Tomorrow is Obsolete

Bryce Canyon National Park

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:05:00 +0000

My on-again-off-again blogging of photos is back in the "on" state. It amazes me how life can get busy and months fly by like days. Can someone slow this ride down? Picking up where I left off in Spring we are in Bryce Canyon. I had not been to Bryce in years and I had forgotten just how amazing it is. We got to the park in the late afternoon and I took the picture above. It snowed overnight (normal for the end of April) and in the morning we woke up to the canyon covered in snow and full of clouds.

We were worried we might not see anything of the canyon with all the fog but by late morning it had started to burn off and after lunch the fog was gone and we were left with a wonderful moody sky.

The clouds parted just enough to give us a little tease of sunset.

Here are some other pictures from Bryce including one fun picture playing with HDR.

Zion National Park

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 02:52:00 +0000

Our Spring Break was a two-week road trip through Utah and Arizona. Our first stop was Zion National Park.

A cloud-filled sky at sunset.

The peanuts having fun.

The Zombie Monkey Teenager.

Cairns by the Virgin River.

These caterpillars were covering the ground to the point where it was impossible to walk without stepping on them.

Bighorn Sheep climbing the rocks.

How is it possible that I live here?

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 02:57:00 +0000

Can you say lucky? I can. I find myself constantly amazed and the series of circumstances that have led to me living in this beautiful place. I really can't put it in to words. Wow.

Yesterday we decided to spend the late afternoon through sunset at the beach. I brought my camera and only the wide-angle lens with a plan to get pictures emphasizing line, pattern, texture, or color. I was not disappointed.

You know when the sky looks like this in the late afternoon that it is going to be a good sunset.

I took a few images of the beach and pier but as the sun started to set it was clear the really great photos for the day were waiting about 30 minutes away.

My two youngest were too cute to not get some pictures of while I waited for the sunset.

The pier about 30 minutes before sunset and my 7 yr old playing by the water.

A view of the setting sun from under the pier.

There were probably a dozen photographers by the time the sunset colors had popped about 10 minutes after sunset. I got more than a few funny looks as they all stood there to take the shot and I laid down on my stomach in the wet sand to get mine. It was totally worth the looks, getting soaking wet, and being covered in wet sand to get this perspective of the pebbles on the beach.

Jelly Beans

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 01:56:00 +0000

I wanted to do a series of photos focused on color. I was going to do flowers but I have so many flower pictures. I am not sure what made jelly beans pop in to my head but the girls nearly exploded when I brought them home. They turned out to be a great subject and a great post-shoot snack. Yummy!

Decay

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 01:12:00 +0000

Have I mentioned I love old, rusted, and broken things (well, for photographs at least)? One of the best things about the desert is that old things don't decay as fast or get swallowed up by nature like they do in wetter places. I have never yet been disappointed in my old-things explorations on any desert trip.

The ruins of the Marsical quicksilver mine in Big Bend were really great, though somewhat toxic. It is all ok as long as you don't touch anything.

Rusted cars dot the desert.

An old sign in Tombstone was too cool to pass up.

We also found this great container of rusting food cans.

Saturday is beer making day

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 06:24:00 +0000

For a while now Saturday has been beer making day. I usually act as the assistant but beer making involves a lot of hurry up and wait so I decided I could turn it in to a fun photo shoot too. So, here are some images I took today in no particular order.

Macros

Pouring, and pouring, and pouring.

Mash.

The assistant has a tasty beverage while we wait.

The mad scientist... er master brewer... and his assistant captured in a bubble.

It looks like beer.

The mash once it is done and ready to be composted.

Cactus

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 00:18:00 +0000

When I think of the desert I think of mountains and emptiness. Places like Death Valley come to mind. Once you cross the Colorado River on I-10 from California to Arizona you notice something new all around, cactus. It is as if they walked west across the Arizona desert but couldn't figure out how to cross the river.

The saguaro cactus are like trees. It is hard to imagine how tall they are as you fly down the interstate. You have to stop, stand in front of one and look 30 feet up to the top.

In Big Bend the cactus did not tower like the saguaro in Arizona, but they covered the ground like a harsh and sharp carpet. The whole view screams "go away".

Unfortunately for my legs, I ignored the warnings the cactus were clearly giving and got as close as I could. It was worth the many pokes and stabs. Cactus are so pretty they are worth the pain of getting too close.

