Daily Image - Nov 2011 Archive

01 Nov 11. Picking back up where we left off on Friday. As I write about HDR imaging I must admit that I'm finding it a bit amusing that just about every one in our area who provides some form of photo tours is now an expert on HDR imaging, and everyone of them has this or that seminar ongoing for a substantial fee, which includes the speakers at this year's annual NWCCC meeting. In the last three years I've listened to perhaps a dozen "experts" and they all have provided some serious misinformation in their lectures every time they get into the technical aspects (read math) of the subject. It would be funny if it were not so sad, and a lot better if they stayed in the area they actually know. That said, let's get back to the discussion of HDR and its uses. As I've mentioned before, the HDR approach can be employed to run the gamut of images that range from the "grunge" look (cartoon-ish) to the absolute natural looking, and just about everything in between. I've provided examples of all these types over the past three years and several of them, although not identified as such, have taken awards in various venues. There is a place for all the approaches to the HDR "look" and all are equally appropriate when employed in the right context. Now one generally thinks of an HDR image as being rather flat, for indeed, compression of the extremes in the lighting (shadows & highlights) is how the software is employed to deal with images having large dynamic ranges (extremes on both ends in the same composition). But the technique need not be constrained to that type of "look." For the rest of the week we'll deal with four different HDR images and discuss what has been done to achieve the particular look and hopefully, in the process, look at a 50+ composite HDR image. For today we will look at an image that looks like just like any other single image properly exposed, i.e., natural looking. This image was taken on an overcast day but with a sufficiently large dynamic range none the less. It was made from 5 original images, -2, -1. 0, +1, +2 using HDR software to get the base image, them "adjusted" to give it more contrast to reach the natural look. I then changed the white balance to remove the blue light and return the water to looking white, something I think we would consider more normal than a light blue waterfall. A slow shutter was employed to get the cottony look in the flowing stream. ISO 200; 1/8 sec (middle of 5) @ f / 9.

02 Nov 11. Last Thursday we looked at a typical bland, straight from the HDR software, image to illustrate what tone mapping (compression) does to the set of images taken to handle large dynamic range situations, and I provided a copy of the same image with some small adjustments to give it a bit more character, i.e., less flat (uncompressed.) Yesterday's image was provided to give an example of how the HDR approach can be used to provide for a "natural" look, more like that from a single image or one taken on film. Today we'll look at another image taken in HDR, this time with more of the "typical" HDR look created by those beginning with the concept, and a stage in which I believe I can safely say everyone starting to work in the area initially produces as the "normal." As many folks really like this look, you will often see images for sale that have this particular "look," and for many settings I think it makes for some nice images, but like any approach, there is a place for it and it is not with every composition. It works O.K. for the setting in which I've employed it here, but this same image works equally well, perhaps even better, in the more natural look such as that shared yesterday. No doubt there will be opinions on this image that run the gamut from ugh to beautiful; but that's what I would expect. Tomorrow we'll move on to the grunge end of things for a very different look. ISO 200; 1/25 sec (middle of 5) @ f /18 on a tripod.

03 Nov 11. We'll conclude our discussion of the HDR approach to photography by looking at the extreme interchangeably called grunge or cartoon-ish, although there are those that would argue that they are different. A lot of the early work in this area was centered around this look, and it is this particular look that has tainted the HDR approach to some degree. Modern HDR software won't let you create this look with a bit of intentional input, but the initial software offerings generally gave this type of output as the starting point. Depending on how you used it, it could be effective. For example, the winch house image won a couple of competitions, albeit in "creative" categories, and even made a photo club monthly front page, but I would never consider this type of image to be anything other than creative, or, as some would categorize it, highly manipulated. My goal with this particular image was to create a fairy land impression and I think it worked well for its intended use. The second image, a desirable view, is provided to give you a feel for how the HDR effect can be, in my mind, totally abused, when used in this manner to present a natural scene. It looks very much like something out of a comic book, but this approach is very common in high end advertising these days, although a nature scene wouldn't be the type of image used by the ad folks. However, you get the idea. I would expect that none of you will like the second image for anything other than as something fun, while the first image may be something you'll find appealing, in its own right. The second frame in the 5 shot series of this hillside stands on its own quite nicely, which is a little caveat that says not everything requires the HDR approach, nor does the HDR approach work for all situations, but when applied appropriately, it does its job very well. ISO 200; 1/40 sec (middle of 5) @ f / 14.

Image mentioned in the above narrative.

