My Backyard

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Written on 2/26/2008 by Alan


This is the current state of my backyard. To be more accurate, I should say that this was the state of my backyard yesterday early afternoon. Since then I have developed 2 sinkholes that water keeps pouring into. Where it is going, I have no idea. I have clogged the sinkholes multiple times, but they keep coming back. I hope my house doesn't wash away.

Needless to say, I'm not happy with the builder and their lack of sound landscaping architecture. I'm not the only one in my neighborhood with this problem. In fact, I was lucky and only got a little water in my house from this problem. The neighbor on the next street over had his entire basement flooded.

-- Nikon D80, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, 1/125 at f/5.6, 18mm

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Near or far?

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Written on 2/24/2008 by Alan


I decided to take some more photos of the V-day flowers. Here is one exposure where I tried zooming in during the shot. What do you think?

-- Nikon D80, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, 10 at f/13

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V-day is done

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Written on 2/21/2008 by Alan


-- Nikon D80, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, 7.1 at f/13, 105mm

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Jeeps help everyone

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Written on 2/20/2008 by Alan


I posted a short blurb about this photo on my flickr page. This photo was taken for the 2005 Jeep 4x4 Geocaching Challenge. To enter the contest, I first had to find a white Jeep TravelBug. A TravelBug is a geocaching term for an object that is trackable as it moves around the world. So, I found the white Jeep that you see in the picture while on a romantic getaway with my wife in Jackson, Wyoming. (yes, my wife humors me and will go geocaching with me about anywhere we go).

Once I had the "bug" it was only a matter of composing a photo. The theme of the month was "tow package" and I had to take a picture of the Jeep towing something. I thought of the idea of pulling a Hummer since Hummers were all the rave at the time. I took a few minutes in my front yard plucking branches off of trees and planting them into the dirt so they would appear as mini trees. Then I added some water to the already wet soil to make a little mud hole. After running the Jeep through the mudhole a few times, it was nicely splashed with mud. I did the same for the Hummer, and then left it in the middle of the mudhole.

Then I pulled out my trusty rusty point and shoot and fired a few shots. For this contest, photos had to be completely unaltered, straight out of the camera, so I did no touchup.

In the end, I think it was my photo tagline that won the contest for me: "Jeeps help everyone." I'm not complaining, I picked up a new GPS unit and eventually a 4x4 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. The prize was supposed to be a 4x2 Jeep Commander Limited. I think the Commander is sweet, but a 4x2 just doesn't cut it in Utah. I ended up selling it anyway to pay for my MBA degree, but it was very worth the few minutes it took to make this exposure.

To whom it may concern, this photo is legally the property of Daimler/Chrysler or whatever they are called now.

--Pentax Optio 555, 1/100 at f/3.2, 10.9mm

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Snowed in

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Written on 2/19/2008 by Alan


-- Nikon D80, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, 1/80 at f/10, 26mm

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Grove of Trees - takes 2 and 3

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Written on 2/14/2008 by Alan

I received two very useful comments about my last post. I'd first like to thank both readers for their comments. This blog is helping me learn about photography, and that's exactly what their comments are helping me with.

The first comment was that the photography lacked contrast. I played with the contrast setting and got the following result. Better?


The next comment addressed my choice of creative coloring. I used the cyanotype preset in Adobe Lightroom to get the bluish tones. I removed the cyanotype and boosted the contrast for the following result.


So, what do you think?

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Grove of trees

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Written on 2/12/2008 by Alan


Admittedly, I was trying to be a bit artistic on this one. I've seen so many shots of tree groves that look really great and I thought I'd take a crack at it. How'd I do?

-- Nikon D80, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, 1/40 at f/16, 135mm

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Up THAT hill?

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Written on 2/11/2008 by Alan


-- Nikon D80, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, 1/100 at f/16, 80mm

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Run aground

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Written on 2/08/2008 by Alan


I have no idea how he got stuck here. He doesn't get stuck often, although in our new house he has outsmarted us a few times. Also, notice the fuzzy "winter coat" that he has acquired from the new carpet.

-- Nikon D80, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, 1/5 at f/5.6, 70mm

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Too late for Christmas

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Written on 2/07/2008 by Alan


-- Nikon D80, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, 1/80 at f/16, 35mm

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Straight up

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Written on 2/05/2008 by Alan


-- Nikon D80, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, 1/25 at f/11, 18mm

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Snowshoe trail

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Written on 2/04/2008 by Alan


I spent last Friday snowshoeing up at Solitude. The snowshoe trail was clearly marked with these signs and blue tape. Because of the recent heavy snowfall and they ungroomed trail, I made it to this point (about a hundred yards from the start) and wondered how I was going to make it the rest of the way. I thought snowshoes were supposed to help you "float" on top of the snow. I was knee deep all day.

-- Nikon D80, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, 1/500 at f/5, 40mm

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Watch where you are driving

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Written on 2/03/2008 by Alan


This is from a recent snowshoeing trip. I was surprised to see so much traffic in the canyon on a Friday. This is one of the photos I took in between wipes of the windshield wipers. I had to time my shots soon after the wipe or the glass would quickly be covered in snow. This is one of the shots that I "missed" and I liked how it turned out.

-- Nikon D80, 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, 1/80 at f/11, 70mm

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