A place for contemplation

“In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate.” – Rene Descartes

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bench, comtemplation, fall, fall colors, fall foliage, Photography, photos

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Late autumn beside the river

About a month ago I was surprised by my wife giving me a Kindle electronic book reader from Amazon. While I’d looked at this devices in the past I’d always thought that I’d miss the experience of the physical book, the touch and turning of the actual pages. Receiving this device as a gift gave me the opportunity to push beyond my preconceptions.

I finished reading my fifth Kindle book last night and I have to admit that I like it. It’s extremely convenient both in size and function. Instant delivery is well appreciated, especially if you find a book you love and then realize it’s one of a series and you want to read the next one as soon as you finish the current one (no trips to the book store or waiting for delivery.) Or being able to lay it down and not worry about loosing your place as it always begins where you left off.

I was also pleased and a little surprised how long the battery last. If you turn off the wireless during those times you’re only reading it will last for days!

The screen is easy to read in most lighting conditions and doesn’t seem to tire my eyes. It’s also very light weight and easy to hold with pages able to turned using either the right or left hand.

I’m not as impressed with it’s ability to display graphics, pictures or illustrations. My Kindle is the smaller version (6″ display) so perhaps the larger version would be better at this but for a highly illustrated books, such as instructional books, I’d probably still prefer the actual book. For reading normal text only books the 6″ size seems to be just about right.

Barnes and Noble just came out with their own version of a book reader called the Nook which looks interesting as well. Sony has had an ebook out for a while and then there are rumors that next year Apple will release a tablet that may have ebook functionality. There may also be a number of others soon available.

The time of the electronic book may be upon us and I for one am pleased with this first venture–I wouldn’t want to give it back. I’ve been taught, once again, not to let my preconceptions limit my options!

Perhaps I’m a little behind the curve with this technology, how many of you have already moved in this direction?

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2009. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Books, ereader, kindle, nook, Observations

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Blue Ridge Mountains, Southwestern NC

I read a post by Paul Lester last night concerning the concept of beauty so if I had to come up with a subconscious reason for selecting the the title for this post, it would probably come back to that. Perhaps if we could agree that beauty was only true if it lasted for, oh say, a thousand years or more it would do away with all these temporary beauty fads our society goes through.

As you can see the Blue Ridge Mountains get their name from the bluish color when viewed from a distance. This color is caused by a haze created by the natural forest of the mountains. The Blue Ridge contains the highest peaks in eastern North America with 125 exceeding 5,000 feet (1,500 m) in elevation. The highest is Mt. Mitchell, in NC, at 6,684 feet (2,037 m.)

So for a billion years old I think these mountains are still looking beautiful–a beauty that has met the test of time!

For those interested, this photo was taken in the southeast corner of North Carolina, looking east, near Highlands, NC (map).

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2009. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: beauty, blue ridge mountains, fall foliage, mountains, Photography

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As I continue this journey with photography I’ve come to identify certain objects or compositions which have a strong natural appeal for me–a path fading off into the distance, an empty bench in the midst of nature and the view over an arched footbridge. I will like most compositions featuring these things.

I may need to add a single leaf against a stone or rock background to that list. This past week I admired just such a photo taken by Anita Jesse, and this weekend I came upon a similar composition of my own, which you see above. I admit I was probably primed to spot this composition by Anita’s work.

This arrangement was all natures doing. My only effort was standing above it and making the photo without getting my toes in the image. The maple leaf and granite background were wet, giving deeper color and higher contrast to my image.

Indeed, one more for my list or naturally appealing subjects.

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: fall foliage, granite, leaves, Photography, rocks

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Cold Mountain River

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2009. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Photography, photos, river, water

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I woke a little later then normal this morning and proceeded with my normal morning routine–put on coffee, feed the dogs (giving Foster his anti-seizure medicine), checking email and reading blog feeds. I’d decided yesterday if this morning was clear I’d drive over to the Cooleemee River Park (Bull Hole) and see how high the river had gotten during this recent period of heavy rain. It was wonderfully clear this morning with just a few wispy clouds to keep the sky interesting.

