Merry Christmas

Tomorrow will be the 10th anniversary of my Grandpa's death. He along with my Grandma helped raise me and my cousins when we were kids while our parents were working. I never got a chance to talk about photography with him since I didn't pick up a camera until three years later but I'm sure he reads this blog somewhere out there.

My grandpa wanted to be buried in a location that faces the sunset and Downtown L.A. off in the distance so I have gone for the past several years to photograph this landscape for him. The Christmas tree is something that our family has done for him every December for the past nine years.

With that said, this is going to be my last blog post for 2007 so I would like to wish you a happy holidays and Merry Christmas. Ho! Ho! Ho!

In Remembrance

Today I found out that my cousin Herbert passed away due to short bout with pancreatic cancer. He was just diagnosed recently and it was a shock because he was only in his 40’s. He is someone that I’ve always had great respect for and had a profound impact on my life more than anyone will ever know. He was my travel companion for several road trips and taught me a lot about photography early on. The first time I had ever seen sunrise alpenglow was on the face of Mount Rushmore which was a big surprise to me because all I knew that morning was that Herbert wanted to break down camp at Custer State Park and leave when the stars were still out.

Photo of Mount Rushmore, Black Hills, South Dakota


On a trip to San Francisco several months later, he brought along a copy of Outdoor Photographer magazine to read and on it was a cover picture of Torres del Paine by Galen Rowell. I had never seen a photo like that before so Herbert explained to me who Galen Rowell was. Look at my photos for a minute and it’s obvious what kind of influence that discovery had on my photography.

Herbert was a soft-spoken man, but one of the nicest people I’ve ever known. His knowledge of many subjects was very impressive. I called him periodically to ask photography-related questions and there was nothing that he didn’t know. In fact, earlier this summer I asked him if he would be willing to be my 2nd shooter and handle the portraiture for a potential beach wedding gig later this year. He sounded excited, though ultimately the job fell through. When my family visited him at the hospital last month, I was touched that he asked me about my recent California Coast photography trip. Secretly I hoped that he’d get well and be able to do another trip with me in the future.

All the words in the world can’t really express what I want to say, but I would like to say, “Thank you, Herbert.”

Freelancing is like Wine and Roses

I lied. While the majority of folks who have regular day jobs might long for the independence of having a freelancer's lifestyle, not having a steady stream of income is like having invisible handcuffs. Freedom is a relative concept. For a realistic look into how difficult on a family it can be to earn a living as a freelancer, check out these forum threads at Lightstalkers.

How do you pay the bills?

Bye bye Photography, Looks like I'm out.

In my opinion, I think that teaching at the college level is the best financial compromise for a traveling photographer. It allows you to have ample free time to pursue your professional endeavors while earning a predictable paycheck with job benefits such as health insurance. This might be a career path that I'd like to pursue eventually. I'm sure the competition is fierce for these teaching jobs because there's probably several thousand other photographers thinking the same thing.

Happy Birthday Who!

Today is my grandmother's 80th birthday. My brother, cousins, and I call her "Who" because that means grandmother on my mother's side of the family in our family's dialect of Cantonese. She has never used a computer but she deserves recognition on my website because without her there would be no rwongphoto.com website.

She didn't want one this year so this is last years birthday cake.

She was born in Boston, Massachusetts and moved to China with her family after a couple years but was forced to flee the country back to Boston during World War II when the Japanese military invaded the Chinese countryside. She remained in Boston until the early 1950's when she married my grandpa. He lived in Pasadena, California so she moved out here to live with him after their cross-country honeymoon. She has lived in Pasadena ever since and that is where I spent most of my childhood with my cousins. My grandfather passed away right before Christmas in 1997 and two days after I got my driver's license. He was very happy and I wished I had an opportunity to drive him as a licensed driver but I did drive him a few times when I had a permit. So here we are a little more than nine years later and my grandmother is still going strong. I hope I can have that type of health when I get up there in age.

Caught in the Act

Yours truly taking pictures last week at Red Rock Canyon State Park, California. Available too... :-)

Photo Credit: Patty Wong.

Okay back to being serious: This photo reminded me of this photography gallery I went to once in downtown Sausalito. The photographer's nickname self-moniker was "Photo Cyclops".

The First Love

I like both of these pictures for various reasons, but couldn't decide which one to post here. Please feel free to post your opinion here or email me.

The story behind the title and pictures: In the days before I first picked up a camera, I was a musician. I primarily played the alto sax, and for a short time, tenor sax also. In 4th grade, my school district required that all 4th graders play the recorder for a weekly music class. I loved it so much that in 5th grade, I started playing the clarinet. I never liked how wimpy it sounded, so in 6th grade I played the alto saxophone in my jr. high school band. I ended up playing all the way through Intermediate School, High School marching band, concert band, and jazz band; took lessons with 2AZZ1 saxophonist Craig Durst; and played three years with the Cal Poly Pomona Jazz Band and Jazz Combo. I also wrote and arranged a few tunes for the Jazz Combo.

When I quit the college jazz program during my senior year due to over-sized ego (equally sizable mid-section to match) and condescending nature of our director, I started writing and recording my own style of music for myself. I even played tenor sax on a theme song for an indie movie that was to show at a film festival. Music was my life and passion. All the frustrations and emotions I had were channeled through my horn. (Verbally expressing myself has never been comfortable for me though I'm working on it.) I felt that I was near the top of my game by that point and probably could have gone onto being a professional studio musician after graduation but a strange thing happened. I bought a digital camera.

Previously I had shot some 35mm print film to document some trips and vacations but they were all snapshots. Once I got the digital, I was interested in learning how to take good pictures. Once I read a number of books, I decided to give slide film a try and learn to shoot the right way. Due to the high cost of slide film and processing, I took great care in making the best pictures I could and as a result my photography improved. All the while, music was still the main thing in my life.

By then I had just started attending the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. My roommate Brandon and I shared an apartment in the Nob Hill area, coincidentally we both played saxophone. He also played world-class piano in contrast with my hackneyed guitar skills. I kept playing and recording music through the year until I moved out to an apartment near Pacifica. As exhilarating as living in downtown San Francisco was, the urban lifestyle was not for me. The downfall to moving was that I could no longer record music in my apartment. Living near the beach was a lifelong dream of mine so I didn't twice about that. The urge to play remained for a while, but gradually it faded and today several years later I realize that the passion is gone for the most part. I can still play for a few minutes at a time, but my "chops" start to fade after that. It took 13 years worth of playing to build up the muscle control to play at a professional level, and a few years to lose it. Some days I still have the fire in my belly, but sooner or later we all have to face reality. Music was my first love, but photography is my soulmate.

Info on the pictures: The song, "Soul Serenade" was first recorded by the late, great R&B Saxophonist King Curtis aka. Curtis Ousley, then later recorded by David Sanborn. Sanborn was my biggest influence as a sax player. One of his influences was King Curtis. King Curtis was tragically murdered in the early 1970's outside of his apartment in New York City. A long version of "Soul Serenade" was played by his band at his funeral.

In his relatively short life, Curtis recorded with everyone in his era from Ray Charles to Aretha Franklin. Turn on any oldies station and the sax player you hear on most of the songs was probably King Curtis.

The saxophone is my Yamaha alto saxophone. I don't remember which model it is, but it's certainly the best sax I've ever played. (I've owned and tried some terrible ones as well). I've been obsessed with keeping the horn clean since the day I bought it. Now if only I could keep my hiking boots and pants that clean after a day of shooting...

Shelved.

For the past 4 weeks I've been unable to walk because of torn ligaments in my left foot. I was injured during a baseball game three days after I returned from Daniel's wedding trip and have been on crutches ever since. In the past week, I could finally put my foot down without increasing swelling so things are looking brighter day by day. I even attempted walking again a day or two ago with much pain I might add.

