AR 27 - Trees, Seeds, and Snakes

The weather was beautiful yesterday with temps in the mid-to-high 80's and significantly lower humidity. The days are getting noticeably shorter too, so my walks are taking place effectively later in the day in terms of daylight.

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I've not been too focused on photography lately. My mind has wandered a lot during the past two walks, and I've not concentrated much on seeing and discovering things that I want to shoot.

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But that is the purpose of this photo-walk project. The more I do it, the more accustomed I am to seeing and photographing, and the easier it becomes for me to slip into a meaningful and productive photographic process (and get to my happy place).

I'm hoping to get out today too, especially since the weather is still really nice here. I'm about to head into a period of about three weeks where I won't get much opportunity to go walk in the reservoir.

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Once again I was startled by a cottonmouth right next to the paved trail. I didn't even see it until it had flipped around and was quickly wiggling away. I missed getting a shot. Shortly later, I came across a rather large one stretched across the pavement. It also took off quick but then paused in the grass next to the trail.

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AR 26 - Fall Shows Up; Snake in Grass

Fall weather is showing up here slowly, although it's our version of fall: a cycle of a few days with slightly cooler temps (and we all take to sitting outside in the evenings and repeatedly say "nice!, nice!") followed by a few days of back-to-summer heat and humidity.

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This walk is actually from late last week, a full four weeks since walk #25. I'm always disappointed when I have gaps in time like that, and I always have several excuses (but honestly there's a bit of laziness mixed in there too).

I should be walking a bunch this week since we're in a period of dry, cool weather. But I'm busy with chores at home and two big photo-related projects that have been taking a lot of my time lately. I'm done with one now (updating my website) and just about done with the other. More about that later :-)

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I walked right up to this cottonmouth sitting in the grass alongside the trail. It perked its head up and looked at me as I approached absent minded and unaware. I jumped back and raised my camera all in one motion.

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It quickly decided to leave, so the shot is of the snake headed away from me, and that was a good thing.

Big Bend Gallery Done (Sept. '10)

The gallery for my recent work in Big Bend National Park is now up:
www.thomasjavery.com/bb_sept10

Click to enter gallery.

Big Bend is still an ongoing project for me, and it is definitely my favorite location to visit and photograph. I'll be headed out there again in almost two weeks.

During this next trip, I will be a second assistant to Craig Tanner and Marti Jeffers (The Mindful Eye) on their workshop. I'm greatly looking forward to spending more time in the Big Bend area as well as being part of the TME workshop.

New and Updated Website

I would like to announce two major changes to my photography website.

1 The website address now has its own domain name: http://www.thomasjavery.com

The old Texbrick address still works, but will point to the new domain name if you visit it.

2 Major update in content and structure.

I have decided to focus my website on my major photography projects. I think they contain my best work, and I want to feature them rather than have them lost in a sea of bigger content as before.

I will continue to work on all four projects, and I will update their webpages as I generate new content.

If you spot any bugs or errors on the new site, please let me know! Thanks!

Updates and New Photos

I posted so much in August that I feel an explanation is needed for my two week lag here on my blog.

desert rainstorm
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My wife and I had a nice trip to Big Bend National Park over Labor Day weekend. Photos and reports from this trip will come soon as I'm still in the process of editing.

South Rim of the Chisos
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Other "life" activities and happenings have been getting in the way, including a bad cold and sinus infection. Staring at a computer monitor is the last thing I want to do when I have a throbbing, pounding, ice-pick-in-my-forehead headache!

Stay tuned, there's more ahead. Hopefully I can resume my normal photo-walks very soon.

AR 25 - Status and Lessons

I've done 25 of these photo-walks in the past five months. It's been a valuable experience, and I've written down five things that I've learned.

If you're not familiar with this project, please read my first post that described the project's scope:
www.texbrick.com/photo/blog/?p=179

Earthworm and leaf:

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1. How to See

This is subjective, but I feel that I'm learning how to see (as opposed to just "looking"). When I walk and look at things, I feel a deeper connection, i.e. a heightened sense of observation and detail awareness.

I wouldn't declare "I see now!" in an absolute sense, but I'm getting better at it. I just feel so much more aware of my surroundings.

What it all means is that it seems much easier for me to find interesting things to photograph (and sometimes, there seems to be too many things :-)

Vine detail:

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2. The Value of Practice

One of the main purposes of this project was to keep my photographic skills maintained over time. It's worked.

I've done several "serious" photo-outings in the past five months, and I've noticed that my practice (the photo-walks) have made a difference. I've found it so much easier to get into "photo-mode" and enjoy photographing AND produce photos that I'm satisfied with.

The path:

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3. Repetitive Subject Matter

Projects usually involve shooting the same subject matter repeatedly. The benefit is that as you become more familiar with things, you usually produce better and more meaningful photos.

