Uploads from TxPilot, tagged painting, with geodata

The Sentinel

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:07:10 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

Watching over the Canyon in sort of a protective manner. I can relate to just how overwhelming looking out over this canyon can be! What an IMMENSELY awesome thing to see! :-)

The Trip to the Grand Canyon from Vegas seemed like it took FOREVER! I had left Vegas after midnight after a very long day! I had started off the day in the northern area of Death Valley after spending the night in a tent at a campsite that Darren and I had grabbed the day before. During the night I just knew that the Mountain Lions were ganging up and circling the tents and planning their strategy for some tasty meals! Okay... so it could have been just a few Kangaroo Mice instead! Or maybe just the wind! :-D Anyway, I had passed out on Darren the previous night at Racetrack Playa basically from being so totally exhausted that I just couldn't go anymore. So I could have just been dreaming! ;-)

After a restless night, Darren and I got up and made our way south and stopped along the way to see some of the other sites in Death Valley. It was getting very HOT in the middle of the day but we did make it to the Devil's Golf course and a few other places as well. I needed to start heading back towards Dallas and at about 2 or so in the afternoon, I bid farewell to Darren and started heading east.

That evening I stopped in Vegas to meet up with Marisa and one other photographer that lives there in Vegas as well. We spent a little time at the Red Rock Park just on the Northeast side of Las Vegas. After dropping off Marisa at her car and thanking her for the time she spent with us, I started making my way towards the Grand Canyon. At least my plan was to drive for as long as I could and then pull over to get some sleep somewhere. I was not in Arizona too long before I had to stop and found a parking area with a scenic overlook area and laid back the seat to get some rest.

I woke up the next morning as the sun was rising and got back on the road shortly thereafter. Still didn't get much sleep but I was ready to hit the Grand Canyon and see if I could find a secluded area to get some Light Painting Shots in that evening.

I arrived at the Grand Canyon at about noon after a few pit stops for food and fuel and there were people EVERYWHERE! As I walked around the Grand Canyon Village area taking pics here and there, I was also watching the people that were obviously here from all over the world to see this awesome spectacle of nature! So many different languages being spoken that I could not even start to guess what most of them were. It was pretty cool to be standing in the middle of this big melting pot of people from every corner of the planet.

With all of the people around this main area, I decided it was best to venture to the east a bit and see if I could find a nice overlook area not only to catch a nice sunset with the canyon in view, but a spot that would be a good place for some light painting a little later when the moon came up. It was now Monday, May 7th and the full moon occurred two days prior to this. So it would rise roughly two hours after sunset... Plenty of time to get settled! :-)

I drove down East Rim Drive towards Cameron, Arizona. (Cameron loved the fact that "the town was named after him!" when we made a trip to the Grand Canyon in 2001!) Ha! I was so busy looking at the forest and the occasional views over the canyon that I didn't pay much attention to the signs along road as I went. This would come back to bite me a little later! ;-) I stopped at several overlook areas along the way and finally made my way to Navajo Point which is about 20 miles away from the main visitor center. The view from this point was awesome! The canyon made a bend here and the sun would set over the canyon to my west, and you could see the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon in spots towards the west and in a large area heading to the north east from here. I took a few photos and looked around a bit and found a spot where I could do some Light Painting without fear of falling off into the dark canyon below. At least not TOO much fear! ;-)

So after a little more exploring of the area, I settled down in a good spot to get some shots of the sun setting and just kicked back for a while enjoying the view. Off to the east, I noticed some clouds and it looked like they might have some rain mixed in with them as well. Rain is sort of an unusual thing and you really don't see clouds that often here either so I didn't think much about them other than the fact that I thought it would be cool if some clouds would make an appearance in some of my shots. Well, be careful what you wish for! As the sun was getting closer to the horizon, an overcast moved in and caught up with the sun as well and it was starting to look like there wasn't going to be any sunset shots at this point. It was also looking pretty bad for the Light Painting shoot that I had planned for later as well since this would block the moon from making the landscape visible during the session! 8-O Wow!

