2013, Day 189 - Rotate

This morning I got my oil changed and tires rotated.  A couple years ago a neighbor of mine recommended a this shop to me, he said that the owners are honest and they do good work.  Not only that but they are quite popular and even though they can always squeeze you in the service isn't lightning fast.  But they're meticulous and that extra time allows me an opportunity to take a few pictures of their shop.  The old concrete block walls have such great texture I had to work it in.

Fuji X-E1, Fuji 35/f1.4
35mm, f1.4, 1/200 sec @ 400 ISO

2013, Day 9 - Concrete crew

More cooling tower love tonight.  I took this photo of the finished tower right as we were getting ready to leave.  Everyone else is shuffling to the little door you can see in the distance I lingered for that one last photo.  I couldn't help it, the scale and stark beauty of Satsop is intoxicating.  If you squint the concrete almost looks like a crew neck sweater...

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f11, merged layers of 1/20, 1/10, and 1/5 sec @ 320 ISO

2013, Day 8 - Mechanical moon

This is what it looks like to be swallowed by a whale.  Satsop Nuclear Power Plant is a behemoth who belches fire born of the atomic age, or it would have were it ever completed.  We return tonight for a change of pace and this is an image I wasn't especially happy with at the time, I retook it many times hoping for the rain the let up even a little bit but it didn't.  The droplets on the filter first looked distracting and it may to some but I have grown to like the effect, it adds little points of interest.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f11, merged layers of 1/160 and 1/80 sec @ 320 ISO

2012, Day 350 - Ruined

Beng Mealea was probably the most exciting temple that we visited in Cambodia.  The architecture is quite similar to Angkor Wat but the temple layout, a series of galleries on a single level, is vastly different.  Beng Mealea is probably the most significantly damaged of the jungle temples but the authorities are quite permissive in allowing exploration.  Tumbled stones create somewhat precarious steps to the top of walls along which visitors are free to walk.  It truly feels like exploration but I expect that in the relatively near future access is going to become more limited.  The stress of people climbing through the ruins is threatening the integrity of the site which leaves me with mixed emotions.  I am glad that I got to experience this magnificent temple the way that I did but there is a lingering guilt that I have contributed to the degradation of their amazing place.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
35mm, f8, merged layers of 1/13, 1/6, and 1/3 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 341 - Time for a sacrifice

I couple weeks ago I posted an image from atop Pre Rup and tonight we revisit the site.  Built in the 10th century from brick and red stone, Pre Rup was used primarily for cremations.  Normally the late afternoon light only serves to heighten the rusty color of this temple but as the sun dipped towards the horizon the colors began to soften.  It wasn't long before we were living buffets for mosquitoes but the clouds and sky kept getting better and better.  With the help of OnOne's Perfect Effects I was able to drain almost all of the warmth from this picture and create the somber and funereal effect I sought.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f11, merged layers of 1/250 and 1/30 sec @ 100 ISO

2012, Day 308 - Surprise!

This would be such a great venue for a slasher flick.  Creepy hallways, dead end rooms, leaking ceilings, it would be ideal.  Just like when the bad guy pops out to scare the crap out of you this post was written in the past and posted to the future because I am likely sitting on a plane when this goes live.  The next photos you see should be of beautiful Cambodia.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f5.6, 2 sec @ 320 ISO

2012, Day 299 - Up the spout

I just can't seem to resist Satsop, I suspect many are tired of seeing these images but my blog allows me to indulge my whims.  This is the reactor chamber, filled with ducts and rails like blood vessels and nerve endings.  The whole site seems to be some kind of giant, dead and decaying but still impressive in almost every way.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f5.6, 2.5 sec @ 320 ISO

2012, Day 296 - Swivel

This is where the magic happens, the reactor room that would be filled with steam and a rather unhealthy dose of radiation.  There were steel plates laying on the floor and it smelled of a foundry in the confines of this cavernous space.  The teams had been back cutting out more scrap and dragging it outside to be broken down into smaller pieces.  Those parallel yellow beams dominating the top of the image are part of a crane that could pass from one end to the other while rotating in the circular room.  There is so much to take in at a place like Satsop, I hope I can go back soon so I can try to take it all in again.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f5.6, merged layers of 2 and 8 sec @ 320 ISO

2012, Day 294 - Junction

I wish I had the wherewithal to ask about this room.  It is a roofless alcove with the remnants of I-beams and pipes cut off at the walls.  Why build a room where everything comes together?  Why reinforce with I-beams?  Was this where steam traveled to make power or was this a junction on the way to one of the cooling towers?  Would there have been valves and pumps here?  I suspect that the reason the room is now empty is for the value of the scrap metal.  Maybe I will remember to ask if I make it back...

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f5.6, 1/100 sec @ 320 ISO

2012, Day 293 - Take a break

In one of the converted buildings at Satsop there are massive spaces that have been leased out to various companies.  This level is leased to a steel fabricator and as we walked through this table caught my eye.  Placed under a lamp so that is gets decent light in the middle of a giant open floor, it just looked peaceful.  Amid the sounds of trucks rumbling in and out two floors below I can imagine the chairs filled by people laughing while they take their breaks from the hard dirty work they do every day.  Maybe they flip through a magazine, play a game of cards, or just chat to pass the time.

