Transit of Venus

Transit of Venus - June 5, 2012

It was a very cloudy afternoon.  I went outside at work just as the transit of Venus started but there was almost total cloud cover.  A few minutes into it the clouds cleared and I got to see Venus against the Sun for about 5 seconds.  I thought that might be all I would see because heavy dark clouds were rolling in.  On the way home the clouds broke up for a little but traffic was terrible.  I had my camera and binoculars in the car.  As soon as I got home I set up my camera and got this photo as more clouds were rolling in.  Five minutes after I got home there was total cloud cover. Later I noticed clear skies to the southwest so I drove that direction until it was clear enough to see the Sun.  I watched the sunset through binoculars and took more pictures.  It seemed to give a little depth of field to the solar system.  In fact the transit of Venus was used to calculate the distance from Earth to the Sun and from there calculate the distances of the other planets.  Observing the transit of Venus in 1769 was one of the main goals of Captain James Cook's first expedition.  Although moving clouds and Venus against the Sun seemed to create a depth of field it is still difficult to imagine the distances and sizes of the Sun and the solar system.  Venus is just a bit smaller than Earth but it is much closer to Earth than the Sun (Venus is about 30% of the distance to the Sun).  I understand how the distance to the Sun can be calculated from observations of the transit of Venus from different locations on the Earth but I am amazed by the instruments they had 250 years ago to take the measurements.  The world today is so automated it's difficult to imagine and appreciate how clocks, telescopes, sextants were designed and made.  Not to mention all the precise measurements of the orbits of the planets and the calculations (without calculators or computers) that led to the predictions of when the transits would occur.  

Saint-Maurice-aux-Riches-Hommes

Saint-Maurice-aux-Riches-Hommes, France

I love this photo.  This version reminds me of a painting too.  I tried to create a slight painting appearance in Photoshop.  I like the original untouched photo just as well but this is the one I usually show.  I'm sure I like it more than others do because it reminds me of the beautiful little village where it was taken.  

Impressions of Weeds

This photo reminds me of a painting.  It's not Photoshopped except for the frame.  Early last summer I broke my clavicle when the top buckle on one of my roller blades popped open sending me summersaulting into bushes and rocks on the side of a hill.  I began taking short hikes in the evening since I couldn't ride my bike as usual.  It had been a wet spring and the grasses had grown very tall.  Some of the grasses were blooming.  Very small flowers dangling from the little brushes at the top.  I had never seen grasses bloom like that before or maybe just never noticed.  Some of the grasses were reddish orange and looked wonderful in the evening light.  When I first saw this patch of grass I took a few pictures with my phone and was surprised how much I liked them.  I went back the next evening with my camera.  I used a slow shutter speed to capture the motion of the grass blowing in the wind.  I like the feel of this photo but I am not sure if others will like it or not.  

Sound of Silence

Racetrack Playa at night

A few years ago I drove to Death Valley over the Fourth of July weekend.  I wanted to feel the heat and take a few night photos. I got there in the evening an hour or two before the sunset.  I walked out on the sand dunes a little ways where the temperature was 122 degrees in the shade (yes, I had a thermometer with me).  I had plenty of water but after about 30 minutes I was getting worried about the possibility of heat stroke.  I was alone and there were not many people in the park so I cooled down the best I could on the shady side of a dune.  Then walked back to my car as soon as I could.  Not even stopping to take any pictures.  Then I drove to the Racetrack Playa.  I got there well after dark and I was the only person there.  I set up my camera and began taking photos leaving the shutter open 15 to 30 minutes at a time. While I was waiting for the long exposures I laid down on the playa and watched the nigh sky through binoculars.  I noticed a faint sound that I didn't recognize.  It was a soft intermittent sound.  I thought it sounded kind of like two small blocks of wood bumping together way off in the distance.  I sat up so I could hear the sound better but it stopped.  I laid back down with my binoculars and the sound soon returned.  I thought it might be an insect or a small animal but I had never heard anything quite like it.  I sat up but the sound stopped again.  I would set up my camera for a shot without noticing the sound but after I opened the shutter and went back to star gazing the noise returned.  It was driving me nuts because I couldn't figure out what the strange sound was and every time I tried to listen carefully for it, it would stop.  This went on for about two hours.  Eventually I sat up and looked at the mountains in the distance through my binoculars.  There was a little moon light but I could see nothing but the outline of the horizon.  However, this time the sound didn't stop.  It continued.  I listened very carefully trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from.  It was about this time I realized the sound was my eyelashes brushing the lenses of the binoculars when I blinked.  I put the binoculars away, gazed up at the sky and listened to the sound of silence.  

Jianchuan Photoshopped - Part 2

This cobbler practicing his craft on a street corner caught my attention.  I try to be a discreet when photographing people on the street.  If that's even possible.  I take pictures of them, I just don't want to be in their faces.  Don't want them to notice me or change their behavior.  I wish I could be invisible and get any angle and as close as I want but I can't so I do the best I can.  This wasn't the best angle but it was the best I could do without being noticed.  I was lucky to get a shot without other people or cars passing by. 

The original was okay but nothing special.  I found the colors in the background and on post distracting from the man and his equipment.  Cropping and converting it to black and white help that.  Then I created another layer to add the Chinese characters and give it a distressed look.  I like how it looks like an old photo from the 1930's.  I wished I had been more patient and waited for some fashion conscious  young women to walk by wearing stylish new shoes to contrast with this old cobbler and his equipment. That would have been a much more interesting story. 


Most photos I take are more bout documenting a place and time than they are about art.  They help me remember the places I've been and experiences I've had.  I try to make them the best photos I can but they don't mean anything to anyone else. In fact most are never seen by anyone else.  It's fun to take some of these photos and see what I can turn them into with Photoshop.  Sometimes they're worth sharing.   

Jianchuan Photoshopped - Part 1

I took a day trip to Jianchuan from Lijiang last time I was in China.  I had high expectations for photo opportunities after reading about Jianchaun in my Lonely Planet guide.  Maybe I didn't find the right Ming and Qing courtyards, maybe I took the wrong trails, maybe the weather was too gloomy, maybe I'm just not a very good photographer or maybe a combination of all of these things, but I was disappointed and didn't find much to photograph.  Most of my photos were within a block of the bus station and were took as I was waiting for the bus back to Lijiang.  When I reviewed my photos later I found I had a few interesting subjects but the photos were nothing special.  I decided to see if I could make them more interesting.  I certainly did not take these photos with the thought of Photoshopping them up.  But for me, sometimes it a matter of salvaging something interesting in a less than perfect photo.  
I saw this old sewing machine in a house/shop while walking down the street.  

Original photo

There were some people in the house so I waited till I was out of view and quickly took a picture and walked on.  When I saw the photo later I thought this was quite interesting and wished I had taken more time photographing it.  Anyway I tried to make the most of what I had with the help of Photoshop and I like how it turned out.  I have put many different frames on this photo and I am not sure I have found one that really fits it.  Maybe it's best unframed.  I have some friends that don't like all the Photoshop stuff (Purists?) and that's okay with me.  I don't Photoshop every photo and don't want to.  In the end it's a visual art and I try to create something that is visually interesting to look at.  As soon as a photo is composed and a photographer decides what to include and what to exclude the manipulation of reality begins.  So why stop there?  We choose what to have in focus and out of focus and how to set the exposure, what type of lens to use, flash or no flash, etc.  Is that a purist? I don't know.  I wish I were good enough to create perfect pictures straight from my camera all the time but I'm not.  I'm not good enough to create perfect pictures even with the help of Photoshop.  But I hope I can occasionally create something that's interesting to look at.