images, ideas, & actions from a wandering mind

Ventura

Ventura CA was an amazing place. We simply walked out our hotel door to find amazing water sports and bustling natural activity. I could not believe the dolphins just messing around in the surf. No wonder the place is the hometown of Patagonia, my longtime favorite eco-clothing company.

I just figured out how to load galleries directly from Lightroom 3 to the web, so I’m feeling pretty high tech. Although, it is not that complicated. I’ve always loved B & W, and feel like conversions can add a nice simplicity to a photo. I have not decided what I think yet about the moral ethos of adding grainularity to a picture. I like the film feel & that it adds more texture, but it seems funny to purposefully use something often seen as destructive or unwanted.

Crazy Backyard Wildlife

I was tired between doing some night shifts a few days ago and found these critters all wandering around my parents’ backyard. Makes me a little nervous to wander around at night. There have been jellyfish & Great White Sharks kicking it around New Hampshire.

Even More CA Galleries

Still going picking through files. Had been too distracted by the TDF…

More CA

We’ve been back from California for a few weeks already. But I have still been trying to go through a bunch of pics I took. Moving has been keeping us real busy!!

I’m still non uber-proficient at creating & posting flash galleries, but I think they are kinda fun. So here’s another:

All these pictures of the ocean have me sick of being at the kitchen table & ready to go kayaking, so we’ll catch ya later…

Channel Islands

We just got back from an amazing 2 weeks in California 3 days ago, and I am finally having some time to catch up on the over 3000 images I took. I intended to blog during the entire trip, but I am not so high speed yet. We were attracted to stopping buy Ventura as it is reached legendary status in my mind as the birthplace of Patagonia- the iconic clothing couple that has reached for greenness long before it was cool. This ended up being one of the real highlights for us as we did a day drip to the Channel Islands National Park. These are a group of several islands off the coast that take 1.5+ hrs to get to by boat. They are geographically & ecologically isolated and have create nearly as much salivation in biologist as the Galapagos. There are many unique species endemic to only the islands. Their unique biology had sadly been ignored, until they were converted back from cattle land to a nature preserve.

On our trip out to the island we had some amazing experiences that I had not expected. We were accompanied by elephant seals, a pod of approximately 100o dolphins,  humpback whales, and even some killer whales. When we luckily to catch the orcas as this was only the second time in over 150 trips that one of the naturalist had seen them. They are not usually in the bay, but were traveling south for the summer.  With the DISASTER IN THE GULF looming in my mind, I could not help but be startled by this random juxtaposition of a breaching killer whale & an oil rig as some pelicans flew by. It reminded me of the state things should be in (minus oil rig). But yes, we were using petrol to get to that remote island.

We were also lucky to catch the previous endangered Santa Cruz Fox. There had once been only 15 of these individuals living. With proper management, they have done well and are back up to hundreds of individuals, which is seen as pretty stable for an island species. I was not able to get a very nice photo as we were needed to run back several miles in order to not miss the boat home. I caught him in the campground with about 1 minutes left before needing to bivouc on the deserted island for the night. Being a clever fox, this guy knows to hang at the campground.

All in all, it was just a spectacular day in a spectacular place. And ultimately, it was all thanks to volcanos…

Moving Onward

It’s official. We’re moving. Over the past few days we have signed a contract and shortly will officially be vagabonds. For severals year we have been talking about migrating to “town” so we can once again live that big city life. An opportunity suddenly came up, so we are taking it. We don’t have an new home yet, but will be crashing at my parents house for at least a few months until we find a place that fills our dreams. There has been a lot going on over the net about new-urbanism and a movement from the suburbs to neighborhoods & cities again. We are psyched to do this for several reasons, community & the environment not being the least considered. (Expect many more thoughts later). Tomorrow we are talking off to California for 2 weeks & are hoping to enjoy plentiful California Reds, sun, &  general touristy fun spring stuff. I’m also hoping to take some great pics & already have most of my gear packed- so stay tuned! The vacation was planned before the sudden move.

Sabastiao Salgado Chimps & Shoots JPEG

I don’t think you can become interested in photography & not learn about the work of Sabastiao Salgado. The Brazilian photographer has greated some of the most beautiful, iconic, & touching black & white images seen. Some have even called him the greatest living master. Not bad for a guy who left economics for photography in his late 20s/early 30s. Over the past few years it has been well known that he is working on a project called “Genesis,” which aims to provide record of what humans & animals untouched by industrialism have lived like for millenia. There was a good article in the NY Times several months ago that described this all much better than I can http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/arts/design/31fink.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=sebastiao%20salgado&st=cse

As an amateur photographer I’ve done a lot of the typical gear obsession which anyone smart says to be besides the real point. I’ve googled him numerous times. Nevertheless, I’ve seen a lot of fascination involved with Salgado’s technique, and his equipment. The legends of his shooting with Leica M’s & Kodak TriX may have kept both companies afloat for years. There were rumors of his switching to Medium Format, and now to digital. What is great, is that he actually shows us all how it is done on his website.  http://www.amazonasimages.com/grands-travaux There are some fun little video clips of him floating around & shooting in an amazonian jungle where he has spent weeks. Notice he’s mostly just using a normal zoom (24-70) & a big-ass pro body. (Ken Rockwell would be so sad it’s not a D40 with a prime). He’s proves a point there though. Nothing crazy special, no funny filters, no flash, no lights, no reflectors. He does have someone to hand him cards. Those things are hefty. He also chimps! That’s right, he looks at his results and shows them to the people he is shooting & singing lullabies for. None of that trying to be cool and not look. Notice, he is methodical, calculated, & knows what he wants. And those thing are in B & W- which means they are JPEGs. I’m pretty sure there are RAW files underneath for someone back in Paris to post-process for him. I read he just mails the cards back. Read the linked New Yorker article too. Of course he brings lots of lens & bodies (backup!), but when working, he keeps that workflow pretty darn simple. Someone else does carry a pack of stuff. He is 65 after all.

