Lake Loveland

Thanks for looking. Comments and critiques are welcomed.

I like your departure from color in this case. Monochrome suits this scene particularly well.

Thank you very much for taking the time to comment Dick. I appreciate it.

Excelente trabajo Larry,, bella composicion y encuadre, saludos,,,6/6.

http://www.hectorbrandan.com/images/julio-carmona.gif

 

Beautiful! Love the tones!

Muchas gracias.

Many thanks Carlo. While I am thinking about it scratch Rocco behind the ears for me. :)

I like how striking this is colored this way. Those clouds are great! Did you get any of the nasty snowstorm that went through Colorado?

Thank you Kim. This is another example of split toning.

 

In the storm just passed the snow missed us completely. But we got some nasty winds. It pretty much ruined shooting over the weekend. Even on a tripod I couldn't get the camera stable enough to take photos.

Well, it's beautiful! I think winter is upon us, Larry. Time to spend a few months freezing in the snow to get photos, or finding things to shoot indoors!

I think you are right Kim. I am pretty sure you have had the worst of it though. Last week the weather report showed the whole state of Utah getting dumped on with lots of snow.

 

Personally I don't mind the cold or the snow. Its the short days that are the real bummer. Its depressing when it doesn't get light until 8 AM and is dark again at 4 PM.

Yeah, I know. If you want to catch a sunset, you have to start before the workday even ends. We're getting some cold temps, but only a few inches of snow so far. I'm a wimp in the cold, but I'm going to try to be brave this winter and attempt more snow shots (where's my snowmobile suit?...)

Have you ever noticed that dry cold is easier to take than a cold mixed with high humidity? A wet cold makes your body ache. Does mine anyway.

 

That old saw about every cloud has a silver lining is true when applied to photography. Inclement weather is hard on the body but it provides the best photographic opportunities. Just keep telling yourself that and keep shooting.

Okay, I'll try! Leann was teasing me about feeding the deer from the cabin door because I didn't want to go out in the cold...I guess I'll have to toughen up. About the humidity...I'll take our dry -30 any day over wet cold. Same with the heat. You've seen it all, with all those exotic places you've lived, haven't you? Is Colorado still your favorite, or do you like some other place better?

Since you asked.

 

I am originally from Arizona. I lived there until I was in my mid teens and to this day I absolutely despise the place. I went to high school and college in the California wine country just north of San Francisco. When I left California I lived overseas for many years. But I ended up living in the same general area of California again between 1996 and 2002. I love the climate, the landscape, and the nearby ocean. I don't like the congestion and cost of living though. I also lived in New Mexico for a few years and I absolutely love it. I would not consider it a hardship to move back there. But all things considered I am very content in Colorado and grateful to be here. It won't hurt my feelings if this is the last stop on my journey through life.

 

As far as foreign countries are concerned I lived in Italy for 2 years and Germany for 4. I think those are my two favorites. I absolutely loved both countries and it would be difficult to pick one over the other. I speak much better German than I do Italian however so if I had to choose, Germany might get the edge. But on the other hand I like Italy's climate better.

 

Between 1980 and 1983 I spent every April in England. The climate is variable, the food is awful, and the people are wonderful. I am very very fond of Great Britain.

 

I spent 9 years in Japan. The best way I could describe my feelings is I am neutral about it. I didn't dislike it at all. But I really wouldn't care to go back there again.

 

I spent a year in Korea. To be blunt I hated the place. Actually thats too mild. I despise it with every fiber of my being. It would take a great deal to get me to every go back there again.

 

I spent from January through December of 1978 in Iran. That was the year they had their little revolution. When things really got nasty my employer ordered me to leave. That was about two weeks before the Shah left and the Ayatollah came back from exile. I can't say it was my favorite place. But it was certainly one of the more interesting places I have been to. For the first 8 months I was there I had a very good time. I enjoyed it. I can't say the same about the last four months.

You have such rich experience in your background, Larry...of course, now you leave me wondering WHY you hated Arizona, Korea? Arizona is so varied; which part did you live in and hate?

 

My experience is very limited...one trip to Europe in 1978, a few other places since, but only for visits. I loved Rome the best, because the old ruins and atmosphere fascinated me. I don't know that I'd want to live there, though. I don't think I could learn to drive like that! I remember the people in Munich seemed very aloof and cold (except in the beer house :) Maybe they didn't like tourists.

 

We went to San Diego to visit my son for Thanksgiving, and it was fun seeing the sites, but I hate all the congestion of people and traffic. Salt Lake looked deserted by comparison when we got back. I've never seen San Francisco. Where did you live in New Mexico? That's a state I'd like to see a lot more of.

The northern part of Arizona is beautiful. Prescott, Flagstaff, Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon, etc are very nice. Unfortunately I grew up in the Sonoran desert about 30 miles west of Phoenix. The climate there is utterly miserable a good portion of the year and that is enough to dislike in and of itself. But I am also turned off by all the yahoos running around in pickup trucks pretending to be cowboys. Truth is most of them do not have a clue which end of a cow is which. (I grew up on a ranch taking care of animals and realized early on I did NOT want to be a cowboy.)

