First Light of the Week

Today I actually got up for first light without the motivation of people waiting for me.  I even woke before the alarm.
Without a solid plan, I headed north on 395 looking for an interesting foreground for the fine Sierra background.  Before long, and well before dawn, I found myself in Manzanar tromping around on the north end between blocks 26 and 27.

First light on Mount Williamson from Block 26, Manzanar

Me looking very self-satisfied

I set up and waited for the light on the mountains. Then, I followed its progress down the mountain and across the valley until it finally reached the cottonwood remains of a Manzanar garden.
After capturing the image below I had trouble moving on - which is to say getting back in the red Jeep and preparing for the drive to Los Angeles.


First light on Block 27, Manzanar with a view of Mount Williamson

I dawdled. I set up a couple of detail shots. I poked around and finally got in the Jeep, only to stop again on the access road for George's Creek. That's a great location and I think there will be photos posted from that stop. And return visits, too.

No more stops before I got to Lone Pine, but now I am sitting in my Timberline Motel room and blogging.

I gotta go.

Chasing Ansel Adams

After a blizzard of emails, much speculation, internet and print research, map study and exploration by various members, this gang of Ansel Adams fans visited the spot where he made the negative that would become Mount Williamson From Manzanar.

 

There will never be another one just like it but here is my quick study, after Ansel Adams. Of course, the day was crystal clear and my negative was actually a digital file and color, too. Still, it was a great thing to stand there and wonder what it was that told Ansel to stop here and look for a shot.

 

There is a register at this site where visitors can leave their names.  In the 10 days before our visit, John Sexton and Alan Ross had stopped by and dropped in their cards. Stu Levy visited earlier in October, too. We are in good company (albeit remotely).

 

I'm hoping to get some images from the gang to share, so keep an eye out.

 

Editor's note: Allan sent along a link to a wonderful 360 degree pan made as I was composing our group shot.  Check it out.

 

References: 

Ansel Adams

    Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs

    Photographs of Manzanar

Another Oregon Snap

My last outing was in Oregon.  This shot is from Bandon Beach.
Tomorrow evening, I'm heading to Lone Pine for an Owens Valley photo outing. More details, next post.

Have a look at my Oregon Gallery

Stormy, Bandon Beach, Oregon

 

I should be working on the budget, but it's been weeks since I returned from the Oregon Coast workshop with Don Kirby and Stu Levy (not to mention Joan Gentry).  I want, at least, to acknowledge the experience of a week under the tutelage of such excellent photographers.

I benefited from their guidance in better field procedures and in Lightroom/Photoshop workflow. I learned from every one of the fifteen or so portfolio reviews, especially my own, during which a couple of criticisms rubbed me the wrong way.  Still, I took them under advisement. For one, I was told that I turn horizontals into verticals; I am coming around to an appreciation of that crit*.

Dr. Stu gave me homework: more scanned still lifes and get out there more for landscapes. I'm taking that to heart.  The day after I came home, I made a fresh new scan of orchids. I'm not thrilled with it but it made me consider how that process works. I'll make better choices in the future.

I also scheduled a trip to the Mojave desert for the full moon in the landscape. Can't wait for that to come, so luckily some of my photo pals came up with another outing in the Owens Valley early in November.

You can see a hodgepodge of images that will prove I went to Oregon in this Oregon Gallery on Picasa.


* The photo above may be a horizontal turned into [almost] a square! Is that bad? What do you think?
I like the proportions and I wanted to draw attention to the distant scene on the horizon.  This composition reminds me of Fredric Edwin Church's view of Petra.  In the online version of Petra, the "background" is way more vibrant than I remember it from my viewing at the Huntington Library exhibition. In my mind's eye the architecture is dreamier.

