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Viking Settlement

 

This was requested but keep in mind that the impediments (rocks) change location with each new settlement.

Viking Settlement Spreadsheet

My FOE Cities

Rexley, Jaims

Rexx II, Governor

Planning map created in Excel   

Rexley, Tuulech

Rexx II, Governor

Kauai

The Koloa Sugar Mill.

Snow in the Backyard

A Richmond Snow Storm

                                                                                                                                                                           E-M5 17mm  f/1.8 1/60  ISO 1000

Utah Lake In Winter

The Dragons

I rode my Vstrom to Southwest Virginia and rode the Back of the Dragon (Highway 16 between Marion and Tazewell).  A couple of photos from one of the overlooks.

Party at the office

Valley of Fire

I had a couple of free hours while on a business trip to Las Vegas so I drove out to the Valley of Fire. I was able to get a few decent photos before the sun went down.  It is a magnificent place with beautiful rock formations and mountains.  I pumped the color up a little in the top photo, but it is still a pretty accurate rendition of the area.

 



The Bridge at Hoover Dam

A few years ago I visited Hoover Dam with my wife and we saw the beginnings of a new bridge  across the canyon.  I finally got my chance to see the finished product.  It is called the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.  I love the jet contrails. They were all over the sky.

E-M5 12-60mm 18mm  f/9.0 1/640  ISO 200

Here is a view of the dam from the bridge (yes, it is a nice little hike).

Bridge detail and more contrails.

The Dam and the Bridge.

Textures

Em_5 17mm f1.8  f7.1 1/1000

This is one of three old buildings on the south side of Hwy 40 near Roosevelt, Utah.  I love the texture of the snow and its contrast with the wood on the old building.
December 31, 2013.

Richmond

A few shots from Richmond.  The first one is with the new 17mm f1.8. The rest are with the 12-60 zoom.

 E-M5 17mm f1.8  f/5.0 1/500  ISO 200

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  52mm f/6.3 1/200  ISO 200

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  12mm f/6.3 1/250  ISO 200

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  39mm f/4.5 1/125  ISO 200

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  25mm f/7.1 1/250  ISO 200

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  18mm f/4.0 1/100  ISO 200

12 photographs on 12/12/12

I wanted to do something to mark the 12/12/12 date so I thought I would take 12 photographs.  I took the first four using my Zuiko 50mm f1.4 lens and the rest were taken with my 12-60mm zoom.  I think the sunset pictures could have been sharper.  I probably should have tried a manual focus.  So here are 12 photographs taken on December 12, 2012 with my Olympus OM-D E-M5.  No people.   Hopefully when I get my 17mm  f1.8 I can do more street type photography.  When is Olympus going to release it anyway?

The faded clear coat reminded me of flames you sometimes see painted on the hood of a sports car.

I love the blue and red.

Parent teacher conferences at the local junior high school

My attempt at balance -- bricks on the right, door on the left, Also the door with the vertical elements on the right.  Wreath offsetting the silver panel on the door.

This is one of the art filters on the camera used on my fireplace rocks.

The metal on this old table saw looks like Roman numerals.

Three levels and two ladders.

Sunset looking over Layton, Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake.

Art filter.

Vivid setting.

Looking north so the lights of Salt Lake City.

This is a two panel panorama.

U.P. in Uintah

The Union Pacific has a double track mainline that basically surrounds the little town of Uintah, Utah.  Here a UP/SP double header is pulling a full complement of hoppers down Weber Canyon and around the southern edge of Uintah. The sun is low in the western sky and the gives a nice complement to the UP yellow.  I cropped this to 2x3 (my preferred ratio for images) and added just a touch of contrast.

I'm having some trouble with focusing my E-M5.  The auto-focus function is activated when my nose touches the screen in the lower right so the camera is always trying to focus in that area.  I've got to read the manual to find out how to turn that feature off.  The train is just ever so slightly out of focus but it doesn't show on an image this size. I want perfect clarity, however, so I've got work to do.

Arbon Valley, Idaho

Two weeks ago I rode my motorcycle through Arbon Valley and I saw numerous photo opportunities.  I was pressed for time so I couldn't stop but Saturday I was able to make a return trip. Here are a few hand-held photographs.  

This old house had been pulled off its foundation and was sitting out in the pasture just begging to have its picture taken.  I stopped at a nearby ranch house to ask permission to take photos.  The friendly rancher just happened to be the owner and told me to take all the photos I wanted. Hopefully he'll check in here on my blog and leave a note.  There was still a little smoke in the air from distant forest fires but otherwise it was a beautiful day.  A few Ansel Adams clouds would have been nice.

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  16mm f/9.0 1/640  ISO 200

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  14mm f/13.0 1/320  ISO 200

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  60mm f/9.0 1/640  ISO 200

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  21mm f/9.0 1/500  ISO 200

Beartooth Pass Trip

On a trip to Yellowstone Park and the Beartooth Pass I passed these mountains just south of Livingston, Montana.  The smoke from forest fires was lingering around the mountains like fog.  The Yellowstone River is in the foreground.

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  12mm f/4.5 1/200  ISO 200

Fly fisherman on  the Gallatin River

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  60mm f/5.6 1/320  ISO 200

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  18mm f/5.6 1/250  ISO 200

Boardwalk at Mammoth Hot Springs. I did a lot of photography work with a Mamiya C220 square format camera so here's a square photo for old time's sake.

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  32mm f/9 1/500  ISO 200

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  23mm f/9 1/500  ISO 200

View from Beartooth Pass

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  18mm f/6.3 1/250  ISO 200

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  52mm f/7.1 1/320  ISO 200

More from Antelope Island

I love old wood.  It has great texture and is for the most part very monochromatic so it looks good in b&w and sepia.  Being monochromatic the photographs are not overpowered by the amount and brightness of colors. This board fence is almost a sepia toned black and white.

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  36mm f/8 1/400  ISO 200

black & white 

sepia

Back in my darkroom days I used gold toner to get a cool blue tint to the photos.  It was especially nice on winter scenes because it almost made you feel the cold.

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  36mm f/8 1/400  ISO 200

  I don't really like this picture but it  is a good illustration of shallow depth of field with the 12-60

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  39mm f/9 1/500  ISO 200

 The next two show the clarity of the lens when the photo is enlarged several times.  These were taken as L/SF jpegs.

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  60mm f/7.1 1/500  ISO 200

A rather hazy day (thanks to distant forest fires) so it didn't make for the best landscapes.

E-M5 12-60 f/2.8-4  30mm f/10 1/500  ISO 200