Not much to do in Glendale, California.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Grand Canyon
This picture was taken at 36° 00.106N, 111° 59.136W, 6922 ft +/- 50 ft. Try to find it on Google Earth.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Sunrise at Point Udall, St. Croix
Point Udall is the eastern most point in the United States. It is not an overly popular tourist spot, but does draw a good number of visitors each day. There are occasionally weddings held there and early morning New Year’s day services. It provides one of the most spectacular sunrises in the US. As you stand and look out to the east, all you see is water and sky for almost 360 degrees. This is ideal for a sunrise.
A sunrise is also an ideal event to capture in time lapse video. And the new digital camera I bought has time lapse capability. I began making plans to capture the sunrise at Point Udall immediately. I had visions of capturing this amazing sunrise, bursting with color and using it in a video compilation of my travels.
But first I needed to buy a tripod. I already had a tripod, but it was a tabletop model. While it served the purpose I bought it for, it was useless for general photography. In August, I had taken a trip to Tennessee to visit my brother and took the tabletop tripod along for the ride. It didn’t take very long to realize that unless I wanted every shot taken from the perspective of a dog, I needed a real tripod. I had simple requirements. It must be compact enough to fit in my small backpack, along with everything else I needed. It must extend to a useable height, be sturdy and not cost more than $35.
While I was in Tennessee, at some lookout point in the mountains, I saw a guy with a small lightweight tripod, that extended to a useable height. I noted that it looked a little unstable, but it seemed more useful than mine. So I asked him where he had purchased it from. When I returned to Indiana, I checked it out. It sells for about $62. I attached my camera and tested it. It was really wobbly. I decided I could not spend that much money for that tripod. I apologized to the sales lady for having her open the box and left.
I visited a camera shop figuring that a store specializing in camera equipment would have what I was looking for. They had an assortment of tripods in a range of sizes. But all except one was way outside my price range. I spent some time testing this tripod. It was the size I was looking for and within my price range at $35. However, it felt really cheap. I was afraid that I would break it right there in the store. There is no way this would survive a multiyear trip around the world.
It wasn’t until I was in St. Thomas, visiting my aunt, that I found what I was looking for. She suggested that I try Radio Shack. I had not been inside a Radio Shack in a few years - I even forgot they existed. For $12, I got a tripod that was compact, extendible & sturdy. I asked the salesman what was wrong with it. He laughed and said I could pay more for it if I want to, but that really was the price. I could hardly believe it. It was perfect.
A week before we viewed the sunrise, my mom and I made an afternoon trip to Point Udall. This trip had two purposes: to determine how long it takes to get there, so we know what time to wake; and to familiarized my mom with the route, so she can drive it comfortably in the dark. She had not been there in probably more than 35 years and had never seen the sunrise there. Some time ago, when I was a teenager, a group of us from church had camped on the beach at Cramer’s Park and hiked to point Udall to watch the sunrise. I discover that the road from the beach is much longer than I remember, and there is now a monument marking the location, rather than the bare rugged landscape that was there before.
On the morning of September 2nd, we left home at 4:50am. This would give us enough time to drive to Point Udall and catch the first rays of light before the 6:05am sunrise. We were worried that it might rain, because the forecast called for scattered showers. St. Croix is one of those places that define scattered showers. You can have a torrential downpour and just 50 feet away, blue skies and not a drop of rain. We had one of those downpours a few minutes before we arrived at Point Udall, but it was dry when we arrived.
I quickly set up my tripod and camera as the glow of the coming sun began to show. In my haste, I didn’t determine exactly what direction the sun would rise from. This caused me to fret and worry that I wouldn’t capture the actual sunrise because my camera was obviously pointing in a different direction. Instead of setting up at a location where only sky and water would be visible, I chose a location near the monument and got a couple visitors in the video as a result.
There were lots of clouds at the horizon obscuring the sun as it rose. But it was still beautiful even with the clouds. I got the feeling of being surrounded with color as the reds & oranges stretched in every direction from the eastern horizon and intermingled with the blue in the sky. The clouds added to the beauty by shielding the sun while allowing the sun’s rays to escape from the side. Finally the sun peaked out from behind the clouds with blinding intensity, and it was over.
Here is my mother drawing religious meaning from the event. "Observing the sunrise was a very awesome experience. To see the shades of night give way gradually to the gorgeous dawn of a new day was memorable. As morning broke I was reminded of God's love that is new every morning. It was as if the Son of Righteousness was reflected in the rays of the sun shimmering on the horizon. I will always remember that morning."
