View allAll Photos Tagged Think
25 November, 2009 | Sydney, Australia
Photographer: Grace Tham
Model: Filippo
Lighting:
1 x softbox to camera right (high above model)
1 x silver reflector to camera left
If you think that this camera looks homemade, you're right! Built by a good friend Matt as one of many cameras he's built himself this is what I've called the Six-One-Seven. Again if you're keen, you'll have figured out that it's a panoramic camera based on 120 film shooting four 6x17 frames. While it might not be the perfect option, there are some little issues; it still is an excellent and fun camera to get out and try something new!
You can read the full review online
www.alexluyckx.com/blog/index.php/2020/07/06/camera-revie...
ReveniLabs Six-One-Seven - Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 1:8/90 - Arista EDU Ultra 200 @ ASA-200
Kodak HC-110 Dil. H 7:00 @ 20C
Meter: Gossen Lunasix F
Scanner: Epson V700
Editor: Adobe Photoshop CC
Doesn't this look almost tropical? Well, this is about as far as I made it, and even then, I was leaning over and holding the camera out at arm's length. Odds are, the river is probably chest-deep at its deepest... and I wasn't (un)dressed for it. :) So this is as good as it gets. But look at that view... it was worth the trip and the whole effort, I think.
A much coveting of my friend Dave's Think Tank shoulder bag, I found a very lightly used one over at the Fred Miranda Buy&Sell forums for a good price. Because I'm such a female when it comes to camera bags (I seem to lust over new bags on a weekly basis) it was decided that I needed something that would store a little more gear than my Crumpler 7 Million Dollar Hotel including my 12" G4 laptop when I needed it, but wanted something smaller than the giagantic beast that was the December Quarter but I wanted it to be more of a shoulder-bag in style, and, most importantly, I wanted something that looked low profile and didn't look like I was moving a bunch of photo equipment in it.
Whenever I saw Dave with his Urban Disguise, it make me want it even more. So I bought one.
This shoulder bag is swank. It kind of makes me forget all about my 7 Million Dollar Hotel, and I might just go head and sell the Crumpler to help make up for the cash I spent on this bag.
Firstly, this bag can hold a bunch of stuff. A lot of stuff. I have it set up so that it can hold my Canon 5D with or without a lens mounted in the center of the "camera" section, leaving me to put other lenses and etc. on each side.
Pocket wise, this sucker is loaded. Pockets, more pockets, and even more pockets!. And if that wasn't enough, it even has hidden pockets for top secret things. Its crazy!
Starting from the face side of the bag we have:
Flip over cover, which has a zippered pocket that opens and has single spaces for pens, business cards, etc. Plus it has a secret zippered compartment for top secret mission plans, anti-zombie government recipies, or other things you might not want to end up loosing (boarding passes, passport, etc). The secret compartment has a small red ribbon on the zipper to let you know its top secret. Shhhh.
After lifting the face cover, there are Two large collapsible pockets that are large and can house Pro-body cameras without a lens attached. Or, for me, it can hold speedlights, umbrella brackets, speedlight battery packs, etc. There is also another zippered compartment that has more individual slots for business cards, memory cards, pens, etc. And it also comes with a small tri-fold memory card wallet that attaches to a cord. Super cool!
Moving to the main body of the bag, we have the center section for the camera storage. This section is really the meat and potatoes of the bag and takes up the majority of the storage space. As you can see in the photo up above, just about all of the stuff I have laid out in front of the bag is sitting in this camera section. The camera body, the lenses, everything but the flash and battery pack are sitting inside this section. Plus, Think Tank stacks these bags with lots of velco walls and dividers. So many that I've got most of them in my closet because I just couldn't use them all. Very cool. With some of the velco walls, I use them as "covers" so I can cover the tops of the lenses and camera. When you open the bag, you can't see any of the gear, with the exception of what I put on top of that stuff. There is also a side pocket in there for magazines or whatever. Think Tank tossed in a great rain cover that slips over the bag, and I keep it in this little side pocket. Again, very cool.
