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Well… I'm back!
Back to Saguaro country.
Motorhome trip, 2011 has come to a close. I just got back a few days ago to home base, in the Phoenix area to settle in for the winter. I left in mid May, so it's been a little over six months on the road.
This trip, I hit Palm Springs, San DIego, Los Angeles, Sequoia, Yosemite, San Francisco, Sonoma Coast, Redwoods, Sacramento, Lake Tahoe, Reno (the biggest little city in the world), Salt Lake City. Almost forgot… WINNEMUCCA! (The obvious highlight of my trip!) Moab, Durango, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, Williams, Grand Canyon, Page, Bryce, Flagstaff, Sedona…….. That's it.
I'm done! It was kind of a mixed bag this summer. Funny… It's was the total opposite of last summer. Last year I went to boring places that I really didn't like, and got surprisingly nice shots. It was 105 degrees and miserable everywhere I went. Somehow, I was really happy with most of what I got last year. This time, I had the dream trip. This is the trip I have always wanted to take… The California coast… What could be better than that? California is such a beautiful state. So… This year, I went to some of the most beautiful places ever, and, week after week, came out with nothin!
So… Now I know, that the summertime weather in California just doesn't really lend itself well to photography. If this was a vacation, then the weather inland would have been fantastic. Unfortunately, as a photographer… The only thing worse than a solid blue sky, is, a solid gray sky! I knew that the California coast was pretty much dismal in May and June. But. Apparently the 'June Gloom', as they call it, extends into July gloom, and, August gloom. The thing I found amazing about California, was how it can be 90 degrees with a solid blue sky, a mile from the coast. Then you drive to the beach and just enter into a wall of gray gloom. So. I spent about 90 days in California. About 40 of them were crystal clear with a solid blue sky. And. About 47 of them were just solid gray and gloomy. So… If you do the math. I had about three really great days of shooting. The days that were great were REALLY great! A stormy day in Yosemite. A foggy day in the Redwoods. A day with an amazing swirly cloud sky at Lake Tahoe. A couple of great sunsets. Sunsets on the coast are nonexistent. The sun just drops behind the gray gloom and you're done. I just couldn't believe, while I was at a campsite along the coast, a little north of San Francisco, when the the news was reporting a record breaking heat wave all across the country. Phoenix was 118º. Palm Springs was 116º… Meanwhile, where I was, it was 45º outside, with 50 MPH wind and a gloomy, gray sky. Really? Am I really turning on my heat, and wearing my winter coat in July while the rest of the country is sweltering?
One repeating pattern I have seen over and over. It's always the day I'm planning to leave that I have the perfect conditions for photography. Usually it's after I actually have left. When I'm driving the motorhome and have no possible way to stop and shoot photos, I can always count on looking out at the most fantastic sky imaginable as I'm driving the motorhome. Yosemite was the perfect example of that. It's hard to imagine going someplace that beautiful and feeling uninspired, but… That's what happened. I would go to a scenic overlook, and look out on the valley, on a crystal clear day, with a solid blue sky, and think… Damn… I got nuthin! Finally, on my very last day there, we had a storm roll through. I was supposed to be checking out of my campsite that morning, but I thought I would take one last loop through the valley, so I headed in to spend one last hour in Yosemite. I came back about 14 hours later. It was INCREDIBLE!!! Of course, I came back to a nasty note stuck on my door saying that I was supposed to check out at 11:00, and I had to come to the office to pay for another night. Whatever.
So. After California, conditions got much better. The trip ended great! The past few weeks I have had some fantastic conditions at the Grand Canyon, Page and Bryce Canyon. COLD!!! But, nice for photography.
I visited Salt Lake City, which really is one of the nicest cities I have ever seen. I met some really creepy friendly people at the Mormon Square. Moab is one of the coolest places in the entire southwest. (I'm still trying to get the red mud off the bottom of my truck) Spent a few days in Durango, one of my favorite places on Earth. Hit the Albuquerque balloon festival, which SUCKED this year! Spent a week in WIlliams, which is a nice town, but doesn't photograph very well. Then Grand Canyon which was COLD! Then finally, Page, which I love!
