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sunrise and frost

November 4, 2010

i wasn’t prepared to find fog rolling in over the lake and the car covered in frost as we woke up for the sunrise. the question is always do i just sit here and enjoy the moment or do i grab my camera and start snapping away. but i thought this moment i wanted to share so i woke mary and began a very long day. she started taking pics out our rooms window while  i had to run down and start the car and turn on the heater then run back upstairs gather my camera . defrosting the windshield took awhile, but we got out of town in time to capture a couple of images before everything changed.

foggy grand lake, co

then looking south towards shadow lake

shadow lake,co

 

and then it’s all gone and coffee & hunger sets in, where to get a good cup of coffee and  plan our day. we decide to go back into the park for another encounter with wildlife after a cup of coffee and a microwaved sausage and biscuit off we go to the park. this early morning we found the ground covered with frost as our car had been but no wildlife. we drove up a dirt hunters road where we had seen elk the day before and stoped to explore the area. oh well maybe we got a couple of christmas cards out of the effort.

frosty field

frost covered pine cones

then back to town and on to adams falls which feeds the grand lake. whoo hoo i though a powerful ice covered falls. it was easy enough to find and park at and the trail was too deep in snow but had been traveled well before us. what we didn’t know wa we were headed up to the top of adams falls and not the bottom. it really isn’t much to see, just another snow & ice covered rocky mountain stream but after the effort of walking up the mountain why not take some pictures. after all i had carried my tripod and telephoto lens along so what the heck.

 

adams falls, co

snow covered rocks

 

we both got some nice pictures of snow capped rocks and ice. shooting snow & ice isn’t easy as exposures can be tricky. but moving along the ridge line as other couples came alone we found ourselves moving back towards our car. hey what happened to the falls, we were hoping to see the bottom of the falls and not the parking lot. so we drove along the lake front until we ran into private property signs stopping us.

when on thinks of seeing a waterfall, at least i do, i think of seeing where the water falls i.e. the bottom like pictures of nigara falls. but sine there doesn’t seem to any dramatic pics of falls and lake what else to do? we there are hot sulphur springs close by so why not try there? off we go. when we get there what we find are a resort of sorts actually hot tubs of sulphur water  and not very appealing to us. one long family in a exposed tub just didn’t feel like something we’d like to join. mary asked about something more natural but got a very vague answer about being up the road etc. oh well

we spent the rest of the day looking for gifts to bring back for the girls  who are much easier than my son. they love everything at least for awhile. then diner at our hotel grand lake inn which we  find is being sold by the owner to a nice couple from lubbock texas whom we have a talk about how we find accommodations on our travels. what is important to us i and how we search for things.

traveling is exhausting especially one such as this hauling bags on and off trains moving into different hotels trains and cars is a lot of work and it’s not over yet. so crawling into bed and snuggling comes early for us. being up for the sunrise isn’t usually my time of day since i’ve always worked nights. but another sunrise another day.

sunrise, grand lake, co

sunrise , grand lake , co

sunrise, grand lake, co

sunrise looking at shadow lake, co

well now we move on to reno, nv to visit marys friends, i’ve never been there so we’ll see what it’s like.

 

 

Posted in Grand Lake, Great american train adventure, Photography, rocky mountain national park, travel, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

across the great plains beyond denver

November 2, 2010

not much to see as we zoom across the sea of farmland as the sun sets. sometime at night we change engineers & conductors at Creston IA and get behind a slow moving freight train, who develops engine trouble setting us back 2 hours in the night. we back into denver across the flat river passed mile high stadium into the non descript station. we can see the snow covered rockies in the distant and feel like we are finally making some progress.

the rockies

our train conductor is great giving us a running description of what we are passing. the parks dept supplies a person during the summer who does this but it ends at labor day. i told one conductor that maybe they should have a recording to describe what we are passing through, who knows.

mountain stream

one of the first things we see is gross dam 3 different views the last one from the back but lovely. built by a man named gross from germany.

gross dam

we travel through tunnels and exit to another grand view, you have to wonder about the people who built this railroad what they must have gone through . here is the yellow school house that was built for the children of the workers but never used because it too cold there.

