Bear trails

Those of you that read my January 12 posting saw all kinds of bear parts. I am happy to report that five of the six piles of parts are now finished bears and one of them was adopted at the Phoenix Teddy Bear Show on March 17.


I actually finished the bears the week before I had to leave but I was still busy getting paperwork together along with all the show stuff. I’m sure glad I was organized enough several years ago that I put together a checklist of all the stuff I need for a show.

My table

I did this show because it is the closest one to home. I have skipped all the recent shows in Albuquerque because they are mainly doll shows with only one or two bear artists. Some of the people attending the shows don’t seem to appreciate that my bears are one of a kind and handmade, they wanted to bargain for a lower price. Phoenix is a 7 hour drive from home. I found a good book at the library and listened to a 10 hour book for my 14 hours of driving. It was 60° or so when I left Albq., around noon and by the time I got to Phoenix it was 91. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Phoenix, when I got to the edge of town I thought ‘I should be downtown in about 20 minutes’. Well 30 minutes later I was still a good 10 minutes from downtown. Traffic was full speed ahead so the long time was not due to slow traffic.

My table, another view

There were 9 artists at the show. I knew a few of them from previous shows and I had the opportunity to meet a few of the others so we had a nice time visiting when the crowds slowed down. They all suggest that I get on Facebook and start promoting on the web. I am not a Facebook fan at this point. I joined so I could join a few other groups I am interested in but up until this point I go to my Facebook page once a month whether I need to or not.

Once the show was over I got packed up in about 20 minutes and was back on the road for my 7 hour trip to Albq. It was only upper 80’s when I got in the car but the temperature dropped nicely as I started to climb back into the high desert just south of Flagstaff, low 70’s, much better! I got home around midnight and was up and off to work at 800 on Monday.

I did fairly well at the show, and I am planning on going again next year. In the mean time I have to get my name out on FB and who knows where else. The artists I spoke with have offered to provide information on what they did and how it works so I believe I will be on this computer even more than normal getting my name outon the web. I hope to have some time left to make some more bears and needle felted animals.

Stay tuned for the latest bears.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark

On Comet, on Cupi....

Wrong Comet, sorry.

I work with a bunch of photographers and people that really enjoy being outside.  Living in NM makes it easy to be outside, especially in the colder part of the year.  I'm not a real go getter to be outside from late June through September.  I don't really get along with mid to upper 90's so I don't go out of my way to hike around in that weather.  Anyhow, a couple of the guys I work with got out to see Comet pan-STARRS earlier this week.  The photos were great so I went out the following night.  Earlier this year I had scouted out a parking lot on the east side of town at the foothills of the Sandia mountians that has a great view of the whole Rio Grande valley.  It was a great spot for viewing the comet.

I set up around sunset and learning from the guys that were out the previous night I knew to wait until it got dark.  After a while I felt like a tour guide with all the people stopping by asking "Where's the comet?"  I think they were expecting something a bit smaller than the one that went over Russia a few weeks ago.  I was afraid that the clouds would move in taking away any chance of seeing it.  You can see from the photo that there are clouds all around and at times we had to wait for the clouds to move out of the way.  The comet is in the upper quarter of the image just to the left of center.  You should be able to see it by double clicking on the image, expanding it.

Once we could see it, with binoculars, I had to point out which landmark to line up on to assist at least a half dozen people in finding it.  My binoculars were busy all night, but not with me.  That was okay, I had my camera to play with.  I made a number of different exposures experimenting with settings until I found a combination I liked, a huge advantage of digital over film.  I have several images but wanted to share this one because I like the coloring of the sky post sunset. Living at this altitude along with low humidiy make for great seeing conditions.  The farthest city lights are between 12 and 15 miles away and the mountain making up the lower right horizon is just over 60 miles away.

Enjoy.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark

On tour

Hello everyone.

I have been working on bears lately, so no updates to the blog.  Shortly after my last post I started sewing only to have the timing on my sewing machine go south.  So I have been hand stitching all the parts.  I have two bear heads together with several yet to go.  I have been told that I probably won't get my machine back for another few weeks.  In the mean time I am working the old fashion way, by hand.

Last week my friends at the Tony Hillerman library asked if I would like to display my bears for the few weeks before Valentines Day.  They want something cuddly, probably a subtle reminder for us guys to get something for our significant other.  Last Saturday I took a few of my bears up for display.

Thank you for stopping by,
Mark

There are bear parts everywhere!

First of all I want to apologize for not posting sooner.   Microsoft or Google or someone wouldn't let me upload the images no matter what I tried.  I got the Microsoft updates which automatically install whenever the want and after that no upload option for images.  Because I mainly use images in this blog I am screwed.  I downloaded Mozilla Firefox browser and I am now back in business.  Now back to my story...
 
