Cameras & Photography

[BFrank]

Nice, Ron! I like the "abstract-ness" of your salmon shot. Could almost be an Impressionist painting.

[Ron Thorne]

Thanks, Brooks! I like the way that one came out, too. It's like a mosaic with the way the water movement played with the rocks, fish colors, etc.

If you look closely you can see a few Red Salmon in the background of the Fireweed shot, too. There were hundreds of them in the stream that day, on their way to spawning grounds. With their spawning colors of green heads & tails, and bright red bodies, they are quite distinctive. Of course, when they first arrive in the streams, they are silver, almost chrome-like in color.

[BFrank]

Oh, yeah - now I see those salmon in the background. Never would have noticed them. Cool!

[BFrank]

Nice stuff, as usual, Coda. That worker bee looks SURREAL!

[Coda]

Thank you BRrank! That was taken with one of the sigma cameras, I think it's the DP3M.

I just sent my Fuji X100 to LifePixel. http://www.lifepixel.com/?gclid=CJHho9v ... 7AodzCkA1w

I'm converting it to a Super Color IR camera. I should have it back in late September. I'm looking forward to this experiment.

[BFrank]

That's interesting. Never heard of converting a digital camera to IR.
Should come up with some very unusual color schemes with that.

[jtx]

Captured on the coast in Malibu yesterday.

[Ron Thorne]

Very nice image, Justin! I love that Sage plant, a really unique sequential bloom style. I took several shots of a Door's Sage in your brother's yard last year.

[jtx]

Very nice image, Justin! I love that Sage plant, a really unique sequential bloom style. I took several shots of a Door's Sage in your brother's yard last year.

There was a huge bush full of them on the bluffs next to the walkway in the park I was visiting. By the way, it doesn't look it, but the photo was actually taken with a compact camera sensor (1/2.3 inch).

[Ron Thorne]

As many of you already know, our son Darren has been working away in the wilds of Alaska on a log cabin of his dreams. It's located about 130 miles north of Anchorage on the shores of a gorgeous lake. There is a road to one portion of the lake where there is a boat launch — a gravel pad sloping to the lake's shore. Darren has a 16ft. aluminum Lund boat with a 30hp Honda 4-cycle outboard motor. Otherwise, the only way to gain access to Darren's 5-acre property is by floatplane, which is hellishly expensive.

We took my 94 year-old father-in-law with us for a visit to the lakeside cabin early this week, and here are some snapshots of that trip. The weather was somewhat overcast, but reasonably warm for this time of year (high 50s-low 60s), but dipping down at night, thus the changing colors of the trees and shrubs.




View from highway just north of Anchorage at 65mph.




Montana Creek in its early fall wardrobe.




Amber Lake I




Amber Lake II




Capt. Darren at the helm.




Patti, me and my father-in-law, Richard (also known as Pop-Pop).




Approaching Darren's dock in Lily Pad Cove (note that cabin is hidden).




Portion of stairway to loft. Darren added Spruce newel posts & rails and Alder balusters to the Spruce half log treads & Douglas Fir risers this summer.




View of front sleeping loft and children's play loft (above) complete with hatch door.




Chandelier over dining area.




View from kitchen.




Closer look at ferns, devil's club and assorted mosses and berries.




This is a real sign, not seen in many other places.

[ValerieB]

what a treat seeing these photos again with captions, Ron. and of course it thrilled me to see Patti's Dad make it to the cabin again. the work Darren has done just blows my mind, totally.

[BFrank]

Spectacular scenery, Ron. And what a special place for your son to live.

[bluenoter]

Magnifico! And I'm so glad that all of you were able to go.

Thanks, Ron!

[Ron Thorne]

Spectacular scenery, Ron. And what a special place for your son to live.

Yes, the scenery all around us is pretty spectacular. We have to pinch ourselves sometimes.

Brooks, Darren doesn't live at the cabin year-round, he actually lives in southern California with his wife and two children. He comes up in the summer to work on it — a labor of love. It's a seasonal cabin for our entire family. Darren skis into it for a day or two when he comes up with his family for Christmas, though.

He was born and raised in Alaska and always wanted to own a piece of it — and to have a log cabin on a lake. So, he searched for and found this 5-acre parcel and bought it about 10 years ago. Then, he designed the cabin, turning over the construction of the "shell" to two brothers who are skilled log cabin builders. Meanwhile, Darren spent an entire summer building the foundation and sub floor. The cabin was built on their "log lot" in nearby Talkeetna, Alaska, then marked, taken apart and transported to Darren's property on a flatbed trailer in the winter. A snow machine was used to pull the giant logs across the frozen lake to Darren's land where it was carefully stored until springtime when the brothers returned, built a gin pole* (log crane) for lifting the heavy logs, reassembled the cabin and installed the roofing. Darren has done all of the work since, designing each piece as he goes.