Morning Routine

Working lots of nights & weekends can have its downside. Example I often use is that sad little disconnection between friends, family, & the reality of the general rhythm of life. But, on those wonderful days off, long, lazy weekdays to myself, I have developed an intense morning routine which mostly involves extractions from roasted coffee beans into scorching hot water & imbibing the data-scape of the modern internet.

The flow to integrating all this makes the am. It may take 2 hours, but always seems expeditious. At times I want the real news 1st. So, I’ll hit the Times Reader. That right. Times Reader is way better than just scouring nytimes.com. It is way faster & somehow resembles a real paper with columns and all. Often my tweet deck is flowing at the same time. Not that I am a crazy twitterer, but it’s a great way to figure out what is going on with bicycle advocacy, the environment, and global health outbreaks while simultaneously emailing & streaming radio. I belatedly discovered that yesterday  Oprah confirmed her cool by pointing out in an op-ed the fact that kids on bikes being killed  by distracted drivers is not cool at all and we should not grow callous to this. (or any other cyclists, pedestrians, or drivers getting killed http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/opinion/25winfrey.html We are all human. And distracted. But I now do my best to put that phone down. We all need a little self control people. I often here my patients in the Emergency Room comment about how they see that person staring at the phone as the SUV (or, maybe it was a small car) bears down & hits them.

On a lighter note I must confer again & again that ray LaHood might be the greatest guy for cycling, who has not worn a yellow jersey, since the invention of the pneumatic tires & wooden rims went out of favor. Great NPR interview today outlined the point that the US is so car friendly because we have poured all our resources into it. http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=126263488&m=126264395 If we used a tad of those resources for alternate transport, the roads would be better for drivers for sure, cause I’ld be riding or taking the train.

Happy Earth Day

Yesterday I had a great time shooting some close ups of the flowers blooming in the back yard. I used a Canon 500D close-up-filter on my Nikon 70-200 lens. They thing is fun & way less to carry or pay for than a macro! It took me the next 18 hours to figure out how to create a flash gallery in wordpress. I also did a lot of work on the blog theme to get is more towards the simpler style I have been wanting

Hope everyone had a wholesome earth day. We’ll talk soon.

Earth Day Nearly Upon Us: Buy Nothing!

Well, April 22nd is nearly upon us, and it has me thinking once again. (Gotta be careful not to hurt myself.) I will talk about this in future blogs, but over the past few months I have been trying to reduce the clutter in my life. I’ve decided a bit more efficiency & organization will allow for more freedom.

Over the weekend we did some mildly vigorous spring cleaning. Not down on the knees & scrubbing, but more like: “hey, I have not used this sweet freebie gym bag since, well, ever actually…” A big pile of stuff was collected & it is being moved on to people who may use it more than ourselves. Over-redundancy is an issue I have been thinking about lately. I’ve had backpacks in 3-4 sizes, with multiple repeats for some time: small, day pack, 1 1/2 day, & the week-long trek. So it’s of some utility, but the part where I have 4 day packs of the same size is not useful! So, we’re keeping the favorites and getting rid of a few. It’s at least an attempt for some sort of balance or slow change.

How did I pick up the habit of collecting a zillion back packs & bags.  Well, it all began with my mother.  Let’s just say I organized my sweaters too. For years I have been more of the fleece or hoody type of guy. Nevertheless, my wonderful mother encouraged nice preppy attire for many years. Because of that I have collected many a sweater, a good proportion of which are even cable knit- a few cashmere thrown in there as well. Cashmere? Don’t think us LeBosquet’s are all crazy & blowing all our cash on the fur of some goat, ram, or sheep, where-ever that stuff comes from. These things were a deal. That’s right. TJ Max, Marshalls, Polo Outlet, whatever. We were getting deep discount. In a world of cheap goods, we Americans have trouble ignoring a discount. It just so happens that I had eleven different black sweaters of nearly the same style. I did not even buy these, they were serial gifts. I rarely wear more than one at once, so I kept the few favorites, and the rest are moving on. Luckily enough, we ate with my parents a few days ago & they both just happened to be wearing sweaters that were a perfect match with these others. That’s right, black, wooly, & with a polo collar. I think mom is going to enjoy the regift. (yes, my parents have reached a point in marriage when they wear matching outfits, and no, they are not ninjas in all black.) My point is that with this example it has become easy for my to replace things that do not need replacing. With the 40th Earth Day upon us & global weirding having it’s effects, this is not a sustainable way to live!

So what are we doing? KT & I are going to enter a Buy Nothing Challenge. That’s right, the one to go the longest without buying anything wins. The reason we can do this is that we have everything we need. We will eventually replace stuff we break & wear down but for some time we’re gonna try not to buy anything new or unnecessary.  We are allowed to buy groceries. But no silly stuff that is the same as what we have or suits the same need. We will read books electronically, or go to the library. I will not be buying any sweaters or bags! The winner of our challenge will get a “weekend away,” paid for buy the looser. One of us will, of course, buy something, but the only souvenirs from the prize weekend will be photographs.

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