This certainly wasn’t an early morning venture, about 9am, but it being November and on standard time the sun was still low enough in the sky to present some nice light.

The water was running strong and the river was well above its normal levels but not as much as I’ve seen before. If you fell in you’d have to hope you didn’t hit any of the larger rocks and ride the current out downstream until you could work your way to shore. From looking at the high water marks on the sandy banks it appears a day or so ago the water below the dam was probably 3 to 6 feet higher then it was today.

I had the place mostly to myself except for a young man and his dog exploring the area. Both were friendly and the young man and I spoke for moment, both agreeing the view was indeed beautiful and exhilarating.

I was using my Singh-Ray ColorCombo filter again today and I really have come to like not only the warming polarizer but also the color intensifier effect. I’m getting so I put this filter on my lens for much of my outdoor photos these days.

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bull hole, cooleemee, cooleemee river park, dam, Photography, photos, waterfall, yadkin river

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For some time I’ve been working around a problem involving Adobe Photoshop (PS) CS4. When using a certain PS plugin I’d go into another select plugin and PS would crash. I could recreate this crash each time I repeated this sequence and I’ve reported it to Adobe, Apple and the plugin providers. This morning I read this:

Apple has released the Mac OS X v10.6.2 Update which, in addition to containing general operating system fixes, cures a number of problems experienced by Photoshop users. [From Snow Leopard Update Fixes Problems with Photoshop | PhotographyBLOG]

I’ve installed the update so I went into PS and tried to recreate the crash…many tries and no crash…not a single one. It appears to be fixed!

So if you’re a Mac OS X Snow Leopard user and have been experiencing a Photoshop issue you might want to update to OS X 10.6.2 and see if that fixes it.

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: error, Photography, photoshop, snow leopard, Software

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Upper Whitewater Falls, plunging 411 feet, is reported to be the highest waterfall east of the Rockies. There’s also a Lower Whitewater Fall in South Carolina that drops 400 feet.

This waterfall is easy to get to but hard to get close to. It can be found off Highway 281, southeast of Cashiers, NC, in the Nantahala National Forest (map). There’s a parking area and then an easy 1/4 mile walk to the upper viewing area. There’s also a stairway that leads to a lower and smaller viewing area.

The first photo was our initial view of the falls from the upper viewing area. As you can see there were still some spectacular remaining autumn foliage colors.

The second photo gives a better view of the details of the falls–be sure and click on it for a larger image.

Almost no post-processing was needed for these two photos.

Oh…and happy Friday the 13th!

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: nantahala national forest, nc, Photography, photos, upper whitewater falls, waterfall

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Part of our road trip this past weekend took us to a couple of western North Carolina Mountain waterfalls. The one in the photo above is Bridal Veil Falls which is located on Highway 64, west of Highlands, NC, in the Cullasaja Gorge of the Nantahala National Forest (map.)

These falls are unique because a rock overhang allows you to drive your car behind them on a portion of old Highway 64. From the rock overhang to the ground it’s about 60 feet and there is another 60 feet or so of steep rock above the overhang for a total falls height of approximately 120 feet.

Of course the name originated from the thin white water “veil” in front of the old road. This photo shows the falls at the edge of the overhang taken from the ground below.

The drive on 64 through the Cullasaja Gorge is beautiful and if you’re ever in the area and have the time it’s highly recommended.

Post processing included a little white balance adjustment in Lightroom 2, sharpening and shadow/highlight adjustment in Photoshop CS4.

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bridal veil falls, fall foliage, falls, highlands, nc, north+carolina, Photography, photos

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Morning, Just Around the Bend

I just emptied 5.5 inches of rain from our rain gauge. Most of it fell since yesterday morning as what’s left of Hurricane/Tropical Depression/Storm Ida continues to dump rain in the area. Portions of my backyard look like swampland with water standing over wide areas. I’d love a sunning morning and day about now.

Update – Nov 13th, 2009: There was 2.75 inches of additional rain in the gauge this morning.

You may notice a new web color scheme for Meandering Passage I installed this morning. I was tired of the white background so decided to go with some color. We’ll see how this grows on me.

© Earl for Meandering Passage, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ida, Photography, rain

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