Dustin Angell's Pictures & Prose

Winter at the Zoo Prt. 2

2012-01-24T17:34:00.000-08:00

The juxtaposition of these two photos make this
Siberian tiger's feet look huge.
Panthera tigris altaica

In the hopes of getting a "winning" photo for the Winter at the Zoo photo contest at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, I returned again today. I really liked some of the shots I got last week and I am happy with some of these as well. I've got until the end of the month to photograph some more or decide on the ones I have. I would love to know your opinion.

Check out the head turning action on this barn owl.
Tyto alba

I just love the red panda.
Ailurus fulgens

A male Indian peafowl, also called
a peacock.
Pavo cristatus

Rainy Day Zoo Trip

2012-01-17T19:43:00.000-08:00

Amur Tiger, Siberian Tiger
Pantheris tigris altaica

Female African Lion
Panthera leo

FJanuary is time for a photography trip to the zoo. Every January the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse lets visitors in for free if they are participating in their photography contest. Last year was my first time competing. Both of my entries earned "honorable mentions," and that has a way of making you want to try a little harder next time. I only visited the zoo once last time, and I hope to visit it at least twice this time.

Red and green Macaw
Ara chloropterus

Today was a great day to photograph at the zoo. As it was a rainy school day in January, there weren't many other's there. Actually besides my girlfriend and I, I ended up seeing Matt and Carissa, two other MOST employees. They said that Justin, our PR Director was also there. So, with five MOST employees there, we must have made up a nice chunk of the visitors. I felt bad for the low attendance, but really enjoyed the one on one experiences with the animals.
I didn't end up doing a tour of the whole zoo this time. Instead I made may way slowly few a few of my favorite parts. I always enjoy the bird room. This time I ended up attracting the attention of the large Parrot/Macaw there. Usually he just sits in one spot, but the quiet chitterring sounds I made got him to leave his post and move to the closest part of his tree. He continues going about his business of chewing on the tree, but kept looking up and watching me. I think he may have even become a little territorial, because he puffed out his feathers at me. After I felt I had worn out my welcome I journeyed on.

Please take a look at the photos and let me know which ones are your favorite. I need to decide what to admit to the competition and I could really use your help.

Red and green Macaw
Ara chloropterus

African Lions, Male and Female
Panthera leo

Amur Tiger, Siberian Tiger
Panthera tigris altaica

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep
Ovis canadensis

Markhor from Asia
Capra falconeri

Colorful Clouds from Black and White Photographs

2011-11-21T19:46:00.000-08:00

B&W Cloud Photo with Color

One of my favorite things to photograph is clouds. I have an ongoing series of mostly black and white photographs of clouds called Terra Nebulae, which (in my best Latin) means Earth Clouds. I call it that because part of the inspiration for the photographs are NASA's amazing images of space clouds, which are called nebulae (nebula=singular). Up until today I've been trying to reference these space photographs by turning my skies black and leaving out any Earthly objects like trees and airplanes. I hadn't aded color, until TODAY!

This is the first real developmental shift in this series since I started three years ago, so that is really a big deal for me. Where did the idea come from and how did I do it? To explain that let me talk a little about how NASA takes those wonderful Hubble photographs.

When the Hubble Space Telescope takes its wonderful photos of nebulae it is actually taking black and white images. It takes a series of exposures, each one sensitive to only a limited part of the light spectrum. This allows them to look at infrared features which the human eye can't perceive, and to look at the different features that show up in the different spectra. In order to give these photos the colors we all love, a computer program is used to layer and combine the photos. The colors you see in these photos are usually not the same ones you would see if you were actually looking at it.

I've known about this for some time, but I didn't really know how that could help my work until I attended a NASA conference and saw a demonstration on how to use search, download, and develop your own Landsat data. The Landsat program started in the 1970's. It uses satellites to take close up images of the Earth. Landsat data is the basis for Google Earth. Well, Landsat satellites do the same thing as the Hubble Space Telescope. When they photograph a section of the Earth's surface, they take multiple exposures using different wavelengths. Fortunately, I found directions for how to take all these exposures and combine them to make different colored versions of Central New York. After I started to get the hang of it, I thought, "Hey, would this work for my cloud photographs?" It turns out that with a bit of creativity, you can utilize this process to help interesting colorful photos from black and white photos.

So what do you think? Do you like the black and white photos better, or do you like the new direction?

Another Black & White cloud scene

I was having so much fun that I figured I would try the technique on a black and white photo I took out West.

Christmas Baby and the Miracle of Photoshop

2011-11-20T18:10:00.000-08:00

Since I am now a proud uncle, and it is Hudson's first Christmas next month, the job of taking holiday photos fell to me today. My sister, Lindsay, really wanted studio portraits taken, unfortunately I don't have a studio anymore. Since I didn't want my sister taking the little guy to another photographer, we decided to just wing it at my parents house. We cleared off the table, used the natural light from the dining room window, and had my mom hold up a sheet as a backdrop. These conditions were pretty lousy for a photo shoot, but it was all we had to work with, and I gave it my best shot. In the end, we got some photos I really like. I always do some digital editing with my photos, but today's shoot was an extreme case. I'm including a couple of the original shots, so you can see how different the final photos are.

This one was underexposed, and needed a bit of work on the background, too.

