Photos and the Reasons Why

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Taken on April 16, 2010
Camera: Nikon D300S
Exposure: 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 800

Musings
Well, after a week of downtime, I’ve got a lot of pictures. I’m sure I’ll be able to make it to the next vacation without having to drop into the archives at non-prescribed points. Since I missed a week and am no longer properly participating in a 365 project, I will no longer be putting the 45/365: prefix on posts. I will still be posting a new picture every day.

This photo is a pretty good representation of my past week. I booked my flights to Chiang Mai hoping that I’d have the opportunity to see something new and not be too entirely bored. I figured I’d have a lot of time to sit around and relax, post here about what was going on, and maybe even do some non-internet writing in my free time.

I was totally wrong. Turns out Christie was also going to Chiang Mai. I had some scheduling issues with my airline, so we ended up flying together. This involved a wonderful night at the top of a skyscraper in Bangkok. A few days later, I rearranged my flights again and it turned out we were flying to Koh Phi Phi, also together. Though this time we were not just together, but “together.”

This shot is representative of one of the most thrilling weeks of my life.

Technical Thoughts.
It’s very difficult to take one-hand-extended self portraits with a big DSLR. The camera just isn’t made to be held that way. It didn’t help that I was holding a couple grand worth of equipment with one hand at arms length over 8 inches of ocean water. A drop would have been a fatal mistake.

I looped the strap around my hand and held on tight. The sunrise was just to perfect to go without the classic sunrise kiss shot.

It still came out a little blurry, both from camera wobble and poor autofocus. The style of the shot means I can totally get away with it. I’m super happy about the lighting and I like the near-silhouette. There is nothing in any of that which needs razor sharp lines and crisp clean focus.

I knew I was going to make this shot into my Facebook profile while I was editing it, so I blew the colors way out to make a catchy thumbnail. As a result, the sunrise looks a bit ridiculous.

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Taken on November 29, 2009
Camera: Nikon D40
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/11.0
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 800

I’ve been thinking that this is probably the nicest view I will ever have from my home. It’s pretty intensely beautiful on a regular basis.

I left work late last night and was driving home just as the sun was setting on the horizon. I watched some kids play in the beach while the restaurants set up their beach front tables. A group of Thais on vacation were lounging about sipping beers on the sidewalk as I turned off the beach road into my driveway.

Sure the road is broken and loaded with potholes and uneven speed bumps. Sure it’s too narrow to handle two directions of traffic along with the tour busses and other parked cars. Sure elephants occasionally make it difficult to drive faster than, well, an elephant walks. It is still a hell of a way to finish a long commute.

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Taken on April 3, 2010
Camera: Nikon D300S
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture: f/10.0
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Location and Musings:
It’s now moving into the hot season and it sure is hot. I had planned to spend all Saturday traipsing about the Pluakdaeng region, taking landscape photos and enjoying a peaceful day. I had an invitation to go out drinking on Friday night, which was an amazing time, but it left me a little hung over on Saturday morning.

It was just a little headache, so I drank some water and figured I’d be fine. Turns out that you can’t sweat off a hangover. Almost immediately after I parked my truck and started walking around, looking for a shot, my headache got worse. I was sweating out the fluids I had managed to put back into my body. I quickly finished off the remaining water then drove to a 7-11 and got some aspirin and gator-drink. I had only managed to shoot a couple of pictures, but I was starting to feel ill, and I just wanted to go back to sleep. So I jumped back in the truck and headed back home. This was the only shot I was happy with.

Oh well, maybe next time.

Technical Thoughts:
I wish I had framed it a little more towards the right. When I took the picture, I thought it would be nice to get a bit more of the road to have a nice “path” element for the eye to follow. It wasn’t a very good plan as the path was ugly and didn’t lead anywhere except for outside the frame.

Perhaps I should have been a few steps back towards the middle of the road, as well. That way the temple would have been more apparent up on the hill. Another possibility would have been using a longer zoom lens and standing way back from the pineapple. With the right framing, the temple would have been much larger in the frame with the pineapple still in focus.

I’m also a little worried about the clouds. I think my post processing, where I pumped the blues in the sky, make them come out a little too blue, a little too cotton-candy.

I do, however, like the far away mountain cradled in the distance. There is some nice depth there.

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Taken on March 31, 2010
Camera: Nikon D300S
Exposure: 0.8
Aperture: f/4.2
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Location and Musings:
One of the disadvantages of living on the far side of the world is the difficulty of setting up a conference call. I needed to chat with a team in Oregon at 4pm their time, just before closing. That’s 6 am my time.

Since the Internet at my condo has become increasingly spotty and, well, worthless, I had to go into the office to take the phone call. A 45 minute commute, some time to take a shower and have breakfast, and I’m suddenly waking up very early in the morning.

The plus side of this arrangement was that I had an opportunity to catch the full moon before it set. It was a clear night and sunrise was maybe 20 minutes away. The light from said sunrise had just begun to make the sky a little more blue, so I grabbed my camera and set it up on a tripod.

I took this shot, then set the camera to take new shots every 3 minutes for the rest of the morning. Unfortunately, with the sunrise came fog. Before the moon even had an opportunity to fully set, all my camera was able to capture was a white mist.

Technical Thoughts:
I need a better tripod. My tripod is only large enough to reach over the railing of my balcony when the center post is cranked up. When it’s in the position, it’s quite unstable. Just the mirror actuating starts the thing vibrating, which makes for a less sharp photo. I don’t have a cable release, so I have to put my hand on the camera, which leads to more vibration. I think the photo came out passably sharp, with some extra post processing blurring on the moon to even it up a bit.

Otherwise I’m happy with the photo. I like the blues and the yellow of the reflection on the water. Some nice contrasting colors there. If you look closely, you can see some fairly significant currents in the water, which is always fun.

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Taken on March 22, 2010
Camera: Nikon D300S
Exposure: 1.3
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 200

I took this photo while setting up an experiment that hasn’t yet panned out. The idea was to set the camera up on the tripod and use the interval timer function to take time lapse style photos of the sunrise or sunset and combine the photos in Photoshop. I have made a few mistakes so far that has led to unsatisfying results, but I’ll keep trying. The reality of the experiment means I get, at most, two attempts per day. Also, it is a bit harsh on the battery, so it may be a while before I finally get what I want.

I was actually surprised at how much I enjoy this photo. The half transparent reflection in the window is kind of fun. I posed a bit to get myself into a position I enjoyed, firing the shutter with my left hand.
You can see the horizon is lined with green lights, each one representing a fishing boat starting off a night’s work.

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Taken on January 18, 2010
Camera: Nikon D300S
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/10.0
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 200

One of the interesting things about living in the tropics is that the length of the day doesn’t dramatically change. The winter has about 11 hours of daylight and the summer approaches 13 whereas Portland, Oregon ranges from 9 to 15 and a half hours of daylight.

The small change means that almost constantly throughout the year I drive to work as the sun rises and drive home as the sun sets. It’s a far cry better than driving to work in the dark and driving home in the dark, although I do miss the extremely long summer days you get in the north.

The best part, perhaps, is the beauty that the sunrise affords. I took this shot on my way to work by simply pulling off the road into the field and snapping a few shots before continuing. I think I pushed the colors a bit too hard in post processing, and the framing and shooting was rushed and the horizon line is not at a good level. I was on my way to work after all.

Still, It’s a Thai sunrise over tapioca fields with a few scattered palm trees providing extra tropical feel.