I thought that would get your attention. I don’t know if you are really concerned about bears or are the morbid type that looks at car crashes as you drive by. I’ll let you decide…

First of all no bears were hurt in the writing of this posting. These are the parts of three of the next six on my adoption list. I have been making bears since around 2004 and I’m up to over 60 in my bear family. Most of them live in NM but they are scattered around the US; including TX, WI, AZ, VA and MI.

Some of you know from my previous postings from some time ago, mid 2009, that I was actively making bears quite regularly. The bottom fell out of the bear adoption market so I stopped a while, also I ran out of room in the house for the 18+ that lived with us at the time. I am hoping that the economy has improved enough that people may start adopting teddy bears again. I am preparing for a teddy bear show this coming March in Phoenix. The bear parts you see in the image are for that show. These six along with another five I have at home and a few at a doll and bear shop in Albuquerque will be making the trip to Phoenix. If you are interested go to http://www.toonaroona.com/store/index.htm to see bears at ToonaRoona, the local doll shop.

I will add photos of these bears as they come to life. Stay tuned…

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark

My favorite 12 (part 2)

As promised here's the remaining 6 images of my favorite 12 for 2012.

I have promised myself to get out more to use my camera to shoot more and different images.  So far I have been on a couple longer hikes in support of that promise.  This one is from a late Novemebr hike along the Rio Cebolla.  It was below freezing when we started warming up to the 50's by lunch.  Because it has been fairly warm this fall there was spotty ice along the stream banks.  I had to really crop the image so the ice becomes a small potion of the image.  There is a lot of unresolvable detail in the ice that detracts from the original image.  A tripod really helps with placing and keeping the camera still for this image.

This was taken in Vancouver BC in the area of English Bay looking west.  This is a fairly classic composition with the horizon placed at a 1/3 position horizontally and the couple at one of the 1/3 positions vertically.  The image is somewhat underexposed enhancing the feeling of the sunset.

I like the following two image because of the selective lighting on the leaves.



The last two images were taken on two different hikes.  The lake image was taken in the Pecos Wilderness this past fall.  The sunset-peak image was taken around the Gilman tunnels in the Jemez Mountains.

I hope you enjoyed my 12 favorite images of 2012.

Thank you for stopping by,
Mark

My favorite 12 (part 1)

I have been a regular visitor of Ian Plant’s Dreamscapes blog, http://www.ianplant.com/blog/

I like what he and the other bloggers on his team have to say about landscape photography. Someday I hope to get to their level of imagery. They have a lot to say about the photography ‘rules’ that are supposed to be followed. The Dreamscapes photographers generally follow them but they also disregard them; the 'rule of thirds', 'do not use backlighting'... When I am out shooting I usually forget some of the rules because I am still concentrating on basic composition, exposure, focus and the 10 or so other things I can adjust on a digital camera. Most of the time they work out without remembering everything.  Afterwards I can usually look at many of my images and see where I could have improved the image by changing this or that; a little less exposure, different focus, move the camera a foot or two to the right, left, up or down. I will get better as time goes on; I just have to get off my butt more often and shoot more.

Digital photography is easier than film photography in some ways but more challenging in others.  Once upon a time you put a roll of film into a camera you would shoot making the normal adjustments of lens aperture and shutter speed based on the speed rating of the film.  The drawback was that you would have to wait some period of time before you would see results.  With the digital cameras you do the same thing; with the aperture and shutter,  plus you can program the camera to automatically under and over expose multiple images, change color balance, adjust the flash output, saving image quality, ...  The great plus with digital photography is the instant feedback and not having to stop and load a new roll of film after 24 or 36 images.  Does this lead to shooting quantity instead of quality?? Probably, you can always throw away the bad ones, 'images are free once you invest in the memory card of choice'.  You have to invest your time to find which images you want to keep, or not.  I can only suggest to those of you new to digital photography to purchase the 'XXX camera' book for your specific camera to understand the bells and whistles on your camera (I found the Canon manual for my camera far short in explaining all the different options).

Back to the real idea behind this post...

In the Dec 29, 2012 Dreamscapes post Ian talks about selecting your 12 greatest images over the last year. So I looked through what I shot since I bought my DSLR and selected 12 images I like. If nothing else these are my favorites, they remind me of what I did and where I went this year. If you have been following this blog at all this year you will recognize some of the images. Over time I’m sure some images will become a bit more abstract which may turn some people off, or at least leave you scratching your heads at what I was thinking when I made that image. Let me know what you think as I post images over the next year.

I will post a bit of commentary with some of these images. They are in no particular order so do not consider the first image the best of the 12.  I will supply the 12 images over two separate postings.

