A New Character

Day 25: My regular readers will have seen me in any number of disguises, some of which (Morgan Corbye, for example) have distinct personas. Most are recurring roles, but even so, not all are named. Lest anyone think I have a multiple-personality issue, be assured that almost every character is simply a closer focus on some particular trait of the "whole me"; a macro view, if you will, which only shows one portion of the greater subject. That said, the Beatnik is new, and was born out of desperation when I needed a costume I could wear while planting trees in the soggy soil of a wetland area. Long skirts were obviously out of the question, and I didn't want to spoil any of the items in the Captain's copious wardrobe. I'd gone zombie for last year's event because that was its specific theme. This year, it was open to the imagination.

After an uninspiring visit to Goodwill, I turned back to my own closet for ideas. When the black turtleneck surfaced in my t-shirt drawer, Maynard G. Krebs made a dash across my mind. I had the trousers and beret...what else did I need? Since I couldn't very easily work in non-prescription sunglasses, I dragged out an old pair of specs with a dark frame. A second trip to Goodwill brought the costume almost to perfection with the addition of a black velvet jacket, but during a dress rehearsal, I still felt that something was missing for the stereotype. And then I realized what that one item was.

It just so happened that several years ago, I mooched a handful of bearskin trimmings from a taxidermist to incorporate into a crafts project. I still had quite a bit left, so it was just a matter of selecting a piece which would work as a goatee and trimming it to shape. A combination of mousse and spirit gum worked to conceal the thick hide's edges, and once it was tacked to my chin, it looked like it had grown there. Of all the costuming I've done, this was the first time I'd ever cross-dressed for a part!

Watch For Rolling Rock

Day 24: "So how was your day, dear?" Rain or not, I couldn't resist having a little fun with one of the rocks which came tumbling down the side of Mt. Wow last spring. Of course, I could have picked a drier day for the shoot and if I'd had spare clothes, I would have changed out of my fresh uniform, but sometimes you simply have to seize the moment of inspiration when it comes to you. Photographers are often required to make sacrifices for their art, and thus it was that I drove home with a wet behind and a muddy back for having laid in the puddle of runoff which had accumulated under my weighty subject. "Under" was the easy part; "out" was a bit of a challenge, and I might have been ahead if I'd followed my hat and gone straight through.

White Wine With Fish

Day 23: Should you not always serve white wine with fish?

Just a little humour, folks. It's really water and my poor fish was none too happy with the requirements of the modelling assignment he'd engaged. One sitting was sufficient to convince him he'd be better off in a different career, one with broader horizons and the option of travel.

Sculptor's Studio

Day 22: Dan Klennert's studio is easy to spot if you're driving up to Mount Rainier National Park's Nisqually entrance. Two miles out of Elbe, you'll see a lifesize metal giraffe standing by the side of the road. It's not the kind of thing you could drive past without noticing, and that's just your introduction to "Recycled Spirits of Iron." Dan is a man of considerable talent. He has the ability to visualize the shapes of things out of their normal context, and to assemble them into very recognizable forms. He works primarily in recycled metal and "found" driftwood (of which there is no shortage in Alder Lake).

Dan and I have known each other for something like twenty-five years. I stopped by his studio today, stuck my head in the door and yelled, "You home?" A faint voice answered me from somewhere deep among shelves of nails, bolts, rake heads, gears, pipes, chain, wrenches, fittings and whatnots (strangely including a tiered crystal candelabrum). I ventured further in, peering into nooks and crannies in the hopes of catching the sculptor in a creative pose. When I finally found him, I was somewhat disappointed. He was working on an ATV, engaged in the purely mundane mechanics of repair. When I asked if he'd mind if I took a few shots inside the studio, he apologized for the chaos. He'd been bringing the more delicate pieces indoors for the winter.

He went back to his work and left me to prowl around at my leisure. I had taken quite a few photos and was getting ready to leave when I noticed the light on this driftwood horse where it stood in a darkened corner. For once, I had my tripod with me, so I was able to capture the moment in HDR.

