with Lorelle and Brent VanFossen

Northwest Trek

Wolf at Northwest Trek, photo by Brent VanFossenGrowling bears, hissing cats, snorting beavers, splashing otters, howling wolves, calling eagles, screeching sandpile cranes, bugling elk…these are the sights and sounds that accompany you on your tour through the various native species of the United States Pacific Northwest when you visit Northwest Trek.

Located near the foot of Mt. Rainier not far from the town of Eatonville, about 1 1/2 hour drive from Seattle, is the unique wildlife park, Northwest Trek. Founded with a family land donation to Pierce County, Northwest Trek has grown to become one of the best animal rehabilitation and education centers for wildlife native to the area. They have helped restore many animals near extinction back to the wild while preserving others unable to return. Their educational programs are outstanding, done around the state in classrooms as well as at their facility. They even offer training courses for teachers and nature professionals and enthusiasts.

A cougar, rarely seen in the wild, drinks from a pond in it natural looking enclosure. Photo by Lorelle VanFossenVisiting Northwest Trek is always an adventure. It is an unusual zoological park as they have worked from the beginning to create natural “cage-less” habitats for the wildlife. Visitors walk along wooded paths to step into a small enclosure across the water from the wildlife or from up high enough to allow easy viewing of the animals below while maintaining a distance for their safety and yours. The wolves can be easily viewed from a walkway that passes over part of their enclosure. Manmade barriers are few, and those that are present are usually hidden behind vines or other plants. The animals wander through natural vegetation and ground cover, nesting or resting in trees or areas that are “natural” and not made of cement and man-made materials, giving you a sense of peeking into the real “wild” world.

Plan to spend a whole day at Northwest Trek. The park is divided up into several areas for exploration. The walking tour covers the wildcats, owls and eagles, bears, wolves, otters, porcupines, and many others. A hiking area provides a variety of trails to explore typical Pacific Northwest habitats and creatures where you can spend a few minutes or a couple of hours. Helpful Helpful signs, like this informational sign about big cats, help educate the visitor. Photo by Lorelle VanFossensigns identify the different species of plant and animal life. The Cheney Discovery Center provides children and visitors with a chance to get up close and personal as they learn about the different wildlife and how they live. There are hands-on displays and many different exhibits to help visitors better understand the animals and their reliance upon their environment and the responsibility we have to protect it for them.

Northwest Trek
Address: 11610 Trek Drive East
Eatonville WA 98328
Voice: 360-832-6117
Information: 800-433-TREK
Fax: 360-832-6118

web site: www.nwtrek.org

Hours: The entrance opens at 9:30 AM year around and the closing time varies dependent upon the season. All facilities are open at the same time. Check their web site for specific seasonal details.

Getting There: Northwest Trek is located 55 miles south of Seattle and 35 miles east of Tacoma. Exit I-5 to access State Route 161. You will find the entrance on the east side of State Route 161, 17 miles south of Puyallup and 6 miles north of Eatonville.

Best Time: Spring is excellent for baby mammals and birds in breeding plumage, as well as for migrating birds in general, such as the sandhill crane. Summer is very popular for visitors and can be very crowded on weekends. Fall is great for good looking mammals. Beware of hibernating animals being unavailable during the winter.

Famous for: Close access to animals native to the Pacific Northwest and housed in fairly natural settings. Excellent educational information and facilities.

How to visit: The best access for photographers is to participate in a photographic tour, available for professional photographers as well as for photographic groups. On your own, arrive early and be ready to enter the facilities immediately. Take the first tram at 10:00 AM as some of the larger animals may still be hanging around their feeding grounds, allowing for closer viewing. Then explore the Core Area walking tour before the crowds arrive. During the busiest times, near lunch, avoid the crowds and seek out the shaded areas of the hiking trails to capture interesting closeup subjects, patterns, and textures. Return to the Core Area walking tour late in the day for a chance to catch some of the animals who come out later in the day.

Habitat: The area represents much of the habitat found in the Pacific Northwest, with excellent samples of forest and marsh lands, as well as some open pasture land.

Wildlife: Grizzly, otter, black bear, wolves, skunk, elk, deer, bison, beaver, raccoon, lynx, bobcat, cougar, badger, owls, eagles, turkeys, sandhill cranes, and a variety of native birdlife.

Equipment: Long lenses are highly recommended to get decent images of most of the animals and birds. A moderate lens will work for the closer exhibits. Avoid wide angle lenses as they tend to take in too much of the background and man-made surroundings. A flash with an extender is recommended. A tripod is best for working with the many low light situations. Bring binoculars and/or spotting scopes for bird spotting and viewing distant wildlife.

Most popular is the Tram Tour which leaves every hour on the hour (April – October) from the Tram Station. This open window tram takes visitors on a ride through the largest part of the park, 435 acres, passing through woodlands, open fields, and wetlands. Visitors get a chance to see the animals safari-style, meeting elk, deer, bison, and others, as well as many birds, especially the native wild turkey which tend to put on quite a show during mating season. Sandpile Cranes love to hang out by the Tram Station during migration season, making a huge racket of honking and screeching sounds.

