Google+ PhotoWalk – Over 500 people! – Austin during SXSW Tomorrow!

See you soon – bring the whole family!  Any kind of camera will do…

• RSVP on Google Schemer: http://goo.gl/LkaKO
• Google Schemer Invite link: goo.gl/RoxQg
• Date: Saturday, March 10 at 2 PM.  Get there early for parking… or park far away and be prepared to walk.
• Location: The Google Lot downtown at Bar 96
• No SXSW badge required!
• Great Prizes – See https://sites.google.com/site/schemeratxphotowalk/ for contest info!

Upcoming Disney Cruise

I’ve got an awesome cruise coming up for the maiden voyage of the Disney Fantasy.  It’s gonna be great… I’ve never been on a Disney cruise before, so it will be interesting.  This boat is supposed to be 40% bigger than the other Disney boats, so I look forward to some good photo-ops!  BTW, lest people be confused when I mention things like this, I paid for the cruise for me and my family and everything… not even any discounts or anything! 🙂  This is just a gentle reminder that I only talk about (and take photos of) things that are interesting to me, whether or not they are given to me for free or whether I pay for them myself.

Daily Photo – Oak on Winter Sunrise

I hiked through a frost-covered meadow in the morning to get up under this tree.  And it was one of those meadows with very long grasses that formed little frosty mounds.  They give way with each step with the sound of a tiny crunch and spring back up after you pass.  But the moisture is so light and cool, it is not even noticed until you look down and see your shoes have a slick coating of their own.

I then got up underneath this old oak tree with my wide-angle lens, aiming it in the direction of the rising sun.  Because I was so deep in the valley, the sun did not crest for another three hours, but the light dithered in different ways the whole time.

Epic Scenes

I’m still trying to get my head around what makes one scene more “epic” than the next.  What do you think?  I haven’t given it a ton of thought, but here are some things that seem to seperate an epic scene from another scene (which may also be interesting in its own great way):

• A sense of scale – things close, far away, and a sense of the 3D depth of a vast playing field
• A sense of timelessness – in which the photo could have been taken a long time ago — or recently — and it does not matter.
• A feeling of the old movies – I’m not sure what I mean by this one… just the shape of a feeling, though…

Daily Photo – Yosemite Valley View

My first trip to Yosemite was so fun — I can’t believe it was only a few weeks ago!

I’ve been to Yellowstone about a dozen times, so it was strange never to have a trip to Yosemite under my belt.  Yellowstone is great and everything, but it lacks a few of these “epic” scenes, if you know what I mean.

Pat’s Recommended Books

In our hangout with Pat Rothfuss (to the right), one of my favorite Authors, he listed off a bunch of books.  Here they all are!

Rothfuss Hangout Redux

Daily Photo – Little Church in Yosemite

While in the meadows between the mountains of Yosemite, I did not expect to see this little church.

And waiting for the right kind of light was another challenge.  The light down in the valley is so strange.  The sheer walls of the mountains on both sides are so steep that the sun disappears quite early in the day.  Everything becomes a little-bit-dreamy then, and I felt like that was a good time to take the shot.

Trey’s Variety Hour #22: Patrick Rothfuss – The Name of the Hangout

Don’t forget you can subscribe for free in iTunes: http://goo.gl/ZAKd8 (or other options at http://twit.tv/tvh) if you want to get these first, or have them available later on your computer, iPhone, or iPad.

This show was a very special one for me (sounds like a very special episode of Blossom, when she gets a visit from Aunt Flo), but you’ll probably detect this while watching. During the first bit, we talked about art, sharing, the human condition, and unexpected benefits of creating art in a vacuum. In the second bit when Veronica Belmont joined, we started going off on all sorts of fantasy tangents. This may or may not have included dipping our wicks into Vaginal Fantasies.

Want to know what book of his to get first? Just get “The Name of the Wind” (Amazon or Audible) and thank me later! 🙂

Daily Photo – The Gentle Rays

On my first evening in Yosemite, the sun did some amazing things. There as a big group of Google+ people converging on Yosemite, but I arrived a day early for a little “me” time. Nature must have felt my mojo because it all conspired to create some interesting results as the rays tumbled across the valley floor.

Subscribe to the Show

If you were already subscribed at http://twit.tv/tvh or iTunes Link: goo.gl/ZAKd8 , then you would already have the show below.  So… why didn’t you do it yet? 🙂  Or better yet, why didn’t you tell your friends!?

Trey’s Hangout #21 – Horror Stories

Here’s the new video where we share all kinds of stories… This show had +Scott Kelby +Jeremy Cowart +Nicole S. Young+Catherine Hall +RC Concepcion +Gordon Laing.  Enjoy!

During the “Discoveries” portion, here are the photographers we showed off: +Gregory Colbert+Isabel Sousa Silva +Isabelle Lafrance +Nori Sakamoto +Dean Bradshaw +Ibarionex Perello+Ryan Dyar +Mihailo Radi?evi? +Brad Moore +Douglas Sonders

And thanks again to the production team: +Leo Laporte and +Tony Wang from TWiT.tv and +Dave Veffer

Daily Photo – The Lodge at Night

On the final night of the Yosemite PhotoWalk, we ended up here to explore the evening.  This is the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite, and I hope I made it look as beautiful as it really is.  This is also the place that Steve Jobs got married.

Karen Hutton and I arrived here very late at night after our extra-long walk!  We could even see a few people camping for the night halfway up the mountain they were climbing.  After going around the back side of the lodge, we saw the stars and trees and cliffs above…

The Star Trails eBook from Jim Goldstein

Visit FlatBooks.com to check out Jim’s latest eBook!  Here’s a little sample page… really awesome stuff.  Thanks for supporting the authors over there!

Daily Photo – The Mariposa Woods

While we were at Yosemite for the big PhotoWalk, we took an evening to visit the Mariposa Woods.  They were very close to our hotel, and it was an easier drive than going all the way to the main park at Yosemite.  Plus, I had a feeling the sunset would be quite stunning through the trees.  My feelings don’t always work out, but this time it did.

My methods still haven’t changed for these kinds of shots.  Seven exposures:  from +3 to -3 seems to get the job done.  I end up with more than enough light for the post-processing.