Well, just as the sun was getting close to the horizon, it broke back out of the cloud bank and did end up putting on a bit a a show for us. I say "US" because at this point, there were probably 50 other people gathered at the same area hoping to get a shot of the sunset also! ;-)

Anyway… After getting some shots of the sunset and letting it get a bit dark, I headed back towards Grand Canyon Village to see if I could find a place to get some food and do some waiting to see if the clouds would break up at all. On my way back though, I spotted some of the signs that I had missed on the way in! There was one that REALLY stood out and was on the road near the point I had chosen for my Light Painting session that night! It was like the familiar Deer Crossing warning signs that most everyone has seen before, but this was different! Instead of the silhouette of a deer on the sign, it was the silhouette of a Mountain Lion!!! 8-O A Cougar! A Puma! A BIG Cat!! One that HAS been known to attack and kill humans!! I distinctly remember reading that these cats are normally shy and solitary animals, BUT, they DO occasionally attack people, usually children or solitary adults, and that there are about four attacks per year with one fatality each year!!! Great!!! Here I am, in an area where they thought it NECESSARY to put up a sign warning drivers about them and I was going to be a SOLITARY ADULT out in the middle of the night in the middle of NOWHERE!!

I have said it before and I will say it again! One my biggest fears is being eaten alive! Particularly by one of these cats!! It is not the first time I have been in an area where they are known to be, and I am sure it wont be the last! But usually I am with someone else! This time, it was just me! So.. as I dwelled on that thought all the way back to civilization and on through dinner while waiting for the moon to pop out of the clouds, I wondered if I should try to find a different area in the dark or go through with my plans. Things were really not looking too good anyway with the cloud cover so I was starting to think that I would not get any Light Painting shots at the Grand Canyon this go around anyway. :-\

As it starting getting close to midnight, I was getting ready to give up on the moon when I noticed it lighten up a bit outside! Sure enough! The clouds were breaking! Cool! I was at least going to see if I could get a few shots in before hitting the road again to get back to Dallas! So... I made my way back out to Navajo Point and was reminded of the Mountain Lion threat several times along the way! I had convinced myself that I would just try to play it as safe as possible and keep aware of my surroundings as much as possible, but if it was my time to go at the claws of a big cat, then I guess it was time! :-)

When I reached Navajo Point, I got all my gear together and made the short hike over to the rim of the canyon and got things set up. I kept a very bright flashlight turned on and searched the area for glowing eyes at every chance as I got everything ready to shoot. The moon was still at an angle that was causing some unwanted shadows but I just had to deal with the situation I had at the moment and started shooting. Each shot was a little over a 10 minute exposure and it was difficult to NOT turn on the spotlight to look for eyes during the exposures but I refrained. The wind was blowing fairly strong as well, so it was hard to hear anything but the wind blowing through the trees. As soon as I would end an exposure, I would turn on the spotlight to scan for glowing eyes and keep it on the entire time that I was checking the shot. I would scan the trees again before taking the next shot and this went on like this for the next two hours.

After I had created several shots, and at about 2:30 in the morning, my nerves were shot and I was exhausted once again! So I packed things up and high tailed it away from any further threat of being eaten alive that night! I still felt good about the fact that I was FINALLY able to Light Paint the Grand Canyon! :-)

Light Painting - Single Exposure
In the style of Denis Smith (biskitboy)

Death Cruiser!

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Wed, 23 May 2012 22:39:04 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

The Ghost Town of Nelson, Nevada is full of suprises! And it is definitely a photographer's paradise! There are things located here that seem that they have sat in the same position for a VERY long time, and there are things that... well... just seem to be VERY out of place here! If you are photographer and heading to the Las Vegas area, I would definitely recommend making the drive to see this very cool little out of the way town. You will be sorry for missing it! Make sure and plan lots of time to spend there though! It is easy to get lost in nooks and crannies that you will find all over this place! :-)

Sporting a hood ornament of different kind, this 1953 Chevy has seen better days, but then again, for car that is almost 60 years old, it is in suprizingly good shape!

John lit up the Chevy in this shot.

