An alternate universe?

An alternate universe?, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

And now for something completely different....

I always find Segway tourism to be a bit strange, but I suppose it has its attractions. Being able to cover a lot of area without too much physical effort would be quite attractive to many American tourists. Maybe I'll try a segway sometime. There's a faculty member on campus who commutes between west and main campus via this strange mode of transportation. Maybe it's actually fun?

Mount Cadillac

Mount Cadillac, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Steve and I had a brief visit to Acadia National Park while we were in Maine. The park is advertised as the place where the mountains meet the sea. The park was shaped by glaciation, and it's interesting to see the lay of the land.

One of the things we wanted to do while visiting the park was to go up on top of Mount Cadillac. There's a road that goes to the top. The view of the surrounding area is supposed to be spectacular. However, we visited it while it was covered in a cloud and the wind was blowing very hard. We didn't mind too much, because, photographically speaking, these conditions are much more interesting than bright blue skies in the middle of the day.

The granite is covered in interesting patterns of lichens, and the vegetation is subalpine, even though the elevation isn't all that high. We definitely need to go back for a longer visit.

Salt Pond

Salt Pond, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Steve and I discovered a gem on the coast of Maine as we were exploring the Pemaquid Peninsula. This is called "Salt Pond" and it's a large tidepool where Rachel Carson explored the intertidal zone as part of her research for her book, "The Edge of the Sea."

Row boat reflection

Row boat reflection, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Another picture from Maine - this one is from a place called Ducktrap, which is just north of Lincolnville Beach.

Blue Hour

Blue Hour, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Photographers often aim for the golden light of late afternoon or early morning, or the beautiful warm glow of sunrise and sunset. However, there is another magic time of day just before sunrise and after sunset, but after or before total darkness sets in. This time of day is known as the blue hour and the color tones are usually in the blues, pinks, and purples.

This photo is from a few days ago while Steve and I were staying at The Spouter Inn in Linconville Beach, Maine. We sat on a wall above the sand to watch the play of light on the bay.

Camden Harbor

Camden Harbor, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Coastal Maine is chock full of small, interesting harbor towns. This is a picture from Camden, which is in the mid-coast region of Maine. Some of the coastal towns have luxury sailboats and schooners - some as private vessels, some for tourism. Other coastal towns have working harbors - catering to the lobster industry. Each harbor has a unique personality, and all are interesting to photograph.

Stairway at Fort Knox, Maine

Stairway at Fort Knox, Maine, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Long exposure photographs can be very challenging. I use a Canon 7D camera, and its low-light capabilities are not so good. To overcome the noise, I did a 25 second exposure of this naturally lit stairway. A tripod is essential, of course, as is not touching the camera at all during the exposure. The 7D has a 2 second delay for such challenges. Worked like a charm, I think.

Portland Head Lighthouse - again

Portland Head Lighthouse, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

This lighthouse is so photogenic that I can't help but post another sunrise picture. This one was done with my Tokina 11 - 16 mm lens, which I proceeded to break that morning. Damn! However, I was able to find a replacement lens that was shipped overnight to me, so now I have a new lens and will have a spare after sending in the first one for repair.

Sunrise at Portland Head Lighthouse

Sunrise at Portland Head Lighthouse, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Another view of the Portland Head lighthouse at dawn. The goldenrod in the foreground add a lot of visual interest, I think.

Portland Head Lighthouse

Portland Head Lighthouse, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Sunrise on the coast of Maine is beautiful, especially when there is a photogenic object to capture. This is allegedly one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world. I believe it - it's one of the most beautiful and beautifully located ones I've ever seen. There were quite a few photographers out there to capture this particular sunrise.

Reflections

Reflections, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

My photographic themes tend to be focused (pun intended) on nature or special events. However, once-in-awhile I like to capture urban scenes and architecture. This reflection pattern and the two contrasting buildings standing across the street from one another made an interesting photographic study for me.

Shadow and light

Shadow and light, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Early morning light is always interesting. When I see a patch of light in a shaded forest, my eyes are immediately drawn to the spot. There's an aura of mystery about shadows and light, especially at the crack of dawn.

