Thermal Imaging Art

A couple of practice shots from the NEMO parking lot during today's sleeping bag testing with the thermal camera proved to be kind of beautiful in a way...
Note the temps, my hands were chilly. I wish I had been the one in the sleeping bag, not the one taking pictures.

Maybe if that doesn't hit your art sensibilities, you'll appreciate the spin art version.

-Suzanne

Sometimes it's good to reflect on the products we make.

-Bill

Second Half of Half Dome

Expectations are ever present when returning to a previously attempted climb. In 2010 Mark and I tried to finish our climbing season in Yosemite, CA on the picturesque Half Dome. We were unsuccessful. I was tired from a demanding summer full of adventures and planning and was not too thrilled to jump on another climb, but I knew it meant a lot to Mark, so off we went.

To get to the base of the route we scaled up steep rocks slabs. Followed by even steeper pitches, including hand over hand rope moves, all this while carrying a heavy haul bag. This was on Mark’s back because the shear weight of it was beyond my ability to carry. We thought it would be a good idea to spend the night half way up the route, which meant we had to haul all our equipment up the wall. Four pitches up and many hours later we had not moved very far up the wall. Our bag was getting caught on everything; we were not going to make it to the sleeping ledge at the pace we were going.

So we bailed.
Not a word was spoken the rest of the day.
It was not Mark’s idea to bail.

Like last year, Half Dome was the final climb on our schedule for the year, but we were both ready to finish the climb this time. We had to get up 23 pitches using only 11 hours of daylight. This race would be demanding.

We started climbing at 4am. To save time, we each attached ourselves to a fixed rope with a Petzl Tibloc (a simplified ascending device) to self-belay ourselves. Without a proper belay, we had to be in the mindset that we were basically free soloing the first five pitches. If one of us did fall the Tibloc would bit on the rope, and arrest the fall (hopefully). It was too scary to trust it, so we climbed like we were not going to fall.

Right off the bat I realized my shoes were too big…. What? I had worn them before several times, so why now were they too big? I started slipping and sliding around in them so I put on my socks to fill the void. It did work but I felt my precision was off.

After we ran out of fixed rope we started to pitch it out and do a little simal-climbing, where both climbers move at the same time. As the route wondered the quality of the climbing deteriorated. Once we arrived at the chimney pitches the climbing improved again, and it was really exciting and airy climbing. Luckily, I was leading so I didn’t have to carry the larger backpack up the tight squeezes.

There were some interesting pitches as we approached Big Sandy Ledge (which was not as big as expected). Followed by the more demanding Zig-Zag pitches. Mark took off from the ledge placing tiny pieces, and clipping the amazing amounts of fixed gear on route. I followed with amazement knowing this route has been freed. It was now my turn to lead out on the “Thank God Ledge!”

I started out thinking, “I can do this, this is not too bad.” Then the 10 inch ledge narrowed to 8, then 6 inches about the same time the wall pushed out to vertical, and then a little past vertical. I paused, turned around and told Mark I was tired of being scared, but I also knew it would not be any easier to follow. With some angry aggressive words I crawled across the tiny ledge to where it finally got wider, and therefore more secure.

Mark finished the last couple pitches to land us on the top right as the sun set. We did it, we made it up the Regular route on Half Dome in 14 hours! What a summit, and what a great way to finish 2011. We found our way down the in the dark back to the base where our sleeping bags were waiting for us. I had expected better quality of climbing, but I was overall extremely impressed with the rock, the climb, and the entire experience of climbing such an iconic piece of rock.

Local Wildlife: The Snowy owl

Its been a while since I last posted about the amazing natural world found right around our office. In fact, the last time I posted we were still located in our Nashua office. Our move to Dover, NH opened a new world of animals and birds to be discovered.

With our new location so close to the seacoast I have had a great opportunity to explore all the nooks and crannies of the rugged New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine coast, all of which are just a short drive away.

Although hardly considered "local" I wanted to share some hard earned images of the Snowy Owl.


Many years can pass where local residents may not see even a single owl, while other years such as this one, the owls migrate down in droves in search of food. From what research suggest the owls move solely on the population of voles. When the population recedes, the owls move further south. This article in the New York Times has great information about this migration as well as its possible effects.


Hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed witnessing such an amazing bird! More photos can be found here.
Cheers
Bill

Through the Boat's Eyes

Professional kayaker and NEMO ambassador Jesse Coombs sent us this video that he, Mark Kettenhofen and Lucas Gilman recently worked on for B&H Camera. It's a short, fun one.



