Shugpug's 1st 52 - Week 52 - Decoration - Complete!

Discarded shots are all nice, I prefer the first. Great colours :)
 
#1 for me too, great contrasting colours!
 
Hi there,
Just catching up after a busy couple of weeks.
Both of your images for local work perfectly for me but if I had to choose, I would pick No.1 as my favourite. The light and colour are great and I really like the inclusion of the local casino resort. It looks a long distance away but in the States, going anywhere can involve a fair bit of travel so this is perfect for local.
Cracking shot for pleasure. Just enough light. I like :)
Tool is another great shot. Great exposure. I think I refer the landscape version.
I'm loving the light in the discarded set. Beautiful colours and perfect for the theme.
 
I agree the rust against the blue sky is a good combination
 
3 nice pictures I like your first one most, I like the contrast of the hut against the bright blue sky and the sky showing through the holes.(y)
I like the first the best. The colours of the hut and foliage against the blue work great.
Brilliant. The colours, particularly on the first image are spot on.
Agree on the first being bang on, the colours all bounce off each other beautifully.
I love the first image, the colours are great
#1 for me Alex, nice lighting through out, but that one just seems to hit the nail on the head as they say.





The problem is so many people find out, when they get behind its very difficult to catch up "maybe next week"
Becomes next month.
I can only agree with the previous comments, the contrast of the blue and the rust work really well :)
All 3 good images. #2 (with a bit of straightening) for me. I like the clutter and the colour in this one.
Another that seems more abandoned than discarded - and a really nice set of pix too. No1 for me - I like a simple comp. :)
Love the contrasting colours in No. 1
Discarded shots are all nice, I prefer the first. Great colours :)
#1 for me too, great contrasting colours!
Hi there,
Just catching up after a busy couple of weeks.
Both of your images for local work perfectly for me but if I had to choose, I would pick No.1 as my favourite. The light and colour are great and I really like the inclusion of the local casino resort. It looks a long distance away but in the States, going anywhere can involve a fair bit of travel so this is perfect for local.
Cracking shot for pleasure. Just enough light. I like :)
Tool is another great shot. Great exposure. I think I refer the landscape version.
I'm loving the light in the discarded set. Beautiful colours and perfect for the theme.
Like the contrast. It has 'outback' written all over it.
The warm light in this series is wonderful, Alex. I really like the glimpse of the damaged and cluttered interior in #2 but the contrast of the rusty wall and roof against the blue sky makes #1 the pick of the three.
I agree the rust against the blue sky is a good combination

My apologies to all for being somewhat absent this week. Work has been brutal - 6 days of 12+ hour days with a 45 minute commute doesn't aid photography - the nest 3 days are needed! Thank you all for the comments - it's definitely an interesting place, and it looked like some interesting characters lived there!

I didn't quite make the deadline this week - I had the thoughts of sugarsnap peas, snapped/snapping fingers and snapper fish, but they all involved a little too much effort in the set up, so instead - my most recent GAS acquisition. This is a Certo Six 120 folder (6x6) - fully manual, but with a coupled rangefinder unlike most folders. It's currently got my third roll of film in it (Lomo 100) which I have used to learn the process of shooting this camera (7 distinct steps! Measure / estimate exposure, set exposure, cock shutter, wind film, focus, compose, shoot!) It is a pleasure to use, and definitely slows you down!



Triptych
by Alex Morrison, on Flickr
 
Intersting shot of your new camera and the triptych certainly raises it above the ordinary. I would have preferred the central shot to all being in focus but that is just a small point.
 
Interesting looking camera Alex. And actually I don't mind the very shallow DoF on the center image, the DoF in the 2 outer images lead you into it.
 
Thank you all for the comments - a bit of a PABD, but hopefully I'll have more time for the next Snappers' Choice.

Out hunting for Wild today and not yet completely happy with what I've got, so more over the next few days...

First - some wild cacti in a fairly wild setting:



20200207-Calico_basin_bimble (7 of 60)_AuroraHDR2019-edit
by Alex Morrison, on Flickr

For reference - if I turned 180°, the view definitely wasn't wild!



20200207-Calico_basin_bimble (5 of 60)
by Alex Morrison, on Flickr

Then a single backlit, but not silhouetted, cactus:



20200207-Calico_basin_bimble (12 of 60)_AuroraHDR2019-edit
by Alex Morrison, on Flickr

And finally a fairly brutal crop on what I think is a Desert Iguana. These buggers are brilliantly camouflaged and move like lightening after a few hours in the sun:



20200207-Calico_basin_bimble (34 of 60)
by Alex Morrison, on Flickr

Time to go hummingbird hunting tomorrow - not quite sure about these, but they're not hitting the spot so far...
 