Behind the camera compartment is a large padded and zippered section that holds up to a 17" laptop. My tiny little 12" powerbook is pretty tiny in there, so I used some of the velcro dividers to build the walls up and create a little "slot" that the powerbook slides into so it doesn't slide back and forth in the pocket.
Flipping the bag around to the back side, there is another large, flat zippered pocket that is perfect for magazines (or in my case a portfolio of my work, as seen in the photo). This bag also has a double zippered section that unzips on the top and bottom so that the bag will slide over the handles of a larger rolling camera bag. Think Tank even put a little foldover stopper on these zippers, so the don't accidentally open up while in transit. Coolness x2!! There is even a small clear window that holds even more business cards!! The coolness doesn't end!!!
The bag has a very comfortable shoulder strap, with very ample padding on it. It has very intense metal buckles that hook into metal loops on the bag. You can move the strap around however you like to make it rest more comfortably. The bag also has very comfy leather handle straps, that don't velcro together. I like this because I don't like to fumble with that interwrapping velcro stuff on handles. Too silly. I simply move the straps to the side and it allows me easy access.
The zippers on this bag feel meaty. Some bags I've owned in the past had zippers that felt like they would break or teeth could fall off any minute. I own bags where that has happened. This bag doesn't feel like that at all. These feel very meaty and large. Very impressive
Oh, also, there are flexible pockets on either side of the bag, big enough to hold more items like speedlights. I can easily hold a speedlight on each side if I needed to. Usually I just use one light on location, but I could easily carry a few more if it was necessary.
Here is a photo of the bag fully packed up.
Here is a photo of the bag loaded and zipped closed.
Here is the bag being worn as a shoulder bag, and also a photo of it being held by its leather handles.
This bag is pretty damn good. I've used it for a few location shoots so far, and it can hold everything I need except my light stand and my softbox. Think Tank also makes a backpack harness thing for this, so if I wanted to, I could attach the harness and wear it on my back. Wicked!
I strongly recommend this bag for someone looking for an alternative to the Walt Disney color-schemes of the Crumpler line, and for anyone looking for a exceptionally built, professional, low profile shoulder bag that will house everything you need for small location shoots.
Totally worth the money I spent on the bag. Comfy, roomy, and looks very slick when i wear it as well. Be warned that this bag can get pretty heavy when its fully loaded But, unlike the December Quarter I used to own, it isn't HUGE and doesn't SMASH into my hips or sides when I'm walking with it loaded.
Fantastic bag. Fantastic quality. Major kudos to Think Tank.
So You Think You Can Dance Live Tour | Rockford Metrocentre | Rockford, IL
10.29.10
© ae photography 2010
fan us on fb ;)
www.facebook.com/pages/Lindenwood-IL/ae-photography/12578...
Sometimes I think if it wasn't for the heather the beautiful landscape around Stannage Edge looks like the nevada desert.
As the sun started to rise over the moors the early start was paid back ten fold.
Peaceful, beautiful and the great thing about living in the area of the country I live in.
I think I may have a slight obsession with light painting through Coca-Cola bottles...
I love the results, I get something different each and every time. I'm currently working on making a video as to how I produce these images. This is very similar to a shot I've posted here on Flickr before, but this time round I used the 24-70mm f/2.8 and the quality of the lens worked wonders!
Press L to view a larger version of this image
The Thinker (le penseur) by Auguste Rodin
Bronze
H. 180 cm ; W. 98 cm ; D. 145 cm
Cast made by Fonderie Alexis Rudier in 1904. Transfered to the musée Rodin in 1922.
When conceived in 1880 in its original size (approx. 70 cm) as the crowning element of The Gates of Hell, seated on the tympanum, The Thinker was entitled The Poet. He represented Dante, author of the Divine Comedy which had inspired The Gates, leaning forward to observe the circles of Hell, while meditating on his work.
The Thinker was therefore initially both a being with a tortured body, almost a damned soul, and a free-thinking man, determined to transcend his suffering through poetry. The pose of this figure owes much to Carpeaux’s Ugolino (1861) and to the seated portrait of Lorenzo de’ Medici carved by Michelangelo (1526-31).
