Panorama - David Mathre Photography

Wednesday (16-May-2018) — Japan

Gone to See Japan. Street Photography Workshop with Steve Simon and Soichi Hayashi. Day 0: Tokyo.

Red Poppy Flower at Shinjuku Chuo Park in Tokyo Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 18 mm, f/5, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)

I woke up early trying to adjust to the 13 hour time change and spent the morning doing a walkabout near the Keio Plaza hotel. One thing I noted on the map of the area was “Niagara Falls” in Shinjuku Chuo park. The waterfall is not as big as the one on the New York/Canada border. I found a woman walking her turtle (tortoise?) to the waterfall. On the way back to the hotel, I took a 360 degree series of images in Citizen Plaza. At 09:30 the two observatories on the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building open. There is no admission fee, but a quick bag check before entering the elevator. I chose the south tower, since the line was a bit shorter. The elevator going up is really fast bringing you to a large room with viewing windows all the way around the building. There is a toy store in the center, and a cafeteria/bar along one side. I took a series of images from each of the windows (except the ones in the restaurant area with restricted access) to see if I could generate a 360 degree panorama and/or little planet view of Tokyo. I did not see Mt. Fuji which is visible from the observation towers on clear mornings.

In the afternoon, I returned to Shinjuku Chuo park and found some Poppy flowers. Which was good since I don’t think I will have many (or any) back home this year. I then did another series of images in Citizen’s Plaza and from the North Observation tower — this time with a wider angle lens.t

The images from Citizen’s Plaza and the Observation towers were processed with AutoPano Giga Pro to create composite 360 degree panorama, fisheye, mirror ball, little planet, and tunnel view images. Individual images from the slide-shows can be viewed here.

Monday (09-April-2018) — New Jersey

Early Springtime in New Jersey.

Colorful clouds at dawn, rye bread, chipping sparrows, and a local cat. When the cat showed up, the small birds disappeared.

Hearty Whole Wheat & Rye Bread Recipe: Whole Wheat Flour (1 cup); Sprouted Wheat Flour (1 cup); Rye Flour (1 cup); flax seed (1/4 cup); chia seed (1 tbs); caraway seed (1 tbs); fennel seed (1 tbs); anise seed (1 tbs), dill seed (1 tbs); brown sugar (2 tbs); dry milk (1/4 cup); salt (1 tsp); instant coffee (1 tbs); cocoa powder (1 tbs); egg (1 large); flax oil (2 tbs); water (1 1/3 cup); molasses (1/4 cup). Above ingredients minus the molasses added to Panasonic Bread Bakery. Yeast (2 tsp) added to yeast hopper and the unit set for Whole Wheat Bread (Rapid) and started. Once the unit started mixing the ingredients the molasses was slowly added. Three hours later, the loaf of bread was removed and allowed to cool.

Black & White Neighborhood Cat. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 720, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)

Seven-Years Ago (24-March-2011) — California

Gone to See California. Day 5: Death Valley Spring 2011 Photography Workshop with Michael Mariant.

I rode into Death Valley with Michael Mariant. We made an initial stop at Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes prior to the start of the workshop, so Michael could geomark a trail for the next day. The photography workshop group met up at Furnace Creek. After lunch and an orientation session, we spent the afternoon at Dante’s View, Golden Valley trail, and the Devil’s Golf Course. There still was some snow on the ground at Dante’s View — 5476 ft (1669 m) above sea level. The Devil’s Golf Course is only a few feet above the lowest point (282 feet below sea level) in the National Park (and the Continental United States). You have to be careful when in the Devil’s Golf Course as the halite crystals are very sharp — which I learned the hard way. While squatting to take a picture, I managed to cut a big hole in my favorite pair of lightweight linen pants.

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

Friday (23-March-2018) — New Jersey

Early Springtime Nature in New Jersey.

I woke up in time to catch some fleeting brightly colored clouds to the east. There was still some snow on the ground. By noon most of the snow was mostly gone (spring flowers). Then by evening, the snow was all gone (young deer).

Colorful Dawn Clouds Composite of three images taken with a Nikon D810a camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 200, 24 mm, f/5.6, 1/30 sec). (David J Mathre)

Birdbath Statue. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 60 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 60 mm, f/2.8, 1/2000 sec). (David J Mathre)

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

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.