Nothing Exciting Really...

January 15, 2013

I picked a small town on the map that I thought I'd be able to drive to, and make it back in time to pick up the kid from school. I was just curious to see what lies in that direction. I planned on shooting some feature that defined the town. As I approached I noted the tall steeple. So, while it's not an amazing shot, it'll do for today. Now I know what Highland, WI looks like.

St. Philip's Catholic Church - Est. 1846

January 14, 2013

Today I didn't do a lot of shooting. I did drive around the town a bit. There are still a lot of roads I've not gone down. Just south of town I found an interesting little cemetery. I'm not sure the significance of the little bell-house.

East Blue Mounds Lutheran Cemetery

January 13, 2013

We had a quiet day at home. Not a lot to tell, other than it's always nice to just relax, and not do a whole lot. I even got to take a nap! We'll be back to our normal "work on the house" schedule soon. As you can see in the background, there is still a lot to do.

Teri & Freja play games.

January 12, 2013

Our "big event" for today was going out for a little coffee and pie. When we first moved to Wisconsin we tried a coffee shop in a nearby town. At that time, we found it charming. It turns out we may have romanticized our experience a bit. This time, though the kid had a great time, we found it cramped, dirty and the service to be very poor. Live and learn.

Freja sure loves pie!

Hibernating to the Duke

January 11, 2013

Some days it's easy to know when you've shot your photo of the day. Freja was pretending she was a squirrel getting ready to hibernate. She lined a cardboard box with her stuffed animal friends, and requested a snack. After a quick meal of pecans, raisins and dried fruit, all washed down with a little milk, she closed herself in.

My squirrel-girl peeking out at me.

As peaceful music by Duke Ellington plays in my house I can hear her quiet breathing as she naps.

Nothing Unusual

January 10, 2013

After spending time doing chores, which consisted mainly of chopping, stacking and sorting firewood, I thought it'd be great to go for a walk with the kid. We strolled into town, stopping at Schubert's for a treat. She was excited when I let her order a pastry, as big as her head, covered with sprinkles!

January 9, 2013

Alex came over today for a portrait session. He's a new novel coming out soon, and needed some images for the cover. We also just had fun playing around with an old skull I happen to have. It was fun to set up lighting again after not doing so for over a year.

Alex Bledsoe converses with an ancestor.

The set up was simple as I wanted to skip using my radio triggers for a change. Two 580exII flashheads were mounted on light stands. One was connected to my camera's hotshoe using a 30' ETTL cord I'd bought ages ago, but rarely use. I set it as the "master," and placed it at 4 o'clock to the subject. I also added a Harbor Digital Design lightbox, with a 1/2 cut CTO gel. The second unit was stationed at roughly 10 o'clock to the subject, and set to "slave mode." It too had light modifiers, and was gelled. Once I was finished with getting things set to where I liked the look, we then just had fun.

January 8, 2013

I felt a little under the weather, as did Teri. Usually on Tuesdays we have a short, mini-date while Freja is at dance class. Sometimes we just relax at home, or we go for a walk, or even go for a glass of wine in town. Today though, we just went for a drive in order for me to get a shot of "something." We didn't go far, just around the outside of town. As the sun set I noticed how the light fell on the fields.

Roadside Adventures

January 7, 2013

After dropping off Freja at school I went for a short drive to see what I could find. Aside from a lot of snow, farms, and stands of trees, I noticed a lot of turkeys out in the open. With all the snow on the ground flocks of them can seen in foraging in farm fields. I kept an eye out for any closer to the road, eventually spotting some.

Turkeys run for cover as I pull over to snap a shot.

I drove past them, eventually circling back. I'd rolled down the passenger window, and preset my camera to shoot. Pulling over to the berm quickly I began to shoot. In a manner of moments they were gone. Not so for me. You see, my passenger side tires began to slide DOWN a steep embankment that had been hidden by the snow! I jumped out, got out my entrenching tool and began to dig a set of tracks leading to the road. Just as I finished a really cool farmer pulled up in a big truck. He hitched a towing strap to me, and in seconds I was free! WEW!

On my way back home I stopped twice more, both to shoot things I'd noticed before. One was a landscape of a stream that I'd noticed earlier. The lighting was just not right earlier, but it seemed to look good the second time.

