First Cruise Ship of the Year

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 3 Comments

The Fred Olsen Cruise Lines ship Balmoral leaving Seward, Alaska last Thrusday.

The Fred Olsen Cruise Lines ship Balmoral leaving Seward, Alaska last Thursday.

April 16th seems early for our first ship of the summer.  The passengers aboard this ship are taking part in a 104 day around the world cruise.  This ship, and these same passengers were in the news in early March when it was reported that pirates attacked the  ship off the coast of Somalia.  I remember seeing an interview on the Today show where passengers or crew talked about having to take cover as shots were being fired.  The cruse line came out recently and said not only were there no shots fired, but that there was never attacked.  Who knows.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it was this ship until after it departed, or I would have asked one of the many passengers who passed by the house that day about what happened.

Thanks for the responses to the Ask Ron post – I will follow up with answers soon.

Ask Ron

Ron NiebruggeAsk Ron, California, Los Angeles, Photos, Travel 13 Comments

A ferris Wheel at night, Long Beach, California.

A ferris wheel at night, Long Beach, California.

 I thought I would try a new idea with the blog and create an Ask Ron category.  My thinking is that every so often I would answer reader submitted questions and publish the question and my response here on the blog.  They can be pretty much anything photography related, from travel destinations, gear, techniques, thoughts and opinions – you get the idea.  If there is a photo you have always wondered about, maybe the story behind the image, that would be good too.

If you have a web presence; website, blog, Flickr page, I would be happy to link back in my response.  If you would prefer to remain anonymous, that’s cool too. 

You can post your questions in this thread, or feel free to email them to me at ronn@arctic.net  If you could, put “Ask Ron” in the subject so that I will know it is for the blog and not just someone asking a question.

I will do my best to answer all questions as best I can, but I will have editorial control, so I could decide to ignore a question – heck, it is my blog.  🙂  So if I start posting photos of a wolverine den, chances are slim that I will provide the GPS coordinates.  Likewise, asking for the name and number of the photo editor at XYZ magazine probably won’t get a response either, but most stuff will be fair game.  So hit me with your Q’s!

Hey, speaking of wolverine.  Now that we are heading into spring, I figure it might be a good time to remind everyone that my deal from last year is still on!

In Deep with Steep and Cheap!

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Chugach, Miscellaneous, Photos, Travel 15 Comments

Culross Island, Prince William Sound, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

Culross Island, Prince William Sound, Chugach National Forest, Alaska.

This is Troy Henkels in the pack raft on a beautful island in Prince William Sound.  I’m a bit tired of a brown and white world, and I’m now looking forward to the rich greens of summer!

Speaking of getting ready for summer – I have to admit, I’m a bit addicted to Steepandcheap.com.  Steep and Cheap is a bit like an online, outdoor gear version of QVC.  They only sell one item at a time, and the item is usally only up for 20 minutes or so, or until is sells out.  You never know what might appear, but it is usually at a killer price – so we find ourselves constantly checking back to see what we are missing out on – it is adicting!

PS:  Here is a site that feature numerous outdoor gear deals of the day.

Legal Advice for Photographers

Ron NiebruggeCalifornia, How to, Miscellaneous, Orange County, Photos 3 Comments

 

Palm Trees at sunset, Newport Beach, California.

Palm Trees at sunset, Newport Beach, California.

Let me start by saying, you shouldn’t get your legal advice from friends and fellow photographers.  Having said that, let me offer some advice.  🙂

The place I turn to when I have questions is the Photographer’s Legal Guide by Carolyn Wright.  The book covers most of the legal issues one might encounter when dealing with photo business and photography issues such as copyrights, model releases, insurance and paperwork.  I think most photographers will find it very valuable. 

I have known Carolyn for a number of years now and consider her a friend – she is a wonderful person, and as a fellow photographer, she understands the industry and issues photographers face.  We have hired her on occasions when we needed large contracts reviewed, and also successfully used her for a copyright infringement suit – who better to hire then the person who wrote the book!  Read More

Crowley Tugs

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Photos, Travel 6 Comments

Crowley tugs in the Seward Boat Harbor, Alaska.

Crowley tugs in the Seward Boat Harbor, Alaska.

I went out looking for subjects during a heavy snowstorm yesterday.  I can almost always find a moose, and thought they would make for a cool subject all covered in snow – but I couldn’t find a one yesterday!  So I headed down to the boat harbor – I can always count on the harbor for interesting material.

Singh-Ray Blog

Ron NiebruggeAnza-Borrego, California, How to, Photos, Travel 8 Comments

Dry Lake Bed, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Dry Lake Bed, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

I have been a long time user of Singh-Ray filters, particularly their graduated neutral density filters.  So I must say I was honored when they approached me recently and asked me to contribute to their blog.  In fact, I already had the first post written in my head, as  it was a tip I thought I would post here.  Instead, I shared my discovery of the usefulness of using live-view in the positioning of graduated neutral density filters.  Well I don’t want to spoil the whole post, you can check out the whole story at the Singh-Ray blog. 

As far as my own blog goes, I still may do some fine tuning of the header, photo size etc., so if things look a bit funky from time to time, you will understand.

An Easy to Use WordPress Theme ?!

Ron NiebruggeCalifornia, Miscellaneous, Photos, Travel 22 Comments

A sunset at the Salton Sea California from this past winter.

A sunset at the Salton Sea California from this past winter.

I have received numerous emails and comments over the past year asking me to post bigger photos.  Really, I haven’t been ignoring those requests, it just wasn’t possible because my old theme was so narrow.  It was probably fine in the days of 800 x 600 monitor resolutions, but today, I just ended up with a narrow blog and a bunch of gray space on either side! 

So I had enough of my old theme, and there was no way I was going to try to modify it – heck, just adding the photo to the banner took me a day!    So this past weekend I went on a search for a new theme.  I won’t bore you with the details, but there are thousands and thousands of themes out there – and of course none of them are just right.  That is when I found Thesis;  About Thesis — Find out more about Thesis and the DIYthemes philosophy 

With Thesis, I had total control.  To change to three columns instead of my previous two –  I just selected the 3 column option in the drop down menu.  I wanted an extra wide column for my large photos – all I did was type in the desired width in a little box and bingo, it changes!  Not only does it change, but everything lines up perfectly – something that was a constant battle before.  Would I prefer the side bars on each side, with the content down the middle?  You guessed it, just another click.  Rotating photos at the top of the sidebar – painless!  Supposedly they have great support, fortunately I didn’t need it, but I did drop by the online forum which has almost six thousand users.Read More

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 21 Comments

coyote

Coyote, Exit Glacier Road, Seward, Alaska.

I know, this is just an ordinary snapshot from a point and shoot camera – hey even photographers can take snap shots!  But, check out how close this coyote was from me Monday morning during a long cross-country ski – maybe 20 feet away! But more on that latter.

For exercise, I love to skate ski. It seems like I often see cool stuff, but my main camera and lenses are so darn heavy, they get left behind.  I wanted a little camera that I could throw in my pocket and forget it was even there, but one that captured decent images in raw, and that is how I ended up with the Panasonic DMC-LX3. — Panasonic DMC-LX3K (Black) 

I gotta say, this little camera is a lot of fun to shoot with. It has a wide, really fast Leica lens which is great for low light and indoor photography. Heck, at f/2.0, I don’t even have a 35mm lens nearly that fast! The thing will focus down to a fraction of a inch which makes it fun for messing around with macro stuff as well. It does a great job handling tricky exposures and even has a HD video mode.Read More