yellow school house

it’s difficult to photograph from the train because of reflection in the windows as we twist and turn around the mountains. but granby co was our destination for the day, an unmaned station and i wondered what we would find. i had to call the rental car people from frazer

fraizer, co

the stop before ours. here we are

granby train station

it's halloween every where

we load our bags and  hop in our little rental car  heading to Grand lake and rocky mountain national park, another leg of our exploration.

shadow mountain lake

shadow mountain lake

we decide to head to rocky mountain national park instead of grand lake because we are 2 hours late and the hotel will be there and we are loosing daylight.

snow capped mountain

the road is closed driving through the park, it closes in september because fo the exposed winds and snow at higher elevations, this i didn’t know and was disappointed. we could only go for 10 miles limiting out enjoyment but we made the most of our time. i was the wild game spotter and driver, we came upon a meadow with some grazing elk. i took out my 70-200 with a 1.5 extension and showed mary what she couldn’t see with the naked eye.

grazing elk

we really couldn’t get close to the herd but we tried exploring. i saw a cute red fox that mary took pictures of but because it was on her side of the car. we did pull into parking spots the tried to explore the trails

mary on the trail

being silly writing hearts in the snow

snow writing

but we did come upon a lone grazing cow

young cow

elk cow

who drew a crowd along the road as people stopped to take pictures. she seemed a bit curious about us but not enough to stop eating

elk cow

but after she left to join the herd there wasn’t much we say other than snow covered fields. soon the sun crossed the mountains and we headed to grand lake.

welcome grand lake

so we leave you here as we unpack our bags and darkness settles around us and we lay on the bed in exhaustion.

Posted in Co, travel, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

great american train adventure continues to chicago

November 1, 2010

The lake shore limited dropped us at lovely Union station Chicago.

 

art deco sign

 

 

 

union station chicago

For a major city train station, union station is clean and quiet. The main waiting room is detached from the train waiting rooms, which are in a newer annex across and under the street under a newer building along the Chicago river.

I was struck how calm the station was even though there were many people wandering around. Union stations main waiting room was practically empty except for the tourist photographers,

Union station waiting room

not like crowded penn station in new york which probably has 8 police at any given time hanging around the waiting room. We didn’t see one police person in the entire station and yet it wasn’t a homeless hangout. Did we miss something?

Using our limited time in the city we wandered around a few blocks also fitting in lunch along with picture taking. Chicago is a mix of the old and new on maybe a more human level than new york. What we saw beyond the new buildings were the unique items at least to us. Yes it was cool and windy but the day before they had hurricane winds which was the talk of the lunch crowd around us.

boats chicago river

 

Sightseeing boats cruising and tied along the Chicago river. counterweight bridges on major streets that still work, how cool is that?

bridge tower

just in case

 

 

We did see an interesting building approaching Chicago with a statue on top. The Chicago Board of Trade

chicago board of trade

who the statue was on top of building we’ve no idea nor any pictures. But following our quest to the building we found the Chicago loop-elevated subway.

loop tracks

chicago loop elevated train

the old with the new, see somethings can co-exist quite nicely. things don’t have to be torn down to make way for the new.

But it was time to catch the zephyr a super liner train. Cool right?

Zephyr

Well the super part of the train means they can get more people on because it has a double deck of compartments. Which meant to us that the top bunk has less headroom, so low that mary couldn’t sit up in bed and had to roll into it, which was different than the lake shore.

The zephyr has a lounge car with strange seats. I remember as a kid seeing ads for lounge chairs that swivel along with glass windows but these are plastic/metal and designed for little people.

Zephyr lounge car

Train travel in America is so different than other parts of the world. We’ve traveled by train in italy and japan. In italy we did a sleeper while japan was the bullet train. Somewhere a decision was made to let train travel fall by the wayside to the more glamorous air travel. What we find is that the older population enjoys train travel, who really likes airports? The new bus terminals of travel.

