Livingston Photo Society

More Photos from Utah

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Wed, 30 May 2012 01:36:00 +0000

Bow Knot Bend 1

Bow Knot Bend 2

Delicate Arch

Trin Alcove 1

Trin Alcove 2

As promised, albeit a month later, here are the large format pictures from my Utah trip. So these were shot with the Shen Hao TZ 45 II B 4x5 camera and a 90MM f8 Schneider Super Angulon Lens. The film was well expired Polaroid Type 55 that I chose to develop at home in Kodak HC-110 Dilution H. Only five pictures but worth the effort. I think the last one is my favorite.

Ken

Cheese Cake

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sat, 26 May 2012 15:07:00 +0000

Cheese Cake

Just got done with another, much overdue, darkroom session. Here we see another favorite subject of mine CHEESECAKE. I have a pretty darn good recipe, but more importantly I enjoy eating the cheesecake. YUMMY!

Camera Stuff

Horseman 4x5, Nikon 150mm, Arista edu Ultra 100, HC 110 Dilution H

Labyrinth Canyon Utah April 2012

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 04:28:00 +0000

Utah, Ahhh Utah. It's been quite some time since I've been to Utah, and when an invitation came along to go I could not refuse. This time it was going to be a little different though, this time we are going to spend 5 days canoeing on the Green River, on the stretch known as Labyrinth Canyon. Sixty some river miles that take you into the heart of canyon country. I'd be going with Jon. Jon is your avid kayaker, rafter, canoeer, pretty much all things water, type dude. Jon was the inspiration for the Labyrinth Canyon trip. Hurray for Jon getting me back to Utah!

So this is Livingston Photo Society, so lets talk briefly about cameras. I don't think Jon owns a camera so all the photographing was up to me. I had a heck of a time deciding which camera/s to bring. It's not like I was backpacking and had to carry all that weight, so two cameras came with me. I brought my 4x5 Large format camera because I knew we would be in some amazing canyon country. The Shen Hao TZ45IIb came on the trip along with 3 lenses, a 90mm f8 Super Angulon, Nikon 200M, and Nikon 300M. Of course all the little thing you need for large format photography were brought too, light meter, loupe, dark cloth, and cable release. For film I wanted something compact, less likely to get sand or dust in it, and easy to manage. For that I brought 18 sheets of some well expired Polaroid type 55 B&W film and a Polaroid 545 film holder. This is a gamble. I have tried this box of Type 55 in the past and discovered that the chemical pack are no good. So I will be tray processing the film, now that I am home, shortly. Thankfully I have extra film that came home with me and will be able to experiment a little before I try to process the film from the trip. Along with the 4x5 I also brought my Nikon D2x with the 18-70mm lens, a 50 f1.4 lens, SB600 flash, and extra cards and batteries. This was going to be the camera used more or less to document the trip. To support it all I brought a Gitzo Safari tripod with a Foba Mini-Super ball had on top. In the end I never put the 50mm 1.4 lens on, I used the SB 600 once, the 90mm was the only lens I used for 4x5, and I only took 4 shots with the 4x5 while on the river. So now that we got that taken care of lets get on with the trip report.

All Packed Up

After the river trip Jon and I were going our separate ways so we each drove our own vehicles. This worked out well because we then didn't have to arrange for a shuttle. And lets face it, after 5 days we could use a break from each other :P To the right you see my car all packed up ready to go. We left on April 6th and of course we had to drive through a little mini blizzard for the first couple of hundred miles. Pretty ridiculous really, especially Gallatin Canyon in Montana. Thought for sure I would get stuck or crash somewhere. Luckily all worked out well and by the time we got to Idaho Falls, Idaho the snow was gone, got dang windy the rest of the way but at least there was no more snow. The snow did however delay us many hours. Our put in spot was the town of Green River, Utah. By the time we arrived it was plenty dark. We ditched our canoes at the put

Mineral Bottom Road

in, then drove about 60 miles towards our take out spot to make camp. The coldest night of the trip was that first night. Got down to about 18 degrees F. Thankfully we brought our cold weather bags for the trip. We were in no hurry to get up in the morning after spending many hours behind the wheel the night before. But sunrise finally came and we awoke, packed up camp, and drove to the take out point to drop off one of the cars. The road, named Mineral Bottom Road, is about 17 miles of dirt. Towards the end you get to drive down this wonderful section of the road. Not too bad when its dry but I wouldn't want to be anywhere near it when its raining or wet. I should say the the little Honda Civic had no trouble at all on that road. On the

Green River Put In

road again, we make our way back to Green River, eat some
lunch, and find our way to the Green River State Park where we left our canoes, load up the boats and get on the river. Its early afternoon. To the right you see both our canoes at the put in. Jon's in the foreground and mine in the back. There are a few different places to put in for this trip. We chose Green River State Park for its simplicity. It was $20 to park the car there for 5 days, but you get about 5 more river miles out of your trip. This whole trip, Labyrinth Canyon, is all flat water. Jon informed me that the river drops all of about 50 feet in the 63 miles or so that we were on. The first interesting thing the we came upon on the river was Crystal Geyser. You can read about that here . Pretty neat to see in the middle of nowhere. Crystal Geyser is an alternate place to put in your boats.