I've done other photography projects and realize this benefit. However, these photo-walks have been in an area that I would describe as difficult (i.e. it gets very repetitive and somewhat boring).

What I've found is that despite the apparent difficulty, I always find new and interesting things to photograph. It's the same old scenes in the same old area, walk after walk, but it has not been boring. Instead of feeling like the subject matter has become repetitive, I've felt that each walk goes deeper and beyond the previous in terms of finding interesting things that grab my attention and that I want to photograph.

Water crossing:

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4. When to Stop

Knowing when to stop and take a photograph has always been a difficult thing for me. Usually, I get into so much of a rush that I pass up interesting things.

During my walks, especially the earlier ones, I've forced myself to stop. Over time, this practice has helped me develop a sense and an "eye" for things that interest me and that I should stop to photograph.

Dinner!:

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5. Difficult Subject Matter

As I mentioned before, this area (the trail through the Addicks Reservoir), is filled with low, dense, cluttered woods and is a place that I think most folks would describe as fairly un-photogenic. The trees are small and thick, it's hot and humid, there are tons of mosquitoes (and snakes and spiders too), it's totally flat, and there are really no wide, open spaces providing expansive views. Nearly everyone who goes out there is just there to exercise and seems completely unaware of their surroundings.

I've lived in this area for over 10 years and have only recently given thought to doing "serious" photography in the reservoir. Now that I have, I can see the beauty and potential. It's every bit as good as any other natural area. It's different, for sure, but still as grand.

And that's probably the biggest benefit or rather realization. It's not really something that I've learned so much as something that I've come to appreciate as my mind has opened up to the possibilities.

At the end of each walk, I feel refreshed and a sense of having communicated and related to nature and the beauty in the natural world. It's about as good as being in a "grand, beautiful" landscape, like that found in our national parks and other such scenic locations. It's different, but awesome.

It shall continue...

AR 24 - Spiders, Dragonflies, and Snakes

The humidity dropped down to near 30% yesterday and the walk was really nice. It's still hot, however.

I've walked another set of 3-days-in-a-row. I'm debating on whether or not to walk tonight. My knees are killing me!

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Dragonfly. It's what's for dinner:

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These were the first snakes I've seen in several months:

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Dragonfly:

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AR 23 - Hand of Man

My usual shooting style is focused on all-natural subjects. We all realize that human presence is found just about everywhere, and such "all-natural" photos are an abstraction from reality.

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Some photographers embrace it and some avoid it. Some show the effects of man in a pleasant way and others don't.

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I feel like I'm ignoring it sometimes, but then I have to fulfill my vision by photographing what attracts me.

This could turn into a very long discussion :-)

AR 22 - Alternatives & Planes

There is a small patch of woods along the trail that is usually very swampy. This spot is beautiful, but heavily cluttered with small trees. I've tried many times to photograph this area, but have yet to capture what I think is most beautiful.

I tried a motion blur in attempts to abstract two main things that I find attractive: the slender trunks of the trees and the green light from the canopy. I think I like it.

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Some motion overhead caught my attention as I walked along the trail. It was a cicada caught in a banana spider's web.

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As if on cue, a plane flew through the scene as I photographed it.

On the return, I got caught in a very heavy downpour. Fortunately I had taken along two little water resistant stuff-sacks to protect my phone and camera, but the rest of me went for a swim.

AR 21 - Moss, Spider, & Bee

For the first time in a very long while, I've managed to walk three days in a row. And my legs and joints feel it!

Yesterday's walk was a break from the usual direct sunlight and massive heat. Temperatures were a good 8 degrees cooler and cloud cover gave me shade the whole way. It was almost pleasant, although I won't be calling my walks full-blown pleasant until after the first few cold fronts later this year :-)

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This scene (above) caused a lot of thought and emotion to surface. That's all I'll say about that ;-)

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I came across a banana spider working hard to rebuild her web. It had just been hit by a small branch knocked out of the tree above.

The large, colorful banana spiders are the females. The smaller ones (not pictured here) are the males. And they're so much smaller that they look like intruders on their mate's webs. In effect, they are and typically get eaten after mating. Glad I'm not a spider.

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AR 20 - Equivalence Times Three

Continuing with the concept of equivalence...

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I reacted to scenes that sparked a feeling or emotion not related to the literal scene itself and then attempted to photograph those scenes.

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I won't say what I was thinking or feeling when I shot them. I think that ruins the meaning of it.

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What I like about this concept is that it's completely open to the interpretations of the viewer. Maybe you will feel something similar or completely different. Maybe you will feel nothing at all.

More thought, and more work is needed, I feel. This is really interesting to me.

