Camera or no camera? When attending a party as a simple party-goer, this thought usually goes through my head. I love taking photos, but sometimes I just don’t want to drag the DSLR along, or the flash. I guess it depends on my mood. And I’ve thought about purchasing a small point-and-shoot for such occasions, but it’s becoming harder and harder for me to give up the control.

That means when I start looking at PS cameras, I end up considering something like the Canon G11 which has oodles of control and will shoot in RAW mode. But, it’s not exactly tiny. The other problem is flash. Even when I pare down my gear and use that horrible on-camera position for my flash, a good speedlite lets me aim it all around, add some amber gels to match the tungsten light, and blast it off a wall. So a shot like this one doesn’t need to look like I was using on-camera flash.

Camera or no camera. This time, Lynne asked, “are you taking your camera?” That was enough of a prompt; yes, I’ll go grab it. I’m glad I did. It was fun to catch some fun moments at Jeff’s 40th, and I now have some nice shots to share with him. When it comes down to it, I shoot for me, because I enjoy it, and I’m working always to improve, to strive to someday reach that unconscious competence Rick Sammon speaks of. But a large part of the fun is sharing my work with others.

Tonight, I’m off to the theatre to shoot the show photos for Gypsy. Yes, I’ll have my camera, and I’m looking forward to it!

Humpbacks!(click for more photos)

 We really didn’t just do a bunch of tours on Kauai, even though my posts may lead you to that conclusion! On our first visit to the garden island, we wanted to do a catamaran tour to the Na Pali coast. After all, Lynne didn’t accompany me on the helicopter ride then, and the only ways to see Na Pali are by air or boat, or to hoof it several miles along a trail. But we waited until we were there on the island and found that all the tours were booked.

This time, we planned ahead and made arrangements well before our trip. We decided on Captain Andy’s based on their web site, various reviews, and that they set out from southern Kauai. In fact, their port is nearly in the same place as the Port Allen airport used by Inter-Island Helicopters.

We arrived at their facility well ahead of the time they recommended. It was sort of a drizzly morning, like many others during our visit. March is still the “winter” season in Hawaii which generally means fairly high surf especially on the northern shores. This day was no exception. If I remember right, the reported surf was something just shy of 20 feet, but here on the south side of Kauai, the surf was quite mild. As we checked in, they informed us of their decision. The surf was too high near Na Pali, so we were going to have a cruise on the south.

Many of the passengers were bummed and opted out of the trip. But, like our helicopter tour, this is a captain’s decision when confronting Mother Nature. She deserves respect. We were happy that Lynne had now seen Na Pali a couple days earlier, and the sailing adventure still sounded like fun. Indeed it would be.

We ended up with 17 passengers on a boat that could take 40. A nice start for us. As we left port, we were greeted by porpoises before we were out of the bay. As we left the bay, a huge manta ray swam just off the side of the boat. This was going to be an interesting cruise.

Before our trip, I did some internet research to find out when the humpback whales are in Hawaii. I was wondering if we would happen to be there when they were, before they head off to summer in Alaska. We were excited to find out that, yes, they are in Hawaii in March. Maybe we’d see some from a boat?

It wasn’t long before someone spotted a spout. Soon, there were breaching whales. We had a mother and calf nearby for quite a while. I was able to snap a few shots, although I wish I had more than a 200mm lens. After a bit, we had a whale swim right up to the boat. The white (or light grey) underside of the whale would shine green in the water below the boat. It was incredible!

We sailed east and found an area to snorkel. There, we encountered a large sea turtle, and we were swimming along side it until it got bored with us and dove out of sight. The water was cold, but it was still a great experience. As we made our way back to port, there were breaching and spouting whales all around us. Did I say it was incredible? We kept thinking of the folks who decided to cancel. They missed quite an experience. The crew kept insisting, no, this isn’t typical! They truly seemed as excited as us.

I guess the lesson is: take what life brings. Disappointment is a point of view. If you book a flying or sailing adventure, be ready for anything. And, if your captain or pilot decides to put safety ahead of entertainment, be respectful and grateful, and move on. You never know what lies just around the corner.

Prepping the bird (click for more photos)

I can hardly believe it’s been a year since our Hawaii trip. Lynne and I spent several days on the garden island of Kauai last March. While there, I attended one of Moose Peterson’s Digital Landscape Workshops. It was intense but amazing. We extended our stay to do some sightseeing and general touristy things. I thought I’d write a bit about the trip here in two or perhaps three posts. Today, I want to talk helicopters!

This was our second trip to the island state. On our first trip, we were flying from San Francisco to Honolulu. I overheard a flight attendent talking to the couple in the row in front of us. “…helicopter…Kauai…doors off…” What? Doors off? As she started to move toward the back, I called out, “excuse me!” What’s this about a helicopter company that flies with the doors off?

She provided the name, Inter-Island Helicopters. They fly from Port Allen airport on the south side of Kauai, not far from Waimea Canyon. Their helicopters are hot little Hughes 500 birds that seat five – three in front and two in back. With the bubble canopy in front, this means everyone has a window seat. And, indeed, they fly with the doors off.