While remaining in place on the monumental Gates of Hell, The Thinker was exhibited individually in 1888 and thus became an independent work.
Enlarged in 1904, its colossal version proved even more popular: this image of a man lost in thought, but whose powerful body suggests a great capacity for action, has became one of the most celebrated sculptures ever known. Numerous casts exist worldwide, including the one now in the gardens of the Musée Rodin, a gift to the City of Paris installed outside the Panthéon in 1906, and another in the gardens of Rodin’s house in Meudon, on the tomb of the sculptor and his wife.
www.musee-rodin.fr/en/collections/sculptures/thinker
The Musée Rodin in Paris, France, is a museum that was opened in 1919 in the Hôtel Biron and surrounding grounds. It displays works by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin.
While living in the Villa des Brillants (in Meudon, suburb of Paris), Rodin used the Hôtel Biron as his workshop from 1908, and subsequently donated his entire collection of sculptures (along with paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Pierre-Auguste Renoir that he had acquired) to the French State on the condition that they turn the building into a museum dedicated to his works.
The Musée Rodin contains most of Rodin's significant creations, including The Thinker, The Kiss, Monument to Victor Hugo, The Burghers of Calais, La Cathedrale, Monument to Balzac, Study for the Naked Muse, without Arms and The Gates of Hell. Many of his sculptures are displayed in the museum's extensive garden.
The museum is one of the most accessible museums in Paris. The gardens around the museum building contain many of the famous sculptures in natural settings.
Behind the museum building is a small lake and casual restaurant.
The Musée Rodin collections are very diverse, as Rodin used to collect besides being an artist, some paintings by Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh which were in Rodin's personal collections are also presented. The museum has also a room dedicated to works of Camille Claudel.
Wikipedia
Well I think it is done, but have now noticed her left cheek is looking a little orange, may need to change that. Also you might notice that her wings have flown away!
It was great when it all began.....
I think it was September 2011 when I first visited St Olave. It was an Open House London weekend, and I had not been inside a City of London church before. I was soon to discover this was one of many.
I think since then I have photographed inside and/or inside, or the remains of some 48 City Churches, but this is still something special.
A Norfolk Village church in the City I have heard it described, it is certainly a box of delights, with a whole lot of interesting things, memorials and even a model of a lightship inside.
It nestles down a quiet street near to Fenchurch Street, and seems to be open whenever I walk by. This time I entered through the door on the street, much better to enter through the churchyard, through the macabre gate then down steps into the porch.
Once inside I saw someone asleep in the pews, surrounded by bags of her possessions. I tried not to wake her.
And yet, the church was filled with strong sunlight, tinted after passing through the stained glass.
------------------------------------------
St Olave’s survives as a rare example of the mediaeval churches that existed before the Great Fire of London in 1666. The flames came within 100 metres or so of the building but then the wind changed direction, saving a number of churches on the eastern side of the City.
The church was severely damaged in the bombing of World War II, but enough of the fabric and original masonry was spared to permit the building to be lovingly restored in the 1950s and to continue its life and work into the second half of the 20th century and now the 21st.
People entering St Olave’s for the first time are frequently surprised to find the timeless atmosphere of a modest ancient parish church in the heart of the modern City and this surprise more often than not yields to increasing delight as they explore its interior. This truth about St Olave’s was well expressed by The Revd Augustus Powell Miller, the Rector who saw through the post-war restoration:
'Often we remind ourselves that we are the heirs of nine centuries of Christian worship on this hallowed site. For all those long years… the praises of God and the prayers of His people have been ascending to the Throne of grace from this place. The very mental and spiritual atmosphere which you breathe as you step out of Hart Street into this Sanctuary has been gradually created by the worshippers of the past. And many times in recent days when visitors have come in to see the restored church they have confessed to having paused; they entered to view what the craftsmen had wrought but had to own their consciousness of its hallowed atmosphere. "Other men have laboured" and we, in the mercy of God have been given the privilege of "entering into their labours." In the quiet and silence of this Sanctuary we can know that "we are compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses," and that the past mingles with the present and can inspire us for whatever tasks the future has in store for us.'
www.sanctuaryinthecity.net/history-architecture/4588220829
--------------------------------------------
St Olave Hart Street is a Church of England church in the City of London, located on the corner of Hart Street and Seething Lane near Fenchurch Street railway station.
