Photowalking the Spiral Jetty

Spiral Jetty Glowing
Originally uploaded by wibbet_



Spiral Jetty Beneath the Full Moon
Originally uploaded by cuibel


The Spiral Jetty is the place to be in May. Having been on my list of places to visit for quite awhile, I'm excited to head up there!

There are two events that I'm aware of: May 9th and May 16th.

The first is organized by Charles Uibel and is a full moon night event. We'll meet at Golden Spike Historic Site at 6:00 pm and head out from there. It will go as late as you want to stay. Several people are planning on camping to be able to get the moonset later in the night and sunrise the next morning. More information and discussion can be found on this event page.

The second is organized by Photowalking Utah. The plan is to meet in the parking lot of the Golden Spike National Historic Site at 12:00 noon on Saturday, May 16. Since they charge $7/car or $3/individual, carpooling is strongly encouraged. They have asked that any photographs we take be for private use and not used commercially. More information and discussion can be found on this Flickr discussion.

The driving of the spike takes place at 1:00pm. In addition to the reenactment, there are a number of driving tours with interesting geographical features such as the Chinese Arch.

When we're done at the Spike, we will head out to the Spiral Jetty. It takes about 45 minutes to get there from the Spike to the Jetty. The road is a little rough, but most cars should be able to make it as long as you take it easy.

Given the time, distance, and remoteness involved in this Photowalk, everyone is encouraged to pack water and snacks.

Hope to see you at one of these events!

More info on Spiral Jetty
Meeting location

World's first 2 day photowalk *

Wow! What a weekend!

• 1600 miles
• 1200 images
• 48 hours
• and best of all: 8 new friends

A couple months ago, Trevor Carpenter, a blog acquaintance, included me in an invitation to meet-up in Death Valley for an extended photowalk. I replied with a tentative maybe. This spring was looking to be pretty busy with travel and I didn't know if I could get one more trip in. A week before the event, I made the final decision to go. And I am glad I did.

Thursday, my wife picked up a rental SUV to give us off-road capability and we headed out early Friday morning. We arrived at the Furnace Creek Visitors Center about 3pm. After paying the entrance fee, getting a weekend pass and talking with the ranger for a bit to get the lay of the land, we headed out to the nearest town to get a room. We returned to the Visitors Center at 5:30pm to meet-up with everyone else. The last of us got there at 6:30pm and we set out to catch the sunset at Zabriskie Point. When we finished making as many pictures as we wanted, we headed to 49er Cafe for dinner and to make plans for the next day.

Saturday started dark and early for the 90 minute drive to our sunrise location, Dantes View. For various reasons, half the group didn't make it, so after sunrise we headed back towards the Visitors Center to attempt to make contact. (There was no cell phone service in the park, so we had to go old-school and actually leave written notes.)

On the way to the Center, we got side-tracked by 20 Mule Team Canyon, a cool little drive with big views of interesting formations. When we finally arrived back at the Furnace Creek area, we found one part of our missing company. Since the remaining missing members knew where we were going, we headed off to our next destination, hoping to meet the last of our jolly band. We found them half way there and we all headed off to Badwater Basin.

Following Badwater, we headed north to Natural Bridge, followed by Artists Palette and finishing the day with sunset at Devils Golf Course. Once it got dark, we headed over to 49er Cafe again for dinner and Sunday planning. After dinner, some of us headed over to Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes for some long-exposure night-time photography.

Everyone was tired from Saturday's schedule, so we planned an easier timetable for Sunday. We met again at 10:30am at Zabriskie Point to get a different light than the previous sunset time for this location. From here we went to a Harmony Borax Works, a historic location for processing borax in the late 1800s that had some interesting decaying adobe structures and rusting metal equipment. After lunch at Stovepipe Wells Villiage, we hiked up Mosaic Canyon and wrapped up the weekend with sunset back at the sand dunes.

I had a great time meeting and photowalking with all the attendees. You never know what to expect when meeting a bunch of strangers for the first time, but everyone was fun to meet and willing to share; a super group of people: Jan Bussey, Kristi Gray, Paul Wirtz, Joan Hunt, Mark (last name unknown), Trevor Carpenter (and his two kids Sarah and Tom), Diane Pebley, and me.

Thanks to Trevor for taking the initiative and putting this together and for everyone else for your part in making this a great event. And thanks to my local photography friends Rich Legg, Ed Paz, and Ann Torrence for generously letting me borrow some of their equipment.

Watch my Death Valley Flickr set for new images from this trip over the next week. Or check out this page to see everybody's images (if they get tagged properly).

* As far as I know anyway.

Browser plug-in: CoolIris

I want to introduce a browser plug-in I installed over a year ago and use on a near daily basis. It's so familiar to me, I'm surprised when others just discover it. However, this happens frequently enough, I realized it's still relatively unknown and thought I'd write about it.

The plug-in is called CoolIris and is hands-down the best way to view large numbers of photos on the web that I've found. After installation, it is activated by clicking a small icon in the bottom corner of pictures where it's available. When activated, it displays images on a "wall" covering your entire screen, three images high and as long as it needs to be for the list of photos it's showing. The images are automatically scaled to the same size to look balanced and consistent. There is a slider control across the bottom to move the wall back and forth. Clicking on an image will zoom it to medium size.