I couldn't resist putting this sequence up. After photographing on the kitchen table we dressed him up in a Santa outfit and brought him to the park. He isn't old enough to sit up by himself yet, so we tried propping him against a fence. He didn't last more than a second before plopping over. Don't worry, he was fine. I can't wait to show them to him when he gets older.

Beaver Dams, Birds, and Wasps oh my!

2011-11-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

The weather this November keeps surprising me. It keeps being so nice. Lately I've been putting in a lot of extra hours at work, so yesterday I took off and went hiking instead. If you've never been to Baltimore Woods in Marcellus, NY before, I definitely recommend it. If you need big attractions like waterfalls or lakes, this isn't that kind of experience. Instead, it provides a nice hike through fields and woods and offers a nature center with art shows, animal specimens, and a very friendly staff.

Every time I spend a few hours exploring nature I am always surprised by what I find. The highlights of this trip included a beaver lodge and dam (that totally flooded out one of the trails), a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds, a cool beetle, some curious chipmunks, and a wasp's nest.

Washed out trail caused by Beaver Dam

Coming upon a large flock of Red-winged Blackbirds was a real treat. I love watching and listening to red-winged Blackbirds whenever I'm near a marshy area. During the Fall and Winter, however, this species changes their habits. They start to build large flocks, some of which number in the thousands, and move to different types of habitats. The flock yesterday had a few hundred (by my estimate) birds, and they were all hanging out and flying around in the trees above my head. They were mostly Blackbirds, but there were Grackles in there, too. My girlfriend and I thought it was so fantastic that we stopped for 10 minutes or so to photograph and watch and listen to the birds. I took video showing the birds flying around the trees. Please check it out if you are interested.

Wasp's nest

I couldn't resist photographing this leaf after I noticed the lighting on it.

I love chipmunks!

Chimney Bluffs State Park in Wolcott New York

2011-10-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

My first view of Chimney Bluffs. Check out the Oswego power plant in the bottom left.

View from the beach looking up.

Today I spent a half day on a trip to Chimney Bluffs State Park in Wolcott, NY. I had never heard of the park before, and in fact I was taken there as a surprise. My girlfriend had been there once before, and knew I would be impressed. She certainly was right. It is amazing how much natural beauty and variety there is within a couple hours of driving from Syracuse, NY. This trip took about an hour and was well worth it. When we first arrived I assumed she had just brought me to some nice hiking trails along the shore of Lake Ontario, but when I looked up the coast and saw the "chimney bluffs" I was shocked. At first I didn't know if I was looking at something man-made or natural. As we hiked closer it became apparent that we were seeing incredible geologic features made from erosion. The view reminded me of photos I've seen of places like Bryce Canyon, and yet they were only made from the eroding hillside of a drumlin. How these spires continue to stand is beyond me, as it looks like a single storm would take them out. What was obvious was that the erosion of the bluffs is ongoing. There were many downed trees lying at the bottom of the hill having apparently fallen from the cliff edge. The hiking itself wasn't very hard, but the trails take you right alongside the cliff edges. I don't recommend this for your children or anyone who isn't surefooted.

This view was probably my favorite.

I bumped up the contrast in this one to make it a little more dramatic.

Sweet Chariot Music Festival

2011-10-14T21:40:00.000-07:00

Kahlil Sabbagh

A few years back I was visiting a bed and breakfast in St. Albans, Vermont. In this small town, practically in Canada, I happened to meet Douglas Day. His family was on a road trip through the US from California on there way to Maine. I had no idea that when I started showing Doug my sketchbook of photos and drawings during breakfast that he would invite me to photograph at his music festival, which was just a few weeks later. In August I finished my third year photographing the Sweet Chariot Music Festival on Swans Island, Maine (I missed 2010). Every year has been an incredible experiance of fantastic music, great people, sea shanties, and a gorgeous setting. I had posted photos from this event before on my old website, but I am happy to announce that I have now finished a new public gallery of some of my favorite photos. You can check them out at www.dustinangell.me/chariot If your interested in the festival, here is the official site: www.sweetchariotmusicfestival.com

To give you an idea of what its like to be a part of the festival, I'm also including on the blog a video I shot of an impromptu jam.

Moira Smiley, 2009

Denny Williams, 2011

Photo one of National Geographic Favorites

2011-10-11T17:48:00.000-07:00

Last year I entered some of my photography in a National Geographic competition. I never heard back from them, but today I just found out that one of my photos ended up being a popular one. The website www.demortalz.com posted it as one of their top 50 photos from the competition. Check it out along with a lot of other great photos:

http://www.demortalz.com/2011/08/29/top-50-pictures-from-national-geographic-latest-photo-contest/

Photos used in Bella Gaia perfromance sponsored by NASA

2011-10-09T13:34:00.000-07:00

Cranberry Lake, NY

Last week was busy and exciting. Over the last year I have been working as part of a NASA grant to help organize an event at the the MOST (http://www.most.org/) that involves music, NASA Earth visualizations, scientints and consultants from accross the country, educational activities, and the Onondaga Nation School and community. Usually I'm writing and performing my own educational performances, so this was a BIG challenge and commitment. Not only did everything work out pretty well, but Kenji Williams ended up using some of my photography in his Bella Gaia (http://www.bellagaia.com/) performance. What he does is work with NASA to put together a 30 min. video that starts out above the galaxy and flies in to Earth. While it runs, he plays live electric violin over a digital track. The view in the video takes the audience flying around the Earth looking at all kinds of cool satellite data. Since the event was designed to be localized for the Onondaga Nation, the video zooms in to Central New York. And when it does, all the photos that represent the aboriginal land of the Onandoga People are my nature photographs. This wasn't part of the original plan for the grant, so I was very thankful that Kenji decided to do this. His whole performance was beautiful and emotionaly moving. What made everything even better was that an Oneida man, named Heath Hill started the day out by recited the "Thanksgiving Address" in his native language. This may have been the highlight of the whole day. I feel very honored to have been a part of this.

