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Quick Shot – Hurricane Ridge
I've been super busy lately getting ready for my first solo show. I need to drop off 26 pieces a week from today and just finished the printing yesterday. Now to finish matting and framing… I'll post more on this show later.
Even though busy, I wanted to post a quick shot from a trip I made last Friday with Tanya and our new Newfoundland, Nahla (more on Nahla later as well) to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. Western Washington has been experiencing a temperature inversion lately, which causes lots of fog in the lowlands, but sunny and warm skies at elevation. This trip was a perfect example. Hurricane Ridge is about 17 miles by road from the City of Port Angeles and perhaps only 10 miles straight-line distance. Port Angeles is at sea level; Hurricane Ridge is at 5,242 feet above sea level. We drove into Port Angeles at noon. It was foggy and the temperature was about 38º F (3º C). A half hour later, we arrived at Hurricane Ridge, the sky was mostly sunny and the temperature was 60º F (16º C).
There isn't much snow at Hurricane Ridge this year. Last Friday, there was about 28 inches of snow on the ground – a year ago it was around 90 inches in mid-January. However, the snow that was there was enough to go out snowshoeing and enjoy the view. And with the warm weather, it was great being out with only a light coat.
After our short snowshoe, we hung out for sunset, where I captured the above photo. All in all, a great trip. If you decide to go, be aware that the road to Hurricane Ridge is only open Friday-Sunday (and holiday Mondays) during winter (December through the end of March). It normally opens at 9 a.m. and closes around sunset (they chase everyone out of the parking lot each night). Before you go, be sure to check road conditions at http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/hurricane-ridge-current-conditions.htm as the road is only open if conditions permit.
Hints for Photography in the Rain
Last Friday, I took the day off from the day job to do some photography. It was a day Carson would have loved, rainy and cold. With Carson gone, Tanya and I decided to take our cat, Patch, along instead. He wasn't so sure about the whole thing, and stayed in the car until our last stop (Rainbow Falls State Park), where he did explore a bit.
But this post isn't about Patch, it's about photographing in the rain. If you live on the wet side of the mountains in the Pacific Northwest, you best get use to photographing in the rain if you want to shoot in fall and winter. That said, I try to avoid it as much as I can. Last Friday, I was not excited about going out. The weather forecast called for 100% chance of rain, and it was not wrong. Shooting in adverse weather can have its benefits, but often it is just miserable. However, Tanya convinced me that we should go (easy for her to say, I was the one to be out in the rain; she took papers to grade).
As it turned out, I was happy we went. As you can see by the attached photos, I think I came away with some good shots. Here's a few hints for photographing in the rain (not listed in any particular order).
1. Take good rain gear for your camera – unless you have a waterproof camera, you'll want some sort of protection to keep your camera dry. Currently, I use a Rainsleeve by Op/Tech. These are inexpensive plastic sleeves with openings on both ends. One has a drawstring to tighten around the camera lens hood. The other end allows you to hand hold the camera or attach it to a tripod. A small hole is also provided for the viewfinder. I find these sleeves work well when on a tripod, and allow you to control most the camera functions through the plastic. I like them less for hand holding the camera because sticking your wet hand up into the sleeve defeats the purpose, plus it is a bit tight. There are many other options also available.
You might also consider making an umbrella holder for you tripod. I have a friend who has a similar setup and really likes it. I, personally, have not tried something like this out yet, but as long as it is not windy, an umbrella seems like it should work well.
2. Take good rain gear for yourself – be sure to keep yourself dry as well. I like to take rain pants as well as a raincoat. When photographing, I often kneel on one knee (all my jeans wear out on the left knee knew sooner than the right). With rain pants, there is no worry about kneeling in water and mud.
3. Use a tripod – while using a tripod is always a good practice, in the rain it is especially needed. The skies are much darker than on typical non-rainy days, leading to longer exposure times. Also, it is easier to keep the camera dry if it is on a tripod.
4. Use a lens with a long lens hood - when using the Rainsleeve, the lens hood is outside the plastic. It is the hood that protects the lens from falling rain drops. This works best if the lens hood is long and the glass sits back inside it. This is why I tend to avoid using a wide-angle lens in the rain if at all possible. Lens hoods for wide-angle lenses provide almost no protection from rain. All the shots shown here were taken with a 24-70mm lens. When extended to the 24mm setting, the lens is close to the open end of the lens hood, so I had to take more care when using that setting.
5. When not shooting, keep your lens pointed down – don't invite rain onto your lens, try to keep the camera pointed downward.
6. Use a cable release - anything you can do to keep a wet hand from touching the camera will help keep it dry. I use a cable release which hangs down out of the Rainsleeve. Alternatively, I could trip the shutter button through the Rainsleeve, but with long exposures, it is good practice to use a cable release anyway.
7. Have a lintless cloth handy – just in case you need to wipe stray water off your lens. Take a look at the lens occasionally to look for water drops (which are sometimes hard to see through the viewfinder).
8. Avoid the sky in your compositions - at least if the sky is uniformly gray (as it is often is around here when it rains). For most of the subjects I photograph, the sky (even if not uniformly gray) is very much lighter than the subject, creating huge contrast problems. Expose correctly for your subject, and the sky becomes a overexposed white blanket. Expose for the sky, the subject is a dark mess. HDR is a possible solution, but if there is no contrast within the sky itself, that doesn't help much. It's best to just keep the amount of sky in the frame minimized.
9. Pick subjects that can be photographed without much sky - it is easier to keep the sky out of your compositions if the subject can be photographed without the sky being prominent. If you've never been to where you are going, and don't have an idea whether the sky will be prominent or not, many subjects can be researched on Flickr to give you an idea. (For example, look at this Flickr search for the Cedar Creek Grist Mill, my main destination last Friday.)
10. Use a polarizer - using a polarizer can make a big difference in your images. When everything is wet, everything has reflections. With that big gray sky above, there are a lot of annoying reflections in any composition. Of course, using a polarizer cuts down on the light entering the camera, making the use of tripod (#3 above) even more important.
11. Watch out for wind – wind complicates matters considerably. With a stiff wind, rain no longer fall vertically. Wind demands even more care to keep things dry.
12. Use a memory card with enough storage - start your photo shoot with a fresh memory card and one with enough storage for the entire shoot. You don't want to open up the camera to change cards and get water inside.
13. Consider your lens choice carefully and change lenses out of the weather - you don't want to change lenses in the rain; there is too much chance of getting water inside the camera. Before you leave you car, put on the lens that will give the most shots. Consider using an all-purpose, travel zoom, like an 18-200 mm or similar (of course, such lenses typically have less light gathering power than other lens with less zoom range, making tripod use even more important). If you do have to change lenses, do so in shelter or with much care if still outside. (BTW, I do not own travel zoom. I try to restrict my compositions to those requiring a single lens. In last Friday's case, I only used my 24-70 mm lens).
That's it for now. Do have any other hints for photographing in the rain?
Tulip Time
April in the Skagit Valley is one on the photographic highlights of Washington State. April is when the tulip and daffodil fields west of Mount Vernon are in bloom (actually, the daffodils typically start blooming in March). These fields, and the month-long Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, attract big crowds – and, therefore, I've avoided them for years (actually I did photograph some of the early daffodil fields a few years back, visiting at non-busy time). However, I did venture up to the fields last Friday – and wow, was I missing out by not going earlier. Actually, I picked a good day. It was rainy in Seattle and Tacoma, but not too bad up in Mount Vernon, and the weather may have kept the crowds down (being a weekday also helped). There still were plenty of people, just not the mobs the flowers attract like bees on sunny weekends.
Here's a quick report:
- best time to go – go now! The tulips are at their peak. The early tulips have already been headed (the growers de-head the tulips to prevent disease and promote bulb growth, and the longer you wait, the more flowers will be de-headed), the mid-season tulips are in full bloom, and the late-season ones are just starting. Most the daffodil fields are long-past their prime, though a few still have decent flowers.
- best display garden – Roozengaarde. There are two major tulip growers in the valley, Roozengaarde (a division of Washington Bulb) and Tulip Town. Both have display gardens. Roozengaarde's is larger and better developed. There is an entry fee of $5 – well worth it. This fee also gets you into their tulip field across the road. Roozengaarde's other tulip fields, elsewhere in valley, are free to visit.
- best tulip field – Tulip Town. Behind the display garden at Tulip Town is relatively small tulip field, but one packed with lots of colors and varieties. Most the other tulip fields in the valley are very large, and though they may have several varieties of tulips, it's difficult to get more than a couple of varieties into a single image. No such problem at Tulip Town. Another big advantage at Tulip Town is two red barns next to the field that make good backgrounds. Like Roozengaarde, there is a $5 entry fee.
- weather – it rains a lot in the area in April, you just have to work with it. Sunny days (like today) are great, but not very predictable unless you have a flexible schedule. You can make great photos on cloudy days, or even in the rain (as long it is not a downpour).
- footwear – the fields are muddy – extremely muddy if it has rained lately. Wear boots. I wore hiking boots; many people had rubber bo0ts.