Canon 1D X, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS Mark II
160mm, f2.8, 1/10 sec @ 320 ISO

2012, Day 291 - Gateway to hell

Before you is the door into the reactor chamber.  We were told that the due to the heat and the radiation one could only be allowed in for six minutes at a time.  Given that it took climbing a number of stairs I suspect that would not allow you to get much work done during the safety interval.  Outside Brian Bonham and Nicole S Young are chatting while setting up a shot but being the sneaky person I am, I hurried down the hall can captured this photograph.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
27mm, f5.6, 0.8 sec @ 320 ISO

2012, Day 289 - Nuclear moon

It is really hard to resist sharing pictures from last week's trip to Satsop.  I have visions of it when I sleep, the place was amazing and overwhelming.  This is another shot of the interior of the completed cooling tower.  Thanks to the distortion of the lens you can see the walkway straight ahead and part of the wall behind the camera.  While the effect is odd I like that you can see the entire opening of the tower and the high fog hovering at the top.  The water dripping down the inside of the walls and the texture of the concrete is just remarkable.  When it was quite you could hear the echos of people breathing, coughing, mumbling to themselves, their footsteps, and the sharp clicks of camera mirrors flipping up and down throughout.  It was like being inside a giant living clock.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f11, merged layers of 1/50, 1/13 and 1/6 sec @ 200 ISO

2012, Day 288 - Get in my belly

Can you see all the little bitty people?  From right to left you can see Nicole S Young, our guide Nate, Chris Germano, Brian Bonham, and Brian Matiash.  I love the sense of scale they provide and while many in the group wanted shots unadulterated with people I thought they were great.  True, Brian Matiash is no model and this image shows him to be the menacing dwarf that he is, but I think it helps everyone who has never been to such a site appreciate how massive it is.  Now I keep imaging Ryan Reynold's severed head falling and cutting through the tower like in the X-Men prequel thanks to my little sister, much appreciated Laura!

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f11, 1/13, 1/6 and 1/3 sec @ 320 ISO

2012, Day 287 - Ascend

Under normal circumstances we would have been allowed to climb to the top of the cooling tower but because of the rain they were reluctant to permit the climb.  Amy Heiden was probably the most disappointed in the group but because there was so much high fog the visibility wouldn't have been very good although I suppose that might have made things interesting as well.  Nevertheless, we all had fun trying to capture the massive scale of these monolithic structures.  When I was looking at the tower these stairs reminded me of a giant zipper in appearance.

Canon 1D X, Canon 24-105/f4L IS
24mm, f5.6, 1/250 sec @ 320 ISO

2012, Day 286 - Straining

Today I had an epic day of shooting with Brian Matiash, Nicole S Young, Arno Jenkins, Christopher Germano, Brian Bonham, Amy Heiden, Joe Azure, and Tressa Crozier at the Satsop Nuclear Power Plant.  Construction started in the early 80s and but the project was abandoned and is now used as an industrial park.  The structures still stand although some components are being removed for its scrap value.  It's too bad that it cannot be better preserved but at the same time remarkable that it is preserved at all.

This is a composite of the last photos of the day inside the unfinished second cooling tower.  The weather was great and terrible at the same time because it was raining lightly and we had low hanging fog all day but it lends a dreamy quality to the photos.  Unfortunately it also means that we all got pretty we and that many of the outdoor photo opportunities couldn't be fully realized.  Oh well, it was still tons of fun and it gives us all an excuse to return.

Canon 1D X, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f5.6, merged layers of 1/80, 1/40 and 1/20 sec @ 200 ISO

2012, Day 196 - New again

Tonight I tried something new.  Adobe has released a host of new features in Photoshop CS6 and Oil Paint was one I had not yet tried.  I like how it smooths out the tones while adding a bit of texture.  There is a evenness in the effect that I like, the texture is softened while the lines stay sharp.  It is pleasing although I suspect it is not a tool that will get frequent use.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f5.6, 1/1000 sec @ 250 ISO

2012, Day 179 - Squishy center

I tried processing this image a number of different ways and this is what I settled on.  I like how the flowers look like sea anemones, they look soft and pillowy and it makes me wish I were microscopic so I could jump up and down in the center of my imagined flower anemone hybrid.

Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f8, 1/320 sec @ 400 ISO

2011, Day 328 - Tree fungi

I never realized that there are so many mushrooms that pop up in the fall.  They're everywhere and these I discovered on the side of a tree as I was walking the dogs this morning.  Once all business was successfully conducted I went back to take this photograph.  To get the effect I wanted I did some not-focus stacking.  Two pictures were taken at different apertures, one at a small aperture to get a greater depth-of-field on the mushrooms and another at a large aperture to get the nice background that I wanted. I wonder if these could be used to make vegetarian gravy for my mashed potatoes.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, merged layers of f/4 and f/13, 1/40 and 1/4 sec @ 200 ISO

2011, Day 296 - Delectable

I really like the idea of daily shopping.  To most Americans it sounds like a hassle but if you only but a day's worth of food at a time everything you eat will be both fresh and ripe.  To sustain such a habit would require that the food come from close by so it would be local and seasonable.  Fall is my favorite time of year because the apples are at their peak and the fall vegetables are some of my favorites; there are so many types of excellent squash and such a variety of ways to prepare it!

This is another installment of my photos from Thailand; one of the many markets I visited this one is in Chiang Mai.  I like how you can see the bustle of the market in the background but the produce vendor in the foreground is taking a break and enjoying a cup of tea.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 24-70/f2.8L
64mm, f2.8, 1/125 sec @ 400 ISO

2011, Day 221 - Harvest

RAW saves the day!  I always shoot in RAW as a kind of insurance, it gives me more control over the image and allows me to save improper exposures.  This is a perfect example, the EXIF information clearly shows that I had the camera set to shoot in a much different environment and as a result this image came out too bright, I maxed out the shutter speed.  However, with a little work in Photoshop I have an image I really like with great color and contrast.  This is my favorite photograph of work in the rice fields from this trip to Asia so it makes me happy I've made the commitment in time and energy to shoot RAW.

Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-200/f2.8L IS
70mm, f2.8, 1/8000 sec @ 800 ISO