John Betjeman described St Olave's as "a country church in the world of Seething Lane."[1] The church is one of the smallest in the City and is one of only a handful of medieval City churches that escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666.[2] In addition to being a local parish church, St Olave's is the Ward Church of the Tower Ward of the City of London.
The church is first recorded in the 13th century as St Olave-towards-the-Tower, a stone building replacing the earlier (presumably wooden) construction.[4] It is dedicated to the patron saint of Norway, King Olaf II of Norway, who fought alongside the Anglo-Saxon King Ethelred the Unready against the Danes in the Battle of London Bridge in 1014. He was canonised after his death and the church of St Olave's was built apparently on the site of the battle.[2] The Norwegian connection was reinforced during the Second World War when King Haakon VII of Norway worshipped there while in exile.
Saint Olave's was rebuilt in the 13th century and then again in the 15th century. The present building dates from around 1450. According to John Stow's Survey of London (1603), a major benefactor of the church in the late 15th century was wool merchant Richard Cely Sr. (d. 1482), who held the advowson on the church (inherited by his son, Richard Cely, Jr.). On his death, Cely bequeathed money for making the steeple and an altar in the church. The merchant mark of the Cely family was carved in two of the corbels in the nave (and were extant until the bombing of World War II). No memorial to the Celys now remains in the church.[5]
Saint Olave's survived the Great Fire of London with the help of Sir William Penn, the father of the more famous William Penn who founded Pennsylvania, and his men from the nearby Naval yards. He had ordered the men to blow up the houses surrounding the church to create a fire break.[6][7] The flames came within 100 yards or so of the building, but then the wind changed direction, saving the church and a number of other churches on the eastern side of the City.[3]
The church was a favourite of the diarist Samuel Pepys, whose house and Royal Navy office were both on Seething Lane. A regular worshipper, he referred to St. Olave's in his diary affectionately as "our own church"[8] In 1660, he had a gallery built on the south wall of the church and added an outside stairway from the Royal Navy Offices so that he could go to church without getting soaked by the rain. The gallery is now gone but a memorial to Pepys marks the location of the stairway's door. In 1669, when his beloved wife Elisabeth died from fever,[9] Pepys had a marble bust of her made by John Bushnell and installed on the north wall of the sanctuary so that he would be able to see her from his pew at the services. In 1703, he was buried next to his wife in the nave.[2][10]
However, it was gutted by German bombs in 1941 during the London Blitz.[11] and was restored in 1954, with King Haakon VII of Norway returning to preside over the rededication ceremony, during which he laid a stone from Trondheim Cathedral in front of the sanctuary.
Between 1948 and 1954, when the restored St Olave's was reopened, a prefabricated church stood on the site of All Hallows Staining. This was known as St Olave Mark Lane. The tower of All Hallows Staining was used as the chancel of the temporary church.
The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.[12] St Olave's has retained long and historic links with Trinity House and the Clothworkers' Company.
St Olave's has a modest exterior in the Perpendicular Gothic style.[1] with a somewhat squat square tower of stone and brick, the latter added in 1732. It is famous for the macabre 1658 entrance arch to the churchyard, which is decorated with grinning skulls.[13] The novelist Charles Dickens was so taken with this that he included the church in his Uncommercial Traveller, renaming it "St Ghastly Grim".[14]
The interior of St Olave's only partially survived the wartime bombing; much of it dates from the restoration of the 1950s. It is nearly square, with three bays separated by columns of Purbeck limestone supporting pointed arches. The roof is a simple oak structure with bosses. Most of the church fittings are modern, but there are some significant survivals, such as the monument to Elizabeth Pepys[15] and the pulpit, said to be the work of Grinling Gibbons. Following the destruction of the organ in the blitz, the John Compton Organ Company built a new instrument in the West Gallery, fronted by a large wooden grille; this organ, and the Rectory behind, is ingeniously structured between church and tower.