- pets – of course, Tanya and I had Carson with us. Dogs are not allowed in the display garden at Roozengaarde or in Tulip Town, but are allowed in most the fields. Carson had a great time laying in mud puddles.
- parking – the entrance fee to Roozengaarde also pays for parking at their fields – assuming the parking lots are open (they close if it is too muddy). There is also a parking lot at Tulip Town. Otherwise, you will need to park on the road. Be warned: if any part of your car is across the marking the edge of the road, you will get ticketed. The local cops were out in force when we were there.
Ebey's Landing – One Great Hike
A week ago last Saturday, Tanya, Carson and I took another hike. This one to Ebey's Landing up on Whidbey Island. This hike covers a bit less than 6 miles roundtrip and involves walking across a classic, island prairie, along the tallest coastal bluff in Washington State, and along a driftwood-strewn Puget Sound beach.
Though this is a great hike anytime of the year, it is especially good in the winter when snow prevents hiking in the mountains. It is also in the Olympic Mountain's rain shadow, so it rains less there than in Seattle (the average annual precipitation is about 24 inches compared to 34 inches in Seattle).
Almost every step of this hike has a great view of the Olympics (though they were mostly cloud covered on our trip). There is also an awesome view of Mount Baker, and even a view of Mount Rainier far to the south. The hike even has a bit of history; the hike being inside Ebey's Landing National Historic Reserve. The area was first settled in the 1850s, and a few of the original homestead buildings are still standing today.
And after the hike, don't forget to drop into the nearby, historic town of Coupeville for some of the famous Penn Cove mussels. We stopped at Toby's Tavern for a quick bite and a cold beer. The tavern sits on the water of Penn Cove and offers affordable seafood and other bar foods (though if stuffed animal heads make you nervous, you might want to try someplace else).
PS – Kickstarter update: my project has been online a little over a week and has already been fully funded. However, the project will still be active on Kickstarter another few weeks. You still have a chance to pledge. For a $5 pledge, you will receive a copy of the ebook – that's a discount on what the ebook will cost after it's published. Check out my Seattle ebook project here.
Island Time
Yesterday, Tanya and I decided to take Carson on a day trip to Bainbridge Island. Rather than driving up, we drove to Seattle and took the ferry across. Carson was a huge hit on the ferry – they don't often see dogs that big. During the day, both on the Island and the two ferry crossings, he had his photo numerous times by people we met (having a huge dog is a great way to meet people, though they only remember the dog). I imagine, Carson has his picture on Facebook more than I do.
The day was cloudy and a bit cold, and so was the ferry since we had to stay outside on the "sun" deck (no dogs allowed inside). When we arrived at Bainbridge Island, we took the Waterfront Trail, and after a light rain for 10 minutes or so, the sun came out. We had a pleasant walk, and while Carson received pets from many strangers, I took photographs. We spent several hours on the walk, and eventually made it back to the ferry, just one minute before it left for Seattle. Of course, they stop loading walk-on passengers two minutes before departure. So we had to wait an hour for the next one – such is life on an island. But even so, it was a fun day – no place special to be and no special time to be there.
The ride back to Seattle was uneventful, but then again not so. The sun had set, and with the gray skies, it was not particularly pretty out. I put the camera away and sat with Tanya on the sheltered part of the sun deck. Yet even as the gray dusk darkened and as we sailed closer to the city, without the camera in my hand, it gave me the chance to truly appreciate the Seattle skyline as the city lights came on. Even on this unspectacular evening, it was beautiful. Sometimes it's better to just put the camera away and enjoy the now. (There's a Jimmy Buffett song I particularly like, Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On, with lyrics about a watch that doesn't have numbers, but just says now. And even though the song is about Hurricane Katrina, it just shows that that man really knows something about island time.) We talked to a couple visiting from New Orleans – they took a photo of Carson of course, several actually – and enjoyed the view and our sailing across Puget Sound, safe in knowing we had no schedule to meet and no particular place to go.
Enjoy these photos from Bainbridge Island; there's nothing to special here, but then again, they were taken on island time.
Don't Trust the Weather Report
As I mentioned in my last post, I drove up to Seattle a week ago Friday on a photo day. I captured some great images; but the trip almost didn't happen.
First, before the story, a mini-rant – I hate the weather. I, like most photographers who shoot outdoors, am obsessed with the weather. The weather is never perfect – it's either too cloudy, or not enough clouds, or too sunny, or too gray, etc. etc. For my Friday trip, I wasn't looking for perfect weather. Rather if I was taking a day off from work to go take photos, I didn't want to waste my time if the weather wasn't going to be good enough to offer at least a few decent shots. Rant's over, now on to the story.
On Thursday night, I checked the weather forecast to see what was in store. The forecast for Seattle was cloudy with a 70% chance of rain both in morning and afternoon – yuck! I thought about going to eastern Washington (which often has better weather), and the forecast for Yakima was cloudy with a 30% chance of freezing rain – not much better. I decided to stay home, work on the computer, and if it looked like the clouds might break, to run up to Seattle.
When I got up Friday morning, it was cloudy, but not rainy. As the morning wore on, there were breaks in the clouds, and I could see a bit of blue sky. So at noon, Tanya, Carson and I headed to Seattle. We went to the Great Wheel, Elliot Bay Park, and West Seattle. It was fairly cloudy when we arrived in Seattle, but as the afternoon wore on it got sunny and warm. By late afternoon, there were scattered clouds both to the east and west of the city, the city itself was under blue skies. It was near perfect weather for photography!
One of the shots I wanted was the moonrise over the city. This was the day before the full moon, and using the Photographers Emphemeris I knew the moon would rise about an hour before sunset directly over the city as viewed from West Seattle. This situation only happens a couple of times each year and those are always in winter. We drove to West Seattle, getting there about 1.5 hours before sunset. However, the few clouds that were left east of Seattle looked like they would block the rising moon.
I was able to get some nice, colorful late afternoon shots of the city skyline. Time for the moonrise came and went, and we couldn't see the moon. Then Tanya helped me shoot a short video for my Kickstarter project (concerning my Seattle ebook I've talked about previously). We took a couple takes, when Tanya said "wow, look at that moon!" (my back was toward the city view). I turned around, and wow was right. I quickly grabbed the camera, switch to still photo mode, put on the 70-200 lens and shot away. I think you'll agree, the results (featured above) were good.
So what I had thought was going to be a bad weather day for photography, turned out being perfect. Goes to show, you can never trust those weather reports.
Six Years Ago this Month
I haven't been out shooting lately. I'm planning to go out tomorrow, but with a forecast of rain, I'm not sure how much photography I'll be doing. While it is rainy here now, that wasn't the case six years ago, when we had a big snow storm here in the Puget Sound region. I was still living in Gig Harbor then, and risked life and limb to drive down a big icy hill to get to the city waterfront to take get some shots of a rare case of snow on the harbor. These images are from that snowy January day in 2007. If you lived around here at the time, I'm sure it's a day you remember.
A Winter's Day in Seattle
Winter officially started here in the northern hemisphere a week ago yesterday. Winter in western Washington is typically pretty grey and wet. But now and then, winter serves up a great day. December 21st, the first day of winter, was one such day in Seattle, and I was lucky enough to be there photographing along with Tanya and Carson.
We spent several hours in West Seattle, visiting Lincoln Park and making two visits to the Belvedere Viewpoint (better light the second time around). Lincoln Park is the largest park in West Seattle and has great views of the Olympic Mountains and the ferry to Vashon Island. It also has wonderful madrona trees, with their peeling red bark, which I love to photograph. The Belevedere Viewpoint has an excellent view of downtown Seattle, which is across Elliot Bay from West Seattle. However, it is a bit far, so if you ever go shooting there, be sure to take a telephoto lens so you can zoom in on the buildings and ferries. Luckily for us, one of the fireboats was practicing spraying water int he bay and the snow covered Cascade Mountains were shining in the background.
From there, we drove up to north Seattle and went to Carkeek Park. I had hoped to find some salmon running in the creek in the park, but the run was apparently over. I understand it is best from mid-November to mid-December. I was just too late. Instead, I photographed on the beach and was rewarded with a great sunset.
From there, we headed to the East Portal Viewpoint on the west shore of Lake Washington (in the eastern part of the city). I hoped to get there with some light left in the sky, but traffic held us up. Still, it was fun to photograph the car headlight and tail light trails on the floating bridge (Interstate 90) over the lake and the lights from the city of Bellevue reflecting in the lake.
What a great start to winter in Seattle! Of course, the weather didn't last, and the next day was grey and rainy, as was the next, and the next, and the…
Fall's Come and Gone at Heather Meadows
I went with a friend and my trusty dog Carson (just over two weeks ago) to Heather Meadows at the end of the Mount Baker Highway (in a earlier post, I gave a Quick Shot from the trip). The fall colors were fantastic, as I hope these images show. Want to go for the colors? You may be too late. The fall color season was short at Heather Meadows this year (though it's probably short most years). A trail report on the Washington Trails Association websitedidn't mention fall colors on September 30th, nor did the accompanying photos show much. And as of October 22nd, according to the US Forest Service website, all the Heather Meadows trails are now snow-covered, the lakes have started freezing over, and the road is gated at the ski area's upper parking lot – a good distance below Artist Point were about half of these photos were taken. Winter has come to Heather Meadows. Fall lasted about 3 weeks.
