For the last three days my Beautiful Wife and I have been vacationing in Yosemite National Park. If you haven't been to Yosemite it is truly amazing. It is one of the most beautiful and breathe taking places in the country. This is a trip that we had planned for a few months and it was as fantastic as we hoped it would be. This was my second trip to Yosemite and my Beautiful Wife's first.

Saturday was the first day of our visit to the park. We came through the south entrance. It is about a 25 mile drive from the south entrance to Yosemite Valley. Your first view of the valley is just before the tunnel, after going through the tunnel you are greeted with Tunnel View. This is an amazing view of the valley floor. You'll see El Capitan to your left, Bridalveil Falls to your right, and Half Dome smack dab in the center. I'm sure just about everyone has seen Ansel Adam’s "Clearing Winter Storm" photo of this view. This is the first place you’ll learn just how many tourists are there to see Yosemite. We parked the car and I hopped out like a giddy school boy. I quickly gathered my tripod and camera pack and walked over to the wall where the tourist congregate to photograph Tunnel View and start setting up my camera. If I haven’t mentioned it before I’m a hybrid photographer, which means that I use both film and digital cameras. So I’m standing at this beautiful vista, looking out as I set up, which takes about 5 minutes or so. I take out my light meter, get the reading, and set my shutter and aperture accordingly. In the time that it takes me to go through these steps several people have come up, taken their snapshot and ran back to their car and drove away. While I’m composing my shot and checking my settings, I had several people come up and ask me if I’d take their picture. I am always happy to oblige, but what cracked me up is that four out of five times they feel the need to point out to me which button trips the shutter.

Well most of Saturday was spent taking photos of all the popular spots. Then something happened while I was taking some shots from Sentinel Bridge, I thought I had taken 9 or 10 shots but when I checked the film counter was blank. Apparently when I had reloaded the film I forgot to completely wind the camera. So all the shots I took, didn’t actually get recorded. Which I feel, ended up being a good thing because right then I decided that I needed to take photos that weren’t like everyone else’s. I started looking for My Yosemite and not the one I had seen and read about in books. Don’t get me wrong Ansel Adam’s photos of Yosemite are amazing, but I didn’t need to make a perfect copy of his photos. I needed to make photos that were mine, and in my style. I stopped being as concerned about the photos I was taking and started concentrating more on experiencing this beautiful place. One of the most unexpected experiences, which we don’t have any photos of, yet I doubt we’ll ever forget is of watching a coyote running across the meadow walkways.

We were on the north side of the meadow on the Yosemite Falls side, and our car was parked over by Sentinel Bridge. I had just finished taking some photos of Yosemite Falls when we decided to head back to the car. As we started across the meadow footbridge, it started to rain large cold rain drops. We started to pickup our pace when I noticed a healthy sized coyote coming from the west up to the footbridge. My Beautiful Wife looked up and saw him just as a couple that was walking towards us about 75 yards away saw him. We both slowed down, and watched as the coyote looked at both of us to judge our speed and intent. He decided that we were no threat to him and he crossed the footbridge and ran in to a heavily wooded area to get out of the rain. It was such a beautiful and natural moment that we where stunned and in awe.

Sunday was the day we almost made it to the valley floor. However the closer we got the more it snowed, so not having chains, we decided to turn around and decided to go back toward home. However we didn’t rush back, we took our time and pulled off and investigated some of the beautiful creeks on highway 41 that most people drive past at 40 mph. These little creeks and vistas are filled with natural beauty. Alder Creek has to be one of my favorites. I’ll post photos from Alder Creek on my photoblog as soon I get some film developed.