Train travel lets one relax and enjoy the scenery, which is impressive. I’ve driven across the country 3 or 4 times and moving at 60 mph I’ve never had the chance to just enjoy the beauty of the country. Sometimes I found myself not taking pictures out the train windows, just enjoying seeing what passed before me. Very relaxing.

Farm

Next stop Amtrak station Granby Colorado, to the town of grand lake, gateway to rocky mountain national park.

 

Posted in Chicago, Great american train adventure, photography contests, travel, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

the great american train adventure

October 29, 2010

mary and i are on our way across america by train. it’s something neither ne of us has done before, we traveled in Italy and Japan via train  bit nothing like this. i was raised around steam locomotives, seeing them roll out of the factories and every summer i’d see them chugging up towards whitehall ny when we were on our way to vermont.

so i looked forward to this trip. i’ve experienced train travel along the northeast corridor going to washington dc and new york and it wasn’t much fun, except the meto liner, but that began an dended in either city. amtrak just hasn’t kept up with the rest of the world and i don’t know why? flying isn’t much fun more like a modern day bus terminal. but amtrak has let it’s rolling stock deteriorate terribly. but that’s not the point of this story, just an after fact.

train travel can be cramped as is ours because we are on the bottom of the sleeper food chain, better than coach and free microwaved meals but each line has different coaches. we first begin with the north shore limited, from nyc to chicago.

mary relaxing

we stat by going north along the hudson river

autumn trees

a house whizzes by

late in the afternoon 3:45pm which i guess is better in the summer

sunset along the hudson

trees, houses, bridges whiz by unknown place as we are unknown people passing through early evening

bridge across hudson

to albany where we meet up with one coming from boston and they hook up to us, mary sits in the lounge car, a misnomer if ever there was one.

lounge

then on to buffalo alone  lake erie shore and into chicago union station. but we have to learn to live in our snug cell down stainless steel hallways

train corridor

top bunk

but what i see from my place

feet

but we survive as do everyone else on the train as we walk the long long walk into union station, but more on that later

jene

Posted in travel, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Verizon phones, don’t ever get a CDM8950, your life may depend on it.

October 26, 2010

i know this blog is about photography and art but how can one run a business, even an artful one if there is no communication? recently i resigned a two year contract with verizon coordinating my contract with my partner mary. having the same phones is so much easier not having to move chargers around from cars to home and back again.

i’ve had numerous verizon phones from qualicom, motorola, and now brand x. i have sent emails to verizon complaining about this phone only to receive an automated response i can send the phone back with a restocking fee. i wish verizon carried motorola phones that would suit my life style.

but this new phone CDM8950 is the worst piece of sh.. i’ve ever had. now i only use a cell phone for phone calls. i don’t need a camera as i happen to have too many of those nor do i use the v cast music feature i have an ipod and riding the subway playing games seems silly to me. but hey people do it.

what bothers me is i am not getting my messages nor do i hear the phone in city traffic. it somehow turns the volume down to nothing in my small hands, so my calls go directly to voicemails which i may get the next day or not. i am still waiting for notification of one from my son sent hours ago.

the worst thing is that when the battery is low or dying it gives a one minute warning before turning off. yes that’s right,  end of conversation, oh too bad you were in the middle of a life and death situation and with the phone off EMS will never be able to find you.

there are so many things in life that need our attention and getting good phone service and quality products shouldn’t be one of them. but as we can see by the banking scandal it’s all about me or them. a good company like verizon letting the hardware mar their reputation seems silly. but these decisions are made about pennies in rooms far removed from day to day daily life by people who don’t use these products.

so if i can deter one person or two from making the same mistake i made by going with a salesman recommendation and not get one of these monster products, fine. this maybe the end of my long relationship with verizon, they seem more interested in trying to selling me Fios everything.

and with this midterm election and the dire predictions of a republican resurgence, where is our long term memory? aren’t they the ones who got us here, in this mess to begin with?

well just vote, we already did because we aren’t going to be here on election day. maybe it will help, maybe not. today we begin our amtrak adventure of seeing america and we are both excited.