The eagle displays offer closeup opportunities for photographing the birds, but watch for distracting feathers or damaged parts as many of these animals have been rescued. Photo by Lorelle VanFossenFor the photographer, the walking tour, hiking areas, and tram are the best bets for excellent photographic opportunities. For excellent photographic access from the tram, you can participate in a photographic tram tour led by a wildlife specialist and/or wildlife biologist from the park. They can provide excellent educational information as well as bring the tram close to the wildlife for the photographers. Contact Northwest Trek and check their web page for more information.

Fall and Spring are the best time to photograph Northwest Trek. A high overcast day is even better, providing even light on your subjects. Fall offers mammals with their healthy winter coats and fattened up bodies ready for winter. Spring offers great opportunities for baby mammals and birds. These are also prime bird migration times, and many pass through Northwest Trek taking advantage of the water, food, and resting areas.

A tripod is a must, as the light in western Washington State is often low, even during the day. The dense foliage of the forest in and around the park and the trails also make for low light levels. A flash, especially a full-powered flash with a long range and a “flash extender”, is recommended, especially for the dark burrows and caverns for photographing “underground” or night creatures. Working with fill flash helps to overcome some of the shadows found on a bright sunny day, and to add some punch to the overcast days. When working under low light conditions, we recommend pushing 100 speed film 1 stop to ISO 200 or using one of the new higher speed films, but for normal conditions, using ISO 100 should be enough.

Long lenses are preferred for the larger mammals and the eagles and owls as they tend to stay further back in their enclosures. Shorter lenses are needed for the burrowing and smaller creatures as they are closer to the enclosure barrier.

The beaver, another animal rarely seen in nature, is easily visible through a window into his burrow. Photo by Lorelle VanFossenWorking with the burrowing creatures, Northwest Trek has provided underground viewing for many of them with glass barriers between you and the animal. The beaver dam is a prime example with a wonderful viewing window into their burrow, a sight rarely seen. Working with glass as interference, you will need to work with an off-the-camera flash cord and hold the flash at an angle to the window to prevent reflection of the flash into the camera.

The access to various owls and the two native eagle species is excellent, allowing visitors to view and photograph birds rarely seen in the wild. The owl enclosures recreate habitats comfortable and familiar to the birds, and the barn owls perch on the facade of an old bar, much as they have become accustomed to do in the “wild”.

A group of photographers line up to photograph the barn owls. Photo by Lorelle VanFossen
A photographic trip to Northwest Trek means arriving early. Organized photo tours usually begin before the park opens, often following the feeding trucks around to get access to the more reclusive animals. If you come as an individual, be one of the first to walk in when they open at 9:30 AM (year around) during the winter so you can take advantage of some morning light. Closing at 3:00 PM during the shorter days of the year in the late Fall through early Spring, you can take advantage of the warmth of sunset when it sets early, if weather permits. It happens fast so you need to be prepared for the light. Storm-light also offers wonderful lighting opportunities for photographing at Northwest Trek. The ever-changing light, sometimes soft, sometimes unusually warm, creates some great challenges and chances for great photographs.

Access to the owls, like this snowy owl, is great for photographers. Photography by Brent VanFossenAs with all such parks and preserves, watch backgrounds for signs and man-made objects, as well as bright lights or highlights can cause distracting elements in your images. Many animals have been rescued and are injured and unable to return to the wild. If you are photographing images for future sale, take care to avoid ear tags, scars, or other “unattractive” elements unless you have a particular market for such images.

Northwest Trek is also very suitable for organized groups and photo club excursions. Arrangements must be made in advance and they take extra special effort when working with photographers to transport them around before the park opens during the feeding of the animals, bringing the wildlife closer to the trams. Naturalists accompany the group tours, providing extensive information about the wildlife and habitat and answering questions.

Visit the Northwest Trek web site for more information and instructions on how to get there and take advantage of the wonderful facilities they have to offer.

Hellos to New Life and Goodbyes to Old

The past few weeks have been a kaleidoscope of hellos and goodbyes. The goodbyes have been tough. Not only have I had to say goodbye to my wonderful (and frustrating) 5 year life in Israel and the lifestyle I’d become accustomed to, I had to say goodbye to my dear friends, almost family, left behind. They are as close as a phone call and email, but this doesn’t change the sense of loss.

Saying goodbye to the lifestyle I’d become accustomed to also has serious challenges to overcome and adjust to. Shopping is now different, going back to the way we shopped before, but now it feels more difficult than running down to the corner shop. We have to get into the truck and drive. As Brent is still taking the truck to work and not the bicycle (soon), I have to wait until he comes home, which is usually after seven at night, before I can make the run to the store. When I get back, we’ve only a little bit of time before I go to bed and it feels like I don’t get a chance to see Brent at all on those days. (more…)

MacGyverisms

Looking at various web page designs, I stumbed upon a site with a listing of MacGyver Episodes.