In the tower, there is a memorial with an American connection. It honors Monkhouse Davison and Abraham Newman, the grocers of Fenchurch Street who shipped crates of tea to Boston in late 1773. These crates were seized and thrown into the waters during the Boston Tea Party, one of the causes of the American War of Independence.[10]
Perhaps the oddest "person" said to be buried here is the "Pantomime character" Mother Goose. Her burial was recorded by the parish registers on 14 September 1586.[16] A plaque on the outside commemorates this event. The churchyard is also said to contain the grave of one Mary Ramsay, popularly believed to be the woman who brought the Plague to London in 1665.[17] The parish registers have the record of her burial, which was on 24 July 1665. Thereafter, in the same year, the victims of the Great Plague were marked with a 'p' after their names in the registers.
On the east side of St Olave's, there is a stained glass window depicting Queen Elizabeth I standing with two tall bells at her feet. She held a thanksgiving service at St Olave's on Trinity Sunday, 15 May 1554, while she was still Princess Elizabeth, to celebrate her release from the Tower of London.[19] She had originally given bell-ropes of silk to the All Hallows Staining Church because its bells had rung the loudest of all London bells on the day of her freedom, but, when All Hallows Staining was merged with St. Olave's in 1870, the bell-ropes went with it.[20]
On 11 May 1941, an incendiary bomb was dropped by the Luftwaffe on the tower of the church. The tower, along with the baptistry and other buildings, was "burned out" and the furnishings and monuments destroyed. The heat was so great that even the peal of the eight bells were melted "back into bell metal". In the early 1950s, the bell metal was recast into new bells by the same foundry that created the original bells – the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, in 1662 and 1694.[21] The new bells were then hung in the rebuilt tower.
There are currently nine bells at St Olave's Hart Street consisting of one sanctus bell and eight bells hung for full circle ringing, with the tenor of the eight weighing 11-3-23.[22] The bells are usually rung for practices, which take place on Thursday evenings between 7:00pm and 8:30pm during term time, and for Sunday service between 10:15am and 11:00am on the 1st and 3rd Sundays in the month.[23] The bells are currently rung by the University of London Society of Change Ringers (ULSCR) who have a healthy band consisting of past and present members of London Universities.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Olave_Hart_Street
--------------------------------------------
A medieval church set in the surprisingly quiet and narrow streets near Fenchurch Street station. One of the most pleasing of the City of London churches, both in its setting and in its interior. It was far enough east to escape the ravages of the Great Fire, much to the relief of Samuel Pepys, whose parish church this was and who worked in the Navy Office next door. In the 1930s Betjeman described it as seeming like an East Anglian country parish church on holiday in the heart of the City. The church did not, alas, survive the Blitz similarly unscathed, but the exterior and setting today appear remarkably similar to postcards and photographs of the 1920s, set on the corner of Hart Street and Seething Lane with a polite little public garden behind. Don't miss the grinning skulls above the gateway.
Since the terrorist bombing of St Ethelburga in 1993, St Olave is the smallest surviving intact medieval church in the City. The interior has been carefully restored and perhaps retains something of its original atmosphere - indeed, the post-war restoration got rid of the worst of the middle-brow 19th Century restorations by Arthur Blomfield and Ewan Christian. Furnishings were brought out of store from All Hallows Staining and St Katherine Coleman, two churches in adjacent streets which had been demolished for building work in the 19th Century. The glass is now all post-war and by two artists whose reputations for fine work are firmly established, Arthur Buss and John Hayward.
Located directly in front of the pilot of the sphere, the touch screen was linked to multiple cameras around the sub and acted as a primary 'windscreen' for navigation and steering.