The Audio Learning Curve

Earlier this summer I bought an H2 Zoom digital audio recorder.

It's somewhat small (pocketable, if you have big pockets and don't mind a substantial bulge in the side of your pants). I bought a protective silicon jacket for it. It's not smooth and that makes it easy to grip and hold, but it's rubberiness makes it a pain to slide in and out of your pockets.

I've made several recordings of ambient sounds. Capturing sound with this device is fairly easy (i.e. it's an intuitive and simple device) but as with anything, there's a learning curve.

I'm far away from being a novice at sound recording, but here are some things I've learned so far:

- The H2 has sets of microphones, each set is suited for a particular application and the rear set captures a field at 120° - this is about right for what I've been recording.
- The Low/Med/High microphone gain switch is very important - "High" is necessary to get ambient noises such as birds and insects at a somewhat decent level. This switch is very easy to accidentally bump and change.
- The recording levels flash on-screen in real time. These need to be considered when attempting to get a recording at an acceptable sound level. It's a lot like looking at the histogram on a digital camera.
- The recorder is very sensitive to handling noise. My cleanest recordings have come from setting the thing down somewhere and not touching it while it records.
- It picks up everything, especially when it's in high sensitivity mode. Distant planes and vehicles plus any movement I make (footsteps, breathing, sniffling, etc.) get captured.

I've had fun with it and enjoy the results, and I'll keep on going up the learning curve, hopefully. And maybe I'll use it for recording my own thoughts on photography ;-)

(Hope that answers all Kent's questions :-) )

Canon G11 Likes and Dislikes

My primary tool on my "photo walks" in the Addicks Reservoir is a Canon G11. It's small, versatile, and relatively good amongst point-n-shoot type digital cameras.

But I'm about to throw the damn thing in a creek. I'm developing a dislike for it.

Dynamic Range

My primary complaint is dynamic range, or lack thereof. The camera does indeed have a good DR for a point-n-shoot, but it (like any other digital camera and also film) has limits to DR.

The resulting problem is that when shooting the G11 and highlights blow out, they're toast. There's little to no highlight recovery when processing the raw file. This is unlike a typical DSLR where you usually have SOME highlight recovery.

This problem is exacerbated by the camera's exposure metering always wanting to over expose. I don't think there's anything wrong with the meter, I just think it's a trend among camera manufacturers now to default to a brighter exposure because folks, in general, dislike a dark, underexposed image.

More often than not, I've got -1 to -2 exposure compensation dialed in to keep the highlights from blowing out. Even if they're just shy of being blown out, they still look bad. They're rough looking and "digital" in appearance in the photo.

Autofocus

Another issue with the G11 is the autofocus. It's "course" as compared to a typical DSLR, but the camera's generally huge DOF makes up for this coarseness.

The issue really is that it won't focus on small objects. This becomes problematic when shooting a small flower or insect or spider. A spider on a web, for example, is almost impossible to focus on using the autofocus. The AF only locks onto background objects (even with macro mode enabled).

The camera does have manual focus, but using it is very cumbersome and relies on the LCD screen, which isn't always easily viewable especially in broad daylight. It's fine for tripod use on a still subject, but using it hand-held on, for example, a spider sitting on its web and moving around in the breeze is really impossible.

Other Options

I have two other cameras (both DSLRs) that I'd consider taking with me on my walks, but they're much larger and heavier. I've actually done one walk with my 5DII and it was awkward. I could get used to carrying it, I'm sure, much like I got used to carrying the G11 (which was awkward at first too whereas previously I carried nothing with me on my walks).

Looking at the sensor performance of my digital cameras (from DxOMark), you could conclude that the G11 isn't all that bad particularly at base or low ISO settings.

This kind of goes off a tangent, but dynamic range test results like this are a load of bullshit. After my EXTENSIVE use of all three of these cameras in practical applications, I would never guess that the G11 rates like this as compared to the other two.

What I believe is going on with these tests is that they are a "laboratory test" of DR and do not represent "usable, practical" DR. I.e. these tests show what DR is theoretically possible when you squeeze every paltry, near-negligible data off the sensor. What they do NOT show is that data is crap, er... not photo-quality.

The G11's performance at the low and high end of its dynamic range is impressive considering "data", but it makes a poor looking photo.

The Good Stuff

I hate to complain and rant only, so here are the good points to the G11 and why I keep using it:

- relatively small considering the features
- relatively cheap considering the features
- the features: full manual control, IS, awesome LCD screen, big sensor (for a p-n-s), etc. (there's a bunch)
- great battery life
- fast performance (for a point-n-shoot)

I will keep using it, albeit within it's limitations. I just have to realize that it can't shoot every scene that I want to photograph. It's the same with any camera; every photo-imaging device has its limits.