Uploads from djsoren, with geodata

Inside Fort Vancouver

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 19:00:16 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

Sometimes I forget that we have a National Park within a few minutes of my house. Maybe because it is historical rather than natural. Regardless, I have often thought about how to photograph Fort Vancouver in a beautiful way. I don't think i have figured it out yet, maybe because it is only open during high sun hours, but I'll work on it.

For now, here is a simple interior of the dining room. I like the bright colors and the soft light through the windows.

Goblin Valley, Utah

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:02:06 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

Dawn at Utah's best often overlooked location.

Sunrise Here? Don't Bother. ;-)

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:18:33 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

Sunrise at Mesa Arch at Canyonlands National Park Island in the Sky District near Moab, Utah is THE most popular point in the entire park. While you'd normally have a large expanse of desert to yourself, at sunrise you'll find yourself shoulder to shoulder with other tourists who wish you'd move a little bit to the left.

We were 30 minutes early and already found a dozen people from Germany, Australia and Japan waiting for the sun to rise over the La Sal Range. More countries were represented than camera brands! By the time the sun emerged, nearly 20 people were crowded into a fairly small viewpoint clicking away.

To illustrate my point, you can search Flickr for Mesa Arch and you'll find nearly 5,000 images, including the specific sunrise photo you were hoping to get. My advice - use your sunrise to find something different to shoot. You'll surely have it to yourself.

If you DO come here, I'd recommend a neutral density filter and/or a polarized filter. This photo was taken under a perfectly blue sky morning, but the range of light is too much for the camera to capture. (Unless you resort to HDR) I captured the detail in the rocks at the expense of the light blues above.

It makes you wonder...

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:33:15 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

I heard a guy this week say he thinks more of us would wonder about things like Astronomy and God if we could see more stars at night. After seeing the expansive Utah night sky on a dark, dark,...DARK night, I agree. It was amazing to look up and feel so small. At a minimum, more of us might opt to spend a quiet evening outside in a lawn chair.

Over the course of two hours I watched constelations move over the horizon and new ones appear. The Milky Way was a prominent band overhead like a weird blacklight mural. I saw planes flying high overhead with blinking lights, along with satellites zipping by with purpose. I saw meteors and space junk slowly burning up in the atmosphere. I saw planets and the space station outshining the other objects in the sky.

With all that going on above, I didn't notice the coyote who made an effort to pass me in the dark undetected until the last awkward moment. Thankfully, it kept on moving after an uncomfortable look into my new super-bright LED Mag-lite. :-)

All of that said, my camera is incapable of showing you what I saw in it's full glory. The lens is not wide enough. The sensor is not sensitive enough. You cannot detect the third dimension of the stars behind the rocks. A still image cannot display the motion in the sky nor the sounds of the desert at night....which actually sounded like restless boy scouts on the other side of the hill keeping the rest of us awake. Their campsite is where the thin strip of lights comes from. I'm sure they were having fun, and I was enjoying myself too.

Rebels and Independence

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:54:06 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

We saw quite a few Harleys and other motorcycles enjoying the windy road up to Independence Pass, Colorado on this beautiful summer day. The pass goes up over 12,000 feet between Aspen and Leadville on State Route 82 and is only open for a short summer season.

I wouldn't recommend, ever, ever hiking in jeans unless you came on a Harley or you are Chuck Norris in Walker Texas Ranger. ;-)

P.S. I loved using the polarized filter up on these mountains. Turned a plain scene into something more dramatic.

Bliss River Road

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:32:29 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

Lightning storm in Southern Idaho Saturday night - remember, only YOU can prevent forest fires - unless this is going on! ;-)

I saw a man jump off a bridge in Twin Falls...

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:47:05 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

It was quite a thrill to see someone leap off the 480 foot bridge in Twin Falls, supposedly the only legal place to base jump off a bridge year round. It was a touch windy and the bridge shook with traffic. Occasionally a driver would honk their horn to rattle the nerves of people looking over the edge. I heard that some 5,000 or so jumps a year occur from this location. You wouldn't believe how fast a person falls that distance.

Bliss

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:22:18 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

A lightning storm as seen from the River Road in Bliss, Idaho. A long drive through a dark night can be so much more interesting with a lightning storm safely in the distance. This particular storm stretched from Bliss to Boise for over 3 hours. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that there are some fires started as a result.

Rush Hour Bicycle Traffic on the Fremont

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:41:43 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

The last wave of bicycles crosses the popular Fremont Bridge. Booths and Japanese Taiko Drummers were setup at the top while many riders stopped to take a snapshot of Portland Skyline from the highest point. Very friendly crowd.

Providence Bridge Pedal Celebrity Sighting

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 07:27:48 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

A lot of bicyclists were excited to catch a glimpse of this visiting celebrity participating in the Providence Bridge Pedal crossing the Fremont Bridge. With his little wheel, he wasn't making very quick progress.