Lent by John Garvin.
Cycling Bees Group at Think Pink Event, Emouash Cafe
Cycling Bee Group in support of Think Pink - October Breast Cancer Campaign
If you think you start a business with a T-shirt design. You should check our eye-catching, quality base Turtle T Shirt Design. Remember that a quality design helps you to build up your business. This bundle contains 50+ premium designs in vector format that are perfect for t-shirts, animals, hoodies, mugs, and flyers too. With completely editable and pixel perfect vector files you can adapt these T-Shirt Design designs to any size. This Bundle Helps you to grow your online store. Print your brand quickly and easily and start selling your favorite items from any of these awesome artwork style designs.
Express your admiration for your favorite texture companion with Merchbundle T-shirt design! We are now a good time for you to plan custom T-Shirt Design on the Internet-please read our clip art exhibition, which includes pictures of Cheshire cats, tigers, lions, paws, and some others! If you need to put on a T-Shirt Design. Obviously, I liked that T-Shirt Design niche. Murchbundle provides fast turnaround service, and excellent screen printing and weaving craftsmanship. Even the most demanding yoga lovers will be grateful! So, start your shirt plan today!
Provocative title aside, the question, for me, would be Can Asians Think of Anything But Economic Growth? If I didn't have the example of the leader of Bhutan and his Gross National Happiness index and the King of Thailand and his Sufficiency Economy and Vandana Shiva and her Earth Democracy, I would say that this former diplomat from Singapore, turned professor of public policy, typifies the thinking of Asia.
Kishore Mahbubani is still intriguing to read because he challenges Western sacred cows i.e.: democracy and human rights policies. Not all nations are ready for democracy or a free press he argues and neither necessarily leads to good government. Instead nations should be judged on how effective a government is at governing and bringing economic prosperity to its people.
He thinks the West could do more good if it considered keeping diplomatic relationships open with countries rather than refusing to speak to them at all on moral grounds. It being better for the countries population than not to negotiate at all. Also trade embargoes hurt the people too and change nothing ie: Burma.
His first book Can Asians Think? is a collection of articles and speeches given separately to Asian audiences and Western audiences. He addresses each frankly and that makes it more fun to read as he reports on the reactions of each. So as not to insult anyone he uses his own picture on the cover. He argues both yes and no sides to his title. No because Asians allowed their minds to be colonized and thus could no longer think for themselves. And yes because when they did wake up (Japan first) they were very pragmatic in doing whatever it took to develop and modernize.
In his latest book, The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irrestistible Shift of Global Power To The East, Mahbubani describes how Asia bought the myth, that the US and EU have managed to propagate, that Western Civilization is the be and end all in civilizations. This due to its freedom, democracy, science, rational thought and belief in God. While in the eyes of the West all other nations were barbaric. Asians then proceeded to adopt a "March to Modernity" copying the West.
More telling is Mr. Mahbubani's own story about how the experience of growing up using an odiferous bucket toilet impressed upon him the notion that the lot of humanity would be vastly improved if everyone had a flush toilet. Thus, rather than improving the recycling of human waste as humanure, as our ancestors did, civilization is deemed to hinge on this vastly unsustainable "modernization". But Mahbubani never allows any thought that development has limits and is ultimately wrong headed.
He describes how Asia made the switch to modernizing following Western development by tossing idealogies aside and adopting, in pragmatic fashion, the best practices of the West. This meant the free market vs central planning; (localization not being an option mentioned). Asian countries encouraged students to study science & technology in the West to modernize the brain pool and adopted meritocracy to broaden the brain pool. That the formerly agrarian societies had tilled the land in peace and relative happiness for centuries does not count for much given the material wealth and opportunities displayed by the West. Jobs in Nike factories, he claims, liberated youth from drudgery in fields. The author claims that only by modernizing the world's poor would we have a Culture of Peace that abides by the Rule of Law, another Western principle.
And now that Asia is well on its way to doing that, it is gaining confidence to take leadership away from the US. This by talking among themselves and strengthening ties as trading partners. Thus China with Southeast Asia despite ideological differences in governments.
