Last splash of colour

This week my plumeria made their last bold statement

before sleep.  Pinks, purples a little orange, white.

I am amazed it happened at all.

Last winter, for the second year in a row, it got so

cold here that my poor plumeria flowers were killed

down to the ground.

It took all summer but they managed to muster one

defiant burst of color.

 

A moment with pika

As I write this, pika sleep.  Probably under a couple feet of snow.  We captured, or I should say my wife captured this video of pika quickly finishing summer's business.  See, pika only live in alpine environments.  These pika are residents of Rocky Mountain National Park, so visiting hours are over for this year.  Come summer you can see these cute varmints up close right on the side of Trail Ridge Road at a place they call "Rock Cut".  You can see them all over the place above the tree line, but if your touring, this is one of the easiest places to take in the show.  Another advantage of "Rock Cut", parking and porta-lets.
If you don't see them right off the bat, don't give up they have great camouflage.  You have to sit and wait.
They zip and zoom, back and forth between rocks.  Shooting them is a bit of a challenge, they look like rocks with little black eyes. And the best part, they are constantly chirping back and forth.  Silly and fun, well worth the price of admission.  Enjoy the video and remember shhhhhhhhhh pika are sleeping.


Photos

Rocky Mountain National Park

pika

on the hunt for pika

windy portrait of Mrs. Getawaymoments

 

Pan Left Sarasota Chalk Festival

On Sunday I had the chance to go to the Sarasota Chalk Festival.  I took the opportunity to shoot my fourth
Pan Left short with my new GoPro Hero2.  If you can, watch the video in HD. The new GoPro creates a
much sharper image then previous models, but with that you blow through the memory cards much faster.
I shot between seven and eight thousand still images to make the time lapses.  The camera was panned using
my homemade time lapse panning unit.  I mounted the camera on a light stand which had a ten foot reach.
In some of the shots you can see movement, luckily I was only bumped in the crowd about four times.
My lovely wife shot some great still photos, scroll down to see a few of them.  If you get a chance to go
see this or another street chalk festival, GO!  The work is amazing and the experience of watching artist
create is always a joy.

 

 

 

First Panning Timelapse with GoPro Hero2

I got the new GoPro Hero2 last week and then I got really busy, isn't that always the way?
I will have a first thoughts review coming and a trickle of test videos soon.
I drove over to North Tampa Photography Saturday to pick up a used lens and figured it would be
a good drive to test the new Hero2 on my time lapse panning rig.
The interval was set to 1 frame every 2 seconds.
Here is the result.

Time Lapse Panning Unit Malfunction

All cheap kitchen timers have one thing in common, plastic.

It makes them inexpensive, it also gives them a finite lifespan.

I have been using them to spin cameras for a few years now

with very few failures.  But as always with Murphy's Law when

you need a tool to work, failure is always a possibility.

 

  

While visiting Mt. Evans on vacation I decided to try for two GoPro shots of the

drive down the mountain.  The first shot would be a static shot looking forward   

              and the second shot would be a panning time lapse from the roof of the car.                

              

 

Well, the panning shot did not work. It was supposed to slowly pan left showing the car and the view. Instead it panned a little then slipped, panned a little, slip.  Why? Who knows.  It may be the spring was too weak, something broke, the wind pushed it around.  I have had these things run fine on top of a  car for an hour at 60-70mph.  To be transparent and allow my readers to share in the failures as well as the successes, here is one of the time lapses that did not work.  It is still an interesting piece of video with breathtaking views, too bad Murphy was along for the ride.