cape cod field trip
sometimes it is just great to get out and shoot for the sake of photography. here are a few things i saw today:
taken earlier in the day by a special Mashpee Wampanoag tribal elder showing me a place that has changed little in the last few hundred years.
a few boarded up beach shacks. love the dynamic range of the nikon d-300.
racing to savor the good light:
a study in timing the spin of the lighthouse light:
i miss nicole and wish she was here to share in the beach sunset.... most of the sunsets on the beach i've seen in the last several years was spent with her, so i really missed her tonight. love you sweetie and can't wait to see you in costa rica in a few days!
alaskan coffee shacks
after researching all 25 espresso shacks, major conclusions include:
+ they are all drive-thru
+ most, if not all, are plopped on top on cinder blocks at edge of a vacant parking lot
+ the more colorful or tacky, the better
+ most are locally-owned and staffed with high school kids who make a decent wage (better than flipping burgers)
+ why just serve coffee? some boast bbq, smoothies, hot dogs, and yes, tea.
+ most average less than 100 square feet in size. that is smaller than a single car garage.
+while the coffee is better than starbucks, there's room to improve in the customer service department
+ they open at an un-Godly hour of 5am, some even earlier. they usually shut down around 7pm.
+ catchy and not-so-catchy names work the same. the norm: a cup on the run, java king, hot shot espresso, sugar shack espresso, cool beans coffee shack. the ones meriting a bit more giddy intelligence: morning moose calf-e, how you bean espresso...
i posted a few favorites below and also the rest here to see all done-up with spiffy, dynamic viewer.
denali wile e.
... until about 20 minutes down the road, off in the distant, RUNNING towards me (no photoshop re-toucing, actions, or textures were used on this image.. simply shot through a dirty windshield directly into the sun :)
i watched him carefully, as did he, as he came closer.
after giving him a dog biscuit and a scratch around the ears, we both went our separate ways.
(just kidding, people!)
i lucked out with super clear weather, so i took a short hike from the lower troublesome creek trailhead and spotted these cool hibernating plants:
at 20,320 feet, mount mckinley (denali) represents the highest peak in north america. my goal was to represent it in the context of approaching winter.
switching lenses for a close-up:
denali sled dogs
little did i know that one of the greatest joys of the day would come from the next photo:
being a dog-inspired wedding photographer, photographing dogs is what i do for fun. our dash is almost world-famous and has inspired more than just the name of our company (kern “dash” photo).
the morning got off to an unexpected rough start. i got stuck for about 25 minutes in 6 inches of snow in my two-wheel rental car. i macguyvered my way out using branches from small brush under the tires to give me traction. it worked. all that sweating before i had sipped much of my morning coffee. it was minus-one degree plus wind chill when i snapped this photo of my not-so-alaska worthy rental car:
as i passed over the nenana river bridge, i liked what i saw (nikon d-300 w/ 12-24mm f/4 lens @ 12mm, iso 560, f/6.7, 1/180 shutter, no tripod):
as soon as a i arrived inside the denali national park, i paid my $20 park fee, and searched for the early morning light... which was the only real directional light seen all day :(
when i learned that sled dogs have patrolled denali national park since 1921, my focus switched to the animals i love best... dogs:
because much of denali national park is wilderness, motorized vehicles are prohibited. sled dogs serve as limo engines.
like humans, sled dogs (alaskan huskies) have his/her unique personality:
here’s fin:
tonzona:
inside the kennel building hangs names of retired sled dogs.
the kennel building is the oldest at headquarters still used as originally intended (referenced from my copy of sled dogs of denali national park).
don’t you just want to take one home?
oh, there’s more:
no photoshop on those blue eyes!
all i can say is this place is amazing and i hope to return soon!
en route back through the small summer tourist area outside the park, i couldn’t help but notice all the boarded-up windows. this place must be VERY different in the peak summer season. i like my fall timeframe, thank you very much :)
back again for a relaxing evening with the fire, skillet-fried moose & rice, some port wine, and raven & mc cloud (featured left-to-right).