Light Painting (In the style of Lost America) - Single Exposure

Wahweap - Lake Powell

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:04:51 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

"Wahweap" is a Paiute Indian word meaning bitter or alkali water.

It is hard to look at this place and think of it as having bitter or alkali water, but at the time that the Paiute Indians gave it this name, this lake was far from existence! The Colorado River flowed through here deep in the canyon that is now filled with water and the water that flowed into it from these baron lands was probably not the best around. I am guessing that it was probably missing the standard fluoride treatment given a lot of public water today as well! ;-)

But no matter what, it is hard not to stand in a place like this and not think about what it must have looked like before the lake, and just how beautifully different it was back then. And is just as hard not to think about just how much this lake and water has given life to this land. Not to mention the controlled regulation of the water flow downstream to some of the best farmlands in the world! All of which were once very desolate areas.

All of the places visited on this trip were simply amazing but each of them had their own magnificent beauty and their own wonderful stories to tell! This place was so very peaceful, quiet, and serene, yet at the same time, hidden dangers were everywhere!

Light Painting - Single Exposure
In the style of Denis Smith

Crash and Burn!

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Sun, 20 May 2012 21:33:24 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

And they're rounding the final turn and... WAIT! The leader has spun out and is on FIRE!!! Looks like he is out of the race at the last second! The race is now up for grabs and the cup could go to anyone! In the final stretch are the Red, Blue and Green rocks! Blue is ahead by a few grains of dust with Red following closely behind! And we certainly cannot count out the Green rock just yet!!! Who will become the next Playa Champion!?!?!

I guess we will find out in a few hundred years! ;-)

Racetrack Playa - Death Valley National Park

Light Painting - SIngle Exposure

You Just Never Know

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Fri, 18 May 2012 19:06:26 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

The trip to Vegas was all about Light Painting and I initially went there for an LP related project but I am still not at liberty to discuss the details of what that was at this point. Hopefully I will be able to do that soon. But as most Light Painters know, the art form itself is not very well known and that is something I have been on a mission to change for several years now. The project that I cannot speak much of at this point is all about that! In a big way! ;-)

Anyway... on the way out to the Valley of Fire, John, Marisa and I stopped at a fuel station/convenience store that was located just outside the park to fill up on gas and get a few things for the evening before venturing on into the park. After filling up with fuel, I went into the store for a moment and then walked back out to my truck. At I approached the truck, at the fuel pump next to the one that I had used, I noticed a girl sitting in the passenger side of another vehicle and it looked like she might have been texting on her phone or something. She had a large red flower in her hair and the thought crossed my mind that it would be cool to have a model with us for some of these outings that we had been on during this trip. It was just a fleeting thought and I didn't think about it much, so I climbed in the truck and pulled up to the door to pick up John and Marisa as they came out and we started to pull out of the station to continue our journey into the Valley of Fire.

As we were pulling out, I looked back towards the fuel pumps and noticed this same girl now running towards us and waving her arms. She was definitely trying to flag us down! So I stopped the truck and rolled down the window as she approached.

She asked me if I happened to have any business cards with information on the LightPaintingTools.com website and explained that she and the other girl she was with were photographers working on a project for their photography class at school. They had seen the advertisement on my trailer and they were interested in finding out more about my products!

Well, I was first off excited that someone else knew what light painting was and even more excited that they were interested in checking out the tools on my site!! On top of it all, I was a bit shocked that all of this was happening at a fuel station an hour outside of Las Vegas in basically the middle of the desert as well! The other photographer then joined us and they explained that they were heading into the park to do a photoshoot! I told them that we were getting ready to set the park on fire so to speak and do some light painting at different areas of the park as well! So we joined them at the location they had planned to shoot at since it was on our list of places to hit in the park!

After they got their shots, they followed us down into this little canyon and I asked the girl that was posing as the model if she would mind posing just a bit more for some LP shots! :-) She agreed and this shot is the result! I thought it was appropriate since we were afterall in, The Valley of FIRE! ;-)

You just never know what is going to happen when venturing out for a night shoot somewhere! You might be attacked and eaten by a hungry Mountain Lion (which I worried about on MORE than one occasion!) or you might just run across a model willing to pose for an LP shot! ;-) Ha!

