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

Static. I like this a lot and looks much better on Flickr.
Patterns: A nice use of light and focus.
 
Pattern, I wondered what it was, Nice use of DoF Alex :)
 
Blimey - I take a few weeks away and all of a sudden I'm a month behind :oops: :$

On the plus side - I do have shots in the bag, but need to get time away from the office to be able to process and post them. 12 days away equated to 547 emails for my attention - and those were just the ones that my deputies hadn't already batted off... It's been a busy few days! My head isn't above water yet, but I can see the surface and it's getting closer!

And thank you thank you thank you @Cobra for the artificial lighting technique. It's still 40°+ most days here so natural light (and :tumbleweed: ), whilst in plentiful supply, is rather unbearable. It's got to start cooling down soon...

Kell said:
I like it.

If you wanted to, you could very easily retouch that blemish out, but I think it adds a focal point.
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I very much agree - now I see that it is there, I wouldn't change it for the world!

gman said:
Oh that's a little trippy when you scroll up and down! lol
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True that!

BobBCN said:
Great shot for PERSONAL. Really like that one.
GRACEFUL - nice idea but as said a bit lost with the background.
STATIC - cool shots, something I have always thought about trying but never got round to it!!
PATTERNS - nice, does my eyes in, but nice all the same!!
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Thanks Bob.

CliveH said:
Great effect, nice lighting and I like the way it seems to roll as you move it.
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Nostromo said:
Pattern
I like the effect you've got with the two light, two gel set up.
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Thank you.

Phil S said:
Nice pattern with the eye drawn to the damaged peg.
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Thank you - definitely a happy accident, but one I am glad happened.

Cloudforest said:
Static. I like this a lot and looks much better on Flickr.
Patterns: A nice use of light and focus.
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rpn said:
That's a very clever use of lighting techniques. Patterns for sure and abstract too.
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seaodyssey said:
Hi

Great Image from simple beginings. gets a bit weird on the eyes.

Pete
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Bebop said:
Patterns - love this and I like the blemish. I think it adds to it.
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Cobra said:
Pattern, I wondered what it was, Nice use of DoF Alex :)
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HelenC said:
Tried that.. it sure is. Great abstract shot and nice lighting technique.
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LC2 said:
That's fun in the way it does seem to have an optical effect. Nice to see that gel effect being played with again :)
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Thank you all!
 
Shugpug said:
And thank you thank you thank you @Cobra for the artificial lighting technique.
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Always a pleasure when someone appreciates the technique and or themes (y)
:D

Surly it gets dark at some point though?
 
Shugpug said:
Dark - yes.

Cool - not so much. I got home about 2:30 am last night (work, not a crazy social life...) and it was still in the high 30s Celsius... Sounds awesome until you have to live with it!
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Oh I fully sympathise :( I spent months in NE SD some years back,)
Went on a road trip to the cave hills and a wander around the prairie, in 100 + oF
The weird thing was it didn't feel that hot to me. The "Local" were almost exhausted with the heat, though.

The thing that struck was the prairie Vultures circling over head.
I asked my hosts if they ( the Vultures) knew something I didn't :D

Back to SD, it could be 32oF in the morning, at sun up, and 80 + oF by mid day ..
Crazy ...
 
Cobra said:
Back to SD, it could be 32oF in the morning, at sun up, and 80 + oF by mid day ..
Crazy ...
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I'm away on a hiking expedition in the High Sierra (Rae Lakes loop) at the end of the month where we're expecting about freezing overnight them somewhere around thirty centigrade when we're walking... Going to be an experience!
 
Shugpug said:
I'm away on a hiking expedition in the High Sierra (Rae Lakes loop)
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I hope you enjoy (y)
I love open spaces and really enjoyed my time there (y)

Shugpug said:
about freezing overnight them somewhere around thirty centigrade when we're walking.
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I was told on many occasions, ( out there) if you don't like the weather give it a couple of hours and your'll get something different :D
 
Right... Let the catch up begin!!

Camouflaged Deer in Lassen Volcanic National Park - Week 33


20200823-Summer_Holiday (75 of 246).jpg by Alex Morrison, on Flickr

Tiny Bugs in Manzanita Lake, also Lassen National Park - Week 34 - we were camping next to this lake and had planned to go for a paddle on it, but unfortunately it was shut to soft sided craft (we have inflatable paddle boards) because an otter had recently hurt a swimmer


20200823-Summer_Holiday (114 of 246).jpg by Alex Morrison, on Flickr

Snappers Choice - Upper McCloud Falls - Week 35 - we called in here between Lassen NP and Crater Lake NP, and I carted my Intrepid 4x5 to a slightly precarious perch where I could get a clear view of this waterfall. I only have a 90mm lens for this camera and definitely want to get something a little less wide...


