This morning I had to get up and head out extremely early. More classes down in Phoenix. And in the future….a flight for a week of training elsewhere…..in the cards apparently. Wow, I used to fly constantly back in the “cell phone” daze…..

So, do you really want to hear about today’s class, the long ride to Phoenix, the extreme heat down there, etc, etc? Nah. You probably don’t.

Oh, and it was hot down there. Good grief…we headed to lunch and walked to the lunch spot. So hot….boiling inside quickly! Lunch was a salad, as nothing at the restaurant fit within my needs. Not a bad salad though….and it was hot……oh, I wasn’t supposed to talk about this…..

How about the latest HDR photos? Ah yes, that’s much more fun!

Sunday night I shot several series to create the two photos in today’s post. The first one is my favorite of the two, but it still needs some work. Due to a lens flare there’s a spot I’m unhappy with. But I’ll correct it.

The second shot was taken right before the sun went down. There was a lot of pink and yellow going on, and the overall lighting really impacted the look of the Granite Dells.

Of course each of these photos is really a compilation of 3 exposures of each scene. They’re pretty neat, but nowhere near finished. Just the beginning of my HDR trek with each photo.

If dinner gets finished quickly I’ll head up into the rocks and try a few more exposures tonight. See, there’s some funky cloud cover again today, and I’m betting it would lend to interesting HDRs.

Oh, and the second shot has a similar version posted a few days ago. Similar, but not the same. Did a little additional tweaking on it. Still, I like the first shot better……

Well, it hasn’t really felt like days off at all.  Busy would be the best way to describe things.

Yesterday I let myself rest a little in the morning.  A late start to the day, but then lots of running around.  The first big errand….well, not really an errand…..but it did involve running around.  Sadira gave me a call to let me know that an Arts and Crafts style event was happening on the square.  I had to go.

See, last year I noticed that there was a regular Bonsai dealer at the shows.  I’d been thinking about adding a little tree to the Airstream, and finding out the first big activity on the town square was happening I jumped in the truck and stopped by Sadira’s.

She was under the weather yesterday.  Sinus infection done, food poisoning in full effect.  One thought here gang.  Shrimp & Arizona….don’t do it.  Just don’t!

We hit the show and sure enough, bonsai trees were available.  I looked around, then wandered the square for a while deciding on what to do.  Finally we returned to the little tent full of trees and I picked my Airstream’s new resident.  You’ll see photos soon enough.

I once had a wonderful little bonsai for years.  High school.  It thrived.  Then I went to MA for a few weeks and my mom watched over the tree.  One night on the phone she told me she’d accidentally killed the tree.  She thought it could use some fertilizer (NOOOOOOOOO) and the tree went brown pretty quick.  Whoops!  Still, she was the best mom I could ask for and I still miss her.  Happy Mother’s Day mom.  A new little tree is along in the Airstream now.

I dropped Sadira off and headed for home.  Quick lunch and then I ran up to the Rodeo Stadium.  Yes, I got to photograph the rodeo.  No, I’m not satisfied with the shots.  I needed a 1.8 lens for this stuff, and I didn’t drag one along.  The rodeo started at 7:30, and even with the lights in the stadium the action was so fast that the lenses I brought didn’t cover it.  A few interesting shots that I’ll play with in Photoshop.  Maybe you’ll see them down the road.

I didn’t get home until almost 10, and I was starved.  So I sat up and made a late dinner.  Didn’t get to sleep until nearly midnight.  Ah yes, restful!

This morning was an early rise.  I headed out to the north side of Sycamore Canyon with Sadira, Tom, & DaNece.  2 hour ride in on the super bumpy roads through Perkinsville.  Nearly a 3 hour hike toward the canyon (no water already, lots of dry beds), hot sun, winds with some type of eye irritating  pollen, and a generally wonderful time!  Glad to have shared the adventure.

Our “haze” has returned to the skies, and the blues were really washed out today.  I’ve heard it’s hazy from here to Georgia, so who knows what is up.  So, many of the landscape shots today were sub-par to say the least.  But there was one thing that caught all of our attention.  The flowers heading into the area.  Blues, powder blues, oranges, and purples.  The purple really got me.  Cactus flowers once again (hey, they’re not red).

As we made our way in we began seeing new (to us) flowers that really stood out against the red rock background.  Small green cactus with purple flowers.  One here, one there.  As we neared our destination clusters of the flowers.  Big clusters.  They seemed to be everywhere.  Even along our hike we found more of these wonderful cactus (I’ll look them up in my book tomorrow).