Flat Water

Crystal Geyser

Since we kind of got a late start, we maybe only did about 9 miles the first day. We did find this nice sandy beach on a little island, which we called home for a night.

Camp 1

Room With A View

Myself being new to multi day river trips, following rules is very important. One rule is to pack out all your waste. There are a few different special tools for this task. Ours was called a Groover. And if your going to use a Groover, you might as well at least have a nice view !

Lunch Break

Day two, back on the water. More of the same. Pretty nondescript the first day and a half. Kind of reminded me of floating through eastern Montana. But by lunch time, we start getting into some really cool cliffs, rock formations and its definitely getting canyonee. During our lunch break we find a nice place to get out and stretch the legs and go for a little hike.

Sandstone Cliff

Explore

Again, back on the water, and the cliff walls are getting higher. Now we are starting to get into the stuff, canyonland country. Many spots along the way you can paddle right up to very massive walls of sandstone. Its only going to get better from here. Day two was a pretty big mile day, not exactly sure how many, but we were both ready to stop for the night when we found this ideal spot, Trin Alcove. If you look close, you can see another sandy beach. These make for really nice sleeping spots. Trin Alcove is a really cool spot. Three massive

Trin Alcove

canyons end in this one giant opening offering lots of places to explore. In fact we spent two nights here so we could check out the entire canyon. The second day here at Trin


Ken and Jon Explore Trin Alcove

Alcove I carried the 4x5 camera. Because of the bulk and weight I did not bring the D2x with me that day. I was offered two shots, and when I get those processed I will post those here.

Explore Trin Alcove 2

Explore Trin Alcove 3

Trin Alcove Evening

Trin Alcove Night

So while you are waiting for the 4x5 photos, enjoy these from Trin Alcove. And for any Strobist out there, the night shot was fun. Here are some details. ISO 1600, 30 second exposure, SB 600 on manual, full power. I think I popped it 5 or 6 times to get this image.

Deep In The Canyon

More Sandstone Cliffs

On to day 4 in the canyon. We are full on in it. Massive, colorful cliffs rising 1000 feet or maybe more from the river. Twisty turny river flow, my neck was getting sore from all the looking up and around.

If a person wanted to they could spend many more days wandering around all the little, or big, side canyons that connect with the main canyon. That was not really our goal for this trip, maybe next time. There were a few interesting land based side trips that we did visit. One was Register Rock. Here, past river explorers carved there names into the sandstone. I know one name was from 1940, I'm sure others go back even farther.

Abandoned Uranium Mine

The other side trip we did was search for the old abandoned Uranium mine. It was a short hike to the area, and we found some old cars and machinery, but didn't give it much effort trying to find the mine. Maybe it was there and we missed it or maybe it was filled in, I don't know. Who really wants to hang out with Uranium anyway??

Camp 4

About half way through day 4 the wind was really starting to pick up. Our effort to make miles was going slow and hard. Sometime during day 4 we passed another party in a raft, Campy and Christy. Two very cool people from Frisco Colorado. When we stopped at the Uranium mine they passed us and made camp down stream. As we came along they were kind enough to offer us some fresh made fajitas. Man that really hit the spot. Thank you Campy and Christy! Campy and Christy own the Kodi Rafting company in Frisco Colorado. So if your looking for a place to whitewater raft, look them up and tell them Jon and Ken say Hi. After eating the awesome fajitas and chatting for a while, Jon and I get back in our boats to look for our own camp for the night. Not too much further down stream we find a really good spot on Bow Knot Bend. Bow Knot Bend is a big looping bend in the river that is about 7 miles long, but takes you to with in about 1/4 of a mile of the river on the other side of the ridge from where we camped. The morning of day 5 me and Jon hike up the ridge to get an incredible view of the river going both directions. This morning was another morning that I took the 4x5 with me, so you will just have to wait for some more pictures. But trust me, it was totally worth the 15 or 20 minutes it took us to hike to the top of the ridge. Back in the boats, we are fighting the wind the whole day. Made for some tough going seeing as we had about 18 miles to the take out. I did take a few photos early on in the day but after a little while I just put the camera away and paddled. I didn't want to lose my momentum. But let me say this, the last stretch had some killer views.