 

I lived in Albuquerque from 1992 through 1996. Its only 400 miles from Phoenix, but the climate and the landscape are totally different. And the culture is as well. It?s really a wonderful place to visit. Just be aware that within a hundred mile radius of Albuquerque hotel or motel rooms are impossible to find during the balloon fiesta unless you make reservations 6 months in advance.

 

 

Re: the Germans. They can be very formal. But if you make an effort to get to know them they are usually gracious and wonderful people. If you take the time to learn and speak a little German they really open up. If you ever go that way again I highly recommend you stop in Paris in route. If you think the Germans are frosty, wait until you encounter a French waiter. They can be difficult to deal with. But just seeing Paris makes it a worthwhile endeavour.

 

 

As to why I don't like Korea, well I could write a book. But I will try to be more concise. I used to work as a field service engineer (or technical representative if you will,) for a company in California. In 1979 they sent me to Korea on a contract with the South Korean navy. I was the only person from my company in country and there were very few westerners living in the area I was in. I have been in that same situation many times in many different places and it seldom ever bothered me. But the people I interfaced with in the Korean Navy made Korea a special case.

 

The ROK navy had purchased a fairly substantial amount of microwave radio equipment from my employer. My contract called for me to train the Koreans on the workings of and the maintenance of that equipment. Its also a given that a major part of any tech reps job is to keep the customer happy. In Korea that turned out to be an impossible task. They figured out long before they met me that a squeaky wheel gets oiled so they squeaked long and hard from the moment I arrived until the moment I left a year later. They consciously and deliberately used being unhappy as a tool to squeeze more out of my employer and myself. Some of the stunts they pulled you wouldn't believe.

 

Less than two minutes after I met the Commander I was going to work for, he told me to go home. He was unhappy because I wasn't a computer programmer. They had signed a contract for someone to train their technicians on microwave radio systems. Computer programming was never mentioned in the document. But that didn't matter to him. He wanted a programmer, I wasn't one, and he told me point blank to leave the country. Again this was in the first two minutes of the conversation.

 

We got that worked out and he graciously allowed me to stay. A year later at the end of my contract just the opposite occurred. The Koreans had pulled a very underhanded trick to get my employer to pay for shipping a computer stateside and repairing it. Understand we didn't make the computer. It never went anywhere near my employers facility. However we had agreed to pick up the bill. When the computer arrived back in Korea one of their technicians hooked it up and it would not boot. I only had five days left on my contract but I was told that I could not leave the country until that computer was operational. This came down from the head man himself. He told me to my face that if I tried to leave the country before the computer was working he would have me thrown me in jail. True story. I asked to be allowed to see the computer in question. It turned out that they had not connected everything properly. It took me all of about 3 minutes to get it up and running.

 

In the greater scheme of things this turned out not to be a big deal. But preceding it had been a thousand and one incidents that made my time in Korea a living hell. For me, that threat was the straw that broke the camels back. From that day to this that camel's back is still broken and that is why I feel the way I do about Korea.

 

Well, I sure can't blame you for feeling that way about Korea after going through that! I appreciate you telling me about it...it's fascinating to learn from someone who experienced it firsthand.

 

I went to school in Flagstaff for a semester once, and explored everything I could on weekends. I don't think I would like the desert where you lived, though...just too hot. I had to laugh at your description of the "yahoos"...they're everywhere, not just Arizona, aren't they? I've only been to Albuquerque once, and I have to say I thought it was dirty and ugly compared to the other places I've seen in NM. But then I didn't see too much of it. Maybe it was the wrong end of town!

 

We went to Paris on that Europe trip, and the people didn't impress me much (they REALLY don't after the last couple of years)...but the things I remember being most amused by were seeing a sex shop right next to a McDonalds, and all the dressed up women with long black hair hanging out of their armpits and on their legs. I enjoyed all the sites, but those were my main impressions of Paris culture. London was cold, rainy, and we saw a flasher in a churchyard...otherwise, I enjoyed the sites there, too.

 

You must learn languages easily. Did you have to learn Korean?

You are right, you see those yahoos ever where. But Arizona does seem to have a bumper crop of them.

 

If you were in the southwestern corner of Albuquerque you might indeed have been in the wrong part of town. The eastern part of the city is a lot newer and nicer. I admit to being prejudiced because I lived there, but I personally think the area up above Tramway is gorgeous.

 

If you are ever in Albuquerque again I highly recommend you drive 15 miles east on I 40 to the other side of the Sandia mountains. Get off at state road 14 and go left toward Cedar Crest. That will take you through one of the nicest blue spruce forests you will ever see. If you stay on that road it will take you to Santa Fe the back way. It's a gorgeous drive. About half way you will go through a little town called Madrid. All the houses on the main street have been turned into shops and art galleries. It's a bit off the beaten path but well worth the time to visit.

 

Several Korean officers I interfaced with spoke English. I picked up a few words of Korean through sheer osmosis but I never invested time and effort in trying to master it. It's a difficult language to learn and to be honest I couldn't muster up any interest in it.

Larry, thanks for the info about NM. I hope to get down there again, and that drive through Madrid sounds great. I want to visit Chaco Canyon some day. Have you been there?

From the pictures I have seen and the things I have read Chaco Canyon looks to be quite an interesting place. Unfortunately I never have the time or opportunity to check it out first hand. Its on my list of the places I would dearly love to see though.