I have dozens of good shots.  They’re all slightly washed out, but I’ll deal with them in Photoshop tomorrow.  High afternoon sun, even with haze, yields less than brilliant results.  But the shots here are currently unedited.  And they’re still stunning flowers in my opinion. 

Finally, after hours driving in, hours hiking, and hours driving back we returned to Prescott.  Sadira wasn’t feeling too well, and I was a little off.  Hot hike, lots of dust, lots of exertion, etc.  Plus I got too much sun.  So we basically crashed on the couch for a while, and finally got enough energy to get moving again.  Sadira headed off to Costco, and I went to do some shopping at Fry’s.  Groceries you know.

After some rest this evening I decided to head to downtown Prescott to try setting up a few exposures for doing an HDR (High Dynamic Ratio) photo.  My intention was to get Whiskey Row and the St. Michaels Hotel.  I’ve gotten many exposures this evening, and only started toying with them.  I only took one set of exposures of the Courthouse, and the result was the photo at the start of this post.  My first satisfying HDR photo (to me at least).  I only tone mapped it after feeding the 3 exposures into Photomatix.  No real tweaking beyond their basic tone mapper.  I like it.  There are places for HDR to be used……more will follow.

That’s it for the evening.  10 p.m. here and I’m beat.  Tomorrow, laundry, errands, and who knows what else.  Wonder if I can fit a 3 hour nap in somewhere?

Little to really blog on today.  It happens sometimes.  A day of little chores, minor activity, and a whole lot of couch time.

This morning I got up not feeling my best.  Several days ago I went to refill my Protonix and found that I had refilled my last.  Whoops.  But I thought to myself, “Let’s see if you don’t need this any longer.”  It’s a medication that keeps a gut from being super nuclear & acidy.  Since I’ve felt better about my allergies I thought maybe my gut would be calmer.

Nope!

For the past few months I’ve been flying along with no insurance.  My job now provides it, but I had to wait until April for it to kick in.  By the seat of my pants! I was supposed to get Cobra information a few months ago, tried to track it down, but no luck.  So I decided just to deal in cash for prescriptions as I knew my new insurance would soon kick in.

Now I’m back in the ranks of the insured.  Good to be back here.  The next step is finding a local physician who is taking new patients.  Good luck!  I’ve been told that the doctors here are booked up, and through my initial salvo of calls I’ve found it’s true.  Tomorrow morning I’ll continue the calls.

Any local Prescott folks who know of a local physician that has openings…..leave a comment.  Thanks! 

So, my morning was spent hanging out in the trailer, washing windows, straightening up, and sorting through my photos.  More deletions, more ranking of favorite shots, etc.  I’m still not done with my full sorting.  I only covered the past few months, and I spent nearly two hours.  Sometimes I import, pick a few I like, and leave the big sorting until later.  This morning was “later.”

Terry and Gregg headed out this morning as well.  Sadira stopped over to say good bye to them as well.  She’s been under the weather all week, so visiting with our new friends was limited.  Sorry that was the case.  They seem pretty cool, and they enjoy Airstream travel and new spots as well.  I’m sure we’ll meet up again, and really get to visit longer.

After Terry and Greg headed out we returned to the Airstream and had a light lunch.  Sorry to say the food didn’t help with the tummy issues.  Ah well, worth a shot.  While I clenched my teeth, Sadira continued with coughing fits.  She’s really had a bad cold or sinus infection.  But she sounds a whole lot better than earlier in the week.

We enjoyed a quiet afternoon.  Sadira was kind enough to bring her Dyson vacuum over, and I went on a cleaning spree in the trailer.  I miss my Dyson, but I don’t know where I’d store it in the trailer.  Still, using hers today made me want mine shipped out here soon…..hmmm…..

You wouldn’t believe the amount of “dust” that it pulled out of the trailer.  Sure, it’s normally sealed up and has a HEPA running, but this is the high desert.  And currently we’re having the super strong winds to boot.  So, a lot of stuff gets in the air right now, and clearly into the trailer.  Ah well.

Little else to report on.

All of the photos posted today have been shot in the past few months.  You might have seen similar shots, but the 3 in today’s post haven’t been posted here until now.  I figured that I’d post a few I flagged today as I was sorting away.

Ah, something very different.  A photo of me on the blog.  It’s a rare occasion, but it does happen from time to time.

The other night out on the rocks Terry snapped a photo of me.  We were just heading up into the Dells toward “Thor’s Marbles” on a favorite wall.  It’s also the place where “the tree” stands.  After our little outing Terry was kind enough to send along a few photos.  I figured it was time to let everyone know I still looked like me.

