Solstice Lunar Eclipse

All day long it did not look very hopeful for a view of the lunar eclipse on the solstice, an extremely rare celestial event. Thick flannel gray clouds blanketed Flagstaff's skies and an astronomer friend said that the forecast wasn't good. But we stayed up late (not easy for us old folks) and kept checking outside. Amazingly, as the shadow of the Earth slowly began to slide across the face of the moon, the clouds thinned enough for a most spectacular sight.

As you may remember from an earlier post, photographing the moon usually takes a normal daylight exposure since it IS the sun illuminating the lunar surface. However during an eclipse, the range of brightness is so extreme between the shadow and unshadowed areas that it is difficult to get a good exposure without resorting to High Dynamic Range techniques ( something to be discussed in a future blog - it's where several images are taken at different exposures and then combined using software). Additionally, once the shadow covers the moon, the light is pretty dim, requiring a much longer exposure. To keep it simple while I was outside in my pjs, I waited until totality was almost complete and then bracketed my shots. The best turned out to be .6 seconds @ f2.8; ISO 800.

Happy Holidays and Good Shooting (with a camera)! :-)

Old Roads

Ever try to photograph a thousand-year-old road in the desert? The ancient Anasazi built a system of "roads" in the eleventh and twelve centuries, even though they did not have wheeled vehicles nor large beasts of burden. Their purpose remains a mystery. Until fairly recently, archaeologists believed that these roads were restricted to the Chaco Canyon area in northern New Mexico. However, several Bluff, Utah archaeologists have been discovering a number of Chaco roads and Chaco-style features, such as Great Houses, in southeast Utah.

One road northwest of Bluff is exceptionally distinct from the air at sunrise and sunset when it casts a straight shadow across the desert floor. Yet from ground level, it is quite faint. The folks and dog in the foreground are standing on the road and if you look closely another person is in the upper left distance, also on the trace of the road.

Following it southeast, one comes to a set of remarkable steps dropping into a canyon. Whether or not these were carved by the ancient ones or "improved" later by cowboys, is still an unanswered question.

Bluff Arts Festival

October 22-23 was the annual Bluff Arts Festival. Kate Aitchison and Ann Kramer were two of the featured artists at the Cow Canyon Trading Post. Kate was showing her unique monotype prints, and Ann had a number of pieces made from recycled materials, such as coffee bags, bottles caps, and felted wool from old sweaters.

Bluff's first film fest was held Friday night, including a video about Katie Lee. Well-respected painter Shonto Begay was the festival's keynote speaker. An art walk on Saturday afternoon showed visitors the impressive diversity of artists associated with little Bluff City.

Additionally, art workshops were held each day. I got involved by teaching a digital photo class on Sunday morning. Don't miss next year's art festival. Go to www.bluffutah.org to see what events are coming up.

National Geographic Society

In mid-October, I had the great opportunity to participate in a three-day workshop for photo instructors put on by Lindblad Expeditions and held at National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C. It's not easy getting about 30 Lindblad staff together in one place at the same time. Some of us have been instructors for years while others were new at teaching photography. But it was a wonderful learning experience for all of us and, of course, lots of fun to see old friends and make new ones.

Gil Grosvenor, chairman of NGS, welcomed us the first morning. A Grosvenor has been involved with the society for more than 120 years...quite a legacy.

Then we began our workshop. I was definitely outnumbered by Mac users, but hey, I can buy several PCs for one Mac. At lunch, we tried to duplicate an historic painting showing the founders of NGS, including Alexander Graham Bell, John Wesley Powell, and C. Hart Merriam. Thanks to Lindblad Costa Rica staff member Willy Alfaro Cervantes for providing the sepia image. Later, we had a tour of the "basement," where a team of young engineers invent various ways to attach cameras to wild animals (critter cams) or vehicles to explore hostile environments, like the sea floor. What a fun job!

After three days, we were designated Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic Certified Photographic Instructors. Whew. Sort of a long title, but you can just call me "The Photo Guy".

On the Rainbow Trail

Where does the time go? I have been very negligent in posting to the blog. Summer has been just too much fun.

Recently, we made a llama trek to Rainbow Bridge. We followed the old 1909 Discovery Trail, "pioneered" by trader John Wetherill. I have "pioneered" in quotes because Navajos, Utes, and Paiutes and earlier native Americans had already been to this largest of the world's natural bridges. Also, prospectors were in the area at least by the late 1880s. There is also good evidence that savvy Wetherill had actually scouted out the route during the winter of 1908-09 so that he could be sure to lead his main employer at the time, archaeologist Byran Cummings, to the bridge for the official "discovery" in August of 1909.

Though the bridge can be easily reached by boat on Lake Powell, this trail around the north side of Navajo Mountain remains one of my all time favorites.

This is an unabashed announcement of my latest attempt at writing non-fiction. The University of Arizona Press is publishing this natural history book in November. But if you call them at 1-800-426-3797 or go to their website, www.uapress.arizona.edu, and use the code "FLR", you can get the book for 20% off. Such a deal!

