Honeysuckle Leaf Venations

How many times have we passed a winter leaf without seeing its intrinsic beauty

Where I live

This is the view from across the lake. Note the abandoned cabin on the south shore.

Stinkbug

This lovely creature came in with the firewood. We should be glad they are only about 1.5 cm.

Macro photography

Here is a shot of some lichen growing on a stump; it is probably Cladonia deformis, common name: “lesser sulphur cup”. It was shot using a 1x to 5x Canon macro lens. Note the spores that are undetectable to the unaided eye. The lichen pictured are about 1cm in length.

Back to the Kick Back Ranch

After a year on the prairies of northwestern Wyoming, I am back home in western Montana. Any comparison would be an understatement, so I will let the photo speak for itself.

The Krappy Kamera Contest

Every year Soho Photo Gallery in New York City hosts the Krappy Kamera Contest. The only criterion for submission is that the camera be plastic or toys. Most people choose to use a Holga, a $17.00 Chinese Toy Camera known for its unpredictable results. Other cameras are old Brownies and pinhole cameras made from an oatmeal carton. The judges consider the Instamatic to be too technologically advanced. Here is a link to an article from the 2005 contest: http://www.cameraarts.com/2005_web_extras/CA46-NewKrappy.pdf
As you can see, amazing art can be accomplished by these simple optical devices.
I must admit I am both too lazy and too cheap to expand my art into the world of Holga and return to the world of film. Therefore I have taken a 12.8 megabyte photo taken with a Canon 5d and a 17-40 mm “L” lens and processed it to look like it was taken with a $17.00 Camera. This was done in Photoshop Elements with the 55mm plug-in. First step was to crop it square like the Holga 6X6, then to use software to warm mist, making it look like sepia. The next step was to vignette to simulate the light fall off from a plastic lens, then finally soften it to simulate light leaks which are common in the cheapest of cameras. Although this photo will not win any contest, I think it does capture the art of being cheap.

My New Website

Last weekend was cold and snowy which prevented me from the hiking, camping and fishing that usually occupies my weekends. Being motel bound, I decided to investigate making a website. I had an idea of what I wanted, but no idea on how to make it happen. After some surfing, I found a program called Shutterbug that assembles photographs into a website. It took a couple hours to assemble and a couple more to tweak, but by Sunday noon, I had what I had envisioned. The next step was to find a web host, for that, host monster was chosen for their low price of $4.99 a month and their no charge domain registration. After a frustrating time trying to load the site, I found a transfer program was necessary. Cyberduck was a free download.
By Monday evening the site was up, not exactly how it looked in the program, but close enough for the first time. I’ve made the necessary changes and will attempt another download when I have a few more photos to add.
So here it is, for your review: www.haischphoto.com
Hope you like it.

Trout Outwitted

The first snows of the season have arrived here in the Powder River Basin. I’m afraid this may spell the end of the camping season, or at least the “camping in comfort” season. Last weekend I made what may be the last camping trip of the summer and thought it best to stay out of the mountains and keep to the lower elevations of Sand Creek.
Those who have followed this blog will note my persistence in trying to catch the big brown trout that inhabit the stream. I have tried many times throughout the spring, summer and now fall to catch them on the fly rod.
In this time I have offered them every type of fly in my arsenal, from #22 nymphs and drys, fished both on the surface and bottom and everywhere in-between, to every attractor pattern including the usually successful adams and royal coachman, as well as many types of mayflies, pale morning dun and caddis flies. I even resorted to the terrestrials, ant and bug-like things called letort hoppers and atomic ants. In desperation I even once tied a live grasshopper on a hook and offering that to the tranquil trout.
Humpfh!
They ignored it all.
All the more frustrating because I can see the fish through the gin-clear water with their expressions of arrogance and indifference.
This time of year there is more night than day and after dinner while sitting around the campfire, I decided to do something I’d not done before. Fly fish at night.
Ahaa! Boom! Splash!
Obviously what the fish were waiting for. I caught three fat trout in about a half hour. In the moonless night they could not see me, nor could I see them until they splashed to take the fly.
Although challenging and especially tough to be aware of where the line and fly is in the darkness, I have finally found the secret of successful trout fishing on Sand Creek.

Rock Skippers

Sometimes even the sky cooperates for a fine photo.

Harvest Moon Over Wyoming

This is where a 500mm lens and a tripod come in handy.

Buffalo Bull

This handsome guy is from the Durham Ranch just a few miles from the office in Wright, WY.

Wine Time

This is the time of year to make homemade wine. All you need is fruit, water, sugar and yeast. Put it all in a bucket, let it ferment then bottle it. Next year at this time, invite some friends over drink this year’s wine and make more.
What could be easier?

