Clouds Carnival in Iraqi Kurdistan Region

Hello dear friends....Very long time ago after my last post here among your wonderful charming photos of the breathtaking nature.....

Here I am back - If you are accepting me again! - with these photos :)

Nikon Announces D4 camera and 85mm f1.8g

Check out Nikon's newest flagship camera, the D4 here.

 And check out the new 85mm f1.8G lens.

 

Christmas Day Coyote

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and with the New Year just around the corner, remember, designate a driver.

I of course spent Christmas day once again down in Yellowstone National Park, such a glorious place to share the magic of Christmas. Saw many animals while there, two wolf packs, many hundreds of elk and buffalo, eagles, waterfowl and coyote, including this nice looking yote just posing for the camera.

You may have noticed the Livingston Photo Society blog is looking a little different. Kind of figured it was time for a face lift and closet cleaning. Stay tuned, more to come.

Happy New Year to all

Ken (K2)

Verizon???

Picture of the new Verizon store in town. 10 second exposure from a moving vehicle. Picture almost makes the store look good.

Ken

Pine Creek Lake

Another trip up to Pine Creek Lake on 11-11-11. Good hike, as usual. Not too much snow yet, 15"-18" in spots. Perfect temps and some howling wind.

K2

Swan

A pair of Tundra Swan resting on Swan Lake in
Yellowstone National Park

New Project

Another project in the works. This time its a lens. I started out with a P.O.S. Nikon 28-80mm, seemingly all plastic, junky, kit lens, that would not auto focus (although manual operation seemed to function). These lenses are about 40 bucks on the used market. First step was to disassemble it to get at the glass lenses. There were 3 lenses that seemed to be the correct size for what I needed. Now, I am NOT a lens designer so I had no idea if any of them would work. Trial and error, mounting them one at a time on the lens board, none of the individual lenses worked, save for one that was more or less super wide and would focus at about 6 inches. Next I started to combine the lenses. And that brings us to here. In the photo I have two lenses separated by a small piece of plastic pill bottle, all held together by Gorilla Tape. By my very rough calculations, I have a 170mm F5.4 lens that will cover the 4x5 format. This is not going to be some super duper ultra sharp lens. It will have a very soft focus, so I am thinking best used for portraits. Next step, hopefully this week or next, take some pictures with it and see how they come out. Stay tuned

Ken

Ansel Adams in Missoula

The Missoula Art Museum is having an exhibit of Ansel Adams photographs starting on October 7th. I plan on going sometime?? If anybody else from the Livingston area was interested in going, maybe we could setup some sort of carpool to split the cost of gas and save everyone some money.

Crazy Peak

Did some camping and climbing last weekend. Me and Robert hiked to Blue lake in the Crazies, spent the night, than attacked Crazy Peak on Sunday. Here is a little photo essay.

The obligatory "Here is where we camped picture" On the south shore of Blue Lake.

After leaving camp in the morning we quickly gain about 1000 feet to get us at the bottom of this north face that leads us up to the west ridge. The red lines show our approximate route. The right side going up and the left side coming down.

Starting up the north face

Gets a little better

About half way up the north face. Looking kind of small and insignificant from here!

After gaining about another 1000 vertical feet we arrive on the west ridge.

Looking north, view of (from left to right) Granite, Blue, and Thunder lakes

Starting up the west ridge

A little higher looking down the west ridge

Robert approaching the False Summit. Here it starts to get a little tricky. The red line shows part of the route to the summit.

Once on the false summit, you must climb down this chute. I've read it is about 70 feet high, its steep, and its got a bunch of loose rock in it.....how fun!

So here is a view looking down the chute. Once down, you then have to maneuver around this spire between the false summit and the true summit.

After you are around the spire, you gain a little elevation and look for one last chute to climb.

Here Robert is climbing the last chute. After this its a quick 40 feet to the summit.

Robert and Ken make the summit!! Yippee

A little B&W conversion of a view from the top.

Saw Mr. Slithers driving out that evening

What a great weekend and a great climb. I must say I was a bit worried after getting to the false summit and looking down that chute, looked pretty sketchy to me. But after climbing it down and back, it wasn't really THAT bad. Just take your time and be careful if you go. Actually I thought the worst part was climbing back down the north face from the west ridge. Just a bunch of shitty loose talus most of the way down. Not really setting and land speed records, about 3000 vertical feet and maybe 3 miles, it took us about 7 hours round trip from camp. Then another 2 hours to hike back to the car. Needless to say, pretty tired that night. Looking forward to my next adventure.

Ken

8Q4

Spent Labor Day paddling down in Yellowstone with some friends. We paddled from Lewis Lake to Shoshone Lake, our camps site was 8Q4

The paddle was about 7 miles and took us approximately 4 hours or so. We got a little bit of a late start and didn't get on the water till about 13:00 hours. luckily the wind didn't get too bad, although I was a smidge worried when we hit Shoshone Lake but it turned out to be not so bad. I must say, quite the awesome way to explore a small part of Yellowstone. Here are some photos of the trip.

Ken

Paddling on Lewis lake

Paddling in the Lewis Channel

About the last mile or so of Lewis Channel you have to tow your boat up stream because the current is too much to paddle.

Approaching Shoshone Lake

Paddling Shoshone Lake, our camp spot is out on the big peninsula just ahead and left of the kayak.

Backcountry campsites in Yellowstone have designated eating and sleeping areas. Here we are eating dinner , I had a wonderful PB &J followed by a nice Cliff bar....yummy!


Photo of the hanging pole for food and other odorous stuffs

My meager sleeping spot for the night

Sunset

Stars

more 8Q4

Leaving Camp

Approaching Lewis Channel

Paddling Lewis Channel

Forest Fire on east side of Yellowstone Lake

More fish

Sitting at home deciding what to do today, I get a call from a friend asking if I want to fish the Yellowstone. I would almost be a fool to turn down fishing the Yellowstone with two professional fishing guides, so I went. We all caught fish, this was my best of the day, a 17.5 inch Brown.

Ken

trout

A little afternoon hike to West Boulder Meadows on Wednesday proves unlucky for this nice Cutthroat Trout.

Ken


No fish were actually harmed in this photo. Mr Cutthroat was successfully returned to the waters and happily swam away.

Fireworks

So here is a shot of some fireworks from the 4th of July. I used my homemade 4x5 camera (see below). Shot in B&W but added a duotone in Photoshop. Somehow fireworks in B&W just aren't the same as in color. Sill though, the camera seems to be working as planned.

Ken

Thompson Lake

Hiked up to Thompson Lake on Saturday with some friends. Trail was in great shape, a little wet and muddy after the creek crossing but not bad. Tons of people up there. Fishing was good but not great, it was very windy out. This little Cut was fooled by the Hares Ear Nymph.

Ken

July 2nd Fireworks

Just one picture from tonight's fireworks show.

K2

Picture from Home Made Camera

Finally got around to taking a photo with the homemade camera (see below). This was shot at f22. The back of the couch is about 3.5 feet away from the lens. Looks like everything else is acceptably sharp. Next step is maybe some nice landscape photo.

Ken