December 16, 2011

What a way to spend a day.

New view of the moon

How awesome to wake in time to see a lunar eclipse. Another amazing sight in a world -- and beyond -- full of amazing sights.

Something about a sunset

One night and one morning

One night in September there was a fire on the mountainside in Centerville, just about five miles north of here. If I was worried, I didn't have much cause compared to the people who lived just blocks from the blaze. But they spoke calmly with me about the times there had been fire in the past, about fire break road that kept the fires from their homes, about their call to prepare for evacuation, about where they'd put their sprinklers if they did have to evacute, about the people fighting the fires, about their confidence that everything would be all right.
Sure enough, everything was all right. And the next morning, from my home, there was a rainbow.

More gifts

These from an afternoon walk in the valley of Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. Mountains, valleys, trees and waterfalls warmed by the sun. And so were we.

From photo to feeling

Traveling for fun is much different than traveling for photos, though one isn't necessarily done to the exclusion of the other.

The few times I've been on a dedicated photographers' excursion, the schedule revolves around sunrises and sunsets and locations have been scouted out beforehand for best angles and light. And when I read about photographers who actually make a living at their trade, I learn they spend weeks on assignment in one place, waiting for the right conditions, the right sky, the right animal movement, the right emotion.

But when traveling as a tourist, with only days to explore one incredible location and only hours to explore another, you take what you get whenever you're there to get it.

That's why stumbling on a viewpoint with an incredible sky just at the moment you're there, is a gift. It's not something you could have planned. It's not some place you could go back to again and again for the right conditions. It's just there when you are and you only have to capture it and take it home with you.

I am grateful for the gift of St. Gallen, Austria, one morning last September. I hope from these pictures you can imagine them real and see what we saw and feel what we felt. Then it will be a gift for you too.

Good enough to eat

I could give you mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, cows with bells, sheep with bells, views from trams, views from boats, views from cars, views from trains, views from hotel rooms, views from behind waterfalls, views of lakes, rivers, churches, pipe organs, Austrian villages or Swiss chalets.

Instead I'm giving you grapes.

But because they're colorful and grown along the borders of the Danube and kissed by sunshine, I hope you'll love them.

Ten years later

We spent our Sunday evening with others in the neighborhood, enjoying the music of the Utah National Guard 23rd Army Band. Though the day had been warm with only a few clouds, just into the concert a strong wind kicked up and things started tipping over and flying off. And then the temperature dropped and people started using their blankets for warmth as well as for seating. But the band played on. They played music that celebrated and mourned the good and the sad that came from that dark day in our nation's history 10 years before, Sept. 11, 2001.

When I looked at this picture the next day, I noticed that despite the sunbreak, all in view from the angle I was shooting is dark. All except the American flag.

Floating

Benjamin Franklin saw the first flight of a manned hot air balloon, according to Kent Barnes. And that flight took place years and years before winged flight. Balloons can change direction by flying at different altitudes since the winds at different heights go in different directions. They can go aloft thanks to hot air, though if it's already hot outside they may not be able to carry as much weight. Some balloons use gases like helium and can stay aloft longer. They can be 70 feet tall and hold 65,000 to 105,000 cubic feet of air. Barnes pilots hot air balloons, owning several of the 3,000 in America. He's passionate about the hobby and you can tell by his smile he is still having as much fun as the people he welcomes into the wicker basket to float just above the earth for a spell.

At the beach

Normally I would include the end of the surf in the photo as the foreground that finishes the shot. But this time I didn't include the line where the water meets the sand for one very good reason. That's where my toes were.

Fog and foreground

The morning started out socked-in but in only a few hours the sun took over. But by then I was long gone, enjoying the rays in spots farther north. This is San Diego socked in. And it isn't just to show that bad weather doesn't mean bad photos, it's to show what a difference foreground makes. One foreground, or two, or none, you, the photographer, choose. In this case, I can't decide. I like them all.

At the fair

More fun than the roller coaster, real life at the county fair.

To my senators:

Dear Utah Senators Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee:

You did not represent me when you voted against the imperfect but necessary debt measure.

You did not represent me when you refused to negotiate or compromise with other leaders in our nation who were trying to prevent the loss of confidence in America that has resulted from your ill-advised actions.

I am not a member of the tea party. I am reconsidering my affilition with Republicans.

America wasn't built from hard-headed refusals to compromise and close-minded demands.

Getting re-elected, Senator Hatch, shouldn't be more important than doing what's right for the country.

Being stubborn, Senator Lee, isn't more impressive than listening to all sides and considering all solutions.

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A tree and a lesson

At first it looked like the tree had managed to grow from a crevice in the rock. We'd seen it happen in other formidable spots in Southern Utah, and it always brought a comment or two on the amazing resilience, the fortitude, that would allow a little seed to become a big tree on so little water and so little space.

But then we saw that it wasn't growing from a crevice, it was growing from sand way, way, down at the bottom of a deep, deep divide in Bryce Canyon. It somehow found enough water and managed enough nutrients from the sand and grew until it reached the sunlight too.

You can learn a lot from a tree.

Happy Independence!

Stormy weather

Who'd of thought grey skies could be gorgeous. It happens often at the Oregon Coast, where people have been known to go just to watch the storms.

We've been blessed with beautiful weather on many trips -- even those in mid-winter, but this short excursion brought clouds and even a bit of rain.

That made me appreciate even more the little plaque made by a company called "The Signs of the Thymes," that I saw in the little gift store in the little town just a few blocks east of the scenes you're seeing above.

It said: "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."

May we all do just that.

New view of old favorite

For six years, we lived just 15 minutes from the Columbia Gorge, along the Oregon/Washington border. For 15 years after that, we drove it annually, usually in a hurry to get to a destination 700 miles away, or tired and wanting to be home after the return trip. Last week, we got an unexpected opportunity to take a spontaneous drive through the gorge to Multnomah Falls in late evening. The sun made it absolutely magical. Yeah for unplanned. Yeah for spontaneous. Yeah for magical. Yeah for the Columbia Gorge.