Go Binary

Day 21: It is 8:13:47 by the clock, and as easily read as a standard 12-hour dial once you get the hang of it. The numbers are represented in binary, and the columns are read left to right, bottom to top. The bottom row is 1. The second row is 2. The third row is 4. The top row is 8. The lights indicate the classic yes/no of binary; thus if a light in the bottom row is lit, it equals 1. If another light is lit in the column above it, the value of that light is added; thus if lights in the first and third row are lit, but not the second, 1 + 4 = 5.

To read the time here, we have
0 lights in column 1 = 0
The 8 light in column 2 = 8
The 1 light in column 3 = 1
The 1 and 2 lights in column 4 = 3
The 4 light in column 5 = 4
The 1, 2 and 4 lights in column 6 = 7

See how easy that was?

I've had this little clock for years and prefer it to the regular dials. It's much easier to set if the power goes off.

Novelty Shots

Day 20: You've seen them...photos made with the "Tiny Planet" app. You may have even made a few with your phone if it has the capability. Mine doesn't. It makes phone calls and it takes pictures, but it stops short of allowing me to download them onto my computer. I don't care. I have a camera for that. But occasionally, some novelty processing gimmick comes along and piques my interest, and "Tiny Planet" fell into that category. I had an idea how I could effect the same thing using PaintShopPro, but could never quite get it right and gave up trying.

Recently, an internet friend posted detailed instructions for how to make your own "Tiny Planet," and I discovered that I'd been missing one crucial step: resizing the image to a square without cropping it, i.e., changing the aspect ratio and squeezing its dimensions so that trees and mountains were very tall and skinny. I tested it out on a few single frames and then decided I was ready for the Big Time.

Although it's not a requirement, this process is most effective if you can have sky in every shot of a panorama. That's not an easy thing to achieve when you live in a mountainous area because you're nearly always facing a hill in at least one direction when you live among valleys. I decided my best chance at getting a border of sky was to go over to the east end of Riffe Lake in the hopes that Dog Mountain wouldn't be too tall. I mounted the camera on a tripod, and after checking to be sure the horizon was level in all directions, I took a panorama of 19 images in order to get the full scene. At home, these images were stitched together and cropped slightly at the top (I got too much sky!), and then I was ready to create my "Riffe World."

Taking the long, skinny panorama, I resized it to a perfect square, then flipped it top to bottom. The next step was to apply a Polar Coordinates filter, "rectangle to polar" (not "polar to rectangle"). Bingo! Riffe World sprang into existence, mountains all around and one tall cottonwood standing like a spire. Because my panorama was a full 360 degrees, no additional trimming up of the seam was required. I finished the image off by framing it with four repeats of the panorama laid out like a log-cabin quilt.

Now ask me what earthly good this is, and I'll answer, "Probably none." It's just a novelty shot...fun to do, but not worth buying a fancy phone to accomplish.

Planting Crew

Day 19: If each of us planted as few as twenty trees today (and I know I planted at least two dozen), Ohop Valley is richer by no less than 600 young saplings representing 8-10 different species of wetland-loving plants destined to provide future habitat for critters of all sorts. This was one of several planting events which will be held on the former Burwash property, and is just a single facet of a multi-tiered restoration program which also includes reestablishment of the creek's natural meander. Portions of the creek have already been reditched, adding a mile or more of shoreline, improving drainage and controlling erosion with engineered log jams.

Thirty volunteers turned out for the Nisqually Land Trust's annual Hallowe'en event, some in costume and others not, but all willing to get down and dirty in the mud for the occasion. Many were returnees back for a second, third or fourth year on this long-term project. They came prepared for any weather, with smiles on their faces and shovels in their gloved hands. For three hours, they dug holes and filled them with plants, lovingly packing the soil around the roots and often giving a final word of encouragement to their charges as they moved on to the next in line: "Grow up tall, little snowberry!" and conversations flew all around as they laughed and shared their experiences.

As always, it was a delight to work with such a dedicated crew. Thank you all for your work today.