My former roommate Brandon Hill is getting married to his fiance, Kristin this coming Saturday in Kansas City so if I'm physically well enough to walk then I might just make an appearance. I doubt I'd be in photography-ready condition, but if I can go the foot can't possibly get any worse by taking a few pictures at least right? The odds of me traveling in the next week are very slim, so I'd like to wish the both of them the best of luck in either case. They're good people and very devoted to their Christian religion.

This time off from photography has allowed me to catch up on processing pictures from the recent trip and get some of them up on my website. I've also had a lot of time to think about all the great places I want to visit that I've never been to. Here is my list:

Quebec (City)
Montreal
Niagara Falls
Memphis (Graceland, National Civil Rights Museum, Beale Street)
Lake Superior Shore
Oregon
Alaska
Hawaii
Glacier National Park
Redwood National Park
Santa Fe and Taos
Venice, Rome, and Vatican City, Italy
Klamath Basin during Pacific Flyway wintering season.
Bosque del Apache NWR
Sandhills of Nebraska
Lake Tahoe (Probably one of the few people to have lived in Northern California and not been there)

Take Me Home, Country Roads 5/6/06 – 5/18/06

On an earlier blog posting titled “A Taste of Americana”, I wrote about the a three-week road trip in 2001 throughout the west for the purpose of helping my cousin Daniel Gih move in to a dorm at the University of Iowa Medical School. This trip is the sequel to that trip as Daniel was to graduate with his MD degree from UI and scheduled his wedding for the following day in Ossian, Iowa. I’m going to go for a quick, easier to read entry for this one. (Check back soon for pictures) *Photos just added 5-28-06*

Day 1

Itinerary:
- Arrive at Chicago Midway Airport at 9 a.m.
- The Field Museum
- Museum Campus photography
- Adler Planetarium
- Check-in hotel in Willowbrook
- Dinner at Denny’s
- Sunset photography at Saganashkee Slough.

Highlights:
- My return to Chicago following a five-year absence, and perfect weather this time!
- Contemplating asking Sue out for a date at the Field Museum
- Sunset at Saganashkee Slough.

Sidenotes:
- Forgot my tripod at the hotel when I went shooting at Saganashkee. Chalk another one up to noobish ways. Used metal rails, my knee and tree trunks to steady my camera.



Day 2

Itinerary:
- Morning cruise through the North and South Loop.
- Stroll through the South Loop along State Street.
- The Museum of Science and Industry.
- Picking my mother up from Chicago Midway Airport at 4 p.m.

Highlights:
- Not getting nagged by my mom at the airport. (Kidding of course)
- The Museum of Science and Industry
- Downtown Chicago.

Sidenotes:
- Sometimes I get approached as much as some celebrities when I’m shooting by myself in certain places. The South Loop was no different. This lady was wondering how she should begin marketing her photography to publishers. All I know is that getting published isn’t that hard. Making a comfortable living is.



Day 3

Itinerary:
- The 1.5 hour Architecture Boat Tour
- Navy Pier
- North Loop shopping
- John Hancock Observatory
- Dinner at Chinatown



Highlights:
- The Architecture Boat Tour had perfect weather and probably the most relaxing activity of the entire trip for us.
- A pair of Canadian Geese walking across the lawn at Navy Pier all the way up to me and posing for pictures then walked back where they came from as I finished.
- Orange Dream Machine at Jamba Juice at Hancock Building. My favorite drink.

Sidenotes:
- As the Architecture Boat Tour was winding down, the clouds were rolling in after a perfect morning of weather. Little did we know it would be the last time we’d see the sun for a week.



Day 4

Itinerary:
- Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park at 9 a.m. (Found out later that it starts erupting at 10, not 9 a.m.)
- Millenium Park
- Chicago Visitor’s Center
- South Loop’s “Wall Street”
- Lincoln Park Conservatory and Zoo (Free and high quality)
- John Shedd Aquarium

Highlights:
- “Wall Street of the Midwest”
- Millenium Park big metal silver reflection sculpture
- Lincoln Park Zoo
- Bullfrog pictures at the Shedd Aquarium



Day 5

Itinerary:
- Checked out of hotel
- John Deere Pavilion, Moline, Illinois
- Herbert Hoover Museum and Birthplace, West Branch, Iowa
- Check-in at Fairfield Inn, Coralville, Iowa
- Dinner at Chinese restaurant in Pedestrian Mall, Downtown Iowa City

Highlights:
- John Deere Pavilion and lunch at the Italian restaurant next door.
- “Light My Fire” by the Doors was playing at the 60’s exhibit in the Hoover Museum.



Day 6

Itinerary:
- Pella
- Amana Colonies
- Visit my cousin Jackie in Coralville

Highlights:
- Pella Historical Village. Pella the best place in Iowa for a tourist. Very beautiful with the tulips.
- Miniature Barn Museum in South Amana.
- Dinner with my cousin and mom at Iguana’s in Coralville. Jackie and her husband Antonio are also students in the medical program at the University of Iowa. Yup, that’s three family members associated with the University of Iowa. Great food for dinner by the way.



Sidenotes:
- It was so windy outside that you could feel the barn’s wall giving way to the wind.
- High temperature: 41 degrees. 50 mph wind. Go figure.

Day 7

Itinerary:
- National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, Dubuque, Iowa
- Cousin Daniel’s pre-graduation dinner at Hu-Hat Mongolian Grill, Coralville, Iowa
- Daniel’s graduation from medical school.



Highlights:
- There were two anti-abortion protestors with graphic signs outside of the auditorium where graduation was held condemning the students from entering into “the black arts of medicine.” They allowed me to shoot photos of them before the ceremony.



Sidenote:
- Racism. The first and only time I've experienced it in Iowa over my two trips was at the aquarium in Dubuque. My mom was admiring some large catfish in a fish tank not knowing that a little girl next to her from a school group was staring directly at her wide-eyed with an open mouth like she had just seen a ghost. Her expression had me spooked out. Creepy. I kept my mouth shut, this stuff still happens from time to time.

Day 8

Itinerary:
- Checked out of hotel at 8:30 a.m.
- Drive through endless rural routes to Ossian, Iowa
- Arrive at the church in time to photograph the wedding rehearsal
- Checked in Country Inn Hotel in Decorah, Iowa
- Attend wedding of Daniel Gih and Brandi Halverson at Ossian Lutheran Church and dinner reception at the neighboring country club
- Leave the reception exhausted after midnight.

Highlights:
- The wedding. Half of my dad’s large family traveled halfway across the country for this event. It was an experience to attend a wedding in such a small town of 800 so remote in the country.



Sidenotes:
- There was an obvious cultural gap between us Californians and rural mid-westerners. Aside from the hired photographer, there were no pictures being taken by anyone from the bride’s side. There was about ten of us out-of-towners running around taking photos. I took over 600 images I believe. One guy shot over a thousand RAW images! I stuck with jpeg mostly because that many images would have bombed my computer if shot on RAW. For the journalistic type of images, RAW is generally a waste of time. I shoot RAW for my landscape work only. Enough said about the RAW / JPEG subject.

Day 9

Itinerary:
- Downtown Decorah (Hotel Winneshiek, Winneshiek County Courthouse)
- Ossian
- Pikes Peak State Park
- Lunch/Dinner at Isle of Capri Riverboat Casino, Marquette, Iowa

Highlights:
- Pikes Peak SP if it weren’t overcast and raining.

Sidenotes:
- The relatives and us were wandering around a very empty “Downtown” Ossian curiously shooting photos when a silver car stops in the middle of the street. It was none other than my cousin Nicholas and his girlfriend on their way out of town back to Chicago. Talk about random occurrences.



