Saturday Jan 30, 2010 at 11:53

A message from Steve?

So with suspicious timing, on Wednesday, day of the launch of the iPad, my venerable MacBook Pro (born circa 2006) decided to succumb to a seizure and is currently in a hard disk induced coma. A message from Steve to buy his latest toy?

Somewhat more suspiciously, Alice’s much younger MacBook Pro decided to do precisely the same just yesterday. We’ve had to dust off the old PowerBook G4 12” – the screen of which looks pretty much identical to the size of the iPad.

Having watched the various “how to” tutorials on replacing the hard drive yourself, and recalling my sadly failed attempt to repair a Fuji FinePix camera (which ended with a puff of smoke) and my over-industrious attempt to repair a Dell laptop on the fly floor of the Chicago Lyric Opera some years ago (which involved me removing 27 microscopic screws only to find that I needed only to have removed six), we decided to let the pros at Boulder Mac Repair do the job instead.

Hence, am slightly behind plan on all things virtual this week. However, assuming I can get working on my desktop this weekend, I should still be on track to distribute TPE for iPhone beta during the first part of next week.

Posted in Miscellaneous

Stephen · Saturday, January 30, 2010, 11:53 · Permalink · Comment [5]

Sunday Jan 10, 2010 at 18:17

Resurfacing

Stormy St. Abbs (click image for larger view)

It’s been a while. Since my last post here I’ve been back to the UK twice, once for a very enjoyable wedding in London and again for a couple of weeks at Christmas and New Year with family. Opportunities for photography have been limited, unfortunately, however I did get out briefly around New Year.

Alice and I had the pleasure of spending New Year (or, I should say, Hogmanay) with friends in Edinburgh. On the drive up from Newcastle where we were staying we took a brief diversion to St. Abbs Head, a prominent location on the Berwickshire coastline.

As many of you will have heard, the UK has been in the grip of one of the most severe winters in years for the past three weeks. On Dec 30th when the image above was taken, temperatures were slightly milder (just above freezing), but a strong wind was blowing from the northeast, bringing with it some high seas on north eastern coastlines. Some hints of some really great light here, but we sadly didn’t have time to linger to see how it would develop.

Skiddaw from Derwent Water (click image for larger view)

After New Year, we drove over to the Lake District for a brief overnight stay in Keswick. Last time I’d been here was in October 2004 as part of our honeymoon. With the recent snows, all the mountains were covered white, something I don’t think I’d ever seen before.

I was intrigued to see what impression the peaks of the Lake District would make after three years living next to the Colorado Rockies (54 peaks over 14,000 feet; compare England’s highest – Scafell Pike at 3,209 feet). Despite their fractional size, the setting of these peaks, surrounding snaking sculpted glacial valleys, allows them to tower above visitors. There’s no doubting you’re in the company of real mountains.

One location I’ve long wanted to visit (having driven straight past the signs countless times as a child) was Castlerigg Stone Circle. Located close to Keswick, the well-loved contours of Blencathra form a stunning backdrop to what is one of the largest and best-preserved neolithic sites in the area.

Blencathra rises up behind Castlerigg Stone Circle (click image for larger view)

I hadn’t expected to catch it covered in snow. Dawn was perfectly clear, so no great skies to shoot. However, when the sun cleared the ridge around 9:25am, the stones lit beautifully. The only thing more you could wish for would be fresh snow free of visitors’ footprints. Oh well, maybe in twenty years next time there’s a winter like this one.

Posted in Locations

Stephen · Sunday, January 10, 2010, 18:17 · Permalink · Comment [1]

Saturday Nov 07, 2009 at 13:20

Fall trip to Utah

The Narrows (click image for larger view)

Alice and I took a six day trip to Utah last week specifically to visit Zion and Bryce National Parks in autumn. We’d visited both before, in 2005, but that was before the camera bug had bitten.

We hit a good few of the major highlights:

• Caught a good sunset at the Watchman
• Hiked the Virgin River Narrows in canyoneering boots and drysuit pants (above)
• Saw a spectacular sunrise at West Temple
• Hiked to the Subway – exhausting, but unmissable
• Missed getting stuck in line behind two coach loads of tourists at the restaurant at Ruby’s Inn (Bryce City) by seconds (this was perhaps the highlight of the trip)
• Drove Scenic Byway 12 – a truly spectacular road through remote Utah
• Saw the almost full moon rise over the strange landscape of Goblin Valley State Park

Bryce Sunrise (click image for larger view)

I figured this might be one of longest road trips to date, but at 1600 miles over the best part of a week, it felt pretty relaxed. (Certainly better than the 1800 miles in three days going to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.) Must try harder!

You can see all my Utah images over at the gallery.

Posted in Locations

Stephen · Saturday, November 07, 2009, 13:20 · Permalink · Comment [6]

Sunday Oct 11, 2009 at 22:12

TPE 1.0 Released

Brief update to say that The Photographer’s Ephemeris is now officially out of Beta!

The new version is available for download now and current users will be prompted to auto-update.

The desktop version of TPE remains free of charge and the program will not expire.

Posted in TPE

Stephen · Sunday, October 11, 2009, 22:12 · Permalink · Comment [11]

Tuesday Oct 06, 2009 at 19:13

Fall 2009 in Colorado - Part 2

Dolores River Aspen (click image for larger view)

Alice and I just returned from four days down in the San Juans in southwest Colorado, again on the hunt for autumn colours. Unfortunately, a storm beat us through there last Wednesday and, as with Aspen the previous weekend, blew much of the best foliage to the ground.

However, we didn’t suffer from the incessant blue skies that plagued the trip to Aspen (remember, this is a photographic trip – blue skies = bad). Instead another low pressure system rolled in on Saturday evening, unfortunately blocking sunset, but setting up some great weather conditions for Sunday.

As you can see from the image above, there were some good spots to be found, but they took some finding. The best foliage that remained was either in sheltered corners, such as in the canyon below the turn off to the Alpine Loop off the Red Mountain Pass road, and towards the Telluride end of Last Dollar Road, or was a lower elevations, such as the Dolores River some 60 miles to the southwest.

I’ve posted a selection of images under the Colorado - Fall category. Here’s a small selection:

Sunday morning up on Dallas Divide offered some dramatic skies and there was sufficient colour in the remaining foliage to make a decent image:

Dallas Divide (click image for larger view)

Next we drove Last Dollar Road for the first time from beginning to end – wish we’d done that before, as it’s a wonderful place, and not a particularly challenging drive (as long as it’s not slick from rain, I read). This side road is rutted and gathers the falling aspen leaves creating some wonderful lead-in lines for a photograph:

Forest Road (click image for larger view)

Finally, these aspen groves on the road towards Telluride from the airport (not Last Dollar Road proper, but many will think of it as such) still retained some decent colour and the cloudy light was suitably soft:

Aspen Study 2 (click image for larger view)

I’ve read elsewhere that this was the worst fall colour in a decade. While the famous vistas weren’t really in condition to shoot, there was still much to enjoy.

Posted in Locations

Stephen · Tuesday, October 06, 2009, 19:13 · Permalink · Comment [4]