The surest way to understand a culture is to examine not its technology but its art. Technology is transitory while art is a timeless measure of its makers' concerns, aspirations and values.

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Monday, December 14, 2009

COLOR Magazine Submissions

Below are the six images I've submitted to COLOR Magazine for this year's single-image contest.  Not too many photographers shoot at night - much less in color - so hopefully that will get someone's attention.  Of course, I've also included the obligatory landscape and obscure mechanical object photos in order to cover as many categories as possible to maximize my chances of getting published.  Everyone on my email contact list will be notified immediately in the suitably self-congratulatory tone should I actually make the cut.  If not, decorum dictates that you never mention this again.

Click on the preview to see the full-size image - and I mean full size.  For whatever reason these photos are loading at full scale with no control over reduction.  You might have to adjust your zoom scale or download them to view them in your viewing program.  None of the other images on the blog are similarly affected.  My apologies.




End of the Line
(Derelict tank car, Lancaster, California)



The Wilshire Ebell Theater, Los Angeles




LA Noir



High Meadow, Fall
(Cedar Breaks, Utah)




The Fashion District




Disney Concert Hall

The Obligatory Images of My Adventures in Paradise

Below are some of the photos I shot during our trip to Kauai, via Oahu. Some are just snapshots while others required a little more effort. These files, although large, are low-resolution JPEGs. I haven't had time to do the proper RAW processing on them that usually results in larger, higher-quality images. Now, if you have no idea what that last bit meant, don't sweat it. If you'd like a proper print of any of the images, let me know and I'll see about getting that done.


This trip to the islands is my third after living there briefly in 1969. To say that that year had an effect on me is an understatement. My father had been sent to Oahu to build an underseas habitat designed to explore long-term deep-submergence human activity. I spent every day around some aspect of that project. Not only did I watch Neil Armstrong step onto the moon with just about everybody else on the planet, but it was also the summer that I learned to dive from research divers and former SEALs, worked with dolphins and met Jacque and Phillipe Cousteau. It retrospect, it was amazing. Forty years later it still is...

Click on the image to see the full-size picture.




I start with this image because, even though it was shot by my friend and co-adventurer Wayne, it captures the place I described in my introduction. We got lucky on our approach to Honolulu and this view presented itself. Just right of the engine is Rabbit Island, which makes an appearance later. Just above the island is Makapu'u Point, whose Light also makes an appearance later. The little cove at the base of the point, Makapu'u Beach, is one of the best body surfing beaches on the planet. Almost next to that is Sea Life Park and the adjoining Makai Research Institute where I learned about dolphins, whales and submarines. And the pier just down the beach was the base for the Aeigir habitat project and where I learned to dive. OK, enough nostalgia.





Sunrise, Kauai, looking east along the south shore.
 
 



Later that morning, an historic but now derelict sugar mill that was used in several movies. Sadly, all but one Hawaiian sugar mill has closed.





The sugar mill up close. Or as close as the big fence would allow...




Poipu between squalls.  The wonderful house we rented was just across the road to the right.  If anyone wants a line on a great place to stay in Kauai, I'll give you the contact number.




Proof that I actually dive - or at least own scuba gear. This is one of the very few pictures ever taken of me engaged in diving, again courtesy of Wayne.  Really, it's me.





It rained most of the first three days on the island, including the day we went to the rough North Shore. Along the way we came across Hanalei Valley, where I understand Puff (of Magic Dragon fame) has a very nice retirement cave.





This image really conveys the lushness of the North Shore.




The busy day. We started this day with a flight around the island. This is a view of Nawiliwili, the main port on Kauai.





The South Shore looking east, from above Poipu, the small town in which we stayed. Poipu was called the "Waikiki of Kauai." As you'll see later, there's really no comparison to the Waikiki of Waikiki.





This is a view of the largest coffee plantation in the US. Coffee has largely replaced sugar cane as Kauai's main agricultural product.




Our first view of the Napali Coast.


 



Remember this view and the next. They will make another appearance later.




The same cove moments later.




We reach the accessible part of the north shore, approaching Hanalei. As it was heavily overcast during our flight and our pilot wasn't really a camera ship pilot, most of my shots were unusable - or just boring. But not to worry, we had a second shot at the Napali Coast that afternoon...





...when we caught a boat back. This headland is the same one that forms the twin coves I mentioned earlier. From the water, it looks extremely intimidating. This might explain why they shot "Jurassic Park" here.





It sort of looks like King Kong is hiding in there somewhere, doesn't it?





As we began our return, the clouds started clearing...





...revealing the colors of this part of Kauai. The next day we headed for Kauai's best known feature, Waimea Canyon.




Our approach to the main canyon began with this view of its opening to the ocean.





Farther up the road we encountered this fascinating stream that had carved a scalloped path through the iron-rich rock.





And then there was The Canyon.





At the head ofthe canyon, Waimea Falls. That's 800 feet. Shortly after I took this we embarked on one of the most arduous hikes I've ever undertaken, to the top of the falls. The heat, humidity, a cold I probably picked up on the flight over and thirty pounds of gear almost kicked my ass. Almost.





Just above the main falls was this beautiful little falls and pond. Very tranquil. I contemplated composing a haiku. And then I was distracted by a cookie.





Now I seriously tried to get a shot of the falls from above but it was just flat out too dangerous to try without climbing gear. You'll have to settle for this view of the canyon's run to the sea from the precipice. In the distance you'll notice an odd rock formation...





... that Wayne was convinced was man-made. I wondered why anyone would risk his life climbing the canyon wall to assemble such a thing just for grins. When asked, the locals just shrugged.




As we returned to the house with the setting sun behind us. we stopped so that I could get this last shot taken on Kauai, the last operating sugar mill in the Hawaiian Islands. It, too, will close within the year.



The next morning we headed back to Oahu to spend a couple of days before we came home.




Waikiki. Doesn't look anything like Poipu...




This is the Makapu'u Light, which you might have seen (if you squinted really hard) in the first photo.





Rabbit Island (the bigger of the two) and what we called Black Island - even though it isn't black and has a totally different Hawaiian name. But remember, I was nine. I spent a lot of time in this water as a kid, so this place has special meaning for me.





A little farther down the road we stopped at the Pali, which has spectacular views, especially of Kaneohe and Kailua, where we lived.  King Kamehameha supposedly drove his enemy's army over this cliff to their deaths, proving that the real estate market in Hawaii has always been brutal.





Honolulu. Paradise?




Good Night, Hawaii.

And so we left the islands, much changed but also much as I remembered them. It's hard to comprehend that this paradise is one of the most ecologically damaged places on earth, where almost 90% of the lush vegetation is introduced species and widespread unemployment has bred rampant petty crime. It's sort of like LA, only greener.