Category: Photography

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Courteous Shade Sold

Seth Anderson4 Comments

Courteous Shade
Courteous Shade

I don’t think I mentioned that I sold a print of the above photograph to Faulkner + Locke, Inc. They are working on a project in Elk Grove, Illinois1 and requested a 30″ x 40″ of Courteous Shade to be hung in a conference room. I asked a professional photographer I know for advice on pricing, and print shop recommendation. He highly praised Printmakers Chicago, and I was quite pleased with how friendly and efficient they were. I certainly would use their services again in the future.

I had a brief moment of panic when the image file I initially sent had too low of a DPI to be printed out that large (my Photoshop file was probably 12″ x 7″), but per the instructions in Scott Kelby’s Photoshop for Digital Photographers I changed the pixel dimension (9600 wide, and somewhere around 6428 tall), the resolution to 360 pixels/inch, and used the Bicubic Sharper sampling algorithm. This did the trick, and the print came out looking sharp, and if I say so myself, beautiful. I shipped the print out last night.

So if you are ever in a building in Elk Grove, and see the above photograph, please let me know, I’d like to see how they framed the photograph.

Footnotes:
  1. a hotel, presumedly, though I don’t know the details. Also, Faulkner + Locke was quite pleasant to work with as well [↩]

The Wide Open Road

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The Wide Open Road, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

This was really the highlight of my month, maybe my year. I didn’t really plan to go to Sheep Mountain, but on a whim took a side road at Scenic, South Dakota (ha, insider joke, more on that later), and ended up here. Didn’t see another human for many hours, no signs of humans either.

From Google Maps

This is a rarely-used spot in the Stronghold Unit portion of Badlands National Park. A 4WD vehicle is necessary to drive up on top of the table, which was used for tribal meetings. Now it lets the visitor enjoy a spectacular view of the badlands to the north and east, and experience a spot not easily reached by many Badlands visitors.

[view large for full effect: www.b12partners.net/photoblog/ ]

No Hunting or Shooting

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No Hunting or Shooting, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

Sign reads:
No Hunting or Shooting
and
Firearms Prohibited Unless Cased and Unloaded

at the entrance the Badlands National Park.

I’m surprised nobody has shot the sign full of holes…

Though as Rob points out, the sign is awfully new and shiny, like it was recently replaced.

TSA smelling my dirty socks

swanksalot1 Comment

TSA smelling my dirty socks, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

strange how often I get this notice. The worst part is then I wonder what exactly I did pack in my suitcase, and if anything is actually missing.

I pack my return luggage especially haphazardly, and I did hike in the Badlands, so I almost pity the TSA agent who had to wade through my sweaty undergarments to find there was exactly nothing objectionable in my luggage. Almost.

United Airline engine trouble

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United Airline engine trouble, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

Our flight out of O’Hare was delayed by a couple hours, but once we left the ground, all went smoothly.

eventually had to change planes. Looked to me as if the same plane was still at O’Hare when I got back three days later.

Rocky Raccoon fell back in his room…

swanksalot0 comment

Now somewhere in the black mining hills of Dakota
There lived a young boy named Rocky Raccoon
And one day his woman ran off with another guy
Hit young Rocky in the eye Rocky didn’t like that
He said I’m gonna get that boy
So one day he walked into town
Booked himself a room in the local saloon.

Rocky Raccoon checked into his room
Only to find Gideon’s bible

Only to find the Teaching of Buddha

Gorillapod Tripod

Seth Anderson0 comment


“Joby GP3-01EN Gorillapod SLR-Zoom Flexible Tripod + SLIK Compact Ball Head + Cameta DSLR-01 Camera Care Package – for Digital SLR Cameras with Zoom Lens (3.5lb max) – including Canon Digital Rebel XT, XTi, EOS 20D, 30D, Nikon D40, D40x, D50, D70, D80, D200, Olympus Evolt E300, E330, E410, E500, E510, Pentax K10D & Sony Alpha A100” (Joby, Inc)

Picked up a portable, flexible-leg tripod by Joby called the Gorillapod SLR-Zoom. Still on my list of equipment-to-buy is a real tripod, but those aren’t as portable as this one. Haven’t tested it in the wild yet, but seems like it is excellent. Light enough that I can throw it in my camera bag, and use it if I need it, and ignore the weight if I don’t need a tripod. Bonus includes a bunch of cleaning tools which are also good to have on hand.

Kit includes: 1) Joby GP3 SLR-Zoom Gorillapod; 2) SLIK Compact Ball Head; 3) Cameta Microfiber Cleaning Cloth; 4) Image Recovery Software; 5) Memory Card Wallet; 6) Cleaning Kit. ♦ The Joby GP3 SLR Camera Gorillapod firmly secures your Digital or Film SLR Camera with Zoom Lens as well as Video Camcorders weighing up to 6.6 lbs. to just about anything. Unlike traditional tripods, it doesn’t require an elevated flat surface for you to take the perfect shot. The Gorillapod is much more than just a tripod — you can wrap the three flexible segmented legs securely to a tree branch, fence, park bench, or anything else that’s convenient. Besides allowing you to shoot at slower shutter speeds for creative effects, it also lets everyone get into the picture for self-timer shots. ♦ The SLIK Compact Ball Head can hold an impressive 3.5 lbs. and allows adjusting your camera’s postion to get just the camera angle you need. ♦ Your camera’s LCD monitor screen and optics usually become soiled with fingerprints, oily smudges and other contaminants. It can be really frustrating trying to clean the LCD monitor safely and completely without smearing using typical lens tissue or lens cloths — especially out in the field. The Cameta Microfiber Cleaning Cloth is designed using the latest 21st Century technology to perform this task quickly, safely and easily. ♦ The Digital Image Recovery Software is fast, easy to use, recovers most popular file formats and works with virtually all brands and types of memory cards. ♦ The Memory Card Wallet holds and protects three memory cards and has a belt loop.