I had captured 1 hour of sunrise in time lapse video. And while a camera can never truly capture natural beauty, this video it is good enough to keep the memory of sunrise at Point Udall alive. And what about my $12 tripod? It performed admirably.
A sunrise is also an ideal event to capture in time lapse video. And the new digital camera I bought has time lapse capability. I began making plans to capture the sunrise at Point Udall immediately. I had visions of capturing this amazing sunrise, bursting with color and using it in a video compilation of my travels.
But first I needed to buy a tripod. I already had a tripod, but it was a tabletop model. While it served the purpose I bought it for, it was useless for general photography. In August, I had taken a trip to Tennessee to visit my brother and took the tabletop tripod along for the ride. It didn’t take very long to realize that unless I wanted every shot taken from the perspective of a dog, I needed a real tripod. I had simple requirements. It must be compact enough to fit in my small backpack, along with everything else I needed. It must extend to a useable height, be sturdy and not cost more than $35.
While I was in Tennessee, at some lookout point in the mountains, I saw a guy with a small lightweight tripod, that extended to a useable height. I noted that it looked a little unstable, but it seemed more useful than mine. So I asked him where he had purchased it from. When I returned to Indiana, I checked it out. It sells for about $62. I attached my camera and tested it. It was really wobbly. I decided I could not spend that much money for that tripod. I apologized to the sales lady for having her open the box and left.
I visited a camera shop figuring that a store specializing in camera equipment would have what I was looking for. They had an assortment of tripods in a range of sizes. But all except one was way outside my price range. I spent some time testing this tripod. It was the size I was looking for and within my price range at $35. However, it felt really cheap. I was afraid that I would break it right there in the store. There is no way this would survive a multiyear trip around the world.
It wasn’t until I was in St. Thomas, visiting my aunt, that I found what I was looking for. She suggested that I try Radio Shack. I had not been inside a Radio Shack in a few years - I even forgot they existed. For $12, I got a tripod that was compact, extendible & sturdy. I asked the salesman what was wrong with it. He laughed and said I could pay more for it if I want to, but that really was the price. I could hardly believe it. It was perfect.
A week before we viewed the sunrise, my mom and I made an afternoon trip to Point Udall. This trip had two purposes: to determine how long it takes to get there, so we know what time to wake; and to familiarized my mom with the route, so she can drive it comfortably in the dark. She had not been there in probably more than 35 years and had never seen the sunrise there. Some time ago, when I was a teenager, a group of us from church had camped on the beach at Cramer’s Park and hiked to point Udall to watch the sunrise. I discover that the road from the beach is much longer than I remember, and there is now a monument marking the location, rather than the bare rugged landscape that was there before.
On the morning of September 2nd, we left home at 4:50am. This would give us enough time to drive to Point Udall and catch the first rays of light before the 6:05am sunrise. We were worried that it might rain, because the forecast called for scattered showers. St. Croix is one of those places that define scattered showers. You can have a torrential downpour and just 50 feet away, blue skies and not a drop of rain. We had one of those downpours a few minutes before we arrived at Point Udall, but it was dry when we arrived.
I quickly set up my tripod and camera as the glow of the coming sun began to show. In my haste, I didn’t determine exactly what direction the sun would rise from. This caused me to fret and worry that I wouldn’t capture the actual sunrise because my camera was obviously pointing in a different direction. Instead of setting up at a location where only sky and water would be visible, I chose a location near the monument and got a couple visitors in the video as a result.
There were lots of clouds at the horizon obscuring the sun as it rose. But it was still beautiful even with the clouds. I got the feeling of being surrounded with color as the reds & oranges stretched in every direction from the eastern horizon and intermingled with the blue in the sky. The clouds added to the beauty by shielding the sun while allowing the sun’s rays to escape from the side. Finally the sun peaked out from behind the clouds with blinding intensity, and it was over.
Here is my mother drawing religious meaning from the event. "Observing the sunrise was a very awesome experience. To see the shades of night give way gradually to the gorgeous dawn of a new day was memorable. As morning broke I was reminded of God's love that is new every morning. It was as if the Son of Righteousness was reflected in the rays of the sun shimmering on the horizon. I will always remember that morning."
I had captured 1 hour of sunrise in time lapse video. And while a camera can never truly capture natural beauty, this video it is good enough to keep the memory of sunrise at Point Udall alive. And what about my $12 tripod? It performed admirably.
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