In keeping with our tendency to follow natural disasters, Kelly and I will be traveling to Thailand at the end of the month. We will be visiting northen Thailand – Bangkok and Chiang Mai – many miles from the tsunami ravaged south. We’ll be staying the breathtaking Shangri La Hotel during our three days in…
Category: Travel
I Was Wondering About That
Diego Garcia seems to have escaped unscathed. Tsunami’s are something we talked about on the island whenever the earth shook. We always joked that a 9.0 earthquake had just occurred off the coast of Sumatra and laughed nervously – awaiting a huge wave that thankfully never came. Diego Garcia has an average elevation of four…
Bali Dreaming
Man, I wish Kelly and I could have made it to Bali this year.
Wisconsin – Again
I took Kelly with me on my second trip to Wisconsin this year. We had such a wonderful time that we’re just about ready to move there. (I know – before we do that I need to bring her to Wisconsin in February…) We spent much of our time in Williams Bay, but also visited…
Mount Dundas
One the most distinctive features of the Thule area is Mount Dundas. Once a year all of the residents of Thule climb the 900 foot mountain to participate in a golf game. The object of the game – to get a ball somewhere near the “holes” – marked with a red flag. Lucky golfers were…
Thule Guestbook
Each visitor to Erik’s cabin was offered the privilege of signing his one-of-a-kind guestbook. As you can probably gather from what you see here, I was one of the few Americans ever to visit this place. Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of the page that I wrote in his guestbook, so I can’t share…
Partying with Eskimos
Just when I thought things couldn’t possibly get any cooler, two of Erik’s Eskimo friends dropped by for a visit. Erik expected them to show up at around noon, but instead arrived by dogsled somewhere around midnight. Evidently, Eskimos have little need for clocks – especially in the long night of winter. I don’t know…
Inside Erik’s Cabin
Finally we’re inside Erik’s cabin! The fisheye lens makes the place look much larger than it really is – a mere 8 feet by 16 feet. The cabin was just tall enough in the middle for me to stand up. I shot this shortly after we arrived and fired up the stove – the top…
Thule Star Trails
Here’s another shot I’m quite proud of. Again I attached the camera to my tripod, pointed it back towards Thule and opened the shutter. I ran back inside the cabin to stay warm during the 45 minute exposure. In the distance you can just make out the unique profile of Mt. Dundas.
Hotel Thule
You know, it’s a good thing that the site is really intended primarily for me. I’m probably the only one who can make any sense of it. I was looking at it again tonight and I realize that my recent entries are all all over the map – no pun intended. The main reason for…
Thule Inuit
I rarely saw the native population during my 17 months in Greenland. Fortunately, the air base sponsored a (70 mile!) dog sled race with a grand prize of a rifle. This was enough to attract Inuit families from many miles around. There was one other much more personal interaction with the natives of Thule –…
Picnic in Thule
By popular demand, another image from frozen Thule, Greenland. This image was made during a winter in Thule. If I recall, it was shot around noon – in almost complete darkness. I set up my trusty Pentax 35 mm camera on a tripod, and painted light onto the picnic table with a flashlight during the…
How I Learned
to Love Sushi
We caught these beauties while fishing in Diego Garcia. It was not uncommon to catch hundreds of pounds of yellow fin, barracuda and tuna – as well as the occasional shark or sail fish – in just a few hours on the Indian Ocean. The majority of the catch always went to the Philippine workforce…
Are We Having Fun Yet?
Thule, Greenland is visited by some strong winds. Some say the World’s highest measured windspeed occurred here. (See: Burt, Christopher. Extreme Weather. NY: Norton, 2004, p. 249.) During the worst of these storms – known as “Phase Three” storms, sustained hurricane speed winds make Thule a very dangerous place. This shot was taken during a…
One More From Diego Garcia
This shot was taken on board the American Cormorant – one of a dozen or so “Maritime preposition ships” permanently stationed in the lagoon. This ship, affectionately known as “Big Red” for obvious reasons, had the unique ability of submerging itself to a depth sufficient to off-load the smaller boats sitting on its deck. I…
Working at Home
I’m working at home today. We’re having the tub refinished, (results) and someone needs to be here. Of course this is cool, because it gives me a moment to post another image from my past. I know you’re all dying to see a picture from my year in Diego Garcia. I believe this was taken…
Wonderful Wisconsin
Last week’s trip to my home state was the best ever. Everything I did exceeded expectations. I just wish Kelly had been there. Of course, 4 days in July during some of the nicest weather I’ve ever known in that state might be a bit misleading. It’s one thing to talk about Wisconsin winters –…
Gualala 2004
We finally made it to our favorite bed & breakfast just north of Gualala, California. Our visit was too short as usual, but the food, the fireplace and the soaking tub helped to soothe our frayed nerves despite the rainy, gray weather. Ahhh… We stayed in the Sequoia cabin – one of our favorites. We…
The Inuit Mind
I have never understood how it is that a culture who live in a largely desolate environment often completely devoid of color would create such colorful, complex geometric patterns in their art. I bought these beaded items from an Inuit woman in Greenland in 1986. My recollection is that I paid five dollars a piece…
Tahoe Trippin’
My Lake Tahoe film vs. digital experiment is over. It looks like digital photography is the hands-down winner – at least in terms of speed and convenience. I have been home almost two days now, and I still have no film photos to show for my considerable efforts. Dragging the bulky film camera around was…
Printing LARGE
My wife just told me that my blog is getting boring. She said, “You need more photos!” So, with apologies to those who have seen this image 10,000 times, I bring you my favorite shot from our last Bali trip. Why am I subjecting you to this shot again? Well, because I have decided to…
Greenwich Village Panorama
I took about 10 of these panoramas so that I’d be sure to get one that would stitch together nicely.
Manhattan!
We just returned from New York this evening, and we’re both thoroughly exhausted. I have about 250 images to go through – I promise to post a few as soon as I can get them ready. For now, here’s a shot of Kelly and her mother on Lelah’s balcony. As you can see, Lelah has…
Do Nothing Day
So we spent our Saturday doing (almost) nothing – and it was beautiful. We both loved it! Of course, that does not excuse me from my resposibility to post something to my blog! Guess it’s time to drag out another old image and call it Photo of the Day! I shot this 180 dgeree panorama…
Huntington Lake – 2003
Our annual camping trip to Lake Huntington was a blast, although, I wouldn’t exactly call it “roughing it”. The Hunter clan believes in packing everything – yes, even the kitchen sink. For a blow-by-blow account of the event, check out Wendy’s highly entertaining blog entry. If you’d like to see even more images of our…
Arizona Cactus
The story behind this shot begins on a trip to Arizona to inspect the Palo Verde Nuclear Plant. (Hmmm… fodder for future posts.) Anyway, I saw the heavy weather coming from my lonely hotel room, so I pointed my rental car out of town looking for a good spot to stop and shoot a totally…
Another Cool Site on My Server
My friend Joe Morris decided to take a year off work and travel the world. Follow his most excellent adventures at xenotropic.net If the site looks familiar to you, it’s because Joe is the guy who set up my Bali travel Site.