Anyway... I am TERRIBLE with names so I do not recall either of their names, but I do hope they stop by and see this shot! I also hope they got something worth showing in their cameras as well! :-) Thanks girls for joining us on our LP adventure and thanks for the modeling session as well! :-)

I went ahead and posted this shot but I am still hoping to hear from the model to get her blessing on it. I have not heard from her yet and if, for some reason, she does contact me and wants it removed, then I will be taking it down.

Light Painting - Single Exposure

The Winds of Fire

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:21:17 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

The Valley of Fire State Park is a MUST to see if you are in the Las Vegas area. It is Nevada's oldest and largest State Park and was dedicated in 1935. Just a short one hour drive to the Northeast from Las Vegas, there is much to see in this little wonder of the desert!

It is difficult to tell in this photo but just beyond the little bush near the center of the photo, there was about a 30 foot drop straight down! Exploring a place like this in the middle of the night definitely has its hazards. One bad step and it would all be over! This was a collab between John and I (My idea that John skilfully made come to fruition using the Programmed Color Phaser (PCP) available at LightPaintingTools.com. I had envisioned a shot where a flowing ribbon of light would mimic the winds blowing through this little out of the way canyon that we found our way into with Marisa guiding the way!

I would really like to publicly thank Marisa for EVERYTHING that she did for us during our stay in the Las Vegas area. She greeted us with a fantastic goodie bag when we arrived in Vegas! She also took us to some great locations and helped out with things quite a bit such as carrying equipment to some difficult locations and throwing out some ideas as well! She was also just as eager to get involved with the light painting we were doing as much as she was content in just watching and learning. She spent several all nighters out with us that week and was also dealing with having to work in her normal job as well. What a trooper she is! Marisa had her Point and Shoot camera stolen from her just a few days before our arrival and she was totally torn up over it. She was looking for a replacement camera during the week that we were there, and actually on the day that I left Vegas to start making my way back home, she found a deal on a Nikon D3100 and grabbed it! This is her first step into DSLR photography and she has definitely caught the Light Painting bug along with it! Please help me in welcoming her to the addiction that we all enjoy so very much! :-) And Expect to see more from her in the near future! :-)

THANKS A MILLION Marisa for making the trip even more worth while! I look forward to shooting with you again someday! :-)

Light Painting - Single Exposure

Ghostly Revenge

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Tue, 15 May 2012 23:11:56 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

Welcome to the town of Nelson. Nevada. Actually I should say the Ghost Town of Nelson, Nevada!

To be such a small and out of the way place, this little Ghost Town has quite a history! Nelson is located in the El Dorado Canyon just south of Las Vegas and Boulder City and a little bit downstream from the Hoover Dam. Gold and Silver were discovered here in about 1860 and the town was one of the biggest mining booms in the history of Nevada. In 2010 the population count of Nelson was 37, but at one time this was quite a large community. It was well known for being a lawless and rough town and wanton killings ran rampant during its heyday over ownership of the mines and labor and management disputes as well.

Venturing into a Ghost Town at night for Light Painting definitely makes for an interesting night. Perticularly when there is a Mule that is not happy with you being around and spent most of the time we were there kicking a large piece of metal. Ha!

This shot was a collaboration between John, myself and "Love_Haight" who graciously spent most of the week tagging along with us to learn more about light painting and also took us to some great locations such as this one! :-)

This is my token "Crappy" shot that I promised Wes! ;-)

Light Painting - Single Exposure

Where da friggin' Moon!?

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Mon, 14 May 2012 07:58:00 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

This is the famous Hoover Dam! Built between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River. It impounds Lake Mead which is the largest reservoir in the United States (by Capacity) with Lake Powell being a close second. The ByPass bridge that is seen above and behind the dam was opened just a few years ago and rerouted the U.S. Highway 93 traffic that use to cross directly over the top of the dam. I have visited this dam MANY times over the years. The first time was in the late 60's when I was a child. Things have grown and changed quite a bit over the years with not only the Dam site complex, but with security and how the tours are handled. This was the first time that I had visited the dam where I was not allowed to walk across the top of it. :-\ It is a shame that things have come to this with security concerns.