Terry also shot a photo of me lying on a rock to get the shot of “the tree”.  I figured we could post the photo of me upright, not all squished up making sure I didn’t slide to the left, take a fall, and drop my camera….so the upright photo made it up here.  Oh, and I toyed with his other photo with Photoshop and had a ton of fun.  Maybe down the road I’ll do a before and after.  Li

You’ll note the photo on this page has a copyright of TB Rich.  Not my shot, Terry’s.  :)  Thanks for letting me post it Terry, much appreciated! 

So….on to today.

Wow, I don’t have much fun stuff to report….sorry to say.

Today was supposed to be a day off.  Instead I had to attend a morning meeting.  Totally cutting into laundry time.  Ah well, it happens, no major gripes.  Laundry started 2.5 hours late.  That cut into my “give Terry & Greg a tour of somewhere fun” time.

By the time I completed my laundry I needed some lunch.  Boca Burgers & some tater tots.  Exciting stuff there gang.  Immediately after lunch it was time to head to the doctor.  Ah yes, the fun and joy of a day off.

The other week I noted that a cute little freckle / mole on my neck had suddenly puffed up, and the area around it got super itchy.  I mean 200 mosquito bites simultaneously kind of itchy. People noticed it.  I noticed it.  I think my neighbor’s cat noticed it.

Given all the attention I felt it only prudent to have a dermatologist take a look.  She found another spot while I was in the office, so I got cut twice for the price of only one cut.  The numbing shots they gave me worked well.  I’m wishing now that the shots would have worked longer (ouch!).

Finally after meetings, Wal-Mart stops, food, doctor visits, band aids and stitches I headed home (only stitches on one).  And I returned exhausted.  I can’t remember my last “non-activity” day.  Really, I can’t.  Been hopping here.

So, after a little thought I decided to cancel tonight’s dinner plans.  Popped up to Terry & Greg’s and let them know.  They were fine with that.  Hopefully tomorrow we can head out before they return to Phoenix.

Ah, being “Dull Rich” this week.  Sorry, it happens.  You hit that tired point and you just need to reel yourself in.  I know I’m not the only one.  Speaking with Sadira tonight I can attest to the fact that she needs a HEPA, her lungs cleared out, and a vacation…..she’s under the weather!  Hang in there!

Well, that’s all tonight.  I took a short nap, providing just enough energy to create this post.

This morning Sadira and I took a ride up to Sedona. The trip had several goals……

• Hike around Sedona and take a few more fun photos.
• Stop by Rollies Camera.
• New neck strap for me.
• New neck strap and camera bag for Sadira.
• Pop by Dead Horse and meet T.B. Rich.

Sorry to say, but the goals and objectives for the day didn’t quite work out. Sure, we made it to Sedona. And yes, we made it to Rollies Camera. We each picked up our items…..and that was about it. Oh, and a side trip to New Frontiers for a few goodies.  Included in the goodies…..1 lb of the baked / seared tofu I’d written about the other day.  That explains the photo of the tofu brick on the web site!

So, what went wrong? In a word….. Cottonwoods.

Apparently the cottonwoods are in full force over in Sedona now. I’ve suspected I have a problem with them based on prior experience, but I’ve never fully settled on, “Yeah, they’re a real problem.” I made the decision today, they are a problem!

In a matter of minutes walking the streets of Sedona I felt the need for my inhaler (in the truck of course). I kept track of how I was doing, and figured I could “go on” for a bit. By the time we returned to the truck I had pressure behind my eyes, I was coughing / choking a good bit, a whopping headache had set in, and I was pretty dizzy.

Ok, no hugging cottonwoods this week. Oh, soon they’ll be doing their thing here.

Fortunately the truck’s super duty air filter helped out pretty quick. Driving along we made the decision to skip Jerome and head right back to Prescott. Just being in the truck with the filter helped within 15 minutes. Hoorah! I am however slightly concerned about the cottonwoods popping up here soon.

It’s at this time I must say somebody only had 1 Zyrtec today instead of 2, no Flonaze, etc. If I had thought ahead I could have made the experience more tolerable. That’ll be addressed going forward for the next few weeks here. I’m happy to say, the major pollen season here is pretty quick. Also, I experienced the same thing here last year, but with an Airstream and Hepa, staying indoors for a bit, etc., things worked out well. Hey, if you find a place where you can tolerate the outdoor conditions 80% of the time you’ve done good.

By the time we returned to Prescott we both felt a lot better. Very telling for sure. Interesting how quickly I react when in the wrong environment.

