Yes, I'm still alive. Ha. I haven't blogged here much obviously but I haven't stopped taking noob pictures of beautiful landscapes.  :)

Just want to post a few pics from my trips through the Eastern Sierra and Oregon State.  Most of my others will be on facebook. 

Eastern Sierra - Feb 27th to March 1st, 2009

1. Mono Sunset

2.  Mt. Tom Sunrise

3. Alabama Hills Textures

4. Octopus Tree

5. Death Valley Sunset

6.  Owens River Sunrise

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Oregon - July 6th to July 10th, 2009

1. Painted Hills Sunset

2. Multnomah - The Tourst Trap

3. Secret Falls

4. Cape Kiwanda Sunset

5. Haystack Rock Sunset

If anyone has questions on my processing (non-hdr by the way) or field techniques feel free to ask.  :)

P.S. comments and critique are welcome as well. 

EDIT:  ElusiveWords asked me to post an original, unprocessed image.  I processed the 30 meg raw file straight from the camera. 

Specs: Canon 5d Mark II, 24-70 f/2.8L @ f/16, 2.5sec, ISO 50 with Singh Ray 3 Stop Reverse Grad (4x6).  Handheld filter and moved it up and down gently to remove gradation line. 

Continued from the Southwest 1 entry, here are some more pictures. 

So the road there was pretty interesting to Zion.  My friend captured 3 shots of my reaction to a crazy driver up ahead. I had a good laugh looking at those pictures.  I dislike posting pictures of myself since this is a landscape blog and not a manscape blog, but here goes. 

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3.

This is the Subway.  All you do is get a backcountry permit from Zion and hike up the left fork of the north creek for about 4.25 miles one way and you are there.  I rate this hike a 9 out ot 10 on the difficulty level because there is some route finding, boulder hopping/dashing, and river forging that is required.  I'm a chubby guy so I would only recommend this hike to people who are adventurous, fit, and have a strong passion for landscape photography, unlike me of course.  I'm not sure which one is better if any of them, but you can pick one. 

Vertical of the Subway.  Water flowing slowly down while I take a 25 second exposure. 

Landscape of the Subway.

As you peer out of the subway, the cause of the glow is the ambient light. 

Backside of the subway

This is the reason why they call it the Subway.  Although the picture is sub par in my opinion, I think its good to show why they call it the Subway.  Note the tracks and tunnel. 

I couldn't decide which one was better so I will post both of them up. 

The Crack 1.

The Crack 2

I didn't get a chance to look at my other Zion shots, but here's a nice shot of The Watchman at twilight. 

Here's a few from the Upper Antelope Canyon.  I was aiming for the subtle beauty of the canyon and not the light beams that everyone goes for.

Upper Antelope 1

Upper Antelope 2

Upper Antelope 3

Upper Antelope 4

I have a bunch more but I think you guys are sick of this stuff already.  The next phototrip for me is going to be the 136th commemoration of the pigeon point lighthouse where the re-light the fresnel lens.  If anyone is interested, I will be there.  :)

Sometimes you wish things turned out differently.  Sometimes I just wish the lighting/cloud formations would turn out perfectly for someone coming far away to photograph it.  Sometimes I wish I could devote more time to my photography, music and of course xanga.  Sometimes I just wish I could change the past.  Alas, the past is just that - the past.  What makes a person strong is learning from the mistakes of the past and moving on, never forgetting the experiences of the past.  Strong photographer, strong person, it's all the same to me.  So just learn from your past experiences, and hey not just your photography will improve.  My final and only tip to great photography and life.  Ha.  :)

Forgive me for that lame attempt at self-reflection but a xanga update has been overdue.  I'm just going to post up a few crappy photos for all to laugh at!  :)

Burney falls, located in Burney, CA.  I shot this when all the crazy wildfires were burning the forests so the smoke and haze made for a dull sky for this shot. 

Mossbrae Falls, Dunsmuir, CA.  This little gem way up north was one of the most spectacular waterfalls I've seen.  This waterfall spans approximately 150'-0" with a height of 60'-0".  I tried to include the sunstar to give this photo a little more spice. 

I just wanted to throw this unedited pano of how Mossbrae falls truly looks.  Wide angle panoramas does this waterfall no justice unfortunately. 

During the time when the fire storm broke out all around California,  smoke traveled all the way to the coast line leading for some very interesting photography.  Black/Grey smoke and haze plus yellow sun = red sun.  No photoshop was used in the harming of the photo except basic sharpening and a 4x6 resize to fit my 4x6 border.  :)

Ordinary sunset at JV Fitzgerald Marine Reserve located in Half Moon Bay, CA.  Duxbury Reef and this location has some of the best and most interesting tidepool life around if anyone is interested. 

Tidepool life study 1

Tidepool life study 2

Water in Motion. 

Thats it for now.  I'm going to Northern Arizona and Zion in Utah for a week to do some photography and hiking but I just wanted to post these up in case I get lost up there and never post photography again.  Kidding.  :)