Green Lakes State Park, NY

Sterling Renaissance Festival 2011

2011-08-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

Sterling Renaissance Festival Joust

Singing Pirate

A little known fact about myself is that I have a minor in Medieval and Renaissance studies. Another one is that I used to work as a squire at the Sterling Renaissance Festival in Sterling, NY (http://www.sterlingfestival.com/). Today I spent most of the day at the festival after having not been in a number of years. It was a great experience. I loved seeing some of the old performers and craftsman I remember from before, and it was cool to see acts and vendors that were new, or at least new to me. I left with some homemade soap, an awesome hand-made wooden box, and some great memories. Oh yeah, and some photographs, too.

The Mud Show is always a must see.

Daniel: Duke of Danger! Handstand, while balancing a mug on his head.

Mud Show Kraken

Mud Show Medusa

To Maine and Back Again

2011-08-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

While in Schenectady I photographed
Grace, one of Emily's friends.

I'm on my way back to Syracuse from a week long road trip to Maine. I will put up more details later, but I want to share a few of the photos I took. I was in Maine for my third year as an artist-in-residence at the Sweet Chariot Music and Art Festival on Swans Island.

The rocks on the coastline of Swans Island are unlike anything in Central New York. These are boulder sized rocks in a puddle made from the low tide.

I love a good camp-fire. This was taken during my last night on the island.

Overcast, my favorite weather

2011-07-03T23:27:00.000-07:00

Emily

Today was overcast and a little rainy. This type of weather is my favorite for taking outdoor portraits. Luckily, my girlfriend humors me by modeling when I ask, so we went out to the Goodwill store and bought a couple of dresses (as well as some Conan comic books from the 1970's for only $1 a piece). The backyard of her summer job field-house is the perfect backdrop for a photo shoot.

Hudson at 19 days

2011-06-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

My sister Lindsay, brother-in-law Sean, and nephew Hudson

I've officially been an uncle for 19 days! Today was Father's Day and the family was together, so we walked down to the park and took some photos. We also each recorded a little message for Baby Hudson to watch when he gets older.

Rest in Peace Grandpa

2011-06-12T19:37:00.000-07:00

Last week my grandpa, Albert Wirkes, passed away. As a child I loved him like most boys love their grandparents. I loved him unconditionally and without much thought to whom he really was. But as I became an adult I started to pay more attention. The last few years taught me that he was a man to look up to. I want to share with you a few of the details about my Grandpa that are important to me. I think they say something about who he was and the life he lived.

An accident at birth left him to live the rest of his life with only one eye. Though it could have, he didn't let that stop him from serving our country during WWII. He joined the Army Medical Corps and was stationed in Florida and England. In Florida he chose to serve in the African American unit of the hospital at a time when others wouldn't. He observed segregation and racism that he would never forget and never understand.

Grandpa was lucky enough to find true love twice. His fist wife, Carol, passed before I was born. His second wife, Patty, was the Grandma that I knew. He cared for them both in health and in sickness, and set an example of what it means to be a true husband.

So what was he like as a grandfather? He excelled there, too. I don't remember him ever loosing his temper or speaking badly of others. When he was present it always seemed to make a family gathering official. And you knew that he was proud to be a part of his family. Grandpa was funny and he loved to tell stories, most of them tall-tales about himself. The best ones never seemed to finish as they were constantly interrupted by laughter, which was often his own. Grandpa always had a smile for others and a smart line to make you laugh.

These are only a few of my thoughts, but I hope they help to say a little about who he was. Grandpa Al is now gone, but he lived a good life and touched many people with his service, humor, and love.

A wedding and some babies!

2011-06-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

I'm amazed at how fast the last few months have gone by. I've had a few photo shoots, worked on some really interesting projects for the science museum, been glad to have finally have my girlfriend move back to the state after living in Canada for the last two years. And just last week my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Hudson, making me an uncle!

Juan and Maria

I liked seeing two priests. The younger one led most of the ceremony and spoke in both English and Spanish.

Maria and Juan invited me to photograph their Syracuse wedding. They had already been married for a year or so in the Dominican Republic were Juan is from, but they have recently moved to Central New York and wanted another ceremony. There baby is soon on its way!

Major digs into his first birthday cake

Major is now One year old! I've had the pleasure of photographing him twice before this, and it has been great to watch him grow. His birthday party was a lot of fun and a new kind of photographic challenge for me. I tried to get right in the mix of things and photograph as much as I could from a low angle. Happy Birthday Major.

That's my sister Lindsay with her new baby boy, Hundson Nathaniel Angell. He was four weeks early, but still weighted 8 pounds 2 ounces. I took these photos after Hudson had just came home from the hospital a couple hours earlier. I plan on taking lots of photos of him through the years.