For those who don’t know, MacGyver was a long running and popular television series in the US that is now in syndication around the world about a spy – detective – cia – fbi – something – like – that guy who is sent out to save the world, and a few people while he’s at it, from the evils out there. Now, this is no different from any of the million other television plots out there. What makes MacGyver different is that he is some kind of genius who can make anything out of anything and make it work, and save the world while he is at it. (more…)

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

Denali, Alaska, photograph by Brent VanFossenPhotographing mountains is like photographing the history of the planet. Mountains wear their history from the inside out and back again. They are great repositories of natural history, archeology, geology, and climate change. They house a good majority of the planet’s fresh water reserves, influence the weather, and determine which side gets the water and which side doesn’t. They are natural obstacles in our path, yet goals to be scaled. Mountains play important roles in our lives, and they are wondrous subjects to photograph.

No matter where you point your camera on a mountain, from great distances or up close, the subject diversity is amazing. For those who enjoy the scenic view, mountains offer spectacular landscapes, clouds dancing around the pinnacle or low around the base, or dark with forests and rocks and patches of white snow. For those who like the closeup perspective, the geology alone can captivate a photographer for years.

Mountain Settings
Some cameras have a “mountain” exposure setting. This does not mean you have to use this setting when photographing mountains. It is a symbol that represents the setting for your auto camera functions to turn off the flash and use the smallest aperture to attain the best depth of field possible in the available light. It is good for photographing mountains and for anything in the distance, more than 10 feet away.

Mountains are exciting to photograph today because they are associated with wilderness. Anywhere you go in the world where there are mountains, you may still find wild streams, uncultivated trees, wild animals, and natural areas. The reason for this is that it is very difficult to tame a mountain, to build buildings and to develop them. Hundreds of years ago, the prairies and the plains of North America were also wild places but today these have been almost completely taken over by agriculture and cities, and the wildest places we have left anywhere in the world are in the mountains. The elk, bear, wolf, and many birds and other animals used to range the prairies and low lands of the planet, but now humans have pushed them into the mountains, their last sanctuary.

Garden of the Gods, Colorado, photograph by Brent VanFossenMountains are big rocks. Most people think of mountains as tall craggy spires, but mountains come in all kinds of different shapes and sizes like the sharp pointing peaks of the Cascade and Rocky Mountains or the rounded and strange formations in the Garden of the Gods, Colorado. Mountains come in red, green, white with snow, dark in silhouette, golden with trees, and all colors in between.

Sedimentary layers exposed in Israel's Maktesh HaGadole, photograph by Brent VanFossenWhere the sedimentary layers are exposed, you can find a wide range of patterns and textures. Understanding the geological forces behind what you are seeing helps you recognize photographic opportunities representative of those forces of nature like the basalt formations, earthquakes, earth shifts, and more.

Mountains Expose Their Age

The shape of the mountain is based upon its age and wear and tear from wind, rain, and glaciers. Older mountains have been exposed to the weather for a longer period of time so the sharp points have been rounded and the highest points worn down. The Ozark and Appalachian mountains are considered the oldest mountain ranges in North America. Only a few thousand feet high, they have been ground down into rounded “hills” over time.

Portage Lake, Chugach Mountains, Alaska, photograph by Brent VanFossenContrast that with the newer mountain ranges of the West, the Rockies, Cascades, Sierra Nevadas, and the Alaska and Brooks ranges. The Olympic Mountains of Washington State are rising approximately one centimeter a year. The volcanic action of Mt. St. Helens, also in Washington, and active volcanos along the Aleutian Range in Alaska are changing mountain range profiles all the time.

The newer ranges are formed by volcanic action as well as shifts in the plates of the earth, called tectonics. The plates of the earth’s surface collide, with one shelf rising as the other pushes under, and the higher shelf becomes the mountains. As one plate pushes upward, the sedimentary layers are revealed, exposing its geology. Here you will find fascinating layers, textures and patterns to photograph.

Long dormant volcanos tend to feature round, smooth tops. The explosive force of a recently active volcano reshapes the mountain’s profile, changing dome crowns into giant holes, sometimes filled with water or ice. The force of the blast can dramatically change the surrounding landscape as mud, rocks, and ash are smashed into neighboring mountains and areas. Lava flows down the mountain sides, changing the landscape even more as it sculpts and cools.

Basalt columns in the mountains, photograph by Brent VanFossenAs lava cools, it forms a volcanic rock known as basalt. As it cools and shrinks, cracks develop along the blackened surface, forming a cluster of hexagons like a honeycomb. These cracks extend the full depth of the rock, making vertical columns of basalt. This is common throughout the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon, Devil’s Postpile National Monument in California, Hawaii, and other volcanic areas.

Mt Rainier in Spring, a semi-inactive volcano in the Cascade Mountain Range, Mount Rainier National Park, USA, photograph by Brent VanFossenBut volcanic action isn’t just millions of years old and found in the rocks. It is found today on many active volcanos around the world. Hawaii still features red hot lava flows spilling into the sea and changing the shape of the islands. Mt. Rainier in Washington State is considered active, though barely. Even if the volcanic activity isn’t visible to the naked eye, it is still going on. On March 23, 2004, a series of small earthquakes rattled the Three Sisters volcanic center in central Oregon’s Cascade Mountains. While these were minor earthquakes, the experts say that the regional seismic network detected approximately 100 earthquakes up to about 1.5 magnitude centered five kilometers west of South Sister volcano. Since 1997, the ground has been uplifted by 25 cm (about 10 inches), believed to be “the continuing intrusion of a modest volume of magma (molten rock). The magma appears to be accumulating at a depth of about 7 kilometers (4 miles) below the ground surface and now measures about 40 million cubic meters (about 50 million cubic yards) in volume.” They are expecting more earthquakes in the area as the Earth’s crust shifts and moves to accommodate the heat and gases.