20200825-McCloud_Falls_Intrepid_Mk4_Foma100_HC (4 of 4).jpg by Alex Morrison, on Flickr

Textures and Technique - Lava Beds National Monument - Week 36 - one of our last stops on the trip was to this National Monument to explore some of the caves. The first we popped in to had bats, so we left as soon as we saw them. This was lit by my glamorous assistant's wife's headtorch, shot at ISO 3200 and run through Topaz DeNoise AI.


20200823-Summer_Holiday (236 of 246)-Edit.jpg by Alex Morrison, on Flickr

I have a plan for Activity, and unusually for the last month or so should actually be able to do it in the appropriate week...
 
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That's a good catch up, the deer is well hidden, the little bugs have been captured well, your snappers choice is very nice, b&w works really well on that waterfall.
The lava beds shot is a little dark for me but it still has some nice green and gold colours in it.
 
Thanks Clive. That's the first time I've tried Topaz and am pretty impressed - m4/3 at 3200 is pretty noisy... However - now that I know I can get clean images at 3200 I'm going to have to try some more extreme ISOs! The gold colours are almost certainly iron pyrites (fools gold) - but there wasn't a good explanation of the rest of the colours in the lava beds. The deer was incredibly unfussed by our presence - it and mum wandered across our path, then settled down just out of view, but the little one's head kept popping up for a look! And I'm very grateful that the bugs were not of the biting variety... We spent most of the next day on the Klamath canoe trail with very little wind. Skye on a bad day is the only comparison I can make - just without the welts the following day!

Oh - and there was a mistake on my label in the main post. It was the Upper McCloud Falls, not Klamath...
 
seaodyssey said:
Hi Alex

Some nice images, the tiny and Snappers Choice are my favorites.

Pete

I must be feeling Peckish.....
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Well earned donut ;)

Thank you for the kind comments - I think I'm finally getting the hang of the large format, or at least not making as many stupid mistakes...
 
Snappers choice is a belter :)
 
Great idea for the theme Alex.
It works well (y)
 
Camouflage
Blooming heck, that's some big ears. The deer does blend-in well with it's environment.


Tiny
Good reflections. Best to stay away from those killer Otters.

Choice
Good waterfall scene. It's an interesting pov.

Textures
That's something a little different. I like the tones too.

Activity
That's looks to be a lot of stuff. I like the way you've laid it all out. Is there a camera in there anywhere?
 
Nostromo said:
Camouflage
Blooming heck, that's some big ears. The deer does blend-in well with it's environment.
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It's a mule deer - named for the ears!

Nostromo said:
Tiny
Good reflections. Best to stay away from those killer Otters.

Choice
Good waterfall scene. It's an interesting pov.

Textures
That's something a little different. I like the tones too.
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Thank you!

Nostromo said:
Activity
That's looks to be a lot of stuff. I like the way you've laid it all out. Is there a camera in there anywhere?
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I think I've decided to only take my XA2 and a roll of Portra 400 per day. Even my relatively lightweight m43 setup weighs an whole lot more than that setup. But there's some rapid replanning going on right now - our original route is looking increasingly fire threatened - if we go for a shorter/lower route then I might change my mind here. The Oly will go in a hip pocket, and I've got a Peak Design clip so I can hang the Panasonic off a shoulder strap. The challenge will be keeping the battery topped off - there's a little solar battery in there, but that's for the satellite "oh ****" beacon. And I know me too well - I can chew through my two batteries in three days easily!
 
Nice idea for the theme. Looks like you're more active than the majority of us.
 
A good catch up Alex.
I really like the pics of the bugs and the mono of the waterfall.
 
Another catch up... Comments catch up to come as well - everything is a little bit crazy busy just at the moment. Our shifts have changed - we're now on earlies as a squadron - shifting my mindset from getting home and going to bed at 3am to getting up and going to work then has taken some doing!