Though on the Mount Baker Highway, the real star of the Heather Meadows area is Mount Shuksan. The view of Mt. Shuksan from Picture Lake (the featured image above) is one of the most photographed scenes in Washington State. Unfortunately, when we were there, there was a breeze, ruining the reflection in Picture Lake, but it still made a great scene.
Besides Picture Lake, we drove up to the end of the highway at Artist Point and did the short hike along Artist Ridge. Again, Shuksan is the star here – though the view of Mount Baker is good too. We were there in the afternoon (and later, at sunset), and the light was much better on Shuksan than Baker. I venture that Baker looks better in morning light (but with a 5+ hour drive from Tacoma, I wasn't about to get there early).
Unlike the northeastern United States, the Northwest is not know for its autumn colors. This is not surprising, considering the primary tree cover in the Pacific Northwest is composed of firs, pines, and other evergreens. But, there are some spots where fall color can be found. The Heather Meadows area is one – you just have to be quick to see it.
Evolution of an Image: Previsualition to Print
The image above is another from my trip to the beach last month. It is my favorite of the whole trip, and I recently made a print of it. I thought I'd tell you how this particular image went from just an idea to a final print. However, if you want to skip all the details, and just see what the original RAW image looked like, you can just compare the final processed version above with the unprocessed RAW image below.
Prevision: It was near sunset and the tide was low. I had wanted a sunset shot with tide pools in the foreground, but that idea was out because of the fog bank I described in my earlier post . Instead I thought about an image with tide pools and the incoming waves mist-like on the shore. Because it was so gray out, for color I needed starfish (which are naturally purple and orange on this part of the coast) and green sea anemones. I wanted the starfish and selected tide pool to be the focus, with the rest of the image dark and misty (from the waves).
Camera Work: I found a several promising tide pools, some of which I showed in the earlier post. I spent a lot of time at this one, I thought the composition looked good, with the tide pool opening to the right rear and the big cluster of starfish. To blur the incoming waves into a mist, I knew I needed a long exposure, which forced me into using a small aperture. The final image was taken at ISO 100 and f/22 for 8 seconds. Obviously I used a tripod. I needed to be close to the tide pool, requiring a wide-angle lens to capture the entire scene. I put on my 10-22mm zoom and set it to 22mm. Finally, I wanted the center of interest to be the starfish on the far side of the pool. This was actually close to the darkest part of the scene. To help I used a flash to light up the far side of the tide pool. The original RAW capture, with just Lightroom defaults, is shown below.
Lightroom Processing: As you can see, even with the fill flash, the rock with the starfish was very dark. I knew it would take some dodging and burning work to bring it out to my original vision for the image. However, first things first. I always do global adjustments (those affecting the whole image) first before targeted ones. Usually my first step is to level the horizon and use LR's lens correction feature. I typically use a bubble level on my hot shoe to help keep the horizon level when I shoot, but with the flash, that wasn't possible. With the wide-angle zoom, there is a lot of distortion and chromatic aberration, both easily fixed in LR.
Next I adjusted the white balance. I slid LR's blue-yellow slider to the right (yellow) to add warmth to the image.
The image needed a bit more contrast, so I then set the white and black points by using the Whites and Blacks sliders. In this case, I moved the sliders to broaden the histogram and add just a little clipping of both blacks and whites.
I knew I wanted to essentially invert the luminosity of the image, making most of the image darker and lightening up the back wall (which is dark in the original capture). To most effectively do this, I darkened the whole image by significantly moving the Exposure slider to the left (about 3/4 a stop), then recovered that much in the dark areas with the Shadows slider, moving it to the right.
This was generally it for global adjustments, at least initially. Now it was time to work on problem areas to bring out my vision. First, the sky and water was still too light. So I added a Graduated Filter in LR. I used a relatively soft edge, and set the center of the gradient about 1/4 the way down from the top, reducing the exposure by another 1/3 stop. Then to add a bit more contrast to the background rocks and water, I adjusted the Contrast slider on the filter to the right.
Next I knew I needed a lot of painting with the Adjustment Brush. First I needed to lighten up the main area of interest – the tide pool and nearby rocks. The following shows where I added the brush and the effect. I added about 1/2 stop with the Exposure slider and even more with the Highlights slider to bring out the highlights.
It was still to dark in my primary subject area, so I painted a second time in the area shown below. This time I added another 1/2 stop in exposure, with lighted up the shadows more, added some "crispness" with the Clarity slider, and bumped up the color with the Saturation slider. (Normally, I do not use the Saturation sliders much in LR. I more typically use the Vibrance slider as a global adjustment. Here, to really emphasis the back wall of the tide pool, I didn't use the Vibrance slider at all, and only used the Saturation slider with targeted adjustments).
Now it was time to work on the water in the tide pool. I wanted the highlights in the water to show better, and for there to be more contrast between the light and dark portions of the water. So I added a little exposure and bumped up the Highlights and Contrast sliders. I also upped the saturation slightly.
That helped with the water, but I wanted the white areas of the water in the tide pool to be more pronounced, so I painted those areas with another adjustment brush to lighten them up.
I wanted to add a bit more color and lightness to the starfish and anemones (on the rock and in the water) in the foreground. So I added another adjustment brush, upping the exposure slightly and adding some saturation.
At this point, I liked the luminosity of the areas I had used the adjustment brushes on, but thought the rest of the image was too bright for my original vision. So I decreased the exposure slider by another 1/2 stop to darken the whole image.
Then I restored the exposure values to each of the previous adjustment brushes, adding back the 1/2 stop of exposure only in the brushed areas.
Then to further focus the eye to the center of the image, I added a vignette with the Post-Crop Vignette slider.
With that done, some of the rocks on the left still seemed a bit too bright. So with another adjustment brush, I made them slightly darker.
And, the white water at the mouth of the tide pool still looked a bit dark to me, so I added a seventh adjustment brush to brighten up this area a bit.
At this point, I was close to the final, pre-Photoshop image. However, with all the adjustment brush work, the image had lost contrast (mainly by darkening the highlights). I needed to re-establish the white clipping point to gain back the lost contrast. So I adjusted the whites slider upward and also fine-tuned the color temperature (cooling the image slightly).
But with that adjustment, some of the white water at the mouth of the tide pool was too bright, so I deleted part of the seventh adjustment brush.
Now it was time for some touch-up work with the spot removal tool to remove sensor dust spots (I'm bad, I don't clean my sensor nearly often enough). The dust spots were very visible because of the small aperture used on the image. I was able to fix all of them except one straddling the surf line near the upper center of the image; I knew I'd need the cloning tool from Photoshop to fix that one.
At this point, I was done processing the RAW image in Lightroom. Though it looks close to my vision, I thought I could improve it a bit further in Photoshop (in addition to fixing the final dust spot). Before sending it to Photoshop, I applied some noise reduction.
Photoshop Processing: The first step in Photoshop was to adjust the global contrast again, this time using Curves, giving it a slight "S" adjustment, and giving the image some more pop.
I occasionally use a luminosity masking technique, known as the Triple Play, created by Tony Kuyper to improve the shadows and highlights when in Photoshop. I tried it out, and in this case, the Triple Play lead to a slight improvement in both the shadows and highlights.
I cloned out the final dust spot that I couldn't fix in Lightroom. And then refined my previous Lightroom brushwork painting on a dodging/burning layer.
The final step was to apply a bit of sharpening and the image was complete. I use an adjustable sharpening action based on the book Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop CS2 by Bruce Fraser. The sharpening applied here is intended to sharpen to remove the slight blur caused by the camera. With that, the image was complete and my vision was realized. Easy right?
After the processing was done, the only thing left to do was make a print (I do additional sharpening prior to printing after resizing the image). I made 10×15-inch print, matted it, and it is now hanging at the gallery in Gig Harbor where one of my photo clubs (Sound Exposure) hangs their work.
You might be asking, "how long did all this processing take?" Though I didn't time myself, it took much less time to do than to write this blog post. I'd guess the complete processing, from RAW to the final photo below (not including printing) took about 30 to 40 minutes. I don't spend that much time on every shot; but in this case, I think it was well worth it.
Quick Shot
At last the rain hit today, ending perhaps the longest dry spell in western Washington history. Luckily, I spent the last day of the dry weather (yesterday) up at Mount Baker in the Heather Meadows area. The fall colors were fantastic. Tomorrow, in the morning, I'm heading off to eastern Washington for the weekend to go to a football game. I wanted to leave you with a blog post before I go, so here's a quick shot I took yesterday. This is Mount Baker, as seen from Artist Point. More from my trip up to Heather Meadows later.
