Monday, June 30, 2008

Aspen video

The true common name is Quaking Aspen and this video shows exactly why.

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Sunday, June 29, 2008

Slacker!!

Yeah, guilty as charged! However, I'm still taking lots of pics in my many travels this season. We'll take you on a tour to give you a taste of where I have been.
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My several weeks near Mount Shasta resulted in some very fine images.


I just love the lenticular clouds that form as a "cloud-cap" over the peak.


My next assignment was to work on the Mendocino National Forest painting cutting unit boundaries. In one of the units, I found this massive ponderosa pine that was around 70" in diameter and well over 200 feet tall. I decided to try and make a vertical panorama shot, stacking three vertical format pictures on top of each other. After "stitching" together the shots in Photoshop, I used the "Perspective Tool" to adjust for warpage of the trees image. This made the picture's edge all fouled up but, the tree is pretty darn straight. So, I cropped off the goofy edge and here's how it came out.


Since there are no motels in the very remote wilds of the Mendocino, I had a very long commute from Willows, all the way down on the Sacramento Valley floor, to the top of the Coast Ranges. I was struck by the beauty of those golden hills so, I stopped and took this dreamy shot.


I'm currently in the town of Mackay, Idaho, a remote place in the eastern-central part of the state. The Lost River Range is home to several 12,000 foot peaks and Mount Borah is the tallest peak in Idaho. Everything is just so HUGE here and my 10X zoom can only get me so close. These peaks tower 7000 feet over the valley floor and the geology is exquisitely-varied while not masked by deep soils and thick forests. Folded layers of cliffs and elevational variations of plants make this place a visual fascination for a guy like me. Everywhere you look you'll see beauty and "wildness".

However, I still have a job to do, and that involves some picture taking, as well. Me and a co-worker are searching for and documenting stand conditions in patches of aspen. It's very interesting and important work to see how we can improve or protect these very important clumps of trees.



More to come!

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