This shot was taken the night before the full moon and was my attempt at John's Blind-Panning / Lens Cap trick technique. Well, one of the attempts anyway! ;-) The moon was over my left shoulder and the camera was facing West/Northwest for the shot of the dam.

At the start of this shot, I zoomed in on the moon, started the exposure, quickly covered the lens with my lens cap, then repositioned the camera with it zoomed back out on the dam. Since I was at a small aperture and ISO, I had to remove the lens cap and let the image burn in a bit for the exposure. During the time that this was happening, several people pulled up in vehicles and were all around us taking pics of the dam. I finished the exposure and as usual, had to wait for the Long Exposure Noise Reduction Job to do it's thing. When the shot finally appeared, I was pretty excited to see the result and said "There it is John!" :-) John was bent over looking at it while an Asian man was looking over his shoulder to get a glimpse of the shot as well. When this guy saw the shot and saw the large full moon over the dam, he looked up at the dam, then back at the shot, then over at me with a look of major confusion. I pointed up over my left shoulder at the moon and that just added to his confusion. He could not speak english so he left without hearing how the shot was created. But the look on his face was priceless!

Not photoshopped - Single Exposure - Straight from the camera with some minor levels adjustments.

Going with the Flow

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Sat, 12 May 2012 17:00:31 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

On the shoreline of Lake Powell in Utah, just outside of Page, Arizona and near the Glen Canyon Dam, John (jah~) and I spent our second night on the road to Vegas once again conjuring up some light magic! We had spent the day driving from Arches National Park with a side trip though the famous Monument Valley before arriving for the night in Page, Arizona and the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

The Glen Canyon Dam was completed in 1960 and Lake Powell was filled in 1966. This is all part of a solution proposed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to regulate the flow of the Colorado River downstream to other states and Mexico.

This shot is a collab bewtween John and I.

Light Painting - Single Exposure

Let the Light be your Guide

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:12:50 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

This is another shot from Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. The Arch is really hard to miss in this one! ;-) Just from the last two shots you can tell that I used my 16mm fisheye lens a lot on this trip.

This was created using a single high powered spotlight held over the top of the camera and aimed just above the arch for just a few seconds during a long exposure.

Light Painting - Single Exposure

Set In Stone

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:52:21 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

Home and somewhat settled at last! :-)

What a trip!!! 12 Days of travel and 5146 Miles across the southwestern United States! Including the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California! But even 12 days was barely enough time to make it to only the major sites along the way.

This shot was taken the night of our first stop in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. This is on the eastern side of Utah near the Utah / Colorado border and is sort of a warm up collaboration between John (jah~) and I. I had picked up John at his place near Denver earlier in the day and this is where we ended up after a beautiful drive through the Rocky Mountains.

I know, so where are the arches!?! Ha! Well, there is actually one in the rock formation that is second from the left side of the photo it just cannot be seen from this angle. There are also a few more directly behind the camera. This park is suppose to have over 2 thousand stone arches. It is definitely a gorgeous place to visit! Both Day AND Night! :-)

I was running a time lapse camera on the dash of my truck for most of the trip and with all of the photos from it and from my Nikon, I have about 28 thousand photos to deal with! Of course, most of those are for the time lapse but it will still take a while to go through them all. ;-)

More to come! :-)

Light Painting - Single Exposure

HOPE

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 12:34:10 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

Last night I had the pleasure of meeting up with a group of folks with Arlington Camera and attending and helping with a Light Painting Photo Walk they put on! There were people of all ages there! Some with experience, some without! But we ALL had a fantastic time! There was talk about going back and leading an advanced LP class in the future and I was also asked about getting together with a photography club as well! Looking forward to spreading the word about light painting even more!