denali borough
shortly after i snapped this i saw this truck passing by. palin’s support in alaska is apparent:
a color photo. seriously.
staying this weekend at the denali dome home b & b along with two scotties worthy of an iditarod team (along with perhaps 98 others :)
introducing raven:
and mc cloud:
tomorrow, i hope to watch sunrise in denali national park.
moose buddy
goose --> geese.
moose --> meece?
it dawned on me this evening while exploring kinkaid park in anchorage, if i merged a caricature of dash and a steer, i might end up with a meese caricature :)
i wouldn’t want to cross the path of one of these humble, strong creatures in a bad mood. so i kept my distance using the power of the nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 (really an effective focal length of a 300mm f/2.8 on my duezy nikon d-300 thanks for the dx crop factor :) to shoot the images below.
hmmm... sticks taste good.
leaves taste just as good.
while he was finished with his branch snack, he got his antlers caught and snapped a branch off.
but he was able to pull it off and walk away no problem. my moose buddy has some major talent.
holga series: round 2
a roadside pit stop near the top of red mountain pass, colorado, shot with a holga:
canyon of the ancients national monument are well preserved by tax payer's dollars:
wildfires in 1996, 2000, and 2002 burned much of the park. for the first 20 or so miles of driving in, the not-so-green-table looked very much like this, as shot from the fire lookout at park point overlook:
the spruce tree house, among the best-preserved cliff dwelling at mesa verde:
to avoid harsh shadows, i chose to shoot the largest cliff dwelling, cliff palace, at dusk using a tripod and my 70-200 f/2.8 lens zoomed to 200mm for 1/4 sec, f/11, iso 200. sorry, my holga just didn't have the low-light capability that the nikon d300 has. it boggles my mind to think ansel adams pulled some great stuff back in 1941 that still rival what a 100 megapixel camera could shoot today. if you scanned in one of his large format negatives at 300dpi, you'd get the about equivalent of about 100MP image. it just goes to show you megapixels don't matter.
and a 4 second exposure after sunset (f/6.7 and iso 800) was needed for this panoramic perspective using the nikon 12-24 f/4lens. it was super peaceful, quiet, and had the place all to myself for the better half of two hours. now, that is a luxury!
the balcony house, built some 1,400 years ago and 'found' in 1884, is an intriguing place to explore. my imagination had fun thinking about what it was like to live a thousand years ago, without the internet, global commerce, and reality-tv. while i was walking around, the rangers were so patiently answering visitor's questions. i overheard one of the small kids ask the rangers, "why did they built their houses so far from the road" :)
i probably would have asked the same question if i was 5 years old!
while many the the areas have been excavated and restored, there are many reminders of the ancestral puebloans of mesa verde like rock drawings, pottery shards. i enjoyed seeing the tiny foot holds cut into the rock and spaced apart like a grade 5.7 or so at the rock climbing gym! and to think kids ran up and down this rocks all day long carrying water, food, and toys!
some personal work
it seems those days are long gone for mainstream professional portrait & wedding photographers. however, the giddy landscape photographer hobbist in me still loves to shoot medium format film. perhaps it is a step back to simpler shooting, the greater dynamic range, the "happy light leak mistakes," or just the thrill of not-so-instant gratification of seeing photograph captured months ago.
for a few extra bucks, pictage scans in the images at a decent resolution and allows me to quickly download them directly from their servers via ftp. sure, the whole process of buying film, mailing it in, paying for the cost of developing may cost a bit more than shooting digital. but i will say that the entire process of shooting film medium format film on a low tech camera forces me to think different. creatively different.
talk to experienced film photojournalists: they shoot very differently at the beginning of a roll of 36 than they do at the end of the roll.... especially when they haven't captured a 'worthwhile' moment.
similarly, when shooting with a roll of 12, i find myself thinking long and hard before pressing the shutter. the funny thing i'm discovering, is the "keepers worth printing" are almost at a 90% rate.... waaaaaay higher than the percentage from shooting digital. for personal work, i actually print maybe 2% of what i shot digital. gulp.
