No sharp images of the Rockies

[jtk]

I sure do miss that Anaconda plant -- it let you photograph "the world through rose-colored GASSES".

Don't forget the uranium mines.

MBMG - Uranium

 

[xkaes]

Does the world look different through gamma rays?

 

[Sirius Glass]

Does the world look different through gamma rays?

No sex discrimination! What about gampa rays?

 

[DREW WILEY]

Skies here in California were horrible during the pandemic. The firestorm cloud which occurred in what was formerly my front yard view in the Sierras went up to 70,000 feet - the highest thermal cloud ever recorded except for volcanic incidents - and that smoke spread so far that it turned the sky in New York City clear across the country deep orange, and was detected even in Western Europe. We had horrible smoke here on the coast too. Not too bad here this year, however, but still lots of horrible fires elsewhere in the West. The vast pine forest die-offs due to great pine beetles infestations, due to warmer winters which don't kill them like before, if a primary factor.

I had to sell my mountain property approaching retirement due to all the strenuous seasonal work involved, cutting acres of weeds, clearing brush - normal fire preventative maintenance, which I was well aware of, but many newcomers are not. All that property survived because the young couple who bought it from me are also conscientious about fire prevention. Many others lost everything.

When I was young, the surrounding tiny community, along with the Forest Service, got together for annual control burns around everyone's structures. But that all got banned due to air quality rules. The native American populations employed fire for millennia to keep their meadows and trails cleared. But once the whites took over, most of that became heavily overgrown with pitchy chaparral, which is genetically engineered to dramatically burn in about 40 year cycles.

I don't know what Smokey the Bear would think about that. One could arrange an interview with him. I think he's still serving time in Folsom Prison on an arson conviction. I always wondered how a bear who couldn't even drive was always the first individual to arrive at a forest fire, holding a shovel in one paw, and a book of matches in the other.

But it is amazing just how much haze a deep red filter will cut through when using black and white film.

 

[xkaes]

But it is amazing just how much haze a deep red filter will cut through when using black and white film.

I hope I'm never again in a situation to try it out.

 

[markjwyatt]

Well, Cabrillo did call San Pedro "Baya de los Fumos" in 1542.

Fires are part of the landscape in the West.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Skies here in California were horrible during the pandemic. The firestorm cloud which occurred in what was formerly my front yard view in the Sierras went up to 70,000 feet - the highest thermal cloud ever recorded except for volcanic incidents - and that smoke spread so far that it turned the sky in New York City clear across the country deep orange, and was detected even in Western Europe. We had horrible smoke here on the coast too. Not too bad here this year, however, but still lots of horrible fires elsewhere in the West. The vast pine forest die-offs due to great pine beetles infestations, due to warmer winters which don't kill them like before, if a primary factor.

I had to sell my mountain property approaching retirement due to all the strenuous seasonal work involved, cutting acres of weeds, clearing brush - normal fire preventative maintenance, which I was well aware of, but many newcomers are not. All that property survived because the young couple who bought it from me are also conscientious about fire prevention. Many others lost everything.

When I was young, the surrounding tiny community, along with the Forest Service, got together for annual control burns around everyone's structures. But that all got banned due to air quality rules. The native American populations employed fire for millennia to keep their meadows and trails cleared. But once the whites took over, most of that became heavily overgrown with pitchy chaparral, which is genetically engineered to dramatically burn in about 40 year cycles.

I don't know what Smokey the Bear would think about that. One could arrange an interview with him. I think he's still serving time in Folsom Prison on an arson conviction. I always wondered how a bear who couldn't even drive was always the first individual to arrive at a forest fire, holding a shovel in one paw, and a book of matches in the other.

But it is amazing just how much haze a deep red filter will cut through when using black and white film.

The oldest continuous existing civilization for 65,000 years, the Australian Aboriginals, had done controlled burns for many tens of thousands of years keep their continent from the megafires until the whites who thought that they were smarter that everyone else took over, got rid of the controlled burns and other practices, have brought on the megafires and are well on their way to driving kolas and other animals into a rapid extinction. So much for white entitlement and white pride.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Fires are part of the landscape in the West.

But not mega fires. What Cabrillo saw was impart controlled burns and does not give other interloper activities a pass.

 

[xkaes]

Pretty soon there won't be any trees left to burn -- so problem solved!!!

 

[AnselMortensen]

September 9, 2020,
SF Bay Area, around 12:00/1:00 PM
Meter at EI 100...
Normal BDE is 1/60@ f16
Hmmm.... f5.6 @ 4 seconds

 

[koraks]

So much for white entitlement and white pride.

So much also for this direction the thread has been taking. I understand the sentiments expressed, but we've got to put a stop on this direction before things get problematic.
By all means do continue discussing other aspects though

 

[Sirius Glass]

So much also for this direction the thread has been taking. I understand the sentiments expressed, but we've got to put a stop on this direction before things get problematic.
By all means do continue discussing other aspects though

Ah, but at least the thought is planted.

 

[xkaes]

As in plant trees?

 

[Sirius Glass]

As in plant trees?

Putting an idea in the heads of those who do not want to think about it, so like planting an acorn.

 

[MattKing]

Do I need to get out my moderator's pruning shears?
Even Smokey the Bear evolved - how about we do the same?

 

[DREW WILEY]

Not during our mega-fires, but a more ordinary one about 15 yrs ago. Me and a backpacking pal got up to right around timberline, at a small lake in front of some stunning granite pinnacles rarely photographed. The worst smoke was below us, but a veiling haze was still above. Breathing wasn't bad. I took advantage of the haze to emphasize the scale of things, much like old blue-sensitive plate photographers did. Using TMax as I recall. Then I changed my strategy and put my 360 Fuji A on my 4x5 to home in on the highest pinnacle, along with a deep 29 red filter. Only when I finally printed it did I discover a golden eagle on the very tip of the summit, in precise focus way up there.

 

[pbromaghin]

Fires are part of the landscape in the West.

Do I really need to say that was my point?

 

[xkaes]

Incendiary photography needs a separate thread, me thinks.

 

[Vaughn]

Putting an idea in the heads of those who do not want to think about it, so like planting an acorn.

Ahhhh, the oaks. There is a problem. Out here in the West, there is serious lack of replacement oaks (young ones) to step-up when the present ones die of stress and old age. Non-native grasses are one of the big factors. The native bunch grasses have roots that go deep. Non-native grasses are shallow-rooted and out-compete the acorns that do sprout for water and nurtients.