Mountains in Motion: Glaciers

You can see the echoing patterns of the glaciers within the agate markings in the larger boulders in the foreground, Portage Lake, Alaska, photograph by Brent VanFossenGlaciers leave their marks on the landscape in many ways. Their surging ice flows pick up rocks large and small and transport them along their path to deposit them miles away. Glaciers are formed when the snow falls and accumulates faster than it melts and builds up over years or thousands of years. The weight of the snow on top compacts the oldest layers of snow into ice at the bottom, putting the most pressure on the lower parts. When the mass gets large enough, it starts to slide downhill under its own weight and the process continues for hundreds of thousands of years to form a river of ice that may be hundreds of meters thick and may move several meters a day. Between May 1956 and the summer of 1957, Alaska’s Muldrow Glacier surged four miles, and at its maximum speed moved almost ten inches a minute. The world’s fastest moving glacier is currently Alaska’s Columbia Glacier, moving 35 meters a day.

The ground underneath the glaciers are worn by the constant movement of the ice. Any rock or mountain section that is loose or weak is picked up and carried along with the glacier and those bits scour the landscape they pass over, like sandpaper, wearing it down. Tiny particles of rock are formed and collected in the glacier and the “rock flour” remains suspended in the water. These particles scatter the light and give the blue color to high mountain glacial lakes such as Lake Louise in Banff National Park in Canada.

Glaciers leave behind characteristically U-shaped valleys, as opposed to water carved valleys which tend to be deep gorges like the Grand Canyon. Into these valleys come plants and animals, protected by the refuge created by the glacier’s path.

Watermarks

The mountainside is cut from the water traces from the snow melt, Banff National Park, Canada, photograph by Brent VanFossenWater cuts as it flows through a valley, but it’s not as “tough” as ice. While a glacier actually grinds its way through the mountains, a stream will cut through the softest part of the rock layers, leaving the hardest stuff behind. Narrow canyons and gorges with rough sides are smoothed in the places where water has polished it and rough in places where the rocks have broken off. As snow melts from the mountain tops and sides, small branching streams carve into the sides as they seek the path of least resistance, creating a network of branching patterns.

The areas of the mountains with the hardest rock resist the water’s forces so the water pushes around them, sometimes causing pillars to separate from the main mountain like in the Grand Canyon and the Garden of the Gods.

The water and wind storms have sliced and polished the limestone remains of mountains near the Dead Sea in Israel, photograph by Brent VanFossenWind takes longer to erode, a matter of force, being even weaker than water. Wind picks up light particles of sand and dust that sandblasts the mountains over time. Areas exposed to the direct wind get worn away more quickly. Wind that has time to pick up sand and dust and spread itself over a wider range creates softer, rounder mountain peaks. Where the wind meets resistance or loses its strength, it leaves deposits of sand and dust, piling up into new sedimentary layers.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

While we can’t see deep beneath the earth’s surface, earthquakes and shifts in the earth’s surface can be photographed indirectly by finding the cracks in the rocks and mountain’s sides, or in crevices that form as the ground shifts underneath.

Clouds on mountain, Jasper National Park, Canada, photograph by Lorelle VanFossenThe Canadian Rocky Mountains offer many excellent examples of the forces of nature at work. These mountains were formed by the movement of two tectonic plates against each other, resulting in the uplifting of the mountains on one side, and the side that lost the war against the stress forces slides down and under the winning side. The upper layers are shoved skyward, often exposing their strata, or layers, to examination. These Mountain are jagged and almost torn looking as the weaker edges tumble away as the push from the planet’s Pacific plate continues to grind forward.

As the two land masses fight against each other for space, earthquakes result and the land shifts under the pressure to conform. Cracks form, great crevices, rough and ragged, splitting open to reveal the layers of sediment and stone exposed in lines, twists, and curves. The forces can be read like the lines in the palm of your hand, telling the story of the land.

The remains of a mountain carved away from the inside out, Maktesh HaGadol, Isarel, photograph by Brent VanFossenIn Israel, there are three “craters” which tell all of the above stories in combination. The original mountains were formed ages ago through the great pressures in tectonic shifts from the Syrian-African Rift, forcing the land masses on either side to rise up and tear each other apart. Seas covered them repeatedly over the millennia. Where the sedimentary layers were made of the hardest rock, they resisted the pressures of the water and tides. The limestone layers left behind by the receding sea were soft and didn’t withstand the wind and rain, so over time, they wore away leaving the stronger edges rising up from the Mountain Remains, Maktesh HaGadol, Israel, photograph by Brent VanFossendesert floor, creating a crater which is really a mountain turned inside out. Along the edges of Maktesh HaGadol, Maktesh HaRamon, and Mahktesh HaKatan, you can see the layers of hard rock sediment pushed up by the geological forces. On the inside, they drop away to the bottom layers of what once was a mountain. The colors in the sand and grains left behind by the layers that once covered the mountain paint the crater floor with intense shades of black, red, green, and pink.