Historic Ships
By working on my Seattle ebook project, I've visited a few sites in Seattle that I've never been before. Though I've been to Lake Union Park and the Center for Wooden Boats several times in the past, somehow I have always missed the Historic Ships Wharf, that is until last week. If you like maritime history, this is fun little place to visit. It is located in Lake Union Park, at the north end of the Naval armory (soon to be the new home of the Museum of History and Industry).
There are five or six boats berthed at the Historic Ships Wharf. Northwest Seaport owns two of the ships – the tugboat Arthur Foss and the lightship No. 83 "Swiftsure", both of which are National Historic Landmarks. The Arthur Foss was built in 1889 and has a long history of working from Alaska to Hawaii, including starring in the 1934 movie Tugboat Annie. She was decommissioned in 1970. Lightship No. 83 was built in 1904 and has served on both the east and west coasts. She retired in 1961 and is currently undergoing restoration by the Northwest Seaport.
Other vessels at the wharf include the 1922 steamship Virginia V (also a National Historic Landmark) and the 1910 fireboat Duwamish. The Virginia V is the last remaining steamer of Seattle's famous Mosquito Fleet. It currently hosts the Farmboat Floating Market (a farmers market, for information go to www.farmboat.org) every Thursday.
The wharf is also home to schooner Lavengro – the last original Biloxi "White Winged Queen" schooner in the world. When photographing the Lavengro, I had the good fortune to meet her captain – Kim Carver. She told me a little history about her ship and suggested that owners of most the boats at the wharf would welcome a photographer on board by just asking. Captain Carver also said that she gives free rides on the Lavengro most Sundays as part of a program sponsored by the Center for Wooden Boats.
There are few places where you can see several historic ships like these all on one pier. If you like old boats, I suggest checking it out.
Out of the Smoke and into the Fog
Seattle, widely known for its rain, has had 0.03 inches of rain so far this September. Combined with no measurable rain in August, we've had one of the driest periods on record. Nor is rain falling much elsewhere in Washington State. All month-long there have been forest fires burning in the mountains and eastern Washington, and the smoke is really messing up the air quality. So when I took a day off to go do some photography earlier this month, I decided against going to the mountains which are full of smoke and instead Tanya, Carson and I headed for the beach. We decided to head for Kalaloch and Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park, a 3-hour drive from Tacoma. It's 156 miles from my house to Kalaloch, and only the last 5 miles is along the ocean. And when making the drive over, it was sunny and the closer to the coast we got, the less smokey the air was. Then, at approximately mile 151 from my house, we entered a fog bank. That's right, all this sun all over the whole state, and the beaches along the Olympic coast were fogged in. The good news for photography – no boring totally blue skies. The bad news for photography – no great sunset shots either.
We spent the first part of our trip at Ruby Beach, which has some nice sea stacks and a creek on the beach. The fog made for some interesting compositions, and several other photographers also had their tripods out. We walked north on the beach. The fog closed in around us, and it was if we were alone in the world, just the ocean on one side and a wilderness forest on the other. No sounds but the crashing waves. Hunger eventually drove us back to the car and we headed back down the highway to find a viewpoint where we could eat a picnic dinner with a view, or as much of one as the fog would allow.
It was nearing sunset, and the fog bank started to roll off shore such that it wasn't actually fogging on the beach, but the fog still blocked the sun. Ever optimistic and still hoping for a good sunset, we stopped in at Beach 4 (which is between Kalaloch and Ruby Beach). No luck on the sunset, but as it was shortly after low time, there were tide pools to explore and starfish to photograph.
All in all, it was a good day, and I didn't have to worry about forest fire smoke ruining my photographs. Given the choice of smoke or fog, I was happy to have the fog.
Even More from Seattle (and a nod to Jennifer Wimsatt)
Those of you who follow my blog on a regular basis know I've been working on a personal project documenting Seattle. Last week, Tanya, Carson and I took another day trip up to Seattle to work on the project. At this point in the project, I'm filling in "holes" in shot list; so the sites we visited were scattered across the city.Unfortunately, the weather wasn't that great (a common theme for western Washington). It was overcast, but at least it wasn't raining. Consequently, most my images (as you can see my the examples included here) avoided showing the sky, which would have turned out totally white/blown-out.
Many of the most photogenic sites in Seattle are along the Elliot Bay waterfront. However, Seattle sits between two bodies of water: Elliot Bay and Puget Sound on the west and Lake Washington on the east. I needed some coverage for Lake Washington, so our first stop was Seward Park. Seward Park covers the 300-acre (a21 hectares) Bailey Peninsula, which sticks out into the lake from the western shore like a sore thumb. As well as two miles (3.2 kilometers) of shoreline, the park has the largest remaining patch of old growth forest in the City. We took a short hike through the forest down to the lakeshore, where I took photos and Carson took a swim (both under the watchful eye of an immature bald eagle).
From there, we traveled to Gasworks Park. Gasworks is on the northern shore of Lake Union, north of the downtown area. It is on the grounds of a former manufactured gas plant, and much of the old machinery has been left in the park – some of which is painted with bright colors. The park also has a great view of the downtown area, but with the cloudy sky, I focused most my shots on the machinery to avoid the sky.
Our tour continued to one of the City's quirkiest icons – the Fremont Troll. The troll, an 18-foot (5.5 meter) tall sculpture located underneath the northern end of the Aurora Street Bridge, looks like he has popped out the ground and grabbed a Volkswagen Beetle just as he was frozen into stone. By the way, the artists who created the Fremont Troll sculpture, and hold a copyright on it, are Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter, and Ross Whitehead. I asked permission to use a copy of their work here, and they gave permission, but wish to state that they discourage commercial use without permission.
Following our stop at the Troll, we headed over to Discovery Park, but first made a quick stop at the Fishermen's Terminal. I did take a few shots there, but since the docks were largely empty with most the fishing fleet out making a living, we didn't stay long.
Discovery Park is the largest park in Seattle and is dedicated to providing Seattle residents with an open space of quiet tranquility (according to the Seattle Park's website). Therefore, though large, most of the park is only accessible by foot or bicycle. The one road through the park to the beach is open by permit only. We opted to not go to the beach, but instead wandered through the historic district – former home to the US Army's Fort Lawton. The fort was largely built in the early 1900′s. Most of the buildings are gone, but a few remain in a large open field in the center of the park. We also visited the military cemetery, located away from the historic district, near the park's east entrance.
That pretty much covered our Seattle trip. Hope you enjoy the images. Before closing though, I'd like to give a nod to Jennifer Wimsatt and her blog A Bipolar Journey Through the Rabbit Hole. Last month, Jennifer kindly nominated me for the Sunshine blogger award. Though as a rule I don't perpetuate awards of this type, I truly appreciate her nomination and her very kind words about my photography. Jennifer's blog is about her own special journey through life with bipolar mood disorder. She hasn't blogged much recently, and I do hope to see her posting more in the future.
Beware Naked Men
Monday, Tanya, Carson and I returned from a 4-day weekend on the Oregon coast. I'll post some photos of that trip soon, as I haven't had a chance to download them all yet. Meanwhile, I wanted to post about another day trip to Seattle last week. Since we are in the prime spring blooming season for azaleas and rhododendrons, I wanted to photograph Kubota Garden and the Washington Park Arboretum.
It was my first visit to Kubota Gardens, though I had heard many good things about it. It is a wonderful little park, about 20 acres (8 hectares) filled with a blend of Japanese and Pacific Northwest gardening styles. Fujitaro Kubota, an early 20-century immigrant from Japan, developed the garden for his personal pleasure and to serve his landscaping business. In 1972 Kubota received the Fifth Class Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Japanese Government for his efforts introducing Japanese gardening to the United States. Kubota died a year later. When the garden was later threatened with development, the garden was declared a Historical Seattle Landmark and the City eventually purchased the property from the Kubotafamily. This place is definitely worth a visit.
I had been to Washington Park Arboretum before, but it has been about 30 years (back in my college days). The arboretum is jointly administered by the University of Washington and the City of Seattle. The arboretum is also home the Seattle Japanese Garden, which because of photography restrictions (no tripods except by becoming a "photographic member" and then only on 8 special days per year), I did not visit on this trip. Regardless, there was plenty to see in the rest of the arboretum. Azalea Way is the main path through the arboretum, and indeed it does have lots of few azaleas and rhodies along it. I spent most the visit along this path taking photos of the blooms.
Near the end of my visit, I was walking back to the car along Azalea Way hoping to get a shot of the path lined with colorful flowers. Even though there were lots of flowers, finding the right spot for this shot wasn't as easy as I hoped (I wanted a shot with flowers on both side and the path curving – there weren't too many spots like this). Finally I found a spot I thought might work. I stepped off to the side to take a shot. At this point I noticed a shirtless man sitting on a park bench about 25 to 30 yards (23 – 27 meters) away a short distance off the path. I really didn't want him in the photo, but figured it added a bit of human interest and he would not be prominently visible in the frame (as I was using a wide-angle lens).