Cape Perpetua

Cape Perpetua , a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

I previously posted a picture of this scene in black and white, processed using SilverEfexPro. I reprocessed it in color to bring out the details I had tried to capture in B&W. I may process this version in black and white to see how different it looks.

Learning to use processing software is an ongoing endeavor.

Misty forest

Misty forest, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Cape Perpetua is a treasure trove of beautiful scenery. The Sitka spruce forest there is not old growth, although there are a few old trees scattered in and amongst some of the groves. However, where the forest has been protected in state parks and nature reserves, one can get a glimpse of the natural forest of the Pacific coast such as in this photo from July 7, 2011.

Dublin Irish Festival 2011 - Session 3

And here's the last of my session videos, featuring John Doyle doing a fun song.

Dublin Irish Festival 2011 - Session 2

Here's another great session video from that Sunday afternoon rainstorm delay:

The Elders

The Elders, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Another concert pic from the Dublin Irish Festival 2011. Steve Phillips and Tommy Sutherland of The Elders in concert on the Celtic Rock stage on Friday night. For more images from this year's festival see: http://wolfe0823.zenfolio.com/p681200453

Newport bridge

Newport bridge, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Another in my series of photos of this bridge from July 6, 2011.

Open wide.....

Open wide....., a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Penstemon speciosus detail showing the anther morphology. This is a species in the Habroanthus group. The anthers dehisce from the distal ends but not across the connective.

Penstemon anguineus

Penstemon anguineus, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

This is one of the penstemons seen on the American Penstemon Society meeting trips. The glandular hairs are very distinctive in this species.

Dublin Irish Festival 2011 - Session 1

Another session video from Sunday, August 7, 2011 at the Dublin Irish Festival.

Dublin Irish Festival 2011 - session video 4 (but first posting)

One of the videos I recorded from the most amazing session of the Dublin Irish Festival - all because of a huge thunderstorm, which caused the suspension of festival operations for a couple of hours.

Working hands

Slide in concert at Byrne's Pub, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

For some reason I like to photograph hands at work. Maybe it's because I enjoy working with my hands and am interested in what others are doing - making objects, playing instruments, exploring the world around us. Here's a series of photographs of hands.  The image above is of Colm Delaney's hands while he's playing concertina.



Debbie from Killashandra playing harp at the Dublin Irish Festival 2010.



Another one from Dublin Irish Festival 2010.



A stone carver at the Dublin Irish Festival 2010.



Michael Hosaluk at the lathe.



Exploration of a Bill Luce bowl by a blind man; AAW symposium 2011.



Session with the blind at AAW symposium 2011.

Brendan Holmes - Young Dubliners

Another Dublin Irish Festival 2011 image. I really, REALLY! like doing photography at the Celtic Rock stage. The lighting is awesome, and the special effects amplify that quite well.

Dublin Irish fest teaser

Gaelic Storm, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

It will take a long time for me to sort through my photos and videos from this past weekend. However, here are a few that I've already processed, starting with Steve Twigger of Gaelic Storm.

The festival was awesome, as usual. We did have a bit of a challenge with a big storm yesterday afternoon. However, I have about a half an hour of cool videos of the best session in the region. I'll be posting those on YouTube this week and linking here on the blog.



This is Brendan Holmes from the Young Dubliners. I'm finding that I really enjoy doing photography at the Celtic Rock stage. Brendan struck up a conversation with me about the lens I had on my camera. It turns out that he's a Canon shooter, too, and I had my Canon EF 70-200 mm f/2.8 L lens on my 7D. Surprisingly, that lens attracted a lot of conversations with band members, sound crew and others associated with the rock stage. A bonus, for sure.

Tommy Sutherland of the Elders. He is definitely passionate about the music.

Gaelic Storm

Gaelic Storm , a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Dublin Irish Festival 2011 began on Friday, August 5. My band had an early evening stage time, which went well. For the rest of the evening I did a bit of roving photography. This is one of my favorite photos of the evening - Gaelic Storm on the Celtic Rock stage.