Day 5 Canyon 2

Day 5 Canyon

Oh the Mariah..........

K2

Freezeout Lake 2012

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 01:09:00 +0000

Made the pilgrimage to Freezeout Lake over the weekend to watch the Snow Goose migration. Arrived on Friday evening with about 6 inches of new snow on the ground, which made for interesting driving and interesting camping. The snow had stopped falling by morning, but I awoke to heavy fog with temps in the mid 20's, and that's how it stayed the rest of the weekend.

Snow Geese

The heavy fog mad for tough viewing, even though there were reported to be 50,000 snow geese in the area. Finally on Sunday morning I come across a large number of geese in one of the more southern ponds. I guess geese are kind of camera shy and decided to depart the area when the big lens was pointed at them. It really is a sight to behold, watching many thousands of geese take off out of the water at the same time. Along with the geese, there were a large number of Swan in the area, also Canada Geese, and many variety of ducks.

Bird lovers and photographers, if you ever get a chance, I recommend a trip to Freezeout Lake in Montana, you will not be disappointed.

Ken

Backpacks

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 03:43:00 +0000

Got some backpacks for sale. If anybody is interested shoot me an e-mail. Going on C-list next.

K2

Butterfly?

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:13:00 +0000

Couldn't tell you what kind of butterfly, perhaps a Western White. I at least know it is not a moth. Photographed last July on my 4 day hike in the High Uinta's of Utah. Great hike!

Ken

Yogatography? What is that?

noreply@blogger.com (Larry) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 03:36:00 +0000

Well here is a head turner for fellow photographers. This one is for women photographers only at this point.

Enhance your yoga with vision, enhance you vision with yoga. Margaret Burns Vap of Big Sky Yoga Retreats and your’s truly, Larry Stanley have teamed up to produce a retreat that offers Yoga/Photography at the Double T River Ranch in Clyde Park, Montana. The days will be filled with creative exercises, yoga classes, photography classes and fun photo assignments, great meals and time on this gorgeous ranch to explore your own creative nature. This retreat is for women only. However, I am working on producing a co-ed version of this retreat in the near future.

THE DATE IS SET: OCTOBER 11-14TH. See all the details at Big Sky Yoga Retreats
You don’t have to be an accomplished photographer to join in, nor do you have to be a master of Yoga.

Check out the details here (Yogatography) if this peaks your interest. You can also read more about it on my Montana Photo Workshops blog.

I photographed with Margaret last week for her next project (she has many!). Here are a couple of my favorite images from the shoot.

Art Show in Livingston

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:09:00 +0000

Art show in Livingston Montana, February 25th, 6:30pm at the Livingston Center for Art and Culture. Seven artist including two photographers form Livingston Photo Society, Jay Wesler (whose link is below), and myself. Show will also include...

Matt Meredith - Sculpture
Travis Sarisky - Painting
Aurora Sarisky - Jewelry
Krystal Cipriani - Painting
Hedi Farra - Jewelry and accessories

If you're in the area stop by and meet the artist.

Ken

Ice Climbing Hyalite Canyon

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 01:12:00 +0000

Jon belays Robert, Chris watches

Went ice climbing with some friends on Saturday. This was kind of ice climbing 101, 3 of us have never climbed ice before, although Jon and myself have rock climbed in the past. We were at Hyalite Canyon, just outside Bozeman Montana, and we climbed what is called Genesis 1. A perfect piece of ice for beginners and experts.

Jon

It was a glorious day to climb. Slightly overcast in the morning with temps in the mid 20's. Clouds started to break up later in the morning and the sun was out around lunch time. Here we see Jon and Chris getting it done.

Chris

This was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again. Now all I need to do is get my own gear... does it ever end?? Ken

Ken on Genesis 1

Clouds Carnival in Iraqi Kurdistan Region

noreply@blogger.com (Azhy Ch.Hasan) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:07:00 +0000

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

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

Christmas Day Coyote

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:02:00 +0000

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???

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:53:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 16:30:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:04:00 +0000

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

New Project

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:32:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:52:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 02:12:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 22:38:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 22:30:00 +0000

Leaving Camp

Approaching Lewis Channel

Paddling Lewis Channel

Forest Fire on east side of Yellowstone Lake

More fish

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 01:38:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 03:26:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:24:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 12:55:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (K2) — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 06:05:00 +0000

Just one picture from tonight's fireworks show.

K2