As I put the camera to my eye to line up a composition, the man on the bench stood up. I lowered the camera, not wanting him standing in the shot. He then proceeded to pull on some black shorts; he was not only topless, he was bottomless as well! (I had previously noticed his bare legs, but I had thought he was wearing shorts.) After pulling his shorts on, he quickly jogged straight at me, stopping about 5 feet (1.5 meters) away.
Though he was taller than me and probably outweighed me by 30 or 40 pounds (14-18 kilograms), he puffed himself up threateningly and sternly asked what the hell I was doing. I answered that I had not taken a picture. He said, "I made eye contact with you and you ignored it!" to which I thought "probably because I wasn't looking at you and didn't even want you in my photo in the first place." Again I said I had not taken his photo, and again he ignored my response. He called me an obscene name, and again asked why I was taking his photo, and again I said I did not. He made a few other choice comments, and we sort of stared at each other a while longer. He finally said not to take any more photos. I said I wouldn't and we both walked off. However, I couldn't help but think, if he's sunbathing in the nude next to a popular walking trail in a city of 600,000 people, why does he care if someone takes his picture? I still want the shot, but thought better of it and moved on down the path.
A short distance further, I actually found a better spot for the photo I wanted (with the added bonus of no naked men). Here's a few photos from the trip, minus any naked men; the featured photo above is of the Moon Bridge in Kubota Gardens.
On the Beach
On April 15th and 22nd I traveled to Ocean Shores. Ocean Shores is a small beach town along the central Washington coast. It has the closest Pacific Ocean beach to the Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area. The purpose of my trip was to drop off, then pick up, several images I had in the Ocean Shores photography show. Though I usually enter this show every year, for the first time this year, the show was juried. I was proud to have four images accepted. My black and white skunk cabbage image (previously featured in this post) won an award of merit.
One can't go to Ocean Shores the town without visiting Ocean Shores the beach. Truth be told, it's not my favorite beach. I prefer vehicle-free beaches bordered by rocky headlands, with crashing waves and critter-filled tidepools. The beach at Ocean Shores is a broad, wide swath of sand backed by small dunes partly covered with sharp grasses. Plus, as far as Washington beaches go, it is fairly crowded with people, cars, mopeds, and horses. But it is a beach, after all, and cannot be passed up!
My first trip there last month, Carson was my companion. Carson and I walked on the beach for an hour or so, as I tried to get some shore birds shots. Getting close enough for a decent shot was tough, even using my 70-200mm zoom with 1.4x teleconverter. There is no place to hide as you approach the birds, and being trailed by a black dog the size of a small bear doesn't help. Carson eventually got tired of following me around and just sat down. And the birds eventually got use to Carson and I and allowed me to get close enough for a few shots. They even started moving in around Carson, which I though funny since they kept flying off if he got remotely close before.
On the second trip, Tanya accompanied Carson and I. There were less shore birds about, but it was mostly sunny and the sky held some interesting clouds. I took out the camera, but only ended up taking a few images (including the sunny one below). Instead, the three of us just walked by the ocean, enjoying a nice spring day at the beach.
I hope you enjoy these images from the beach.
Moonrise on Seattle
If you've followed my posts lately, you know I recently took a day trip to Seattle. The earlier portions of the trip were described in my Cherries of the Dawgs and More from Seattleposts.
One of the main goals of the trip was to photograph the full moon rising over the city. Using the program, The Photographer's Ephemeris, I planned where I should shoot the moon as it rose. I calculated that the moon would rise close to the Space Needle if photographed from Ursula Judkins Viewpoint in the Magnolia area, just west of the Magnolia bridge. Early in the day I drove by this park to scout out where I should shoot from. I picked a spot by the parking lot that looked like it had the perfect view of the Space Needle.
As I photographed throughout Seattle that day, I worried whether the clouds would obscure the view of the rising moon. The eastern horizon never did look very clear. When the sun got low over the Olympic Mountains west of Puget Sound, I left the downtown waterfront, where I had been working, and headed back toward Magnolia.
I had selected the Parkmont Place viewpoint for a sunset shot. This long, narrow park along the Magnolia bluff top offers a number of viewpoints looking west over Puget Sound toward the Olympic Mountains. As I crossed the Magnolia Bridge heading toward Parkmont Place, I drove by the Ursula Judkins Viewpoint I had scouted earlier. There was one photographer there; he had a tripod set up in the exact spot I had earlier picked out.
The sunset was okay, not great; but I did get some nice shots of the ferry MV Wenatchee as it steamed from Bainbridge to Seattle and the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis as it cruised northward on the Sound. The sun set around 7:45 p.m. A little before 8:00, I drove back to Ursula Judkins for the moonrise at 8:18 p.m. The drive took about 3 minutes and the eastern sky was mostly cloudy. I couldn't tell if it was clear on the horizon.
When I arrived at the viewpoint, the one other photographer had morphed into about 30 photographers! I was lucky to get the last parking spot in the park. The spot I had earlier picked out was now crowded with about 15 tripods. I set up at the car and then walked over there with my tripod. I had my small tripod with me, and it was not tall enough to get a clear view without other tripods and photographers in the way. I moved, and ended up back near my car, where with my 70-200 zoom lens I could isolate the Space Needle well.
I snapped a few frames of the Space Needle as darkness descended, still unsure if the moon would show through the clouds. Then an orange glow appeared in back of the Cascade Mountains. Soon, the moon was an orange ball shining through thin clouds immediately over the mountains. Minutes later, it rose further and was hidden by clouds. It made one more partial appearance, but then was again obscured. Most of the other photographers were still there when I left, hoping the moon would again show before it got too high in the sky. But I left, with the drive back to Tacoma in mind. I'm happy with the moonrise shot I did capture; I hope you agree.
More from Seattle
As I mentioned in my Cherries of the Dawgs post, I had two goals from my recent trip to Seattle: photographing the cherry trees at the University of Washington and shooting a full moon rising shot over the city. Since I was on UW campus in the morning and full moons don't rise until evening, I had a lot of time on my hands after leaving the campus. I spent most of it at Seattle Center and the Olympic Sculpture Park down on the waterfront.
I've shot a few images at Seattle Center before, but not to the extent I'd wanted. I particularly wanted to shoot more abstract shots of the exterior of the Experience Music Project museum, also known as the EMP . This museum is truly unique, designed by Frank O.Gehry, it is formed of multiple, curvaceous sheets of colored metal. It's overall shape has been described as the same as a "smashed guitar." Forbes magazine called it one of the 10 ugliest buildings in the world. But others love it as a fitting representation of rock music, in particular Seattle's own Jimi Hendrix. Regardless, it is something that is uniquely Seattle, and its exterior makes wonderful images (as I'd hope you'll agree from the samples shown here). Of course, I took some shots of the Space Needle as well. I had hoped to get some shots of the new Chihuly Garden and Glass at the base of the Space Needle, but it doesn't open for about a month.
From there I headed down to the waterfront to a visit to the Olympic Sculpture Park, which I'd never managed to visit before. It was well worth a walk through, especially for the cost (free!). I also spent some time just walking down the waterfront, something I have done many times before, but there is always some good shots there.
From there, with the sun about to set, I headed over to Magnolia where I planned my sunset and moonrise shots, but more on that in my next post.
Land of the One-Eyed Cat
Saturday, I went on a church retreat. Normally, Tanya has to talk me into these things, but this retreat included a session for photography! Talk about a progressive church! (We also had drumming and Tai Chi sessions.) The retreat was held at Pilgrim Firs, a UCC-sponsored camp and retreat center on the forested shores of Lake Flora in Kitsap County, Washington.
While spring has apparently sprung in the city (blooming trees and daffodils, etc.), it hasn't quite hit the forests of Kitsap County. Though the forest is mostly evergreens, it has a kind of half-bare look. A lot of the undergrowth and the trees by the lake were still bare. No green leaf buds to be found! I'm not a fan of the typical western Washington winter forest look, so most of my images were macros of moss, leaves, bark, and such, though I did have some fun with the camp cat – a very impressive one-eyed orange tabby. – who, according to signs in the lodge, likes to get into visitors' cars if the windows are open. Apparently, this cat rules the place.
Now that spring is here, I've tried to take a day off to go do some "real" photography, but have been thwarted by the weather. I might just have to suck it up and go in the rain (like I did for my coastal trip in February). I actually planned to take today off, but the weather report sent me to work instead. Maybe later this week. Meanwhile, I hope you like these images from the land of the one-eyed cat.


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Here parents and other guests of students can find what they need to know regarding tickets and seating, parking and directions, and where to stay and eat while visiting.
Baccalaureate and Commencement Tickets and Seating
Baccalaureate Seating
Pick-Staiger Concert Hall
Tickets are not required. Candidates and their guests will be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis to the Baccalaureate Service. Candidates do not wear caps and gowns at these services. Pick-Staiger Concert Hall is fully accessible.
Commencement Tickets and Seating
Tickets are required for all seating at the outdoor ceremony at Ryan Field and will be available to each graduate at the time of cap and gown distribution at Norris Center. General seating is accessed only at ground level through west side gates as indicated below. Upper deck seating and elevator service to general seating on the mezzanine level are not available.
