I guess it may be obvious that I like taking photos of Chicago. To be honest, I don't remember taking this one, but it is my photo. I guess I wasn't feeling "flow" when this one happened, though I did take it in 2003, which is a long time ago. :-(
I wish I knew the name of this building. But I don't. Anyone?
Canon 1D 1/640s f/14.0 ISO400 90mm Lens unknown.
This was a marginal day for "fun" photography because it was raining an cold. But I had felt obligated to get a few more fall shots before driving back to the warmth of our cabin. Heading home, I passed this almost barren oak tree with a misty backdrop and stopped to take a few pictures through the half-opened window of my truck.
Canon 5D 1/200s f/2.8 ISO400 160mm (Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS)
One of the more photogenic places I have been in Europe is a national park in Croatia called Plitvice Lakes. This park consists of 16 lakes of various sizes connected by cascading waterfalls. Because of the high calcium content of the water in the lakes, the lake bottoms are milky white and the water is a milky blue-green.
In this photo one of the many winding paths leads through a tunnel of trees along the shoreline of one of the lakes . My friend and I started our park tour very early and we almost had the park to ourselves. Two hours later, the paths were crawling with tourists and, as I've thought before, I felt that Europe would be a lot more pleasant if it weren't for the tourists. But wait! I'm a tourist, too, aren't I?
Canon 5D 1/50s f/4.0 ISO500 105mm
Something just occurred to me as I was trying to figure out what to write about this photo: I have taken around 75,000 digital photos over the last 6 years and when I look at them, I can remember a remarkable number of details about the circumstances surrounding each photograph. Why is that?
My answer has to do with flow, a theory developed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. Flow "is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity."
In a crude way, my "focus" while taking photographs reminds me of golfers like Jack Nicklaus and other athletes and coaches who can remember amazingly precise details about every shot they hit or plays they made in games performed 20 and 30 years ago.
No, I am not Jack Nicklaus, nor was meant to be. :-) But I can get focused once and a while. When do you achieve flow?
Canon 1DII 1/80s f/1.8 ISO800 50mm (35mm eq:65mm)
It has been a wet winter in the Black Hills, which has left the reservoirs full and the creeks running high. I normally take a few photos at Iron Creek near our cabin when I am staying in the Hills. But when I drove to my favorite photo location on Iron Creek, I found that the creek was really too high for me to find a good vantage point from which to photograph. So instead I went looking for another creek.
This photo was taken at the Grizzly Bear camp ground near Mt. Rushmore. In summer this creek is usually just a gurgling brook. The day I visited warm weather and the ensuing snow melt left it running full. If you wonder how the water is made to look white, the answer is: a slow shutter speed. In this case the shutter was left open for 8 seconds.
Canon 5DII 8s f/22.0 ISO100 60mm (Canon 24-105mm f/4.0L)
Yesterday, my "Missouri River Sunrise" photo appealed to some of my Facebook friends in a way that I hadn't expected. So once again I'm posting something that may seem prosaic to some but which is perhaps meaningful to others.
This one wouldn't exist if my friend Jack hadn't said, "You need to take a photo of those clouds" as we drove east across the state. I resisted -- in part because I was driving and in part because I don't like taking photos from the car. But here are the clouds. And here, also, are the rolling plains of central South Dakota, touched with a hint of green and the promise of another summer. (Jack steered the truck as I took two quick photos in very sparse traffic.)
Canon 5DII 1/400s f/10.0 ISO160 67mm (24-105mm f/4.0L)
The other day, I posted a somewhat rhetorical question on facebook which asked for ideas for photos that I might post. I actually got several suggestions. The most intriguing suggestion came from a former student of mine who said that she missed seeing the South Dakota sky.
Being a South Dakotan, I've always been impressed with the sky in wide open places but was struck by the reality that there are people who live in places where it's hard to see the horizon and maybe even hard to see the actual sky due to haze or smog.
Thus, I offer yet another photo of the Missouri River. In this photo I am looking more or less north. This photo was taken a couple miles away from another photo posted in this blog called "Lake Oahe Sunset."
Canon 5D 1/160s f/8.0 ISO400 105mm (Canon 24-105mm f/4.0L)
This photo was taken in the Little Bend area of the Missouri River. I wasn't looking for a photograph on the morning I took this. I was actually making an ice run to the Little Bend Bait Shop, which was a few miles away from where I had docked my sailboat.
While humid weather is normal for South Dakota summers, fog isn't. Thus, I needed to stop to take a few pictures.
Canon 5D 1/13s f/10.0 ISO400 300mm
These are California hens and chicks. They live just north of LA at the J. Paul Getty Center. Do they look more relaxed and sun kissed than the hens and chicks in your garden?
Canon 5D 1/100s f/4.0 ISO100 105mm (Canon 24-105mm f.4.0L)
In my home state, we have difficulty growing things in dirt sometimes. But in the Waipio Valley on the Big Island even the rocks are fertile nesting places. My son Jon guided us down into this valley. The road down is one of those that made my wife close her eyes. We had a similar experience driving to the top of the Big Island. Both drives, of course, were worth it, though as we drove I was worried about our rental cars and the contracts I had signed. Would they know we went where we weren't supposed to?
Canon 1D 1/30s f/4.5 ISO800 60mm Lens unknown
I wasn't trying to find another picture where yellow is the dominant color for two consecutive "A Photo A Day" pictures. But here's another photo with yellow. . .
A few years ago I was invited to take a ride in the Lake Area Technical Institute glider. Greg Klein was the pilot and we had a great trip. This is a powered glider, which means that it uses a conventional engine and propeller to take off but once the plane climbs to 10,000 feet or so, the engine is turned off. Greg told me that the engine could be re-started but I could tell that this wasn't considered "cool." Thus, we landed as a glider. Another thing that wasn't cool was when Greg took his hands off the controls and told me to steer. Shortly after that, I started to hear a beep, which Greg calmly told me was the "stall warning indicator." I quickly turned control over to him. I'd rather take pictures than fly a plane.
In this photo we are a little north of Lake Kampeska. The skinny body of water towards the top of the photo is Lake Pelican. The Watertown airport is visible just forward of the end of the wing. If you are wondering why there is a military insignia on the wing, it is because this plane was used as a trainer by the Air Force Academy and then was "retired." Now LATI is putting it to good use with their students in the aviation program. Another good use is giving people like me rides. Have I said how impressed I am with Lake Area Technical Institute?
Canon 1D Mark II 1/500s f/16.0 ISO320 17mm (Canon 17-24mm f/4.0L)
Sometimes I don't have much to say. Today is an example. I hope the soft yellow tones sooth you (should you need soothing :-) )
Canon 1D Mark II 1/200s f/4.0 ISO400 100mm (Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro)