Terra360 Weblog

Lost in the Abbey

Having the camera in hand and ready to go is a must sometimes.  This image was available for about 3 seconds before the parents rushed into the passage way to retrieve their lost child.  I first heard them calling for him, spun around and there was the photo-in-waiting.  Almost two years later I decided it was better as a black & white with a colorful child. Canon 5D, 15 mm FFF, 1/40th at f/2.8, ISO 320, dewarped in post.  Abbey at Mont St. Michel, Normandie, France. 21 November 2005

A beach from my dreams

I knew this beach and the moment were special. I had never seen sand or water like this, and save for the fisherman, I was alone. He was quietly bringing in his catch in the early afternoon sun. An epiphany in travel happens rarely, but when I find that essential part of nature that I seek, it stops me in my tracks. I breathe slowly, wiggle my toes, soak it all in, and take a photograph. I am on full mental record. It is the essence of why I travel. This was such a place. I have not been back for decades, but I know the a world of people followed me to this place. Negril, Jamaica, 1972.

Morning in Baie St. Jean

I just entered this photo in a contest.  Not bad considering it was taken with my Canon SD800 IS (two images).  It was also at 6:19 am before any coffee.  I was hardly awake but I love watching this bay change, from dawn to dusk, in sky, color, currents, boats and people. Over decades, I had years of watching and observing, but never from this angle. It was almost like a wholly different place, I knew it intimately, but from a another side. It was familiar but at the same time transformed. Traveling with companions opens one's mind to new views, and that is exactly what this trip did to me. As soon as the sun crested the island, a fresh squall reflected the loveliest rainbow I had seen back to me. My friends slept through the transient moment, but I had it forever. St. Barthélemy, FWI. December 19, 2006.

It's getting warmer folks

OK, lots of weird weather around the world, that is part of it.  Some places get warmer, and some get colder.  Overall, on average, things tick up on the global thermometer a bit.  Ice in the Arctic is getting thinner, a LOT THINNER. Our President needs to read this.

High over Los Roques

Another image freshly digitized dating from 1997.  I was strapped into a powered ultra light aircraft (hang glider with a motor) and changing rolls of film behind the pilot's helmet as fast as I could.  This was on our approach into the airport at Gran Roque, Los Roques, Venezeula. I'll add all of these older images to a gallery soon.

One more iceberg

I revisited a few Antarctica photos today while teaching a friend about Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Photoshop CS3.  I think I probably need to revisit more of them... I like this one.  It is now in the galleries.

Still here in Austin

I was side lined a month ago unable to travel due to a medical issue so I have been catching up locally.  Town Lake, now renamed "Lady Bird Lake" in honor of Lady Bird Johnson (largely responsible for much of the people friendly development around it) is in the heart of Austin (left).  My friend Pam is rowing in the bottom center of the photo.

A few days ago I tried to see the Red Bull Flugtag (right)... but so did about 100,000 other people and it was standing room only.  Even without a seat it was difficult to see anything much at all.  All the images I took were while  moving.  The shot of the lake on the upper left was several months ago, obviously a quieter time.  All sorts of venues come here and it brings out all sorts of folks.  After a few hot hours of walking (it was probably less but it seemed like more) I gave up and said we need a boat next year.

Photoshop Lightroom galleries

I have begun experimenting recently with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom's ability to utilize gallery plugins.  Here is one fun example from The Turning Gate called TTG Photo Stack Gallery.  It is of my tour in the Pacific northwest last May.  Click here to see it.  Just click on the images.... have fun.

NAPP Editor's Choice Photo

I was quite pleased today to hear from Larry Becker, NAPP Executive Director (National Association of Photoshop Professionals), that my image of HOLAR, ICELAND was one of the "Editor's Choice" today.  The rest of the images are located in the FINE ART ICELAND GALLERY or with travel & story telling images included, in the ICELAND TRAVEL PHOTOS.  The Editor's Choice image located here on the NAPP website.

Our warming Earth

Published online: 10 August 2007;  | doi:10.1038/news070806-13

Rising temperatures "will stunt rainforest growth"

Plants suffering in the heat could make global warming worse.

Michael Hopkin

Global warming could cut the rate at which trees in tropical rainforests grow by as much as half, according to more than two decades' worth of data from forests in Panama and Malaysia. (read on... )