Monday we went to both Bridalveil and Verner Falls. While they were both very different, their beauty is undeniable. I do have some recommendations, if it’s less than 40 degrees, you don’t have to hike all the way to the base of Bridalveil, because it will be very wet and cold. You're hands will freeze quickly and your teeth will chatter so hard, you may have to go to the dentist afterwards. However on a hot day, I’m sure it’ll be nice and cool and just what the doctor ordered. Verner Falls is something else. I do have to warn you that it’s a good hike. I don’t mean miles and miles kind of hike, I mean it’s a good hike uphill the entire way and at a fairly steep grade. Being that I had my 50 pound camera bag on my back, it was a lot more work than I expected. One of the beautiful moments of that hike was about half way up the trail to the footbridge, on the west side we saw a beautiful, powerful spring fall that simply won’t be there a month from now. To see such a rare sight on such a hard hike was very rewarding. It was a great trip and I can’t wait to go back to My Yosemite.

Happy Trails

I have no idea if this is a joke or not, by Adobe just released a site through their  Adobe Labs on  April 15 called http://adobenostalgia.com.It looks like it tries to "process" digital images as you would process film. It picks a tank size for the images you are important and even asks you which chemistry you'd like to use to develop them. Then you Using a enlarger you can make test prints, contact sheets and prints of your images. Like I said, I don't know if it's a Joke or not, but it has my interest.

Well it's been over a month since I've posted anything, and lets face it while that coaster from Japan was cool, It wasn't the best post I've ever done. So what have I been up to? Why haven't I blogged in over a month? Well I could say that I've been busy, which is true, but it's would be a cope out answer. The truth of the matter is, I just haven't felt like writing and I just haven't felt that interesting lately. So I'll talk about both those things a little bit.

Writing
Writing is something that I actually find very difficult. I have to reread my post over and over again to find the mistakes which there are always plenty of, but I have a good excuse, kind of, well it's an excuse. Being dsylexic I switch words a lot, and of course they are spelled correctly, they just aren't used correctly so the spell checker is of no help there. In fact the other day I send an email to a vendor. As I always start off my email to the vendor I say "Hello", but on this day, I left off the "o". I got an email reply from the manager at the vendor asking if it was a Fraudian slip. I was so embarrassed about that, but they took it in good stride and had a good laugh about it.

So with writing being so much work, sometimes I just don't feel like it. Which is kind of funny because I do the most documentation at work. I get to document processes and code and well you name it and I get to document it when it comes to our internal development practices.

Not Very Interesting
"Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same" - The Wallflowers, One Headlight. This lyric sums up how I've been feeling lately. Since Grandma K died, "Man I ain't changed but I know I'm ain't the same". Last october I had ridden a marathon fun ride and had been eating healthy and exercising and feeling a lot better, physcially and about myself, however I've had a really hard time getting back there since she died. I know that I should eat healthier and that I should exercise, but ...I don't know, it has been too cold to ride in the mornings but again that is just an excuse. Everything happened so quickly with Grandma K, that I've kind of been fighting an epicurean (eat drink and be marry for tomorrow we shall die) attitude which isn't me. I've physically been feeling the affects of getting heavier again. My asthma has been acting up way too much lately. Today however I saw a picture that just made me feel like my problems just weren't that bad, and that everything is doable. (Warning this may not be suitable for kids, while it isn't graphic, it isn't pleasant either). An unforgettable wedding photo.

Photos of Real Life
I found that photo very moving and sad. Good photos are like that you know, you have an emotional response to what you see. Everytime I look at the photo I see something new. My Beautiful Wife is very observant and has notice that photography is my winter hobby and cycling is my summer hobby. Well it is winter, so I am in the photography swing of my hobby mood. I am surprised sometimes about how passionately I feel about photography. I know that some people say that it isn't an art, you are simply making a copy of what is already there. However I strongly disagree with that.  I feel a good photographer, is an artist because they see the beauty that everyone else has walked passed. A good photo shows you how someone else sees the world and that is an amazing thing, and sometimes there is an honesty and truth about how someone feels that is strong then what they can say. I think this photo is a good example of what I mean.

I've been doing a lot of reading on black and white film and the whole process of developing the film and making prints. It's a science and an art that I would really like to learn. I know that most people have gone to digital, and there are some great digital photos, but there is something very romantic about film, about the process and the even the waiting.  I won't get into the whole film is better than digital converstation here, but you'll be seeing some black and white photos taken with film on the photoblog coming up pretty soon. (Just need to get them developed ).