LET THE LIGHT SHINE!!!! :-)

On another note... A new door opened and another one was closed and that is just the way things are sometimes. I decided yesterday that I was no longer going to be a part of a specific Light Painting group on Flickr due to a few egos running the group and thinking that they can make decisions on who does what with Light Painting and tutorials regarding Light Painting techniques and tools. It is really a shame to see but that is the path they choose and I simply do not agree.

The Future!

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Sun, 01 May 2011 18:58:30 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

Here are a few photos from the rest of the Senior Portrait shoot that I did for my twin Nieces. Of course I HAD to try to do some Light Painting shots with them to finish off the evening! They are both great girls, VERY smart and beautiful to boot! With girls like these heading out to tackle the world it will be a bright future indeed! Can you tell that I am VERY proud of them!? ;-)

If you are interested, you can see the rest of the shoot HERE

Light Painting - Single Exposure

Formation "F-light" (of the Night)

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 12:59:43 -0800

TxPilot posted a photo:

TAD and his friends wanted to do a little formation flying but it was such a long flight back to Dallas, he decided to jump in the co-pilot's seat and relax for the trip instead. ;-)

This was taken on the taxiway of Palacious Municiple Airport in Palacious, Texas, USA.

Flew south for the day on Thursday with TAD and picked up Andy (Pixelated~Light) and his brother Eric (eos7D_ufeau) in Austin and then headed to the Gulf Coast to meet up with Jake and Adri (Digicord) to do an LP session with them and TAD for the evening. Everyone had a great time! It was certainly good to meet up with them all again!

This is stacked combo of three different images in PS mainly to get more of TAD's friends in the shot! ;-) Otherwise the three images were SOOC.

Follow the adventures of TAD Lumen, International Bat of Mystery in the F-light of the Night Group. TAD is on a journey that will take him on a 42,000 mile trip around the world!

Light Painting SOOC with possibly some crop or minor levels adjustments. Single Exposure.

It was Raining Stars!

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 22:01:48 -0800

TxPilot posted a photo:

...So Lightman got out his umbrella while TAD played in the "light" showers! ;-)

Flew south for the day on Thursday with TAD and picked up Andy (Pixelated~Light) and his brother Eric (eos7D_ufeau) in Austin and then headed to the Gulf Coast to meet up with Jake and Adri (Digicord) to do an LP session with them and TAD for the evening. Everyone had a great time! It was certainly good to meet up with them all again!

Light painting by Andy (Pixelated~Light)

Follow the adventures of TAD Lumen, International Bat of Mystery in the F-light of the Night Group. TAD is on a journey that will take him on a 42,000 mile trip around the world!

Light Painting SOOC with possibly some crop or minor levels adjustments. Single Exposure.

TAD Collab!

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 23:07:04 -0800

TxPilot posted a photo:

Flew south for the day with TAD and picked up Andy (Pixelated~Light) and his brother Eric (eos7D_ufeau) in Austin and then headed to the Gulf Coast to meet up with Jake and Adri (Digicord) to do an LP session with them and TAD for the evening. I am pretty sure that everyone had a great time! It was certainly good to meet up with them all again! I am pretty sure that everyone was involved in doing some LP in this shot! :-)

Follow the adventures of TAD Lumen, International Bat of Mystery in the F-light of the Night Group. TAD is on a journey that will take him on a 42,000 mile trip around the world!

Light Painting SOOC with possibly some crop or minor levels adjustments. Single Exposure.

Bat Out Of Hell!

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:54:38 -0800

TxPilot posted a photo:

"The sirens are screaming and the fires are howling
Way down in the valley tonight
There's a man in the shadows with a gun in his eye
And a blade shining oh so bright
There's evil in the air and there's thunder in the sky
And a killer's on the bloodshot streets"
--Meatloaf "Bat out of Hell"

Follow the adventures of TAD Lumen, International Bat of Mystery in the F-light of the Night Group. TAD is on a journey that will take him on a 42,000 mile trip around the world!

This was a collab with my son Cameron (TxMini)

Light Painting SOOC with possibly some crop or minor levels adjustments. Single Exposure.

It's About Time... ing!

