BCPB#4: More Lessons from the desert

NANPA Summit and Joshua Tree NP were my focus for last week. Our tour for NANPA into JTNP went well with Rob Shepperd, Jim Clark and myself. It was lot's of fun to share that area with other photographers and especially help them out in the evening learning about light painting. I'm hoping to get images back from everyone and create a slide show to demonstrate their creativity.
Speaking of creativity, after I thawed out a bit (it was 7 degrees F one morning in JT), I was exploring different ways to express the feeling I had being in the desert with the Joshua Trees. I decided to walk around with a 12-24mm Wide Angle lens and try different looks. I was walking around helping participants on our morning shoot when I thought about getting really close to the trunk of the Joshua Tree and shooting up against the blue sky. Blue sky is need for this kind of image so the "tree limbs" don't get lost in the sky. I was rather happy with this view of the Joshua Tree because it is different from most of the views you normally see.
NANPA was a blast and is scheduled of Destin, FL next year at the end of Feb/ beginning of March. I am proud to be a member and tell people that NANPA is like a family and every year I go to the Summit, my "family" gets bigger as I meet more people. This year was no different and I got to meet some really nice people and have more to put in my list of friends. If you get a chance, check out NANPA at www.nanpa.org.

I'll be posting a light painting from JT later this week and describing the technique.

Bill

BCPB #3: Lessons from the desert

NANPA is in Palm Springs, CA this year and I just finished leading a tour for the pre Summit with Jim Clark and Rob Sheppard. We scouted for a couple of days looking for the right location for 30+ people to shoot. I arrived to record cold in the CA Mojave desert with Sunday morning getting down to 10 degrees by the thermometer on my car. My personal goal was to find a way to represent the wild beauty of this Mojave wilderness that is rock and sand and Joshua Trees. Naturalist tip: Joshua Trees ( Yucca brevifolia) is actually a yucca and not a tree or cactus. It belongs in the Lily family which has surprised a number of people. I finally decided to do some light painting at sunset to show off the trees. Light painting is easy and fun and I will write about it later. If your interested in more light painting, go to Dave Black's website at www.daveblackphotography.com. I hope to take back some spectacular images to show to my family to make up for missing Luke's 14th birthday.

More later from NANPA. -- Bill

BCPB #2: Never wait till later

I woke up this morning to my wife saying it was snowing and it was a good chance to get some snow images on the Cumberland Plateau. I got ready and snow was still coming down hard with already an inch or so on the ground. As I walked out the door, at least 6 male cardinals were sitting in one of our trees, waiting their turn at the feeder. I weighed my options and decided to get some images of the birds in the snow. After an hour, I packed everything up, got in the Suburban, and headed toward Wartburg and the Cumberland Trail. By the time I got to Coalfield (half way there), there was no snow and it was starting to rain. I was really glad that I had stopped to get some images while it was still snowing. This brings up one of my credo, whenever an image or situtation presents itself, never say-"I'll shoot this later." Because later may never come. The light will be different, your subject might be gone, the snow might have melted (as it did by the time I got back to Oak Ridge). Rule #1, if you see something worth taking a picture of, stop and get your image because you may never get a second chance.

Bill

January 7, 2007

As the holidays come to a close and I prepare to depart to CA for NANPA's yearly summit, I thought I would share a few interesting tidbits I picked up. Since Santa was so good to me and I am now a proud owner of a iPod 30g video (Actually this is a BirdPod, but more on that in a later post), I wanted to share some cool things that iPod videos will do. With the latest version of ProShow Gold 3.0, you can convert your slide shows to a version that can be displayed on an iPod. You can then share it with others on a TV (or projector) with the iPod AV Cable. For instructions on how to convert your slide show to your iPod, go to http://www.photodex.com/training/howto/feature.html. Once you have your slide show on your iPod, connect your cables to your TV. If you just try to play the slide show, you will hear the music, but not see any images. Now go to your iPod>Video>Video Settings>TV Out and click in "on". Now you can play your ProShow Gold slide show from your iPod and share it with several people on a TV. If you want to see this in action, see me at NANPA and I will show you. For info on NANPA (North American Nature Photography Assoc) go to www.nanpa.org.
Until next time, enjoy any time you get to shoot.