I honestly heard more excitement and saw more cameras come out for "The Travelocity Gnome!" than for the mayor who was stationed down on the other side of the bridge. I don't intend that as commentary on the mayor, but rather as recognition of the star power of this little guy! Haha fun stuff.

Tour de Portland

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:54:00 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

The annual Providence Bridge Pedal attracted over 18,000 cyclists yesterday which is a number that's impossible to convey via text. At one point, I saw a stream of bikes going two ways on this bridge, and looked down and saw another stream filling Interstate Avenue, and saw that the Fremont Bridge was filled to capacity at the same time! There were bikes and walkers along every route within eyesight and walking distance of the Willamette River. The event ran very smoothly and people were very happy and friendly.

I spent a good portion of the morning standing on the yellow line with people zipping by in both directions. I only had to worry about the little kids on BMX bikes that had a tendency to follow the yellow line. Most others steered clear.

The early morning crowd that was lined up at 6am to do 11 Bridges (35 mile route) was the most experienced and fun group to photograph that I came across. As the morning wore on the crowd turned from these highly experienced cyclists to a lively recreational bicycle crowd towing kids and wearing funny hats.

Lightning over Evergreen Airfield

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:27:28 -0800

djsoren posted a photo:

2009 Update: Posted a larger file - Building has been slower than expected, and the plans have changed a bit, but the field in the foreground is filling up with commercial buildings. This lightning appears to be striking the ground within a residential neighborhood on the other side of those trees, which must have been a little scary!

2006 Caption: It's pretty hard to find an open area to shoot photography when something like a lightning storm comes up here in the suburbs. I drove over to Evergreen Airfield and shot this photo on July 3, 2006 (notice the fireworks at the bottom). Soon this field will be jam packed with homes and Walgreens.

Every 94 Minutes...

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:01:47 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

Old Faithful from the popular side. Taken 94 minutes before my last Old Faithful photo.

"It's kinda cold here. It might even get down to freezing tonight..." I say.

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:49:16 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

Mike just laughs as he sets up the tent in the lonely Montana campground. It was already freezing and it would get down to 14 degrees overnight. I started out toasty warm from the header on the drive up. I woke up to find the interior of our tent was covered in a thin layer of ice from our breath. At least there was no wind or rain that night.

It turned out to be a really beautiful primitive campground along a creek near Deer Lodge, Montana.

Burned Out Tree Skeleton

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:38:55 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

This tree died when the hot springs diverted towards this existing tree. The hot springs at this point have since dried up, leaving a very dead scene. This is located at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park.

Bowman Lake, Montana

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 06:39:13 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

Just a simple documentary photograph of Bowman Lake at Glacier National Park Montana. The water was calm, cold and perfectly clear. This is the kind of place you want your bottled water to come from.

It's north of the more famous Lake McDonald via a fairly well groomed gravel road. There were very few people at this lake the day we visited, mostly long distance hikers.

(I have this one set as my computer desktop background - It's calming.)

Old Faithful at Dusk

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:30:29 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

The conditions were coming together for a perfect composition. Ninety minutes to plan before the next eruption, but only time during the eruption to make one good photograph. I opted for the reverse angle over the typical lodge view in order to capture the moon. However, I miss-calculated the height of the geyser on my first attempt (it was blocking the moon) so I had to make a quick move and I almost missed my chance. If I would have had a few more moments, I would have reframed it a little more to the left.

Regardless of the camera, it was a perfect night to just be there: clear and quiet.

Ichiro Hitting Number 211

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:24:53 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

Ichiro hitting number 211 on the final game of the dismal 2008 season which ties him with the league leader. I think he gets so many hits because he starts running before he's even hit the ball! He also runs out the hit harder than most everyone else.

Despite the worthlessness of the game to the Mariners and A's, it turned out to be a beautiful day at the ballpark with a good 4-3 Mariners comeback win that was enjoyable to watch.

Rednek Stoopidity

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 00:49:01 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

Do you ever find yourself at a monster truck show among a bunch of drunks and delinquent teenagers watching some dude wearing a football helmet attempt to jump an old motorhome with a beat up Dodge while towing a travel trailer?

Do you find yourself glad you set your camera for high speed shooting ahead of time?

Me too.

Update: Featured on Explore if you can believe that!! #320 - Sept 20.

...argh, almost perfect! ;-)

nobody@flickr.com (djsoren) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:05:53 -0700

djsoren posted a photo:

I'd like to adjust this shot ever so slightly: For added contrast, I'd like a wider aperature to give a little more blur, and I'd like a slight gap in the line between them.

...while I'm wishing, I'd like them to switch sides so that the sunlight would hit the eye and top of the head....any maybe a little rim flash on the background.

Overall they were fairly cooperative. ;-)