04 Nov 11. We'll leave the HDR stuff behind but now and again I'll slip one in for your "viewing enjoyment." The image you see today was taken 9 days ago during one of our intermittent sun breaks. We grabbed an early start and made it to the 4061' summit of Stevens Pass around 0900, just in time to have the sun break out of the fog and present us with some spectacular, although past prime color, along with an early morning fresh dusting of the white stuff, all of which had melted by the time we returned from a little eastern Washington shopping, an early Christmas run, if you will. This was our first time to be treated by both snow and color, and it was truly breath taking (33ºF), if not for the color, then the temperature. Now, in case you thought the color of the ground cover was a bit exaggerated in yesterday's submission, this is a straight shot which has had a curves adjustment applied to improve the contrast, but the colors have not been manipulated other than what the cures adjustment did, which was to darken the shadows and brighten the highlights just a very tiny amount. Where the morning sunlight was striking the mountain side the colors were simply vibrant; where it wasn't, they were substantially duller. This show was limited to less than a half mile of the summit on the western side and about 1.5 miles on the eastern side. Otherwise, it was not to be found. There was plenty of other color available as we made the trek along Highway 2 as well as in the town of Leavenworth making the entire trip a sheer delight. ISO 200; 1/200 sec @ f / 9.

07 Nov 11. Shortly after we began our first tour in the military Jan "discovered" what I believe to be Wild Teasel (Dipsacus fellonum) growing abundantly alongside most of the country roads near where we resided in military quarters. We were quite fortunate to get housing as there were only 6 units available, and I was the most junior officer in the Command, by far. We had a corner unit and it was very nice although not without its challenges, some of them quite humorous now as we look back fondly of that time. The gathering of teasel at times became quite a charade with us trying to find a place to park the car on a road barely large enough for a work horse and wagon as we would scramble into the ditch along the road's edge or scramble up a bank too close to the road's edge. Over the 4 years we were there we collected a lot of the dried stalks and found many ways to use them, including spray painting them and using them for Christmas decorations. We still like the plant but I find I can't look at it without fond memories of what was, in my estimation, our best 4 years in the military. We made many friends during that time and still remain in touch with some, and had some wonderful opportunities visiting parts of our country we had read about as kids in school. The most interesting part was realizing that what we had been taught in school, although far more accurate than that being taught today, was frequently far and away different from what had actually happened. It provided us with a very different perspective of the country's beginnings. And part of that learning was a realization that teasel had been enjoyed my many generations that preceded us. So for today I've made a little creative interpretation of the lovely teasel. ISO 500; 1/60 sec @ f /36 on a tripod with fill flash. 105mm Macro

08 Nov 11. As you traverse the many paths that meander around the PNW, in particular WA, OR, ID, MT, and N. CA, it is hard to not be impressed by the ability of some alpine area plants to seemingly grow right out of the rock. In reality they probably do, having converted the substrate rock into some level of soil sufficient for sustaining life, at least their lives. More than that what amazes me is their ability to hang on through high winds and heavy snows. It is one thing to see them tenaciously hanging on in the valleys of the mountains, but to see them clinging to what appears to be nothing more than a sheer wall is truly an impressive sight. During the summer, and to a lesser degree the spring, it is not always as easy to recognize their situation, but in the fall when they put on a blaze of color there is no mistaking what and where they are. The evergreens obviously do the same as the hardwoods, as is quite obvious in today's photo, but the addition of color really brings to one's attention these hardy survivors. ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 8.

09 Nov 11. About 20 minutes prior to taking the shot I shared yesterday this was how the hillsides appeared near the summit of Stevens Pass. The fresh morning dusting of snow gave a mold like appearance to the ground cover, and the color reminded me of the hills I used to pass on my daily drive to MCAS El Toro in S. CA as well as some of the mountains between CA and AZ. Of course the vegetation was very different in both those places, but the colors quite similar. The addition of the snow appears to have affected the behavior of the camera as all the photos I took that have the snow turned out quite sharp, both hand held and tripod mounted, but in the shots I took with just the very brightly colored ground cover none came out razor sharp. I've experienced this problem with all of my digital bodies and multiple lenses, both on and off tripod, and still have not determined what is causing this problem One of these days I will get it figured out, and when I do, I'll share the answer. In the interim, I'll just have to do the best I can with what I got, such as last week's "fire and ice." By the time we returned to this spot in the afternoon on the return trip home all the snow was gone and it looked very different from what we see here in this 1000 photo. The morning view was one that had me wanting to climb to the top; the feeling in the afternoon was that it probably wasn't such a good idea. Must have been the combined effect of sun and snow. ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f / 9.

