Tar's Photos

[Anleus]

Never thought I'd see real life pics in this community.. wtf is real life??

 

[Knight]

Sexy

 

[lemon]

@Blackquill

Spoiler: Black and white mist shot

That's amazing fam, love it

 

[Tarannus]

Hello from Wupatki National Monument!

I've settled into my new position - a little slice of northern Arizona on the edge of the Painted Desert. While not as remote as some National Parks in Utah or the Dakotas, it's a bit "out there" for most people. I still get a kick out of seeing people's faces when I tell them that it's an 80 mile (128 km) round-trip to the nearest grocery store.

Being so far out means a lot less distractions, and a lot fewer utilities. This little outpost of the National Park Service has water, electricity... and not a lot else. Finding reliable internet is an excercise in ingenuity: landlines are out of the question (Wupatki has one copper-cable phone line installed before the United States joined the Second World War which breaks frequently - often for 3-5 days at a time), and satellite is a bit too high-latency for fun and games.

Fortunately, after a few months of fiddling and experimentation, my coworkers and I have jury-rigged a cellphone booster setup. It's flaky at times, and it does mean having to eat into an expensive and restrictive monthly data plan, but I hope it'll be reliable enough to work for the remainder of my season. My photographic output has suffered a bit while trying to get that all set up, but it's time to get out there and snap some new pics.

Until then, enjoy some of my attempts to post-process cellphone images into something useful (last spoiler on the post).

 

[Tarannus]

At the insistence of my coworkers and supervisor, I'm out of commission for a couple of days while I try to get rid of this really bad illness. I'm unhappy that I can't be at work (and earning pay) but, however, it does mean I get a chance to catch up on some photographic work I've been putting off for the last three weeks.

Enjoy!

Spoiler: Welcome to Wupatki (12/3)

 

[Johnny B. Goode]

What's your camera fam?

 

[Tarannus]

@Johnny B. Goode

I use a Nikon D7000 for most of my work nowadays, but still have my D60 for experimenting with new techniques. As for lenses, I have the following:

Nikkor 18-55mm
Nikkor 55-200mm
Nikkor 60mm Macro
Nikkor-Q 200mm Prime Lens

Along with a polarizer and an A25 red filter for differing techniques. I'm looking into getting a stronger neutral density filter for long exposure daytime shots (getting blank landscapes of heavily-visited locations like city streets), but haven't committed to anything just yet.

For panorama shots, I use my smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S5) and post-process the hell out of them.

Spoiler: Here's a recent 'Family Portrait' of my gear

 

[Johnny B. Goode]

@Johnny B. Goode

I use a Nikon D7000 for most of my work nowadays, but still have my D60 for experimenting with new techniques. As for lenses, I have the following:

Nikkor 18-55mm
Nikkor 55-200mm
Nikkor 60mm Macro
Nikkor-Q 200mm Prime Lens

Along with a polarizer and an A25 red filter for differing techniques. I'm looking into getting a stronger neutral density filter for long exposure daytime shots (getting blank landscapes of heavily-visited locations like city streets), but haven't committed to anything just yet.

For panorama shots, I use my smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S5) and post-process the hell out of them.

Spoiler: Here's a recent 'Family Portrait' of my gear

Ah, far better than mine. I have a D3300 with the bog-standard 18x55 lens. How much did yours set you back?

 

[Tarannus]

The 7000 was a bit pricey, especially since I bought it about 3 months after it was released. If I remember correctly, the camera body set me back about $1,250. Otherwise the rest of the kit has just come in fits and spurts. I think I've spent about $2,000 - 2,250 over the last eight years.

 

[lemon]

@Johnny B. Goode

I use a Nikon D7000 for most of my work nowadays, but still have my D60 for experimenting with new techniques. As for lenses, I have the following:

Nikkor 18-55mm
Nikkor 55-200mm
Nikkor 60mm Macro
Nikkor-Q 200mm Prime Lens

Along with a polarizer and an A25 red filter for differing techniques. I'm looking into getting a stronger neutral density filter for long exposure daytime shots (getting blank landscapes of heavily-visited locations like city streets), but haven't committed to anything just yet.

