Vision Landscapes

Every landscape photographer has a special place in this world, a place where the land speaks to the heart, a place where their thoughts turn for inspiration. That special place may be near home, or it may be far away, but it is part of what makes us passionate about what we do. For me, that special place is the West MacDonnell National Park, located in the heart of Australia's Northern Territory, near the town of Alice Springs.

The West MacDonnell National Park, which encompasses the West MacDonnell Range or "West Macs" as they are called locally, is an area of deep gorges, narrow chasms, desert waterholes, ancient rivers and Paleozoic era landforms. Each of the park’s chasms and gorges has its own unique beauty and character. Ellery Creek Big Hole, Ormiston Gorge, Glen Helen and Redbank Gorge offer picturesque swimming holes, at Standley Chasm the sun light in the middle of the day reflects off its rocky face in fiery oranges and reds, while Rock Wallabies are easily spotted along the rock face at Simpsons Gap and Ormiston Gorge.

Ormiston Gorge, from the Ghost Gum trail, about 45 minutes after sunrise. Toyo 45AII, Schneider 135mm f4.5, Symmar-S lens on Fuji Velvia 50, with an 81A warming filter.

Stretching some 80 miles (130 km) from Alice Springs to the end of the sealed road at Glen Helen, the road generally follows the West MacDonnell Range, first along Larapinta Drive, then onto Namatjira Drive. Due to distances involved, camping is the best way to be in a position to catch the early morning light; driving after dark is not recommended. Ellery Creek and Ormiston Gorge offer the best campgrounds, while the Glen Helen lodge offers accommodations and meals, along with the park's only pub.

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Joern Utzon, the Danish architect who designed the iconic Sydney Opera House, died of a heart attack Saturday. He was 90.

“Born in Copenhagen in 1918, Utzon graduated from the capital's academy of arts in 1942, working in several major Danish architectural offices and later with Alvar Aalto in Finland. He established his own practice in Copenhagen in 1950.

Utzon's earliest buildings were private homes. His winning the design competition for the Opera House in 1956 was a surprise to many, including colleagues.”

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/sydney-opera-house-architect-joern-utzon-dead/2008/11/30/1227979814647.html

Whenever I’m in Sydney, I always take the opportunity to photograph this wonderful building. With the passing of its architect, I thought I would share some of my favorite photographs of the building, many consider to be the epitome of his life’s work.

Sydney Opera House lights up in the afternoon sunlight. Nikon N80, Nikkor 28-200mm Zoom, Fuji Velvia 50.

Just before dark, the Opera House comes alive with activity. Nikon F6, Nikkor 24-120mm Zoom, Fuji Provia 400x.

Nikon F6, Nikkor 24-120mm Zoom, Fuji Provia 400x.

View from the Opera House of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Nikon F6, Nikkor 24-120mm Zoom, Fuji Provia 400x.

I've just finished processing my first batch of the new Kodak Ektar 100 Professional film. My initial impression is quite favorable, although I can see that this film really doesn't work for me doing landscapes.

All these images are directly out of the scanner, with NO adjustments other than levels and contrast; in other words, NO sharpening, NO color correction and NO saturation.

All images were taken on a Nikon F6, with a Nikkor 24-120mm zoom lens and a polarizing filter - all handheld. The location for these images is the Chinatown area of downtown Honolulu, Hawaii.

For more on this film see: First Look - new Kodak Ektar 100 Professional

After a stay at the Westown Hotel in Iloilo City, I wanted to write down my impressions, so that others considering staying in this facility can make an informed decision. In the hotel's Guest Satisfaction Survey, the hotel writes "With your assistance, we can make the MO2 WESTOWN HOTEL the NICEST, FRIENDLIEST, THE BEST HOTEL in Iloilo City. So, the question is "Does the hotel live up to this simple request?"

The Good

As with most places I have visited in my short stay in the Philippines, I found the majority of Filipino people to be extremely friendly and very helpful. This is also the case with the hotel staff; they are always there to open the door for the guests, to get a taxi for you when you wish to go somewhere.

Likewise, the rooms are clean, comfortable; in short, a relaxing place to stay. The hotel is new, and is reflected in the rooms themselves. The bed is very comfortable, a bit firmer that I'm used to (but like), and there is a nice desk from which to work (not shown). I found the room a good value for the price - 1500 pesos (or about $32 US) per night. The same quality room would be much more expensive, in other countries, like the US or
Australia (where I normally travel).

The Bad

Two things went very wrong at the hotel. First the hotel advertises Internet connections in the room, in fact, they give you a network cable in the room for you to use when you check in. Unfortunately, in spite of my REPEATED requests to the front desk, the connection in my room never worked, nor did it work in my friends' room, who were on a different floor of the hotel. No one sent to check the connection in my room during my entire stay. There is free WiFi in the lobby of the hotel, but this only seems to work when the Business Office is open - from 9am to 7pm - or when the front desk remembers to turn the wireless router on. Even then, Internet connections seem spotty - one morning I could get to the Internet, the next I could not.

The second thing with the hotel is the noise level from the surrounding area. Next door to the hotel is a pub, and while I didn't visit there, I could hear the loud music in my room until 2am on occasion (mostly Friday and Saturday nights) - the pub seems to subscribe to the theory "if the music isn't good, make it loud". There are pubs on both sides of the hotel, so I doubt the other side of the building would be much better.

Final Thoughts

I briefly mentioned the hotel survey earlier. The Hotel Survey address only the hotel staff, who are very accommodating and friendly, however, it fails to address the hotel property itself. Needless to say, I didn't bother filling it out.

The hotel itself is located a few miles from the center of town, in an area known as Smallville. Most of the business, and restaurants here are not open until mid-day or late afternoon. The only restaurants open for breakfast in the area, are at the Westown Hotel or the Iloilo Business Hotel (across the street from the Westown). Lunch time, the choices are just as slim - a Thai restaurant and one other (which went out of business while I was there). Fortunately, the nearby SM City Mall has all the normal eating places we find in the US. The other choice is the Jollibee chain (sort of a McDonald's look alike) a mile or so away.

If I was going to visit Iloilo again, I would probably stay at the Highway 21, Day's Inn or the Sarabia Manor Hotel. I would not stay at the Westown again.

Occasionally, a photography book comes along that makes you think about the photographic process from a more than a simple "rule of thirds" perspective. "Landscape Beyond - A Journey into Photograph" by David Ward is such a book. This books challenges our viewpoints and our thought processes about landscape photography, while guiding us towards becoming better photographers. Those who consider color landscape photography to be simply "colorful calendar art" would be well advised not to read this book, as it may challenge their core beliefs behind this view. This is not to say that this book does not contain some outstanding examples of color landscape photography; it does. But, it does so, in the context of three essays, which are written in such a way as to give the reader pause to think about their craft. Let's delve into this book a little deeper and see why I feel it holds so much importance for those who love color landscape photography.

The book is broken down into three basic essays; Simplicity, A Sense of Mystery and A Return to Beauty, followed by a section titled Questions or Answers? In the first three essays, David concentrates on the content of a photography, while the forth revolves around "why" we take photographs.

Simplicity

Every landscape photographer makes choices about the complexity of their photographs, through the process of simplification; a process that goes on in our thoughts as we photograph, often without us realizing it. In this essay, David contrasts the simple with the complex, why it is sometimes looked upon in a pejorative way, and how we can use simplicity to transform the complex subject matters that landscape photographers are often presented with into a pleasing composition.

To read the complete review: Book Review: Landscape Beyond, A Journey into Photography.