- There’s a Chinese / Japanese sushi restaurant in Decorah off Highway 9. My mom and I didn’t get a chance to eat there but it further supports my theory that there’s at least one Chinese restaurant in every town in America no matter the size. According to Wikipedia.org, Decorah’s population is 96% white and 1.6 % asian. The 96% isn’t surprising but the 1.6% is. The only place in Iowa I’ve ever seen Asians is in Iowa City. I guess the 1.6% of the population all work at that Chinese restaurant.

Day 10

Itinerary:
- Checked out of hotel.
- Seed Savers Heritage Farm, Decorah, IA
- Lunch at Chipotle, Rochester, Minnesota
- Checked in Fairfield Inn, Mendota Heights, Minnesota
- Italian restaurant dinner at Mall of America with relatives.

Highlights:
- The food at Tucci Benucch, Mall of America. The seafood linguini dish was one of the best Italian dishes I’ve ever had.
- Passing two Amish horse carriages on Route 52 near Harmony, Minnesota. Unfortunately I barely missed getting a complete photo of the scene due to my using of my mom's slower digital Rebel XT camera at 2.5 frames per second. My 5 fps, 20D was sitting in the backseat...
- Classic blue sky and puffy clouds just in time for photographing the Seed Savers Heritage Farm. After a week of no sun, rain, 30-40 degree weather and high winds.



Day 11

Itinerary:
- Minnesota State Capitol Morning Tour
- Red Wing, Minnesota
- Minnehaha Falls, Minneapolis
- Minnesota State Capitol at Dusk

Highlights:
- Minnehaha Falls. Classic waterfall in the heart of a metropolitan city. Unfortunately some rocks have major graffiti on there. Idiots.
- Red Wing Pottery and Downtown. The porcelain shoe sculptures throughout the town were interesting. They were created a year ago to commorrate the 100th anniversary of the Red Wing Shoe Company.
- Tour of the State Capitol. We got to go on the roof.
- Asian tourists (us) snapping photos of Jesse Ventura’s gubernatorial portrait. No other former governors’ portraits received any attention.



Sidenotes:
- A helicopter landed on the State Capitol’s lawn for an awaiting media crew. My relatives and I were among the media crew.



Day 12

Itinerary:
- The General Store of Minnetonka, Minnetonka, MN
- Downtown Minneapolis
- Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge

Highlights:
- The General Store of Minnetonka. My mom and I like going to these country type stores. The Pennsylvania Dutch Amish candy is really good. I bought a bag of their sanded wild cherry hard candy. I want more.

Sidenotes:
- Minneapolis certainly has no shortage of idiots just like any other big city. A few young fools decided to deliberately walk into and jump onto our trunk as we were pulling out of a parking garage downtown. They laughed. I reached for the Louisville Slugger that I didn’t have in the car.

Day 13

Itinerary:
- Checked out of hotel at 6:30 a.m.
- Fly out of Minneapolis / St. Paul Airport to Chicago O’Haire
- 3+ hour layover at O’Haire on route to Louisville, Kentucky.
- Back to my apartment at 5:15 p.m.

Sidenotes:
- I probably could have driven to Louisville faster than it took to fly there from Minneapolis. The system is ridiculous.

Trip Summary

I believe this trip was the 2nd or 3rd longest I’d ever taken. Traveling is my favorite thing to do, and pretty much what I live for aside from photography. Long trips are extremely grueling though especially when you have long commutes between destinations. Some travelers like to take things easy by sleeping in and moping around aimlessly but my family and I have always been on-the-go type travelers. How we do that is by preparing beforehand. We always have a general idea of what our options are at any given location while allowing for spare time to visit unexpected things. We nearly saw everything we planned and weren’t rushed while doing so except for maybe the Dubuque trip since we had to be back in Iowa City for early graduation dinner.

The only real disappointment about the trip was the weather. I only got a handful of decent outdoors shots because of bad weather. I’d hoped to come away with a large collection of roadside rural scenes but was limited in that regard. In general I like Iowa. I don’t feel comfortable there for demographic reasons but I find the classic “Americana” scenery to be fascinating. The people there are a study of our country’s agrarian roots. My Uncle Henry was talking the other day about reading about barns, farms, and country as a kid in school then growing up expecting to see that stuff everywhere. Only to be 60+ years old now and finally seeing it up close for the first time. I couldn’t agree more.



Check back in the near future for photos to accompany the text. I’m still sorting through the approximately 2,000 – 2,500 images from the trip.

Added 5-29-06:

P.S.: My uncle and aunt, Peter and Helen had one of the longest trips of all of us. They boarded a train in Southern California presumably and arrived in Kansas City two days later on graduation day. Then drove from KC to see a covered bridge in Madison County, Iowa, and made it graduation eventually. Then headed up to the wedding in Ossian the next day. The following day they headed out early to Milwaukie, Wisconsin to catch a train back home. The trip home to them through the Dakotas, Glacier National Park, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Northern California where they had engine failure near Mount Shasta in 95 degree weather according to the reports I saw on that day. A 12 hour delay. They arrived back home on the same day as everyone else on the trip. The entire western half of the U.S. in 7.5 days. Wow!

I heard that one of the in-laws' family had driven from Sooooo Cal to the wedding, then drove to Niagara Falls in Ontario, Canada before driving back home. Whoa!

The Mother Road 4/8/06 - 4/13/06

The route my brother and I drove followed most of what is considered to be Route 66. In reality Route 66 is more of a nostalgic fantasy than anything else. Aside from a few diners and a drive-in theatre the Glendora and Azusa Portion of Route 66 looks like just like any other “Main Street” in America if not more non-descript.


Flagstaff was our first stop on the trip so we left home around 8 a.m. since Flagstaff was over 400 miles away. I love Flagstaff and Northern Arizona but the drive there is extremely boring. I grew up in the desert, and I’ve never really cared for the Mojave much because it’s generally boring except for Joshua Tree National Park and Antelope Valley during wildflower season. There is a reason why some people drive 200 mph on I-15 to Vegas and it’s not for the prostitutes. Not that I’m advocating maxing out your speedometer.

The last time I went to Flagstaff was almost a year ago with my family and it was 112 in Needles with $3+/gallon gas prices. It wasn’t so bad this time, my brother and I mainly just made fun of how boring the Mojave was. When we got to Needles, my brother thought he saw a sign proclaiming Lake Havasu to be three miles from I-40 so we detoured several miles before realizing it was a bit further than that. Oh well, that’s what Girls Gone Wild videos are for…

We arrived in Flagstaff sometime in mid-afternoon and checked into our motel across the street from Northern Arizona University and two blocks from downtown. To be honest I think the best part of Route 66 is downtown Flagstaff. Bummer, would the rest of the trip be downhill from there? No way.

We ate at San Felipe’s Cantina in downtown just as we did last year. Excellent food and beautiful waitresses. Can’t get much better than that! After dinner I dropped my brother off at the room then headed up to the Arizona Snow Bowl just in time for the sunset. I thought I was going to be a little early for wildflowers in the meadow where the ski lifts are, but I didn’t realize HOW early I would be in the season. The ground was covered in snow and ice. The good thing about that is aspen trees look great in wintry conditions. The sunset was mediocre but it didn’t matter. If my pictures suck, it’s my fault not the light.


I set my alarm for 5:15 a.m., but somehow my phone was set for weekday alarm only so I missed waking up for sunrise. I wasn’t too disappointed initially until I saw how nice the clouds were outside. My original plan was to catch sunrise at Lockett Meadow, or at least try to get there in my little 2WD Corolla.

Our complimentary “continental breakfast” consisted of muffins, orange juice and a pastry. I guess I shouldn’t expect real food considering the low price of the room. We left for Albuquerque after breakfast. Our first stop was at Meteor Crater. For a $5 admission it might have been worth it, but at $15 per person it more closely resembles Enron’s stock several years ago than a good deal. Oh well, there’s a first and last for everything right? If you go, don’t say I didn’t warn you.