Bighorn Aspens

Had planed another camping trip to the Middle Fork of Clear Creek in the mountains west of Buffalo, but snow was falling as I left Gillette on Saturday. Being prudent and not wishing to spend an uncomfortable night in the woods, I turned back.
Sunday morning was cool, the precipitation had abated and the sky began to clear from the west, perfect for photographing the mountain aspens. Generally about 40 miles from Buffalo one can see the Bighorns to the west, although the clouds remained thick over the peaks, I remained optimistic the sky would clear. Despite the green in the valley, several miles up highway 16, the snow covered the ground, and the aspens were at their golden peak. I spent the next couple hours hiking and taking photos, and whenever I got to a high vista I waited for the clouds to clear and reveal the snow-covered peaks. Eventually the sun came out, briefly, but the peaks remained obscured. At a particularly fine vista I waited and drank my thermos of hot tea, but instead of clearing, a foggy mist moved in on a bitter wind and snow began to fall, lightly at first, then it quickly changed to a furious squall. Since it was getting late, I decided to drive back and try again next weekend.
I can only hope the weather cooperates for my return and the trees maintain their brilliant autumn colors.

Return to Sand Creek

Now that the summer heat has abated and the colors of autumn are beginning to grace the creek side foliage, it is the perfect time to fish Sand Creek again. After arriving and setting up camp Saturday night, I walked and fished the shoreline upstream; this is an area I had not fished before, and I found it to be generously endowed with ample trout habitat, deep runs and waterfalls, and holes where fish are easily seen.
Despite all that, and investing several hours fishing the area north and south of camp that evening and another hour Sunday morning fishing north of Ranch A, no fish were caught by me.
After trying my luck at various other spots downstream, I accepted defeat and headed to the town of Sundance. Being early morning as I came into town, and remembering a 30 acre pond on Sundance Creek between the golf course and the fairgrounds, I decided to give it a try. Good thing, for there I found several playful ten-inch rainbow trout that prevented me from getting skunked.

The Key to Seeing

The key to seeing the world’s soul, and in the process wakening one’s own, is to get over the confusion by which we think that fact is real and imagination an illusion. It is the other way around.

Thomas Moore, “Original Self”

Art in Ordinary Things

Photo Tips for Photographing Natural Phenomena

The Following are some tips I have gleaned from various books and personal experience.

Into the Sun
Using ISO 50 1/250 sec at f/22
Using ISO 100 1/500 sec at f/22

Sunrise and Sunset
Take a meter reading with the sun in the shot using a wide or normal lens and underexpose by ½ stop.
If using a telephoto, take the reading off the sky adjacent to the sun, then underexpose by ½ stop.

Rainbows
Underexpose by ½ to 1 stop, try using a polarizing filter.

Seafog and Morning Mist
If sun is behind you and shining on the mist, take reading on the mist and overexpose by 1 stop to lighten the mist.
If mist is pink or gold, adhere to meter reading, if using lens over 100mm, take reading to the side of the sun.

Sunlight through Trees
Using ISO 100 1/250 at f/22, f/16/ f/11
If sunlight is from the side, bracket ½ stop either side.
If 2/3 of the scene is brighter than the rest, over expose by ½ stop. If 2/3 of the scene is darker than the rest, underexpose by ½ stop.

Clouds
Expose for effect
If dark and ominous, underexpose by 1-3 stops. Most sky shots benefits from underexpose, polarize if the scene is 90degrees to the sun.

Lighting
If daytime, be lucky
If at night, use low ISO, tripod, and wide or normal lens. Compose with foreground to express perspective, focus at infinity and f/16. Use time exposure and cable release.

The Moon
If shooting only the moon, use a 300mm or larger telephoto lens, Using 100 ISO 1/250 sec at f/8.

Moonlit landscape
Easiest when snow is on the ground, if facing east 40-60 minutes after sunset, if facing west 20-40 minutes after sunset, using ISO 100 1/250sec at f/8.
At night using ISO 100 30 seconds at f/2. Remember, the moon is larger at rise and set.

Stars
Use landscape to set scale. To show movement of the stars, ISO 100 15 sec to 1hr f/2.8 or f/4. Use widest lens and tripod, point to the North Star.

Aurora Borealis
Tripod, wide or normal lens, ISO 100 15 to 40 sec, use cable release.

Rain
1/8 to 1/30 sec shows best with a dark background and the rain a bit distant.

Water Drops
If strong back lighting, underexpose by 1or2 stops.

Bodies of Water
Time exposure of 30+ seconds at f/22 or f/32 to show water ripples before sunrise or sunset.

Waterfalls
1/8 to ½ seconds for gentle water, 1/500 to show big, fast, powerful water.

Snow
For white snow, overexpose 1 f stop, the more white, the more exposure.

Falling Snow
Use flash with dark background at dusk will make each flake stand-out. To show a snowstorm, 1/15 to 1/60 seconds.

Frost
Expose as for snow. On window use macro lens and f/5.6 – f/11.

Ice
If light, overexpose, If gray, follow meter, If dark, underexpose.