Gordon Creek just outside Blanchardville.

The last stop was to shoot a buck I'd spotted earlier, when he was too far back in the brush to photograph. Anticipating on where he may be foraging I was able to get a good angle on him. Thankfully, this time I didn't get stuck!

Skiing with Goats

January 6, 2013

Sunday morning I had a chance to go snowshoeing with a friend we've made in town. Doug Norgord was our neighbor at the apartment we rented when we first came to Mount Horeb. He happens to also be a map maker, and anyone who knows me, knows how much I love maps!

We decided to check out the Black Hawk Unit of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway. There we found some great trails to hike, and we met a few really interesting people. He was also able to make a cool map of our hike, including a little side track we took that deadened. (BTW: The photo of Doug checking his mapping gear was taken when I fell over backwards when I tried to sit on a downed tree.)

View Larger Map

As I mentioned, not only did we find great hiking terrain, we also met interesting people. The most interesting folks were the two pleasant sisters skiing with goats. When I first saw them at a distance I thought, "those are odd looking dogs." I only wish Freja had been with me! She'd have loved it.

Pocketwizard Experiment

January 5, 2013

The snow in our backyard had cured like some cheeses form a nice crust. It was solid and had a nice snap to it as I shoveled where I thought the side walk should be. As made way I noticed the birds where feeding in our trees. A chance to experiment with gear seemed to present itself.

Our backyard after a blizzard dropped about 20" on us.

For the past year, instead of shooting, I've been thinking about how I want to photograph a subject. One technical aspect I want to explore is how to use my radio flash controllers a lot better. I've been using Pocketwizard controllers for a while now, mostly at close range. I realized the birds in the trees might be a good chance to test the range limits of the gear.

Basically, I set my camera on a tripod aimed out the door of my three-season porch. In the hotshoe went a MiniTT1® Transmitter, with an AC3 ZoneController attached to it.

Lots of snow & clear sunny days at the house.

In a bush near the tree where the birds feed I mounted my flash unit. I used a Canon 580exII, attached to a FlexTT5™ Transceiver. Due to radio interference from the flash I also used a AC5 RF Soft Shield. The flash was powered by a battery pack, and everything attached to the bush using a Joby Gorillapod wrapped around a sturdy branch.

At first the camera was about 50' from the flash head. I set my TC-80N3 to fire the shutter every 15 seconds. I aimed at a spot on the tree I thought birds may appear, manually focused, and set my parameters for the exposure I wanted.

Initially the flash would only fire intermittently. I'd known that there were issues with radio frequency interference from the 580ex II flash. Most reviews seemed to all point to 50' as a max distance, and I was at 50'. I took the TT1 off the camera, walked up the flash unit, and began to manually fire the flash. As I walked back to the camera I kept firing the flash until it no longer fired. What I discovered is that I had a maximum of 46' from the TT5 for the flash to fire.

Photo of the Day: A Black-eyed Junco using the described method. I need to do more experimenting to achieve the results I really desire. I'm not entirely pleased with this shot. It's way too harsh!

After rounds of letting it shoot in both manual mode, and aperture priority, I found more consistent results in the latter. I was also able to capture a few birds as the day passed. Mainly though, I realized I need to experiment a lot more using this gear in order to get the results I want. At the time of this writing I've already made sure to update the firmware, as well as reprogram all my units.

I am eager to do more experimenting. I can visualize a number of applications where I want to use flash in this manner. All I need do is perfect this technique. To that end I also posted about this on the Canon Digital Forum, hoping to eventually garner some input.

The Norway Building

January 4, 2013

Not far from our home is the historic tourist site Little Norway. We've not gone, and I have to admit I forget it's there. In my quest for a photo I randomly drove past it. I noticed how the slanting sun was hitting the Norway Building. I slowed down, looking for a hole in the tree line along the road. I found ONE!

A Norwegian 12th Century Stavkirke Church.

I was able to climb up onto the piles of snow along the road, steady myself on a tree trunk, and get this shot. I love random finds like this! Freja and I just ran out to go to the store, and decided to take a round about route home. I wonder what else I'm going to find...