Double clicking an image will zoom it to full screen. When in this mode, each image fills the screen with thumbnails across the bottom that can be used to select different images. There is a play button to automatically advance to the next image after a brief delay, basically functioning like a slide show.

Each image has a number of buttons to provide various functions related to the image. These include such things as e-mailing a link to someone, viewing the original web page containing the image and marking images as favorites. Some of the functions require creating an account with CoolIris for configuration information. This is optional to use the plug-in, but required for certain features.

There is also a search function that allows you to search any one of a number of photo sharing sights such as Flickr, SmugMug, Google images and Yahoo images, to name a few. You don't need to start your search in CoolIris however. You can go to one of these sites directly, or any other site that supports the MediaRSS feed format, do your search, and then start the plug-in.

If you run a blog with galleries, you need to enable this on your site. People who have the plug-in installed will love you for it; some may even ignore your site if it doesn't support it. More information can be found at http://developer.cooliris.com.

The CoolIris plug-in is available on both Windows and Mac in Firefox 2.0 and 3.0. Additionally on just Windows it runs in Internet Explorer and on just the Mac in Safari. Click the image above to go to their site to download it and start viewing images on a whole new level.

What Would MacGyver Do?

At Photocamp Utah, I presented several do-it-yourself projects. This posting contains the details of those projects. Details can be seen in the pictures in the power point notes (pptx).

Clamps

The first project were clamps that can have flashes or cameras or any other device that is designed to be mounted on a tripod. All the materials come from a home improvement store.

• Spring clamp. Some brands come with holes pre-drilled in them. Look for them since it's easier to construct without having to drill a hole. If the clamps used don't have holes, drill a hole in the side by the hinge large enough for the 1/4" bolt.
• 1/4-20 bolt. Make sure the bolt does not have a shoulder on it. Typically 1" long bolts work well.
• 1/4-20 Jam nut.
• Locktite or lock washer for 1/4" bolt.
• 1/4-20 Flange nut.
• Fender washer. Make sure the hole in the washer is large enough for the nut part of the flange nut but not for the flange to go through.
• Two-part epoxy.

Put the bolt through the clamp from the inside, place the lock washer on the bolt and then tighten the jam nut on the bolt. Use the epoxy to glue the fender washer to the flange nut. When set, screw the nut onto the bolt, flange side up. Any accessory with a standard tripod mount can be attached to the clamp. Use the flange bolt to lock the accessory in place.

Light tent

The second project was a light tent. These provide a very even light for small objects. They're frequently used for product shots.

From home improvement store:

• 18 ft of 1/2" PVC pipe. Length needed is dependent on the size of the box desired. For the demonstration, I had 8 lengths 24 inches long and 4 lengths 30 inches long.
• 8 tees
• 8 elbows
• Or 8 corner connectors (if they have them)
• 8 thread x slip adapters
• Clips. Clips can be made either from the same sized pipe if using thin walled pipe or the next size up if using thick walled pipe. Cut in short pieces several inches long and then slice out about a third length-wise.

From party supply store:

• White, disposable table cloth
• Large sheets of paper to use as a backdrop.

Cut the pipe to the desired lengths. Eight equal lengths are needed for two sides and four equal lengths are needed to connect them together. All twelve can be the same length if you want a cube. Slide the pipes into the corner pieces to make a frame. Drape the table cloth over the frame and use the clips to hold the backdrop and table cloth in place.

An alternate design using just a cardboard box and tissue paper can be found in this Strobist article. Thanks Elizabeth for the reminder!

Speedlight modifiers

Finally, I talked a bit about light modifiers for flashes. Velcro can be wrapped around the flash head to use as a mounting point for various light-weight gobos, snoots, grids, small light boxes and gel holders. Thin craft foam available at craft stores can be purchased in sheets and cut with scissors to any desired size and shape. Ready made accessories can be purchased at Honl Photo or the pictures used as inspiration for your own designs.

References

• Tinker tubes
• Flickr DIY group
• DIYPhotography
• PhotoJoJo
• My notes (MS PowerPoint 2007)

Photocamp Utah 2009 wrap-up

Photocamp Utah 2009 is over and by all accounts was a great success! We had a couple rough edges and learned a few things to do better next year, but many, many more things went right than had problems. Jeremy Hall coordinated a great group of people each taking responsibility for different areas and every one doing a bang-up job. It couldn't have been done without a lot of work by many people.

The speakers I heard were all excellent with different perspectives to share. I am still amazed that the seemingly small niche of photography has such a wide variety within it. From technical techniques to visual style, there seems to be infinite diversity in peoples' photographic vision. This was especially evident in the final series of rapid-fire presentations where we saw everything from urban decay to landscapes to sacred places.

And of course it would have all been for naught without all the wonderful attendees. Everyone was enthusiastic and encouraging. There was a superb, energetic buzz throughout the day as people talked, laughed, shared and learned from each other.

If you haven't already, be sure to sign up for notification of future events at the Photocamp UT website.