10 Nov 11. Yesterday I mentioned that when I got the sharpness problem solved I'd tell the list, and today, thanks to a list member, thanks Ken, I have my answer. In short, the problem arises due to atmospheric heating that is amplified by the combination of a long shutter speed coupled with the magnification of a long lens, so no more non-sharp alpine ground cover images. Now on to today's submission of a bumblebee having breakfast. The original had a very messy background, so I cut out the bee from the rest and supplied a different background which I highly blurred by application of a heavy Gaussian blur. So two layers, the bee and the background, for the final image. The cutting out of an object can be a tedious operation but new technology goes a long way to making that effort somewhat simpler than it was just as recent as three years ago. To remove the bee from the background I used a product called ReMask made by Topaz Labs and while very capable, it is a relatively inexpensive piece of software. In the past cutting out an object literally took me hours of precise work, but now I can do a fairly decent job in about 30 minutes, start to finish, which is pretty good. The bee was a little dark in the original, so I elected to lighten it up a bit, but other than that, and the background exchange, this is a basically a straight from the camera type shot. ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f /10.

11 Nov 11. With Friday being Veteran's Day, I share this image of the WWI Doughboy which stands prominently at the "y" in the road dividing the two halves of Seattle's Washelli Cemetery reserved for American Veterans and dedicate it to those who gave their all to the country. To which I wish to add my insignificant thanks for all those veterans, no matter how long they served, for all their sacrifices! The image appears slanted but it isn't, the statue and graves are on a little hillside sloping downward to the right. It is tonemapped (HDR), gritty, and intentionally dark; that is the mood I wanted to impart. ISO 200; 1/321 sec @ f / 13 (middle of 5).

14 Nov 11. Sunday was the annual NWCCC conference and once again the topic was HDR photography. I missed most of one of the presentations which of all those presented appeared to be the best, in that the presenter was demonstrating some color flipping in infrared HDR images. An interesting concept I do believe if you are interested in colored infrared images, and I know at least a few folks present were. Not something up my alley, but the color flipping could be interesting in its own right. I've done some limited color replacement stuff but never gave any thought to exchanging one color totally for another. A third topic for the day was how to take a bad image and cover it up with a texture, thereby somehow "rescuing" a bad image. To my way of thinking a bad image deserves to be tossed; period. I would have been far more impressed if the topic had been presented from the perspective of how a texture might be applied to improve a good image making it great. But such was not the case. I am rapidly forming the opinion that most all of the presenters on HDR photography are more into discussing image manipulation than they are image quality, and all to often the images they share substantiate this opinion. Today's image obviously should be of the HDR venue and so it is, taken in the early afternoon on a winter's day, and edited such that the primary aspect of the photo is the detail in the wood. The light was somewhat harsh, and I couldn't get what I wanted with a single exposure, so this image is built from 5 separate exposures, all 1 stop apart. The HDR merge felt flat to me, so it has been given a very tiny curves enhancement to increase the contrast by what I would estimate to be less than 5%. Hopefully all this winds up looking natural and not suggestive of an HDR approach. ISO 200; 1/125 sec (middle of 5) @ f /13.

15 Nov 11. Today's submission is the exact same rose I shared with you a couple of weeks back. For this image I've removed the stem and associated leaves, made the background entirely black, and saturated the rosebud just a bit. Nothing else. However, I think you will observe a dramatic difference. Whether or not flowers, sans their associated greenery, seam appropriately presented will be a matter of taste, and I must admit that I often have difficulty with flowers presented this way. Sometimes I think it works just fine, and at other times I simply don't like it. For this image I had to debate for quite a while (with myself) as to whether I liked it or not. Eventually the I like it side won out, but not by much, and that was after considerable work and reworking of the image. My goal had been to leave in just a faint green stem, but after over an hour playing with just that aspect of the image I gave in and almost totally removed it; should you look really critically, you can still see it. If you are one of those who "need" the greenery aspect, you are welcome to copy and paste it in from the other image; they are exactly the same size, so it will fit right into place. ISO 200; 1/160 sec @ f / 8.