chromatic aberations, light leaks, double exposures, and soft vignetting: these are among the hallmarks of the $30 plastic holga. here are a few from my latest 3 rolls of fujifilm fujicolor pro 400h (120mm). you have the option to get 16 images in a 5x6 format, or 12 square images larger in size (my preference).
shot months ago, but posted for the first time below, here's the black canyon of the gunnison national park in colorado, as seen through my holga:
a shooting range just outside the park entrance... gotta love the dynamic range straight out of the camera:
view of montrose from a short hike in black canyon of the gunnison national park
palm trees in avalon, california
love the grain in this photo of nicole, taken after enjoying a bottle of riesling and chocolate cake on a hot day in avalon, catalina island:
nicole gets a "free hug" at balboa park in san diego, california. behind me, the museum of photographic arts, showcases some awesome photographic art and has a killer artsy bookstore and cool photobooth inside. it is a must see if you are in the area!
an extra cool 'happy mistake' resulting from an accidental sideways double exposure:
stay tuned in a few days for a series of landcapes of mesa verde national park, among other colorado locales also shot with the holga-nator.
kona vacation
442 ft akaka falls in akaka falls state park:
the kona brewing company's gecko mascot shot while on an national
i love this shot, also taken by ryan on his 2 megapixel waterproof point-and-shoot:
exploring the volcanic wonders of hawaii volcanoes national park, trying to spell "L.O.V.E"... but it was difficult to make the letter "L" while shooting.
it is amazing that life grows on the land of recent volcanic activity:
it has been over 25 years since volcanic activity has occurred at the kilauea volcano, so we were in luck to view it both during the day (left) and night (right):
hiking inside thurston lava tube at night was a cross between sh*t scary and halloween giddy (taken with only a halogen flashlight, a tripod, and 4 second exposure).
'we see dead people':
as the thick vog (volcanic fog) rolls in, we pondered if this could be the last shot of us if the sulfuric gas blew our direction.
we walked away normal... or did we?
back to regular programming....
here's desi holding the world's biggest avocado we've ever seen and could call our very own :)
and part of the delicious salad (sorry, the guac didn't make the photo because it got eaten too fast :)
apple-bananas and lychee fruit.
nicole defends the sand castle wall of sand before waves destroy her masterpiece.
living in denver, we are about as far as one can get from the ocean in the continental u.s... so when we see a beach, we come running. here's my shadow-self portrait, something i've been shooting for over 10 years.
a cheesy portrait (we actually do not have that many shots of us not taken by us, so thanks, ryan for this one!)
panoramic view of the waip'o valley taken with a circular poloarizing filter and a 2-stop neutral density graduated filter.
kona sunset.
another cheesy photo to show our grandparents that we actually did have a really good trip:
shot off the road on the hawaiian scenic belt loop
i dig the the clean lines of this shot... which might make a good deskop shot.
ditto for this one:
the champagne ponds, where the sea water blends with fresh, volcanic-warmed waters.... ideal for an evening dip.
another sunset... alas not green flash. i asked a few locales and because of the vog, they haven't seen the 'green flash' in about 6 months :(
southwestern colorado landscapes
that's why on my way back from durango, colorado two weeks ago, i made sure i stopped along the road to smell the flowers, savor the sights, and get back to my landscape photography roots. while there were not an abundance of flowers, there were plenty of stunning landscapes that reminded me about the greatness of wild colorado. part of the love of landscape photography is the solitude. the other is the search for the good light and composition and then using photographic tools to attempt to 'capture the moment.'