Listening to: John Mayer - Waiting for the world to change.
 

Sunday night I started what is called a Moblog or Mobile Web Log. While I was in Las Vegas, it was important to me to be able to share what I was seeing with my Beautiful Wife and Family. If you are so inclined check it out. Adventures in Real Life Moblog

I know that the photoblog has been slipping a little bit. The fact that I only posted on picture in September is proof of that. However I wanted to let you know it is back on track, there while be a new photo everyday for the next two weeks. So please check it out and don't be afraid to leave a comment or two.

Being a Web Developer I have but one natural enemy in the wild, and that is documentation. Developers have written tons of software to transform documentation from a foe to a friend. I've use several of this applicattion, NDoc being a great application I use the most for this task. It that takes the comments in your code and create and MSDN style .Chm file to document the methods and properties of your application. However this kind of documentation is only useful to other Developers. Otherwise I write documentation up in Word.

The problem with that is I don't like Word. Don't get me wrong Microsoft makes a fine product, but it doesn't work like I do. Creating documents in Word is a very laborious process to me that required dedicated time, time that I usually don't have to invest. This is were a Wiki comes in. What is a Wiki. Well This is how Wikipedia defines a Wiki"

Here a wiki (IPA: [ˈwiː.kiː] <wee-kee> or [ˈwɪ.kiː] <wick-ey>^[1]) is a type of website that allows users to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit all content, very quickly and easily, sometimes without the need for registration.

So basically it's a website that you can edit, or add content to any time you think about it. Now this works for me. I always have a web browser open, so I always have the tool I need to do my documentation open. To me a website of this methods is a much more active type of documentation, when you read it, and see something is missing you just add to it, edit it delete whatever. A Word document is very static to me, because the barriers, you have to open a heavy application, make sure you have acess to the document, make sure it's not locked by any other users. To me Word documents are a centered around one person. Where a Wiki is much more group based and that is one of the big draws for me.

We are a small department at work with a lot of knowledge. However what happens if one us aren't there. Well usually a phone call is placed, because of being small department with a lot to do, one persons ends up having the specific knowledge needed at the time. Well a Wiki offers a great solution to that problem. I'll give you an example, today a mission critical application experience some dramatic slowness,  while there was a persons that could have recycled the application they didn’t know how. Someone else had to be called and do it remotely. While being about to do the task remotely is great, wouldn’t it of been much faster for the person that was already in and awake to do the task. I’d have to say yes. So I took 5 minutes took some screenshots and wrote and tutorial on how to recycle the application and now anyone in the team can look it up and take care of the task.

So now we are doing are documentation in a Wiki, it is fast, easy and dare I say fun.

Lately I’ve been shooting film. I think it has to do a lot with the fact that I’ve been reading The Ansel Adams Photography Series 2. I’ve finished the first book in the series “The Camera”. I’m in the middle of the second book “The Negative”.  So in a climate that seems to be moving away from film, with new digital cameras popping up left and right. I know shooting films seems like a step back, but sometimes you need to go back to the roots to move forward. So like I said I’ve been shooting film and really enjoying it. I’ve been using my old Pentax Spotmatic II. It’s interesting to me that in photography getting the exposure, aperture, shutter speed, framing are virtually the same between digital and film or analog as I’ve heard it called as of late. Somehow I get an enjoyment from film that isn’t exactly the same as digital. It’s a more tactical and auditory experience. The feel of a all metal camera. Advancing the film with a thumb winder and the sound of it advancing. Winding the film at the end of the roll. All of theses things add to the enjoyment of photography for me.