Next was the Painted Desert. Someday I’d like to actually see the Petrified Forest part of the National Park, but the Painted Desert is more than sufficient enough to make the stop worthwhile. Very impressive and underrated amongst National Parks.



A couple of Navajo trading posts and a lunch at Cracker Barrel later, we arrived at Albuquerque, New Mexico. The drive took longer than I had planned due to all the stops so we missed out on the gunfights in Old Town and the Museum of Nature History. The museum sounded really cool from what I read in VIA Magazine last year. Repeat after me, OH Well.

We ate dinner at a Mexican place in Old Town and then wandered around the few shops that were open on the Sunday evening. I shot a few pictures in overcast light, then packed up and decided to sit in the car to see if a sunset would break through the clouds. Luck was on my side. My brother and I sat in the car watching another photographer about 20 feet away photographing the San Felipe de Neri Catholic Church with his graduated neutral-density filters and 35mm gear. (I guess people still shoot 35mm apparently.) I probably would have driven off in the overcast conditions instead of waiting if the photographer wasn’t already out there shooting nearby. My immense ego wouldn’t allow me to leave and possibly allow another photographer to shoot light I skipped out too early on. (Half truth, half sarcasm) Old Town Albuquerque seemed to lack substance, but the architecture was fascinating. I believe the church was built in 1709. It was difficult to shoot effectively however.




The next morning I actually managed to wake up and barely, and I do mean barely made it to the Sandia Mountains to catch amazing alpenglow clouds at sunrise. I had never been there nor had a clear idea of what I wanted to shoot or what to expect. I saw a half scenic view partially obscured by half a mountain as the light was getting good, so I kept driving and pulled over desperately a bit further down the road at a worse location. There was no view of high country from where I stopped. I ran up the hill with my gear thinking I’d get to a clearing. I just encountered trees, so I had to adjust my thinking to shooting rocks, trees and clouds instead. I got about five pictures or so before the alpenglow disappeared. The mountains behind me were gaining in yellow light though so I drove further up to the Ski Area and finally saw the clearing I’d wanted earlier. By then the contrast was way too high for my stacked five stops of GND filters. Sometimes we win some, sometimes we lose some, and sometimes we have near misses. Oh well again! The thrill in nature photography is all about the chase right?

Breakfast at the hotel consisted of similar “food” as the previous, but it was alright. I finally began to understand the logic behind eating little for breakfast. Eating meat for breakfast makes you fat. At least it does to me anyway. Next on my checklist were some trading posts along Route 66 off I-40 on the way to Amarillo, Texas. Eric and I managed to see none of them. Chalk it up to a combination of laziness on my part, being lost and the long trip. New Mexico’s landscape along I-40 made the Mojave look interesting. Talk about boring. We passed time by scanning for radio stations. Mainly alternating between bad red-neck country music, religious stations and static. The landscape was mostly a little yellow color with a few sage bushes scattered about. Yuck. Though I’m sure a lot of other photographers find that kind of landscape that to be fascinating, I’m a big fan of trees and water.

The one interesting thing about the drive to Amarillo was lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Tucumcari, New Mexico. I have this theory that there is at least one legit Chinese restaurant in every small town in America, and Tucumcari did not fail me. That’s about as many as we have in Glendora. The restaurant employees were Asian. My brother and I left wondering how they ended up in Tucumcari which is essentially a rural truckstop in the middle of nowhere. The other diners there seemed to know each other despite sitting in separate tables which goes to show how small the town really was. Interesting social dynamics that occur in places like that. In the city and suburbs, you rarely encounter familiar faces in public unplanned. I have gone to the same barber shop and library since I was a little kid though and see familiar faces so I guess there are exceptions.



Texas was more interesting as I found the flat fields of grass to be fascinating. (Yes, I did say the Mojave’s boring and the Panhandle fascinating. No, I don’t do drugs.) Immense storm clouds made the horizon seem to go on forever. My brother claims that you can only see two miles of level horizon from normal eye level however so I guess two miles is forever to me. Boy was it windy though. We stopped outside of Amarillo at the Cadillac Ranch. It must have been at least 50 mph sustained winds with huge gusts. Some dirt got in my mouth but I had sunglasses which shielded my contact lens-aided eyes from the dirt. My brother suffered while I shot pictures. See the photo below.



After Cadillac Ranch, we checked into the Baymont Inn in Amarillo and rested up for the Big Texan Steakhouse: Home of the “free” 72 oz. steak. I opted for the 16 oz prime rib which tasted great. Very tasty, and not a lot of fat. I think Eric had his usual Country Fried Steak. The servers had very thick rural Texan accents to a point of difficulty understanding them. Fascinating. Every little bit of travel experience leads to fodder in the car to keep us awake during the long drive. For much of the trip we poked fun at how uneducated we thought people were. (In good fun of course. I find most people of my travels to be a lot friendlier than people in California.)



The next morning we stopped by the Amarillo Livestock Auction but arrived too early as nobody was there yet. We just stopped inside to shoot a few pictures then left as we had a long journey to Tulsa, Oklahoma that day. The gas pump at the station down the street was a disaster to say the least. It took about 20 minutes to fill my 8+ gallons in super windy conditions, and then to have the pump not stop. Half a gallon spilled out of my tank onto the ground before I realized it. I stopped the pump at 8.85 gallons. My tank was only half empty by the way so I should have realized when the pump kept going. I was rather disappointed with Amarillo. The Old San Jacinto District I read about wasn’t anything. I drove through it expecting to see something, anything really. I went through several streets in the area and left wondering why it was even written about in the first place. The neighborhoods look scary as well.

About an hour into the drive to Tulsa I spotted a road sign in Groom, Texas proclaiming to have the largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere. We had to check it out of curiosity. I pulled off into the dirt road to shoot photos in extremely windy, potential tornado type weather. It turned out to be pretty cool. I’m not religious but I can respect the impact such a symbol can mean to other peoples’ lives. For me it provided interesting photographic subject matter.



We hadn’t heard anything of interest on the radio since Arizona besides Kelly Clarkson’s Because of You. Fittingly enough when we were driving in Oklahoma, Carrie Underwood made an appearance on the radio waves. Great voice, very pretty girl. Miss American Idol broke up some of the monotony of the bland country music that had been assaulting our eardrums for days.

Our next stop was the Route 66 Museum in Elk City, Oklahoma. I enjoyed the place and I think my brother probably did too. There were actually three museums in the complex. The Route 66 Museum which was actually the smallest part, the Old Town Museum and the Farm and Ranch Museum. I like to shoot those sorts of nostalgic era-long-gone type of still life and historical subjects but it’s very difficult. I’m not very good at that type of photography so I enjoy the challenge when the opportunity presents itself. This is one of the must stops along Route 66 in my opinion. For $4, it’s well worth it. And the Meteor Crater costs $15!!!



Our plans were to stop by the Oklahoma City Stockyards Livestock Auction so I could spend some time photographing the daily spectacle, and to make a stop at Bricktown in the OKC as well but things didn’t work out as planned. Oh well. Both the Amarillo and OKC livestock auctions were to be the highlights of my photography on the trip but neither one panned out for me. We didn’t wait for Amarillo’s Livestock Auction to begin because I figured I’d get more time in Oklahoma City if we didn’t stick around, but we didn’t know the freeway system in town there so we ended up driving around downtown by catching the I-44 instead of staying on I-40 and catching I-44 after passing through downtown so we missed downtown entirely. Just like water in the Sahara; downtown Oklahoma City was only a mirage on the horizon. We stopped at the State Capitol though because I happened to see the sign for it off I-44. It was very windy and overcast so my pictures were mediocre. Not that I put any effort into my photography there either.