95% of the time i find myself waiting for hours or days in patience and perseverance while traveling, planning, and scouting locations. the remainder 5% can be pure adrenaline experience measured in minutes. ahhh, that's when the elusive 'it' happens.
this image was photographed literally standing next to the road for 1/2 second exposure, f/22, iso 100 at 12 mm focal length near red mountain pass.
just outside of silverton, colorado, this landscape reflection was photographed for 1/750 second exposure @ f/9.5, iso 800 at 14 mm.
red mountain pass photographed for 1/60 second exposure @ f/16, iso 200 at 12 mm focal length.
i dig the dramatic perspective with the 10.5 mm fisheye while i was hanging out for 1/90 second at f/9.5, iso 280.
minutes before sunset, the light skimmed across these distant hills located south of montrose, colorado. the image was shot at f/2.8 at 1/250 sec , iso 280, and focal length of 125mm.
holga landscapes 101
pueblo de taos church (taos, new mexico)
pueblo de taos village 1.
pueblo de taos village 2.
pueblo de taos village 1.
reservation dog.
cemetery at pueblo de taos 1.
cemetery at pueblo de taos 1.
pueblo de taos home front 1.
pueblo de taos home front 2.
pueblo de taos church 1.
25 minutes prior to speeding ticket (salida, colorado).
ranch in salida.
bandeleir national monument 1 (colorado).
bandeleir national monument 2.
bandeleir national monument 3.
nicole on trail in bandeleir national monument.
i'd like to think each of these 16 photos could stand alone printed on a 30" x 30" gallery canvas, thanks to the wonderful resolution of medium-format film :)
catalina island
this trip we took a few rolls with the holga (a medium format film camera which costs under $30!), our nikon d-80, a few lenses, and no tripod.
given we are photographers, it is surprising to see how little we actually photograph each other (other than cheesy test shots to check if equipment is working properly). however, vacationing is a grand time to experiment with different techniques and photograph for the love of the art. and the best part is we can enjoy the keeper shots and frame for our home :)
this is almost a week's worth of scruff from not shaving... nicole says she spotted gray hair in my facial hair ( i can not call it a beard). yet another sign of approaching 30.
another classic kern-photo self-portrait made with our favorite super wide-angle nikon 12-24 f/4 lens.
there are few gas stations on the island since bikes and golf carts serve as a popular mode transportation.
we liked this prayer:
this random tree in struck our interest. we whipped out our 10.5mm fish-eye lens looked up just before taking this snap:
i fired this shot of nicole to see if a little sb-800 could overpower the sun... mission accomplished using f/13 at 1/200 sec, iso 100 (one sb-800 flash provided the light on nicole, which was set at manual full-power and triggered wirelessly with our nikon d-80 pop-up flash as a commander, such a cool little trick :)
looking up to a pleasant surprise of palm trees is a simple delight :)
3 pints of locally-grown strawberries for a whopping $6... gone in less than 10 minutes :)
looks like little baby toes :)
as a special treat, we indulged in a nice bottle of savignon blanc with a super dark flour-less chocolate cake (spot r. j.'s self-portrait in the reflection, too :)
and some of the finer details in life:
son di-ago :)
here's seven-month old, 27 lb female giant panda named zhen zhen.
a polar bear yawns with remnants of sweet potatoes.
looks fake, but 100% real.
and our favorite, the meerkat!
day in l.a.
buckets of tar:
a sad story... a baby elephant screaming for its mom sinking in the tar pits (mind you, it is a statue).
denver got slammed with snow, so we relished the green grass.
then we headed to rodeo drive in beverly hills to see if we could spot some celebrities.
r. j.'s competition:
at all cost, we wanted a shot of the notorious hollywood sign. for 25 cents, you can stick your camera in front of huge telescopes and snap this:
to all of my (nicole) pa school friends out there -- i can now safely say i have stood in the footprints of hermione :) i feel smarter already...
nicole has her own star :)
r & r in new mexico
peering out of almost a 1,000 year-old cliff dwelling.
now featuring super national park model, nicole.
and me being me.
experiencing our ancestor's abodes gave us great appreciation for the simple things in life, the true necessities of life: food, faith, water, sun, and shelter.
then we made our way to our favorite rancho de taos church, the st. francis of assisi.
then over to the taos pueblo for some fresh fry-bread. nicole was inside getting the goods while this little pooch wanted in sooo bad.