Well so now I have to get my film developed and of course I want a digital copy of my images. Surprisingly enough I’ve been using Costco for my developing and they’ve been doing a pretty darn good job and at a really reasonably priced. They’ve done a great job on the scans. However there was one little thing that was missing. I really wanted the exposure information attached to the jpeg. I admit that I’ve been spoiled by my digital camera that way. So I’ve been keeping a note book and noting all of my exposure settings for each image. So now I have my digital versions of my film photos, and I have my exposure information now, I just needed a way to merge the two. After a google search I found Reveal 1.0. It’s open source software that runs on Mac OS X, Linux and Windows, and lets me edit the EXIF information my jpegs. So now I have a great method for affixing my exposure information to my digital images. Reveal is a very easy to use program with a pretty straight forward interface. I do have to admit that this isn’t a complete EXIF editor, however it does have the basics and fits my needs pretty I well. 

My Sister sent me this incredible link this morning to the Apollo 12 Self-Portrait. It is a simply stunning image. Who know that space and black and white film went so well together

MSNBC has published it's "The Year in Pictures 2005" , some photos are beautiful, some are sad and some are a little graphic, but it was this year.

On a little lighter side, there is some photos I took this year. Let me know what you think.

Today, I received a very encouraging email. You see about a month ago I submitted one of my photos to BetterPhoto.com of Max the Wonder Puppy. I entered it in there monthly contest for Animal photos, and apparently I got picked as a Finalist. So here is the email:

Hi Russell

Congratulations... you have placed as a Finalist in this month's BetterPhoto
Contest! Over 22200 photos were entered into the competition; it is an honor
to have your image selected among the top 561 Finalist photos.

Your Finalist photo: Who&#39;s There? (#1421907)

This image can be viewed - along with all of the Finalist images - at:
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGall2.asp?catID=8648

During the next few days, the judges select the top winning photos. If
your image is selected as a winner, you will be emailed again.

Again, congratulations on placing as a Finalist - keep up the great work!

Heather Young

Kind of Cool, Huh?

I really think that I am going to have to start to subscribe to Make Magazine. They have some of the coolest articles on how to make cool things. The latest article to catch my interest is " HOW TO - Make a Pintoid", it's about how to make a pinhole camera out of an Altoids tin ... Brilliant. This was one of the winners of the Altiod's "Tin Million Uses" contest.

Update: Well for those that just care to use their empty Altoid tins for use with their iPod. Ten uses for the Altoids tin with an iPod, should be right up your alley.

Well I've just finished loading my photoblog in to OneReaction. I think it looks pretty darn good. Give it a look and let me know what you think.

This morning on the way out my Beautiful Wife told me she excepted to see some pretty pictures on my blog today. You see I just got my first digital camera. I am really excited about it. I spend a month shopping for it. And now it is here, so I think you can expect some more snap shots to be posted.

I took this the other night. If you are what you eat then this is me, a Vanilla Coke, and wheat free pretzels with seasame seeds. 

Now, I know it is Wednesday, but I'm going to talk about Sunday, mostly because I just got the pictures back. Sunday was another one of the rain hard all day and leave you feeling cooped up for days, days. For those of you that don't know, here in the Los Angeles area we have gotten more rain in the past two weeks then we did all of last year. Oh, and all those jokes you hear about Californians not being able to drive in the rain. They are all compeletely true. I will never understand how someone in a lowered SUV with 20 inch rims and 4 video screens can thing that if they just drive fast enough that they can out run the rain drops. But I digress.  So sunday night I get the camera out knowing  I want to take pictures of the rain but not sure how or what. My Beautiful Wife takes me over to the kitchen window and shows me the rain falling off the flood lights in the backyard. I thought that would me a great picture once out there, I looked at the backdoor and loved the reflection I saw in the window. Both shots were taken at f8 on asa 200 film. The timing was the only thing that was different. The reflection of backdoor, had a shutter speed of  1 minute 30 seconds, and out the back door had a shutter speed of  24.7 seconds.  I now carry a stopwatch in my camera bag, it saves me from counting out loud and waking up the neighbors.

