Portraits, glasses, music, hair... random shots

Quandary Peak Colorado

Great day on Quandary 14,271 feet (4,350 m) this winter... sunny weather, cold enough to keep the snow pack firm, luminous landscapes. Highly recommended 14er in the winter. 

Colorado

Skiing/snowboarding in Colorado is always great. 2010 was no different: great weather, great snow, a lot of fun spending a few days on the slopes of Breckenridge and Keystone. Here's my favs from the trip, more in the on-line gallery @:
http://cielphoto.zenfolio.com/p917235533

Alaska

Some of my favorite pictures from Alaska, taken with my legendary Rebel XT (I had no clue what I was doing...)

Sockeye Salmon. Poor fella' ended up on the grill.

Bogdan and the Alaska Range. Mt Denali looming in the background. 

Deeper "into the wild". The famous bus along the Stampede Trail.

Sushana River. Typical Alaskan landscape 

Oil Pipe

The Denali Highway (to Heaven)

Meandering glacier and tundra

Blue

Pacific

Moonrise reading

My first DSLR - Rebel XT

A little tribute to my first DSLR camera that I bought back in 2005 for my trip to Alaska. Canon Rebel XT, 8 Megapixels, came with a basic 18-55 mm lens but for me it was a really revolutionary camera coming from the film Rebel. After getting the 5d, it didn't get too much action and since my friend Marius needed a small camera for his project (shooting skydivers as he is an instructor in Florida), it found a new home.

Now the story gets interesting. Marius mounted it on a rig attached to his helmet, on a custom designed plate, side by side with a video camera. The set-up looked something like this:

It seemed to work just fine, until it didn't... After shooting some good exposures of his fellows skydivers having fun free falling, he opened his chute, the helmet came loose in a forward motion, he grabbed it with his hands but the cameras detached from the helmet, and down they went. Fast, tumbling, falling from approximately 3000 ft.

After landing safely a couple of minutes later, he went to the area where they must have been crashed, looking for the dead metal, plastic and glass carcasses. Less than half hour later, he found them in in a terrible condition, covered with grass, sand and mud. Don't try this at home, it's really not recommended. Think about the fine electronics and glass incorporated in those devices.

The video camera cracked open, dead, done deal. The Rebel took the fall a little better, just a crack in the left side of the plastic body. With a glimmer of hope, Marius presses the playback button:

Quelle surprise! The camera turns on, displays the last image taken, like nothing happened. Mental!
He cleaned it thoroughly, learned to live with the creaking sounds coming from the lens while zooming (sand inside) and kept shooting the resilient Rebel until this very present day.

I was shocked, amazed and happy to see a Canon product withstanding such an abuse. It might very well be a world height record for a camera taking a fall and surviving. Kudos for Canon!

Video added:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpy1c5xlTso&feature=player_embedded

E-Session Simina and Paul

It's been a while since my last post... shame on me. E-Session of Simina and Paul, our friends from Detroit.

Rainier, revisited

Everytime I do a "revisited" blog, you know that something's coming up. It's summer, it's hot and therefore I need some time off, a retreat to a cooler environment and a bit of adventure. It's time to revisit Mt Rainier, elevation 14,411 ft (4,392 m), a volcano situated in the proximity of Seattle, Washington.

I'll team-up with Paul (been to Colorado together last year, awesome guy and a serious climber) and we'll try the Emmons-Winthrop Glacier Route. Weather forecast doesn't look bright, we can only hope for a window of opportunity and we'll give it a shot.

I'll be away from Monday, July 6th - Saturday, July 11th. No acces to internet, limited cell phone coverage, literally in the boonies. Here's a preview from two years ago, Camp Muir and Disappointment Cleaver Route.

Click on the pictures to see a sharper image, or follow the link to see the whole series:

http://cielphoto.zenfolio.com/p684249254

The mighty Rainier

Sunrise over Little Tahoma

Surreal colors on the slopes of the mountain

Taking a break in the thin air

Tiny little climbers contemplating

the immense glacier looming above

Silver Lake Michigan

The dunes at Silver Lake Michigan is one of those unique places that don't really reveal themselves until you get to see them personally. I expected some sand... I found real dunes, as in "a lot of sand". What I didn't expect was the omnious engine noise. Pick-up trucks, ATV-s, bikes, all kinds of shapes and colors. A celebration of american "happy motoring" way of life. It's ironic that after just a week,  General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, hitting hard the already depressed economy of the rust belt in general and of Michigan State in particular. 

Nevertheless, the weather was fine, we had a lot of fun and I came back with some nice sunburns and a few cool shots. Enjoy them at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/calinleucuta/SilverLake#