So… I can't say that I really love the Phoenix area. But… Every year, it feels really nice to settle back in and stop running for a while, after six months on the road. It's nice to not have to wonder where I am going to be next week, and where I am going to find a place to camp once I get there. It's nice to be able to mail order something and actually have an address where I can have it sent. It's nice to know where the grocery store and Home Depot are without having to look it up on a map. It's nice to be able to go to my favorite grocery store and actually know where everything is in the store. It's nice to be back.
I shot this photo just yesterday, in the Superstition Mountains. I took a ride up there to see if I could find the spot where the plane crashed.
2021.06.29
tuesday. home fiftytwo
so my one three five adapter arrived yesterday...
i loved my xpan...and the sixty five by twenty four format...
i loved it so much i had two xpan...
few months after i started taking photographs with my first xpan in twenty fifteen i realised that it would become so indispensable in the visual record of our daily life...i quickly acquired a second xpan as a backup...
the first xpan went down about two and half years later...
and the second went down two years after the first...
now i have two xpan with error eight eight eight eight waiting to be hand delivered to taichung where an old sifu resides...who is known to be the four eight curse fixer...
or i could send them to london where another four eight fixer lives...see how
anyway...
my first adapted xpan roll on a pentax six seven came back two months later after spending nearly seven weeks on the shelf in lockdown at home...
A 3rd Marine Regiment color guard takes its place, July 25, 2015, during a repatriation ceremony in Tarawa, Kiribati. The ceremony honored the remains of approximately 36 Marines who fought and died during the Battle of Tarawa during World War II, and were loaded onto a C-130J Hercules aircraft to be transported back home to the United States.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Matthew J. Bragg/Released)
Thanks for the kind comments.... These islands in Malaysia (my country) are one of the Top 10 Dive sites in the world but also present an amazing opportunity for topside sunset/rise photography. As a city deweller you seldom get views like this but when you do it is a humbling experience to be able to capture it.
Mabul Island @ Sabah, Malaysia. Mabul, Kapalai & SIpadan Trip June 2008
Some of the better parts of working at home, spring 2020 edition.
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Bud is home! he was in the back when we got up at 7:30 this am - it is a very dull, cloudy day here, so sorry the photo quality is not that great - but I did want to share the good news! - he had a snack, then laydown - he looks healthy, but somewhat tired - his mother and a few other does and fawns were here also - and it appears the rut is ending - Bud didn't chase the girls and they wern't bothered by him either!
Home again. A couple weeks ago, I finally wrapped up ‘Roadtrip 2015’ and landed back at home base in Mesa Arizona. LONG trip this year. Really long! Left in May, and have been on the road for nearly 7 months. This is the longest single trip I have ever done in the motorhome. From Arizona to Missouri, to New Jersey. From there, I was supposed to be heading down through the Smoky Mountains, and the deep south for the fall, but had a sudden change of plans. The company I shoot for bought out another souvenir company in Idaho. (an area we have never covered) So… I was suddenly U-turned and headed to Yellowstone, and Idaho.
While in NJ, I went on a sidetrip with my Mom, up to Maine. So… With that sidetrip, I visited 26 different states on this year’s roadtrip. Add in my trip to Hawaii, and Palm Springs, CA last spring and I visited a total of 28 states in 2015!!! A new single year record for me. Thus bringing my total to 49 states I have visited.
(I have not been to North Dakota)
I want to wish everyone a happy new year!
Inspiration Song for this picture: IBIZA SUMMER MIX 2021
Landscapework by my Man: Marvin Graycloud
We love our home it is just dreamy ♥.♥ I love to listen to the sound of the sea to feel the sand under my feet pure relaxation ♥.♥
This photo is now outdated, here's the most recent photo of my home office.
Since my photo from THREE years ago of my home office is still my most popular picture, I decided to take an updated photo. We will be moving soon so I don't know how my new home office will look, but I have really been comfortable with this layout for a while now!