Category Archives: Video

Wigglegram: Milky Way over Kalaloch Beach

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milky-way

Taken back in October 2015, when I camped near Kalaloch Beach in Olympic National Park in Washington State on my Nikon D700, f/2.8 at 14mm.

There’s a lot of things I love about gifs, but one of the things is that it allows you to capture a passage of time that you just can’t with a static image. This is 5 shots, each 20 seconds, of the Milky Way as it moves through the sky over the pacific ocean, over about a period of 2 minutes.

I don’t know if I can say enough about the night sky. People often ask whether or not it actually looked like this. And it’s hard to say “well, not quite”. Sure with it being a long exposure, it captures the milky way a little more brilliantly than may be seen with the naked eye, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not actually the way it looks. There is so much of this scene that can’t be captured by just our eyes, or even captured by a photo.

Sometimes we just assume that only the things the rods and cones can detect are what is real, but there are parts of the spectrum that aren’t visible to us but are there nonetheless.

Anyway, I’m not sure what I’m trying to say here, except, yes, these photos are real, and they’re spectacular.

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The Milky Way over Mt Grinnell [Timelapse]

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I had previously shared a photo taken from one of my timelapse sequences I shot while I camped in the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park. I finally got around to putting together the full timelapse that I shot while I was there. It was only a few days after the Supermoon, so I had only a short window of time to capture the Milky Way before the moon came out. You can see near the end of the video, as the moon rises from behind me, to light up the peaks and the rest of the scene.

I’ve always wanted to get a wonderful shot of the Milky Way with the mountains in the background, and a reflection off of a lake in the foreground. Unfortunately, due to the movement of the water in the aptly named, Swiftcurrent Lake, the reflections don’t come out very clear, but I guess that’s a project for another time!

This video was shot over a span of about 5 hours. I wasn’t quite as prepared for the cold as I thought I was, so my last couple hours, I was just trying to stay warm by moving and possibly dancing like nobody was watching. Luckily, it was pretty dark so I don’t think anyone else saw me. Next time, I’ll be sure to bring some gloves, a thermos of hot cocoa, and maybe a camp chair!

 

Oregon Through Timelapse

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A General Life Update Where I Make Excuses:

So, it’s been more than a little while since I’ve updated… I’ve been focusing more on film photography this summer, so there hasn’t been as much to share. I have a few rolls that I’ve stashed away, that I am hoping to develop and scan myself, but am holding off until I have a few more rolls finished.

I have picked up a few new cameras, which I really should feature in a little “cameraporn” series, so I will try to do that in the next few weeks. It’ll be a Fujica GW690II, and a Mamiya RZ67proII. I am really enjoying the image quality from these larger sized medium format cameras… You’ll see what I mean when I finally get around to posting those pics.

In any case, you’ll likely be seeing a few more updates than you have been getting from me earlier this year, since now I have a bit more time on my hands… Why you ask? (Well, I’ll tell you, even though you didn’t ask.) Well, because a couple weeks ago, the company I was working at laid me off…

At first, I was a little upset, and maybe a little surprised, although I shouldn’t have been. The past year, my company had merged with another, and I had been working to manage the process of several plant closures we had been going through to achieve the “synergy targets” that the board was looking for. It meant I was in the know on some layoffs, even if I had no real control over them or how it happened. But, they layoffs continued with a voluntary separation, and then involuntary layoffs. I made it through those, but then the company made some organizational changes, and decided they didn’t need project manager any longer. It was just strange to be on both sides of the coin there. No major qualms about it though; it’s actually been quite a blessing in disguise! It happened at an opportune time for me, as I had just been trying to finalize my plans for how I could stretch rest of my vacation time this year, only to find out, that I now have plenty of time to vacation!

I’m planning on taking some time to reevaluate what direction I want my career to head in, as well as take some time to explore and learn, and spend time with my loved ones. But enough about me…

And now to get to the point… Oregon Through Timelapse:

You may have seen the photos I posted when I camped in Oregon. I had done a few timelapses, which I compiled with a couple from the last time I was in Oregon to come up with this short video… I hope you like it! I put it together a a couple months ago, so I’m not sure why I’m just now getting around to sharing it! Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about the timelapses. I am never sure how much to bore people with details, and I’m probably a little to lazy to go back and look up anything without being sure people want to know!

Anyways, thanks as always for following, and reading my words and looking at my photos. I do a lot of this stuff for my own personal benefit, but it’s also nice to know that other people enjoy it too!

#52weekproject: Week 21 – ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

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This is so long ago, it’s not even funny. The whole ice bucket thing came and went. And here I am finally sharing it.

Week 21 - Ice Bucket

Taken on Saturday, August 30th 2014. Took a still from the video I made for the Ice Bucket Challenge, but I think it still counts. (You can find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nisAFWIjUvM).

I had my dad and my sister help me out, but I’m sure my dad was pretty confused as to why I was doing it, since his exposure to the internet is usually limited to emailing me about computer or camera questions, or watching Vietnamese music videos on youtube with my mom.

Anyway, long story short, I donated $100 to Charity:Water, and $100 to Action Against Hunger to support a couple of other causes I feel are just as important.

 

http://www.charitywater.org/

http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/

 

Utah National Parks in a Nutshell (July 2013)

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Canyonlands National Park

This just in! Camping is in tents! (See previous post.)

Hi everyone! It’s been awhile since my last serious update, and a lot has happened!

My blog just turned 4!

So, a few days ago, wordpress just let me know some big news! (Yes, we’re bff’s and talk often.) My blog turned four years old… That’s a big deal. And just like having real kids, that’s when you really need to start taking care of them.

My blog has a name!

Again, just like any four year old, you gotta name them when they get to a certain age. (For legal reasons, I guess.) Maybe you’ve already noticed, but I’ve changed it from it’s initial “jletookthis.wordpress.com” to a sleeker, sexier domain name… http://www.seldomlyupdated.com. Yeah, that’s right. It’s a strangely fitting and apropos. It also gives me an opportunity to use the word “apropos”.

Raise the roof! Our National Parks have reopened!

So, congress congressed and they were somehow able to pull their heads out of their respective (yet somehow, less respectable) asses. They  raised the debt ceiling, and our economy didn’t spiral out of control and we can go on living for a few more months and enjoy our reopened parks.

UTAH in 15!

So, in honor of the National parks reopening, I thought I would post a video I had put together from my trip to the big national parks in Utah this summer. My brother, his friend and I (see photo above), took a week to hit Mesa Verde, Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef, Bryce, and Zion. With all the photos I took, I decided to put it together into a pseudo-timelapse travel slideshow/video. Although I didn’t pre-plan it, I think it turned out pretty well.  So, if you’re keen to spend a some time on a whirlwind trip hiking and zooming past some beautiful scenery, feel free to take a look. Enjoy! (Also, it’s best viewed in HD on Vimeo.)