.

When we were done wading around and viewing at the top, it was time to head back down. Careful stepping was required on the way down. It's easy to pick up speed! Once at the bottom, we proceeded to head back up the hill to the parking area where we hopped in our car and headed into Hunter Mountain village to grab a good dinner.

If you decide to head into the village (a few miles down the road from the Falls) and you like Mexican food, pay a visit to Pancho Villa's Mexican Restaurant. The food is good, the drinks are good, and there's always a lively crowd inside. If Mexican is not your thing, there are other restaurants on the same street as well...

This was a great way to spend a day outdoors with the family. If you're in this region and you're looking for something fun to do, this is the just the ticket.  If you combine this hike with a visit to one of Hunter Mountain's many festivals, the day will be even more complete.

Click the image below to see some more pictures from this hike...Enjoy!

Kaaterskill Falls

Passion

Passion is essential to all art forms. Regardless of whether it's painting, music, building something, sculpture, photography, or anything else, it's the passion in what we do that transfers our thoughts and emotions into the outcome of our efforts. Passion helps us to realize our vision and achieve our goals.

In my opinion, passion is very necessary to achieving success (however you define success) in your photography. If you're not passionate about what you're shooting, you're probably going to end up with less successful results that you envisioned.

Finding subjects that you're passionate about is one of the easiest ways to improve your photography because passion makes you explore your subjects more and try harder to accurately express the impact that they have on you.

Here's a perfect example. Last autumn we were going through a patch of bad weather so I didn't get many chances to get out and do photography. One day when the weather cleared, I went out to shoot. I didn't really have anything in mind, I just went for a hike and wanted to try to make some nice pictures. As I was walking, I wasn't seeing anything that inspired me. There were just bare trees and fallen leaves everywhere.

After being out for about an hour I was thinking to myself, "Great hike, but I haven't taken a single nice picture yet". I wanted to take nice pictures, but nothing was motivating me. Finally I came across a rock that had some nicely colored leaves that had fallen on it in a nice pattern, so I started to take pictures of it. An angle here, an angle there. Then I started reviewing the pictures. They sucked.

When I thought about it, I realized that I didn't give a damn about that rock and I knew that I would never use those pictures for anything. They were pointless. I had no passion whatsoever for that subject and that lack of passion transferred directly into my pictures. I was just trying to "take some nice pictures" regardless of how I felt about the subject.

Contrary to that day with the rock, one day when I was out taking care of some business I ran across a dilapidated barn in a field that was definitely past its best days. It had holes in the roof and sides, broken windows, shattered doors, vines growing inside, etc. I thought to myself, "This is great! I can take so many great shots of this barn"! I proceeded to spend about an hour walking around it shooting all different kinds of shots and angles, and they turned out to be some of the standout pictures in my library.

Without even really thinking about it, it dawned on me that I like taking pictures of old abandoned buildings. They interest me. I think about what they were once used for. What happened to them? Who left it here? Why is it still here? What's inside? What would happen if some nice sunlight shined through that broken window late in the day? In other words, I have passion for that subject. I want to explore it and take pictures of it to transfer those same emotions into photos that others can look at.

In photography, you need to find subjects that inspire you...that make you say "Wow!"....that you can't wait to get out and shoot. You have to find subjects that make you want to explore them from different angles, in different lighting, in different seasons, etc. When you strike on these subjects and themes, go shoot! You'll probably see that your pictures are much more interesting and effective than when you shoot something that you don't care about.

The Wii

What does this post have to do with photography?  Nothing!  The reason I put it here is because I also want to throw other fun stuff on this site from time to time, and this is one of those posts.  It's filed under "Random thoughts" in the Topics on the left side where I'll categorize all of these types of posts for people who are interested in such things...

When I decided that it was finally time to take the gaming console plunge, I looked at all of the primary units....PlayStation 3, XBox 360, and the Wii.

PlayStation and XBox are certainly ahead of the Wii with regard to graphics, number of game titles, etc.  Unfortunately, what immediately turned me off to both systems was the number of games that are violent, about racing (which I have nothing against, but how many racing games do we need???), or just generally adult in nature (war simulations, etc).  I have a son (8) and a daughter (6) and I just don't think we need that stuff in the house at their age, so both units were crossed off my list.