Oh Yes, The Simple Life

As best as I can figure this is my fifteenth weekend camping this summer. My first was April 1st in the Black Hills where I got snowed on, and now it is August 5th I am in the Bighorn Mountains at 8,200 feet and there is the first hint of fall in the air.
This week’s camping spot is a few miles off highway 14 and a few hundred yards off FS Road 31. The established campgrounds I checked were full, so this week is very quiet and isolated. If not for a couple pick-ups kicking up dust on the road, it would be only the sounds of nature, Barley chasing little critters and the XM radio on channel 110, “XM Classics”.
We have already explored the area by hiking a trail for a couple miles then finding an old road and following it back along an open meadow and through the pine forest. I have picked out a spot to return to for the sunset photo of Cloud Peak. There is not water, thus not fishing, so we will call this a photo expedition.
With all this camping, I believe I have found a couple secrets to comfort and simplicity. First, a comfortable chair, not one of those that squish you when you sit in em, but a folding director’s chair; this can make anyplace comfortable. Next a $15 collapsible table, the one I found at K-Wall is about 2 feet square, plenty room for cooking and eating for one. No need for a picnic table. Cooking equipment is simple, a little Coleman stove and a small fry-pan and a 1 litter Jet Boil just for water. When it is cold out it takes a while for water to boil with the Coleman, but the Jet Boil is quick, just what an impatient guy like me needs. There is also a rather pricy stainless French press and a Stanley Thermos, but well worth it for hot coffee. I think you all know what I mean. Meals are simple too, soups, cereal, dried fruit Raman, parboiled rice, Lipton noodles and tortillas with eggs, cheese and/or sausage or lunch meat, ya know stuff like that, nothing fancy for me, just food that is easy to cook and easy to clean up. It all fits nicely in an 18-gallon storage tote with room for fishing gear, a fanny pack, a tarp, and other necessities.
Another requirement is the scotch, the good stuff. Don’t bother with junk like Sheep Dip or Pig’s Nose, or anything that refuses to state its age, instead a Glenfidich or Dimple Pinch or Chivas. Consider it one of the luxuries and use it in moderation or semi-moderation, or drink as much as you wish, its not like anybody is going to drive home tonight, right?

Catching Up

A couple of my faithful readers have recently admonished me for not being diligent with my blog entries. To these I must confess I have been most negligent. These are the dog days of summer and I have been lazy as a dog myself.
Two weekends ago I met up with a friend from Polson over in Ranchester where we camped Saturday night. A hot weekend, too hot to camp and too hot to fish even if the Tongue River was not slow, low and algae ridden, so we lazed around and talked and listened to music until the batteries ran out on both the XM and the ipod.
Last weekend found me again in the Bearlodge Mts, but the heat kept me from hiking or fishing, so me and my dog just hung out, took an evening and a morning photo-hike, and got some reading done. The temperature was over a hundred both Saturday and Sunday, and without rain for a while all was dry and the roads thick with dust. The photo of the tower was taken on the way back and made cool looking with PS.
Now, this weekend I am hanging out in town, the first weekend since last April I have spent a weekend here. They say record heat (106 today), and even Barley says he’d rather stay inside. So reading “The Best American Short Stories” edited by Michael Chabon. For a brief review, let me say, the BASS series has finally gotten it right again, for the last decade they’ve been too concerned with the form and the story has suffered; now they are back to good story telling. The other reading is a couple photo books by Freeman Patterson. I can say whoever reads his books will either become a more observant person and a better visual artist, or become a more frustrated artist. Patterson makes it all look so easy, but the nice thing about it, he tells you how he makes (not takes) a photo.

A Man, His Dog and The Crazy Woman

It’s been getting hot in the prairies of northeastern Wyoming, so I decided to head for the Bighorn Mountains west of Buffalo. This time of year the established campgrounds are pretty full, so I took off on the side roads in search of a good place to spend the night. Towards the end of Sourdough Creek Road I found a spot with a flat spot, a fire ring, plenty of firewood and an ample number of squirrels. What more could a guy and his dog want. After setting up camp, we took a hike down an abandoned road where we found the swampy willow-lined headwaters of Sourdough Creek. I could not help but tell my dog that it looked like serious moose country. And it was not long before we came across a couple of cow moose. To avoid a confrontation, we headed back, in my many years of hiking the backcountry I have seem lots of wildlife and lots of wildlife has seen me, but only once have I been charged, and that was by a moose, but that is another story.
Sunday morning I got up early and fished the beaver ponds downstream and after catching only 8” brook trout, I headed over to the next drainage, Crazy Woman Creek.
There is a campground on Crazy Woman Creek (I’m sure there is a story behind that name), where it meanders through some fields and is spotted with beaver ponds. After an hour of fishing and catching small trout, we headed downstream. Downstream is really down a very steep rocky canyon. The forest service road follows it all the way into the prairies. I fished for a few hours in various pools and once again caught only small bookies. It is a fine drive, but the road being narrow and steep and not wishing to venture the steep uphill in a two-wheel drive Passat. I followed the road out of the mountains to the highway and thus completed a circle back to Buffalo.