nicole with the holga and our permit tag hanging, which allowed us to snap photos. in the background is a 'reservation mutt,' who befriended us quickly when he learned we had food.
gotta love funky doors....
and big blue skies...
our favorite taos eatery, the apple tree, was closed for a bit of a winter sabbatical :(
it seems dash finds a girlfriend in every city we visit. his favorite taos husky chases him below.
zoo inspiration
we are only 23 minutes into it and i can safely say, UN-FRICKEN-BELEEEIVABLE. top favs so far: high-speed cameras documenting great white sharks eating a fur seal.... completely out of the water! time-lapse of seasons changing from space. you have to watch it to believe it. you'll laugh. you'll cry. you'll be amazed.
second favorite: the six plume bird of paradise, cleans the forest floor before dances for his prospective mate.
my wife's comment: "wish men did that."
___
we love our denver zoo pass. today, my mom flew in for a bit of skiing. we hit up destination #1: the denver zoo.
here are two of my favorite images today that are pitiful in comparison to the videography of the aforementioned dvd.
the calm sadness to the reality of a zoo:
this lioness could kill me in a millasecond:
oregon visual flair
denver photo safari
i dedicate this entry to my mom, who has instilled in me a super appreciation of wildlife via our backyard, foreign travels, national geographic, the discovery channel, and animal planet. the writings of ken rockwell served as supporting inspiration :)
here's gino, an animal pimpin' in style with his brand spankin' new nikon d3, which is a nikonian's dream camera. btw, nikon just kicked canon straight in the balls with this new $5,000 digital camera.
after we talked shop trippin' on caffeine, we headed to photograph some of the world's coolest creatures. first up, i spotted dash's new girlfriend. nicole and i agree she's so pretty, she could be waaaaay out of his league:
and here's the rest of the crazy creatures photographed in kern-photo style:
raindeer love.
bambi's competition.
about as homely as they get.... on par with loveable shrek.
the fastest animal on land, the cheetah.
these things will eat you and ALL your loved ones (so i had a bad big bird experience as a little one):
these guys got pissy when they didn't want to share.
and my favorite shot of a siberian tiger.
pipestone national monument
the grand entrance:
i arrived at sunset, which provided wonderful, clean light. i knew the 'good light' wouldn't last long, so I had to hurry. it was about 15 degrees without wind chill when these photos were taken.
a fisheye perspective of an active pipestone quarry. permits are required to quarry the stone and may take up to 6 years to obtain.
tools of the trade:
red twig dogwood (cornus sericea/stolonifera) resembles red pipestone.
prayer flags hung around the quarries serve as spiritual reminders to natives.
milkweed seed pod with a distant light in the background (taken with Nikon 85 f/1.4 at f/1.4). gotta love that creamy background bokeh!
day at the zoo
a fishy kiss.
eyes hold powerful emotion.
these are part of a new personal project on animal portraits which elicit a certain 'quietness.'
pontificating about our day at the zoo.
if you'd like to see images from our last zoo visit, check out the gallery here.
jemez volcano in ojito wilderness
when all else fails, grab the fisheye for a unique perspective. spot the jemez volcano far off in the distant in the right side of the photo. the vignetting is naturally created by the combination of the low light and the wide-angle perspective.
life is a highway. i dropped the ragtop on the rental pt cruiser convertible and did a little self-portrait heading back to the hotel. growing up my father had a convertible that instilled the sense of exuberance and as the wind blew my hair it felt as if we were flying at lighting speed. i was reminded of a similar experience a few years ago in san diego with nicole... hertz treated us to a black thunderbird convertible, which was the cherry on top of a killer vacation. insert nicole in passenger seat (and dash in the back seat) and life is good. (image was taken at f/2.8 ISO 1600 at 1/10 of a second handheld, which is a great lowlight action setup with our Nikon D-200)
abó mission church
the clear light at sunset paints a perfect backdrop to the sandia mountains with a touch of fall foliage.
the cultural resources in the desert southwest are amazing. here lies abó, the remains of a pueblo indian mission church influenced by spanish colonials.