Weather Makers and Takers

Clouds and snow storm in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, photograph by Brent VanFossenNot only do mountains create weather, they stop the weather. Mountains have sides. Where the western slopes of the Olympic Mountains meet the sea, the mountains hold back the rain creating a temperate rain forest with trees covered in layers of green mosses. On the other side is a dry, rain shadow area, creating good pasture land that gets moderate rainfall of 16 inches a year compared to the 150 inches of rain on the seaside’s Hoh Rainforest. The same is true for other large mountains ranges like the Cascades and Rockies. On the weather side you will find luscious green forests accommodating the high rainfall, and on the other will be harsh desert lands.

Pollution affected by weather in the mountains is becoming a major concern. Not only do the mountains stop weather, they act as a barrier to halt air pollution from passing over. Instead, the mountains catch the polluted air from the cities below, and the pollution is trapped in the falling snow and rain. As the mountains are a major source of fresh water, this trapped pollution becomes a health problem. Acid rain is formed by the rain water passing through the toxic air, depositing the poison on the mountain below. Acid rain is destroying much of the plant life and trees in the Smokey and Blue Ridge Mountains on the east coast of the United States, and it wears down the rocks. The Athabasca Glacier in the Banff/Jasper National Parks of Canada feeds water to three oceans and it is under threat from pollution’s effects, too.

Sunset is intensified from massive air pollution, New Mexico Sandia Mountains, photograph by Lorelle VanFossenPhotographically, the increase in particulates in the air creates dramatic sunsets and sunrises. Air pollution also creates a haze, making it difficult to even see the mountains in the distance, or the valleys below when you are in the mountains. If you are planning to travel to photograph mountains near high pollution zones, like the Blue Ridge Mountains, consider visiting after a hard rain or during the winter when the storm winds clear the air.

Mountain Compositions

Mountain Camera Equipment
The most dramatic mountain photographs are made under low light levels such as sunrise and sunset, or storm light conditions where the light quality and quantity changes quickly. We highly recommend using a tripod for your mountain scenes. It permits long shutter speeds, allows you precise compositional control, and helps to level your horizon line.

Wide angle lens are excellent for sweeping views of valleys and mountains rising up, giving a wide striking sense of scale. Take care to notice everything in your viewfinder as all of it will be on the film. Anything distracting will pull the eye away from your main subject: the mountain. Experiment with getting low to the ground to allow wildflowers or rocks to sit in the foreground and loom large compared to the smaller perspective of the mountain in the background.

A long telephoto lens compresses the distance and brings the mountain closer to the camera in the photograph. The mountain appears to tower over things in the foreground. This is a different perception of size and scale. A long lens can also be used to highlight only a part of the mountain that is of interest, a crag or crown of interest, or a rock formation on the side of the mountain.

Few people consider mountains worthy of macro or closeup photography, but these techniques can be used to photograph the sedimentary layers, cracks and crevices of the mountain’s characteristics. Watch the angles of lines when working with cracks and layers in stone to keep them at pleasing angles in the viewfinder, either parallel or on the diagonal to the edges of the frame. Look for repeating patterns in the gravel and crushed rocks. Look closely and you can find mountain images in the mountains with the repeating and echoing patterns.

While the geological formations are fascinating and make excellent subjects for photographing the natural history of a mountainous area, take time to leave the analyst behind and become an artist. Look for Cracks in the rocky face of a mountain cliff, photograph by Brent VanFossenechos in the shapes and patterns that repeat themselves between the background and foreground. Look for fascinating patterns and shapes, recognizable subjects and abstracts that attract your attention. Patterns can be found in the lines and designs, cracks and crevices, and also in the shifts of color. Lichens add colors to the rocks and are part of the story of the mountains and their exposure to the weather. Common mountain patterns feature S-curves, strong vertical and horizontal lines, jagged edges, triangle and pyramidal shapes, branching, and fractals. Learning to recognize the patterns in nature will help you find even more compositional opportunities within the mountains.

Alpenglow in the Olympic Mountains, photograph by Brent VanFossenLight on the mountains is something very special. Mountains that are quite high will catch the first and last rays of sun long before or after the surrounding landscape, so the last light of the day will strike the top of the mountain just as the sun disappears over the horizon. This is the time when the sunlight travels the greatest possible distance through the atmosphere, losing all the blues due to scattering as it passes through. What is left is a red or pink color that can turn the glaciers and peaks a wonderful glowing red color called “alpenglow”.

It usually lasts a few seconds to a minute before it fades and disappears. Don’t give up when you see the sun has set because the best part of the show may come a few minutes later. When you see a sunset, not only watch the sun go down, but turn around and see what is being lit by the sun. That quite often will be the much more exciting picture.

