Personal Blog

Month: January 2017

Photos: Anchorage-area roads slickened by rain — Cars slide off road on hillside

ADN.com Slideshow

(video) SEASONS of NORWAY – A Time-Lapse Adventure in 8K

One year of planning, one year of shooting, and four months of post-production is a lot of time to spend on a single timelapse, but photographer Morten Rustad‘s creation SEASONS of NORWAYmakes a good case for the old saying: good things come to those who wait.

Well, maybe “wait” isn’t quite right: more like “hike.” Good things come to those who hike. To capture his 8K masterpiece, Rustand travelled a total of 20,000 Km (not all on foot, but still…) and filled up 20TB worth of hard drive space with 200,000 photos from his Sony A7r II, Sony A7s, Panasonic GH4, and Canon 5D Mark III.

It was, in short, a mammoth undertaking that set Rustand in front of some of the most beautiful landscapes on Earth—all of them, as it happens, in Norway. (PetaPixel)

SEASONS of NORWAY – A Time-Lapse Adventure in 8K

(video) Anchorage sports dome collapses under snow – 6 blocks from our house

This is only about 6 blocks from our house, and is said to be the largest structure of its kind in the world.

I know many are extremely fond of it because of the activities done there, so it’s a great asset to Anchorage, but I must say the bright white color is an annoying distraction when trying to photograph the mountains from where I often walk. They could have made it green like the smaller one on the Seward Highway.

I’ve heard that anywhere from 12.5 – 14 inches of snow fell. It was just barely below the top of our snowblower’s scoop. I only remember this much snow falling in one period once, and remember it well because we were deicing a 747 freighter, but the snow was falling so heavily that we ran out of time on the first try, and had to do it a second time: deicing and anti-icing (two steps), the only time I remember that happening.

On the way home, after working the midnight shift, I remember driving down unplowed Postmark Dr., and my Eagle Talon’s front end was punching through the snow, shooting some onto the windshield.

The dome collapse story:

Detailed article and video from KTVA: ‘Profound sadness’: Board chair, athlete react to Dome collapse

How to Keep the Snow off a Dome

The Dome Has Collapsed!

My Alaska

My Alaska

Published on Jan 22, 2017

The Dome has collapsed from heavy snow load overnight. The Dome was evacuated Saturday afternoon when the roof began to sag. There were no injuries reported at the time of the collapse.
Subscribe now to The My Alaska Channel
From their website (http://thedome.us) : At 180,000 square feet, The Dome is officially the largest sports complex of its kind on the planet. Held down with pipes and cables plunging 40 feet into the ground, supported by pressurized air, The Dome houses a 400-meter USA Track & Field certified track, full-size soccer field, full-size football field, weight equipment, batting cages and much more.
Snow and wind sensors automatically increase or decrease pressure and temperature of The Dome, keeping it at 15 to 17 lbs of air pressure per square inch, creating an hyperbaric chamber.

(music video) RED HOT SONG! ‘In Jesus’ Name’ @ OneThing 2016 — “God is fighting for us, pushing back the darkness / Lighting up the kingdom that cannot be shaken / In the name of Jesus, enemy’s defeated / And we will shout it out, shout it out!”

I watched much of the conference, especially the worship sessions. Much of this is so so, but the end is wonderful!

From the last worship session at IHOP’s OneThing 2016, New Year’s Eve.

The song, “In Jesus Name” @ 1:37:05 is HOT HOT HOT!!!

I need to learn this song! Full lyrics below video. Cue it up to 1:37:05!

– –

God is fighting for us, pushing back the darkness
Lighting up the kingdom that cannot be shaken
In the name of Jesus, enemy’s defeated
And we will shout it out, shout it out

• • •

New Year countdown @ 1:35:30
In Jesus Name @ 1:37:05
RED HOT @ 1:39:55!!!

Happy New Year Onething 2016 with David Forlu, Jaye Thomas, and Chris Tofilon

David Vega

• • •

In Jesus’ Name

Songwriters: Israel Houghton & Darlene Zschech

God is fighting for us, God is on our side
He has overcome, yes He has overcome
We will not be shaken, we will not be moved
Jesus, You are here

Carrying our burdens, covering our shame
He has overcome, yes He has overcome
We will not be shaken, we will not be moved
Jesus, You are here

I will live, I will not die
The resurrection power of Christ
Alive in me and I am free in Jesus name
I will live, I will not die
I will declare and lift You high
Christ revealed and I am healed in Jesus name

God is fighting for us, pushing back the darkness
Lighting up the kingdom that cannot be shaken
In the name of Jesus, enemy’s defeated
And we will shout it out, shout it out

13 inches of weekend snow boosts Anchorage into record books

Nice to see!