Week 38 - Artificial. I was out on my hike during this week - we ended up going to the Ruby Crest Trail in Northern Nevada. Imagine the UK's gently rolling countryside, but substitute "aggressively" for gently, subtract most of the water, and put everything at an average elevation of about 10,000' and your get the idea. Probably one of the physically hardest things I've ever done - of the group of 10, only 5 of us completed the trail, with the other 5 needing a rest day before taking the escape route. This photo is about the only artificial thing I could shoe horn in - my tent at the end of day 1...



20200922-Ruby_Crest_Trail_Day_1-Portra400-XA2-CS41 (33 of 36) by Alex Morrison, on Flickr

Week 39 - Autumn. It still feels not that autumnal here yet - it's 8:30pm and still 27°C as I type this... But we were up in the mountains in my last days off and found enough aspens to meet the theme!



20201004-Lee_Canyon (21 of 21) by Alex Morrison, on Flickr

Wet and next week's theme to follow...
 
HelenC said:
Nice idea for the theme. Looks like you're more active than the majority of us.
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CliveH said:
That's a lot to carry. The activity of preparation is always a bit of a chore, but at the same time quite exciting I find.
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I'd love to say I don't get nearly as excited by the prep as by the activity itself, but I'd be lying...
Cloudforest said:
A good catch up Alex.
I really like the pics of the bugs and the mono of the waterfall.
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Thank you - I think the waterfall is going to be a printer [emoji2]
 
I'm surprised you have the energy to take any images given the back story so well done on finding the time to post. Love the colour and composition of the autumn shot - it gives a real sense of size and majesty.
 
Two nice shots there - the trees especially but the tent for the effort!
 
HelenC said:
I'm surprised you have the energy to take any images given the back story so well done on finding the time to post. Love the colour and composition of the autumn shot - it gives a real sense of size and majesty.
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It was Day 1 - we'd only walked ~6 miles that day. It was Day 2's nearly 15 miles that broke people! The autumnal shot came out of my phone and I'm amazed by the colours. It's got a DNG mode which gives spectacularly flat files, but Lightroom can really pull some detail out of them. I was impressed!
-Oy- said:
Two nice shots there - the trees especially but the tent for the effort!
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Thank you! It was a good hike :)
rpn said:
You effect to complete the trail is good enough to give you a pass for the Artificial theme but I do like the Autumn. or Fall over there, trees shot.
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Thank you!
 
CliveH said:
Some great scenery from your hike, nice view from your camp site. Do you get bears there?
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Fortunately not - eliminated carrying a kilo or so of bear canister on top of all the other stuff! California, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming and Colorado around us have bears, but Nevada just has rattlesnakes, scorpions and black widows... Not quite as charismatic!
 
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Wet can be something of a challenge, living in the desert, and having not seen rain since at least March, possibly February. I would say that this year's monsoon season was a damp squib, but that would definitely be the wrong metaphor...

So instead, we went exploring some of the areas around Lake Mead which we hadn't got to yet. We only have 7-8 more months here, and ground rush is starting to occur already with the "lasts" starting to add up. I'm not going to be sorry to say goodbye to our last summer here - although I may eat my words when we're freezing back in the UK summer...

This first picture is Rogers Spring - one of the feeder springs for initially the Colorado River, and now Lake Mead.



Rogers Spring by Alex Morrison, on Flickr

And the second is from St Thomas. Originally a Mormon Settlement abandoned when Nevada expanded, then demanded back taxes, it was resettled as a farming community as it was irrigated by the Colorado River. When the Hoover Dam was built, the village was initially flooded, then as water use has increased, it's been exposed again. This is one of the cisterns they used to store the water - so whilst it's not currently wet, it has been extremely damp in the past...



St Thomas Cistern by Alex Morrison, on Flickr
 
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Artificial: The hike sounds a proper feat of endurance and hopefully you felt a great sensse of acheivment when you got back.
Autumn: Beautiful colours against the blue sky.
Wet. I like them both but especially the one of the cistern in the landscape together with the information about what it is. Nice colours again.
 
Love the autumn trees and the cistern in your wet picture, excellent light in it,
looks quite a harsh environment
 
Great autumn colours and interesting back story with the cistern.
 
Well well - looks dry but used to be wet so I guess that fits. (Pass me that shoehotn Mother!)
 
Artificial - That sounds like far too much hard work. And having to sleep in a tent too... /rollseyes ;)
Autumn - But I guess it's maybe worth the effort for scenery/shots like that.
Wet - I'm going to go for #2 due to the back story and that it's an interesting 'thing'.
 
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