That's certainly a different kind of wild that we get around here!
 
Snappers Choice - a good triptych, nicely arranged.
Wild - I like your 3rd pic best the single Cactus makes a great subject. well done on capturing the iguana even if it is a brutal crop.
 
Time to go hummingbird hunting tomorrow - not quite sure about these, but they're not hitting the spot so far...

They're being elusive [emoji21] Not giving up before Wednesday afternoon, but back to work tomorrow so not hopeful. Good job I managed to get something in the bag!
 
I quite like the shingle cactus (or is it cacti?).
Good backlighting.
 
Its interesting to see other area's / countries "wild"

Its a tough call between 1 & 3 Alex.
 
Two and three for me. I really like the curve in the distance in 2 with civilization nestling in the valley. And the far hills shrouded in a heat-haze(?). But 3 is very good with excellent DOF and sharpness where it counts. Lovely lighting too.
 
Hi Shugpug,
I love the discarded shack, the blue skies make the rusty shack pop out at you.
Your wild photos are beautifully composed, think the iguana is my favourite.
 
Nice set of pix - and you picked the right one for the main thread!
 
They all seem very wild compared to the pastoral landscapes where I am. I quite like #2 for the contrast in the environment.
 
That's certainly a different kind of wild that we get around here!

Thank you - I am very glad this theme didn't come up in the summer, when the wild definitely gets a little more extreme...

Snappers Choice - a good triptych, nicely arranged.
Wild - I like your 3rd pic best the single Cactus makes a great subject. well done on capturing the iguana even if it is a brutal crop.

Thank you - I definitely do not have either the patience or the reactions to get most of the smaller animals around here. Especially at this time of year, everything moves incredibly quickly - when it's hotter, things tend to slow down / hide during the hotter times!

I quite like the shingle cactus (or is it cacti?).
Good backlighting.

Thank you! The light coming through the leaves / needles is frequently absolutely beautiful!

Its interesting to see other area's / countries "wild"

Its a tough call between 1 & 3 Alex.

Thanks - and agreed - those are definitely my preferred shots.

Two and three for me. I really like the curve in the distance in 2 with civilization nestling in the valley. And the far hills shrouded in a heat-haze(?). But 3 is very good with excellent DOF and sharpness where it counts. Lovely lighting too.

Little bit too early for heat haze - it's only getting in to the mid-teens at the moment. It was just good old city smog. It's really interesting to climb some of the hills on the outskirts of Vegas - the desert air is incredibly clean and dry, and then there is just a veil of smog over the city itself. Because there is so little stuff around the city, it is far more of a distinct boundary than most areas which sprawl. Vegas is very much either city, or not city with no real sub-urban area to speak of (as an example - if I turn right on the main road, I am on the Strip in 15-20 minutes, and if I turn left I am in a National Conservation Area in 15-20 minutes...)

Hi Shugpug,
I love the discarded shack, the blue skies make the rusty shack pop out at you.
Your wild photos are beautifully composed, think the iguana is my favourite.

Thanks - I must admit that I like the shack shot too!

Nice set of pix - and you picked the right one for the main thread!

Thank you :)

They all seem very wild compared to the pastoral landscapes where I am. I quite like #2 for the contrast in the environment.

Thank you - this project is resulting in me getting a lot of shots of the landscape with the city in the background. It is making me think of a project with a working title along the lines of "Off the Strip" featuring only distant views of the City / City lights with the landscape as a foreground.
 
Lovely POV on the third and I equally like the one showing the buildings in the background.
 
Nice to see wild from a different point of view.(y)
Wild - No. 3 for me, but you did amazingly well to spot the iguana. So different from our landscape in the UK!

Isn't it just! I've got just over another year out here - it's going to be interesting coming "home" (I've not lived in the UK since the middle of 2014...)

Lovely POV on the third and I equally like the one showing the buildings in the background.
Last two are my pick of the bunch for wild, nice shots.

Thank you both! I enjoyed getting this shot, although I will admit that it is my "normal" kind of shot. Must push myself more in the future...
 
Broken... I knew what I wanted for this shot - but it turned out more difficult than I thought it was going to be. Mrs SP is back in the UK for her granny's 90th, so I've been home alone this week, and my "weekend" fell over Sunday/Monday - unfortunately (for photographic purposes!) over the Presidents' Day weekend, so everywhere gets a bit busy. I took myself down to Death Valley hoping to get a campsite - successfully in the end, albeit the overflow of the campsite without showers, and a 5 minute walk from the toilets (although on the plus side - they were flushing toilets rather than pits, so not the bare bones site which was my backup to the backup!) I planned to cycle up Echo Canyon to the Inyo Mine, where I was confident that I would be able to find a few broken things.