– –

From: KTVA.com

13 inches of weekend snow boosts Anchorage into record books

January 23, 2017

…Anchorage has received 23.8 inches of snow so far in January.

That’s the second highest total for the start of a calendar year since records began being taken at the airport in 1953. …

A large chunk of this year’s snowfall total came last weekend, when 13 inches were reported at the Anchorage airport.

For the entire winter season, Anchorage has had 44.3 inches of snow by Jan. 23, just a couple of inches off what is considered normal.

Entire Article

Gigapixel: The Inauguration of Donald Trump — Have a look around at the HUGE crowd!

Compare to these faked photos:

CBS News

The Nation

Wikipedia

Comments in the PetaPixel’s article of the same shot gives two conflicting explanations of who shot it, but it definitely is a stitched image of dozens of separate photos:

Gear used and photographer:

Canon 5DSr + 70-200 2.8L mounted on a Nodal Ninja M2 pano head and shot by hand. Supposedly shot at both 70mm and 200mm. The photographer is Tomasz Misiewicz and he did a great job in a very challenging situation. When you compare this to the previously published gigapixels from 2013 (shot by Toni Sandys) and the first one in 2009 (shot by by David Bergman) you can see how the quality of the gear, the technique and vantage point have all improved exponentially.

Alternative story:

Jim Bourg, the Washington DC Reuters photo editor sez it was shot at 12:01pm by Reuters photographer Lucas Jackson.

Was definitely stitched:

I’m curious what was used to make it. I found a guy with a seam down the middle of his face and movement so multiple shots over a period of time “Landscape Stitching” style. But the resolution is amazing.


Use your mouse to move around, zoom in HERE.

(video) Rock Skipping Alaska Style! You gotta hear these crazy sounds!

Rock Skipping Alaska Style! You gotta hear these crazy sounds!

WIND TURBINES SLAUGHTER MILLIONS of birds and bats annually — Blade tips move up to 180 mph!

This is so sad: something so good for the environment is not so good.

Hopefully, our Anchorage, Alaska wind turbines on Fire Island are not as catastrophic.

Not mentioned in this article, the giant wind turbines also emit a strong, subsonic hum that disturbs nearby human residents, who often have to then move to maintain their health and sanity.

Smaller wind turbines may be more humane for animals and people.

– –

From: savetheeaglesinternational.org

Wind turbines are actually slaughtering millions of birds and bats annually

The Obama administration is issuing 30-year permits for “taking” (killing) bald and golden eagles. The great birds will be legally slaughtered “unintentionally” by lethal wind turbines installed in their breeding territories, and in “dispersion areas” where their young congregate (e.g. Altamont Pass).
By chance (if you believe in coincidences), a timely government study claims wind farms will kill “only” 1.4 million birds yearly by 2030. This new report is just one of many, financed with taxpayers’ money, aimed at convincing the public that additional mortality caused by wind plants is sustainable. – It is not.
Dr. Shawn Smallwood’s 2004 study, spanning four years, estimated that California’s Altamont Pass wind “farm” killed an average of 116 Golden Eagles annually. This adds up to 2,900 dead “goldies” since it was built 25 years ago. Altamont is the biggest sinkhole for the species, but not the only one, and industry-financed research claiming that California’s GE population is stable is but a white-wash.

Eagles are not the only victims. Smallwood also estimated that Altamont killed an average of 300 red-tailed hawks, 333 American kestrels and 380 burrowing owls annually – plus even more non-raptors, including 2,526 rock doves and 2,557 western meadowlarks.
In 2012, breaking the European omerta on wind farm mortality, the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO/Birdlife) reviewed actual carcass counts from 136 monitoring studies. They concluded that Spain’s 18,000 wind turbines are killing 6-18 million birds and bats yearly.
Extrapolating that and similar (little publicized) German and Swedish studies, 39,000 U.S. wind turbines would not be killing “only” 440,000 birds (USFWS, 2009) or “just” 573,000 birds and 888,000 bats (Smallwood, 2013), but 13-39 million birds and bats every year!
However, this carnage is being covered up by self-serving and/or politically motivated government agencies, wind industry lobbyists, environmental groups and ornithologists, under a pile of misleading studies paid for with more taxpayer money. …
Nevertheless, news has leaked that eagles are being hacked to death all across America. This is hardly surprising, as raptors are attracted to wind turbines. They perch on them to rest or scan for prey. They come because turbines are often built in habitats that have abundant food (live or carrion) and good winds for gliding.

