The Appalachians aren’t my favorite mountain range but they’re in the top 5. The vistas from the AT are pretty spectacular.
Target Practice
A driving range isn’t complete without a car husk at 200 yards. There’s some sort of great driving/driving range pun to be made here.
Hanging out in Ski Country
Northern Vermont is a magnificent place in the winter: skiing, hot cocoa, quaint inns, etc. This warm winter has left those skiers waiting for the actual snow to arrive, however.
Last Light on a River
Continuing my exploration of the capabilities of Aurora HDR from Wednesday, I processed this image from high above central Pennsylvania after sunset using that software and the Noiseless CK package to unbelievable results—that is, I literally could not have achieved this image with an acceptable level of noise using my earlier workflow. Though it’s still not perfect, I can’t stop examining the path of that river, lit by the last few photons of the day.
Appalachian Horizons
The views from the Roan highlands are really something else.
Portland Pearl Aurora
This is more than a vibrant, glowing, living moment of late-night city life from the Pearl District of Portland, Oregon; this picture is the first I’ve ever processed with a new piece of software, Aurora HDR. It was processed only with Aurora, with no other fiddling in other programs. (As you may know, I’m typically a die-hard Photomatix+Photoshop workflow guy.) I’m not sure what place Aurora will have in my workflow long-term, but I have to at least say this: its noise reduction algorithms are by far the best I’ve ever seen. (Noise is the main enemy of good HDR shots.) I’ll bring you a longer report when I’ve had more seat time with it.
Appalachian Rocks
You don’t have to pass through these rocks on the Appalachian trail in the Grayson Highlands, but its a lot more fun if you do.
Golden Flare Over Lombard Street
The golden flares of sunset in San Francisco amp up the unreal qualities of the place. That wacky Lombard Street is only the third or fourth most interesting thing about the picture speaks to the profound weirdness. I hope the homogenizing influence of extreme wealth doesn’t change it too much.
Aboard the Fairmont
The odd second-floor lobby of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle, Washington (it’s actually a challenge to find it) reminds me of nothing so much as the Grand Staircase of the Titanic—equally classy, but evidently not equally doomed.
Trail Buddies
Another shot of the ponies in the Grayson Highlands in southwest Virgina. These ones came up shamelessly begging for food (which, as per the signs posted, we declined to provide). When we declined to feed them they ambled on their merry way.
Columbus Nightfield
Rainy nights make for the best hotel stays; when the city is a strange mix of old brick and modern blah* (hello, Columbus!), a cloudy sky lit by unnatural light matches the alienating mood.
*Where “blah” = solid but uninspired office buildings.
Sailing
It’s not hard to imagine why folks would go out sailing on a nice day like this on pictured here in the Bay Area.
Other Barrels
Aging can be kind of an eerie process, and the rugged steel and green lighting of this other room beyond Woodford Reserve’s standard aging racks certainly emphasizes that. Even if the whiskey is tasty, green lighting proves to be too sinister to resist.
Sneaking Up On the Transamerica Pyramid
The side streets of San Francisco let the sneaky photographer creep up on an unsuspecting building. The tallest building in the skyline looks oddly small in this context. I particularly like the details at street level—restaurants, people, and signs, all a world apart from the geometric perfection of the pyramid.
The Club
The Club has two jobs: one part family-friendly restaurant for the community, and one part standard bar. I’m just sad that they stopped having Newcastle on tap.
Decaseconds 