Gate(s) | Audience Type |
Gate K | Guests arriving in wheelchairs |
Gates M-N | General seating |
Gate P | Special Guest Ticket Required |
Gates Q-R-S-T | General seating |
Individual school convocation ticket information is sent to candidates by the appropriate school offices. Questions concerning convocations should be directed to the individual school offices (see the list of school phone numbers).
How and Where to Obtain Tickets
Tickets are available to candidates at the time of cap and gown distribution in the Louis Room at Norris University Center. Each candidate will receive 10 tickets for admission to Commencement at Ryan Field and two tickets for the severe weather location in Welsh Ryan Arena.
Commencement Seating for Guests with Disabilities
By prior arrangement, guests who are deaf and hard of hearing or who arrive in their own wheelchairs may be accompanied by one companion in specially designated seating sections. An interpreter will be present in the deaf and hard of hearing section, and closed captioning will appear on a television screen.
Specially marked tickets are required for seating in the hearing-impaired section at Ryan Field and are available for pick-up by the participating graduate at the time of cap and gown distribution. Reservations will be taken begining in March and an online form will also be provided.
Webcast of Northwestern's 156th Commencement
Family members and friends who are unable to attend Commencement may view the ceremony live over the Internet. Webcast coverage of the proceedings from Ryan Field will begin at a specified time to be determined on June 20, 2014.
Please check back to this site for links to the live webcast that morning.
To view the 2014 Northwestern University Commencement ceremony, you must have a newer version of Adobe Flash Player v10 installed on your computer, a high-speed connection to the internet and speakers.
To verify that your computer is compatible with Northwestern University's streaming service, you can visit the NUIT Webcasting page for instructions to download and test your computer and browser for compatibility.
Directions to the Evanston Campus
Information on taxi and limousine service to the campus from both O'Hare International Airport and Midway Airport is available at:
Travel times from both O'Hare and Midway airports can range from 45 minutes to one and one half hours.
From O'Hare, take Mannheim Road north to Oakton Street. Turn right and follow Oakton east to Gross Point Road. Turn left and follow Gross Point north to Golf Road. Turn right and follow Golf (Emerson Street in Evanston) east to the campus.
From Midway, take Cicero Avenue north to Interstate 55 (Stevenson Expressway). Follow I-55 east to Lake Shore Drive. Follow Lake Shore Drive north to Sheridan Road. Follow Sheridan into Evanston to the campus.
From the west or north, take Interstate 294 (Tri-State Tollway) or Interstate 94 (Edens Expressway) to the Dempster Street east exit. Follow Dempster to Chicago Avenue in Evanston and turn left to reach the campus.
From the east or south, take Lake Shore Drive north to Sheridan Road. Follow Sheridan into Evanston to the campus.
Local Transportation: From downtown Chicago, take the Union Pacific (Metra) commuter train to Davis Street in Evanston or take the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) elevated train to Davis.
Shuttle Bus Service and General Parking
The University provides continuous, complimentary shuttle bus service between the campus and the Ryan Field/McGaw Memorial Hall area on Friday and Saturday, June 20 and 21, 2014.
Guests are urged to park in campus lots and use the shuttle bus service. Parking in the area will be very limited (see the map indicating campus parking lots and the shuttle bus route).
Handicapped Parking
Handicapped parking is available in all campus parking lots, and a fully accessible bus is available at all shuttle stops. Limited parking for vehicles displaying a valid handicapped tag as well as a drop-off site for persons with disabilities is available at the stadium.
Staying in or near Evanston
Staying overnight? There are four hotels and two bed and breakfasts to choose from in Evanston. Each lodging option in Evanston offers personalized service, dining and/or banquet facilities, and amenities to help you do business or relax during your stay. The North Shore Visitors Bureau link below has many nearby options close to Evanston.
Be sure to bring your appetite when you're in Evanston because it offers enough diverse dining options to suit every palate and mood. Specialties range from ethnic to on-the-go dining…outdoor to fine dining.
There are many things to do and see in and around Evanston. For more information about these options, please visit the Evanston Chamber of Commerce web site and enjoy your stay!

subset: commoncrawl


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Easy to use website, excellent communication and accurate forecasting of delivery. I'm completely unable to fault the service.
I placed my order late one afternoon and received the delivery early the next morning. Quite simply outstanding service.
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Ambitious land claim plan proposed to halt Muckaty nuclear waste dump
Category: Headline News Published Date
By National Indigenous Times reporter Geoff Bagnall
An ambitious plan has been launched to win the support of Traditional Owners throughout the Northern Territory to lodge a land claim covering the entire Territory to stop the Federal Government's planned Muckaty Station nuclear waste dump.
The audacious claim plans to use the Federal Government's own land rights legislation...
Last Updated on Thursday, 06 September 2012 13:52
Hits: 341
Labor's Black Saturday
Category: Headline News Published Date
Meet the new power players in the Northern Territory. They are five newly elected members of the Northern Territory Parliament. They also represent the largest number of Indigenous politicians ever elected to a State, Territory or Federal Parliament in Australia's history. They were elected last weekend on a promise to, among others things, give back to the communities the power to have a direct input into...
Last Updated on Thursday, 30 August 2012 14:39
Hits: 993
More Articles...
Latest Issue
Issue 348
Cutting preschool funding won't improve education
The multi-award winning National Indigenous Times is an independent newspaper and receives no government funding whatsoever. Thus, we rely entirely on advertising and subscriptions to survive, and hope you'll consider subscribing to NIT's print edition as well as the online version of our paper. Our new and improved website now contains stories and photos, you can even interact by providing feed back on articles in the your say section. We have a new video module where you can watch relevant videos sourced from all over Australia.
There is also the option of advertising online with high impact positions on the various pages and the ability to "click through" to the advertisers website. Our new website is fast and effective and as always if you advertise in the print edition you will be uploaded to our online jobs section as an added bonus. So contact our sales team now via our website or give us a call on 1300 786 611, we will be happy to structure a package that meets your advertising needs and budget.


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Package: clusterssh (4.00.01-1) [universe]
Links for clusterssh
Ubuntu Resources:
Download Source Package clusterssh:
Please consider filing a bug or asking a question via Launchpad before contacting the maintainer directly.
Original Maintainers (usually from Debian):
- tony mancill
- gregor herrmann
It should generally not be necessary for users to contact the original maintainer.
External Resources:
- Homepage [clusterssh.sourceforge.net]
Similar packages:
administer multiple ssh or rsh shells simultaneously
ClusterSSH allows you to control multiple ssh or rsh sessions from a single input window. You can also configure clusters of machines for easy invocation and interact with individual terminal windows during a session.
Other Packages Related to clusterssh
- dep: libx11-protocol-perl
- Perl module for the X Window System Protocol, version 11
- dep: openssh-client
- secure shell (SSH) client, for secure access to remote machines
- dep: perl-tk
- Perl module providing the Tk graphics library
- dep: xterm
- X terminal emulator
Download clusterssh
Architecture | Package Size | Installed Size | Files |
all | 58.3 kB | 232.0 kB | [list of files] |


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Chris Johnson's hamstring tightened up on him in the fourth quarter, and with the game out of hand, the Titans elected not to put him back in the ballgame down by so many points.\
Johnson scored his first touchdown of the season on a one-yard run, but still had just 51 yards on 14 rushing attempts.
"Chris' hamstring just got tight in the fourth quarter, in the last three or four minutes of the game. So, we just figured there's no sense in having him take a chance at hurting that more," Munchak said. "If the game was in a different situation, he probably could have gone back in."
Johnson, who will have the bye week to heal up, agreed with the decision to hold him out.
"Really, it just got tight on me," Johnson said. "I caught a ball and ran it down the field and didn't feel anything there, then when I ran the next play it just felt a little tight and came out of the game to check on it and it was pretty good. I was set to go back in, but they didn't want to injure it more, knowing that the game was pretty much out of hand."
- Terry McCormick
- Publisher - TitanInsider
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A dandiya ground is no less than a kurukshetra battlefield with contestants drawing up a strategy to distract competitors, practicing moves 2 months in advance, and carrying secret energy pick-me-ups in their ghagras. Meet the guys who've had to organise spare storerooms to house their prizes, and say "kar ya mar" for 9 days every yearIt's three days to go for what some Mumbaikars believe is war; a war that involves vivacious costumes, intricate mehendi tattoos, backless cholis and serious drumming. Navratri, the 9-day dance festival celebrated each year, has its fair share of do-or-die participants. These are the guys who've grown accustomed to winning; losing the Dandiya King or Garba Queen title is worse than failing a board exam. My competitors leave when I enterSanjay Soni, 32, a jewellery designer from Mulund has been dancing at the festival since he was a child. For him, it's not just a festival, but a landmark event that requires two months of gruelling practice. "We prepare way in advance so that we are ready for war!" laughs Soni, who usually steps on to the dancing ground knowing he's going to take the prize home. "It's not easy bagging the trophy every year, because everyone comes seriously well-prepared. You need to formulate a strategy. I distract my competitors; everything is fair on the dandiya ground," he says, before adding matter-of-factly that he's noticed how his competitors often leave the ground when they see him entering the scene. Soni has won cash prizes, motorbikes and sundry trophies. He forms a team with his wife, and the two conduct garba and dandiya classes in Mulund. Those with the best lehkas (move and grace) bag a place in his competition group. This year, they are a team of 20 dancers divided into four groups. Each team plans to attack one major Navratri mandal, with the aim of winning the finale prize at any cost. Once they are done, they all gather at a common point to discuss individual performances and share feedback so that they don't falter the next night. Trespassers are prosecuted While each group strives to invent the best Garba steps, they make sure no outsider gatecrashes into their coterie. "A newcomer who wants to spontaneously join the group, is tactfully warded off. He might just end up disturbing our tempo," says Impal Samarkadhi, 36. Samarkadhi runs the Fusion Dance Academy in Mahavir Nagar, Kandivali, with her partner Nimisha Khiara, 28. Unity is what decides the winning team, Samarkadhi says. "There are times when one of us is not feeling well or is mentally exhausted and unable to focus on the moves. Then the rest of us strive to cheer him up and boost his morale."