It turned out that I should have settled for a self-portrait... I'd got a bit carried away the day I arrived, and my planned 10k bimble turned in to quite a tough 10 mile hike. I also hadn't twigged quite how much elevation gain there was from my campsite (200 ish feet below sea level) to the mine (3600 ish feet above sea level) over a relatively short 13 miles. I turned around about two-thirds of the way through my water, and nine-tenths of the way through my endurance - about 9 miles and 2750 feet. I definitely fit the criteria for "broken" at that point - not helped by falling a couple of times in the gravel on the way down. Fortunately nothing more than my pride truly broken!

Then on my final night, it got a bit breezy... Not quite storm Dennis levels I don't think, but windy enough to pull out all my pegs, and I'm pretty sure that it was just my weight keeping my tent ground borne! Again - I lucked in and had packed up everything except the tent the night before - so I didn't need to dive out to retrieve camp table and chair, etc... Less fortunately, one pole wasn't up to the stress, and is now in my "fix this" pile.

But these at least were the only low points in what was otherwise a great weekend. Although busy, I was able to get off the beaten track enough to get away from the crowds - about the only time I was really crowded out was hiking out on Badwater Basin for the first night's sunset - one of the most spectacular I have ever seen, and I took great pleasure in walking past all these people on their way out, before seeing this:


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by Alex Morrison, on Flickr


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by Alex Morrison, on Flickr

I also, after sufficient ice cream and salt (it's still warm enough to sweat plenty in Death Valley, even in winter!) I hiked out to a different mine, and found enough broken "stuff" to meet the brief. This is the Keane Wonder Mine rather than Inyo Mine - one of the largest gold mines in the area. Now that I've checked wikipedia as well, it turns out it's "closed" by the park service as the land isn't safe (too much mining) and there's chemical residue :oops: :$. I was by no means alone out there, and the off-road vehicles didn't collapse it, so again I'm glad that nothing serious was broken!

The water tower is definitely broken - and I'm glad there isn't any shooting allowed on National Park land...


20200216-18-Death_Valley (136 of 157)
by Alex Morrison, on Flickr

But my choice for broken has to be the overview of the lower tramway - this was the view on the way in, and initially it didn't look too bad, but the closer I got, the more and more broken it looked!


20200216-18-Death_Valley (137 of 157)
by Alex Morrison, on Flickr

Sorry for the essay - and sorry for another warm toned abandoned / broken building against a beautiful blue sky. As I said in my last post - must push myself more... :banghead:
 
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Great sunset, my favourite is the water tower, nice colours, when I was at Bad water in June 2006 it was 125 F, I was talking to one of the rangers, I was slowly melting and adding to Badwaters salty liquid and the ranger was just chatting looking totally cool. I asked him if he ever felt the heat, his answer was "Sir it doesn't get hot until August" never forget him .
 
Great set of images for Broken love the sunset very dramatic and eye catching.
 
11 out of 10 for endurance in getting your images - the sunset is stunning.
 
Lovely shots, it's hard to pick one from those.
 
Some really nice stuff there, lovely colours (especially the cloud shot!) and great textures. the image you chose for Broken suits the theme fantastically.
 
Great sunset, my favourite is the water tower, nice colours, when I was at Bad water in June 2006 it was 125 F, I was talking to one of the rangers, I was slowly melting and adding to Badwaters salty liquid and the ranger was just chatting looking totally cool. I asked him if he ever felt the heat, his answer was "Sir it doesn't get hot until August" never forget him .

125 is definitely warm... Hottest we've seen is 123 - and we definitely were not camping then!

Great set of images for Broken love the sunset very dramatic and eye catching.
Lovely set of images. That sunset looks like the world is about to end in a ball of fire.
11 out of 10 for endurance in getting your images - the sunset is stunning.

That sunset was just amazing. The second night I was there was much less dramatic - so I picked the time perfectly, and very much by luck, not judgement!

Love them all. Particularly the top one. It has a post apocalypse vibe about it.
Yep that one is my favourite too (y)
Lovely shots, it's hard to pick one from those.
All great shots Alex, but my pick is the last image as it`s a cracking shot.
Some really nice stuff there, lovely colours (especially the cloud shot!) and great textures. the image you chose for Broken suits the theme fantastically.

Thank you all!
 
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