~Kate

More Fun Customer Pics

Another set of customer pics from Tara P, with comments included. The first one remind me of the Hipstamatic type images that are seemingly all over the Interweb these days—but better and touches that sweet spot of depth and texture. The last picture is one of my favorites in a while, for obvious reasons (mostly the commentary).

Photo taken by a Canon AE-1 SLR camera, I love the film texture.

My friend Terry's Meta 2P, day and night at Ma On Shan, Hong Kong. The front view is Sai Kung City.

Woke up and saw a bird around my Morpho 1P. Left a shit on it too... -_-

-Connie

Zor Love.

A glamour shot, of sorts, came in today from customer Tara P.

-Connie

More New Lens Shots

-Bill

Camera Geekery

There's a new lens in town: Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Autofocus

-Bill

Local Wildlife Part 7: Barred Owl Release

I was looking forward to last night for weeks. Being an avid wildlife photographer, this was a rare chance. Working with members from the Center For Wildlife in Cape Neddick, Maine, I was invited to photograph the release of 2 barred owls that were injured this past winter by cars. The center nurses the owls back to health. Then using a special cage they determine if they are ready to be released into the wild. Once they are ready to be back in nature, the owls are released as close to the location that they were found as possible. In this case the first release was in York, Maine, the second was in Kennebunk, Maine.

I met with the rehabilitator to capture the release just before sunset. Although the lighting conditions for action photography were more than a challenge, I learned a lot. Watching these owls fly off back to where they belong is an amazing feeling. I think my favorite part came when the couple who originally found the owl severely injured owl met up with us to watch the rehabilitated owl fly off into the sunset. A tear jerker for sure.

If you love animals and want to help support the Center that makes this kind of recovery possible, please visit their website and donate.
-Bill

Patagonia Timelapse of Obi 1P

She's a stunner. Adam C. sent us this pretty little timelapse of Obi 1P down in Patagonia. Almost feels like we're standing right outside the tent...



-Connie

It Is 2011 When We Say It Is, Part II

Folks, get excited. Because the NEMO 2011 Product Catalog is droppin' like its hot a mere four months into the new year. For me, anticipation is in overdrive to see this baby in print.

Highlights include some stellar pictures by photog-friend Jed Conklin and our Art Director Extraordinaire, Bill Kramer. We've also included many ambassador and customer photos from around the world. So if you want the chance to see your photo in next year's catalog, email the goods to journey@nemoequipment.com.

While it'll be a few weeks until the catalog arrives in your mailbox, here are some low-res, 1/4 size jpegs to keep your NEMO buds satiated. Until then, request your catalog here if you're not on our mailing list, and if you are, just keep waiting. We'll let you know when to start checking those mailboxes.

- Bridget

NEMO Photographer & NEMO Win ADDY Award

We heard from many of you over the course of 2010 that you loved the new catalog. Which, by the way, puts A LOT of pressure on Bill and Bridget to create an even more amazing catalog for 2011. But, I've seen some pages and in my opinion, they are definitely stepping it up this year. I'm sure we'll have a post soon with a few sneak peeks.


Back to 2010. One of our favorite photographers and friend, Jed Conklin, has won 3 ADDY awards in the Spokane based Inland Northwest ADDY Awards Competition. For those not familiar with the ADDY's, it is the largest and most representative competition for creative excellence in the art of advertising.

Of the 3 ADDY's Jed won, his images from the 2010 NEMO catalog won Gold. All three winning projects will advance to the regional ADDY competition in April and if they win there, will advance to the National competition, held in San Diego in June.

Congrats and good luck Jed, we knew we weren't alone when we said we loved your work!

~Kate

Patagonia: Searching for Beauty

SOOO STOKED to present to you Adam Stokowski’s and my timelapse video from 2 weeks of venturing around in Patagonia Country. It was a journey of searching for beauty and trying the best we could to document it. It is always fun with timelapse to document 30 minutes to 4 hours of continuous beauty and be able to display it back in a matter of 5 – 10 seconds. I tell you though, the beauty you see through your own two eyes is still untouchable. That is why we travel and explore to these magical places. Let pictures and videos of these magical places be inspiration to go there. Enjoy the video and pictures. Imagine the wind howling. (All the pictures from the trip here.)



Setting up our tents in random fields is how we do things. Why pay for a hostel or hotel when you can be out in nature? Breathing in the cold refreshing night air, snuggling up in your sleeping bad, not getting sleep due to the violent wind (hahaha), being awoken to some of the most spectacular sunrises. Pack up all your belongings in your backpack in 20 minutes and be satisfied on how simple your life is.