Tulsa was almost as windy as Amarillo but a lot nicer looking city. The houses were beautiful, and Tulsa looked civilized from what I could tell. I was impressed with driving Oklahoma because it was surprisingly beautiful. We saw lots of trees, redbud, rivers and hills. Who knew Oklahoma was beautiful? That same water brought us Carrie Underwood so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised.

As soon as we left Oklahoma and crossed into Missouri the radio scanner stopped on 104.1 which was being hosted by a fellow named Neal Boortz. To put it lightly, the guy came across as a racist. He really put a harsh tongue lashing to the Mexicans protesting the whole illegal immigration issue. I’ll omit the details and get back to the road trip. We were equally offended and amused by Mr. Boortz’s attitude. It kept us awake behind the wheel at least! St. Louis here we come!

We stayed at the Millenium Hotel across the street from the Jefferson Expansion National Monument aka. the Gateway Arch. Eric was too chicken to ride up the shaft, so we opted for the Lewis and Clark expedition video. (He rides roller coasters and I don’t.??) It was a great video. The Westward Expansion Museum is excellent as well. Free too. Yes there are still free things in our consumption-obsessed society. The Meteor Crater was $15 per person.



By the way, Charles at the 4th Street Grill should get better hours so he can earn a decent living. He’s a great waiter, and very friendly. Better yet, why not allow him to work the Top of the Mark? He’s cool. There was no business despite him working the hours before the Cardinals game which was happening across the street. Missouri supposedly de-segregated years ago so c’mon lets get the ball rolling already.

The next morning I woke up before dawn to shoot the Old Courthouse and the Arch. The light was again mediocre but I was inspired this time at least so I’m reasonably pleased with the photos I came away with there. We had a free continental breakfast coupon for the 4th Street Grill so we had a quality breakfast before leaving for Louisville, Kentucky. Within minutes of leaving St. Louis we were in Illinois after crossing the Mississippi River. Previously I’d gambled $2 at the riverboat but since Eric wasn’t to turn 21 yet until a few weeks we pressed on. Southern Indiana was rather interesting. I saw a lot of forests and heard even heavier country accents at a small town gas station along I-64. I thought I might see the next “Hick from French Lick” (Larry Bird) playing on a dirt backyard basketball court. We passed many rolling hills full of country side and barns. Classic Americana. Someday hopefully I’ll have an opportunity to photograph rural scenes in the region.

2005 Inspiration

Since 2005 is winding down here are some sources of inspiration and enlightenment I’ve discovered this past year.

Yosemite, The Promise of Wilderness- William Neill

On Ancient Wings- Michael Forsberg

The Smithsonian Guides to Natural America

www.naturephotographers.net

The Blue Planet- BBC (5 DVD Set)

Iowa Simply Beautiful II- Larsh K. Bristol

The Photographic Life- Sam Abell

Remembering Great Times: New Orleans Part 1

Witnessing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast leaves me feeling very sick for my country. There is a certain charm in that thick southern air in New Orleans that I haven’t experienced anywhere else in my life. The town will find its way back because nothing can kill such a spirit. The people there have gone through so much over the past several hundred years and still manage to be happy, so there’s no reason to believe they won’t again.

With that said, I can’t believe the destruction that the storm brought to the city. Yes there were concerns about the levees’ ability to withstand such a hurricane for years and yes the people were ordered to evacuate but it is just surreal to see such an incredible city under water. Some of my life’s best memories took place in Cajun country. This past week’s events have made me treasure those memories ever more so.

The saddest part of this ordeal is that we have 100,000 plus troops stationed in a region that doesn’t want our help nor is relevant to most of us, and yet we can’t get adequate support to one of the poorest regions in our country. It’s pathetic. I can’t help but think it’s about economic racism aka. greed. Comparatively speaking, my life is a lot easier than a lot of others so my family has donated to the Red Cross for relief efforts along with 10% of the proceeds from my most recent licensed image.

Research

I’m a self-professed nerd and what I’m going to say here will probably validate that in your mind as well. I make a habit of regularly going to the Glendora Public Library to check out photography books in search of refining my technique and hopefully learn something new. For enjoyment if not anything else. When I mean photography, I’m lumping in all books that are illustrated with photography not merely how-to books. I’ve discovered many new places to potentially photograph or store in my mind for the future by borrowing books from the library, and it was here I became a fan of Galen Rowell. It also helps that the Glendora Public Library regularly adds new books to their collection.

My addiction to books started as a young boy when my mom would take me over there every two weeks to check out the maximum amount of books allowed. I think at one time we probably read almost every children’s book in the library. Eventually sports and science became my primary interest, then travel photography as an adult.

I owe a lot of my interest in photography to the Glendora Public Library because it was here I learned the basics by reading how-to books then trying them out in gardens and scenic areas. It took me about two years before I made my first truly satisfying image and I haven’t looked back since. Growing up I never gave thought to shooting pictures; all I ever wanted to do was travel and be close to nature. In a sense, that is still all I want to do but photography gives me fulfillment that merely traveling for relaxation could never do. I like being challenged and having an artistic outlet otherwise I get bored quickly.

Borders Books, San Francisco and Daly City Libraries became my new Glendora Public Library when I moved up the Bay Area several years ago but they have benefited me as well. I think the best thing photographers can do for themselves is to study other photographers that interest them whether famous or not, innovative or not. That’s one reason why I keep going back to the library. The internet helps too nowadays but real books have more substance.

What did I check out today? Several issues of Arizona Highways magazine, Bird and Blooms magazine, Raptors of California field guide, Scenic Photography 101 by Kerry Drager, Backpacker magazine, Popular Photography magazine, Salmon River Country photography by Mark Lisk.

Make a donation (books, money, lint, whatever) to the Glendora Public Library:

Glendora Public Library
140 S. Glendora Ave.
Glendora, CA 91740
(626) 852-4891
www.ci.glendora.ca.us/library

Northern Arizona 6/26/05 – 6/30/05

My mom had a coupon for a several free nights at any Marriott-owned hotel so we (mom, brother and I) chose to go to Arizona. Vegas was the other location considered but neither of their sites were directly on the Strip so we canned that idea early on. Plus neither my mom nor brother had been to Flagstaff before. My mom had been to the saguaros in southern Arizona years ago with my dad however. Totally different scenery up here in northern Arizona.

It took us about seven hours to get to Flagstaff from Glendora, with a one hour break for lunch in Kingman. Wasn’t ridiculously hot getting there, but 89 gas did cost over $3/gallon in Needles. Had we known Arizona’s gas would be 50-60 cents cheaper, we would have just gotten it later. I guess I should have known better, after all I’ve pumped gas for as little as $1.60/gallon in Massachusetts this year. Prices haven’t been that low in California since I was a beginning driver in the 90’s.

When we got to “Flag” we checked in and my brother stayed behind due to a cold so my mom and I went for a late afternoon walk on the Lava Flow Trail in nearby Sunset Crater National Monument. The previous times I’d been there the trail was covered in snow so it was nice to see what was under the snow. I found out the volcano itself was actually a stark black and red color which was interesting visually but difficult to photograph. It isn’t any easier to photograph in winter as I’ve found in the past. However I did once see a photograph of sunset alpenglow lighting up the top of the Sunset Crater Volcano on a stock photo website hence the name. Perhaps that was my hint to try again in the future.

After walking the Lava Flow Trail, which took about a half an hour, we continued down the loop road to Wupatki National Monument stopping first at the Wukoki Ruin. It was small but close to the roadside as with most of the other dwellings. My mom spotted a blue lizard on the ground so I tried to get a few pictures in the mixed shaded lighting. I tried the on-camera fill flash which helped out the less than ideal lighting.

