Tuesday (20-March-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Early Spring Nature in New Jersey.

Some more images of the large branch that came down with the last Nor’easter storm.ย  We have another Nor’easter due to arrive tomorrow with predictions of 12-18 inches of new snow. I hope I don’t lose any more trees.


Sunday (18-March-2018) — New Jersey

Late-Winter Bike Race in New Jersey.

The other day I noticed some yellow turn signs on the side of the road near my house. I went online, and found that there would be a 80 mile bike race “Hell of Hunterdon” that would pass my driveway on Sunday morning. The race was scheduled to start at the nearby Elks lodge in Blawenburg. A little after 09:00 I went out with a camera and started taking pictures. I probably should have set up a tripod and automatic shutter because my hands and fingers got really cold.


Saturday (17-March-2018) — New Jersey

Late-Winter Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

A deer checking out the large branch that broke off during the last Nor’easter. The branch is larger than I can cut with my battery-powered chain saw. The prediction is for yet another Nor’easter next week.

Deer checking out the large branch that broke off the pine tree during the last Nor'easter. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 4000, 130 mm, f/4.8, 1/2000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Deer checking out the large branch that broke off the pine tree during the last Nor’easter. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 4000, 130 mm, f/4.8, 1/2000 sec). (David J Mathre)

Four-Years Ago (15-March-2014) — Iceland

Gone to See Iceland 2014 โ€“ Winter Photography Workshop. Day 7: Golden Circle.

Svartsengi geothermal power plant near the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 23 mm f/1.4 lens. Between Geothermal and Hydroelectric power more electricity is generated than needed by the 340K residents of Iceland. The excess power is used by a couple of aluminum smelting plants, and more recently by bitcoin miners. I heard a report on the news that 600 computers specially configured with multiple video processors for bitcoin mining were stolen from a warehouse data center in Iceland. Need to follow where the power is being used…

Svartsengi Geothermal Power Plant Near the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 23 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 23 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Svartsengi Geothermal Power Plant Near the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 23 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 23 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Trolls Lair. Moss Covered Lava Field Just Outside the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. Composite of 3 images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 23 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 23 mm, f/11). Google HDR Efex Pro. (David J Mathre)
Trolls Lair. Moss Covered Lava Field Just Outside the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. Composite of 3 images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 23 mm f/1.4 lens (ISO 200, 23 mm, f/11). Google HDR Efex Pro. (David J Mathre)

Three-Years Ago (14-March-2015) — Chile

Gone to See Patagonia 2015 Photography Tour with Thom Hogan. Day 13: Hotel Lago Grey to Hotel Las Torres. Torres del Paine National Park, Chile.

It was a long day. I got up early to check out dawn and sunrise before we departed Hotel Lago Grey. We got on the bus and started the drive to Hotel Las Torres. There were many stops to get panorama images — of the mountains, the lakes, the rainbows, the clouds. We stopped for a long time at Mirador Salto Grande (lookout for the grand waterfall). This has to be one of the windiest places on earth. We then hiked to Mirador Cuernos. During the hike we passed a forest of dead trees. The story behind the forest fire that killed the trees was a hiker that was trying to burn his toilet paper. As we got closer to the Cuernos del Pain (granite horns) we can across a group of Guanaco. After that we got back on the bus. We stopped for a bit at the old bridge, where our guide Rob did some wire-walking. We finally ended the day at Hotel Las Torres.

Individual images from the slide-shows can be viewed here.