For panorama shots, I use my smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S5) and post-process the hell out of them.

Spoiler: Here's a recent 'Family Portrait' of my gear

That's some expensive shit dude

It works sexy as hell though

 

[Tarannus]

Well, I got a few hours of overtime on Saturday to take some shots of the Flagstaff Area National Monument's float for this year's holiday parade. Seeing as I had a little free time, and the light was just low enough for multi-second exposures, I decided to get a little arty and experiment.

Spoiler: Flagstaff Holiday Lights Parade - Long exposure experiments (12/12)

 

[Tarannus]

I went out.
I went about.
I took my camera for a road trip.
I drove my usual 80 mile / 129 km drive to the grocery store.
I bought some blueberries.

Spoiler: I am now full of blueberries and photographs (AKA - my poor attempt at being 'Arty' 12/18)

 

[Tarannus]

So, the Flagstaff Area National Monuments bought a new DSLR camera, some filters, and a few kit lenses for social media and archival photography. To see if they got a good deal, they let me experiment with the thing for a couple of days. I spent a fair amount of time coaxing one of Wupatki National Monument's ravens (we have a mated pair that live in the trees next to my apartment) to pose for a couple of shots.

Spoiler: Ms. Geraldine and Wupatki Scenes (12/28)

 

[Blackquill]

Best one

 

[lemon]

There are sites that buy photos like you do to sell them as stock pictures

With the quality of what you're pumping out, you could make few dollars for that work of yours

 

[Tarannus]

@Lemon Cuntcake I'll need to do a little research on some of the stock photo agencies. I dabbled with Alamy years ago, but never got any bites for my work. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I'm not a high-volume photographer, and a lot of people in Alamy (at the time) were willing to do blanket releases to the copyrights of their original images, whereas I kept my stuff as rights-managed.

But, enough about business. Time for more photos!

Spoiler: Random wanderings in Wupatki (1/9/17)

Spoiler: I think Geraldine the Raven is mad at me (1/9/17)

And a slapdash, safe for work, meme of that last Raven Photo:

 

[Tarannus]

Losing the last, best, chance at a permanent Park Ranger position due to the current government hiring freeze... it tends to slow down your motivation. It's been a little hard to get out, but had to put up a good front for my family when they came to visit me.

Spoiler: I have become "That Guy" - Wupatki edition (1/25)

 

[Tarannus]

Hmmm, it's been two weeks since I added anything to this. Still somewhat bummed that I'm going to be out of a job by the end of March, but as long as I'm working out here I might as well keep going at it with the camera.

Spoiler: Texture Studies, Clouds, and Roves at Lomaki (2/11)

And, because I've been on a Qatsi trilogy kick, I decided to take a few screenshots, mirror them, and play around with the color balance a bit. I've used a few in my character bio just to add a little flavor to all the text.

Spoiler: Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi - Lives Mirrored (2/11)

 

[Tarannus]

The weather has been pretty schizophrenic on the edge of the Painted Desert as summer-like weather drifts off to temperatures barely on the right-hand side of freezing. Trying to take photographs when everything is essentially bathed in flat clouds is pretty frustrating, so it's time to experiment with contrast controls and muted colors.

Spoiler: The Cast - Springtime Storms (2/24)

 

[MaXenzie]

The weather has been pretty schizophrenic on the edge of the Painted Desert as summer-like weather drifts off to temperatures barely on the right-hand side of freezing. Trying to take photographs when everything is essentially bathed in flat clouds is pretty frustrating, so it's time to experiment with contrast controls and muted colors.

Spoiler: The Cast - Springtime Storms (2/24)

All of these are wallpaper worthy.