He then describes, in carefully diplomatic terms, how the West has lost credibility. Burdened with the baggage of ideology i.e.: freedom and social justice the West tries to influence policy of other nations, but it is clear to all that it only does so where it benefits itself. And while the Western dominance of the global economy gives it leverage especially in banking, Western incompetence with the Middle East and its refusal to maintain diplomatic relationships with Iran and other muslim nations is seriously undermining its leadership. And more confusing, when the West presents the issue of global warming it resists global cooperation on the issue. Likewise the nuclear armament issue.
Never once does he mention that the US is an empire that will flush down the metaphorical toilet in pursuit of resources. He gives the US a big benefit of the doubt and seems to act puzzled that it can't seem to get its act together to work towards the benefits of globalization. He is a big believer in the UN and thinks it is high time that Asian nations were given a seat with the big boys and not just let the G7 run everything. He also notes that nations so distrust the IMF now that they are resisting assistance from those loans weakening the IMF and thus globalization. Good for them I say.
No, nor what you might think but my car was due for its annual service and MOT. On Monday I found that the battery was completely flat when I checked to see if car was OK. Ended up using my battery charger and it was still not fully charged by 11pm, so yesterday morning, I was awakened at 5 am by Rio who wanted to go out then once he was safely back, I gave the car another couple of hours before reconnecting battery and lo and behold it started first time. After it had been collected, I spent the day defrosting the freezer in the garage and after it was returned tried to have an easy night, till my computer decided it was going to upgrade to the latest edition of Windows, which took around 2 hours, so my early night became a late one.
Today is foggy so I'm staying put. Come round if you're able to
I think, it has been the third time now, giving this chinese Lucky SHD 100 film a chance and the results are still disappointing. I have seen better pictures of the american civil war and people, who are not believing, that photographs need to look like crap to be art, should refrain from using it.
All shots taken with my trusted Bencini Koroll 24s, which is usually capable of taking better pictures.
What is it that gives us the sense of High Adventure? For me I think it is the thrill of the unknown. What's around the next corner? How am I going to get home? How far is it? Where will I sleep tonight? Maybe thats why I enjoy hiking so much. This hike was one of the best I've been on in a long time and it was almost completely unplanned. That being said, I do have enough sense to have a map along with the other ten essentials as well as a little knowledge of the area I'm going into. I don't care to turn into another Chris McCandless, AKA Alexander Supertramp.
OK so this set of pictures was supposed to be named Emigrant Wilderness Thru-Hike but upon hiking up the shoulder of Big Sam Mountain which is the highest point in the wilderness on trail, thunder and lightning started crashing down around me. Being well above tree line at 10500 feet and having my metal hiking poles sticking out of my pack like a lightning rod, I decided to utilize my emergency exit route and beat feet out of there. I was really bummed that I would not be seeing Emigrant Pass, High Emigrant Lake, Middle Emigrant Lake, Emigrant Meadow Lake and all the other lakes down the Crabtree Trail, but the continued lightning in the area reinforced that my decision to get out of the high country was the right one. I started my hike that day at Leavitt Lake after my father in-law so graciously drove me up there in the Jeep. Leaving the lake, I climbed the old abandoned Jeep road up to the top of the ridge and down to the PCT. Following the PCT for a while going south, I made my way to the juction of the PCT and the Emigrant Trail near Kennedy Canyon. Following the Emigrant Trail West towards Big Sam Mountain, I was about 500' below the top of Big Sam when the lightning started and I turned around. Having read reports of the area, including the excellent Emigrant Wilderness and Northwestern Yosemite book by Ben Schifrin, I knew there was a boot path down through Kennedy Canyon. The boot path took me as far as Kennedy Lake where I picked up the Kennedy Lake Trail. Once you get to Kennedy Lake the trail goes through some pretty muddy and swampy areas. There are also lots of cows in this area as it is utilized as a grazing area by local ranchers. Knowing this, it is a good idea to fill up on water before you hit the lake. After passing the lake you will come up on an