Path to God: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14mm f/4

I have been in Tucson for the past week working with the American Board of Radiology (ABR) to develop some exam questions.  Cindy and I arrived a few days early to photograph Saguaro National Park and the surrounding areas of Tucson.  I hope you enjoy these images!

The opening image of this blog is of the famous, Mission San Xavier del Bac, located just south of Tucson.  It was established by Father Kino in 1732.  It still serves as an active place to worship for the Tohono O’odham congregation.  It’s magnificent design and intricate interior artwork have earned it the nickname, “The Sistine Chapel of North America,” San Xavier is perhaps the best example of Mission architecture in the United States. [1]

Heavenly Artwork: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14mm f/4

Watched Over by a King: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6

Tree of Life: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6

Distant Mission: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45 f/3.5-5.6

Holy Water: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6

Icons: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.5-5.6

We also visited the Tumacacori National Historical Park, located just a few miles south of Tubac (a burrow located 44 miles south of Tucson).  By the way, Tubac is the oldest European-settled city in Arizona.  Mission San Jose de Tumacacori was first listed in 1961 as an outlying settlement by Father Kino and is one of the oldest in Arizona. [1]

Tumacacori: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6

The Granary at Tumacacori: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6

Cindy and I had a great time exploring, photographing, and learning some Southwest history.

Ancient Art: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14mm f/4

Wanted: Dead or Alive: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.5-5.6

Saguaro Mountains: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.5-5.6

Moon Catcher: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.5-5.6

Careful Where You Sit: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14mm f/4

Last Light: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14mm f/4

Purple Majesty: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6

We finished off the journey with a visit to Old Tucson Studios.

Studio Church: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6

Horse Thief Shot Dead: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6

Carriage Ride: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6

1.  Yamnitz J.  Explore the Southwest’s Spanish History on the Anza Trail.  Visit Tucson – Official Destination Guide.  Fall/Winter 2010. p. 22,23

Discovery Park Lighthouse: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14mm f/4

Being a landscape photographer, I love wide angle perspectives.  Yesterday evening, my friend, Mike, and I drove to Discovery Park and hiked down to the beach.  The light wasn’t the best, but the clouds were beautiful.  I took several shots at 14mm and the above is my favorite.  I like the expansive, almost 3-D feeling the image portrays, both with the curved foreground driftwood and the sweeping overhead clouds.  I hope you enjoy the shot.

Through the Doughnut Hole: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6

Yes, another evening out with the family and another beautiful sunset.  Tonight we mosied over to Volunteer Park, you know…close to where Brandon and Bruce Lee are buried.  Anywho, I thought the light was going to be a dud, as the dark clouds were moving in very quickly.  However, I’ve learned from countless past mistakes, you just can’t tell.  Well, this was one of those evenings.  About 15 minutes after sunset, the sky lit up like a burning forest.  I was already positioned with my telephoto lens looking through the “doughnut” artwork prominently displayed in the park.  The opening nicely frames the Space Needle and the distant Olympics.  In the picture above, you can just catch a bit of the Olympics near the bottom of the Space Needle.  What a great evening this was!

Volunteer Park Sunset: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6

Alki Beach: Panasonic GF1, Panasonic 45-200mm f/4.0-5.6

It was a beautiful evening, so my wife (Cindy), our two dogs (Penny and Wally) and I drove to Alki Beach in West Seattle.  I brought along my micro 4/3rd camera and a couple of small lenses.  While Cindy walked Penny and Wally, I set up my tripod and took some long exposure shots of the skyline.  The image you see here is a composite of two separate exposures.  I exposed the city buildings for 3.2 seconds at f/8 and the water for 4 minutes at f/8.  In Photoshop, I applied an additional horizontal motion blur filter to the water to spread our the colored reflections and give it an even smoother appearance.  I then combined the two exposures.  Blending the two images wasn’t difficult as the junction between the city and waterline is almost perfectly horizontal.  I was hoping to give the somewhat lack-luster scene a bit of “punch” and an artistic touch.  I hope you enjoy it.