I made the decision to keep it close to the Airstream for the rest of the day.  We took a short walk into the Dells, and then Sadira headed back home to play with her Dyson vacuum cleaner.  I stuck around the trailer, cranked up the Hepa, and decided to take a few more photos with my portable studio setup.  When you think you should stay in, find something fun to do.  Oh, and I cleaned the trailer prior to shooting of course.

One thing I wanted to photograph was my new “Life Is Good” hat.  If you look at it you might say, “Hey, that looks like Sedona on the hat!”  You would be correct, it is Sedona.  You want to know the really interesting thing?  You can only buy the Life Is Good Sedona hat at the Sedona store.  Pop in anywhere else in the world, you won’t find it.  Neat, right? 

And no, I didn’t set up my portable studio for shots of the hat alone.  I wanted to share photos of my tofu find (up above), and create some new product shots for an upcoming article, and use in another book I’m working on.  Ah, the busy life of a guy hiding from Cottonwoods……

I also thought I’d share a shot of today’s studio setup.  Bert got a kick out of my portable Airstream photo studio, and I get a kick out of it too.  No real space is lost to the equipment, and when I need to setup product shots or macros I sure have something slick to work with.

For all of today’s shots I used my 580 Speedlight, went to a fully manual setup, and actually under-exposed everything.  The strobe made up the difference, and in all honestly I could have under-exposed further in order to darken the background more.  The tofu shot shows too much reflection from my background, and I should have narrowed the aperture, lowered the flash power, and set the shutter speed higher.  Ah well, a learning process for sure.

Well, off to take Zyrtec # 2 for the day.  Still not at 100%, but much better here.  It’s a shame, the cottonwoods make it look like snow in the Spring, and I sure wouldn’t mind hiking in Sedona right now.  Ah well, they’ll finish up soon!

So, today was a relaxed day.  Extremely relaxed, and that’s a plus in my mind.  Sure, there were plenty of errands this morning, but by 11:30 I was home doing some minor tidying.  That was it.

I did take the time to do another lesson from the 7 point system book.  I’ve got to say, it’s worthwhile if you really want to come to terms with Photoshop.  As a guy who only used Photoshop to crop and resize photos, and correct glaring color issues, what I’m learning is amazing me.  Really, amazing me!

I’ve now learned how layers and masks really work.  And the truth is you really can take a mediocre photo and make it a good one.  And you can take a good shot and make it great.  The examples in today’s post fall somewhere between moderate and good.  Not great yet.  However, I spent only 5-7 minutes editing to get a few changes.  I’m sure you see them.

The sky and surrounding areas in the photo are the same.  The Airstream has improved, and almost looks like a fill flash was involved.  You really get to see more of the trailer in the second shot.  Literally, this adjustment took well under 10 minutes.  It’s not a “great” photo, but it’s interesting how easy it is to alter the image and make it look like additional lighting was available.

Whether or not you think it’s super cool is irrelevant.  The technique is super cool.  And I spent no time on the edit.  Sometime this weekend I’ll see what I can really do with this image (I like the image, but wonder if more can come out of it).

On other notes…..

I realized, it was about this time last year that I started climbing again. Nice to think back.  Nicer yet, I’m looking forward to another season with Andy & Brooke.  Hopefully we’ll keep adding friends to the climbing schedule.  Oh, and I’d like more available time to climb…..we’ll have to see about that…..all depends on book sales I suppose…. 

You’ll have to look back to yesterday’s post and photo to see what I’m talking about.  While out shooting with Bert & Janie I took a photo that I knew I’d like.  A cactus with a dead tree behind it, and behind that Bell Rock.  I posted the photo last night without a super once over.

Remember, I was very tired.  Still a little tired this morning, but that’s ok. 

If you look at the prior post you’ll see the differences.  The original shot was “a little dark”.  Alright, it was extremely dark, and that was my fault.  I accidentally rolled my exposure down to a -1.  Whoops.  Hard to read the screen with sunglasses on, and I noticed a few shots after.

Rather than walking back and reshooting, I used my Photoshop Lightroom quickly today.  One simple fix.  I upped the exposure by +1.  That simple.  Take a look at the old photo, I think you’ll see the difference.

Ah yes.  I am done.  Stick me with a fork.  Feel free to come up with other lame comments like the last one and fill those in for yourself.  I’m too tired to think about more little phrases.  I’ll be lucky to finish this post….

If you’re wondering whether or not I’m tired, wonder no more.  I’m exhausted.  Good thing I had today off!

Since Bert and Janie are still in the area I decided to run up to Sedona to do a little more touring with them.  Sadira came along too, and it made for a nice day.  We paid a quick visit to Bell Rock, Rollies Camera, the “Life is Good” store, and Boynton Canyon.  Oh, and we popped by the Doe Mesa parking lot for a little lunch.