after sunset a little creative light painting experiment yielded a message to his wife nicole... i love you! (ps- no photoshop used, just a 20 second exposure aided by light painting with a small halogen headlight it took about 10 tries to get it right).
opryland
the place felt like willy wonka's factory, with glass ceilings, palatable flowers, funky floating balloons, and a not-so chocolate river.
then we stumbled upon the 8pm water light show, on par with the legendary show at las vegas's bellagio.
and these reminded us a fireworks!
vail day 2. wishing well found
another dash discovery.... his bonehead nickname, 'dash board,' on some premium vail signage.
our leave-no-trace philosophy: 'take only photographs, leave only footprints, and shadows.'
dash in his 'hoppy state of being.'
busted, again.
"chairlift in the sky"... the name of the most
famous r. j. song you've never heard of.
vail day 1. bonkers in aspen groves
r. j. actually tried to not make this look like a
cheesy studio portrait, but failed miserably :).
dash's first steps.
happy hour for dash.
a shot I've always wanted, and now i can say we
got! vail in fall...
guilty as charged:
hawaii at last!
nicole searches for the all the right answers and meaning of life on the nepali coast, a rugged coastline on the western shore of the island of kauai, accessible only by foot or boat.
bamboo forest almost ate us alive!
rj wanted so bad to sample the forbidden fruits... if only he knew what it was.
even the little bugs were pretty.
showers are really cheap on the islands.
color in true kern-photo style.
on our last night we flew our $3 walmart kites, which is about as innocent as fun gets.
winter park-o-rama
r. j. got clocked for 150 miles per hour when taking this shot....
nicole defies gravity on the bungee trampoline aparatus (note the head rush!).
check out those rei-catalog worthy biceps!
it is not too often we actually take a few moments to set up a mini-self family portrait. here we are inside our favorite winter park lodge, sunspot.
it is really cool to see our favorite runs in the summer without snow. now we know what we ski/board on top of. plus, we got to ride the zephyr express lift down the mountain enjoying the view of fraiser valley.
lummi island
i filled *two* liter nalgene water bottles with these little guys, which I hand picked right off the side of the street. i thought i'd save them for the morning.... minutes later, they were gone. i couldn't resist! they were the sweetest, most organic blackberries one could imagine...and they were FREE!!!
the 50 1.4 does some pretty nice background blurs shooting handheld at f/2. it also helps to have a cool subject and good light.
the mossman cometh.
after waiting almost an hour for this shot of mt. baker and the little ferry.....
i turned around and grabbed this.
nighty, night folks. this is my ride home!
mt baker sunset
love that warm sunset glow and that sharp, sharp pond reflection. this is my 'money shot.'
after sunset, the temperature dropped just enough to create mystical fog on the lake. this was one of my final shots. i was excited to capture the fog illuminated by the rising moon (note the orange glow). i hooted and hollered in excitement of something ansel adams might be proud of, and am pretty sure i got a few strange looks from the local marmot population.
monumental white sands
thunderheads were building....
and building....
30 second exposures allowed me to nail these great shots....kinda like the ones in those inspirational quote posters.
step back in time
slush cup
Did dude didn't quite make it across!
This guy got a free season's pass for making it all the way!
Now that is style!
Even the ski patrol has a good sense of fun!
alaskan experience
glaciers galore!
seward, AK
8 hours in miami
all the restaurants are so darn expensive! But the place is uniquely American with fast cars, art deco architecture,
and sun-loving people. Enjoy the color >>
caribbean cruise
taos pueblo
Also, nearby in the courtyard at the St. Francisco de Ranchos de Taos.
I'm a sucker for this window, as several years ago Nicole and I took our first road trip and SHE took a photograph just like this and then I wanted to go back and take one just like it, only with MY camera....I guess that's the best compliment I could have given her perspective!
Georgia O'Keefe spent some time here painting, as have many missionaries dating back long, long ago. The cool thing about the church is the building construction, out of local materials (clay!). They have rebuilt this church many times after severe flooding!
I love little off-cropped images and color like this!