Finally, Mike Calanan, the official Photocamp Utah photographer, has his photos online in this Flickr set and there's the Photocamp Utah group pool where everyone can post their pictures from the event.

Congratulations to everyone for such a dynamic, fun-filled day.

Photocamp Utah 2009

I'm really looking forward to Saturday's first ever Photocamp Utah event. The event officially runs from 8am to 6pm. I expect it to be a great day of sharing with a lot of other photography enthusiasts, learning some things in the workshops and generally being inspired. My own workshop on making photography equipment is coming along fairly well and hope someone finds it informative. Looking at the list of other presenters, I'm humbled to be included.

Space is limited and the registrations filled up fast. I know there were a number of people interested in going who weren't able to sign up in time. On the main website there is a form to sign up for mailings about future events. Go sign up now so you won't miss the next one.

If you are on Twitter, you can also follow PhotoCampUtah for the latest news and details.

If you see me there and we haven't met, be sure to come up and introduce yourself. And of course, if we have met, make sure to say "Hi".

Hope to see you there.

Photocamp Utah 2009: WWMD

I am humbled, honored and excited to lead a workshop at the first Photocamp Utah event. This is an all day conference on Saturday, March 14th, starting at 8am and going until evening. The scheduled events end at 5pm, but there will be groups going out for dinner and photowalking the Provo area afterward for those interested. We have a great organizing team who are doing a fabulous job getting the facilities, speakers and all the other details that go into making something like this come together.

As of this morning, registrations hit the original limit. After speaking with the facility owners, it was decided to allow another 75 registrations. If you are planning on going, make sure to register soon because seats are going fast.

My presentation is entitled WWMD: Using everyday objects in photography. I am planning to talk about and demonstrate a handful of easy to make gadgets, useful in your photographic endeavors. I have yet to finalize on exactly what I am going to present, but at least some of the projects built in the workshop will be given to attendees.

Hope to see you there!

Photowalking Utah: Studio lighting and Photocamp Utah 2009

There are several photography events approaching.

First, this week: on Thursday, Rich Legg presents a mini-clinic on How to Get Great Studio Lighting Results for Under $250. He will use low-cost lights and inexpensive light modifiers with a number of different setups to get great portraits. He will have his camera tethered to a computer with a projector, so attendees can immediately see the results from each configuration.

Date: Thursday, February 19th
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Location: Salt Lake City Main Library - 210 E 400 South, Conf. room #4, 4th floor
Cost: Free

Second thing this week: on Saturday, following many requests, there will be a repeat of last year's successful Studio Lighting Photowalk. Six areas will be setup in a large room with studio lights, backdrops and models. Participants will be able try out the different lighting equipment with their own cameras.

Date: Saturday February 21st
Time: 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Location: Gateway Community Church, 584 E 12300 South - Draper
Cost: Free (though a suggested model tip of $3-5 is appreciated)

Go here to ask questions or RSVP for these events.

Finally, next month is the much anticipated Photocamp Utah 2009. This is a one day event filled with keynote speakers, workshops and several vendors supporting the photographic community. The full schedule is here. At the end of the day, we'll have an evening photowalk. Cost is $10 to cover facilities expenses. There will be lunch and dinner breaks but food is not included. Seating is limited so be sure to pre-register to ensure your seat. If you're interested in spreading the word, there are flyers available for download.

Photoshop CS4 action: Lightning

I had this image I wanted to create. I already had the photo of the hands with a glowing orb but needed some lightning type effects to make it what I envisioned. A short bit of searching took me to this Photoshop Cafe tutorial. It was a simple six step process but I needed multiple "bolts" and did not want to keep repeating myself. So I created a simple action to do it for me.

This CS4 action can be downloaded here.

To use it, save it to your computer. In Photoshop, on the Actions menu, select Load actions. In the open file dialog, go to the location the file is saved, select and open the file. You should get a action group called HP3's special effects with a single Lightning action in it.

To test it, create a new, empty image. Click on the Lightning action to select it and click the Play button at the bottom of the actions list. You should get a new group called "Lightning" with a number of layers in it and something looking like lightning running from the top right to bottom left corners. Close this group and click the play button again. You should get another group. If you change this second group's blending mode to Lighten, you should see both bolts you just made. Each time you run the script, you will get a new group, different from the one before.

You can change the color of each bolt. To do this, open the group and select the Hue/Saturation layer. In the adjustments panel, changing the hue slider will adjust the color while changing the saturation slider will give you more or less of that color.

You can change the amount of the corona effect by selecting the Levels adjustment layer and moving the position of the black and grey sliders.

If you have any questions, problems or suggestions, leave a comment and I'll try to address the issue. Have fun!

January 2009 PhotoChallenge wrapup

Well, yesterday marked the end of another PhotoChallenge month shooting and posting a photo a day. Missed 4 days in all, not as good as I would have liked, but not terrible either.

The strategy I set for myself of having a daily topic worked pretty well. I didn't always follow the day's topic, but it did serve its purpose of getting the creative juices flowing.

All in all, I had fun, got out and made some pictures and stayed up too late way too often by procrastinating until the last minute. I'm looking forward to hearing what the March challenge is going to be.