Flashy Flashes

Some photography and current events for the blog today. Here is a link to some amazing photos of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano that is causing so much trouble in Europe: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/more_from_eyjafjallajokull.html

Some of the exposures are time lapse photos. I am not sure how long of a lapse they are but they are done quite well.
Lightning photography in general is pretty tough. I have tried it only once in my career, but it is something I would like to attempt again soon. The tricky part is having a good storm that has lightning which strikes the ground. Many of the Minnesota storms roll through late at night and only have cloud-to-cloud lightning. These types of pulses make for flashes of glowing cloud rarely a visible bolt of electricity.

My one dashed attempt at lightning photography took place while working for the newspaper. I had just gotten my photos in for the night and was on my way home when I noticed the electrical storm that was rolling into Red Wing. I decided to haul up to Memorial Park and see if I could get anything in the can. Now, I had never given much thought as to how one might execute good lightning photography. It quickly dawned on me that I needed a tripod and that time-lapse was the way to go. My reflexes, though not fast as they used to be, could never have caught up with the flash of a lightning bolt. My problem was that I did not have a tripod in my car. The next best thing was to set the camera on the roof of my car and attempt a remote trigger in order to prevent camera shake when pushing the button. I think I took seven photos but all I needed was two. This is the second frame I shot:


A lot of the flash was caught up in the cloud, but some of the actual bold is visible. I rushed back to the paper and got the photo to the editor in time for it to make the front page the next day. Though it was not uncommon for me to take on the responsibility of finding a feature for the next day's front page, this one was especially rewarding for me.

Getting on Track

The escape up the shore was a success and a failure at the same time. Sarah and I got away and had a great time but, I forgot my camera. So, while we hiked the Cascade River, ate at Sven and Ole's in Grand Marais, took in some high-school-kid rock band action, and took our sweet time getting home the following day, I do not have any pictures from my camera to show for it. The trip was definitely worth it to get some time away and reconnect after what had been a few stressful weeks.

The wheels fell off of 30daysofbiking on day 9. Yucky weather and an uncooperative schedule have made it tough to get back on track. One shimmering light is that the project got Sarah back on a bicycle for the first time in quite a few years. Both her and I are looking forward to doing more biking together this summer.

I did get out yesterday with my buddy Justin to do some single-track biking at Hartley Nature Reserve. The trails were beautiful yet a bit on the challenging side... especially since I played a game of hockey before hitting the trails. I am confident that in a month or so I will be tearing the trails up no problem.

I have put away the remainder of the Easter candy and am motivated to exercise more. Here we go!!

Here I go...

Blogging is something I have been wanting to do for a very long time. Whether it was bout my daily work life as a photojournalist when I was at the Red Wing Republican Eagle or what it was like to be back in school at the University of Minnesota at the age of 26. It seems blogging has been done by so many people around me in the past that I just figured it was something other people did. Other people with more free time than myself. Only in the past couple years have I realized that it was not a time issue, it was a motivation issue. Now I know it was people who wanted to get their voice out there. They wanted to be heard a lot more than I did.

Well, now is my time to be heard. Whether you listen or not, I will have my roar out there in the cyber-wilderness.

As the title implies, I plan to use this forum to not only write about focused or focus related issues, such as photography and life issues, but also to keep myself focused on things that are important in my life. Keeping the soft, fuzzy blur out of my life and mind while pin-pointing the exact relationships, activities, and projects that I hold near and dear is what this is all about. I hope to become a better, more knowledgeable, highly efficient professional individual as well as a more connected, caring and social friend.

To close on this first post of my life I want to let you know about a few things I am undertaking in order to get this puppy on its feet and cruising.

1) I plan to post at least twice-a-week

2) 30 days of biking, #30daysofbiking - A project that I was turned on to by @digitalives, a very good friend of mine that requires me to hop on my bike everyday during the month of April. I am pretty excited about it.

3) Photography - I have been pretty turned off on doing any of it for the past year or so. But I have been starting to see things as I used to. The way they would be framed in my lens. Ideas of better angles and perfect exposures have been stopping into my everyday vision as well. I am pretty excited about these developments. I also hope that a little day-trip up the north shore will help me kick start my passion for recording light and time.