Reflections of the back door on a cold rainy night 

Out the back door on a cold rainy night  

Lately, I've been taking some photos with my recently aquired Pentax spotmatic II and having fun with it. It's a great old camera that is almost as old as I am. For some reason, I really like that about it. It's completely manual, apature, shutter speed, everything, so it's had a learning curve, but it's been a lot of fun. Well, like I always do, I did a google search on the camera, and found some photo blogs that used it, or displayed images that I admired and aspire to be able to take one day. Well one of these photo blogs, Shutterbug in the about section, listed a camera, I had never heard of. So of course, I figured it was some high-end camera that I couldn't hope to ever use let alone own. A holga! Well, I googled searched holga, and found some interesting stuff.

What's a Holga
In short, a holga is a plastic toy camera, that uses medium format film. The long of it, a holga is a camera constructed almost completely of plastic, with the shutter mechanism being the only exception. It's made in the Peoples Republic of China. The shutter only has one speed 1/100, and there is "two" apature settings, f8 and f11, but actually, it's just f8. Yes, the lens is plastic too! The lens cap is a rubber plastic, that feels like the top of a can of peanuts, just not as thick. Being that a holga isn't construction from "exotic" materials, like aluminum and glass, they are really pretty inexpensive. I got my from HB Photo including shipping (USPS 1st Class) for $20.65. Not bad for a "Medium format camera". (Side Note, I don't know how it worked, but I got the cheapest shipping that HB Photo offers and the holga showed up in two days! I ordered it tuesday around 10am and it got to the house thursday at 11am.)

Why a Holga
Holgas take some very interesting and beautiful pictures. There is something about the way the images taken with the holga vignette around the edges. Or the way that that images seem to have a nostalgic feel to them. And for the prices, it seemed like a great way to get to play with medium format film, and just play with photography. The more I looked into it, the more sites I found on modifying your holga. I loved this, it's 20 bucks, and you get to modify it! Sign me up! From what I read, you really need to modify your holga to get some consistent results. For example, there are two little holes in the top of the inside of the camera that leak light. Also the inside of the camera is fairly shiny, so it needs dulled down a little bit. Also, if you don't have velcro, or a rubber band or something that back of the camera can fall off.  I loved that! The fact that you had to modify it, even better!

Modifying my Holga
I found many sites on how to modify your holga. So armed with some web tutorials, a holga and some hobby tools I went to it. First thing was my holga needed a tripod mount. Armed with a cordless drill , a 1/4 by 20 nylock nut and some epoxy, and ten later my holga had a tripod mount. So feeling pretty good about this, I kept going. Next I "flocked" the inside of the camera. Basically this is painting the inside of the camera with ultra flat black paint. Now it's starting to look like a real holga, well from what I saw online anyway. Next I had to modify the shutter. Now with a normal camera there is no way, I would even thing of it, but this is a holga. After some google searches, I found this article on modifying the shutter. Basically, if you can use a piece of wire coat hanger to switch between shutter speeds of 1/100 and "bulb" (the shutter stays open as long as you hold the shuter button down). I also added velcro to the sides and back to keep the back on, and a piece of velcro for over the exposure window for light leak control. I also modified the film gate so that the camera with take pictures in a 6'X6' exposure. Now, I did have one part that didn't go so good. There is a modification to make the camera have two apature settings. Well, I used a little too much epoxy on the back of the apature arm, and it broke the first time I tried it. This is where the holga being a 20 buck camera comes in to play. I just said, well, I guess I don't need it, and just pulled the arm out. It was a lot of fun. It was like putting together a model car when you were a kid, except after you are done you can take pictures with it.

If you don't want to perform surgery to get your holga to work, Holga Mods offers holgas modified in ways you wouldn't think possible, with good prices.

In the end, I find this camera to be a lot of fun. It looks like a toy camera, so you can't take it or yourself to seriously while using it.

So this is my first real attempt at photography at night (althought it is the second exposure). I took it on the way in to work at around 5:45am in the morning. It was all light up, and was the only thing that had activity. So I parked, pulled out the tripod and the camera, set up the camera, and the cable release, and set the apeture at f8 and set the shutter speed to "B" bulb. I held the shutter open for a count of twelve.

I titled this photo "Lead us not into temptation" . Mostly for comedic affect. As you all know, I am allergic to wheat, so doughnuts are double trouble for me.