We went down to the Kalapana lava viewing point last night. The entry seems to have moved over since the last time we were there in January. But the colours were still pretty spectacular.
Most surprising of all was the amount of surface flow that we saw streaming down the side of the mountain. It really was impressive, more especially for me as I have never seen that much surface flow before. Ever so often you would see a bright light as a tree caught fire and lit up like a candle. Impressive!
I was up at the JCMT last week helping out with ‘Imiloa and SkySkan film crew as they collected footage of the telescope for their 3D productions which they show at the ‘Imiloa planetarium. They are doing all the telescopes on Mauna Kea and this past week was our turn. They have a nice set up. Two Nikon D700 cameras with mounted next to each other at the inter-ocular distance, so that when the images are projected onto the dome with the 3D glasses on, the 3d you get is actually very realistic. They had two of these set ups (i.e. 4 cameras) which they rigged up at various positions around the dome. The cameras would then be set to take up to 7 frames per second for about half an hour or so (you do the math as to how many images that is!). Ben, one of our Telescope Systems Specialists, would set the telescope in motion as the cameras fired away. I can’t wait to see what the final results will be like. Especially in the big dome at the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center.
While I was there, mostly shepharding and not always successfully trying to stay out of the way, I tried to take a few shots of my own. The image above shows a detail of the support structure on the back of the 15-m JCMT dish.
Some friends and I were taking a trip along the Saddle Road and we stopped off to have a look around at about the 27-mile marker. We came across a pile of old rusted hinges strewn across the relatively new, black lava. Not sure how they got there or how long they were there for, but nature seems to be reclaiming its iron.
Well I’ve been pretty quiet with the blog recently, and will be even quieter over the next couple of weeks as I will be back in England for some meetings. So, I’ll just post this picture which I took the last time I was in England. I was out walking with my father in the fields behind his house, taking pictures and showing him how to take HDR images – a new adventure for him (bought him Photomatix for his birthday – hope he’s making use of it!). We found this old abandoned caravan and trailer which were just begging to be photographed – so we did!
The image above is my HDR interpretation of the scene and I think it gets into the shadows (especially as you look inside the old caravan) and holds on to the highlights well (we’ll ignore the halo around the tree in the top left of the image, shall we?). Just for a bit of fun, I double processed the image through Photomatix to get this surreal look – make your own mind up which you prefer!
Really, this could be a stroll through any small English village. There will be a pub! Well, actually there will probably be several pubs. And then, appropriately, there will be a cemetery just a few, careful steps away:
Most people, when they go visit Akaka Falls in Honomu, do so to see the 442 foot waterfall – and rightly so. It really is a great waterfall to admire and it seems that nobody can go there without taking a few pictures. I’m no different. We went there this weekend, but this time I made a point of looking more closely at the stream that flows through the middle of the park.
(I don’t know if this stream is one that branches off the Kolekole river which feeds Akaka falls, but I’d appreciate knowing if somebody out there does)
The images above and below are two HDR renditions of the same streams taken at different positions in the park. Quite picturesque in their own right, I think.
I’ve just returned from England (well, it was last week!). As I was being driven from the airport to the village my family live in, I realised one of the things that I do miss of England – springtime. And one thing about springtime in particular, the yellow fields that seem to carpet the landscape at this time of year. They seem to be quite predominant in the south-east of England, in particular. The plant in question is the rapeseed and farmers cultivate it for its oil, and it’s also used to manufacture biodiesel.
I’ve always thought this to be a beautiful flower, purely because of the vibrant colour and the wonderful way they paint the landscape when they are in full bloom. Then I found out that they are a part of the cabbage family, which ruined any romantic notions I had.
These fields are just two minutes walk from where my parents live.
I have been away for the last week which is why this blog has been quiet. I was back in the UK for a conference, at the University where I came from – the University of Hertfordshire, just 20 miles north of London – and I also spent some time with my folks. I took some images of the village they are from and I will be posting those up soon.
One way I keep in touch with happenings at my old University is through their monthly email to staff on events associated with the University. One thing that caught my eye with the latest missive, photography related of course, is that a member of staff from the School of Electronic, Communication and Electrical Engineering had designed and developed high-speed flash trigger equipment. He then worked with a local company, called Blue Shift, to produce some nice imagery (which I think is usually destined for the walls of corporate offices).
I’ve always been fascinated by high-speed photography, freezing time in essence, and this work I thought was really nice. I am not sure what is innovative about this flash equipment, but I thought that the results were quite beautiful. Look at the Fleeting Glimpses gallery to see what I mean.
I went down to the Bayfront here in Hilo yesterday, just looking for an opportunity to take a few pictures. The canoe clubs were out paddling and it was raining on and off. The light was grey, but I didn’t mind – in fact, it’s what I wanted. The dim light would mean that I could use longer exposures and my aim was to try and capture an image which would depict both still-life and motion.
Walking along the bay, I came across this log which was being buffeted by the waves. I set up my tripod in the wet sand and started trying to create the effect I was looking for. Here are some of the better ones.
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