Palouse Tree: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200 f/4.5-5.6

Since my first visit of the year earlier in April, I promised myself a return trip to The Palouse to capture more of the spring greens.  This Memorial Day, I fulfilled that promise.  Cindy, my friends, and I drove down first to Palouse Falls and then to Steptoe Butte.  It was nice to take a break from the constant rain we’ve been having for the past week.  While at the waterfall, we hiked down to its base, and I was able to capture a not-too-often photographed view.  The image was take at mid-day, but I really liked the wide-angle perspective and the white puffy clouds in that sea of blue sky.  I hope you agree.

Looking Up at Palouse Falls: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14 f/4

We were also blessed with good light at The Palouse.  The recent rain had minimized the atmospheric haze and the brilliant spring greens were breathtaking to behold.  I tried to stray away from the “typical” shots and concentrated on creating some unique compositions.  As the sun went down, the overhead clouds turned a nice shade of pink just before a downpour rushed towards us.  All in all, this was a fine day!

Red Barn, Green Fields: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200 f/4.5-5.6

Silo: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200 f/4.5-5.6

Pink Over Green: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200 f/4.5-5.6

Forest Greens: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45 f/3.5-5.6

A couple of friends are visiting me in Seattle, but the weather has been damp and dreary.  Today we made the best of it by exploring Olympic National Park, including the Hoh Rain Forest.  The opening image and the shots below are my favorite forest photos from the outing.  A light drizzle can do wonders for forest photography.  The colors are richer, there are no harsh shadows, and the venue is typically not very crowded.

I almost always use a polarizer when doing this kind of photography.  It will significantly decrease glare from reflective surfaces such as wet leaves and rocks, providing more contrast and deeper colors.  Of course, a tripod is a must as the exposure times are often several seconds long.  I also recommend taking along a lens hood, if you have one, and a lens cloth. Chances are the wet climate will leave water drops on the surface of your lens or filter.  The hood will help minimize this, and the lens cloth can be used to safely wipe off any moisture that makes it on to the lens surface.  If you don’t have a “weather-sealed” camera, you may want to take something to protect your expensive gear.  A plastic or zip lock bag works great.

I hope you enjoy the images.  As always, you can click on the pictures to go to the original gallery.  Once there, you can see the images at larger sizes, peruse the shot settings (including GPS coordinates), and explore other galleries.

Inviting Trail: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200 f/4.5-5.6

Mossy Cascades: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45 f/3.5-5.6

Friendly Ferns: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45 f/3.5-5.6

Vertical Forest: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45 f/3.5-5.6

Color in Crevices: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200 f/4.5-5.6

A few friends, Cindy, and I made a whirlwind tour of Painted Hills, OR and Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park, ID over this three day weekend. Boy, what fun we had!  We left Seattle 9:30 Friday morning and arrived in Mitchell, OR 6 1/2 hrs later.  We set up our tents near Painted Hills and headed out to explore and photograph the area.

Painted Hills Unit is one of three components of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.  These colorful hills are located about nine miles northwest of Mitchell, OR.  The varying hues and tones of the hills are best seen in the late afternoon, but early light can offer dramatic backlit compositions for the creative photographer.  The yellow wildflowers were in full bloom, and lined several cervices, as seen in the opening image of this blog.  Below are three more images of this beautiful, ancient wonder.

Wild and Beautiful: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14 f/4

Painted Hills in the Distance: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45 f/3.5-5.6

Painted Hills, Painted Sky: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200 f/4.5-5.6

The next morning, we shot the sunrise at the same location and headed out to Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park, ID, another 6 hrs away.  We arrived in the late afternoon, set up camp and headed out to climb the largest single Sand Dune in North America, rising 470 ft above small surrounding lakes.  It was a short but tough hike.  Below are two of my best images from there.

Bruneau Dunes Reflected: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14 f/4

Late Light on Bruneau Dunes: Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200 f/4.5-5.6

The next morning (Sunday), we slept in and drove back to Seattle, 9 1/2 hrs away.  By 8 pm, I was post-processing and uploading images.

Star Trails Over Joshua Tree, Panasonic GF-1 & Panasonic 7-14mm f/4

Last week I was down in San Diego for another Radiology conference.  After the conference, my buddy, Joel, and I decided to visit Joshua Tree National Park for the weekend.  The Park is about a 3-½ hr drive northeast of San Diego, and offers some of the most beautiful desert landscape terrain in the world.  In this blog, I’ll share with you my favorite shots from the short visit.