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TED winner J R, The Parisian “photograffeur”

October 20, 2010

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NEW YORK – TED, the progressive California nonprofit that brings luminaries of technology, entertainment, and design together for the sake of world betterment, has made an unexpected choice for its seventh annual $100,000 TED Prize: JR, a 27-year-old street artist who, under a mysterious cloak of semi-anonymity, has been pasting monumental black-and-white photographs across the urban infrastructure of the world’s poorest slums.

In the past, the prize — given to a charitably-minded figures from diverse fields who then choose a “wish to change the world” — has been allotted to such global figures as Bill Clinton and Bono, as well as members of the arts sphere like author Dave Eggers, architect Cameron Sinclair, and photographers James Nachtwey and Edward Burtynsky. According to a statement, TED singled out the 2011 winner for the dramatic interventions the artist — whose provocative London dealer was recently profiled in Modern Painters — has staged around the globe.

“In Rio, he turned hillsides into dramatic visual landscape by applying images to the facades of favela homes,” the statement says. “In Kenya, focusing on ‘Women Are Heroes,’ he turned Kibera into a stunning gallery of local faces. And in Israel and Palestine, he mounted photos of a rabbi, imam and priest on walls across the region — including the wall separating Israel from the West Bank.”

According to JR’s own Web site, his artistic practice — which he writes “mixes Art and Act, talks about commitment, freedom, identity and limit” — began when he found a camera in the Paris subway leading to his ownership of “the biggest gallery in the world”: the world itself. He dislikes being called a street artist, and prefers the title “photograffeur” (graffeur means “graffiti artist” in French), the New York Times reported. The Times also referred to JR as a “Robin Hood-like figure,” although he will not announce until the TED Conference next March how he plans to use the prize to help the impoverished subjects of his work.

In recent years, the money has been to fight against obesity (British chef Jamie Oliver, the 2010 winner) and to build up a healthcare system in Rwanda (Clinton, a 2007 recipient). JR will likely use his winnings to continue his guerrilla artistic installations, as he has done with money earned at auction and in galleries in the past

JR first heard of the existence of the TED prize two weeks ago, and initially was wary in communicating with prize officials through Skype, disguising himself in dark glasses and a low-brimmed hat, according to the Times. “I’m kind of stunned,” he told the paper. “I’ve never applied for an award in my life and didn’t know that somebody had nominated me for this.”

artinfo

NYTimes

Guardian

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italy, our first travels

October 18, 2010

after meeting mary and getting to know each other, sharing our wishes, fears and dreams she proposed we go to europe, italy as i remember. i had always wanted to travel the world without being in a uniform but never put it together. why do we always wait? how do we know what time we have left here?

we set a date and she cashed in some of her frequent flyer miles and got the tickets. we were all set.

in the meantime the Rolling Stones and Martin Scorsese had contracted the Beacon theater where i had just left for early retirement for a concert and movie Shine A Light and everyone i worked with said come back it’s going to be a big one, meaning everyone should made a lot of money. ‘But i am going to italy with mary’ i replied.

it did make me think about my work life, how i’d given up almost all my holidays and weekends to work. family events revolved around my work schedule. but not any more i had worked since i was 14 years old and it was time to stop and smell the flowers with Mary.

i’ve not regretted that decision one bit.

the other day i was looking for some tree images to enter into a contest and turned on a HD i seldom view with some of the italy images which i’ll share a couple here.

Colosseum cross

this is one of the first thing we see as we enter The Colosseum. it’s surrounded by people but i managed to get this shot off. this is really a pretty powerful place when one thinks about what happened here. who wandered these hallways and how long this place has withstood time

colosseum walls with sky

through all the earthquakes, bombings and bullet holes, but it has a dark history

the colosseum wall with cloud

who walked here through these hallways, were are the lions now, oh detroit.

catacombs

The Colosseum Catacombs

access is limited where one can go, but i understand they’ve open up more areas than when we were there.

catacombs

the colosseum catacombs

but i was looking for trees and the only thing growing here was grass

the colosseum window

The Colosseum window

so i began to wander around  looking for my usual………. this being more to my liking a stand of pine trees.

colosseum window with pine trees

Colosseum window with pine trees

and of course here’s my honey smiling across the table at me during lunch. i wonder what she was thinking?

mary youtt

and silly me, yes i still have that shirt.

me

these images were taken with my canon 20d which has traveled with me and now remains as a back up camera to my 5d mll.

we did find some flowers later on the isle of  Ischia in Sant’ Angelo italy, but my honey is still brighter

yellow orchid

yellow orchid

i wanted to write about some new flash triggers but so far haven’t really tested them completely but so far i am really impressed.