What difference does that make? Well, even flying in a small plane, the experience is somewhat disconnected and surreal. I always liked opening the window to feel the wind rush in, hear the sound outside the cabin. It’s hard to explain, but it’s different. As a photographer, the difference is obvious. No plexiglass between me and my subject. Flying around the mountains and close to one of the wettest places on the planet, you feel the dampness, the coolness. I guess I’d say it is no longer a scenic tour but an experience.

On that first trip, Lynne was not thrilled by the idea of a helicopter flight, so I did the flight without her. This trip, she decided to give it a go. She doesn’t like flying all that much in general, but as we lifted from the pad, her eyes and her smile lit up. I’ve assembled a few shots from that flight. I was clicking away pretty much the entire time, but I did stop now and then to really take it in without the distraction of framing and exposure. It is an incredible place and an incredible experience.

Inter-island Helicopters offers two types of flights. One is a tour just shy of an hour, and the other includes a stop at a waterfall in the interior of the island. Although we had opted for the latter, the weather did not cooperate. Strong winds were making entry into the valley unsafe. Our pilot made two attempts then made the command decision (pilot lingo) to skip the waterfall. It was the right decision, and I understand how the agreement between mother nature and aircraft works! They refunded us the difference and gave us a discount on their logo products.

They are a small outfit, and you won’t find them advertised in all the tourist brochures. I saw someone’s complaint online about having a flight cancelled due to the other passengers rescheduling. I can see that happening. It’s not a low-cost business. But they feel right to me. You can see their green hanger in the photo of Port Allen. This is not where you go to relax in a large helicopter with air conditioning and music and a video of your tour. Instead, you wear David Clark headsets connected to the pilot, and stick your lens out the side to get the shot. Wear a jacket: it’s windy.

Oh, and by the way, Inter-Island Helicopters is also Air 1, Kauai’s search and rescue outfit. While we were there last March, a surfer went missing during some unusual (we heard) high surf on the east coast. News reports mentioned Air 1 being called in. I think they were also involved in looking for some folks lost in the high river after several days of rain.

Here’s one more shot that Lynne took in-flight. These are the expressions we had on our faces the entire flight!

Atop the Plummer Building in downtown Rochester, one of the Mayo buildings, are 56 bells making up a carillon. We were fortunate to have a tour of the upper floors and the carillon and a private concert by the carillonneur, Jeff Daehn. Private is relative for a carillon since, well, it’s large bells on top of a building downtown! Here’s Jeff in action.

The view from the balcony was terrific with some good photo opportunities. The building represents an earlier era when architecture was ornate. There are large heads at the balcony level. I tried to find out what they represent without luck. Perhaps someone else knows? In any case, they made for some fun photographs with Rochester sprawling below or shielded by rising steam on the chilly day.

I particularly like this shot of Lynne and the smile I love.

Gypsy opens at Rochester Civic Theatre on March 5. It has a great cast, director, stage manager, artistic crew – everything you’d want in the spring musical! But, I’m hoping folks won’t be in too big a hurry to take their seats.

During the run of Gypsy, the theatre has graciously offered to exhibit some of my work in the lobby. I produced 18 matted and framed prints for the exhibit. I have many photographic interests, so these prints cover a range of subjects. I did pull in one show photo, one of my favorites from Wizard of Oz.

RCT has often decorated the lobby with the work of local artists. I’m thrilled to have an opportunity to join those ranks. If you’re in Rochester, I hope you make it down to RCT for the musical. And if you do, I hope you enjoy my little exhibit!

It’s funny what we sometimes photograph. Lynne has shots of me taking pictures of a big rock or sand or gravel. Textures. Some time, that texture may come in handy! I’ve used an image of the skin of a World War II aircraft to provide a nice background texture, colored of course, for a poster for Streetcar.

And sometimes, you just need something that’s hard to create from scratch in Photoshop. I know there are terrific graphic artists like Bert Monroy, who can work magic from nothing. I attended one of his day-long classes and learned a lot. I’m not afraid of the pen tool any more. And some things I’m sure I could generate from scratch. But gold foil? Not so easy.

There are tutorials around for making your text look like gold, but they just don’t extend that well to a larger surface. And no one seems to agree on the right color. Sort of yellow, but not. Maybe a touch of green, maybe not.

Lynne to the rescue. She shows up with a roll of gold wrapping paper. Cool. I just need to take a few photos and pick one. Then cut out an appropriate piece to insert into my artwork. So, I hang it on the wall, which was a trick in itself, grab the camera and a flash. Aim the flash at the back wall, at the side wall, the other side, up and back. Click. Click. Click.

My 85% gray walls work well for setting the white balance and the hard part is done. I know how to insert it, adjust it for highlights, add some reflections of “nearby” objects, and we’re good to go. I just hope this doesn’t give something away for the new season. It’s obvious when you know!