DOING, A WHAT COMES NATURALLY

SUNSET COLORS AT THE ARCATA MARSH, 2012

I cannot imagine any thing that I would rather do than to create these images. I feel that I am in the flow. Each time I create a new image I feel more so. I think that acts of creating are one of the higher forms of prayer/meditation. I think that by doing so in what ever format we use that we come closer to manifesting our true nature and purpose in life.

MONUMENT TO THE ANCESTOR TREES, ARCATA, JULY 2012

This is an image that I took last night in the evening. It is a composite of about ten images that were processed HDR and then stitched. This is as close as I ever got to fulfilling my vision of these "ghost snags". I first photographed them in the mid 1980's with my four-by-five, but I was never able to get all of the data that was on the negatives to the final prints. I think I am feeling a compulsion to process this as a black and white to see how it compares with my film negatives.

DOORS, WALLS, AND WINDOWS TO THE SOUL?

RED AND YELLOW, BLACK AND WHITE, EUREKA JULY 2012

I am attempting to conger up something profound to say, and to perhaps even answer some of life's more elusive and meaningful questions. Maybe, just maybe, I did so in the above image. I think I must print it in order to better digest any message that is hidden in this simple composition.

THE EUREKA PROJECT

THE EUREKA THEATER, 2012

I took this photograph in April. I am playing with the composition. I was going to remove that lamp from the edge, but then I got to wondering if leaving it could add to the overall quality of the composition. As I write this I think that it could if there were more if it.  What to do?

LOVING THOSE SKIES

SUNSET AT PRAIRIE CREEK, 2011

I can save you the trouble of asking about this composition - it is bland for my tastes, but I just love the sky. The sky is the only reason I took this image, and that in itself is reason enough. As with others that I shared lately, this image is a composite of three exposures processed as HDR in Photoshop CS4 then worked in Lightroom 4 - a clean and simple process that I have taken to with gusto. This image could have used three more exposures for the trees. My camera will only bracket three at a time, so I need to do it manually or I need to buy a nice add on device for my camera that will automate the process.

MORE BUCK MOUNTAIN SCHOOL

BUCK MOUNTAIN SCHOOL, JULY 2012

This image is another composite of nine or more images that were first processed as HDR and then as a vertical panorama. I am using this technique to give my images a fuller range of light, and a larger field of view.

SECOND LIFE

Hammond Trail Bridge on the Mad River, July, 1012

This  former railroad trestle is serving as a vital link for hikers and bicyclists wishing to avoid highway 101. I rode over this bridge dozens of time back when I commuted from home to work at the airport.

I doubt that this image would win in any juried shows, but I do think it gives a good idea of the structure. I combined nine images to create this one. All were taken with the Canon 17mm Tilt-Shift lens. I kept the camera in one spot, and moved the lens in its holder to get the different parts of the image. I took three exposures of each of the three "shifted" parts of the image. What that means is that I took -2, 0, and +2 exposures of the three  different parts. At home, I took each group of three, and processed them as "HDR" images.  I later combined or stitched the three HDR processed images into a vertical panorama in Photoshop. I took that output and processed it in Lightroom.

I hope that makes some sense. It sounds like a lot of steps, but I think it pays off. I did something similar several months ago with the image of the Eureka Inn April 17, 2012.

http://thomasbethune.blogspot.com/2012/04/one-i-finally-printed.html

GIVE ME SOME SUNSHINE

Mad River Toll House, July, 2012

This is the summer without any sun - at least so far. We sometimes get a break about an hour before sunset. That is when I found this light the other evening.

I suppose that I should not complain. Half of the county is in drought conditions, crops are failing, and people are dying in the heat. Just a few days ago we had over an inch of rain on Fickle Hill. Our lawns are still green, yet we did not water them.

I am attempting to find the silver lining (maybe I can Photoshop it in) to all this, but the gray is getting to me. Perhaps I need a road trip.

The house in the photo above is the same house I photographed about twenty years ago in B&W with my old Mamiya 645. I still have a print of that photo somewhere. In that composition there was a picket fence and a nice deciduous tree in the front yard.

VIEWLESS WINDOWS

WINDOWS WITHOUT A PURPOSE, EUREKA, JULY 2012

This is one of those images that I feel must speak for itself. I cannot tell you why I found it interesting without just pointing to it. It is not pretty, colorful, nor dynamic, but there is something to the overall picture that I find worthy of my time and energy.

A RAINY SUMMER MORNING

47 WEST 4TH, EUREKA, JULY 2012

I took this photograph a week ago on my Sunday morning outing to Eureka's west side. Several artist friends have suggested that I work this building, and so I have. What looks like bricks is actually a rolled tar-paper siding that is much like rolled roofing. You can see the pattern of vertical lines that mark the joints that are spaced about every three feet.

WORK IN PROGRESS

THE HAMMOND TRAIL BRIDGE AT THE MAD RIVER, JULY 2012

I am participating in a group exhibit that is featuring aspects of the Mad River. I took this image last night. The overcast parted for a short while, and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

ONE ROOM SCHOOLS

BUCK MOUNTAIN SCHOOL, JULY 2012

This image is a composite of three images. I processed this using Hal's Poor-man's HDR technique. The school is actually leaning more than this, but it looked unnatural in the orientation in which it actually sits.

I am working more and more with this method of expanding the dynamic range of my images. I am quite excited about applying these techniques to some images from the forest that I have studied for years. 

A LITTLE MORE OF EUREKA

BUS STOP, EUREKA, JULY 2012

I first saw this photograph several days before I took it. In fact, I almost missed it again as I was driving home from photographing. I hand-held the camera for this one. I do so much appreciate image stabilization for times like this.

EARLY MORNING IN EUREKA

TIRE SHOP, OR GREY ON GRAY, EUREKA, JULY 2012

Here is another image from my outing two days ago. I was and am still, drawn to the simplicity of the composition, and the limited color palette.This is a combination of three images. I did so in order to expand the dynamic range.

EMPTY PARKING LOT AT THE CO-OP

THE EUREKA CO-OP, JULY 2012

I took this photograph yesterday morning. I had been photographing for at least an hour, and just by chance recalled that I always wanted a photograph of the Co-Op. I never thought that I would find the lot empty, and the lighting "just right".

This is a composite of three images processed in Photoshop as HDR. I then worked the  merged image in Lightroom.

EARLY MORNING IN EUREKA

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE, EUREKA, JULY 2012

I finally went out photographing. I worked the extreme west end of downtown this morning at about five. I did not do anything to this image yet, but I think it has potential. I will re-post it after I work on it.

TAKING A LITTLE BREAK

THE SLIM PRINCESS, LAWS, CA 2008

I probably shared this image before - I just thought that I should put something up!

I have works at several locations for Arts Alive tomorrow evening. I have half a dozen photographs downstairs in the Morris Graves, two works at the RAA Gallery, and a couple of pieces at the Hagopian Gallery inside the main Library.

Hopefully I will see some of you tomorrow evening.

I CANNOT BELEIVE THAT IT IS JULY ALREADY

CATCH OF THE DAY, 2010

This photograph is one that I thought was a good one, but the more I look at it, the less I think of it. I do not know if it is worthy. I have shown it, and I do not think anyone has given me any feedback.