Yesterday, I set off for the Galisteo Studio Tour in Galisteo, NM. The tiny, liberal village has a population of about 265 (2000 census), of which half are probably artists of some sort: photographers, painters, potters, etc. I can’t say I liked too much of the art (there’s only so much weaving, jewelry-making, and pictures of horses I can take), but one artist I really liked was Sam Sloan. He’s a native Vermont photographer who shoots high-contrast, black and white images with a media format camera and develops everything himself in the darkroom. His local subject matter was stunning and the detail and dynamic range of his high-contrast images was phenomenal. It reminded me 1) how fun it was to spend time in a darkroom, and 2) how digital cameras just don’t have the dynamic range that film does; 12 bit (or now 14 bit) analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) just don’t cut it. This especially an issue in high-contrast images (the type I like) and especially noticeable when looking at the detail held in the highlights and shadows of a digital image. Usually, if you have good detail in your highlights your shadows look like black blobs (or vice-versa). Sam’s images, though, held amazing detail in both the shadows and the darks. Maybe I should look more into high dynamic range processing (HDR).

Anyways, the fall colors were in full force and the weather was perfect for some nice shots around the town. The sun shining behind the yellow cottonwood leaves totally lit them (and me) up.

Today, my boy Zach took a group of us down for a day of paintball. Damn, it was fun. No pictures…my camera wouldn’t have made it out alive; I came out with 6-7 solid welts.

I just moved my blog location to http://blog.kushtyagi.com and the feed address is now http://www.kushtyagi.com/blog/feed/. I’ve implemented redirects so any old links should redirect you to the same post at the new location. If your RSS reader understands redirects, then it should take care of everything for you; if you’re reading this through your RSS reader then you’re golden.

This is all part of a site restructuring I’m doing to accommodate a revamped photography gallery I’ll be unveiling in a week or so. Keep yours eyes open; I’ll be looking for feedback.

[Update: Oh yeah, the comments feed is now http://www.kushtyagi.com/blog/comments/feed/]

[Update: Scratch this entire post. I just went back to the old way of doing things. Everything is under http://www.kushtyagi.com]

For those of you that don’t subscribe to the Hotline On Call feed, it’s worth it just for the Quotes of Day. Jabs at Cheney never get old.

Some weeks ago, I finally made it up to Seattle to visit Herain, Gagan, and their 4-month old baby, Nihaal (I also got to see Anika, Hemant, Abhi, Mohit, and Sumit). I love Seattle. Every time I’ve gone, the sun has been beaming and the weather has been perfect. I have to remember, though, that it’s all a trick. I *know* that it’s cloudy eight months out of the year, but I can’t help it. I love the water, I love the green, I love the photographic opportunities, and I love the fact that I have great friends up there. Maybe someday I’ll brave the clouds. I actually don’t think I’d mind the clouds too much; it could make for some super-saturated colors and photographs.

About a month ago, group of friends and I went out to Abiquiu Lake to celebrate Johanna’s birthday. We had a great time basking in the sun, skipping rocks, and cliff-jumping. Check out the pics; the cliff-jumping ones rock.

Abiquiu is absolutely gorgeous. If you ever get the chance to drive through the area when the sun is setting, the red rock light up like you wouldn’t believe. Ghost Ranch, Georgia O’Keeffe’s long time summer home, is a great place for some day hiking.

The last island I visited was Hawai’i (also known as the Big Island). Though I had originally intended to stay put on O’ahu for my last two days, a NSREC invited talk by Dr. Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, the Director for the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii, changed my mind. I decided I couldn’t come to Hawai’i without seeing the Mauna Kea Observatories. These observatories are some of the highest and largest in the world. Mauna Kea (in addition to Haleakala on Maui) are uniquely suited to view the farthest reaches of the universe because they sit above the inversion layer (the inversion layer basically keep pollutants at ground level and prevents them from rising and “muddying” the air). Consider this: our universe is estimated to be about 13.8 billion years old; these telescopes (the Keck Observatory and the Subaru Telescope, in particular) have seen objects that are 13.5 billion light-years away! That basically means we’re seeing how things were when the universe was a toddler. Phenomenal!

In addition to the science and telescopes on the island, there are tons of natural things to see. Mauna Kea is actually the tallest mountain in the world. You’re probably thinking, “Wait, what about Everest?”. Everest is the highest peak in the world (29,029′), but measuring from base to summit, Mauna Kea easily beats it at over 33,000′. With Mauna Kea, though, 20,000′ of the mountain is submerged. Hawai’i, being the youngest island, also boasts volcanos and black sand beaches. It was pretty sweet to walk on land that was literally 2-3 years old. My trip to Volcano National Park was great (though rushed), but unfortunately the Hawaiian Volcano Goddess, Pele, didn’t bring the lava to where I could walk up to it.

I’d love to go back to Hawai’i, I hear the snorkeling is amazing (I hear you can snorkel with a school of stingrays), there are tons of hidden beaches to visit, and I’d still like to get up-close-and-personal with some lava.

Okay, time to start posting all the photographs I’ve been taking over the past months. Let’s stroll back to my trip to Hawai’i…in *July*! The second island I visited was O’ahu. It is the most populated island and is home to the uber-touristy Waikiki. I actually stayed in Waikiki since the conference I was attended was being held there (the conference, NSREC, was sweet, by the way). All in all, I wasn’t really drawn to O’ahu; it looked just like any other big city on the water (granted, the water was beautiful). The highlight of visiting O’ahu was being able to visit friends.

First, I got to see Marla, Guido, and Baby Avi; I know Marla and Guido from Los Alamos. Though I only got to spend one evening with them, it was great catching up, cooking, eating freshly picked mangos, and getting a game of Anagrams in. Later, I got to see an old friend from CMU, Tushar Dubey. It had been ages since I had seen or spoken with Tushar and it was great to meet his wife, Ana, and check out their bakery, Hokulani Bakeshop. If you ever need some damn good cookies, order from them! They even ship to mainland! Their cupcakes are sinfully delicious, but you’ll have to visit them in O’ahu to try them; they won’t keep in shipping.

All in all, O’ahu was great, but if it wasn’t for friends, I probably wouldn’t go back. The other islands just have waaay too much going for them.