Seven-Years Ago (12-September-2012) — Belgium

Gone to see Europe. Semester at Sea. Fall 2012 Semester Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 20: Antwerp, Belgium.

Voetgangerstunnel is a pedestrian (and bicycle) tunnel  under the Scheldt River.  I made a time-lapse video going through the tunnel where I carried a Nikon 1V1 camera with a 10 mm f/2.8 lens on a monopod. The camera was set to automatically take an image every 5 seconds. Light levels were low, and I had to hope each image would be in focus. Once I was on the other side of the river I got an image of the MV Explorer with the Antwerp Cathedral in the background.

Escalator at the Voetgangerstunnel Under the Schelde River in Antwerp, Belgium. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/30 sec) (David J. Mathre)
Escalator at the Voetgangerstunnel Under the Scheldt River in Antwerp, Belgium. Image taken with a Leica X2 camera (ISO 400, 24 mm, f/2.8, 1/30 sec) (David J. Mathre)
M/V Explorer Docked in Antwerp, Belgium. From Across the Schelde River. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 50 mm, f/11, 1/200 sec) (David J Mathre)
M/V Explorer Docked in Antwerp, Belgium. From Across the Scheldt River. Image taken with a Nikon D800 and 70-300 mm VR lens (ISO 100, 50 mm, f/11, 1/200 sec) (David J Mathre)

Ten-Years Ago (12-September-2009) — Canada

Gone to See North America Road Trip. Day 22: Anchorage to Burwash Landing on the Alaska-Canada Highway. Yukon, Canada.

Rather taking the Alaska Marine Highway ferry back, I decided to drive the Alaska-Canada highway. The summer travel season was over so there was very little traffic on the highway. I spent the night at a RV spot in Burwash Landing along Lake Kluane. There was a derelict boat behind my RV site next to the lake. The image of the boat seemed dull, so I played around with some of the image processing software packages ending up with a surrealistic photo art version of the derelict boat.

Derelict Boat at Burwash Landing, Yukon Canada. On Kluane Lake along the Alaska Canada Highway. Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 14-24 mm lens (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/8, 1/30 sec) (David J Mathre)
Derelict Boat at Burwash Landing.  Image taken with a Nikon D300 and 14-24 mm lens (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/8, 1/30 sec) (David J Mathre)
Derelict Fishing Boat HDR at Burwash Landing, Yukon Canada. On Kluane Lake along the Alaska Canada Highway. Composite of 3 images taken with a Nikon D300 and 14-24 mm lens (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/8). HDR Processed with Photomatix Pro. (David J Mathre)
Derelict Fishing Boat HDR at Burwash Landing. Composite of 3 images taken with a Nikon D300 and 14-24 mm lens (ISO 800, 24 mm, f/8). HDR Processed with Photomatix Pro. (David J Mathre)

Ten-Years Ago (10-September-2009) — Alaska

Gone to See North America Road Trip. Day 20: Alaska Railroad – Denali to Anchorage, Alaska. (Day 6: Nikonians ANPAT 9).

We were very fortunate on this trip to see Mount Denali five days in a row. As the tallest mountain in North America, it creates its own weather and often is obscured by clouds for days at a time. The first set of images are of Mount Denali. They were taken while riding the Alaska Railroad train back to Anchorage from the Observation car. I didn’t posted them in the past because they were out of focus and blurry. Photographer error — I used shutter-priority mode  with a high shutter speed (1/1000 or 1/2000 sec) with the ISO set to 100. This resulted in the aperture being being nearly wide open, which meant a narrow range of distances in focus. The 45 mm f/2.8 PC-E lens is a manual focus lens, and I must have moved it off of focusing at infinity. I have reprocessed the images with Capture One Pro and Topaz Focus AI. I am very impressed with how much detail the Topaz Focus AI program was able to recover.

The next set of images are landscape views from the train. The same camera and lens, but set to aperture-priority with the aperture set at f/11, and auto ISO. These images were sharper, and did not need to be reprocessed. In some of the images you see the old telegraph poles. Although the wire had been removed years ago to recover the copper, the glass insulators are still there.

Finally, a time-lapse video (sort of) documenting the group on the train. All images taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 16 mm  fisheye lens. Two minutes in length.


Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.



Click on the above image to access my PhotoShelter gallery with the individual images in the following slideshow.


Ten-Years Ago (08-September-2009) — Alaska

Gone to See North America Road Trip. Day 18: Denali National Park, Alaska. (Day 4: Nikonians ANPAT 9).

We separated into four groups, and our group of eight rode one of the Park Service buses on the only road into the National Park. We stopped at Stony Hill Scenic Overlook to view Denali with some amazing lenticular clouds. We saw lots of animals (Dall Sheep, Red Fox, Grizzly Bear, Coyote) either on or near the road. Some so close, I had trouble focusing.

Stony Hill Scenic Overlook. Autumn Panorama of the Highway to Denali, Denali National Park, Alaska. Composite of 3 vertical images taken with a Nikon D3x and 85 mm f/2.8 TC-E lens (ISO 100, 85 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)
Stony Hill Scenic Overlook. Autumn Panorama of the Highway to Denali. Composite of 3 vertical images taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 85 mm f/2.8 TC-E lens (ISO 100, 85 mm, f/16, 1/100 sec). (David J Mathre)


Click on the above image to access the individual images in the slideshow.


Red Fox. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 1600, 150 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Red Fox. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 1600, 150 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Grizzly Bear. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 1600, 400 mm, f/8, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
Grizzly Bear. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 1600, 400 mm, f/8, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
Coyote. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 1600, 400 mm, f/11, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)
Coyote. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 1600, 400 mm, f/11, 1/250 sec). (David J Mathre)
Coyote. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 1100, 400 mm, f/11, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Coyote. Image taken with a Nikon D3 camera and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 1100, 400 mm, f/11, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Lone Photographer Viewing Denali. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 1600, 80 mm, f/16, 1/250 sec). GPS Location (N63.431 W-150.304) (David J. Mathre)
Lone Photographer Viewing Denali. Image taken with a Nikon D3 and 80-400 mm VR lens (ISO 1600, 80 mm, f/16, 1/250 sec). GPS Location (N63.431 W-150.304) (David J. Mathre)

Saturday (07-September-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Summertime Nature in New Jersey.

Three of the Sourland Spectacular Bicycle routes passed by my house. The Sourland Spectacular is a charity event that supports the Sourland Mountains. I put a Garmin VIRB-360 camera up on my mailbox to record the early morning riders. Unfortunately, the plug to the external battery pack fell out, so the camera only recorded an hour of activity. There were a couple of heavy dump trucks that passed by. I wouldn’t want to be a bike rider on these narrow roads with those trucks passing.

Daily Electric Energy Used (37.1 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (55.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny in the morning, some clouds in the afternoon. Still cool enough that the windows can be left open and no need to run the Geothermal HVAC. Overall a net surplus of 18.7 kWh (almost making up for yesterday.

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