Stokowski and I bushedwhacked through mean spiky bushes to set up our camp along a lake over looking the Torre Del Paine mountains. When I awoke this was the view I had looking outside my tent. The mountain was being lit by some of the richest light I have seen. The clouds where coming off the mountain like smoke as if the mountain was on fire. The wind was ragging and knocking my camera around. I got a sweet timelapse of this, stoked.

There is something beautiful about a lonely tree, a gnarly wind blown tree that has spent its life getting thrashed around. If you look at the tree you can see it is leaned to the right from the constant wind toppling it over. The lighting was not ideal for this pic, the sun was a bit too high but we had to keep moving. I shot this with f1.2. I focused the camera right on the little light spot on the tree. My composition was to lead the eye to the tree over the meadow of waving grass in which we napped in.

Waking up to one of the most spectacular sunrises on the Torre Del Paine, I saw wild horses off in the distance. The leader of the pack, the one looking at the camera in the photo was very hesitant. After about 30 minutes they worked their way close enough for me to get a picture. I was a bit nervous since Stokowski and I had a run in with some other wild horses the other day in which the leader threatened us.

I used to be a sunset man. Always easier, never had to wake up in the cold mornings for the sunrise. But in Patagonia I woke up stoked many times for the sunrise. The sunrise on Fitz Roy was a blessing. I feel very lucky to be able to witness the sight since Fitz Roy is known for bad weather around the peak and is usually covered in dense clouds/storms. The morning rays light up Fitz Roy ever so slowly -- sun rays lighting the top at first, and working its way down to reveal the whole mountain in a glowing fashion of beauty. (Got this by timelapse-yeah boy)

-Adam C.

DIY Timelapse, Round 2

Here are a couple quick tricks on how to avoid flicker in your timelapses. I did this trick for some timelapses and it worked great, and I did not do it for others because I did not know about the tricks and flicker occurred.



Trick 1. Set your f-stop to whatever you want. Then push your depth of field preview button (button near your lens mount). While keeping the button pressed, release your lens and twist it very slightly (not much), so the pins in the camera lift off the lens connectors inside. But NOT TOO MUCH, otherwise your lens may fall off. For a Canon camera when you do this you know it works when your f-stop reads 00. If you did it wrong or did not twist enough you will get a “Lens error message”. Don’t worry, this is okay; you probably have to just twist it a little more. For the Canon 5D and 7D, I find just a tiny twist does the trick.

Trick 2. If you do not do the lens twist trick, then having your f-stop fully open will work as well. So if you have a f2.8 lens, have your f-stop at 2.8. The disadvantage to this is you have to keep your lens fully open, so it limits you from using your full f-stop range.

0:03 - Opening shot of the tree. Adam S. and I light up the tree with a flash. Only thing is that I guess when a flash fires off each time it is not super exact on the output, hence the flicker we get on the tree. Regardless, I’m really stoked how it came out. Done at Malibu Creek State Park.

0:24 – The shot of downtown LA with the clouds was a hard one to get. Adam S. and I totally climbed up a vine to put us on top of a concrete wall and then climbed onto a stair set to get on top of a parking garage. We totally ninja’d our way in. If the vine broke climbing up, it would have been bad news Charlie. The flicker that is going on in the left side of the screen is due to the Staple Center flashing all kinds of lights in the sky at aliens.

0:30-0:41 - Glendora Clouds. This is a perfect example of a bit of flicker. At the time I did not know about the tricks I mentioned above and behold flicker attack. Regardless of the flicker, really stoked on how clouds freaked out. I really like in the dark cloud timelapse how a small triangular cloud appears from nowhere in middle of the clouds.

0:42 – Clouds again. Now I lucked out here and had my f-stop fully open and behold: NO FLICKER in this cloud timelapse. I love how the cloud moves like a wave as they disintegrate away.

0:49 – Probably my favorite timelapse of the bunch. This was taken on a beach in Mexico. The bright light you see that moves and flashes off the screen is a boat. I am sooo stoked on how the clouds totally freaked out in an exploding tall style. I wish I had kept this timelapse going a little longer because the moon was rising and was starting to light up the clouds -- really cool. Patience is a hard thing for timelapses.

1:19 - Top of a mountain in Santa Barbara, camping out after a day of bouldering. The colors in this timelapse are not so good, but I really like how you have the dark clouds at the bottom freaking out. They have a very cool pattern and texture to them.