By then (6:30-7 p.m.) the light was within magic hour, so we went over to the Wupatki Pueblo which is supposedly the largest dwelling within the park. It was definitely bigger than the other ruins I’d seen at Wupatki but as big as I had imagined. I tried to visit the Wupatki Pueblo in 2003 but ran out of time so I made sure not to miss it this time.

Wupatki Pueblo was impressive nevertheless and sprawling on a hill. I took images of the pueblo with and without tourists in warm golden sunset lighting. You definitely can’t go wrong when shooting in situations like this unless you’re a total hack or having an “off-day”. After the sun dropped I hung around waiting to see if any twilight glow, or “earth shadow” I believe it might otherwise be called, would appear in the sky. It never came. I’m not sure what conditions are necessary for that effect to appear usually 15 minutes after sunset but the stars certainly weren’t aligned today. I saw a strong twilight glow in the sky last time so I know it happens here. Perhaps if Galen Rowell were still alive I could have asked him to tell me when to expect seeing a pink sky. (Read his book, Mountain Light for further explanation.)



By the time we got back to Flagstaff it was already dark and about 8:30. We picked up my brother from the hotel and went around looking for food on Route 66 but struck out at two restaurants before getting into Sizzler right before closing time. The food was miserable but at least we had dinner. The waitresses recommended looking for dinner downtown if we were running late in the future. They were right as we found out the next day. There’s much more happening in downtown Flagstaff than on Route 66 for sure.

Back to the 2nd day: My brother stayed behind again to recuperate while my mom and I set out to experience a little of Navajo Nation. The original plan was to stop by Hubbell Trading Post in Ganado then wander around the rest of the day in Window Rock which is on the New Mexico border and a three hour drive from Flagstaff. Window Rock is the capital of the Navajo so I was curious to see the town and maybe purchase some traditional arts and crafts. It wasn’t to be. With my ill brother back in Flagstaff and given our experience with the near-missed dinner the night before in town we decided to cut our day short at the Hubbell Trading Post. We weren’t too disappointed because we’d seen more scenery than we had expected stopping for a while at the Petrified Forest National Park which was amazing. The Painted Desert really came to life under the partly cloudy lighting. I’d never seen such amazing colors in nature before not from flowers, clouds, Utah, sunsets, Grand Canyon or anything that compared to the Painted Desert. It sure looked a lot better up close than from the distant Painted Desert Vista in Sunset Crater.



The roadside navajo arts and crafts stands along I-40 gave us something to look forward to on the ride back to Flagstaff from Hubbell Trading Post. (For more on the Hubbell Trading Post, see my “Weaver” photograph in the People gallery).

The next morning my brother was feeling better so we went to the South Rim. The day started off pretty well with our free complimentary breakfast then stopping at the White Buffalo ranch for a half an hour on the way to the Canyon. It was at White Buffalo where I saw my first Bull Mastif. I should add that I grew up with a fear of dogs of any size and would run from them as a kid. I can handle smaller to medium sized dogs now because I’ve had two Jack Russell Terriers since then but big dogs still make me nervous. I was warned to look out for the dog although it was harmless.

So I go the back door of the ranch to see the farm animals when I see the dog standing at the door waiting to come in. It stood taller than the doorknob while on all fours and it weighed over 200 pounds from what I was told. I had second thoughts about going out there but decided to anyway so I open the door and the dog just walks right past me and into the gift shop. Whewww, I dodged a bullet there.

When we approached the Grand Canyon, it was raining slightly and mostly overcast thus keeping us cool. The wind eventually blew off the clouds but the wind also eventually forced us to leave early. I’ve been in really rough weather but this was beyond my tolerance level. The dry winds were blowing heavy gusts and sand into our eyes and mouth constantly after lunch. There’s really no point in taking pictures or sightseeing when you can’t see out of your eyes!

We left for the Navajo Arts Crafts Enterprise and Cameron Trading Post in you guessed it, Cameron. The Crafts Enterprise wasn’t as good as what we’d seen the day before so we didn’t spend much time there but the Cameron Trading Post was top-notch. It was huge and comprised several buildings. If you can’t find Navajo arts and crafts of your liking there then you probably don’t appreciate their art.

We spent the fourth day in Sedona. Got lost for 40 miles before realizing it though. We were nearly halfway to Phoenix before I realized the scenery wasn’t anything like Oak Creek Canyon. We apparently missed the turn to 89A in Flagstaff and passed Sedona. I rarely forget the scenery of the places I’d been so driving for an hour without having seen Oak Creek made me consult the map for a second look. It turned out that I’d failed to notice that 89A and 17 were the same road in Flagstaff and splits off outside of town. It wasn’t too disappointing though, the route we went was scenic in its own right. Believe it or not we got turned around on 89A near the town of Oak Creek one mile south of Sedona because of a car wreck. So we had to detour again and finally arrived nearly two hours after we left Flagstaff! Normally it would take about 30-45 minutes to go south depending on how fast you drive twisting mountain roads. You can always spot the hardcore city slicker tourists by how they drive these roads. They brake constantly, drive super slow on turns only to speed up at straight sections and never pull out at the turnouts no matter how much tail-gating, high beams, hand gestures and cussing you and the 15 other cars behind you do. Needless to say bad drivers are my number one pet peeve. My worst experience with this type of driver was once coming back down from Big Basin State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I’ll save that story for another time.

There was a nearby fire which made the sky in Sedona resemble Southern California more than Arizona but with a polarizer most of the haze was cut from my images. Never thought I’d love cloudless blue skies so much but on days like these coming away with blue sky pictures is a blessing. Wasn’t too many tourists in town surprisingly though I’m sure on the 4th it was to be a different story. The best part of my day was lunch. Simply put: FISH TACOS AT CANYON BREEZE. The restaurant/bar is located in Uptown Sedona. The best tacos I’ve ever had in my life. I haven’t been able to think about anything else since going there. I will probably rant about the tacos for the rest of my life. They were that good. Even if you’re a local, you have to go to Uptown just for the fish tacos. Hell, I’d move to Sedona just to eat fish tacos.

We had dinner in Downtown Flagstaff for the third day in a row. I highly recommend Pesto Brothers if you like Italian food. The bread you get is great, then the Chicken Parmigiana and Canelloni are both top-notch entrees. Enough said.

On the final morning, I headed out once again at 4:30 a.m. for the fourth day in a row for sunrise photography northeast of Flagstaff while my mom and brother slept. The five-mile dirt road up to Lockett Meadow is pretty freaky if you’re in a passenger car but worth it. Aspen, snow-capped San Francisco Peaks and ponds galore. The morning before I was freezing to death up there while waiting for sunrise so I made sure not to make the same mistake twice. Bring clothes, I don’t think we’re in the desert anymore Toto.



After breakfast we were off to hot, smoggy ‘ol Glendora. Home sweet home.

A Taste of Americana

For entertainment purposes, I’m posting a trip write-up I wrote for a college marketing class term paper when I was a senior at Cal Poly Pomona in 2001. The professor thought I should get it published. The trip took place from August 15th, 2001 thru September 5th, 2001 if my memory serves me correct. Until now it has gone unpublished so here goes excerpted from the paper:

I got to go on a three-week road trip with the purpose of taking my cousin’s stuff to the University of Iowa and helping him move in so he could start medical school. The trip started out with five of us and grew to a party as large as eight in Des Moines. The only plans etched in stone at the beginning were to be in Iowa City within five days and do sightseeing along the way and sightsee after we arrive for four more days before attending the white coat ceremony at the university. We ended up burning in 124 degree weather in Vegas, taking pictures at the start of the Green River, getting glared at for our ethnicity in Grand Junction, getting lost in Denver, walking through a prairie in Lincoln, and having two young punks set the fire alarm off on us when we were alone in the capital of Iowa on a Sunday afternoon; before we even arrived in Iowa City. Once in Iowa City, we moved my cousin’s stuff into this medical frat house.