The Wii, on the other hand, is fabulous.  If you have kids (and even adults!) who are interested in gaming from a family perspective, the Wii is the way to go.  

I knew the Wii platform was an immersive and interactive experience, but it turned out to be more so than I thought.  Every member of the family enjoys it, gets up off the couch to play it, and we have a lot of great family times together.  Not to say that doesn't happen with PS3 and XBox, but the Wii is different.  

The Wii console and controllers are innovative, respond to motion input in multiple dimensions, and translate that motion into the games in a terrific way.  Everyone who plays it always responds with the "Wow!" factor when they see how their arm and hand motions affect the game play.  Try playing Tiger Woods Golf and you'll see what I mean.  It's terrific!  

We recently picked up Wii Fit, and it continues that great feeling.  What a great way to get and stay in shape!  For people who have specific problems (I have back problems), you can figure out which specific activities will help that and focus on them in your daily fitness routine.  Wii Fit will never replace going to the gym or going outside for some good sweaty exercise, but again....it gets you up and off the couch in an innovative way and makes exercising with the whole family fun!  It even includes exercising games, so the kids don't even realize they're exercising.  Pretty funny...

If you've never seen or tried the Wii, check it out.  You'll be hooked, like most other people who try it...

Salisbury, CT (with photos)

If you're ever in the area of Salisbury, CT in early February, take some time out to attend the Eastern National Ski Jumping Championships that are part of the annual JumpFest ski jumping festival hosted by the Salisbury Winter Sports Association. This is a long standing event in Salisbury that celebrates everything about ski jumping.

I remember the only other time that I attended a ski jumping event very well. My Dad took me to see it at Bear Mountain State Park when I was young. Bear Mountain was a popular venue for regional ski jumping back then.

I remember it like it was yesterday. We were able to walk around the landing area to see the jumpers when they hit the bottom of the hill and ran down the run-out. But perhaps more exciting was when we hiked all the way up the side of the jumping hill to stand next to the ramp where the skiers took off. I'll never forget the whooshing sound of the skis on the snow when they went by and then the silence when they took off over our heads to fly down the hill. Great stuff!

Sadly, Bear Mountain stopped hosting jumping events back in the early 1990's. If you visit the jumping site when you're at Bear Mountain today, all you can see is a rough path through the woods where the jumping hill used to be and the skeleton of what remains of the wooden scoring shack halfway up the hill.  I've included some pictures of the current condition of the old jumping site here.

Back to Salisbury...The spirit of the event catches you as soon as you park your car. You can hear announcements coming over a public address system through the woods, but you can't see the hill at all from where you park. You pay a nominal fee to get through the entrance gate and then hike up a small road to get to the festival area.

It's a comfortable and enjoyable scene as soon as you see it. There is, of course, the 65-meter jumping hill front and center. Off to the side are the skiers' hut and food stands. Several large bonfires burn to keep people warm. People are sitting on lawn chairs in the snow and bleachers waiting for the main event. It's a festive environment.

Then you notice the sounds. People laughing and talking. Announcements being made. And cowbells. Everyone has a cowbell. I didn't realize what this was for at first, but I obviously heard that everyone rang them loudly every time a skier did a jump.

The reason why people shake the cowbells instead of clapping for the jumpers is actually quite funny, and it didn't occur to me at first. People wear gloves in the winter, and when you clap you can't hear it! Certainly the skiers can't hear it at the top of the hill. So someone, somewhere, way back when came up with the idea of shaking a cowbell to make a loud sound for the skiers to show appreciation and encouragement. The skiers can certainly hear hundreds of cowbells rattling when they're at the top of the hill, which is a noisy form of encouragement for a good jump.

Our kids were thrilled when they found out they could buy one of the bells, so we promptly went to the cowbell vendor and bought two of them....A pink one for Nicole, and a red one for John. They carried them proudly the rest of the day.

The jumping itself was cool. One by one the skiers started from the top of the hill, went down the lead-in hill, and flew off the ramp. Some didn't get very far, but many of the more experienced jumpers soared for several seconds way down the hill and landed with a satisfying thump when they hit the bottom. The whole scene made me imagine what it must be like when these events are held at the Olympics or at the mountains in Europe.