Weather creates dramatic light in the mountains, often different from what is seen below in the valleys. Mountains create their own weather, changing minute by minute. Storm light, dramatic storm clouds, crepuscular rays, and fog can all be found in the mountains. Photograph through snow and rain as they act as a giant diffusion filter, softening the effects.

Jagged looking trees emphasis the roundness of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, photograph by Brent VanFossenLook for a vantage point where you can see a series of ridges, one behind the other, usually early in the morning or late in the day, the farther ridges will be a lighter color because of the haze over the longer distance. Photograph them with a medium to long focal length lens to fill the frame with the layer patterns of mountains. The telephoto lens compresses the perspective and makes them appear closer together.

If you are in a place where you don’t have that vantage point or you don’t have layers of ridges, you can fake it with double or triple exposures, adding a sense of drama. This works particularly well with silhouettes. A sunset sky and the jagged black silhouetted mountain stack up in the frame. Pay attention to the profile of each exposure so the second or even third exposure complements the first. The viewer will see all the layers at once but you have to remember while you’re composing.

Fog adds to the drama of these tree lined mountain ridges, Olympic National Park, USA, photograph by Brent VanFossenClouds and fog add an interesting dimension to your images of mountains. They can act as separators between mountains and ranges of ridges. If the mountains are all monochromatic, the nearest ridges fade and disappear against the farther ridges. Fog or clouds that sit in the valleys between the mountains separate the layers and add some visual interest to the photograph.

Look for opportunities to photograph the sun as it peeks above or drops behind a mountain. The burst of light at that instant is magical. The mountain itself becomes a silhouette, and the sun makes a star burst that can turn an ordinary afternoon into a special photographic memory.

Climb Every Mountain…

Mountains have winding roads, tunnels, rivers, waterfalls, streams, and a diverse climate and plant life range as you pass through the different altitudes. Make it a habit to keep your eyes open as you drive or hike, and stop often to look around to see what’s in view. The profiles and outlines of the mountains capture the drama of the erosion that they have undergone. Mountains can be photographed by themselves or in combination with other things. Explore their history and delight in their revelations. Most of all, photograph them well.

Quake Made the Earth Move

According to an article at CNN.com – Scientists say that the Indian Ocean Earthquake may have made Earth wobble.

Richard Gross, a geophysicist with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, theorized that a shift of mass toward the Earth’s center during the quake Sunday caused the planet to spin 3 microseconds, or millionths of a second, faster and to tilt about an inch on its axis.

Wow! We’ll have to update all our maps and change our clocks!

CNN.com – World News: Election Watch

Traveling around the world, it’s important to stay up-to-date on all kinds of information about your destinations, including travel warnings, medical news, weather, and the local politics. CNN.com – World News: Election Watch features the dates and information about elections all over the world.

As seen recently in the Ukraine, elections can turn violent or at least may interfere with your scheduled plans while traveling. While we were in Spain and other countries in Europe, the protests against the war in Iraq and elections have interferred with our plans, causing us to avoid cities where the protests were predicted to be large, and changing times for visiting certain places and using transportation.

Recently in Amsterdam, we planned an outing around a protest involving over 200,000 people coming from all over the country to Amsterdam to protest about the reduction in the rights and services for seniors, missing the crush on the subway and train systems. Keep informed as to what is going on around you as you travel and you’ll be much safer and happier.

Mobile, Alabama

Lastest Figures of Terrorism in Isarel

During 2004, 118 Israelis died in 55 terrorist attacks – 14 by suicide killers. Security forces thwarted 116 attacks, rounded up 4,947 terrorist suspects.

According to Israel Defense Forces figures presented Wednesday, the number of Israeli civilians killed in terror attacks and the number of troops killed in battle in the territories dropped by 44 percent in 2004, from the previous year’s figures.

Another bit of statistic you should know is that in the past few days, more than 47 rockets and missles have descended upon nearby settlements from Gaza.

Mobile, Alabama

SoundExchange

In a story today on NPR’s Morning Edition, they discussed SoundExchange, an organization created as part of the recent Digital Copyright Protection Act:

We have been designated by the U.S. Copyright Office to collect and distribute statutory royalties to sound recording copyright owners and featured and nonfeatured artists. Our board members and staff are dedicated to providing exceptional service and advocacy for artists and copyright owners to ensure the fair compensation for the use of copyrighted sound recordings.

SoundExchange finds artists and pays them royalties for their recorded performances when they have been presented on the Internet and related media.

If you are a performing artist, check out their free services and you might be getting a check soon for every time your performance airs. Royalties must start being collected within three years of the performance.

Tips for Temps

Having hired temporary workers and been one myself for several years, here are some of the lessons I learned, often the hard way.