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Posted in art, Photography, travel, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Robert Cornelius awards winner’s list woopee

October 14, 2010
 

Press and Media:
You may request images of the awards to press@thegalaawards.com

 

 

The Worldwide Photography Gala Awards
announces the awardees of
THE ROBERT CORNELIUS AWARD

Juried by Stephen Perloff (Founder and Publisher, The Photo Review)

 

band on the run

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winner of the Robert Cornelius Portrait Award:
Sandra Chen Weinstein (USA) for her work Band on the Run

 

Runner Ups  

Tom Chambers, Francesca Fago, James Thomas Josephs,Abel de Leon Trespando,

Jimmy Williams, Frank Rodick, Sarah Corbins, Sonia Paulino, Ken Merfeld,

Natalia Engelhardt, Joy Goldkind, Glennis Siverson, Estelle Dougier,

Francisco Bermejo,Gloria Baker Feinstein, Frank Rodick, Beth Yarnelle Edwards


Category winners:


Digital Manipulation:

First Prize: Tom Chambers (US), “Meant for Love”

Editorial and Documentary:

First Prize: Francesca Fago (Italy), “Eyes of Africa”

Figure and Nude:

First Prize: James Thomas Josephs (USA), “Papa John 05”

People:

First Prize: Abel de Leon Trespando (Spain), “Refugian”

Performing Arts:

First Prize: Jimmy Williams (USA), “Bishop Dreary and Marie Manning”

Portrait:

First Prize: Frank Rodick (Canada), “Three Studies for a Mouth”

Self Portrait:

First Prize: Desert

Alternative Processes:

First Prize: Desert


Honorable Mentions:


Sarah Corbins (USA), “Kinescape”

Sonia Paulino (USA), “Jackie and Dolce, Echo Park”

Ken Merfeld (SA), “Senora Plastica”

Natalia Engelhardt (USA), “Stasya, Moscow 2007”

Joy Goldkind (USA), “Image 6231”

Glennis Silverson (USA), “Conjoined”

Estelle Dougier (France), “Sleeping Beauty”

Francisco Bermejo (Chile), “A circus child in his trailer, Chile”

Abel de Leon Trespando (Spain), “Betty Lakhone”

Gloria Baker Feinstein (USA), “Elise and Coco”

Beth Yarnelle Edwards (USA), “Katherine M.”

Ken Merfeld (USA), “Awele”

Julie Ramage (France), “Portrait 1”

Sally Dennison (USA), “Ingrid”

Virginia Saunders (USA), “Incognito”

Braden Summers (USA), “We Can’t Do It Alone”

Bill Jackson (UK), “The Man Who Shot Weegee”

Nic Lyons (USA), “Self Portrait with Geiser Counter”

Teri Havens (USA), “Charlotte, 2008”

Graham Crouch (India), “Hunger”

Heather McClintock (USA), “Obwana Patrick Koch Lila Chope, Uganda”

Kurt Hoerbst (Austria), “Tagar, 30 with his 3 daughters”

Nancy Newberry (USA), “Untitled form the series MUM”

Pierpaolo Mittica (Italy), “Sulfur Miner blinder by toxic fumes”

Mark Sharfman (USA), “Has Pollock worked for Playboy”

Joy Goldkind (USA), “Adagio 47”

Anna Tomczak (USA), “From the Garden”

Jene Youtt (USA), “Fall

Ken Merfeld (USA), “Nobuko¡s ki”

Joydeep Mukherjee (India), “His Master”

Nina Doran (USA), “Untitled, Harlem, NYC”

