Tahquechi Photography

Vacation has come and gone now its time to start my favorite part, sorting through the hundreds of photos I took. This years destinations included Mesa Verde in Colorado, The Grand Canyon in Arizona the Arches National Park in Moab Utah. This years photos are very majestic, I’m excited to post them for you all to see.   The toughest part of being on vacation isn’t the traveling, the plane or living out of a suitcase, its resisting the temptation to sit and process all my photos. I waited until I got home to start the bulk of the processing so expect to see a new gallery shortly.

During the Grand Canyon trip, we took a jeep safari to the bottom, our traveling companions were from Australia, a mother and daughter who lost their camera gear. If they are reading this  please send me an email and I will send you a link to your personal gallery

I can’t believe it. Spring came and went. I haven’t picked up the camera for months and I’m going to tell you why. I was conducting a personal experiment. In my continuing quest to become a better photographer I took a couple of classes at the local college with my wife. I took a black and white drawing class and a color and composition class. I made the decision to not pick up the camera during the classes so I would have a definitive before and after set of images.

The black and white drawing class primarily focused on graphite, but did use pen and ink and even some color towards the end of the class. I found the class very interesting and I learned a lot.  I walked into the class without having touched a pencil to paper for drawing in years.  I now feel confident in my ability to render with pencil my thoughts. Now, this isn’t a drawing blog so I won’t other you with my drawings, I will just share my new photos with you as they are completed.

I was honestly hoping to get more out of the color and composition than I did. The bulk of the compositional aspects of the class were completed using cut pieces of paper on different backgrounds. I did learn more about how colors act together in a composition but was hoping for more. I will point out specific things I learned in the coming weeks as I post new photos.

I did learn from both classes that no matter what I am doing I tend to focus on the rule of thirds which is a basic photographic concept. The coming weeks will be interesting from a photographic standpoint. Its summer gloom time here in Santa Cruz so shooting outside at the moments is tough.

Before I go, I want to mention something about my instructors. I am fully aware of how difficult a visually impaired person is to teach, the teacher needs to often change not only their methodology for teaching that specific student, but also alter their expectations for what that student has delivered or is capable of delivering.  Both my teachers were exceptionally willing to work within my abilities and make the atmosphere positive and fulfilling for me.

I hope everyone had a great new year! I went out shooting for the first time this year and got a nice sunset picture at Natural Bridges.

After a 2 plus month recovery from a foot problem I’m back in action again. School has been taking a lot more time than I had anticipated, but today is finals! I’m planning to go shooting later this week (weather permitting) so keep an eye peeled for some new blog updates!

In the family album I have been working from I found  a neat shot of a train bridge but it took me forever to find out where here in Santa Cruz it was. The good news is that I found the bridge, the bad news is the shots of the bridge I took didn’t come out the way I wanted.  I had the vision of a HDR shot of the bridge with the sunset and the clouds but it didn’t quite work out.  My wife Carrie (always the voice of reason for me) suggested coming back when the bridge was covered in fog, since that would be very Santa Cruz. Now, for once I find myself wanting it to be foggy here. Just before I left last night I snapped this bracketed exposure of the tracks I hope you enjoy.

ISO200 32mm @f5.6 1/160 sec Bracketed exposure + and – 1 stop

Be sure to check out the new Then and now page I have added. Its a picture of my grandfather’s Ford Model A, combined with my 2007 Toyota Rav taken on the same street here in Santa Cruz. Its surprising just how much the area has not changed. Many of the houses are still the original homes built in 1924. As always I look forward to your comments.

Since summers coming to an end I figured I would share a couple of shots I took from the beach out in front of the Boardwalk here in Santa Cruz, and take a moment to reflect on the summers shooting and what I learned. This shot of the log ride and ferris wheel was taken at ISO 100, 39mm f8.0 at 1/125sec. It was just at sunset during the “golden hour”.  Its nice when I get a decent exposure and don’t have to do much to it in photoshop

This was a great shooting summer. The 2 big highlights for me was the July 31st class in South San Francisco taught by Joe McNally.  Hes an awesome photographer and a constant source of inspiration for me. I wish that I had the visual acuity to be able to shoot portraits (would help if I could see the subject’s face, not just the big blur heh). Even though hes a Nikon shooter  I still learned so much from his class that I use on a daily basis. The only bad thing was that I tried to get close enough to get a question in during the breaks, but he was soooo mobbed that there was no way I could get close enough.  In August, my wife Carrie and I flew to Colorodo and took a road trip through Wyoming to South Dakota and stayed in the old mining town of Deadwood. I put up a gallery of some of the shots I took while there you can see it at: http://tahquechi.com/gallery.htm The toughest part about traveling is that you don’t have much control over when you get to a location you want to shoot, which meant shooting Devils Tower in the middle of the day in 100 degrees with super blight sun. Though I do have to say that our hosts were VERY accomodating to my photo needs and planned events and arrivals as best they could.