The first two images are from my trip to the Great Bear Rainforest.  No matter how much planning I thought I had done and checking camera settings I got excited when the bears made their appearance and didn't get as many good shots as I thought.  I doubt that will ever change unless seeing wildlife like this around you all the time becomes common place.

The next two are also from my trip to the Great Bear Rainforest.  Being in a boat full of photographers heightens ones senses to pay attention to the area around you for a great photo. 

The next two photos are shot with my 100mm macro lens.  I like shooting closeup photos, they show things going on around you on a different scale than most people consider.  You have to be lucky, or patient or both to work on this scale especially with insects.  They have a mind of their own and generally do not sit around waiting for you to compose and focus the camera.  The bee image is more luck than patience since bees were going back and forth on this particular flower.  I've photographed very few images of a bee in flight AND in focus!  The dragonfly image was more patience with some luck.  There is a dragonfly pond at the Albuquerque Bio Park where dragonflies are in constant motion.  I hung around the pond for quite a while watching where they were landing and camped out above one of the reeds where they would sit for a bit.  After several attempts at different dragonflies I finally got one in focus and in a nice position.  (No dragonflies were hurt in the making of this image)

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark

Jemez Mountains



Rio Cebolla valley



A few weeks ago before snow was promised a coworker, Byron, and I decided to go for a day hike up in the Jemez Mountains. He is a borderline fanatical fly-fisherman and has tried to recruit me to be a like minded fly-fisherman. To this point I have resisted. We get along fine on our hikes, he fishes and I photograph whatever gets my attention. We both have a great time!

We went up to the Rio Cebolla just north of the Seven Springs Fish Hatchery. The hatchery grows cutthroat trout which live in upper portions of the Rio Cebolla.

We hiked and fished approximately 2.5 miles up the valley, I’d guess 3 – 4 miles of stream, with all the twists and turns it takes. Byron caught four brown trout (catch and release) and I shot dozens of images. All we saw that day were two other fly-fishermen.

It was cold that morning when we arrived, the outside car thermometer said 19!  It warmed up to the low 50's by the time we stopped for lunch.  You can see ice along the edges of the stream in several of the images.



View around Gilman Tunnel



On our return trip back home we went by way of the Gilman Tunnels along the Rio Guadalupe.  The tunnels were created in the 1920’s for a logging railroad.



View around Gilman Tunnel



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark

Local stuff

Since I have gone back to photography as one of my hobbies I'll be sending along images from somewhere closer to home. This time I'll be walking along the Rio Grande.

Albuquerque has several Open Space areas where the city purchased land to leave alone for people to go out and enjoy. There are several pieces along the Sandia Mountains, the Rio Grande and in the Petroglyphs on the west side. The areas have hiking or walking trails through them and most of the time I take advantage of these areas there are very few people.

I usually walk along and up into the mountains but I thought I'd see the river from a couple different spots. The river is not very exciting, mostly brown from picking up the mud all along its path through New Mexico. It is very different from the few images you saw from my trip to British Columbia where you could see the bottom even when the river is several feet deep.

The banks along the river are not developed at all which means wildlife is able freely come and go. During my times of kayaking along the river I’ve seen herons, Canadian geese, ducks of all sorts, cranes, porcupines, coyotes and I’ve heard but not seen beavers. Cottonwoods line the sides of the river along with all sorts of shrubs and salt cedar, an invasive water hog of a tree. There have been many efforts to eradicate the salt cedars, some successful, some not. The areas where I walked have some but they were not overcrowding the natives.

I was hoping to make it down for the last of the fall colors, but missed it by about a week. The cottonwoods along the river turn a bright yellow/gold but the freeze that hit the previous week turned everything to a dead brown.

Since the striking colors are gone I had to rethink the scale of my photography. No large vistas of golden leaves, I have to refocus to a smaller scale and incorporate a leaf or two for accent. I took a macro photography workshop back in October with Mike Moats who has several blogs related to different types of macro photography (http://www.tinylandscapes.com/). He discussed his technique at length and I like his work. It’s easier from the standpoint of when you photograph a smaller area you are able to control what’s in the image along with the quantity and quality of light. Plus I am able to do it in my backyard when the urge hits.

These images texture driven. You may enjoy them, if nothing else you will see the forest from a different point of view.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark

Last day

Midnight comes quickly, I looked out my window and the sky to the north looked kind of green but it was not very impressive. I’ve only seen the aurora in magazines and books so I decided to get up to make sure if it was making an appearance. It started slow with a few wisps of green and red zipping across the sky then it calmed down for a few minutes. I set up my tripod and camera and waited. It wasn’t like the photographs I have seen of this huge display of green sheets across the entire sky.

It took up maybe a third of the sky to the north but it was there. I made several exposures 20 – 30 seconds long making adjustments to enhance the images as best I could. Some of the aurora reminded me of the big search lights lighting up low level clouds for a grand opening, but there were no clouds to light up because I could see stars all around me.