Jimmy Williams (USA), “John Dee Holeman”

Lee Tonks (USA), “Ballerina Obscura 2″

Nicholas Fedak II (USA), Baby Blue”

Mark Tedeschi (Australia), “Snake Man”

Claire Schneider (USA), “Megan Miracle”

Alyson Aliano (USA), “Angelina Valentine, Porn Star”

Robert Kalman (USA), “Police, Nicaragua”

Laetitia Molenaar (Netherlands), “Automated Face Processing #2, Fay”

Paul Murphy (UK), “East End Portrait 3”

Charlotte Draycott (UK), “Untitled 3”

Stu Levy (USA), “Walter Chappell”

Ellin Hoyland (Norway), “Brothers No 1”

Steven Beckly (Canada), “Everything Must Break To Be Beautiful”

Ellen Rennard (USA), “Ponce”

Linda Elvira Piedra (USA), “Alchemy, El Rito, 1997”

Mare Vaccaro (USA), “Secrets”

Angela Bacon-Kidwell (USA), “Balance”

 
and the good news is that i made honorable mention with the “Fall” 

 

the fall

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Posted in art, awards, chiaroscuro, erotic art, figure studies, nude, Photography, photography contests, tenebrism, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

some of the great companies i know

October 13, 2010

the other day i was shooting a maternity shoot, well actually mary was because i was feeling under the weather but i set up the lighting and she shot. i noticed one of my white lightning 1200 ultras light had the wrong lock down handle.

it had a lsa10 type handle which doesn’t really work tighting soft boxes down. i needed a umba handle so after the shot i called white lightning figuring i had to order another handle. well after they figured out what i needed they said they would send me one. FREE

not only did they send one i received two. now how many companies do you know and buy things from provide service like this? ever think canon would do something like this? good luck if you do, i’ve a slightly used bridge i’d like to sell you.

 

LSA 10

 

 

UMBA

 

Posted in canon, flash units, labor of love pix, Photography, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

The National Museum of Cambodia

October 5, 2010

A cultural awakening for when visiting the iconic National Museum of Cambodia today in Phnom Penh is cambodia’s largest museum of cultural history and is the country’s leading historical and archaeological museum. it houses one of the world’s largest collections of khmer art, including sculptural, ceramics, bronzes, and ethnographic objects. the museum buildings, inspired by khmer temple architecture, were constructed between 1917 and 1924, the museum was officially inaugurated in 1920,and renovated in 1968.]

National-Museum-of-Cambodia-Phnom-Penh

Touring the national museum of cambodia I never expected to receive the unique learning experience of diversity of ancient cultures blended so well in a modern museum. the museum buildings were constructed between 1917 and 1924, with the inauguration of the museum in 1920. the central section of the east façade was renovated in 1968 under the supervision of cambodian architect, vann molyvann. the museum in phnom penh is cambodia’s largest museum of cultural history and is the country’s leading historical and archaeological museum. it houses one of the world’s largest collections of khmer art, including sculptural, ceramics, bronzes, and ethnographic objects. the museum’s collection includes over 17,000 items, from prehistoric times to periods before, during, and after the khmer empire, which at its height stretched from thailand, across present-day cambodia, to southern vietnam. george groslier (1887-1945), historian, curator and author was the motivating force behind much of the revival of interest in traditional ccambodian arts and crafts, and it was he who designed this building that is today ‘traditional khmer’ architecture. it is perhaps better described as a building enlarged from cambodian temple prototypes seen on ancient bas-reliefs and reinterpreted through colonial eyes to meet the museum-size requirements. together with the adjacent royal university of fine arts the national museum of cambodia works to enhance knowledge of and preserve Cambodian cultural traditions and to provide a source of pride and identity to the cambodian people. the museum also serves a religious function; its collection of important Buddhist and Hindu sculpture addresses community religious needs as a place of worship. a permanent exhibition, Post-Angkorian Buddha, is supported by UNESCO and a number of individuals and local businesses. . .

Bronze-Buddhist-Triad

Website : http://www.cambodiamuseum.info/

Posted in art, cambodia, public art, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

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