Into The Sunrise

[ScoutR]

Hi Terry: The second view is better than the first, but.... If only the background was a bit lighter and the helicopter a bit bigger?

The third is a beautiful shot, but to tell you the truth, I would clone out the helicopter. Crop or no crop it is just too small. Then I would go back and try again for the shot you wanted this one to be which I think would be a powerful shot if you get the right day for it.

Wendy

[PopsPhotos]

Great shots, Terry. Back when I was going to and from White Alice sites, we had Beavers and the occasional Otter. Choppers were not much good in that weather in those days. Brings back memories.

Pops

[Terry Tedor]

for your honest critiques, constructive criticism and kind words. I appreciate the time you took to look and comment. Thank you.

I like this one the best so far: is there any way to bring up the helicopter a little? What about a tighter crop? I marked up a thumbnail with one possibility: it keeps the helicopter at the left 1/3, and brings the sunrise line to the right 1/3. It's close to 2x1 aspect, and is a slightly bigger enlargement, so the helicopter should stand out a bit more.

Cheers,
Rick

PS: let me know if I should take this down, of course.

Thanks Rick, I never considered a tighter crop. I will have to give that a try. No, please, by all means leave it up.

i love the colors as an abstract photo but at first i had no idea of what i was looking at. i thought it was a picture of lava to be honest with you. although i like photos that make you wonder what the picture is. like you have too look at it for a few minutes to figure out what your looking at. the saturation might be too high. i liked the cropped photo the best ( the one with some land) it makes it more obvious as to what your looking at. but then its hard to tell what the focus of the picture is. either way i wish i was there to see that sunrise it looks beautiful.

Jason, thanks for the kind words. I think there's a bit of an optical illusion going here, with the angle of the light and shadows, maybe that's why it was hard to decipher what was going on at first. The fact that the helicopter wasn't plainly visible didn't help the brain because there was no frame of reference. I didn't boast the saturation much, just a +10 in ACR, the colors we very vivid.

Hi Terry: The second view is better than the first, but.... If only the background was a bit lighter and the helicopter a bit bigger?

The third is a beautiful shot, but to tell you the truth, I would clone out the helicopter. Crop or no crop it is just too small. Then I would go back and try again for the shot you wanted this one to be which I think would be a powerful shot if you get the right day for it.

Wendy

Understand. Unfortunately, there's no "do over". We don't get many sunrises like this one, it was the best one all winter. So, I'm stuck with what I've got. I wanted to catch the helicopter heading into the sunrise, kind of the antithesis to the "heading off into the sunset" at the end of the movie. They were starting out as the day was just getting started. To me, the timing couldn't have been any better and there was a lot of "symbolism" there.

Great shots, Terry. Back when I was going to and from White Alice sites, we had Beavers and the occasional Otter. Choppers were not much good in that weather in those days. Brings back memories.

Pops

Ah, so you're an old tropo guy, eh? I think the White Alice site at Donnelly Dome was still standing when I came to Alaska in 1982 and I remember (I think) seeing the towers down there in the '84-'86 time frame. Were you a GI or contractor? Yea, I know what you mean about the choppers, they're still not good in that weather. Glad you liked the shots.

Thank you all again.

Regards,

Terry

[PopsPhotos]

I was on the far North ones. Granite Mountain, Tin City (Cape of Prince Wales) and spent my last 2 years up there in Tanana. I was RCA Service Company, transferee from White Sands, New Mexico. Bit of a climate shock, it was. I went from 18" antenna dishes (experimental) to somewhat larger ones. I pulled out at the end of November, 1968.

To keep the subject on camera and pictures, my tools up there were the Speed Grafic in 4x5 and the Springfield in 30-06. You will understand that. About 45 pounds of camera gear and about 45 pounds in survival gear. I remember well the snow cave I built to wait out a blizzard, in July. And the widdle bunny wabbit that was about 60 inches, ears to hind feet.

Google Earth shows Granite Mountain site still there, in 2010

Pops

[Terry Tedor]

Thanks for the update. That's a lot of gear to lug around, even without survival gear. Will have to revisit the White Alice web site I found, shows a map of all the sites, not sure where Granite Mountain is.

[PopsPhotos]

Google Earth, Granite Mountain:
65*25'42.0"N
161*13'56.0" W

Pops

[Donald]

Google Earth, Granite Mountain:
65*25'42.0"N
161*13'56.0" W

That does look just a bit remote.

[Terry Tedor]

That does look just a bit remote.

That's an understatement!

[PopsPhotos]

Nearest neighbor was Charley Moon, about 7 miles down the hill, below the airstrip. During the construction of the site, he put an injured worker on his sled and mushed to Nome, because they couldn't get air evac in through the weather. Headed out one evening into a blizzard, one dog and he in the sled traces. Pulled into Nome 3 1/2 days later, still in the blizzard. Stopped once to leave the exhausted dog. Ate a meal, slept overnight in the hospital waiting room, turned around and walked back, picking up his dog on the way. He was an interesting man.

Pops

[Terry Tedor]

Sounds like a typical bush rat. Interesting - I'll bet!