16 Nov 11. While early Christmas shopping in Leavenworth at a big Christmas items store a few weeks back, Jan found some more stuff we "absolutely" needed to add to our collection of things Christmas, and among them were some nice items made of glass. This was in one of those stores that if Christmas "stuff' is your thing, you are better off if you leave your wallet and cc behind, because you will easily be able to part with both!! As I was wandering around the store, between checking on Maggie whom we had tied outside while we shopped, I was impressed by some of the high quality glass items which I'll lump under the title of ornaments for lack of a better encompassing description. The work of some of the artists was simply striking, and to my way of thinking not necessarily items that should be confined to the Christmas season. In the sun porch portion of our house here in Ballard, which Jan has turned into a hot house, reside a number of Christmas cacti. They bloom throughout the year and in colors of red, magenta, and white, and they are all currently in full display. These are obviously the real items, but while photographing them this time around I got to thinking about the glass ornaments in the Christmas shop and wondered if I might be able to make the real thing look like it was made of glass. The image for today is my first attempt of so doing, and while it doesn't quite look totally glass like, got more work to do to get it perfected, it is fairly close and good enough, I believe, to share. ISO 200; 1/60 sec with fill flash @ f/10.

17 Nov 11. While were we out looking for fall color in the Skagit Valley about three weeks back we took a short visit to a local nursery as our efforts elsewhere were not paying off all that well. There were some nicely colored plants and trees available and easily photographed, so while Jan was looking for something to add to our collection I took the opportunity to grab a few shots. While the access was more than adequate, finding the proper background was not. Being a nursery things were stacked back to back and where they weren't it was either a building or some other unsightly object in the background. So I concentrated on a modified macro approach, trying to isolate specific aspects of individual plants that I thought might be interesting. My favorite shot was one that sadly didn't achieve quite as much front to back sharpness as I desired, and even though it is still a nice shot, I decided to manipulate it in hopes of getting something even more interesting, and I think I did. The final result is something that reminds me of the Italian group of painters due to the richness of color, and some of you may see a bit of Van Gogh, although I wasn't trying to emulate any particular school when I did it. Rather, I was just looking to create what I felt to be a striking image. ISO 200; 1/200 sec @ f / 7.1.

18 Nov 11. During these last 10 days or so the colors here in our general area have been the best we've seen since our return for the the fall of 2006. With the past couple days of strong winds, they are now primarily street coloring, but still nice. Predominantly strong reds this year, but the oranges and yellows have been exceedingly vibrant. The same was true for the couple of times I made it up into the mountains and, depending on where I was and where I was looking, there was an abundance of designs to photograph. This image was taken from the road side on the Eastern side of Highway 20 about two miles past the summit of Stevens Pass on Highway 2 at about the 3,500 foot level. The sun had just recently broken through the low lying clouds and was beaming of the hillside. All the reds had peaked and were no longer on the trees, but the yellows and oranges were in abundance, and the bare trees just added to the design. ISO 200; 1/200 sec @ f / 8.

21 Nov 11. A fun image for today of two dogs who simply love each others company. Maggie and Mini (Cooper) got to spend parts of both Saturday & Sunday this past weekend playing together and this is typical of how they play. Mini outweighs Maggie by a factor of almost 2.5, but Maggie, at 2 years of age, has the advantage of youth over Mini, at roughly 7 years of age. But you would never be aware of these differences by simply watching them play. They wildly chase each other all around the property running and leaping like a couple of spring lambs. Maggie is much faster than Mini so if during a chase Maggie suddenly outdistances Mini, she waits for Mini to catch up and pass her, and then takes out after Mini again. This can go on for an extended period of time until Mini temporarily wears out. At that point she simple lies down and stops running around chasing or being chased by Maggie. That tends to frustrate Maggie, so she builds up a head of steam and rams into Minnie who then responds by rolling over onto her back and fending Maggie off. Both dogs have their mouths open and frequently lips retracted, but always the tails are wildly wagging and they simply continue their play through the day or until Mini has to go home. Note the size of Mini's paw in relation to Maggie's head. It doesn't take much for Mini to be able to toss Maggie around and the more Mini does it the more Maggie comes back for more. You couldn't ask for a better pair of playmates. ISO 500; 1/160 sec @ f / 5.6