Two days later we took off for St. Louis. I decided we would drive on the Mississippi River Scenic Byway to get there, and it turned out to be one of the most scenic drives I have seen in this country. Hannibal; the hometown of Mark Twain, Clarksville (Anyone heard the song Last Train to Clarksville?), the Mississippi River, you name it straight out of the American history books was all for us to view while whizzing by in the Explorer. All those damn bugs make so much noise especially in that area. I remember going for a “bathroom” break in the brush in this viewpoint area high above the Mississippi River Valley nervously guarding my well you know what from bug attacks. When we got to St. Louis it was extremely humid; our comfort level was comparable to our experience in Vegas. The Arch was great though and so was the museum. The next day we went to Kansas City and hung out. The lightning that night was incredible. However, our experience down South was rather uncomfortable at best due to our 3,000 mile pilgrimage to arrive there. Kansas City also happened to be the most run-down piece of urban waste I have ever seen in my life, more so than L.A. which I never thought possible in my lifetime. The historic jazz district was just str8 out ghetto. We were overjoyed to leave for Iowa City. We met up with the rest of the party in Des Moines and then headed for Iowa City once again. We had the white coat ceremony the next day, and then abruptly took off for Chicago for two and a half days. I loved Chicago. The words, “Chicago’s my kind of town.” from Frank Sinatra rings true for me too. We took the tram tour, got poured on by heavy humid rains with no umbrellas, waited forever for deep dish pizza at the Original Geno’s East, and paid $9 for a non-view from the top of a Sears Tower covered in heavy clouds during the first day.

On the third day in Chicago, we saw the saw more of the popular parts of the city before we took off for Iowa City for the third time. I love these college towns. Lincoln was cool; we walked onto the Cornhusker football field, and watched their marching band practice. Then ate downtown where all the bars show re-runs from the previous year’s Nebraska games. Iowa City was just something else though. Frats, sororities and people wandering all over the city all night long partying. The campus is the city and vice versa. Bars, businesses, campus buildings, and residential all intertwined. I wish I had considered other schools prior to choosing Cal Poly after spending five days in Iowa City. Upon our arrival, we picked up our camping equipment from my cousin’s place and then spent the night in the city before driving to Omaha the next day to take my aunt and uncle to the airport in the afternoon. I became a spoiled kid and then ordered a 12 oz. Filet Mignon for under $20 at my Uncle’s expense before he took off for home. It was funny to me because I rarely eat steak, and have not had it for months prior to Omaha, but I wanted to see what the hype behind Midwestern corn-fed beef was all about. No difference in my opinion other than slick product and brand management… Afterwards we went to the airport and the most unbelievable thing happened. I didn’t know that I had my camping knife in my pocket, so I went through the airport security and all that and even putting the knife through the x-ray machine and they even stopped it to look at it and gave it back to me. I even offered to let them hold it until I came back, but they just let me go with it. To think I could have slit everyone’s throat with that sharp eight-inch knife and crashed the plane into government property. Geez. Negligent security like that is why those stupid people were able to get away with that shit.

So after two weeks on the road, it was reduced to my other cousin Herbert and myself for the remainder of the trip back home. We planned to camp the next day in the Black Hills, so we stopped off for lunch at “World Famous” Wall Drug in South Dakota. Didn’t try the buffalo burgers, but the place was funny; it seemed like all the waitresses were mail-order Russian brides or something because they were hot as hell, but they all spoke Russian. If I was in town a little longer, I would've started some major flirting, just kidding, I know what you’re thinking; Richard is full of it. The rest of the compound was filled with Russian people too. We camped in Custer State Park that night near Mt. Rushmore and took pictures the next morning. We saw Crazy Horse afterwards and left for Yellowstone.



We took about ten hours to get to Yellowstone due to heavy construction past Cody, as if we weren’t burned out from the road already. We got lucky and got a site at the largest campground. Our best friend for the day was this huge bison grazing in the camp. Little did I know that I was soon headed for the shock of my life. We planned to wake up before dawn so we could capture silhouetted photographs of Old Faithful, but then I woke up to sub-freezing weather with only a light jacket on and a sleeping mat and bag which kept sliding down the hill so I couldn’t keep them on at night. I quickly grabbed my sweatshirt and beanie, but it was too late, I thought I was feeling the affects of frostbite on my hands and nose. (Probably grossly over-reacting. Though it was close to 90 degrees the day before so cut me some slack.) It took about four hours of walking around the Old Faithful area to thaw out.


It was our lucky day however; we saw hundreds of bison in Hayden Valley alongside the road to the canyon and stopped to take pictures for a while. We then went to Yellowstone Falls for the second time, first being the night before, then went to Tower Falls where I walked to the bottom via the steep trail. About halfway down I started doubting my ability to make it back up being 8,000 feet elevation and rather steep.

The next morning, we decided camp at the Grand Teton, located directly south of Yellowstone. When we got there, we set up camp, but we were extremely disappointed in the weather and the dry environment of the season. Apparently, the Yellowstone region had a severe drought this year. We set up camp and then drove around and took less than stellar pictures due to the overcast weather. We were so tired at that point that we decided to close up camp and head for Salt Lake City. It was a nice drive to see the Snake River through all the canyons in Wyoming and Idaho, but we were just too road-weary to enjoy the scenery anymore. We decided to spend the night in a hotel because we planned to camp at Zion National Park for two more days afterward.

The next morning, the Explorer was dead; we thought we were stranded after 8,000 miles of driving with another 1,000 to go until AAA fixed it for us. Fortunately, we got to take pictures of the Mormon Temple, the State Capital, and the Lake before we took off. Salt Lake was interesting because I stepped on the sand, and sank about eight inches with one step before I realized I needed to get out before I get submerged in muck. Not only that, the place smelled worse than if cow manure were burning like exhaust in a sulphuric geyser in Yellowstone. If Salt Lake smelled that bad due to the salt content, I am ready to send my own financed relief package to the people who live near the Dead Sea because I am sure that is worse. The sickest part is that some of that crap is still on my shoes right now.

Once we got to Zion, we experienced 100 degree weather and the Labor Day crowd, and found out only tour buses are allowed into the park, so we decided to just drive through the main road through the park and head home instead of camping there. After about three weeks of five to ten hour driving days, what is a 14 hour drive home like from Salt Lake City? Our minds were reduced to a state of mush induced by the 9,000 miles of constant rolling motion inside of a battering ram for farm insects rolling on loose gravel. So basically, we woke up one morning in Yellowstone, and back home in Southern California a day later. After spending three weeks in the Plains, it was a real eye-opener and great experience. I realize there is more out there than I had imagined and life does not have to be stressful. People out in the Plains seem to be so easy going and live a more slow-paced life than we do in urban-suburban settings. Even more soothing, is the thought that I only spent $200 on this trip. Hell, I’m ready for another road trip already. Different places though…

Needing Refuge at Refugio. 5-14-05

“Excuse me, are you a photographer?” “Um, I think so.” “What do you shoot for?” “Right now I’m trying to get my work published in a variety of magazines such as Bay Nature.” “Cool, I think I’ve seen that. Oh by the way, do you want to shoot pictures of my friend? She’s really pretty.” “Ughhh, sure.” “And she doesn’t have a boyfriend." (I turn my attention back to the sunset) "Well it’s your loss then. Have a good day.” “Ok, you too.”

These are the sort of questions I deal with when people see me shooting in certain parts of the state. In the Bay Area, if there are people around they usually mind their own business but elsewhere it’s a different story. A few times, I’ve even had people say they recognized me from a picture on my photography website www.rwongphoto.com. It sucks to be famous I guess. (sarcasm) Yes, I’m sure having groupies is a fantasy most men have but it’s quite hard to have an ego trip when you’re trying to practice your art in the process.