Celestial Sights

Shoot the moon and stars. It's a blast. Remember that the moon is lit by the sun so to record detail of the moon's surface generally requires a normal daylight exposure. Anything longer will yield a burned out white disk.

For stars, put your camera on a tripod, boost the ISO (try 800 or higher), open the lens to a large f-stop, and set the aperture on Bulb or time exposure. Also, turn off auto focus (all those tiny specks of light against black sky can drive the autofocus crazy), and set the distance to infinity. Try exposures in the 15 to 30 second range. Much longer and you will start to get star trails. In the photos above the cliffs show up well because of a nearly full moon shining on them.

Depending on your camera and photo software, you may be able to reduce digital noise for a sharper image. Have fun.

Colorado College Graduation

May 17th found us in Colorado Springs attending Kate's college graduation. Hard to believe that the last four years have flown by so quickly. Their commencement speaker was Wade Davis, a reknowned National Geographic Society author and explorer. Also, our good friends, Bill, Maggie, Alice, and Aileen, were able to be there on this very special day. Now our "little girl" is off on new adventures including a two-week backpack in Alaska's Gates of the Arctic National Park.

As you can see, the weather was perfect for an outdoor ceremony and photography. The day before and day after were cloudy, cold, and rainy. My favorite "walk-around lens," Nikon's 18-200mm zoom, did a fine job capturing distant speakers, intimate moments, and action.

Shetland Islands

It's been awhile since I have had a chance to write a blog. I was hoping to blog more from the National Geographic Explorer while sailing around the western Mediterranean and then up the west coast Great Britain. However, the internet connection on the ship was quite slow; therefore, rather expensive to upload pictures. Now that I am back in Flagstaff, I'll try to post more often.

Above are a few images from the Shetland Islands. The archaeological site is a broch called Mousa and dates from the Iron Age, about 2,000 years ago. The exact function of these mysterious structures is not known; although, they do appear defensive in nature. This 13 meter high broch is the best preserved of the 570 or so found around Scotland, mostly in the Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetlands.

Brochs remind me of the Anasazi towers found in southeast Utah, which archaeologists first presumed were for defense, but now believe them to be celestial observatories. Something to ponder.

Corsica, France

The west side of Corsica is a wild, rugged granitic landscape perfect for exploring by kayak, bicycle, or on foot. You can also drive, of course, but the narrow roads with terrifying drop-offs make for white-knuckle adventures.

Bonifacio is a walled city perched precariously on the edge of a high limestone cliff, where you can buy local sheep cheese, delicious olives, and a variety of wines. Corsica is also the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte. It's definitely an island to return to for a more leisurely visit.

Menorca, Spain

Today was a visit to Menorca, a tiny (minor) island owned by Spain. We got dropped off by Zodiac in the western coast town of Ciutadella. Skies were cloudy, the wind howling, and the temperature about 50 degrees, although clearing and warming were predicted. Unfortunately the weatherman blew it. The storm intensified as the day continued.

We managed a short photographic tour of the city before loading up on buses to head east, making stops at El Toro, highest (and no doubt windiest) on the island and at Poblat de Torralba, a prehistoric village and religious site several thousand years old. Then we continued to the east coast to Mahon, where an indigenous sauce has become spread (pun intended) worldwide as mayonnaise.

National Geographic photographer Massimo Bassano and I attempted another photo walk in the late afternoon; but after 45 minutes, we were all soaked to the bone so retreated to our ship. At Recap, we enjoyed white sangria, local gin, and tapas while learning that the tradition of serving alcohol and ham to visitors was to ferret out Moslems and Jews.

This soggy day was perfect for my little waterproof Olympus point & shoot.

Alhambra, Spain

After docking at Motril, Spain, we boarded buses for the scenic drive up to Granada (which means pomegranate, and our guide insisted each fruit always has 613 seeds) to the famous Moorish Alhambra palace and gardens. Although, the site was taken over by Catholic Spain in 1492, it still retains much of the original Islamic splendor.

It's a very popular tourist destination plus we had to stay in groups, which made photography challenging. Plus the mid-day sun was not very exciting. It was scan a scene and shoot from the hip. Yet, it is still lovely place to visit.

Proud Parent Report

While in Colorado Springs at Colorado College, we also attended a senior student art show consisting of nine monotypes. These remarkable, colorful creations from paper, fabric, string, and ink stirred our imaginations. One looked liked seahorses, another like Christmas wrapping paper, while others inspired visions of the creation of the universe. All of them brought joy and wonder to the viewers.

Oh, and did I mention, the artist was Kate Aitchison, our daughter?

Baby, It's Dark in Here

We attended a dance performance at Colorado College, where photography was allowed but not flash. Most of the dancing was done under fairly dim, colored lights, which were constantly changing hue and intensity. I needed a long lens to fill my frame, but I only had a slow 18-200mm zoom with a maximum aperature of 5.6 when zoomed all the out to 200mm. So I cranked up my ISO to 6400, hoped for the best, and shot away.

I was pleasantly surprised. Try getting shots like this with a film camera and no flash.