Oddball Stuff
New and Miscellaneous Photos
These are miscellaneous new photos. Looking at these, I realize that, although collected here only because they are either new or don’t quite work elsewhere on the web site, they are somewhat representative of my unusual life.
The missile launch sequence (below) is a good example of this. The opportunity arose in an unexpected context. I had official permission for the photos, but everybody who usually tries this just takes a single still frame with a high-powered telephoto lens, and tends to aim too low. Instead, I perversely did the opposite of what everybody else does. I used a fisheye lens for ultrawide angle shooting, and I set up the camera for portrait orientation to get as much vertical sky as possible. (I knew that this thing was going to initially climb straight up before it started its horizontal speed-run.)
I set up two cameras, one 35 mm and one medium format, on two separate tripods. I rigged two remote electronic cable releases. I had the medium format camera ready for one tight shot on the missile coming out of its launcher (which I got but can’t put on the web page). I rigged the second camera to shoot multiple frames per second. Those are the frames that appear in this mosaic. Until I did this, nobody had ever thought about setting up this kind of shot on this system before. I started to take frames about two seconds before the launch, to make sure I got the beginning of the flight on film.
When the big moment came, the shock-concussion of the launch was colossal; it felt and sounded like an explosion, not a launch. The ba-boom was so powerful, like a punch in the gut, that I almost dropped the cable releases when the missile took off. TOO SO COOL!!!!! (I was closer to the launch than it looks here; the fisheye lens makes the distance seem larger than it was.) The missile was supersonic before its body had completely left the launcher. The events shown in the first twenty frames elapsed in a few seconds (except for the final frame, which was taken about 30 seconds later). Until I shot this sequence and made this mosaic on a lark, no-one had ever done it before for this system. When they saw my results, the launch guys wanted copies for their program office; I was happy to oblige, of course.
Shooting that sequence was the kind of weird idea that pops into my head all the time. My head is a very crowded, busy and sometimes confused place. But I do like being there.
Go to the Using My Photos page on this site for instructions on how to obtain high-resolution versions of these images from me. I don’t charge money for my photos, but I do require a photo credit in your end-product in exchange for the use of my images.
My very dear, long-time best friend at Royal Arch
Missile launch time lapse sequence
Greenland ice, mountains & fjord. I love aerial photography and always have a camera whenever I’m in a plane.
The flying flat rat of paleontology. I love working with people at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Three women on Longs Peak. Guiding them on that mountain that day was one of the best days of my life.
New York City skyline from one of my radio measurement sites near Ground Zero, post-9-11.
Multiple radar antennas at a very interesting place. When I get to radar heaven, I hope this is what I’ll see.
Dark Age meets Nuclear Age at an annual Weird Science party at my house.
Lightning near Moab during a dinosaur dig.
Wandering ant. I think a lot about the world under my feet.
NY City from one of my radio measurement sites.
Flatirons winter vista at Boulder, near where my office is located.
Radar feed seen from the top of the gigantic antenna reflector. I was afraid of heights as a kid. Now I’m irresponsible.
Longs Peak vista from the Chimney. I hauled a medium format camera up there that day. Longs Peak wants to kill me.
Me with Mt St Helens tree 1987. My slide rule computation of 10 MT yield (from tree size & position) matched official value.
A test facility photographed from a commercial airliner. I always try to carry a camera with me for whatever comes along.
Another test facility photographed from a commercial airliner, on the next flight. What were the odds?
Classic beached shipwreck, from electronic monitoring work for the Navy across Pacific islands.
My Z4: for around-town commuting, ordinary errands, and non-camping road trips.
My Xterra on wet, slippery bentonite: for off-road paleontology & geology work and situations where I need payload capacity.