Desert Sunrises and Sunsets

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 01:39:00 +0000

I never get tired of sunrises and sunsets. The picture above is from Big Bend. It was a test shot. I was using a medium format Yashica that my dad found in his old camera equipment. We're not even sure if the camera works. The meter was not working and we did not have a hand held one so I used my 5D to meter the shot and set the Yashica the same. I have 2 more shots left to finish the roll and then I'll see if anything came out.

This is the sunrise over the Boquillas Del Carmen. The mountains are on the Mexico side of the Rio Grande.

In Tombstone, Arizona, we got up before sunrise one morning to take pictures of Fremont Street without all the people. I got this shot down Fremont Street just as the sun was coming up.

Another shot of the sunset over the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend.

Finally, one of the sunset and a Saguaro Cactus in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona.

I found out what happens...

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 23:16:00 +0000

... when you give a software engineer a camera, a blog, and two demanding jobs. The camera and the blog collect dust. In May I started a new job. I thought I might be able to juggle staying at the non-profit, this new job, and still having a life. After 6 months I realized I couldn't. With much sadness I chose to leave my non-profit job. The good news is that I found my pictures again! So, without further rambling let's pick up where I left off.

I was somewhere at the edge of the desert... wait, wrong story. We were in the desert though. Big Bend National Park out in the middle of nowhere in southwestern Texas. Some of the most spectacular sites in Big Bend are the canyons that the Rio Grande River has cut through the mountains.

Boquillas Canyon is at the eastern most edge of the park. On the other side of the river is Boquillas, Mexico. The locals cross the river on horseback or by boat to leave craft items for sale.

The other is the famous Santa Elena Canyon at the west side of the park.

Hiking the canyons was a great way to cool off. The girls made themselves comfortable and no one wanted to leave.

Desert adventures, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:51:00 +0000

(Moonrise over Las Cruces)

For Spring Break this year, we spent almost 2 weeks in the deserts of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Our destination was Big Bend National Park in southwestern Texas, along the Rio Grande River. Our 3-day drive out followed I-10, Highway 90 southeast, and then Highway 385 south to Big Bend NP.

The Colorado River:

Old Pinal County courthouse, Arizona:

Ocotillo flowers:

Ruins of the Langford house near the Hot Springs in Big Bend:

"The Window" in the Chisos Mountains:

Gardens and umbrellas

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 01:09:00 +0000

The day after we got the umbrellas at Olvera St., we took the kids to Descanso Gardens to take pictures of them with the umbrellas.

It is tricky to get 5 little kids to look at the camera at the same time.

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3

Take 4 - good enough

Next time I need to bring something shiny for them all to stare at or something.

Olvera Street

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:26:00 +0000

I am in love with the metro lines in LA. It has made it so easy to get to places like downtown where parking is usually a major headache. One beautiful day in July we decided to take the kids for a ride on the Gold Line to Olvera St (the Union Station stop). Among the many treasures we found were those colorful umbrellas.

We also found colored eggs,

guitars,

and ceramics.

At the end of a long afternoon, the kids cool off in Union Station (did I mention it was an unusually humid July?)

LA Arboretum in macro

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:55:00 +0000

I've taken pictures at the Arboretum many times but this time I thought I'd take only my macro lens. Since I was there with my dad & sister, who were also taking pictures, and two 2 1/2 yr olds, I took a lot of mental notes of spots to come back for another time.

I could have stayed in the cactus garden all day.

I love the patterns on the pottery.

Getting under this plant to catch the sunlight through the leaf was tricky (not to mention looked silly) but was worth it.

I couldn't get any closer to these orchids.

My two hometowns

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:44:00 +0000

That's a view of my neighborhood. I can't imagine living any place else but that was not always the case. I came here from Los Angeles and when I first moved here I thought I would never adjust to such a small town after living in LA. I look at picture like this and all I can think of is how lucky I am to live here. Then, I go to visit LA and look at those pictures and remember how much I love it too. So, here's to my two hometowns!

3-day weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:49:00 +0000

All this rain was making me dream of warmer days. So, here are some photos from Memorial Day weekend in LA last year.

Flower macros

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:18:00 +0000

I feel like I have been blogging a lot of flower close-ups lately. I did not realize how many I had taken until I started to put them all together. They do say flowers are the most photographed subject. I know for me it was the excitement of a new macro lens, the bright colors, and the fact that flowers don't move away from you while you spend 10 minutes fiddling with tripods and camera settings.