A Happy Family: Sean, Lindsay, & Hudson

Recording flute player Rob Benedict

2011-02-23T19:53:00.000-08:00

I recently had the pleasure to record a local musician in Syracuse named Rob Benedict. My DSLR records good video, but has poor sound recording. The idea of being able to make videos eventually won me over and I purchased a semi-pro microphone that attaches to my camera. The day after it came in the mail I got a call from Rob saying he had finished recording a few tracks of his first CD. He was going to bring them to me so I could play his music during planetarium shows at the museum where I work. I told him about my new mic and he agreed to play a song live for me. So, after we listened to his CD while under the stars, we recorded the song in the planetarium. You will notice that I've included some of my nature photography in the video. Please check it out and I hope you enjoy.

As of writing this I've played his music for around 200 visitors in the planetarium. During part of each show I sit quietly and let the audience enjoy watching the stars move across the dome for a minute or two. This is when I've been using his music. I had previously played some sci-fi sounding stuff, which still works well before the show begins, but visitors have really taken to Rob's flute music. I never get comments about the sci-fi music, but I've already heard a couple positive ones about Rob's. So, if you ever come to The MOST in downtown Syracuse, NY and see a planetarium show with me, request Rob's music before the show begins.

The Rosamond Gifford Zoo

2011-01-10T20:39:00.000-08:00

Today I went to Syracuse's zoo with a couple friends from work. The zoo is having a winter photo competition, and anyone who prints out a coupon saying that you want to participate can get in for free. It is really a pretty good deal. As always, I loved the giant bird room and the various primates. Some other highlights included the otters, the zoo's wolf, and a lone wild starling. Another great site, was one of the Siberian tigers as she kept running and then rolling around the snow. I like some of the photos I took, but I'm not sure any are photo contest quality. Let me know if you think I should enter any.

yellow billed cardinal

North American river otter

lemur

starling

skink

meerkat

Major six months later

2011-01-03T21:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had the fortune of photographing baby Major a second time. The first time I photographed him he was only about two weeks old, and now he is nearly seven months. He seems a happy little boy, and very interested in watching people. The flash I was using for some of the shots particularly fascinated him. Getting a baby to smile or look at you can be tough, but his parents cheerfully stood behind me and smiled at him, made noises, and played with his toys in order to get his attention. I look forward to continue photographing him as he grows.

A Medieval Wedding

2010-11-26T17:59:00.000-08:00

I have just finished editing my first Medieval Themed wedding. I think most people have strong opinions on themed weddings, and many worry that having a theme takes away from the sacredness of the ceremony. I'm sure that for some audience members this may be the case, but my experience at Abigail and Matt's wedding was that the theme did not detract from the ceremony. In fact, it added an extra dimension. All of the outfits in the wedding party were hand made, and the same attention was payed to the rest of the day. The ceremony was held outside on a beautiful day with leaves in full autumn color. The reception was in a log building with a lit fireplace that gave the room a wonderful smell. The dinner tables each had a bowl of fresh vegetables, and the tables were named after mythological creatures. Each was also set with a bottle of homeade mead and a jar of honey for each guest. I really felt like the theme set a tone for the wedding that helped to explain the personalities and beliefs of the couple. I'm not sure how many people have themed weddings, but I would love to photograph another one.

a wedding in Boston

2010-10-05T18:48:00.000-07:00

Boston has been one of my favorite cities since I was a kid. For the last couple days I was fortunate to be there to see some old friends and photograph two of them getting married. John and Libby met accidentally at a hotel the night before freshman orientation at Alfred University. Within a week or so of school they were a happy couple. Now, over seven years later they are still together and now, as of Sunday, Oct. 3rd, they are married. I had a great time photographing the event and was really happy to sit at a table with a bunch of Alfred people. The wedding was in a beautiful church in Cambridge and the reception was in the Boston Museum of Science. After the museum closed for the night, they let us go around and photograph the wedding party for a half hour. The next day I hung out with another Alfred friend, Zara, and we went to Boston's aquarium. It was wonderful to see her, too. It has been three years since I saw a lot of these people, and it was so great to see how beautiful the women look and how adult they have all become. I hope more Alfred people get married so I can keep having reunions like this.

a jellyfish

a lionfish

a clown fish

thoughts on traveling west

2010-10-05T11:35:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I go back to work, ending my month long vacation. Will this be the last time I ever have that much time to travel? If I could do it over, would I do it differently? Was it a success? No matter how many times I visualize the future or prepare for different outcomes, life never turns out very predictable for me. During college I never could have predicted I would now be into my third year as an educator at a science museum, running a planetarium or performing shows in a laboratory coat at schools around the state. I also couldn't predict I would find a woman like Emily, for she inspires me and loves me like no other. When I decided to take the road trip with her I was sacrificing other opportunities. I chose to miss participating as an artist-in-residence at the Sweet Chariot Music & Arts Festival. I also gave up volunteering to photograph Syracuse's Festival of Races. Lastly, I had a good chance at spending a month in Pennsylvania at an art residency with my friend and fellow artist Kristen Egan. I chose the road trip because I wanted to visit Emily in Canada and share in some of her life out there. I wanted to see the stars and the clouds from the prairie and the West. I also wanted to travel to the Rockies, because I've grown up with stories from my parents of the adventurous road trips they took in their twenties to Colorado and California. I wanted to get lots of new photographs and to have my own adventure with Emily. So was it worth it? Of course.

