We’re Mere Specks on Earth

I grew up in the New York metropolitan area and didn’t get to travel to the more remote areas of our country until later in life. To me, the skyscrapers of New York City were about the tallest or largest scenery to which I was accustomed. That changed after college when I visited my first national park – Yosemite. Since then, I’ve made been lucky enough to visit many more.

One thing that I encountered early on and continues to amaze me to this day is the extensive amount of our country’s tracts of land. Look as far as your eye can see and there’s plenty more beyond. From a distance, gaze at a geologic feature or land mass and you may not comprehend its size until you draw closer. In short, it’s the scale of these features that are astonishing.

As individuals, our size is insignificant compared to the earth’s magnificent landforms.

Below are a few photographs that try to illustrate scale.

A couple hiking at Death Valley’s Mesquite Dunes look miniscule.	You can barely see the dozens of visitors congregating around Delicate Arch in Arches National Park.
Here’s a visitor enjoying the shade of Delicate Arch.	This is the same photograph at full size. You can see how the size of Delicate Arch towers over the visitor.
These craggy mountains in the northeast portion of Yellowstone National Park are home to mountain goat families.	We’ve enlarged the photo on the left so you can pick out the animal on the ledge high off of the surrounding terrain.
This young girl is having fun exploring the rocks in Monument Valley.	In the full size photo you can see her standing in front of a huge monument.
This young girl sits at the entrance to the Tunnel Tree in Yosemite.	My fisheye lens captures the entirety of the Tunnel Tree which rises 225 feet above the ground.

The scale of many of nature’s wonders is so humbling to me and affords me the chance to record them on film (so to speak).

Written by:
 
Arnie Lee
 
 

Visiting Monument Valley with the Grandkids

I have a habit of revisiting fabulously gorgeous places. Some have a magnetic attraction that just keep me coming back.

Each fall I ferry Mom’s car to Arizona and then back to Michigan in the spring. When I can make the arrangements, I ask one of our grandkids to come along to keep me company and in turn share some wonderful sites with them.

The small town of Kayenta, AZ lies along the route between Phoenix and Michigan. A few miles north of the town along the Arizona/Utah border is Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park – a most unique and eye-popping location. There you will leisurely drive along the 17-mile dirt road to view a multitude of amazing cliffs, buttes and mesas.

These photos were taken at a spot with with either the iconic West Mitten Butte or Merrick Butte in the distance.

Taken April 2011

Taken July 2014

Taken Nov 2014

Taken Apr 2015

Taken Apr 2018

Taken Apr 2019

The photos are a great way for me to remember this magnificent area. Hopefully the grandkids will recall their visit in years to come.

Wide Angle to the Extreme

It’s eye-catching when I see a photo that “bends” the horizon.

This bend comes from the camera’s lens. Use a very wide angle lens and you’ll see the curved “barrel” distortion on the images. One well-known type of wide angle lenses is the fisheye. These lenses typically have a field of view approaching 180 degrees – allowing you to capture the entire scene in front of the camera.

Until recently, fisheye lenses were expensive. I have one that cost well over $1500. But when I was looking for an ultra-wide angle for my Sony equipment, I found an inexpensive lens made by Rokinon. With its $300 price tag, I was a little skeptical of the quality of images from such a low cost lens but decided to try it regardless.

Here’s a short gallery of some of the scenes that I captured during my first outing with the lens a few weeks ago.
 
 

This is an 8mm f/2.8 fisheye. I wanted an ultra-wide angle for an extra Sony Nex7 mirrorless camera.	The Nex7 is very compact and lightweight. The Rokinon 8mm fisheye is also surprisingly compact.
The Sony Nex7/Rokinon 8mm setup is only about 1/3 the size of my Canon 6D with a Canon 8-15mm fisheye – a true space and weight saver.	One of the first images that I recorded with the new lens was in the Tetons. I especially like the curved horizon.
Here in Yellowstone you can see that the bridge rail curves upwards. The lens does not support the camera’s autofocus feature.	However an 8mm lens has a very wide depth of field which makes focusing less critical as you can see in this image taken at Mono Lake.
At Grand Canyon, the bend in the horizon is amazingly scenic. The lens does not support autoexposure so I set the camera shooting mode to manual, set the lens aperture to f/8 and adjusted to the proper shutter speed.	In both of these photos, you can see that the exposure for both a shaded and sunny scene were correct. Neither the manual focus nor the manual exposure requirements of this lens is a concern.
At Monument Valley I took advantage of the lens’ extreme wide view. Here I was able to take in a 180-degree view to photograph this huge monument within a single image.	The fisheye excels for those of you who like shooting portraits that include the vast surroundings.
At Mesa Verde, we encountered another “tight squeeze”. However, we were able to capture this with the lens’ wide view.	In Rocky Mountain National Park, the lens took in not only the winter’s left over snow but the billowing overhead July clouds.
What about the sharpness? Here I’ve enlarged a small section of one of the above images. You can clearly see the detail in the face, the lettering of the cap and the tufa formations in the background. I found the sharpness of this inexpensive lens to be very acceptable.

After my short time with this lens, I am no longer skeptical of it’s quality. The images are tack sharp with very good color reproduction. If you’re on the lookout for an ultra-wide, include this lens in your search.

The Rokinon 8mm f/2.8 fisheye is also available for other camera models as well: Fuji, Samsung and Canon M mount. Other similar versions with a maximum f/3.5 aperture are available for Canon, Nikon, Sony A mount, Pentax and Olympus 4/3.
 
 
Written by: Arnie Lee
 
 

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