old log cabin which belonged to an Andrew Thomas Kennedy. I wanted to get a better look at it but it looked as if someone was possibly using it for a base camp so I steered clear of it. After the cabin you will come to a fence that is used to keep the cattle in but I don't think it worked too well as I saw cattle on both sides of the gate. It was at this point of my hike that the thunder and lightning really started in earnest and I got hailed on pretty hard by marble sized hail (later I heard Yosemite was getting golf ball sized hail so I guess I was lucky). After about 4 miles past Kennedy Lake, the trail crosses Kennedy Creek and it becomes very pretty and rugged with smooth polished granite all around. I was in a unique position seeing this trail this way as the majority of people seeing this area for the first time see it coming up from Kennedy Meadows, I was seeing Kennedy Meadows for the first time by hiking down to it. Once you are in the canyon with all the polished granite, you have a choice of taking the Night Cap Stock Trail or the Relief Reservoir Trail down into Kennedy Meadows. I chose the Relief Trail. At the end of the trail you still have a mile or two to go on a dirt road before you get to the store and restaraunt. I believe I read somewhere that there used to be a lodge here but it burned down a couple of years ago. I did see a campground there. Having made plans to be picked up the next day at the Crabtree Trailhead, I used the pay phone to place calls to my father-in-law to come pick me up. I didn't know it at the time but he later told me that he had gone in to the lake earlier that day and forgot that he still had his cell phone in his pocket so calling him did me no good at all. Sitting on the porch of the store at Kennedy Meadows drinking a Gatorade, I watched a car pull up and drop a guy off with a pack. I immediately recognized the guy as a PCT thru-hiker as he fit the hiker trash model with what looked like a couple of months worth of beard growth. I asked him if he just came from Sonora Pass and if the guy he was riding with was going west on Hwy 108. He said he was so I ran down the steps and stuck out my thumb at the guy and he waved at me to come on in. After securing my pack in the back of his car, I learned that the thru-hiker was up on the Sierra Crest near Sonora Pass not too far away from where I was when the lightning started. The storm really came out of nowhere as it was sunny one minute and black clouds the next. He said the thru hiker (named Bill) threw down his pack and ran downhill to the cover of some trees when the storm hit. After the storm abated a little he climbed back up, grabbed his pack and made for the pass. The gentleman that picked me up (Greg) said that Bill was soaking wet when he picked him up at the pass. Greg said he hadn't picked up a hitchhiker in more than 20 years and today he had picked up 2 in the span of an hour. I let him know that it was OK because I hadn't hitched in quite a few years either but under the circumstances I though it appropriate today. Greg was a really great guy and told me he was recently retired and that he used to be a private investigator for a law firm in San Diego. He told me the story of the lady that walked through someones yard near Joshua Tree and found thousands of little piles of what she thought looked like kitty litter. Upon closer inspection she found a couple little metal tags in the piles and she brought them to her husband who was the county prosecuter. He knew what they were immediately. They were toe tags from bodies that had been creamated. This is when Greg the PI got involved to determine where the ashes to all these bodies were supposed to have been scattered. Turned out the owner of the property was in the ash scattering business for people who had no one else to scatter their ashes for them when they passed away. The guy had been falsifying documents for over 10 years saying he was scattering the ashes in the location the deceased requested but instead he just dumped them on his property thinking no one would be the wiser. Great story! Before I knew it Greg had driven me the 20 + miles back to Twain Harte where my family was staying and dropped me off right at my door. Greg if you are reading this, thank you so much for the ride, and the stories were top notch. The perfect end to my high adventure day!
Stats:
2000' cumulative gain
5000' cumulative loss
16 Miles
What is it that you THINK of?
I had a bit of a different idea, but I like this better than my original plan. I don't know what it is I THINK about, I always have like five things on my mind at once.
I had the word THINK written in a different place on my hand, and you can still kind of see it :P
You can also see the lovely red dots on my hand, three have been there forever, and the other is from falling into a fence.