*similar to the illustration below but much bigger in scale

[BFrank]

Spectacular scenery, Ron. And what a special place for your son to live.

Yes, the scenery all around us is pretty spectacular. We have to pinch ourselves sometimes.

Brooks, Darren doesn't live at the cabin year-round, he actually lives in southern California with his wife and two children. He comes up in the summer to work on it — a labor of love. It's a seasonal cabin for our entire family. Darren skis into it for a day or two when he comes up with his family for Christmas, though.

He was born and raised in Alaska and always wanted to own a piece of it — and to have a log cabin on a lake. So, he searched for and found this 5-acre parcel and bought it about 10 years ago. Then, he designed the cabin, turning over the construction of the "shell" to two brothers who are skilled log cabin builders. Meanwhile, Darren spent an entire summer building the foundation and sub floor. The cabin was built on their "log lot" in nearby Talkeetna, Alaska, then marked, taken apart and transported to Darren's property on a flatbed trailer in the winter. A snow machine was used to pull the giant logs across the frozen lake to Darren's land where it was carefully stored until springtime when the brothers returned, built a gin pole* (log crane) for lifting the heavy logs, reassembled the cabin and installed the roofing. Darren has done all of the work since, designing each piece as he goes.

*similar to the illustration below but much bigger in scale

Wow.........what a project! Very impressive, and obviously a wonderful get-away.

[Ron Thorne]

Here is a short video I shot as Darren was approaching in the boat to take us to the cabin. The voices you'll hear are those of Patti and her 94 year-old father, Richard. The bugs were very annoying, but not a problem on the ride to the cabin or at the cabin itself.

Can you believe the serenity? It's almost always like this at Amber Lake. It's a very special place.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl9zusEj5t0

[rlfun]

Love all the trip pics, Ron. Very special. And the cabin is magnificent!

[Ron Thorne]

Love all the trip pics, Ron. Very special. And the cabin is magnificent!

Thanks, Ron! It was fun seeing the new additions first hand and sharing it with Patti's dad. He loves the entire experience.

[Ron Thorne]

From a few days ago ...




Mt. McKinley (Denali - right) and Mt. Foraker (left)




Mt. Susitna ("Sleeping Lady")




Floatplane w/ Winter Muffler

[Coda]

I pre-ordered this book at least 9 months ago. The release date keeps getting pushed out, now set for Feb 2015 in the US.



Review on Amazon
Within the canon of European photography books it would be difficult to find one more famous, revered and influential as Henri Cartier-Bresson's Images a la Sauvette or, as the American edition is titled, The Decisive Moment.
Its value as an out-of-print collectable has risen over the past few decades resulting in keeping this masterpiece out of the hands of many younger photographers. Finally, after 62 years, it is again seeing the light of day this December with a gorgeous facsimile from the German publishing house Steidl. (Jeffrey Ladd Time Lightbox 2014-10-22)

Within the canon of European photography books it would be difficult to find one more famous, revered and influential as Henri Cartier-Bresson's Images a la Sauvette or, as the American edition is titled, The Decisive Moment.
For new generations of photographers and artists who have missed out on experiencing many of the world's important books first hand, it cannot be stressed enough how important this new edition of The Decisive Moment is for a contemporary audience. "Robert Frank's The Americans and Cartier-Bresson's The Decisive Moment were published within a few years of each other in the 1950s and both books have since become the blueprint for the modern photography book," Steidl says. "When you look at them, the design, the sequencing of the photos and the printing are - even 60 years later - much better than most of the printed books on the market today. My intention in reprinting both has been to analyze the contents of the books, the intention of the photographers, and to print them in exactly the same way, so the next generation can see how these fine books were made and secure the future of photography publishing." (Jeffrey Ladd Time Lightbox 2014-10-22)

***
Get in line to buy this book, it's likely going to sell out as a pre-order. This is the first time it's ever been reprinted and it's likely not going to get another print run.

[BFrank]

Just saw the Matisse cut outs at MoMA in NYC.
This cover (in Coda's previous post) was included in the exhibit.

[Ron Thorne]

Here is our Christmas tree for 2014, adorned with ornaments dating back 70+ years. It's providing some much-needed cheer. Some young grandchildren of ours arrive next weekend, bringing another good dose of cheer.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Nice. That photo shows more detail than the one you posted on facebook. Actually, now that I've viewed the photo on my phone I think the fault lies with my tablet.

[BFrank]

Ron, your tree shot almost has a 3D quality to it.

[Ron Thorne]

Ron, your tree shot almost has a 3D quality to it.

Agreed. It does have a special quality, Brooks. I wish that I could get the lighting more accurate, though. I plan on playing with the exposure in the next few days to see if I can more accurately depict what we see in the room with our eyes. For instance, the banker's lamp on the desk is "blown out" and shouldn't be. It's tricky.