When the jumping was over, we headed over to the ice carving competition on the lawn of the White Hart Inn in town. The White Hart itself is a quaint little inn on the green in town, and it's the perfect place to enjoy a few cocktails after a day of wandering around at the ski jumping event. We watched the artists doing their carvings, had a few drinks in the inn, and then stayed to watch the carving awards get handed out.

All in all, it was a nice way to spend a day with the family. There was a little bit of something for everyone to enjoy. Give it a try if you ever have the chance, either at Salisbury or a ski jumping hill near you. You'll walk away with a smile on your face and a good memory.

Click the image below to see some photos from this trip...

JumpFest 2009

Las Vegas, NV (with photos)

I had the opportunity to visit Las Vegas, NV on business in February 2009. Interesting place!

First off, don't let the cab driver take you on the "freeway route" to your hotel. It's about twice as long as going via the strip and therefore it's a rip-off. Welcome to Las Vegas!

The Mirage hotel was nice. As with all hotels in Vegas, it's huge with a centrally located lobby containing the casino, restaurants for every taste, plenty of shops and bars, etc.

The casino in the Mirage was one of the nicer ones that we visited. Some of the others were a little tacky, and as strange as it sounds, some of the hotels pumped these perfume and musk scents into their common areas. I'm not sure what the reasoning is behind that, but it smells awful after you're in there for more than ten minutes and everyone we were with was annoyed by it.

Needless to say that when visiting Vegas a nighttime walk down the strip is a must. If you have a camera with good high ISO capabilities you can get some great shots of the strip if you explore. If you have a lot of extra time (which I didn't on this trip) then exploring inside each hotel is nice because they all have their own character and the architecture work is great.

I attended a dinner atop THEhotel. The bar/restaurant on the roof offers wrap-around views of the entire Vegas areas. Great photography opportunity. We also grabbed a more down to earth dinner at the Harley Davidson Cafe...ribs, chicken, burgers. Tasty and reasonably priced. We were originally recommended to Olive's next to the Bellagio, but it was too expensive.

For photographers, there are many things to see within a few hours drive of Las Vegas. I couldn't work any exploring into this trip because it was too busy with business and the forecast called for snow to come in while I was there anyway, but some of the major sites in the area include:

Death Valley National Park

Hoover Dam

Desert National Wildlife Range

Sequoia National Park and Forest

Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Mojave National Preserve

and of course....the Grand Canyon

The mountains and valleys surrounding Las Vegas are beautiful in the morning and evening light....a photographer's playground!

The landing at JFK in New York in a 50 MPH windstorm was a bear. The plane was tipping from side to side right up until we touched down, and I don't think both sets of landing gear hit the runway at the same time! Yikes! During the last 30 seconds, it was one of those flights where I was thinking, "Damn...Please let this guy get this plane on the ground in one piece"! I'm sure the people on this Lufthansa flight were also thinking the same thing!

All in all, it was an interesting trip and I hope to return to the region one day to do some proper and lengthy exploring.

Click the link below to see photos from this trip...

Travel - Las Vegas 2009

Good photo sites

On the left side, I've posted the links for a few of my favorite photo sites that I visit almost every day to read the latest articles, techniques, etc. I've gathered countless useful tips off these sites, and found the gateway to many other sites as well. I'll update them as I find more. Enjoy!

Good photo books

One of the things I've been doing this winter during some of my photography down time is finding and reading some good technique books. I'm mostly interested in lighting and composition, but I've been reading others as well.

I don't read these books to "learn rules" that govern my shooting. On the contrary, reading other people's ideas helps me to think outside of the box, which only serves to improve my photography.

I've added a widget to the left side of this blog that contains the titles and authors of some of the the books that I feel are worthy of a read by anyone looking to improve their photography.

Welcome!

Welcome to "Photography Journeys".  

I'm not sure what this blog is going to turn into, but I've been tinkering with a good way to get my photography stuff onto the web to begin to build a network around it, and I think this might be the best format to do that.  I have to put some thought into the best way to execute on my ideas...

Stay tuned!  It will evolve quickly!