David’s Blog
Indian River, Sitka Alaska
This is Indian River in Sitka, Alaska. There are huge old-growth Sitka spruces off to the right of this scene (see previous posts) and pink and dog salmon in the river. Just past the huge spruces there is an active bear trail where Grizzlies walk to avoid the people on the the trail on the other side of the river. If you stopped to listen you would here...
Switzerland
Here is something new for me- I am enthusiastically recommending a travel destination to you, a country actually...Switzerland! I have travelled a lot over the last 30 years, probably not as much as many of you but certainly more than most people. Much of this travel has been to exotic and magical places and almost all of it has been nature-based travel-...
From out of the Clouds…
Sometimes everything works out. Not often, certainly not every day but sometimes, every once in a while, the Gods shine down upon you and the heavens open and.... And so it was in the Berner Oberland in Switzerland a week ago. I had three days in this high Alp paradise to see the mountains, three days to see, in particular, the mountain that as a boy I had...
On a French Canal
A memorizing little video taken from the bow of a barge on a canal near Strasbourg, France. Enjoy
When in France…
When in France I’m on the road again, or more correctly, on a canal in France mostly tolerating the rich food, spectacular wine and ample leisure time. Can’t be in a rush when you are going 4 miles per hour. This morning I visited the weekly market- half farmer’s, half commercial- in Savarne getting there early to take advantage of uncrowded stalls and the...
Two New Projects
I have been projectless for long enough now so I have decided to start three new ones to keep me occupied until the big one comes along. The first one is called 'Stuff' and I will be photographing great piles and aggregations of, well, stuff. Not junk piles but things, lots of different things in particular that are currently or expect to be currently of...
The Pleasing Palette
One of the often overlooked but never not noticed (how's that for confusing?) aspects of photography is the color palette of your image. The palette is the totality of the colors displayed in your image and it is something that influences the impression of every image we take. We just don't often consciously pay attention to the colors we photograph...
What I learned in Brazil
The Top Ten things I learned in Brazil: 10- You can tell who the tourists are by counting the number of pockets on their pants. More than four pockets they are likely to be from out of the country. More than six, they are likely to be Americans. YOu can tell who the birders are by counting the number of books they have stuffed into those pockets. You can...
Here in Brazil!
Greetings from the Pantanal of Brazil!! The Pantanal is one of the world’s largest seasonally flooded wetlands considerably bigger than Florida’s everglades. This is the dry season in this part of the Pantanal so the landscape is very dry and dusty and ragged looking. Scrubby fields and thick tangled woods are the main features here in the very flat land....
Metacognition
So here is the most difficult thing about mastering a subject- it is very hard to know what you don’t know. This makes it particularly hard to learn more and gain mastery. Without the realization that you need to learn more you won’t have the motivation to do so and you’ll end up really not mastering something but thinking that you have. Middleton’s Rule...
Brazil!!
I'm off to Brazil for two weeks! Please try to hold yourself together while I'm gone. This is going to be a birding trip so I won't be doing any serious photography (at least not much!). I am bringing my little Nikon J3 along and two lenses- the 18-35 and 27-270 (in 35mm equivalency). I'm not bringing my serious gear because birding and photography are two...