We couldn't predict that their would be gray skies and rain almost everyday of our trip, but even if we had I would have gone anyway. We may not have had much of an opportunity to see the stars or photographic clouds, but when we did they were beautiful. And maybe that is one of the lessons nature teaches us. I have to remind myself sometimes that nature is not like ordering fast food. You often have to wait for great views or wildlife, which is part of what makes it so sweet when they do appear. The two nights Emily and I were able to see the stars were the two most romantic nights of the trip. The first evening we lay on our backs against the hillside of an ancient river valley and held deep conversation while watching the turning of the stars, moon, and planets. At our next opportunity we used her bird telescope to look at the sky. It was her first time seeing the Moon in such detail and she was spellbound by its features. I stopped few times to photograph clouds, but twice I was given a real show. When we stopped to go to a movie theater somehere in Ontario, I was able to photograph mammatus clouds from the parking lot. These are a relatively unusual and fantastic cloud formations.

The land and people we saw were varied and wonderful. Driving and hiking through the Rockies was breathtakingly beautiful, but the rolling hills of the prairie and the autumn trees and ponds of Canada's shield were also impressive and joy inspiring. The ranchers in Saskatchewan, with there wonderfully thick accents and prairie oysters, were welcoming and good people. Meeting them was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We also met with the hospitality of a generous Mennonite couple in Alberta, and stayed at a bed and breakfast and hostel run by other nice couples on our journey. We met many Blackfeet/Blackfoot people in Montana and Alberta. I met with Emily's graduate student friends and her advisor, and in Ottawa we encountered a great multi-cultural mix. Ottawa not only had many French speakers, it also had enough pubs and old brick buildings to convince you that you where somewhere in Europe.

Emily and I saw a lot on our adventure. There was a variety of cities, towns, museums and truckstop restaurants, as well as a variety of natural settings. We saw many different animals, and almost all of these encounters were very close and special. A wild goat got so close I could almost touch her (which was actually pretty scary and I had to jump into the van), and a wild pika ran right through Emily's legs. We also watched some beautiful sunsets, took sips of water from cold glacier streams, and shared in awe and wonder at the natural beauty of our continent. I don't know if we will get another chance like we had, but the experience taught me that I really want to see more of this continent and the world. It also reminded me to be thankful for both the opportunity I had and for the gift of creation itself. In order to honor this gift, and because I love it in NY in the fall, I will try not to waste this season indoors. This is my favorite season of year, and though I can't predict the future I am open for whatever this fall should bring.

1 sleeping giant, 1 guardian giant, 2 hostels, and 2 nights in a van

2010-09-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

We are almost home. Tonight we are in a hostel in Ottawa, just a few hours drive north of the NY border. We are spending tomorrow going to some museums and then heading home the next day. The last few days traveling through Ontario have been nice. In fact, we have even had a day or two without rain, which is the first time sense we first got to Saskatchewan almost three weeks ago. We've gone to a couple different nature parks, but spent most of our time in the van. This includes sleeping in it the last couple nights. The first night in the van we slept beside a lake at a marina. Despite a few electric street lights and a bright moon, we could see the stars much better than in Syracuse. We used Emily's bird telescope to take a look at the moon, the pleiadies, Jupiter, Uranus, and the Andromeda galaxy. The moon was a few days past full and really looked fantastic. Unfortunately it was so bright that we could just make out the Andromeda galaxy which was hiding nearby. Clear or not, it was still awesome to see our galactic neighbor and know we were looking at light that had been traveling for 2.5 million light years.

Can you find the Big Dipper? How about Arcturus?

This natural formation is called "The Sleeping Giant." Can you see him? The Sleeping Giant park is near Thunder Bay on Lake Superior.

In Ouimet Canyon there is an impressive natural stone sculpture that looks like a face with a neck and part of a body. In the Native American lore this face is that of the giant Omett, who stands guard over the grave of his lover. Wikipedia tells the story like this: "A long time ago, there was a giant Omett. He helped Nanabijou make mountains and lakes. Omett fell in love with Nanabijou's daughter Naiomi. One day, Omett was moving a mountain when part of it fell off and killed Naiomi. Omett quickly hid Naiomi. Nanabijou desperately looked for his daughter. When he sensed something underground, he sent a thunderbolt to split open the ground which created a canyon and he discovered his daughter at its bottom. He buried her there and to punish Omett he turned him into stone and put him on the canyon walls to watch Naiomi's grave forever."

When Emily and I stopped to see a movie in one of the city's we passed there were some great clouds. These are classified as mammatus clouds. It isn't the first time I've seen them, but it is the fist time I've gotten a good photo.

We stopped on the side of the road because there were some great clouds overhead. I really like this one.

View from the road.

Red Squirrel

Emily's van. We had stopped to take some pictures of the lake.

Week Two: Glacier, Waterton, Blackfoot Buffalo Jump, Friendly Mennonites, Pulling Grass, and Eating Prairie Oysters

2010-09-23T00:37:00.000-07:00

The second week of our road trip is over and Emily and I are back in her apartment in Winnipeg. Since she is coming to the States for the semester and the guy who is renting her Winnipeg room is already here, we are sleeping in the living room. I'm not complaining though, I think the carpeted floor will feel better than the cold hard ground of the Northern Rockies. We are here for another day and then driving toward home. We have changed our plans, however, and are no longer going to Chicago. We are instead going to drive through Canada. We will go through the northern part or Ontario then into Ottawa and back into NY via Alexandria Bay. Our time in Montana got cut short because we had to do vegetation clipping in Grasslands for a couple days. This gave us a few extra days, which is why we are taking the longer, more scenic route home. If we are lucky its possible we will see some moose or even wolves or bears.

