Category: Uncategorized (page 5 of 6)

We started off hiking part of the Pemberton and then the Scenic Trail for last Friday’s hike. When we got to the Cinch Trail, several of us went on, eventually making it over to Stoneman Wash, returning by way of the Pemberton.  Amy continued on the Scenic Trail with the rest of the group.  Total distance for those of us doing the long hike was 9.5 miles. The short hike was roughly 4.5 miles.

This is a view of Four Peaks from the Scenic Trail.

The Brittlebush is starting to bloom.

We took this photo at the intersection of the Cinch and Scenic Trails.  Nancy, Janet, Norm, and Hiungi hiked the Cinch Trail with me.  Amy lead the rest back to the Trailhead Staging Area via the Scenic Trail and then a short section of Pemberton.

From left to right are: Janet, Norm, Christina, Siw, Hiungi, Sten, Amy, Per, Michael, Joanne, Jill, Nancy, and George.
Nancy stands at the end of a tunnel on Shallmo Wash. A view of some of the hills in the Competitive Track Area.

The poppies are in bloom too, and have been for several weeks now.

A view of Red Mountain framed by a pair of ocotillos.

On our way to Stoneman Wash…

Sections of Stoneman Wash have steep banks that seem break off vertically as shown here.

Other banks of Stoneman Wash are also steep, but not vertical.  The two barrel cacti growing together near the top caught my eye.

Other parts of Stoneman wash are very wide.  We hiked several miles in Stoneman Wash.  This section was unusually firm due to clay underneath a thin layer of rocks and sand.

A decaying piece of wood.

We saw this tree where Stoneman Wash crosses the Long Loop.  You can see the trail at the bottom of the photo.

Lots of new buds on this saguaro:

Still in Stoneman Wash, but nearing the Pemberton…

This is a small feeder wash just off the Pemberton.  (It feeds into Stoneman Wash.)
Fairy Duster:

Hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day!

Janet, Allen, Nick, Bob, Marilyn, Marie, and I hiked down to Fossil Creek on New Year’s Day. The hike was a little over nine miles long with 1500 feet of total ascent.

I took these photos on Sunday, Sept 1 from the Pine Creek Loop Trail.  I went out late in the afternoon and stayed out until well after sunset when I took the photo of the Beeline Highway Traffic.  All photos were taken using a tripod and, in some instances, I used focus stacking to try to get both near and far subjects all in focus.

This photo was taken from the parking area for the Ballantine Trailhead.  (The Pine Creek Loop starts from the Ballantine Trailhead.  The Ballantine Trail doesn’t actually start until you’re about 1.5 miles in on the Pine Creek Loop.

This photo, below, was taken from a short way up the trail.

The photo below is the only one in this group where focus stacking really paid off.  I used the technique on several others too, but did not see as much of a benefit with those photos. Note that both the saguaros and the cacti and rocks in the foreground are all sharp.  I composed this photo from three different shots where different elements were in focus.

One of the issues with employing this technique is that the magnification changes slightly as the focal point changes, causing the various exposures to be slightly misaligned.  There is a technique called image registration which can be used to align several similar images. It turns out that there’s a GIMP Image Registration Plug-in that works very well.  When I first tried it though, it didn’t appear to give good results at all.  The trick to making it work for my photos were to change the Transformation Model from Shift and Rotate to Affine Transformation.

Once I had the three layers aligned, I then masked two of the layers to show only the in-focus elements from that layer.

Sunset:

These last three were all taken after sunset.

My library system has a yearly publication called Teen Zine, which features submissions of art, photography, and creative writing. I decided to enter (I think it’s a contest of sorts, but I’m not entirely sure) and I know my chances of being featured are very good. Why not?

Here’s my submission (my first so far; I think multiple entries are allowed, and I shouldn’t just have one)

http://mcldconnect.org/teen/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Teen-Zine-2012-Web.pdf    (Teen Zine from 2012)

I don’t know when this year’s Teen Zine will be published, or when I will be notified in the event of my submission being accepted.