A Dodge Ford - a new American auto

A Dodge Ford - a new American auto, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Cave Junction, Oregon. There's an interesting wood burl lot that has an assortment of fun sculptures that qualify as yard art. Out on Highway 199 there sits an old jalopy with a sign to advertise the store. I'm always interested in seeing jalopies and taking some photos of them. Imagine my surprise, then, when I did my standard "front grill" shot and found that this particular jalopy is a hybrid between two American manufacturers. I should have spent some time inspecting the rest of the rig to see if "Chevrolet" was also part of this display.

My dad collected old Studebaker pick-up trucks and I well remember those Sunday drives dedicated to prospecting for junkers to salvage. He used to tow the jalopies home and cannibalize them for parts to restore other Studebakers. Our back yard often resembled a junk yard, but it sure made for some great hiding places for hide-and-go-seek games with the neighborhood kids.

Tiger Lily

Tiger Lily, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Tiger Lily

Walter Adolphe Roberts


GRAY are the gardens of our Celtic lands,
Dreaming and gray,
Tended by the devotion of pale hands,
On barren crags, or by disastrous sands,
That night and day
Are drenched with bitter spray.
There rosemary and thyme are plentiful,
Larkspur that lovers cull,
Love-in-the-mist that is most sorrowful.
Flowers so wistful that our teardrops start….
Scarcely one understands that regal, rare,
Bravely the tiger lily blossoms there,
Bravely apart.

Our gardens are enamored of the spring,
Of silver rain,
The cloudy green of buds slow-burgeoning,
The sorrow of last apple blooms that cling
And are not fain
To yield their fruit again.
We do not long for tropic pageantry,
Yet surge with love to see
The tiger lily’s muted ecstasy.
Watered by mist and lashed by wind-blown rime,
She is no alien thing; but vivid, free,
She has no heed for paler rosemary,
Larkspur or thyme.

It is in vain they worship her who knows
Pity nor pride.
Their petals whirl down every wind that goes
South to the palms or northward to the snows,
Mourning they died
So distant from her side.
But the brave tiger lily blossoms on,
Never to be undone
Till the last rosemary and thyme are gone.
Tattered by autumn storms, she will not fling
Herself to sullen foes. The winter rain
Alone can beat her down, to bloom again
Spring after spring."

Ainslee’s Magazine

William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. (1878–1962).  Anthology of Magazine Verse for 1920.

Mysteries of the spruce forest

Mysteries of the spruce forest, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

I can only imagine what the primeval forests of the Pacific northwest were like before the European invasion of the continent. When I was a small child there were still some pristine forests in the coast range of Oregon. They're all gone now and all we have left are some patches of old growth scattered amongst the checkerboard of secondary and tertiary growth plantations.

When I encounter one of these old growth groves the hairs on the back of my neck rise up, and I feel a thrill of adventure in imagining what's lurking under the ferns and in the understory layers. We need our forests to be intact as shelters and cradles for biodiversity. Maybe mankind will eventually learn how to balance civilization with nature. One can hope.

Iris

Iris, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Steve spotted this lovely iris growing on a decaying stump of Sitka spruce along a trail at Cape Perpetua. In the muted greens and browns of the forest, this bright flower was a jewel.

Slide in concert at Byrne's Pub

Slide in concert at Byrne's Pub, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Last Tuesday Slide did a pub concert - a very rare appearance since they are usually playing festivals and concert halls. They are a high energy group with such a tight repertoire, and always entertaining.

Dave Curley is the vocalist for Slide.  He also plays guitar, mandolin and bodhran.

Here's the line-up for the Byrne's pub gig: L to R: Colm Delaney, Dave Curley, Éamonn de Barra, Daire Bracken and Mick Broderick.

Daire is a fiddler who can play whilst bouncing all around the stage.  I enjoyed watching the interaction he had with each of the band members.

Éamonn plays flute, tin whistle, keyboard, and bodhran. 

High energy, great playing, nice repertoire, and lots of interaction with the audience - an excellent combination for a band. 










I've posted additional pictures from the concert here: Slide in concert at Byrne's Pub.