As you can see from the title of this post, a lot happened during the second leg of our trip. When last I wrote we had a late start because of the snow and the cold. We eventually made it back into the park and took a short hike to a tall waterfall. Even though the waterfall was only one mile in from the road we spend four hours hiking, photographing, and climbing the nearby rockslide before returning to the van. Climbing up the steep mountain slope was scary, but the view was worth it. Emily is afraid of heights, but she climbed up after me and we sat enjoying the scene together. On the way down she was nervous and careful, that is until I spotted an interesting bird near the bottom and she deftly scrambled down faster than me in order to get a good look with her binoculars. The bird turned out to be a "dipper," which was a new one for her.

We camped the night in an area called Many Glacier and headed up to the Canadian side of the park, called Waterton National Park. We took a nice hike there and slept the night in the nearby town of Lethbridge. We stayed in the home of a very nice retired Mennonite couple. Their daughter is Emily's friend, and she told us to call them up. We weren't the first wayfaring strangers to stay at the house. In fact, we didn't even make the first page of the guest book we signed before leaving. After an early breakfast with the couple we went to a place called Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump. This is a historical site which the Blachfoot Native Americans and their ancestors had used to kill bison for around 5,000 years. Basically the Buffalo jumps were cliffs that the Native people stampeded herds of 75+ bison over. The interpretive center at the site was really nice and we got lucky because it was a special cultural weekend in the province of Alberta. Not only did we get in free, but there were Blackfoot drumming and dancing performances, arts and jewelry displays, authentic Blackfoot food, and a tour given by a local Blackfoot member.

The last two days were spent back at Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan. Because Emily is a graduate student, we had to stop there to do some work. We spend a day and a half collecting vegetation samples on the prairie. These will be used later to help understand the effects of cattle grazing on mixed grassland prairie vegetation. The work was not much fun, but it was nice to be out on the prairie with Emily. We made a good team.

The last thing I'll tell you is that I have been informally inducted into the Saskatchewan rancher community. While in Grasslands we went to eat dinner with the Highsaw family. The last time we ate with them they joked that they would cook up some prairie oysters for me. "Prairie oysters" is the polite way of saying "calf nuts," which is what they are. When they neuter their calves, the ranchers keep the testicles to fry up later. This time when we got to their house they hadn't forgotten, and I didn't leave before having eaten three of the battered and fried oysters. Emily took a photo of me eating one. If I get a hold of it, I'll post it on here.

This little guy is called a "pika."

Glacier National Park

2010-09-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

We arrived at the park and set up our tent just as the sun went down. Our first experiences were a little glum. We drove around around looking for a campsite in the armada of RV's and after getting the tent out we were soon told that we couldn't use our little stove by the lake. Then it rained during the night and was pretty cloudy and drizzly in the morning. So, we were a little grumpy and bummed at the start of the day's adventure.

Things started to change pretty quickly though once we started hiking. We hiked about a mile into a pine forest that was really nice. The "Bear Country" signs were a little scary, but there were a lot of other hikers around, so we weren't too nervous. In the forest you couldn't tell what the weather was anyway, so that was pretty nice.

Later we took the "Going to the Sun Road." This road is a real accomplishment, and it is full of amazing views. The best part of the trip yesterday was the trail to the Hidden Lake. First you take the Going to the Sun Road up high into the mountains, and then you hike out from there. I don't think my photos or descriptions can really do this trail justice. There are ponds, valleys, meadows, and more mountains all up there, all world above our own. We were at the level of the clouds and not only watched a cloud engulf a nearby mountain top, but it engulfed us too. This trail was cold and it rained and even hailed, but neither Emily or I would have traded it for anything. The trail led to a lookout with a view of a hidden valley and a hidden lake. The view was so expansive that even my wide angle lens couldn't get most of it. I made a montage that shows a bit of what it looked like.

After being soaking wet and cold, we decided to spend the night in a bed and breakfast. I'm glad we did because it snowed all last night and has only just finished. It is September and it looks like Christmas. We are getting a very late start today and are a little reluctant to go hiking.

camping in Saskatchewan

2010-09-14T22:56:00.000-07:00

After staying two nights in the East Block's field station, we moved on to the West Block for a night of camping. The East Block isn't really open to normal visitors, but the West Block has a public road that winds through it. We pulled over on the side of the road and set up our tent about 100 yards away, about half way down into an old river valley. As I first walked to the edge of the valley and crested the ridge, there was a group of about ten deer about a stones throw away. The buck led the group away from me and out of view. I didn't feel to bad about taking their sleeping spot for the night because it was definitely the most beautiful campsite I've ever had. We finished getting our tent ready just as the sun's light faded and Emily and I spent an hour or so lying in the grass watching the stars appear. The clouds couldn't seem to decide whether they wanted to come or go, and so our view of the stars continued to change while we watched. Jupiter was shining brightly in the east and the moon turned a deep orange as it made it's way to the horizon.

Today we spent the day driving through the park and stopping to explore its various features. We made it to town, Val Marie, in the afternoon and decided to stay at the inn. Val Marie has to be the smallest town I've ever been in, second only to the one we ate in yesterday, called Mankota. The people here recognize Emily and are very friendly. We ate at the inn at a table with staff from the Canadian park system. I keep eating cheeseburgers, which I don't do often at home. It is great to see the cattle here given so much land and to know the food your eating was raised the right way.