Devanshi Vithliani, a dentist takes a 10-day break from her practice to prepare to win yet another prize. She has been winning the prize for Best Female Dancer for the last few years
Impal Samarkadhi practices with student. pic/Sameer Markande
Sanjay Soni dances with his 7 year-old daughter. pic/Sameer Markande
Hot Tip: Winning is important, but it's really about enjoying yourself. Be yourself and dance like no one's watching. Spas and salons do crazy businessApart from the usual pre-Navratri beauty treatments that includes facials, cleansing, manicures, pedicures and hair styling, back polishing is a big hit with women dancers since it enhances the look of a backless choli. It involves a combination of microdermabrasion, chemical peels and laser treatment and is carried out in sessions of half-an-hour each. The number of sessions depend on your skin type. approx cost: Between Rs 1,000 and Rs 3,500. Diamond are a girl's best friend, even if you wear them on your navel. belly piercing is big with young girls.Kundan tattoos hot this season Temporary wear-and-wash tattoos are a huge hit. Tattoos in sparkles, brush-painted ones in acrylic and pearl colours or nail-polish tattoos are what you can choose from. This year, Kundan tattoos are likely to be the next big thing. They include traditional designs painted in various colours and studded with kundan to add bling. Guys and girls decide the colour combination depending on the colour of their outfits. Girls get them plastered on their stomach and backs, while guys prefer to flaunt their tattooed arms.


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1 year
pretty underwhelmed by this. Nail polish was nice, but come on, if I want a flippin granola bar, I can get one myself.
1 year
Loving my Must Haves (especially the lipstick and polish!) and such a great deal at $35! Can't wait for my August #musthavebag
1 year
@Amy2989115 I won't sign up again. I feel like I could have spent the $35 myself and been happier with my purchase.
1 year
$35 a month was a lot to spend on a monthly goodie bag, but since they promised $100 worth of goodies, I signed up to try it for a month. Tallied up, all of the products in the bag total just below $100. Add a few bucks for the tote bag and congrats, you're got the promised $100 worth of goodies. I won't be signing up for the August bag. I'll spend my $35 elsewhere.
Nancy Einhart
1 year
I have been wanting to switch to a lipstick with natural ingredients and these Ilia lipsticks are really awesome. They go on so smooth. I can't wait to try the nail colors. Also, I'm obsessed with this beach bag.
Becky Kirsch
1 year
So excited to get the mint nail polish on these toes, and I hear that shaving with the scrub makes your skin extra silky smooth!
Grace Hitchcock
1 year
I'm looking forward to bringing these nail colors into the salon this week to get a mani/pedi! They're such great colors that I might have to do mint on my toes and nude on my fingers.
Lee Anne Grant
1 year
I love the nail polish colors. I've worn them both to work (fingers and toes!) and my coworkers are so jealous. And the Kind bars were a treat..I don't usually spend that much on bars but now I'm hooked.
Can't wait to see what they give us for fashion, home, and fitness!
1 year
The only thing was a let down was the tote bag, because I already have so many tote bags.I can't decide which lipstick I like more. The red and pink are perfect. Honestly, I would of never paid 24 dollars each for lipstick. These are amazing. I have the nude RGB nailpolish on right now. It went on smoothly and I needed one coat. RGB bottles retail for 16 each. I haven't tried my Kind bars but will be packing one as a snack for work tomorrow. The body scrub and lotion smell nice. I was very happy with the items in my bag.
Emily Co
1 year
I tried the body scrub last night and I felt like I was in a spa! Love the scent and my skin is so smooth now!
1 year
glad I didn't sign up. The stuff in the bag isn't bad, I just wouldn't have used any of it. Guess I'm not girly enough :P
1 year
@Amy2989115 I really loved my everything in the bag, but I have been looking for a good mint nail polish and some new lipsticks to try.
1 year
Question for ladies who got the July bag: was it worth it? I've signed up for the August bag but this looks a little skimpy to me.
1 year
I LOVED my bag of goodies, but so did two of my friends. So, I had to share. Thanks, Popsugar!!!
Annie Gabillet
1 year
I already have my nails painted in the nude, and those lipsticks feel so luxurious.
Link Love
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- It's officially Rihanna and Drake dating news week — Lainey Gossip
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As Budget Stalemate Wears On - Voters Can Set Their Own Priorities
Next 10 Launches Updated 'California Budget Challenge'
SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 29 /PRNewswire/ -- As the budget stalemate wears on, the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization Next 10 has just released a newly updated version of the California Budget Challenge so that voters can try their hand at dealing with the tradeoffs required in striking a budget deal. The newly re-released 2008 Budget Challenge, an online interactive educational game, contains updated projections of budget deficits as well as updated policy choices in the areas of education, health care, and the environment. "Right now, Democratic leaders are calling for tax increases to close the budget gap, while the Republicans are calling for spending cuts. We want voters to understand the costs and benefits associated with taking either route or some type of compromise," said F. Noel Perry, the founder of Next 10. The Budget Challenge permits users to examine the State's most pressing budget policy choices. It asks users to set priorities for the next five years by building a budget that reflects their values and vision for California's future. Users who log onto the updated Challenge will find 15 policy questions (8 spending questions and 7 revenue questions) they must answer in order to build a complete budget. A few of the new policy options include (but are not limited to):
-- A proposal to increase income taxes for upper-middle and upper income earners by $5.1 billion. -- A proposal to cut healthcare spending by tightening eligibility for state-run health services, cutting $1.3 billion from the budget. -- A proposal to release non-violent, non-serious, non-sex offenders without prior serious or violent offenses 20 months early cutting $700 million from the budget by 2012-2013. -- A $200 million dollar spending proposal would fund university-level research of renewable energy technologies. An alternative $500 million dollar proposal would fund energy efficiency measures. The interactive features of the online Budget Challenge ensure that users not only educate themselves but also engage in the budget process. The game gives users the option to email state leaders feedback about the policies they believe are important to the state's future. "We would like to see Californians engaged in the budget. They should influence the process because these policies have a profound impact on our everyday lives. Decisions being made in Sacramento determine everything from who gets healthcare, to who is able to go to college, and how much we pay in taxes," said Perry. In order to get Californians involved in the budget process through the online 2008 Budget Challenge, Next 10 is now distributing newly updated educational budget brochures to libraries, schools, colleges, and nonpartisan civic organizations across the state. Since its launch in 2005, more than 50,000 Californians have taken the Challenge at http://www.Next10.org. About Next 10: Next 10 is an independent, nonpartisan organization that educates, engages, and empowers Californians to improve the state's future. Recognizing the complexity of issues confronting California today, Next 10 is focused on improving the state over the next ten years, and the ten years after that. Next 10 was founded by F. Noel Perry, a venture capitalist and philanthropist concerned about California today and the California our children will inherit. http://www.Next10.org
SOURCE Next 10
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Analysis: New CA Cleantech Investors Emerging, VCs Remain Major Players & Later Stage Investment Shows Gains
Sep 26, 2013, 11:45 ET
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By RealWire News Distribution | Article Rating: |
January 28, 2014 09:14 PM EST | Reads: |
499 |
- By 2017, 25% of organisations that need to deliver Windows applications to multiple devices will use a workspace aggregator
Gartner, the world's leading information technology research and advisory company, has just released its 2014 Market Guide for Workspace Aggregators, published on January 2, 2014.
Workspace aggregators are helping IT departments, and their end-users, support legacy applications, while embracing mobility and device diversity. They help consolidate management across PC, Web, and mobile applications and data - and allow effective delivery of resources to the right users on the right devices.
Gartner states that "By 2017, more than 60% of organizations will have to support Windows applications across multiple types of devices and 25% of organizations that need to deliver Windows applications to multiple devices will use a workspace aggregator."
Gartner assessed six workspace aggregator products in today's market which are representative of Gartner's core five capabilities for effective workspace aggregation, one of which is Centrix Software's WorkSpace Universal.