I’m looking forward to fall. I love the leaves turning, the crisp weather and the rain. Its my favorite time of the year. This week I’m working on another Then and Now page, I have a great shot of my grandfather’s car (model A?) taken on a local street here in Santa Cruz. If the morning or evening fog ever gives me a break I can get my shot to go with that one.  By far the toughest part of lining up the historic photos with current ones is finding the spot they were originally taken from (I have his diary, but its not complete and doesn’t cite specific shots just dates and locations.).

This shot was taken at ISO 100, 36mm f9.0 at 1/125sec. Same beach as the  shot above, but facing the other way. This is the first time I have shot this area of the beach and I think it is going to require a couple more trips to get all the shots I want out of there. The foot bridge, and the stretch of land which overlooks the wharf and Boardwalk certainly merit a few more shots without all the fog rolling in.

First, let me say thanks again for all the great feedback on the blog. I’m enjoying doing this and I’m glad your enjoying the images. I was going through some of the messages yesterday and the most common question or comment I get is, How can you take pictures if your blind? Well, first I’m not totally blind, I have 25% vision remaining in my left eye and no light perception in my right (the vision in the left is measured at 20/400, so almost no distance vision, or peripheral vision ). I think the best way to illustrate how I do the pictures is to show you a couple of  images I have prepared which closely represent what vision I have. To best show this I used a picture I took a couple of evenings ago.

When I composed the shot, this is very close to what I saw in the viewfinder. Generally I have to scan the viewfinder over and over to get the framing right and remember and imagine what it will look like when I take the picturte. Its not until I get to see the image on the back of the camera that I can (kind of) see if I got the composition the way I wanted. This is the reason you don’t see a lot of people in my images. Its not only tough for me to see faces and check for blinks and frowns, but people (unlike landscapes) tend to move around 8).

Once I have the shot done then I take it into photoshop and do a lot of zooming and working at 100% to fix any problems with the image (or remove things in the picture that I didn’t see when I was composing the original image in the field.).

You might be asking yourself how I get around without a guide dog or cane with such limited vision.  When I am walking around I use the same scanning method I use when composing  pictures. I also make it a habit not to go out in the evening or dark since I have almost no night vision. I have never been one to listen to people who want to put limitations on me, I think that if you want to do something that you can find a way to do it.

Heres the final image from the other night. Thank you all again who have sent me the great feedback and please make sure to check out my Then and Now section of the website. I just put the second page up. Its a bit of fun history on the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf mixed with an original picture taken by my grandfather (who was also legally blind and had the same degenerative eye disease I have.). Get out there and get shooting!

This image is of the San Lorenzo river in Santa Cruz near the Boardwalk. I shot this at ISO 100, f8.0, 34mm at 1 /100 second shutter speed. Shot at sunset as the fog was rolling in.

Last night I was out shooting(thanks to my wife Carrie for taking me out even though she didn’t feel like driving), trying to get the “now” shot for a couple of the retouched images I have been working on. It was just as sunset hit when the fog rolled in like oranges. As a result I didn’t get the shot I imagined for the then and now project but I did manage to take this one of the boardwalk.

I’m on track to have at least one if not 2 more then and now pictures done this week. We shall see how things go.

The first stop on our trip was The Devils Tower Wyoming – rising 1,200 feet above the Belle Fourche River,  inspired the imagination of the Indians. They called it Mateo Tepee, meaning Grizzly Bear Lodge, and had several legends regarding its origin. According to the Kiowas, who at one time are reputed to have lived in the region, their tribe once camped on a stream where there were many bears. One day seven little girls were playing at a distance from the village and were chased by some bears. The girls ran toward the village and when the bears were about to catch them, they jumped to a low rock about three feet in height. One of them prayed to the rock, “Rock, take pity on us–Rock, save us.” The rock heard them and began to elongate itself upwards, pushing the children higher and higher out of reach of the bears, When the bears jumped at them they scratched the rock, broke their claws and fell back upon the ground. The rock continued to push the children upward into the sky while the bears jumped at them, The children are still in the sky, seven little stars in a group (the pleiades). According to the legend the marks of the bears’ claws may be seen on the side of the rock.

After seeing this awesome tower, it is certainly easy to see how it could impact anyone who has visited it, and why it was named our first national monument. It was a beautiful day when we arrived, a bit early in the afternoon for some great shots, but I managed a few good ones. I’m working feverishly on completing the rest of the shots from Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse and Deadwood.