Home to picturesque, twisted trees and massive rock formations, Joshua Tree is sandwiched between the Mojave and Sonora Deserts.  Joshua Tree National Monument was established in 1936, and the Desert Protection Act upgraded it to National Park status in 1994.

We drove to Twentynine Palms, a gateway town to Joshua Tree, located just north of the park.  As an interesting bit of information, this town is home to the largest Marine base in the world.

We arrived late Friday afternoon and explored the park from the comfort of our air-conditioned car.  When the outside temperature became more bearable, we took a nice stroll through the Hidden Valley nature trail, where we saw fascinating rock formations and labeled desert vegetation.  Below is an image of a particularly interesting rock, which to me looks like the “Flying Elvis” logo found on the New England Patriot’s football helmets.

Flying Elvis Rock, Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200 f/4.5-5.6

We then headed up to Keys View.  Unfortunately, the visibility was poor and much of the distant mountain ranges were obscured by haze.  However, I did manage to capture an image of a photogenic lizard with a multi-colored underbelly, basking on a warm rock.

Joshua Tree Lizard, Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200 f/4.5-5.6

That evening we headed over to the White Tank Campground and hiked the easy Arch Rock nature trail, where I captured the image below of Arch Rock.

Arch Rock, Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14mm f/4

The next morning we awoke before sunrise and headed back into the park.  The light was spectacular, and below are my attempts at capturing it.

Joshua Tree Silhouette, Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200 f/4.5-5.6

Standing Proud, Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14mm f/4

Two of a Kind, Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14mm f/4

Later that morning, we found ourselves in the Cholla Cactus Garden capturing wildflowers and Teddy Bear Cholla cacti.

Teddy Bears and Wildflowers, Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14mm f/4

Backlit Cholla Cacti, Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 45-200 f/4.5-5.6

While at the Cholla Cactus Garden, a long-eared denizen popped out to pay us a visit.  She eyed us suspiciously for a few seconds, wiggled her nose, and hopped away.

Desert Jackrabbit, Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 400mm f/5.6L

By 8 am the light was getting harsh, and we headed back to Twentynine Palms, grabbed some breakfast at a local diner, downloaded our images, and took a well-deserved nap.  We awoke in the afternoon and headed back to Joshua Tree.  Around 5 pm we began a moderate 3-mile hike up to Ryan Mountain where we ate dinner and photographed the sunset.

Ryan Mountain Sunset, Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45 f/3.5-5.6

We then headed down the trail with headlamps illuminating our path.  On our way back to town, we pulled off the road to photograph star-trails.  We watched a 1 hr 40 min movie on my iPad while our cameras captured the celestial movements above Joshua Tree.  The opening image of this blog was the product of this long exposure.  I combined one hundred consecutive 1-minute exposures. During the first minute of exposure, I used my headlamp to illuminate the foreground. The camera was set to manual exposure at f/4 and 60 seconds on “burst mode”. I attached a cable release and locked down the exposure button.

The next morning we slept in, packed up and headed back to San Diego to catch a plane to Seattle.  I hope you enjoyed these images and thanks for visiting!

Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14mm f/4, 7mm (14mm equivalent) f/8, 2.5 sec, ISO 100

I find people in San Diego love to talk about their great weather…and with good reason! Tonight was perfect for a walking tour of downtown and the Gaslamp Quarter. The city was truly alive with engaging street performers at every corner, mouth-watering aromas from nearby restaurants, and jovial chatter of others also enjoying the night. I happily explored the neighborhoods with a tripod over one shoulder and a camera over the other. I grabbed a classic shot at the entrance to Gaslight Quarter and stopped here and there to frame what I thought were interesting compositions. I don’t know how successful I was, but I sure did have a great time!

If you want to know where all these images were taken, click HERE to see them on a map.

Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 14-45 f/3.5-5.6, 36mm (72mm equivalent), f/8, 2.5 sec, ISO 100

Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14 f/4, 7mm (14mm equivalent), f/8, (1.3, 2.5, and 3.2 second bracketed exposures), ISO 100

Panasonic GF-1, Panasonic 7-14 f/4, 11mm (22mm equivalent), f/8, 5 sec., ISO 100