Keep Home at Home, Work at Work

Keep personal issues at home
People really don’t care if you are having a good or bad day. They don’t really care if you are in the middle of a divorce or your 2 year old has a cold. They just want the job done, fast and right.
Don’t personalize your workspace
Don't personalize your workspace.Avoid bringing personal items to work such as photos and knickknacks. If you bring personal items, you have to quickly pack them up when you leave and something is bound to be forgotten or left behind.
Keep things impersonal
People enjoy knowing about you, where you are from, where you went to school, and why you are doing this, trying to find a connection. As a temp, you are under pressure to perform, living little time for personal conversations. Plan answers to keep things impersonal while still being professional. If you find something in common, suggest getting together at lunch or after work, and keep your attention on the job.
Keep opinions and gossip to yourself
It’s so easy to tell a stranger your life story, describe how bad the drive into work was, or discuss your feelings on abortion or civil rights. You weaken your position when you bring “issues” into the workplace. It can be tough to keep those snappy and witty comments to yourself, but do. No matter how fast they spring to your lips, keep them zipped up.

Watch what information you give away
At work and at your leisure, you never know who is sitting next to you or within hearing. It takes a little slip of the lips to say something about the beast you are working for, not knowing the friend you are having lunch with is related to the beast. It’s a small world and you never know when something you say might be damaging.

Work Environment

Honor their workspace
Bring your tools and special equipment with you and take it home each night.When temporarily replacing another worker, don’t mess up their work space. People are nervous about their “space” and feel invaded when they know someone else has been opening their drawers and using their equipment. Keep everything as it is. Cleaning around things is usually appreciated. Put everything back where you found it.
Bring your own tools and equipment when possible
Check with each company about the rules of providing your own equipment. If you use specific software, bring it with you and make sure you virus scan everything for your protection and theirs. If you require special tools, bring your own.
If you bring it, take it home
If you need special equipment or supplies and you bring them from home, take them home each night with you. You never know when your office will be different the next day, your job will change, or something may happen and access to the workplace may be restricted to you. Whatever you bring, be it personal or professional items, store them in your vehicle or take them home each night.
Be flexible and adaptable
Not every office or work space will meet your needs. When possible, ask for a more comfortable chair or whatever you need to get the job done. Learn to make do. A phone book covered with your coat makes a short chair higher. Lift keyboards and monitors higher, bring a back support, and adjust things to make yourself comfortable.

Professional Presentation

Be and look professional
Dress appropriately for the situation, always moving towards overdressing on the first day and then adjusting later. Bring hairbrush, makeup, toothbrush and paste, and other essentials to touch yourself up during the day, if necessary.
Smile all the time
Even when your feet are killing you, keep a fresh smile on your face, showing them you like what you do and where you are. Many offices don’t see a smiling face very often and the more you smile, the more they like you and feel relaxed themselves, maybe even smiling back.
Learn the jargon
Every job and industry has its own language and terminology. Sometimes terms change from business to business, forcing you to learn what each company calls the same thing. Voice mail is a messaging service. A receptionist may be the corporate greeter. The more you understand the language, the faster you can follow instructions.
Keep current
Work together not against. Even as a temporary worker you become a part of the company's team.Keep up-to-date on the advancements in your industry and skills. Learn the latest versions of the software and equipment you work with, but keep your skills sharp for older versions. Take classes, do your homework, read the magazines, check the web. Research your field of expertise and keep current so you are ready for whatever the job has to offer.
You don’t know everything
While you have been brought in as an expert, and maybe you do know it all, try to keep your attitude humble. Ask for opinions and respect them, listening to the history of what came before and what they expect from this project. Maybe your great new idea was a flop last week. Reveal your knowledge slowly, earning their trust and respect.
Be prepared to leave a job in minutes
Sometimes you know when a job ends and sometimes notice comes quickly. Keep your equipment and tools close at hand. Any software you brought, make sure it is easy to remove and/or erase off the computer. Take everything home with you each night as your notice to leave can come without a chance to return to the company.

Job Production

Scorecard
If there were a universal scorecard for employers scoring employees, the list would include:

On time
Polite
Appreciative
Thankful
Agreeable
Knowledgeable
Trustworthy
Respectful
Listens
Contributes positively
Works Hard
Team Player
Make each company feel like it is the most important company you’ve ever worked for
Treat people with respect and importance.
Research the company
While it may or may not be important to the work you are hired to do, it can help to know something about the company before you begin. It can also help you understand the terminology of the business and how the structure of the company works.
Know who is who
Find out as soon as possible who you are to report to, who are the people to get the right information from, and under whose umbrella are you walking. It saves confusion later and establishes a clear foundation.
Write everything down
When you are given instructions, write it down. Don’t trust your memory. If you take notes, people believe what they are saying has worth. It makes you look efficient and helps keep you on track through any distractions.
Get specific instructions
Don’t read minds. Don’t make assumptions about what they want you to do. Make sure you completely understand the task ahead of you by asking questions and restating your instructions.
Listen
Listen to your orders. Listen to the people around you. The more information you gather about your task and the company, the better you can do your job and meet their needs.
Do what you are told to do and nothing else
You are not hired to solve all their problems, just the one you are working on. Doing favors and taking on unassigned tasks can upset things. People have reasons for everything they do and don’t do.
Don’t share information about another company
Competition in business is serious business. Just because one company does things one way doesn’t mean it will work for all. If they hear you talk about another company, they realize you could be talking about them on your next job.
Thank everyone
Take time to say thank you to everyone around you for what they are doing and for their help. Many people work in “thankless” jobs, doing what has to be done with little reward save a paycheck. Take a moment to pay attention to them and thank them. It helps make the world a better place.