I stayed up until 130 when it seemed to be fading for longer periods of time. I also heard whales or orcas swimming in the channel just down from me, I heard the blowing and taking in of air before they went back down under water. I went back to bed knowing that I can move going to see the aurora borealis down on my ‘bucket list’, down, but not off.

Next morning

I’m tired this morning from being up for a couple hours of aurora watching. As it turns out I was the only one to get up and photograph the aurora so I had to show them around.

The weather forecast was right, cloudy with occasional drizzle on the ride to Bella Bella. The flight was delayed an hour due to the weather. We sat in the ‘terminal’, a single room in the single room airport waiting for the plane to arrive. I was amazed; no removing of shoes, no X-rays, no luggage check; just give them the tickets and you are good to go. Oh for the good old days of plane travel. This plane was a bit larger; two seats per row on one side and one seat on the other. I made it back to Vancouver with everything being grayer due to the start of the cloudy skies for the duration of my time there. I already told you about my touring at the beginning of my story so all I can say is I really like Vancouver and would like to see it again.

The entire time we were traveling back and forth in the GBR between the Lodge and destinations I only saw two other boats. I only saw one other group of people during the trip, the people at the other bear stand on Gribbell Island. We are truly at a remote place on earth in the Great Bear Rainforest.

Return
I made the trip back to NM with no real excitement, just the way I like it.

I had a great time seeing and experiencing Vancouver again and the Great Bear Rainforest in particular. The people at the Spirit Bear Lodge are great hosts and hostesses; I can’t recommend them highly enough. I didn’t see a Spirit Bear but somehow that doesn’t really matter, I saw and experienced more things while I was there than I imagined the entire 6 months of planning for the trip.

The experience of being in such a remote place on this earth, seeing it thriving and the people working to care for it gives me the hope that when I come back again the Great Bear Rainforest will still be here to explore and enjoy. I believe I will make another trip sometime to see it.

I hope you enjoyed my story.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark

Canoona River, Khutze Inlet

It turns out that last night the aurora borealis made an appearance above us. Several of the cooks came in asking if we had seen it. We all gritted our teeth and said no, we were busy sleeping, including me.


Doug Neasloss is our guide today. Doug is one of the elders of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais, he is one of the founders of the Spirit Bear Lodge, a member of the Spirit Bear Research Foundation and an accomplished photographer. I really enjoyed talking with him learning all the things that are going on in the GBR and the implications of all the outside forces pushing against it.

Canoona River

Today the ride to the Canoona River is clear, no fog and very few clouds. The weather forecast for the next day is for clouds to move in and rain to follow in a few days. We have been very fortunate with the weather this week. Normally October experiences 25 days of clouds with almost that many days with rain. The rainforest area averages over 118” of rain a year, almost 10’! Here in NM we have been in a drought and haven’t seen 8” in a year for the past couple of years.

We hike along the river and stop for at least 45 minutes to over an hour in three different spots to watch for bears. No bears are seen; several of us have been watching the river and haven’t seen any salmon either. I think the 2012 salmon run has finished, and the bears have moved to other sources of food.

I had to include the 'tourist' photo of me to show that I was actually at the Great Bear Rainforest.  I'm in my rain jacket although I didn't need it.

This afternoon we’ll move over to the Khutze Inlet looking for grizzlies. Once we arrive we see a mother and cub digging the estuary looking for roots. Mom can tell something has changed with our arrival but we stay low and quiet so mom goes back to digging.  We give her a wide berth and walk up along the river.

Doug tells us that several hundred years ago this area used to have a village of several thousand inhabitants. There are several orchards of crabapple trees farther upstream along with remnants of a village. The valley is spectacular with waterfalls and snow topped mountains.

The tide moves quickly in this area, rising several inches every few minutes, overall tide levels vary up to 10’ between low and high tide. What had been a clear path 15 minutes ago we have to bypass because the water level has risen above the path.

On our way back we see more humpback whales swimming.

Tonight we will celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada, so this year I will get to celebrate Thanksgiving twice. When I was in Vancouver I saw signs advertising a Thanksgiving buffet at the hotel but thought “They sure are advertising Thanksgiving early here. It’s about as bad as the Americans advertising for Christmas before Halloween”. Then I noticed that Thanksgiving is on Oct 8th. One must pay attention.

We ate with the elders of the Kitasoo/Xai’xais nation, we heard stories of where they came from and how the village of Klemtu is progressing and growing. They had many nice things to say about Tim, the manager of the Spirit Bear Lodge. They really love him and the work he is doing with the Lodge.

After dinner I packed up most of my stuff. I have to leave out my camera and tripod, I’m getting up at midnight to see the aurora, if it’s there.

Thank you for stopping by,
Mark