Typically I shoot places when no one is around but sometimes people are unavoidable. At Refugio State Beach near Santa Barbara, there were many people “camping” at the beach with a lot of young kids running around. I first got stopped by three pre-teen girls asking about the sand castles I was photographing. Then a few minutes later as the sun was setting, the underaged girl detailed on top was following me around trying to get me speak to her friend. I wasn’t interested. I’m 25 by the way.

I can’t recommend this place for a nature-loving photographer like myself, but the beach itself is actually pretty scenic. There’s a creek running from under the 101 that runs through the campground down to the ocean. 20 miles off shore are the Channel Islands. I’m not sure exactly which islands you’d see from the Santa Barbara area but they sure look quite far off in the distance. I’d been to this beach before on a previous trip up the coast and was curious what a sunset would look like.

This time of year, the sun sets north of the beach so the real good light comes from over the cliffs north of the beach. Not exactly ideal for beach sunsets this time of year but the twilight on this day was actually quite good.

Advice:
1. If you’re over 18, avoid the jailbait.
2. Have your clichés memorized so you can effectively deflect the attention you’ll draw.

The 1957 Kodachrome

During a recent phone conversation with my mom, she mentioned that my grandmother had given me a gift while I was gone. An antique 620 film camera. On my recent trip home over Thanksgiving, we looked at old 1957 Kodachromes that were taken with that camera. The two boxes of slides contained images of a visit home to Massachussetts where my grandmother was born, as well as images taken around their town of Pasadena, California.

One box of slides was badly faded around the edges. Amazingly, the other box was pristine, if not a little dusty. That was like winning the lottery as far as slide film goes. The slides were some of the most beautiful slides I’d ever seen. They were well saturated, wide range of detail, and sharp. I’d love to be able to try a roll of old Kodachrome for myself and compare it with the modern day Fuji films. Anyway, I was thrilled get a glimpse into our family history. My mom was two, my aunt was three, and my grandparents were 30.



Some of the images perfectly captured the ambience of the era. I had chills at seeing how much of an eye my grandfather had for photography. It’s too bad he didn’t shoot more! Who knows what might have come of it.

After reviewing the boxes, I decided to bring the ones I could salvage back up north with me. The Monday following Thanksgiving, I spent a solid chunk of my day in the digital photography lab at the Academy of Art, scanning the chromes with a Nikon Coolscan 9000 using a glass plate. The session revealed that the slides had a great deal of oil and other blemishes on them. Needless to say, my anti-static brush did little to improve the condition of the chromes.

My main concern had been whether or not the slides would scan properly. I’ve heard that Kodachrome comes out freaky when scanned. (notice the special setting for Kodachrome?) The scans came out on the dark side. Keep in mind this is 1957 Kodachrome.

This being several days later, I have finally gotten a chance to work on a few of the scans in Photoshop. What I’ve found is that they take a great deal of retouching (big surprise there) and they come out overly magenta once the Levels are adjusted. I had to add 5 pts. of green to the midtones to this image and several others to restore the color back to what the slide had. The images pick up a lot of contrast as well after adjustment. That’s the biggest drawback I’ve encountered so far. To counteract this, I had to adjust shadow detail with Curves. Not perfect but acceptable quality.

My conclusion: The Kodachromes have stood the test of time fairly well. They are worth my time to preserve digitally. They take more work than modern film scans, but then again Velvia isn’t exactly cakewalk either. Dig out those old slides someday yourself or ask your parents to see them before it’s too late. You might miss out on a treasure. It’s not about film v.s. digital. It’s film and digital.

Carmel 10-5-04

Some of my most memorable childhood experiences took place in the Monterey Bay area. Among the memories were the white sands of Carmel Beach, where my dad lost his wedding ring in 1992. It has never been found to our knowledge, nor replaced.

Being in the area since I had spent the foggy, overcast morning at the Pacific Grove Monarch Reserve (didn’t notice any butterflies) and Monterey Bay Aquarium to see the baby white shark they had put on display. As with everyone else at the aquarium that day, I couldn’t miss this opportunity. I can’t even count the amount of time that I spent as an aquarium naturalist at the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco answering questions about white sharks. The majority of them were skeptical as I assured them the odds of being attacked are very slim. So I sympathized with the naturalists at this aquarium as they were being bombarded with tourists.

After finishing the aquarium and lunch, I was torn between Big Sur, Carmel and Point Lobos. Carmel won out since I hadn’t been there since ’92. I remembered it being beautiful, but I was still struck by the beauty of walking the streets. The Spanish style architecture adds to the character of the town. The most beautiful storefront had to be the entrance to the Kincaid Gallery. Moss and flowers were covering the brick hallway leading down a corridor to a courtyard where the gallery was. I walked around noticing everything out of my price range and tastes until I found the Weston Gallery. Now if you aren’t aware of Edward Weston, he was a contemporary of Ansel Adams and was also a very influential photographer for today’s masters.

The work that really jumped out at me in the gallery was the highly-regarded, Yosemite photographer William Neill’s images. I must admit to not being a fan of his work prior to this, but after seeing large prints of his 4x5 small details in nature I have finally begun to appreciate his art. He is truly a master of fine art. If you’re familiar with his work, you may think as I once thought that anybody could shoot what he does. I’ve found that to be way off base as I’ve matured as a photographer, as I’ve occasionally since tried to emulate what he does and can’t do it. I can assure you that the book and magazine format does not do his art justice, as his work is meant to be experienced large and in person.

On a side note, Mr. Neill actually said hello to me once at Gates of the Valley in Yosemite while shooting the sunset. I was embarrassed later to realize I didn’t recognize him until I saw his picture in his monthly column for Outdoor Photographer magazine.



After wandering the streets of Carmel, I drove down to the end of the street to the beach. Before my eyes laid the same white sands that I had remembered so fondly from my childhood. Just for humor’s sake and the slim chance of hope, I walked around looking down at the sand and ran some through my fingers. No ring. Not without a metal detector anyway. I shot a few pictures for old time’s sake, then decided to look for Carmel Mission which I had never been to.

I found the Mission after asking around a bit and paid my $3 or so to get in to walk the grounds. Very beautiful, but not as big as I had imagined. I was inspired to see the mission after seeing some Spanish mission prints at another gallery in Carmel, and from seeing Vern Clevenger’s work on his website and on display at the Mountain Light gallery in Bishop. School was in session as I walked the grounds, I didn’t notice the signs instructing us to not walk in the hallway during class. Photographically, the lines and shapes of the buildings are appealing as well as the foliage which grace the buildings.



Why can’t all of California look like this? Modern architecture looks like hell on earth. No wonder why I avoid big cities as much as possible.

I spent the rest of the day driving down to the Carmel Headlands and then part of Carmel Valley. The clouds were rolling in and became gray so I gave up hope and headed back home about an hour and a half to the north.

Winter Hotspots: 1. Pacific Grove Monarch Reserve. From mid-October til March, is a great spot to see clusters of Monarch Butterflies. Point Lobos State Reserve is another great spot, along with the Monarch Reserve at Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz. Don’t take my word for it though. Look it up yourself on the net or visit if that floats your boat. Best time to see the butterflies is in the late morning when it isn’t overcast.

2. Whale watching. Last year at the same time of year, I saw migrating gray whales spouting from the Lone Cypress Tree viewpoint on 17 Mile Drive. I think you can rent kayaks at this place on the waterfront across the street from Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey. Haven’t tried it though.



Lastly: I was disappointed to find the Ansel Adams Gallery on Cannery Row is now gone. It was replaced by some crap commercial art gallery.