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 20:30:00 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

Playing around a bit more with the Programmable RGB LED Orb Tool tonight. I said it has a 2 million color range... but the colors on the dark end of the scale really do not stand out very much at all. I suppose they would work okay with a higher ISO, but then they would just be... well, brighter! :-) So maybe I better scale that statement back a bit. Probably more like 1 Million usable colors! Think I should toss it!?

Is there anyone that would like to see a photo of the tool itself? Or how about a tutorial on how to make one!?

Light Painting - Single Exposure

The tutorial to make one of these tools is located HERE

PAHA

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:42:37 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

PAHA

Paha is the Timbisha Shoshone word for Kitchen Rock. This rock is located in the middle of the parking lot at the Furnace Creek Inn near the Badwater area of Death Valley.

John and I stopped here since we were suppose to meet Marisa (Love_Haight) at the Badwater area late in the evening but some words got confused in text messages and I was starting to wonder if we were suppose to meet somewhere else (Badwater... Badlands... Everything is just BAD out there!) ;-) . This was one of only two places in the entire expanse of Death Valley that I was able to get a cell phone signal. The second place was even more bizarre and is a story that is coming with another set of photos! ;-) Even though the signal was weak, it was at least a signal and I was hoping to either get a hold of the person we were meeting or that she might try to call us.

When we pulled into the parking area, I noticed this rock area that had been left unpaved and just thought it strange that they would not finish the parking lot and cover this as well. We parked right next to the area and sat there for a bit trying to get a hold of Marisa. John kicked back and dosed off to catch up on a bit of the sleep that we both had been deprived of over the past several days and I was just kicked back watching the few cars drive by and enjoying the stars.

After a little while of sitting there, a man and woman walked out of the Inn behind us and walked right up to the rock area next to my truck. I had my window down and the woman was talking a bit loudly so I figured they probably had a bit too much to drink. She started telling the man that she thought this was the Indian Vortex and he seemed to disagree a bit but she was persistent in trying to get him to believe it. She then walked over to me and excused herself and asked if I knew if this was the Indian Vortex rock!? I told her that I knew nothing about that at all so I was not sure what she was referring to. After a little while, they walked away back into the Inn.

Now... all of this started to get at me a bit so I got out of the truck and walked over to take a closer look at the rock. There were several holes worn into the rock but other than that, it looked like any other rock around to me and believe me, there were a LOT of rocks around this place! Ha! But still, I had to find out more and see if there was some merit to what she was thinking and saying about that rock! Since I had a weak cell signal, searching was going to be slow but I had a little time to kill as it was anyway. :-) So I called up Google on my phone and I started Searching. After a little while, I ran across a website about Death Valley that confirmed what she was saying. To an extent anyway. I didn't really see anything about it being a Vortex, but this rock was in fact used by the Timbisha Shoshone tribal ancestors to grind mesquite beans and other foods in the early summer to help make their food easier to carry during their migration to higher mountain areas. The Tribe would gather at this rock not only to grind their food, but to dance and give thanks for their food to the creator on the ceremonial dancing mounds around the area as well.

So, being that it truly was a rock of a different kind out of all those in the area, I did what any other light painter would do and I light painted it! ;-)

It is a shame that this area was not protected more and it really deserves a little more recognition that just being an unpaved area in a parking lot. But I am at least glad that they didn't cover it up! :-)

Anyway... all ended well after I decided to head back to the Badwater area to see if Marisa might be there. Badwater was about 20 miles away and I started driving the lonely road back that direction. About half way there I saw the headlights of an oncoming car and I KNEW it had to be her! No one else was crazy enough to be out at midnight in this unforgiving place except us Light Painters! ;-) Not that anyone would get lost here sticking to the roads since you can count the paved roads on one hand. Just didn't way her to miss out on the LP after making a 3 hour drive from Vegas to meet us! :-)

Light Painting - Single Exposure

Skyline Arch - Arches National Park - Utah

nobody@flickr.com (TxPilot) — Sun, 13 May 2012 12:53:48 -0700

TxPilot posted a photo:

One more shot of the Skyline Arch in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. John (jah~) performed the honor of the LP work in this shot.

Light Painting - Single Exposure