22 Nov 11. A planned weekend work project for the new house which I had hoped would occupy only Saturday (wishful thinking on my part) turned out to take all of Sunday and still wasn't completed. Now that we have a roof on the house the county is highly concerned that we channel all that extra rain that hits the roof, but never hit the ground before we starting building, properly diverted away from the ground and into a catch basin so it won't harm the remaining 9.75 acres! We got the majority of 380 feet of drain ditch dug, the pipe laid and connected to the down spouts, and the ditches filled in, but didn't get the catch basin part completed, so at least another day's work lies ahead. The bright spot in all this idiocy was that the Sunday morning temps and moisture levels were such that a lovely coating of hoar frost was present in many parts of the area between our property and my cousins, and the drive gave me some opportunity for some delightful images of the stuff covering most everything from trees to fence posts to barbed wire to all kinds of ground cover. My plan is to share a few of these for the rest of the week but I first have to master some tricky selection techniques to really show them off in the very best way possible. So we'll start with some easy stuff, like trees, while I work on my craft. This image is a view across my cousin's farm to a group of trees lining the western edge. The white of the trees is actually frost, and as I was looking at them I couldn't help but be reminded of a wonderful ice storm we experienced during our first tour in the Navy while stationed in Warminster, PA. The storm raged through the night, and in the morning we had ice covered everything, especially all the leaf bare trees. The wind remained for the rest of the day and what resulted was a magnificent natural music box as the wind pushed one branch into another creating a chime like sound. I'll never forget it! ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f / 6.3

23 Nov 11. Here is another image from those taken last Sunday of the hoar frost. This fence post was just a couple feet off the road and behind it was an open field of small grasses, basically what remains of a mowed field of hay. I felt the grass was both a bit distracting and that it hid a lot of the detail in the frost, so I removed it and replaced it with just black which I feel sets off the frosted stump fairly well. Still working on mastering this making technique so if you look really close you'll be able to see a few small areas that need improvement, but we are getting close to having a good handle on it. Overall however it is starting to allow me to do some reasonably good isolations. With luck I'll have it under control by the end of the week. ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 9.

Thanksgiving. After almost a full day dealing with virus software issues, things are almost where they should be. Everything got cleaned up, but the "super tech" who did the work left this mailbox working at roughly 20% of its original speed. When told about it his response was "take it to a computer repair shop." So I guess I'll be spending some time with "corporate" on Friday. Meanwhile, it is Thanksgiving, a time for reflection and the gathering together of family and friends for far too much food and perhaps football as well, or, as in our case, a quiet dinner out at a very nice restaurant. After a full day of two highly active grand daughters, we are more than ready for the day of quiet. :-D Now, as the magnificent turkey didn't make it as our national bird, instead being beaten out by a scavenger, much to Ben's disgust, I thought I "spruce up" the old Tom a bit for your viewing pleasure. Perhaps if the turkeys on the middle 1700s had looked like this, the turkey would be out national symbol after all. ISO 500; 1/250 sec @ f / 9. D300; 70 - 300 mm.

Black Friday. Back in my grade school years and earlier, the standard fare, no exceptions, for an upchucking tummy, was 7-Up and soup. Absolutely nothing wrong with the menu obviously, but to this day I can't stomach 7-Up and only on very rare occasions, clam chowder and split pea soup being the exceptions, will I eat soup. It just doesn't happen. One such occasion was back in 1990 at a church in PA in which I was very active, sat on the council, chaired two committees, and Jan one, the Parish Life Committee. In this particular year, during the Lenten season, we had our annual soup suppers presented by the Parish Life committee, as do many congregations, but this particular year it somehow turned into a friendly major, but highly competitive, competition of who could bring the BEST soup and bread! The final result of that year's soup suppers was a 34 page cookbook I produced using a Z-100 computer. I doubt that many of you will remember such an old beast, but at the time it was the cat's meow. Now that little cookbook holds just about every soup recipe that I will eat, excluding the two already mentioned. That is until tonight, when Jan and I had dinner at the Harborside restaurant, situated along the SW edge of Lake Union in downtown Seattle. Now for most of you this will be of little interest, but for those of you living near here, it may be otherwise. On the menu tonight was the most delightful soup I have ever experienced, a true delight to the palette as it is sometimes said. Titled Butternut Squash Bisque, it contained not only the squash obviously, but also something crunchy and topped with pear compute. A total delight all the way around. I cautiously asked for the recipe and was told it will be emailed to me in a couple of days. I can't wait. To make it all even more delightful, we were seated with a spectacular view of both the north and east sides of the city. Delightful cuisine, a fantastic view, excellent service, and great company. All-in-all you couldn't ask for more; hope that each and everyone of you experienced something equally nice for your Thanksgiving this year. As for the view, the one I'm sharing today is not what we saw, didn't take the camera with me, thought that just a bit crass, but it was even nicer. ISO 200; 1/8 sec @ f /11 on a tripod.

