re-inspired
After watching STS-130 lift-off from my cozy home office in Denver, I started geeking out again over the space program and decided to go back through my images from STS-129. Its interesting to go back with new eyes and see that even though my images are certainly not exposed the way I’d want them to be now, they really weren’t as bad as I had originally thought.
best tour guide ever
This man was the best tour guide ever. He truly was a space junkie; he’d read everything about the space program he could get his hands on and he had tons of fantastic stories about hanging with astronauts and the like.
vehicle assembly building
The day of the launch we arrived at KSC around 6 in the morning. Entrance into the compound was encouraged that early but they weren’t bussing us out to the causeway until 10. We decided to take another lap around the Saturn V and ISS complexes. It was wonderful. There was hardly anyone there and we had the guides to ourselves!
tranquility module
This would be the bum end of the Tranquility Module, aka node 3, which is currently in the back seat of the Endeavour, docked on the ISS… in orbit!
node entrance
I actually took this picture of an ISS node because it looked like a video game and I wanted to draw it for a comic book or something equally lame.
bald eagles
This image was pretty much an “oh shit, bald eagles!” shot. I took it from the bus on the way back from the ISS complex. Merritt Island is an ecological sanctuary and the NASA freaks are very proud of the eagle’s nest that has been there for over 40 years
footprints
Last week I went on a short drive up Guanella Pass with my aunt Deb and grandma Oriole. We couldn’t drive all the way to the top due to road closure but it didn’t seem to matter because all three of us are photography nuts and were stopping every hundred feet or so to take pictures.
My aunt is a nature junkie much like my good friend B. The two of them share this amazing ability to attract or be aware of things most people just walk by without noticing. My aunt is unswayed by the fact that she doesn’t have the latest and greatest photography equipment and manages to get phenomenal and close up images of wildlife with only a 300mm lens and the most exquisite amount of patience and love in her heart.
It wasn’t until my trip to California that I started to appreciate really good landscape and nature photography. And I never thought much about foot prints in the snow making a good photo either. But when we were out walking around and my aunt squeaked at some tiny little mouse prints, I decided to give it a go. Even though I feel as though my images could have been much better, I realized that it was because I’m largely emotionally cut off from nature and that is what shows in the photography.
There’s a much deeper connection here that would require far more space to explain than its probably worth. Suffice to say that I believe strongly that there is a key here to my journey in making me whole again.
looking up
After working with this image I’m reminded of my time in Boston. The fellow I dated when I lived there was a native and not at all impressed with my lollygagging at the beauty of the architecture that surrounded us at any given moment. Many metropolitan-ites, including my SO at the time, would walk very fast with their heads pointed at the concrete below their feet. I wish I would have had the awareness to stop him and ask him to look up.
He might have appreciated it.
dawn at midnight
Did a little pp on this guy, my iso wasn’t nearly low enough to get exactly what I wanted (read-I got a little impatient). This was taken pretty late at night and the ambient light was pretty low; took a 60 second exposure to collect this much. I like the way the water at the base of the image has a bit of a mystical feel to it (thanks B!).
long time no see
I figured out how to get quality long exposure shots. It pretty much requires time and patience as well as a subject that doesn’t make you inhale carcinogenic fumes for extended periods of time.
I took these directly off the camera, no touching up. I think I’m going to continue to strive to not use post processing as much as possible. LR2 is great, but knowing your camera is much cooler.