Tomorrow morning we set out for Montana. Emily and I have never seen the Rockies before. I know it will be an awe inspiring experience for both of us. We will drive through the Blackfeet Reservation, which is bigger than Deleware, and then camp for three nights in Glacier National Park.

The lichen on the rocks had some fascinating patterns.

birthday on the prairie

2010-09-13T13:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my 25th birthday and I spent it exploring the prairie. Emily does her graduate research out here in the eastern block of Grasslands National Park, so we are able to stay in the field station for a couple days. When we arrived on Saturday night it was late and we were tired, so I didn't see the park until the next day. I awoke to a land I had imagined so many times and yet my visions never came close to its real beauty. Emily and I went out on a 4-wheeler and she brought me to some of her favorite places. As we drove down the dirt paths birds often flew up around us and ahead of us. It was like we were in an old Disney movie.

This park is one of the most pristine mixed-grass prairies in the world, and aside from some cattle, dirt roads, and fences, it looks and functions much like it has for thousands of years. There are some differences for sure, like the eradication of the bison and the loss or diminished populations of other animal species. But even though the spirit of the prairie has been scarred with these loses, it still shines with beauty and life. In one day I saw cattle, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, rabbits, hawks, a prairie dog, and some tiny frogs.

Last night we had a delicious home cooked meal at the house of a very nice family of ranchers that live up the street. Emily became friends with them this last summer when her car got stuck in the mud near their place. We are heading out of this part of the park today, but when we come back in a week or so, I will try to get some photos of them.

Emily and I stopped on the side of this hill to relax and take in the view.

a good road trip begins with a long flight

2010-09-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

I've made mention a couple times of getting ready for a big road trip. Well I just started it! I took a month off of work to travel with my girlfriend Emily through Canada and into Montana. She is a graduate student at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. She was able to take a semester off from classes to work on her thesis, so she can travel with me and also live in CNY for the fall. Yesterday I flew from Rochester to Georgia to Minnesota to Winnipeg, finally making it into her arms and marking the first part of our journey.

The flight from Rochester left at 6am. The sun hadn't risen yet on the ground, but as we got above the clouds a yellow glow lit the eastern sky. From the airplane's window I could see no land. Instead there was a world of clouds. It was an entire landscape of rolling blue clouds for as far as I could see. And on the horizon there appeared to be far off mountains made of clouds. I spend at least a half hour staring out the window, watching with wonder, and feeling like it was a spiritual or even magical scene. As the sun rose its warm light touched the tops of the tallest clouds. It was like a blue sea with dashes of red. And as the sun rose higher the blue clouds began to change to white. When the seat-buckle light went off I get my camera out and was able to take some photos. It was still beautiful, but by then the magical scene had changed. I will forever wish I had been able to photograph that special ethereal world.

So where are Emily and I going? After a couple nights in Winnipeg, we are heading west. It will be like this: Winnipeg -> Regina -> Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan -> Glacier National Park in Montana -> back to Winnipeg -> Chicago -> Rochester, NY. After I drop Emily off in Rochester I will head back to Syracuse and on to Boston to photograph the wedding of some friends of mine. After that it is back to the real world.

I will try to make posts on here when I can to share with you some of the adventures we have. Please follow along and hopefully we will be able to show you some of the beauty that we find in prairie and the mountains.

Caitlin and Darren's Wedding

2010-09-06T20:48:00.000-07:00

On Saturday one of my friends from college got married and I had the honor of photographing the wedding. Caitlin was a fellow painter at Alfred University. In fact, she is a fantastic artist. She is also the kind of person you want to be around because she always makes you feel appreciated. Her and Darren have been together since college. He is a nice guy and the the two of them make a great couple. I had a blast at the wedding. Besides seeing those two and getting to hang out with their families, I also got to see some other Alfred friends I haven't seen in a while. Some of them I hadn't seen since graduation three years ago. It was great to talk with them and hear about what they are up to.

The wedding was in Oxford, NY, which is southwest of Syracuse by about an hour and forty minutes. Oxford is a small town with some great scenery and good people. Darren's father owns a nice plot of land called "Golden Acres," which is complete with a beautiful rolling hill, a big pond, and some apple trees that I'm guessing were part of an orchard at one time. The ceremony took place in front of one of the trees and the reception was in a big tent. For those who like a nice drive through the countryside, I recommend exploring the area.

Right up until the wedding the weather was uncertain. Big dark rainclouds came in during the morning and forced the wedding crew to get everything inside. But then, moments before the ceremony was to start, the clouds and sprinkles gave way to a beautiful day. Everything was moved back outside and thankfully it stayed beautiful during the ceremony. The lighting ended up really being great and I got a lot of shots I'm really happy with. Please allow me to share a few of them with you.

The Great New York State Fair

2010-09-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about Syracuse is the Great New York State Fair. While growing up here the coming of the fair was always a bittersweet experience, because it meant that the summer was over and school would be starting again. As an adult I no longer have to worry about that. In fact, it means that fall is coming, which is my favorite time of the year. I love going to the fair. I went yesterday, and I was one of 98,000 people! I always make sure to see the butter sculpture and get some chocolate milk from the dairy building. A few years ago I discovered the drums and performances at the Pan-Aftrican village. This is definitely one of my favorite parts of the fair. I took some photos and video from the performances. You've got to check out the video to really get a feel for it. Today I also saw the Kat McPhee concert. I'm not an American Idol person, but she really has a great voice and she seems like a sweetheart. I hope she continues to grow in popularity.