Temporary Employee Responsibilities

Temp Agencies work with you to help you find jobs.As a temporary employee, you often work for a recruiting or temporary assignment company. It is their business to match you to the company, with your personality and skills, and to keep the customer and you happy. They need to know who you are, how you work, and what your capabilities are. They need more than a resume. There are often a battery of tests the worker must pass before eligibility. Who and what you are is just as important to them as what you can do because they have to trust you to walk into their client’s offices looking professional and capable to get the job done efficiently and accurately.

Consider the temporary employment agency your boss. Since they rarely witness you working, only getting feedback from the contracting company, it is your responsibility to keep them up-to-date on how you are doing, what you are doing, what your schedule is like, and how you feel about where you work and what you are doing. To help them, here are some tips.

Keep your resume up-to-date all the time
Carry it with you on disk and update it with the new tasks you are learning. Resumes are customizable to specific jobs, so keep a master resume specifying what you do on the various jobs so you have a good resource to cull a resume from. You never know when a recruiter will call asking for a specific skill and you can have the experiential evidence ready.
Send your updated resume to the recruiter frequently
Keep your resume updated and fresh for your temporary job agency.Depending upon the duration of the job, and the turnover at your recruiter’s office, you can lose touch with your job recruiter. Make sure they remember who you are and what you are capable of.
Remember your recruiter
Some job recruiters work with 20 – 50 people every day. They tend to lose track of who is who and what they can do. Besides sending your resume, do small things like sending a thank you card, send flowers, visit the office, do little things to keep them interested and enthused about you. The more visible you are, the better your job opportunities.
Thank your recruiter
If you love the job you are in, don’t forget to let your recruiter know they did good with a thank you call or note card. By letting them know which jobs make you happy, they are more likely to continue to place you in the appropriate positions.
Work with more than one agency
If you need a steady flow of income, find representation with more than one agency to keep the work opportunities coming in. When you are committed to a job lasting more than a week, contact the agencies to let them know you will be unavailable for that time period and when you will be ready for another position.
 

Israel Blog – Israellycool

A fascintaing blog from a young Aussie living in Isarel at Israellycool – Down Under punditry in the Middle East is actually quite fascinating and recently received top Blog awards.

You can find more links to information about Israel on our site, too, along with lots of stories about our life in Israel.

Mobile, Alabama

2004 Weblog Awards

Even bloggers can win awards, a whole variety of them. Winners have been announced at 2004 Weblog Awards.
Mobile, Alabama

Start a Winning Blog Article

Interesting article on blogging from the Washington Post called Start a Winning Blog.

If you are thinking about blogging, or already at it, you can learn a few things here about the business behind the blog.

Mobile, Alabama

Voices Over the Computer

It seems that technology is finally catching up with desired results. For the longest time people have wanted to “talk” to their computers. This isn’t something from the fiction of Star Trek, it is just “easier” to talk to your computer than to move around through menus, clicking and tapping on your mouse and keyboard. If you can just tell it want you want, computers will have finally caught up with our real needs.

IBM and Dragon/Scansoft have been working hard to bring voice recognition to your computer, but the technology, the engine in the machine, hasn’t been able to keep up with the volume of processing data required for efficient speak recognition and response. So commands have been simple. Open File. Save File. Start Excel. Things like that. Now that the technology in the box is finally catching up and soon we may be able to ask a question like, “Computer, what time is it in Timbuktu?” (more…)

WordPress Plugin – Related Posts

There is a lot about WordPress and PHP that I’m still learning. I did my first PHP mySQL query today as part of the installation of Wasabi’s Related Posts WordPress Plugin. This is a truly AWESOME WordPress plugin. Unfortunately, the help file isn’t very helpful when it comes to explaining how to access your mySQL administration database area and then run the query that adds some columns to your post table…see, I can hardly understand what I’m writing, but I was able to run the query from the QUERY tab and pasting in the command to make the ALTER TABLE work. YEAH! I hope to be a PHP expert (let’s all laugh together) within the next six months, at least enough to have my site be PHP instead of static HTML.

This new related posts plugin adds the box you see below that lists links related to this blog entry. Somehow the php code examines the title and text of each of the posts and compares it to the current post, finding related words and phrases and then lists them. The default features only 5 links, but I changed that to 10. I also added the CSS presentation style to put the links in a pretty box. This I’m very good at – PHP is still under construction in my head.

I’ve been looking for something like this since I started this blog, so I’m thrilled and doing a little dance on Christmas day that I was actually able to do this. YEAH!!!

I also found Jai Bharat Patel’s Blog – One click backup of WordPress 1.2 files and database. I’ll have to take a look at how this works and give it a try. Anything to save time and trouble…if indeed this doesn’t cause more…..my luck.

Mobile, Alabama

Adding Photographs

I’ve finally gotten around to editing and posting photographs from my little digital camera that bit the dust on the day we moved into our current campground in the pouring rain. Just for your information, I’ve added photographs to the following blog entries so you can see pictures of our traumas as well as photographs of the trailer during its rebuild from five years in storage. Enjoy!

Mobile, Alabama