While we did no big hikes, we did run around a good bit.  Of course, many photos were taken.  I won’t be posting most of them, as they are repeats of previous visits (hence the links to former posts).  I’m sure Bert has a slew of fun new photos.  Keep up with his blog and see for yourself.

It’s been great visiting with Bert & Janie.  I’m sad to see them go.  But I know that somewhere down the road we’ll meet again (maybe for a long bicycle trip……just speculating).  After all, we met Summer of 06′, saw each other again Fall of 06′, and here we are Spring of 08′ meeting up again.  I’m sure our paths will cross once more.

Isn’t the 08′ Airstream Rally taking place in Bozeman, MT. this year?  I think the Gildarts live in that neck of the woods…..hmmmm…….

As I noted yesterday, Bert and Janie elected to remain in Prescott for one more day. Ah, the same song so many others have sung…..”I guess we could extend one more day.”

After my arrival in Prescott I had a similar tune in my head. “One more week. Keep searching the tech jobs nationally, and do it from Prescott.” I’m sure you all remember that tune, and you probably knew before I did that I had indeed found my spot!

With an added day, and the fact that I was free for the day, Bert and I started the morning out early with a ride along the Peavine once more. I think over the past week he’s ridden it 4 or 5 times. Janie was enlisted for one of those rides, maybe more. It’s safe to say, Bert enjoys the Peavine. He’ll also be mentioning it in a travel article he’s working on regarding the area.

Ah, Prescott in print (once again). Not surprising, this place has a ton to offer (with the exception of tech jobs…..just saying).

As we cycled the path today Bert stopped for every sign on the way back. He wanted all the information he could gather on the area, geology, and history. Fortunately the trail has many signs along the way, and all are relatively informative. I can’t count how many times I’ve walked or ridden by them, or how many times I’ve re-read them.

Along the way I was also enlisted by Bert to set up a few shots. Lone rider along the Peavine. Misplaced Canadian in Arizona. Rogue wireless engineer rampaging through the Dells. These are a few titles that would fit with the photos……

In total we spent almost 3 hours along the Peavine today. 8:30 departure, 11:30 return. Ok, it was 3 hours, not almost. Lot’s of photos, slow riding, and good conversation once again!

After returning to the park I had some chores that needed attention. 2 hours of laundry, tidying the Airstream, and all that other “household” stuff. Once completed I was off again!

Nothing exciting. Just a trip to get some more propane. Burt & Janie joined in, as they were down a tank too. Being Airstreamers we all know that occasionally the tanks must be filled. Today was the day.

After our ride around town, stop into a bike shop for Bert, and our tank refills I took a little time to finally eat lunch. A haircut followed.

Exciting details, eh? Yup, the jet set life for me!

Finally to wrap up the day Bert and I returned for one more Dells photo session. He’d taken an amazing shot the other night, and I was interested in replicating it. You’ve seen the results. While ok, it still didn’t work out exactly. Probably my lack of a polarizing filter on my 17-85mm lens. Should have brought the other lens with the filter. Ah well, there’s always tomorrow.

Bert & Janie had suggested a get together tonight.  A little dinner and conversation before they headed off into the sunset.  Their plan has been to pull out tomorrow (Friday) and begin their trek northward.

Honestly, the thought of them heading out has had me a little down.  I’ve enjoyed visiting with them, showing them around, and I’ve wished I had more available time.  Like most of the people I’ve met in my travels, they’re very “good people”.  Oh, and let’s not forget, I’m happy to pick Bert’s brain about photography!

So, I was happy to find out tonight that they’ve opted to stay one more day.  See, I’m off tomorrow!  That means an early bike ride with Bert.  He wants more shots along the Peavine Trail.  And I’ll give him the quick tour of Granite Basin for good measure.  Nice they can stay one more day, and that I have some free time!

Before our dinner tonight Bert and I took another walk into the Granite Dells.  This time I brought him by the Emerald City Wall, then above Time Zone, and finally over to Thor’s wall.  Our conversation was tough at points, as we were drowned out by the blasting wind.  We could talk when we got in between rock formations, but out in the open I think we mostly heard “wooooooosh.”

After our walk we loaded up into the Titan and headed across town.  We had a very nice dinner, and nice evening.  Good conversation too.  You can’t really ask for much more.

Look forward to a longer post tomorrow, more photos, and some shots of Bert & Janie’s last day in Prescott.  Fortunately they won’t be going to far (Sedona before they really head north), so we’ll meet up once more in Sedona this weekend.  Good photos won’t be far behind!