Winter Anamoly

Here's an image of an entomological anomaly.  I took this image about two weeks ago on the Big Wood River near Ketchum.  An entomolgist friend refers to this limnephilidae as an "evolutionary dead end."  A question then to ask is, should this bug on the same day I took this image have drifted over feeding fish, would any fish even give it a glance?  My answer is probably not as it looks like nothing else we have on the water in December and January on the Wood.  I have recently used a caddis imitation that resembles this limnephilidae as an indicator pattern without a look...  Midges however have been THE surface choice and will continue to be until February when we start to see a few small stones here and there.  The dry fly fishing on the Wood has been about as good as it can get for January.  Warmish weather is forecast for at least the next 5 or 6 days and without any major wind the surface activity should remain strong.


 

 


Open Space

Large open space has always mystified me in many ways.  Many flat, arid and super expansive landscapes serve, to me at least, as an easy segue to the concept of infinity.  Visually from the ground, there often appears to be no end or rather no geological change in features or, flatness, all the way to and beyond the horizon.  Vegetation in these places is often thin and the soil hardened from wind and lack of water.  I really have never felt drawn to this type of landscape nor have I felt inclined to try and capture it until now.  The first image below is a start.  Just a start.  I was in Boise yesterday and while driving back I noticed a power line that appeared to have no rise or fall or end.  It was just carried by a landscape that I have never appreciated or liked aesthetically.

 

Big Beach Lifeguard Tower At Dusk

I took this image handheld at dusk at f2.8, 1/10 of a second and 800 iso not really thinking it would work and knowing full well there would be some noise (grain).  It's almost 2 stops under exposed.

 

Keawakapu Beach

Here are a few in color taken just after sunset on the south side of Maui.  This was a day after a rainfall Maui had not seen in 4 or 5 years.  As a result the skies were spectacular.

 

On a fishing note, I guided the Wood today and other than the brisk wind the fishing was quite good.  Plenty of fish up eating midges!  The time to be on the water is roughly 11:30 to 3.  No crowds and willing fish especially on days where the high is near or over 30.

 

 

 

Sky And Clouds And The Pacific

A black and white from about 36,000 feet of clouds and shadows over the Pacific. Image taken with the iPhone 4 and edited with the tilt/shift generator.

Fencing A River

Unfortunately the image below represents a pretty common sight on many navigable Western rivers wherein the public is allowed yet intimidated and led to believe otherwise. 

 

Abby Grosvenor Art

Here are 3 new pieces of work by Abby Grosvenor which I recently took photos of.  Her work will be shown at Hallway Gallery (http://www.hallwaygallery.com) in Bellevue, Washington.

 

Title:  One On Paper

Dimensions:  36" X 48" (unframed)  Monotype

 

Title:  Lowering Sky

Dimensions:  36" X 48"

 

 

Title:  October Country 2

Dimensions:  18" X 24"

Happy New Year

It was 2 degrees when I took these two shots of bikes hanging from an outside wall. I used an iPhone camera and the tilt/shift generator application.

Winter Smoke

As I write this I realize this is the greatest hiatus I have taken from this blog since I started it in May.  I have still been shooting though and I have been on the river too since I last posted here.  Midges have been pasted to the winter-white snow along the banks of the Wood river.  More than I typically see this time of year.  Highs though are supposed to be in the teens and even colder over the next few days and I suspect the bug activity will become a bit dormant until the warmer winter temps return.

A frequent reader of this blog recently sent me a link to a site called, "OmmWriter."  It's a word processor unlike any other.  I am using it to write this.  I downloaded it and paid for it prior to trying it for free.  I believe, although not entirely certain, that to date it only works on a Mac platform.  The cost is $4.11 and it is certainly worth more than that.  Simply put, it makes me want to write.  www.ommwriter.com

I am a short story reader and have a few favorite collections of stories.  One of which is Anthony Doerr's collection, "The Shell Collector."  To me it's up there with Cheever's entire collection and Tobias Wolff's, "The Night In Question."  In any event, Doerr's new collection, "Memory Wall" is fantastic.  Read it...

Below are a few black and white images captured yesterday as our storm was passing and winds were picking up and peeling snow off trees and ridgetops.  Winter smoke...

 

 

River Rock & Snow & Good Midge Fishing Too

Snow covered river rock and shadows converted to black and white...  and good dry fly fishing on the Wood if you are willing to forsake a day of skiing.  Plenty of midges on the water from roughly 11-2 and fish looking for them as well.  It is worth the trip out there and you are likely to find solitude on a river that is often quite crowded.

 

 

Induce or Deduce? It's What Fishing Is All About.

Generally it starts in the car.  Probably on my way over Trail Creek Summit with a couple of passengers.  We all have coffee and it's a mid-July morning.  The conversation is far from fishing and a word triggers me.  I hear it over an engaged point.  Something about wolf reintroduction and hunting and elk etc.  Someone says they deduced a fact.  And I say with a little grin, "No kidding?  How'd you deduce or induce that?" The two passengers have no idea that this interesting conversation on wolves is about to swiftly convert to an esoteric talk on what exactly is inducing versus deducing. These are often my favorite guide trip moments.  I usually don't know how someone will respond, but I'm curious.  In my rearview mirror I can see a passenger whip out his phone.  He's trying to find the dictionary application.  I tell him to reach under his seat and feel for a soft bound dictionary.  No cell service where we are.

45 minutes later we are pulling into the fishing spot and still highly engaged in the induce vs. deduce conversation.  I love it.  We have all learned something I deduce, and the passenger in my car had no idea when much earlier talking about wolves what kind of crazy conversation he would induce.

 

What I hope to convey is rather than who makes any word choice mistake, it's the conversation about off-the-wall or not often discussed topics that often makes for a better than average day on the water.

 

Here are a few long exposures.  I had a little fun with my headlamp in the first image.  I narrowed the beam on the foreground rock and water...

 

 

 

Winter River Photography

Here's a pano I took of the foot bridge on the Nature Conservancy section of Silver Creek two mornings ago.  It's a 72 mega pixel image.  There were plenty of midges on the water and a few fish taking them off the surface.

 

Low Light

I have been heading out to shoot lately either just before sunrise or after sunset.  The images below were taken after sunset on the Big Wood.  I put on my waders and placed the tripod in the river usually just in front of a small wave or riffle.  I used a 14-24 mm 2.8 lens.  It was a little tough as my lens consistently got splashed from waves.  I found MANY midges on the snowy river bank.  I was in Hailey.  The storm that dropped 13" of new snow has moved on and it's now sunny and about 21 degrees.  The highs all week are supposed to be near 30 which should make for a productive outing to the river if you are considering a little fishing. 

Here's a link to a photographer whose work is really outstanding:  http://www.davidburdeny.com/  David Burdeny is often up at Gilman Contemporary in Ketchum (http://www.gilmancontemporary.com/).