According to Gartner, the core capabilities are;
- Application Delivery: The ability to orchestrate provisioning and de-provisioning of mobile, PC and Web applications
- Data: The secure delivery of corporate data
- Management: Management of application life cycle, metering and monitoring features
- Security: Provision of context-aware security
- User Experience: A superior user experience through the delivery of a unified workspace
WorkSpace Universal is a workspace aggregator that brings together legacy, physical, virtual and cloud applications and delivers them through a self-service interface to business users anywhere, on any device. It allows organisations to maximise existing investments while delivering end-user flexibility and choice, as well as providing single sign-on to cloud-based services and automated provisioning. IT departments are able to maintain visibility and control and determine policy-based access; ensuring that the right applications are launched at the right time to deliver optimal performance and user experience, while minimising costs.
Gartner's report says that "At a minimum, vendors that offer products that we consider workspace aggregators today provide management frameworks to handle the delivery and life cycle management of Web, SaaS and Windows applications to PCs and mobile devices, on the basis of a set of context-aware policies."
Lisa Hammond, Centrix Software CEO, commented, "We're delighted that our WorkSpace Universal solution, which is already proven in organisations with thousands of end-user, has been included in the Gartner 2014 Market Guide for Workspace Aggregators. Coupled with WorkSpace iQ's usage analytics data and metering engine, Centrix Software's workspace management solutions are the key to transforming IT in the era of BYOD, CYOD, mobile and the Cloud."
Notes to Editors:
Centrix Software is a workspace management expert, providing user applications, data, configuration and platform to an end-point device in response to user-driven demands, including BYOD and self-service. Its usage analytics engine, WorkSpace iQ, enables workspace management decisions, while its workspace aggregator, WorkSpace Universal, provides the orchestration needed to support user choice and experience for cloud, physical and virtual applications, on any device while enabling IT to innovate and manage within a secure corporate environment.
Founded as a consultancy in 1997, Centrix Software's in-depth usage analytics and aggregation solutions have driven optimized workspace management across leading organizations; saving millions in IT costs across banking and securities, insurance, telecommunications, retail, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, energy and utilities, and the public sector.
For more information please visit;
- www.centrixsoftware.com.
- Centrix Software Twitter
- Centrix Software YouTube channel
- Centrix Software Facebook page
- Centrix Software LinkedIn page
PR Contact:
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Source: RealWire
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Published January 28, 2014 Reads 499
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Cloud environments have created situations that allow users, customers, consumers, and employees to access Public, Intranet, and Extranet applications from different locations, devices, and as different personas. The focus of all the Internet and enterprise front-end applications today is to enhance the user experience. In addition, with advances in mobility and BYOD, the line between public and private becomes a deep shade of gray.
At the same time, organizations are leveraging SaaS applications, such as Google Apps and DropBox, for their internal business communication and collaboration. This opens up challenges in providing a universal identity for the user, while at the same time retaining the flexibility to segregate access depending on the scenario. While cloud computing environments may offer different levels of abstraction to its users, federated identity management does not leverage these abstractions; each user must set up her identity management solution. This situation is... Mar. 15, 2014 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,243 |
By Pat Romanski A myriad of new methodologies and technologies from cloud computing to BYOD have changed the IT landscape demonstrably. In parallel, higher-value functions around data, customer engagement and revenue growth are pushing CIOs to consider alternative approaches. The nexus is moving IT to a zero footprint infrastructure model. Organizations including Healthcare, Financial Services, Insurance and Airlines are moving in this direction. Unfortunately, traditional IT paradigms present a challenge to adopting these new methodologies. Mar. 15, 2014 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,081 |
By Elizabeth White A trendsetter in intimate women's apparel, Frederick's of Hollywood, needed a cloud strategy that merged stability, security and PCI compliance needs with the ability to scale up during retail busy season.
In her session at 14th Cloud Expo, Malorie Lanthier, VP of Information Technology at Frederick's of Hollywood, will discuss how migrating to the cloud enhanced the scalability, resiliency and flexibility of Frederick's of Hollywood's IT infrastructure while elevating the ability to address company-wide business objectives. She'll also share her cloud evaluation process, successful practices used to make the wholesale move to the cloud and advice for organizations looking to develop and execute a holistic cloud plan quickly and effectively. Mar. 15, 2014 01:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,143 |
By Elizabeth White In the Subscription Economy, purchase-to-use is winning, and purchase-to-own is on its way out. The key to success is that customers are actually using a product or service and in the Subscription Economy, the future is clear: delivering value drives revenue. Accessing this data to understand usage, and resulting customer value, is mandatory to survival.
In his session at 14th Cloud Expo, Matthew Shanahan, SVP of Marketing and Strategy at Scout by Service Source, will discuss how businesses in industries such as telecom, SaaS, financial services, healthcare and education can, and are, leveraging data science methods to predict and avoid customer churn and increase revenue. Mar. 15, 2014 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,017 |
By Elizabeth White Netflix has long been known for being a leader and innovator in delivering its Netflix service by leveraging public cloud service provider, Amazon Web Services (AWS). However, Netflix's IT team wasn't quite there, and still had many legacy applications and infrastructure in place. One thing is to start a platform from the ground up solely leveraging cloud. It's an entirely different process to do so from a legacy environment to more SaaS based and infrastructure as a service. The goal for Netflix is to achieve 100% of this by beginning of 2015. Mike Kail joined Netflix in 2011 as VP of IT Operations and is tasked with ensuring that this migration happens as smoothly as possible. Mar. 14, 2014 10:28 AM EDT Reads: 940 |
By Elizabeth White SYS-CON Events announced today that Ambernet Technologies, the innovative "Cloud Management Center" company, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 14th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 10–12, 2014, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York.
Ambernet Technologies is a leading global provider of cloud management software (CloudTruOps) and IT professional services to the enterprise, service provider and government markets. CloudTruOps is the industry's first infrastructure-independent and service-aware software solution that provides a fully transactional single pane of glass for cloud service provisioning & orchestration, governance, policy, security, performance, self-service storefront, and billing/chargeback for multiple clouds. Ambernet's IT professional services provide consulting services, solutions, and support. Ambernet is a global company with headquarters in Dallas, Texas and regional offices in Toronto, Canada, and Bangalore, India. Mar. 14, 2014 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,307 |
By Elizabeth White The evolutionary nature of mobile presents a security-centric challenge for businesses with corporate content on these devices. Enterprises put themselves at risk when users access sensitive information through email and applications across smartphones and tablets, while mobile. Organizations can choose to ignore this security threat or enhance employee productivity through secure corporate containers.
In his session at 14th Cloud Expo, Eric Owings, an enterprise account executive at AirWatch®, will discuss best practices and strategies to ensure global security and workforce enablement by leveraging enterprise mobility management (EMM) across the enterprise. He will also provide attendees with a deeper understanding of enterprise mobility in a connected ecosystem, while ensuring security and compliance in the cloud. Mar. 7, 2014 09:45 AM EST Reads: 1,856 |
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In his session at 5th Big Data Expo, Alexis Roos, a Senior Solutions Architect focusing on Big Data solutions at Concurrent, Inc., will give an introduction to Cascading, how it works, and then dive into how enterprises can start building applications with Cascading. Come and see how companies like Twitter, eBay, Etsy, and other data-driven companies are taking advantage of Cascading and how Cascading is changing the business of Big Data in the enterprise. Mar. 4, 2014 11:15 AM EST Reads: 1,931 |
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Bloodthirsty West Virginians rejoiced Sunday night when a favorite TV show character was shown on screen donning the Old Gold and Blue.
Sam Trammell, who plays Sam Merlotte in the HBO series "True Blood," wore a cutoff sweatshirt with the words "West Virginia" written across the top and bearing the West Virginia University seal.
"It's always a good thing when successful folks from West Virginia -- be they actors, musicians, scientists or business executives -- are proud of their home state and aren't ashamed to let the world know in their own way," said West Virginia University spokesman John Bolt. "It's clear his West Virginia blood runs true."
Trammell was born in New Orleans, but he spent his childhood in Charleston and attended Overbrook Elementary, John Adams Middle and George Washington High schools. His parents, Betsy and Willis Trammell, still live in the South Hills area of Charleston.
Willis is a professor of surgery at West Virginia University's Health Sciences Center, Charleston Division, and the medical director of Charleston Area Medical Center's tumor registry.
Trammell plays shape-shifting bar owner Sam Merlotte in "True Blood," which is based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries novels by Charlaine Harris.
Trammell isn't the only George Washington High School graduate to make his mark in TV and movies. Actress Jennifer Garner also is known for championing the Mountain State. The two acted alongside one another in "Harvest of Fire," a made-for-television movie in the mid-90s.
Trammell, however, wasn't involved in the arts during school. Instead, he planned to be an astrophysicist and graduated from Brown University.
"True Blood" is currently in its sixth season and is expected to return in summer 2014. The series finale airs at 9 p.m. Sunday.
Contact writer Candace Nelson at Candace.Nel...@dailymail.com or 304-348-5148. Follow her at www.twitter.com/Candace07.