Workshop Lesson



This frame was processed in Lightroom 3.0

Here I am at Stu Levy and Don Kirby's Oregon Coast Photo Workshop. Just about to leave and I wanted to get at least one post out there.
On Thursday evening, after dinner at Bandon Bill's, some of us went back to the beach for some night photography experimentation. These are two versions of the same shot, quickly and not definitively processed. Interesting, right?

This frame was processed in Windows Live Photo Gallery

Read This Essay

I commend this essay to you.  It may change your life - and your death. I've excerpted the lead here with a link to no-charge access on the WSJ website.  Be warned, the story might make you cry a little, but it has a happy ending - which is also the beginning.

The Ultimate End-of-Life Plan by Katy Butler
Wall Street Journal / The Saturday Essay / September 6, 2013

My mother died shortly before her 85th birthday, in a quiet hospital room in Connecticut. One of my brothers was down the hall, calling me in California to say, too late, that it was time to jump on a plane. We were not a perfect family. She did not die a perfect death. But she died a "good-enough" death, thanks to choices she made earlier that seemed brutal at the time.

She slept in her own bed until the night before she died. She was lucid and conscious to the end. She avoided what most fear and many ultimately suffer: dying mute, unconscious and "plugged into machines" in intensive care; or feeling the electric jolt of a cardiac defibrillator during a futile cardiopulmonary resuscitation; or dying demented in a nursing home. She died well because she was willing to die too soon rather than too late.

* * * * * *

My dad's death was similar to Mrs. Butler's - except that most of his family was timely and had spent the previous day at his bedside. He did not get his wish to die at home, but he almost did. As it went, he was comfortable and happy and the passing seems to have been painless.  Thanks to his decision to let it happen and make it happen.

I'll try to follow my Dad's good example.

Slow-Roast Brisket over Almond Wood (part 3)

Success!


The Hero Hot Links

When last I posted, I was feeling pretty confident that the brisket would be done properly. I added more heat at around 11:15 and the temperature really stabilized. After awhile, I was getting nervous about over-roasting - my Mom was on the phone telling me I should check the temperature. But I didn't want to start poking lots of holes in the meat. Finally at about 11:45, I gave in  and checked the temp. It was well past my target 145° so I pulled it off and whisked it into the kitchen.  I shifted the meat to a baking stone to rest so I could re-position the grill again quickly.
The hot links took the brisket's place and roasted on the residual embers. If I'd had any fresh peaches or pineapple, I would have added those to the edges over the coals. It seemed such a waste not to have more on the grill now that the fire was so perfect and the smoke smelled so sweet.
Back in the kitchen, I sliced into the brisket, pulled off a slice and posed it for this picture, then ate it up. 
Tender and delicious - but, oh my, too salty!


The Finished Brisket

I was immediately grateful that I had my back-up links and plentiful sides...I wondered what I was going to do with six pounds of salty beef...I could slice it really thin and call it bacon...and most of all, I really hoped that the moment's rest atop the brisket had "contaminated" that tasting slice.
In the end, it was all good. The brisket rested all afternoon. My friends arrived promptly and we sipped margaritas and Mexican Coke and munched peach salsa and chips in the garden. When we sliced up the brisket and links and sat down for the real test - we were all smiles.  Happy munching all around the table. And to capit off, we had Phill and Annmarie's killer Goat Cheese Cake with Tequila-Pineapple Jam. It was all too delicious to think about making a picture.

An interesting thing happened after my guests departed for the long drive home. I was cleaning up the kitchen (a simple task because of all the advance preparation) and revisiting the flavors of the evening as I packed leftovers for storage, sopping out this and that serving bowl with leftover slices of baguette. There was the foil "tray" that had held the brisket on the grill and captured the jus. It was black and brown and greasy and I started picking at the burned bits and swiping at the brown residue. They were umami treats.

On Monday, Janet John and I trotted out the same dishes for lunch under the jacaranda tree with our neighbor, another John. It was all still good. This  time, we finished with figs from the tree just behind me, a perfect light dessert. But, inside cleaning up, I missed the cake.