Sequoia National Forest - With Film!

The last bit of my 30-day film challenge happened when I was out in California, but I hadn't gotten the film back until yesterday.

Weird things seem to be happening with this film and camera... most things are not coming out as I expect them to at all, which makes for some interesting images.  On a number of the early-morning sunrise photos it looks like there were some shutter issues that blacked out portions of the images.  I'll have to do some research on curtains and film... I don't ever remember that happening in all the years I shot film before, but this is a different camera so who knows?

Anyway, enjoy the surprising weirdness :)

Sequoia National Forest

I spent the weekend prior to the Beloved Collective workshop in the Sequoia National Park.  The workshop was being held in in LA, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to experience a moment with the largest living things on the planet.  It was also the weekend of 9/11.  As I was wholly unprepared to revisit all that happened 10 years ago, a day alone in nature - away from everyone and everything else - seemed like the best way for me to get through the day.

I arrived late on Saturday night and found a nice little campground to spend the night in.  I got up early Sunday morning and headed straight into the heart of the park.  There is so much I  could say about the day... I made some notes about what I had experienced that day, which you'll see as the last of the photos.  I spent a lot of time soaking things in... it was so refreshing to have the time to just sit and absorb the world around me.  I had to leave early the next morning, but I did catch the sunrise over the mountains.  

There are a lot of photos here, so consider yourself warned ;)

In the Adirondacks with the cutest niece ever!

I had a lovely trip up to Rochester, NY/the Adirondacks a couple weeks ago.  It is so nice to be in Rochester when it's only 75 degrees up there and 100 degrees here in Florida :)  All of the siblings managed to make the trip, including my very tiny and very cute niece.  I'm still getting used to being called 'Aunt Kristin'!  


We only had one or two days in Rochester and then we went up to work on the cottage my parents are building in the Adirondack Mountains for the rest of the week.  I did take a day to go into town to get some work done and to do a short hike.  I love it up there; I'm so glad that my parents are finally able to build the cottage they've always wanted.  It's going to be GORGEOUS when it's done... not to mention the fact that it will be special because of all of the hours that they, friends and relatives, and all of us have put into it.   Pictures of the cottage were taken by my brother :)

My adorable niece!  Those curls were out of control cute :)

My little hike:

"The Shed" - this doubles as a cabin complete with murphy bed, table and chairs, counter, propane camp stove, and wood burning stove

The main cottage

The loft - panelling almost done!  Every board was individually sanded and varnished (twice - by hand) before being mounted.

We got the bathroom and kitchen plumbing functioning this trip!  The first time we could shower, wash dishes, and flush a toilet since the property was purchased a few years ago made for quite an exciting weekend :)

And this is the view from the back porch.  Not bad, right? :)

Century Plant (aka maguey or agave) | Gainesville Photography

Since the challenge has ended, I haven't forgotten about my camera, I promise!

This past weekend we were in St. Augustine doing a shoot of the Bridge of Lions.  I'm in the process of working through those photos and should post a handful tomorrow.  In the meantime, here are some detail shots of a century plant that was waaaay taller than me.  I love the texture of these plants... I have to touch it every time I pass one.

Days 26, 27 & 28: Vogel | 30 Day Challenge

So yes, Vogel State Park in Georgia.  We were there Saturday through Monday with a group of Bo's friends, but I didn't actually get back to Gainesville until Tuesday morning... and I drove straight to work.  So I really still feel like I just got back even though tomorrow is Thursday.


Saturday we spent most of the day around the park and had a nice group dinner in a warm cabin with some wine and a fireplace.  Sunday a couple girls got up and did a 5am hike... we slept in until the ripe hour of 9am.  We had our breakfast, washed the dishes, got some more firewood and got ourselves ready and then it took a while for everyone to get themselves (and their tiny children) ready.  So we had a leisurely family-friendly hike late in the afternoon and I spent some time taking photos while Bo was exploring potential bouldering areas just off the trail.  We had another lovely evening and planned a more serious hike for Monday morning.  Mountains here we come!


Well... it rained all morning.  Rain and rain and rain.  So we checked out, hung around until everyone else was on their way out as well as the rain slowed down and went up to Brasstown Bald.  It was incredibly foggy, which was really quite nice.  It was one of the few times you can feel totally safe while experiencing weather on a mountain. Apparently the view is really great from up there and you can see four states, but we could barely see each other so.... maybe next time :)


As before, the first one in the group gets the exif data and is the one that I'm using for the challenge.


Saturday

28-135 3.5-5.6 @75mm, f/5.6, 1/13sec, ISO 400, no flash, probably with polarization filter

My requisite sunflare shot (oh I have many from this trip!)

Pro tebe, Vašo!

Sunday

28-135 3.5-5.6 @135mm, f/5.6, 1/32sec, ISO 200, no flash, polarization filter

Monday

28-135 3.5-5.6 @90mm, f/5.6, 1/200sec, ISO 400, no flash, no filter

Day 13: San Felasco | 30 Day Challenge

Sunday we went for a long walk at San Felasco.  The weather was perfect.  We made a few discoveries including an old cement and metal structure that looked like some kind of shallow cistern system, bitter orange trees, places that deer had been rubbing on the trees and peeled the bark off of, giant old live oaks, and we even found a horseshoe.  Animals were everywhere, which was quite nice.  We saw probably four or five armadillos that were totally oblivious to us, a woodpecker, we heard a turkey, and saw about 30 deer.  A lovely Sunday, if I may say so.


As with the quarry, I'll just post several images and count the first one as my requirement for the challenge.  I know this shot is fairly abstract and isn't really a picture of anything specific, but there is something about it I really like.  Maybe the negative space, lines, and the depth implied by the shallow depth of field (i.e., focus on one narrow plane so everything else is out of focus... the further away from that plane you get the more out of focus other objects become).  The color to this on is only very slightly modified.  I brought down the saturation a bit, but the original shot did have this warm, soft hue to it.  


I have started to use manual focus when working in an area of intricate detail at varying levels... imagine branches on a small tree or a situation like this that is just full of twigs, vines, and spanish moss.  I usually immediately find something interesting to focus on using the auto focus, but then I turn that off and slowly turn the manual focus ring to pick out something interesting at every plane that I might otherwise have missed.  It's really a good exercise for anyone working at a very narrow depth of field, I think.  You see things you hadn't expected.

50mm 1.4, f/1.8, 1/80, ISO 200, no flash

Don't these look like they are straight out of a Dr. Seuss book?