Adanfo Drumming and Dance Group

These human statues were great!

Butter sculpture and Beatles sand castle

Preparing for trip with book on Franciscan Ecology

2010-09-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

Next Tuesday I am starting a month long road trip nature adventure that will bring me across Canada, into Montana, through Chicago, back to Syracuse, and on to Boston. The two most important things to consider when going on a trip like this is what music to bring and what books to pack. With this in mind I went to that great used bookstore on James Street (you know the one) and bought a few books. I thought it would be appropriate for my first trip to the west to read something that would teach me about the land and its people or help to make my experience one of spiritual development. I bought three books. "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," "The Imitation of Christ," and "Care for Creation." I've begun reading the last of the three and I want to tell you a little about it.

"Care for Creation: a franciscan spirituality of the earth," written by Ilia Delio, Keith Warner, and Pamela Wood is shelved in the religion section. It is really a book about connecting science, religion, and meditation in order to better understand, love, and protect the Earth. I have liked the Franciscans since I first learned about them while studying Medieval History in college. They are the inheritors of a catholic tradition started by St. Francis around a thousand years ago. If his name sounds familiar, it's because he is probably the most popular saint in history (the only real contender being Santa Claus, if you count him). St. Francis is the saint represented in the all the sculptures of the monk surrounded by birds. It is said that he used to preach to animals and he even wrote a beautiful prayer about nature and wildlife called "Canticle of the Creatures." "Care for Creation" is written in sections divided into science, religion, and meditations. I have a hard time expressing my own religious beliefs (or understanding them myself), but I really connected with what the authors wrote about the world as God's creation and what our role in that might be. I underlined some of my favorite passages from the first part of the book, and I want to share some with you. Maybe after reading them you will also better understand the purpose of my artwork.

"...just as the Word is the inner self-expression of God, the created order is the external expression of the inner Word... Creation is an external "word" of God. This finite "word" of God is the one eternal Word expressed in time and history. Creation therefore is the "speech" of God." p43

"As God expresses himself in creation, creation, in turn, expresses the Creator. We can compare the manifold variety of things in creation to the stained-glass windows of the great cathedral. Just as light strikes the various panes of glass and diffracts into an array of colors, so too the divine light emanates through the Word and diffracts in the universe, producing a myriad of "colors" expressing in a myriad of things, all reflecting the divine light in some way." p43

"Only when we know the source of our lives can we know the truth of our lives-that we and all creation come from God and belong to God. We are not created to wield power over others but to join with others, including the created world, in the praise of God." p48

"When we lose sight of the uniqueness of created being then things become "its," objects of manipulation and control, only to be given value or life by the one who controls or manipulates it. When things lose their intrinsic goodness and become lifeless objects, they lose their distinct place in nature or creation." p52

"Without the human person to give voice to creation, to celebrate its giftedness and sacredness, creation becomes mute and vulnerable to manipulation. The key to creation's holiness, therefore, is in human identity-who we are in our Creator, the Trinity of divine love... However, if God is dead in us, then we are dead to the deeper meaning of creation as well." p52

In the meditation section the authors ask you to consider certain questions. I will end this post with the one I liked best:

"How do you usually identify yourself? Are there times you forget your true identity and live out of a more narrow sense of self? Can you think of times when you have lived out of a sense of self that was connected to God and the world as sacred? What factors contributed to each?"

Artists I'm lucky to know

2010-08-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

I've been lucky to learn from and befriend many a wonderful artist and person, and some of them have websites. I wish more of them did, because I really know some very talented people, but here are the ones I could find. I hope to add more in the future.

Former Teachers
Kristie Hayes (one of my high school art teachers) http://www.kristiehayes.com/

Stephanie McMahon (painting/drawing professor from Alfred University) http://www.stephmcmahon.com/

Roger Freeman (my photography guru in college) http://rogerfreemanphotography.com/

Woody Packard (college photo prof) www.woodypackard.com

Hope Zaccagni (my former boss at Alfred) http://hopezaccagni.com/home.html

Friends
Emily's Nature Research and Photography (my girlfriend's blog!) http://ecologypsy.blogspot.com/2010/08/to-north.html?spref=fb

Elisabeth Holmes (fellow artist from Alfred) www.Elisabethholmes.com

Carla Bartow's Blog (friend for many years) http://carlasswanktank.blogspot.com/

Sarah Donohue (college friend) http://rmcad.digication.com/sdonohue/Home

Former Students
Patti Grosjean (my first former student to make a website) http://patriciagrosjeanphotography.com/

First Post

2010-08-27T06:43:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! This is my first blog and this is my first blog post. I decided to make a blog and insert it in my website because I like the different format it provides. When I'm making art, not everything fits into the galleries I've put on my site, and I want to put some of that up here sometimes. Also, my website is more of a portfolio, whereas this is like a conversation and a journal. I will write about my life, family, friends, girlfriend, and job. I really want visitors to comment on my posts or leave messages about my work. I would like to know which of my projects you like best or worse, and why. I would like to check out links to other people's personal websites, too. Please send them to me! Since this is my first time trying to make a blog I am not sure exactly what direction it will take. Please let me know if there are any questions about my work, life, or philosophy you would like me to address or directions you might like to see my work go.
Peace and love,
Dustin