So, here are a few miscellaneous flower macros and then I promise I'll put up pictures of something else.

A dying pink rose.

A dandelion clock.

Purple flowers.

Morro Bay

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:11:00 +0000

I am so lucky to have a place as beautiful as Morro Bay to call home. I have never had a day where I felt like taking pictures and was unable to find something amazing or stunning to shoot. The picture above is a view of sunset from Black Hill.

Some people don't like the fog but I love it. It always fascinates me how fog can make a place look completely different. On this morning I set out to take pictures of the bay at sunrise so I could capture the orange-pink glow on the rock, water and boats. When I left the house is was a completely clear morning. I was all set up and waiting for the light, which was minutes away when the fog came pouring in. It is hard to believe how quickly it comes in but within 10 minutes it had engulfed everything.

Morro Rock became a ghostly shadow.

The sun finally came up and I took one last picture and went home to have breakfast.

A pink rose

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 05:39:00 +0000

One day it was me, my 100mm macro lens, my 50mm portrait lens, and a pink rose.

Handheld reverse mount of the 50mm lens:

Sunset and Silhouette

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 21:26:00 +0000

When I was taking a photography class last spring, one of the assignments was creating silhouettes. I thought that Baywood Pier at sunset would make a great backdrop. I grabbed my camera and my trusty assistants (Tom and Mae this time) and we walked to the pier.

Getting in position to take a picture looking up at the underside of this daisy was pretty funny since it was only about 12 inches off the ground. People walking along the boardwalk past me were giving me looks like I was crazy. I wish I had taken a whole series of shots of the other flowers because this one came out so cool.

My lovely model, Mae, watches the boats and the sunset.

The boats and sandspit made great silhouettes as well.

As the light was almost fading, this man walked over to water's edge to watch the last of the sunset. I couldn't resist the image.

Fiesta Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 05:22:00 +0000

Fiesta Salad is one of my favorite dinners not just because it tastes great but it is so colorful. I was making it one day last spring and thought how much fun it would be to take macro pictures while I cooked. It did slow down my progress and we ate a bit later than planned, but it was so worth it.

Who knew a colander could look so cool?

Yellow corn

Cilantro

Radish slices

Purple onion

Cherry tomatoes

World of the tiny

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 07:39:00 +0000

One of the things I love about my macro lens is, no matter where I go, there are more things to photograph than there is time. I could spend the day in a 5ft by 5ft space and not run out of things to look at. This day I found myself drawn to flower, butterflies and rusting farm equipment. Oh yea, and a drinking fountain.

Pt. Buchon

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:12:00 +0000

At the very end of the road in to Montana De Oro State Park is one of my favorite hiking trails. Most people who go to Montana De Oro never drive to the end of the road. Of those that do, it is easy to miss that the chain link fence and razor wire are actually the entrance to a trail along some of the most beautiful ocean bluffs in the county.

The trail is on land owned by PG&E for their Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. It is only open certain days of the week and sunrise and sunset photographers will be disappointed to see the hours prevent taking either types of pictures. Despite all of this, it is absolutely a beautiful trail and in spring it is covered in wildflowers. Last spring I decided to take a walk with my telephoto lens and macro lens and see what I might find.

About a mile or so before the dead-end, the trail offers a rare view of the nuclear power plant. You cannot actually see the plant from the end of the trail because of a small hill between you and the plant.

Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:40:00 +0000

Today is Christmas and it is abt 65 degrees out and sunny. We took a great hike today with the girls. Winter has barely started and already I can see the signs of spring returning. Thinking of spring, I decided to play catch-up and upload some photos from around SLO last spring.

Crazy bikers

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:50:00 +0000

For my stock photography class I went out and took pictures of the girls riding their bikes. Their riding outfits were life vests, swim goggles, bike helmets, and Mae included soccer shin guards. They were ready for anything! My husband provided extra lighting on this trip with my gold reflector. We had fun.

Rhyolite

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin Amundsen) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:23:00 +0000

Just outside of Death Valley in the Amargosa Desert is the ghost town of Rhyolite, NV.. I could not spend enough time here. In addition to all the great ruined buildings and wide desert panoramic views there is also a collection of modern sculpture in memorial to the artist who created it. Enjoy the oddity and wonder that is Rhyolite.