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View from the Exerda: June 2012
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Friday, June 29, 2012. Yellow Rock in the Grand Staircase: Part One of a Desert Hiking Adventure. I first learned about Yellow Rock from Laurent Martres' fantastic guide, Photographing the Southwest. Yellow Rock is located within the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which encompasses nearly two million acres of land in southern Utah. Bill Clinton created this largest of our national monuments in 1996 to no little degree of controversy under the authority granted him by the Antiquities Act.
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View from the Exerda: October 2010
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Wednesday, October 20, 2010. Millennia on Display: The Splendor of Bryce Canyon. This past Spring, Beth and I made a too-brief visit to southern Utah, where we spent less than 72 hours exploring Goblin Valley. Sunset Point along Bryce Canyon's Rim. Dust and sand caught in the whisperings of the wind. Uplift from vast geological forces below, pushing and folding the land. Father Time and Mother Nature shape a long, inexorable course. Beth stands near the edge of Bryce Canyon. Step a few short feet out ove...
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View from the Exerda: Putting the New Glass Through Its Paces: Initial Impressions of the Canon 500mm f4L II
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Sunday, August 5, 2012. Putting the New Glass Through Its Paces: Initial Impressions of the Canon 500mm f4L II. Your faithful correspondent putting the 500mm to the test at Huntley Meadows Park in northern Virginia. Reading the specs and early reviews on these lenses, it would seem like they were worth the wait. Regarding the Modulation Transform Function (MTF) charts for the lens, I won't bore you with the technical details- there are already some good explanations of how to read MTF charts out there.
exerda.blogspot.com
View from the Exerda: Millennia on Display: The Splendor of Bryce Canyon
http://exerda.blogspot.com/2010/10/millennia-on-display-splendor-of-bryce.html
Wednesday, October 20, 2010. Millennia on Display: The Splendor of Bryce Canyon. This past Spring, Beth and I made a too-brief visit to southern Utah, where we spent less than 72 hours exploring Goblin Valley. Sunset Point along Bryce Canyon's Rim. Dust and sand caught in the whisperings of the wind. Uplift from vast geological forces below, pushing and folding the land. Father Time and Mother Nature shape a long, inexorable course. Beth stands near the edge of Bryce Canyon. Step a few short feet out ove...
exerda.blogspot.com
View from the Exerda: Eight Miles in the Mid-day, Mid-June Desert Heat: The Wave and Part Two of a Desert Adventure
http://exerda.blogspot.com/2012/07/eight-miles-in-mid-day-mid-june-desert.html
Saturday, July 7, 2012. Eight Miles in the Mid-day, Mid-June Desert Heat: The Wave and Part Two of a Desert Adventure. Bird's eye swirls near the Wave. Let me stop for a moment and provide a little background information on the permit process. Because if you're considering a trip to the Wave, you absolutely have to have a permit (unless you enjoy risking a fine and federal prosecution for trespassing! The two paths to a permit work similarly:. First, applications can be made online three months in advance.
exerda.blogspot.com
View from the Exerda: February 2011
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Tuesday, February 22, 2011. A Question of Light: Mesa Arch at Sunrise (Or, Sometimes It Pays to Be Late to Work). It's often said that the majority of nature photographers are late to work- and the intent of that statement is not. Turret Arch through the North Window - Arches National Park. Visiting red rock country, I didn't have a concrete plan for my first morning on the ground after a drive along the Colorado River and sunset at the Fisher Towers. Or had gotten up really. Early for Mesa Arch. At ...
exerda.blogspot.com
View from the Exerda: August 2012
http://exerda.blogspot.com/2012_08_01_archive.html
Sunday, August 5, 2012. Putting the New Glass Through Its Paces: Initial Impressions of the Canon 500mm f4L II. Your faithful correspondent putting the 500mm to the test at Huntley Meadows Park in northern Virginia. Reading the specs and early reviews on these lenses, it would seem like they were worth the wait. Regarding the Modulation Transform Function (MTF) charts for the lens, I won't bore you with the technical details- there are already some good explanations of how to read MTF charts out there.
exerda.blogspot.com
View from the Exerda: Volcanism and a Trip to America's First National Park
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Sunday, July 8, 2012. Volcanism and a Trip to America's First National Park. Porcelain Basin in the Norris Geyser Basin area. To prepare for the trip, I consulted several books, including the wonderful Yellowstone Treasures. And Photographing Yellowstone National Park. Old Faithful in its initial phase of eruption. Boiling sulfurous lakes in the Sulfur Cauldron- with a pH lower than that of stomach acid. Travertine in Mammoth Hot Springs. Between the sulfurous fumes ("What a wonderful smell you've discov...
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View from the Exerda: Escaping Winter ... With Winter? Red Rocks Revisited and a January Trip to the Colorado Plateau
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Saturday, February 5, 2011. Escaping Winter . With Winter? Red Rocks Revisited and a January Trip to the Colorado Plateau. Of all the places I've traveled, the red rock deserts of southern Utah and western Colorado left me the most breathless (and not due to the altitude, mind you). Beth and I visited southern Utah for the first time last spring with a short weekend holiday to Goblin Valley. In his Photographing the Southwest. Laurent Martres calls the Fisher Towers the "reddest rocks you'll find at suns...
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View from the Exerda: December 2010
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Saturday, December 4, 2010. Birding Kaeng Kracharn National Park: A Day Trip with Tony "Eagle Eye" and Co. Although the primary purpose of my trip to the erstwhile Kingdom of Siam was for dental work. I couldn't let such a long trip to such a wonderful birding location go without an excursion to add a few birds to my life list. So I booked a day trip to Kaeng Krachan National Park with expert local bird guide Tony "Eagle Eye.". That was nearly the only familiar bird sound of the trip! As the similarly-si...