1:33-1:43 - The waterfalls were documented in Oregon. The first waterfall was sooo huge, I could not fit it all in frame with my fix 50mm. Wish I had my new 24-70 mm with me. There are people walking around in the first waterfall timelapse; kind of a bummer but it’s hard to dodge, ‘tis a popular spot. The second smaller waterfall came out great, so stoked on the details captured... all the small little sprays off the rock. Little did you know it was raining and he had the camera under an umbrella. The lens collected a lot of mist on it.

Timelapsing waterfalls is fun. You have to make sure that your shutter speed is not too slow. If it is, say, 1 second or slower, you will get too much blur in the waterfall and lose detail. Plus, with so much blur your pictures are going to look too similar, so the timelapse will not be good. You want a faster shutter speed so you can capture the detail and the variance of the way the water falls. You don’t want too fast because then you do not get that small amount of blur which gives it the nice look. Try a shutter speed of 4 -0.5”.

1:48 – In the Appalachian Mountains. I messed up on the lens twist trick and as you can see there is slight flicker in this one.

1:56 – Washington, DC bridge. Really stoked on the bridge shot with all the geese moving around in the water. The lens twist trick worked great here, no flicker as the sun slowly sets. Stoked on how smooth the lighting changes are in this timelapse, slowly getting dark. I like the construction crane in the background that moves up and down a bit. Lucked out on all the trains going by.

2:06 – Trees and cars. The lens twist trick worked great here and again, sun is setting and no flicker. For this one I slightly overexposed and then as the lighting got more dim it slowly become exposed and then slightly underexposed. Worked well. Little did you know my toes were freezing, so this timelapse ended short.

Any questions email me at adam@loadedboards.com

-Adam

30 Years of Bruce Dale and National Geographic

A photoessay well worth watching of the past 30 years of Bruce Dale's work with National Geographic.



The story of how a shot is taken is often just as compelling (if not more) than the actual picture itself.

-Connie

Local Wildlife Part 6: Common Redpolls

Today during a lunchtime stroll, I photographed a group of five Common Redpolls, typically found in the northern areas of Canada and Alaska. Although the markings on the birds are subtle from afar, the detail in these photos shows stunning delicate beauty as they feed on these white birch catkins.

One reason these birds are being found so far south is that they are forced to relocate in search of food when winter sets in their northern habitats.

When I first arrived at the location, I spotted three Redpolls right away in the birches. I got my camera set up and within 2 shots they all flew off to the edge of the river out of sight. I attempted to sneak down towards the river, only to have them fly away again. At this point I decided to try later. As I returned back to my truck, I noticed they were all perched in the same trees that they started in.

-Bill

DIY Timelapse

NEMO ambassador Adam C. has put together an awesome little primer for folks that want to get into timelapse photography. Here's the cliffnotes version (full version here):

STEP 1: Buy an intervalometer off Amazon.com.
STEP 2: Take your intervalometer and have at it.
STEP 3: Find what you want to timelapse and have fun.
STEP 4: Math.
STEP 5: Create the Timelapse (this part is super easy).

As a sampler, he put together this video to give some ideas and show some of the cool things that you can shoot. My favorite parts are the airport night scenes around 1:30.



-Connie

Calendar Time - Come and Get it!

NEMO's graphic designer, Bill K, moonlights as an artist, photographer, and all around amazing person. He's not one to toot his own horn, but every year he puts out an amazing wildlife calendar which showcases the fruits of his labor of love. Each one of the photographs he's picked for the 2011 calendar has an amazing story behind how he got the shot.

One of my personal favorites is the cover photo of the fox. One Monday morning in late May of this year, Bill told me he got the shot.

My coworker John told me about a fox den behind his wife's office in York, ME. I had already planned to be in that area for the weekend so I asked John to draw me a rough map of where the den was located behind the building. So on Sunday when I was headed back from the shore I swung by to check it out. It was a hot day so I took refuge under the shade of an apple tree, set up my long lens and waited. I knew the kits had to be around, so stayed there for 2 hours trying not to move despite ants crawling all over me. After several attempts at making mouse squeaks with my lips I saw a flash of orange. Finally! The first kit popped out and played in the tall grass for about 20 minutes allowing me to capture several shots before diving back into the safety of the den.

Pick up your calendar here!

-Connie

Surf Porn, For Your Friday Viewing Pleasure

Looks like the swell has been up across the globe too.


(via the cleanest line)

For those who can't watch videos at work, check out the Surfline slideshow of the Cloudbreak reef in Fiji this past Monday.

Update: found this on the 'Weed.

Cloudbreak September 2010 from Surfing Life on Vimeo.

-Connie