28 Nov 11. For those of you who may be keeping track of our weather you are aware of the early snow fall this year and the good news for all those who enjoy or make their living in winter sporting activities. For those of you who haven't been keeping track we are have an early and large snow fall which is opening up our ski, snow boarding, snowmobiling, and cross country skiing areas much earlier than usual. Good for everyone all around except perhaps for those who have to frequently drive over those several of our mountain passes. But for me it is a sign that perhaps we will get snow here in the city this year so I don't have to drive to it as we've done twice this year already. Our first trip was in mid May and as we approached the summit of Stevens Pass we were greeted with a just fallen snow that had all the trees looking like a sheet of Christmas wrapping paper. And again in late October as we made a similar trip we were treated to an early morning dusting of the local hillsides. Beautiful sights both times. A month earlier on a trip to Mt Baker I learned that the road to Artist's Point never opened the entire year due to snow, so I am more than just a little bit hopeful. The shot from the May trip was one such that I thought a little mess'n with it might be appropriate, so I've altered it to look like what I'd like to have wrapped around my gifts this year. Of course I'd have to print it myself, something I don't do, but the thought remains. ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f /10.

29 Nov 11. Just back from our annual pilgrimage to listen to the Seattle Pacific University's presentation of The Sacred Sounds of Christmas. This is our 6th time and it seems like every year it is simultaneously old and new, but very refreshing and most enjoyable. Their arrangement of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, also the processional, was the most beautiful and moving version of it I have ever heard!! If they didn't record it (I'm betting they didn't) to CD or DVD, they definitely should have. It needs to be saved for posterity. Much like we do with our digital images. Which brings me to the topic for today's image, an image unlike any I've ever shared. While I worked in the camera store I had this "conversation" with many a customer but few, I'm rather certain, actually believed me. So I pose to you the same question: which side of the disc is the sensitive (needs to be protected from scratches, etc) side. I'm wagering most of you will say the underside, the silver side. If you do, you will be in error. It is the top side that must be protected. You can scratch, scrape, do just about anything you want to that underside, and inflict no damage. The disc is just a clear piece of plastic designed to give the recording material bulk , or structure, if you prefer. Look at the image; it has four parts to it labeled Fig 1 - 4. Fig 1 is a disc with a sticky note attached; observe that it appears to be a little wrinkled near the edge of the sticky note. Fig 2 is that same disc after I removed the sticky note which pulled off the recording layer from the top of the disc. Observe that you can see clear through the disc, where the shiny stuff used to be, to the table cloth underneath. Figs 3 & 4 are the underside of that same disc. In figure 3, you can see that I've placed the part that pulled off ,above and to the left to show it clearly to you (note the same shape and size of the material attached to the sticky note and the clear area on the disc. Fig 4 is the same thing with the sticky note and recording material removed. Again, observe that you can see clear through the transparent plastic disc. So now you have visible proof as to which side is the critical side and the one that needs protection, not only from scratches, but from acids, like that found in Sharpe marking pens, that will quickly etch through that thin layer of recording material. It is the top side! Solution, ALWAYS put a paper label on the discs you are using to store your archived images and label with printer ink or an archival pen which you can get t any scrap booking or stationery store. Hope you enjoy, dave .

30 Nov 11. I started reading Jean Auel's Earth Children series 30 years ago, back in the summer of 1981 when the paperback version of The Clan of the Cave Bear was released as a Bantam book. I've been following the entire series ever since and am now well into the concluding volume entitled "The Land of the Painted Caves". Her writing is captivating for the descriptions she provides about supposed life in what I would imagine to have been the Pleistocene Period. Although she takes extreme liberties in her description of human interactions, sometimes to the ridiculous, it is her tale of how people lived off the land that captures and holds my attention. Some of what she writes, as with other authors I've read, seemed totally unrealistic, until I spent the time in Antarctica. After experiencing some of the things I had read about first hand during exposure training, it all began to make better sense. Now I find much of what she writes to be substantially more plausible, at least that pertaining to the human /environmental interactions. As I read any of these books, an even better series being the North America's Forgotten Past by Gear & Gear, a husband and wife team of archaeologists, I find myself wondering who was the first to ever _____ and how did they come upon the idea originally. When you think about some of the things are ancestors have done, it is hard to fathom how anyone initially came upon the ideas. While walking around the neighborhood a couple days past and taking shots of leaves that had made their way to the ground, I noticed this scene in which it looks like the grasses have begun to weave themselves into something. Looking at this pattern I could envision someone a bit smarter than me for sure, seeing the association, and trying to weave something for the first time. Which leads me to think that some of the "stories" in the books may not be all that far off. ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 6.3.