Belle Vernon, PA - View from Sweeney's Hill

This is the view from the top of the hill near the home where I was raised.  I don't know exactly how far you can see, but I know that you can see the cross at Jumonville, beyond Uniontown, if you know where to look.  Friends and family from the area are familiar with these types of views.  I don't think that I have ever looked at them as long as I did when I was photographing them.  Maybe these views are why I find my self at the top of the mountain or the highest building in the city.

Phoenix, Arizona - Great American Car Classics

Today's adventure was to see several great American car classics.  These are in various stages of restoration.  I also learned how to work the HDR functionality to give the photos different artsy looks.

I added photographs taken earlier to this old car collection.

  

Scottsdale, Arizona - Musical Instrument Museum (MIM)

This is one of my favorite places to visit and I have several posts. The photos won't spoil it because a big part of the experience is listening to all of the music.  We went for the Bastille Day events.  I took Beth to China to see the kinds of things that her mother saw on the last trip.

The exhibits show the country, so there is not too much to say about these.

Beth and I sat in on a "pleine aire" drawing class.  I didn't know what a "pleine aire" class was, but now I know.  It is sketching in the open air.  Wikipedia explains it to great lengths.  I am not a pleine aire pencil sketcher, but I do enjoy pleine aire photography as well as closed air photography!

 On to the displays.  We put our headset on and off we went.  I was soon texted by Karl and Michele. Set off to find them.  Then we all mingled and viewed.

 Nose flutes always intrigue me ever since my father and son came marching out of the back rooms playing harmonicas with their noses.

 The Beijing Opera gave a presentation at our tour dinner the last night in Beijing.

The man on the left has flags on his back.  Click the link below to see a better view of his costume.

(Click HERE and see the blog post where I am standing with the Beijing Opera artists.)

 The exhibit shown below illustrates "The Silk Road".  The eastern end of the road was in Xi'an.  Click here to see our visit to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, shown below.

I was distracted by the other exhibits, so left Beth to explore on her own.  Here are some other countries.

Beth stayed for more viewing because she was going to a party later with food. Michele, Karl and I went to enjoy a French inspired lunch in the restaurant, then all went our separate ways.

I love this museum and visit whenever I can.  Highly recommended.  www.mim.org

Sedona, Arizona - Red Rock Sunset and Moonrise

Cathedral Rock in Sedona was the scene of today's adventure.  I stopped by to pick up Karl in my new Jeep Patriot 4x4 and off we went to meet a group of photographers venturing to Cathedral Rock in Sedona.  As I prepare the photographs for this post, I see that today's learning was mainly around making panoramic shots.  In my opinion, the views pushed me to do this as a single photo doesn't capture the wide vistas with the vibrant colors of rock, sky and vegetation.

We left Phoenix early and had a lot of time to stop at viewing points that I normally drive by.  Here is a panoramic with the dramatic rocks and sky.

We had a little time so we drove in to Sedona and had coffee at The Hidden Garden Cafe at the Tlaquepaque shopping area.

We met the group leaders at Weber's IGA Parking lot (corner of Highway 179 and Verde Valley School Road) at 5PM.  We then drove down Verde Valley School Road, past where the pavement ends and parked in the dirt parking lot. (The Jeep did a great job!)  It started to rain so I grabbed the umbrella (which also was a great walking stick), backpack with camera equipment, and tripods and off we went.  We were a little bit behind the group so we made our way towards the noise and found the set of tripods all pointed in the same direction.  This was more like a "hike" than a "walk", so I texted KPR to let him know that I was already hiking after having the new adventure car for only a day!

The area was filled with family and friends enjoying the cool water on a hot summer day.  I think that this activity is a beautiful part of the Red Rock State park.  For the photography group, the ultimate goal was to get the scene without people, but I really like this one as it shows people enjoying the water.  I was not ready to dive in and didn't bring other clothes.  I would like to return and enjoy this spot.  Also, take note of the color of Cathedral Rock in the background.  The bright sunlight washes out the reds.

We took a lot of test photos and all found the perfect spot.  We watched the threatening weather, covered the cameras with plastic covers from time to time, and moved under trees when cloudbursts rolled over.  We were eventually rewarded with red rocks that glowed in the sunset.  My camera was on a tripod and I was using a remote controller so I was able to watch as the rocks glowed red and continue to take photographs.  This is the "classic shot" with the reflections in the pond.  Other photographers were set up to my left and had a more open view of both of the rocks.

The red coloring was amazing and if I had not seen this happen myself, would not believe that this colorful change actually happened.  Beautiful.  Karl had turned to photograph the actual sunset, so if I can get him to guest post a photograph here I will update the blog post and resent it.

We then had about a half hour to wait until the  moon made it from the horizon to a place above the rocks. The cloud cover was heavy and chances slim.  We waited and waited, changed lenses for the changing light conditions and waited.  No moon viewing.  This is my last photo of this trip.  My new f1.8 50 mm lens was able to capture the night color with deep blue cloudy skies, the red rock and the green of the trees.

I am very happy to now know about this location and would like to return.

Notes on getting there: park and walk to the end of the dirt road, go to the right and walk with the cliffs rising to your right.  Follow the path until you come to a large tree growing across the path. There is room to pass underneath, then take the path to the left to get to the reflecting pools.

[Trip leader Larry lives in Sedona and the photos on the Meetup page link below are his. You can see what we were trying to capture: Sunset and Moonrise Cathedral Rock.  The first paragraph on the Meetup page ends in "see all".  Click the "see all" to open up the description of the outing and Larry's photos.]

This panoramic was taken from a rest stop on the way from Oak Creek to the I17 freeway.  I am experimenting!

This photo was taken on the way home from Sedona on Sunday.  It is from the rest stop Sunset Point and is of the Bradshaw Mountains with the little tiny town of Bumblebee at the base of the mountains.  The panoramic is experimental as I have never made one this wide.  It's not perfect but you can get an idea on the view and the summer storm.

Phoenix, Arizona - 4th of July Fireworks

I had originally planned to join the crowd on the north bank of Tempe Town Lake to view this year's fireplaces.  I went with Beth M. and family to scope out the location and I left with the feeling that it was going to take a lot of effort to haul my chair, tripod, camera, cooler and maybe an umbrella down a set of stair from the parking lot to the north bank  Add the threat of another dust storm and I decided to consider an alternate location.

I had breakfast this morning with Janet S. and she mentioned that she often watches the fireworks display at the Arizona Country Club from her driveway.  I decided to go to the parking lot of my dentist and stake out my territory.  I was the first to arrive at 7:30 PM but by 8:30 about six other cars had joined me.

I was not disappointed with my photos from tonight.  I first made sure that I had the typical fireworks.  It took me a few shots to adjust my zoom and settings. I stayed with ISO 100, f8 and varied the amount of time but normally stayed in the 2 second range for each shot.  I am happy with the wide variety.

After I took the standard shot, I started to play with a few of the settings.  Here are my favorites.

I also tried this technique with multiple bursts.

Fun night and fun crowd.  Mission accomplished and I learned a few new techniques.