Arches National Park

.... was incredible! It's totally my favorite of the, you know, "desert-themed" parks (Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Lake Powell...).

First, let me say.... I highly, HIGHLY recommend going over to the other blog I just set up, with larger versions of these same pictures. Looking at them this size doesn't do them justice..... and Eva-Lynn and I are way too tiny, compared to the landscapes. So as long as you have a decently fast internet connection and a good computer screen, seriously, go look at them at travislundphotography.blogspot.com. If, on the other hand, you're still using dial-up (hi, Mom and Dad!), or any slow connection, scroll on down!

Anyway, Arches was totally awesome. The great thing was, since it's the middle of winter, the park was totally deserted... we practically had the place to ourselves. Which made taking fun pictures that much easier....

The Difference

Admit it, deep down, even the normal person wonders....

On an unrelated note... we went to Arches National Park over the three-day MLK weekend, and I took hundreds of photos. Shocker, I know... anyway, I'll have some of the best ones up soon. Check back in a day or two!

Apertures and F-stops

I picked up a used lens (a 50mm, f/1.8 Canon) for 25 bucks the other day, and snapped a bunch of random shots on the way home (and at home) to try it out.

I knew before I bought it that a lens with an f-number as low as 1.8 gives you shots with a very shallow depth of field.... whatever you focus on is sharp, while objects any distance into the background or foreground quickly get blurry, giving you a nice effect:

What I didn't realize (or take a minute to think about) was that since a small f-number means the aperture opens really wide during the shot, it also means that much more light can be let in than usual... so it works great in low-light situations.

I took this one expecting to get the blurred-headlight effect, and was totally surprised to see it come out so clearly:

Muppet!

High contrast, Mortinson-style.

The dog doesn't seem to be as interested in the new car as everyone else.



Not Muppet. Cool anyway.

Random Christmas shots

My parents have been luring this fox in with dog food...
This is a picture Dad took through the sliding glass window.

New Year's Eve "Bash"

New Year's Eve found us back at the Starr's, welcoming 2009 in style:

The first order of business in the new year was disposing of the many gingerbread houses left over from the Christmas party, in a variety of fun and interesting ways.

Condemned






Bash!








Gingerbread roadkill





I thought this was a great launch, until I took a closer look.....



We're not in Kansas any more....




















There was also much gaming.... Pictionary, Jungle Speed, Blokus.....












Emcee duties by the one and only Micah W.!!!
















Happy New Year!