Moab by Night

March 12, 2020
I went to Moab, Utah for a photography workshop led by Art Wolfe. https://artwolfe.com/ COVID shutdowns were just beginning, and this would be Art's last class for months. 

I rented a car and drove to Moab. What a great drive! I worked at a strip coal mine near Hanksville, Utah in 1978. I was the Health and Safety Office for the mine, using my Environmental Health Degree (Microbiology) from Colorado State University. (I had three and a half years of chemistry and Advanced Calculus/Statistics/Biochemistry for my qualifications. I analyzed the coal and did the dust/noise monitoring, etc.) The classes were in Price, Utah, which I drove through on the way and stopped for groceries. I stopped in Green River, where I had lived, for lunch. It was like a walk down memory lane.

Kevin and I had been to Moab a few years before, but it’s different taking a class. You go places you didn’t know existed, and see things you missed. I had been to Moab in the seventies when my ex and I were building an airplane, a (Piper)PA11. I took the seats there to get them re-covered, and of course I had been to Canyonlands. Still, we’re talking forty years ago!

I checked into the hotel where the class was being held, then drove out to take some pictures, since the light was just right. Thankfully the pool back at the hotel wasn't closed due to COVID - and with two waterfalls and lots of hot tubs, I couldn’t resist. 

We met for the class briefing in the lobby later that night. It was a small class, and we would be social distancing.

I liked all the people giving and taking the class. The one thing that surprises me about classes like this are people who don’t listen to the instructor. We were supposed to bring our tripod with us everywhere, but some people didn’t. And they wandered off and did their own thing. Why would you pay $4000 for a class, plus travel expenses and hotels, and not listen? Or stick to the instructors like glue? To me, $5000+ is a lot of money. I did whatever Art and Gavriel told me to do! 

I learned about my camera and post-processing. The critiquing sessions were the best, even though they could be harsh! (What were you thinking???) There were two nights that were clear enough to shoot, and we were under an arch. It took a while to get set up because there were so many satellites being launched, one right after another. 

It used to take 8 hours to get a star exposure but with today’s cameras we can do it in seconds. Start at 2000 ISO and 2.8. Bump up to 3000 or 3500 if necessary (or if your camera doesn’t have an F stop as large as 2.8). If you want the movement lines, set the internal velometers at 30 seconds for 2 hours and you can stitch them together! The shorter the exposure, the sharper the stars (1500-4000 ISO), no more than 30 seconds); quarter moon – stars and subject 15-20 seconds, 2000-4000 ISO.

Art encouraged us to think about why we take photos. I take photos to NOTICE and STAY ENGAGED. I like order more than tangles. I love aerial shots. This is where I come alive—learning and traveling. I hated to see the class end!

March 17, 2020 St Patrick’s Day

I don’t have any green on. I’m all by myself in "Comfort" class on Delta Air Lines heading home from Salt Lake City. The Doubletree in SLC last night was a ghost town. This plane isn’t much fuller. It is so weird. I can’t go to Costco today because there is a line around the store. And the optical department is closed. So I’ll just get my car and go home.

I can quarantine easily because pickleball is canceled. I don’t have symptoms and mom isn’t sick. Whew. I started using Topaz two days ago to denoise my Osprey photos. Art said that you should be able to push the ISO way up so you can push your shutter speed way up and get more depth of field, too. I’m working on it! 

Here are a few of the highlights of the first daily lecture:

1838 – first photo taken

Big landscapes - Ansel Adams https://www.anseladams.com/
        (Art started traveling at age 7, loves speaking)
Ernst Haas http://ernst-haas.com/ (Abstract expressionism) Long motion exposure

Pattern texture, line – design (Art is always scanning… I do that too)

McEscher (patterns) https://mcescher.com/gallery/
Art’s zebras (stressful time, attacks because he “added” zebras!)

Lines excites the rods and cones
Negative (black) = silhouette
Don’t just look at landscapes and add a human

MACRO: If the camera isn’t perfectly perpendicular, the subject won’t be in focus, 1/8”, F22 or F42!!

Opposing angles make good subjects, verticals overlapping, good subject 70mm