Griffon Vultures – courtesy of the association of ecologists GURELUR, Navarre, SpainGriffon Vultures – courtesy of the association of ecologists GURELUR, Navarre, Spain

Save the Eagles International (STEI) has posted photographs of raptors perched on nacelles or nonmoving blades , and ospreys building a nest on a decommissioned turbine. Moving blades don’t deter them either: videos show a turkey vulture perched on the hub of a spinning turbine, and a griffon vulture being struck. Birds perceive areas traveled by spinning blades as open space, unaware that blade tips are moving at up to 180 mph. Many are focused on prey. These factors make wind turbines “ecological death traps,” wherever they are located.

Entire Article

California’s iconic ‘drive-thru’ tree succumbs to storm & human folly

I’ve driven through the Chandelier Tree shown in parts of this short video, but this is not the one explained in this story, which is the Pioneer Cabin Tree in Calaveras Big Tree State Park.

Drive-Through Trees Listed

• • •

California’s iconic ‘drive-thru’ tree succumbs to storm

Photo-a-Day #76: Bass Pro Shops Stunning Front Entrance – Anchorage!!!

Bass Pro Shops Alaskan Outpost – front entrance!

Absolutely GORGEOUS design!!! I love everything except the statement above the door that legitimatizes lying: Welcome Fisherman, Hunters, and Other Liars. They’re actually telling us: only liars are welcome. TRUTHERS should not feel uncomfortable walking through that door.

Despite what TV preachers say, lying is no laughing matter:

“But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners… sexually immoral… and ALL LIARS, their part is in THE LAKE that burns with fire and sulfur….” – God in Rev. 21:8

Corporate America is leading US astray, everywhere we look. But they sure do it with style, which makes the deception easier to swallow.

My father was a real ‘sportsman,’ which meant honesty back then. He both obeyed the laws and did not exaggerate.

ALL CHILDREN deserve honest fathers. Companies should promote honesty, integrity, and what’s best for people.

bassentrance_1100

November 14, 2016

Canon 5Ds R

Photo-a-Day #77: “Going Home” – Anchorage Hillside

Anchorage, Alaska Hillside — going-home folks

hillsides-4_1100

November 15, 2016

Canon 5Ds R

Photo-a-Day #78: Supermoon – Closest since 1948!

I was shooting from hillside, Anchorage, Alaska, doing a follow-up of yesterday’s shoot, which didn’t work out, so I looked for a plan B. The moon looked interesting; though, I hadn’t heard:

The supermoon (perigee full moon) on November 14, 2016, will bring the moon closer to Earth than it has been since January 26, 1948. What’s more, the moon won’t come this close to Earth again until November 25, 2034. That makes the November 2016 full moon the closest and largest supermoon in a period of 86 years! (source)

So I’m glad plan A didn’t work out.

Moon Distance: 366,082.58 km = 227,473 miles.

supermoon-2_1100

November 16, 2016

Canon 5Ds R

(video) 6743 Last NWA freighter out of ANC 28 DEC 2009

Sad day for us. I just saw this video today.

Aircraft mechanic Jeff Jenney took this video of our last 747 freighter in Anchorage. Facebook post HERE.

My still photos are from the other direction. After disconnecting the towbar and waving off the plane, I took photos from below the hill at F1. Later photos appear first: HERE.

Raspberry Frosty Road

I photographed this about 200 feet from our house as the sun was going down, at 3:20 pm in Anchorage, Alaska.

We’re facing the Chugach Mountains, directly east. I’m surmising the trees on the right are more gorgeous because the sun had risen to the right in the SE and set in the SW, so those on the right experienced no direct sunlight (except the top branches), while those on the left probably saw about 4 hours of sun, melting some of the hoar frost.

But still, much of the frost remains, which shows how little heat the sun produces this time of year, because it stays so low, where its intensity is held back by the earth’s atmosphere. The official high temp was 17° — plenty warm enough for the sun to melt the frost if it had more oomph.

Official sunrise-sunset times were 10:11 am – 3:59 pm, but the sun is below the mountains during some of that period.

raspberryfrosted_1100

January 4, 2017

Canon 5Ds R

Raspberry Road

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