Snow! Finally.
Had a great time this weekend over at the Brule River (After Hours Ski Trails). On Saturday I skied 40 kilometers (Birkie training), but today was the day to play in the sun! Hope you enjoy some of my GoPro photos / movies from the Northwoods. I even captured the aftermath of a wipeout!
At 3:18 the video switches from videos of Galen to me! The movie has some outtakes after the credits at 5:06.
Click to maximize any image.
How do you describe the frozen northland where 30,000 people descend upon Lake Nakomis on three cold days in January to watch teams vie for the Golden Shovel Award? Fantastic!
Welcome to the USA Pond Hockey Championships.
Take a moment to watch my animated slide show (with music). I spent the afternoon over at the championships taking photos (after first skiing 25 kilometers this morning). This is Winter in Minnesota!
2012 finds teams competing from all over the United States and Canada (even a team from Latvia)! Players range from old rink rats to former NHL players. The final aerial photo in my slide show is courtesy of the local CBS affiliate (story). Enjoy!
Finally, if you're on this page, I assume it's because you like hockey being played outdoors! Link to a previous post of mine and watch the movie trailer for Pond Hockey!
USA Pond Hockey on PhotoPeach (click in bottom right to expand)
(click upon to view at full size)
I'll return to technology focused posts next week, but for the moment ... Happy New Year! from the Northstar Nerd. Enjoy a short Nordic Ski in the Northern Minnesota Lake Superior Wilderness (Sugarbush Trails). The video was taken at the end of a 32+ kilometer ski (20 miles). I was tired and wearing a GoPro camera mounted on my head. The day was kind of dark. GoPro's do better in sunlight.
Click upon either image given below to view at full size
As we start 2012, here in America we owe great thanks to those individuals who fought to preserve our freedom and way of life. Two days ago, Mike Colalillo, a home town hero and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II died. Thank you, Mike.
An interview with Mike Colalillo in his own words:
From Wikipedia: (official citation)
Private First Class Mike Colalillo, 2d Squad, 2d Platoon, Co. C, 1st Battalion, 398th Infantry, 100th Infantry Division was pinned down with other members of his company during an attack against strong enemy positions on 7 April 1945 in the vicinity of Untergriesheim, Germany. Heavy artillery, mortar, and machine gun fire made any move hazardous when he stood up, shouted to his company to follow, and ran forward in the wake of a supporting tank, firing his machine pistol. Inspired by his example, his comrades advanced in the face of savage enemy fire. When his weapon was struck by shrapnel and rendered useless, he climbed to the deck of a friendly tank, manned an exposed machine gun on the turret of the vehicle, and, while bullets rattled around him, fired at an enemy emplacement with such devastating accuracy that he killed or wounded at least 10 hostile soldiers and destroyed their machine gun. Maintaining his extremely dangerous post as the tank forged ahead, he blasted three more positions, destroyed another machine gun emplacement and silenced all resistance in this area, killing at least three and wounding an undetermined number of riflemen as they fled. His machine gun eventually jammed; so he secured a submachine gun from the tank crew to continue his attack on foot. When our armored forces exhausted their ammunition and the order to withdraw was given, he remained behind to help a seriously wounded comrade over several hundred yards of open terrain rocked by an intense enemy artillery and mortar barrage. By his intrepidity and inspiring courage Private First Class Colalillo gave tremendous impetus to his company's attack, killed or wounded 25 of the enemy in bitter fighting, and assisted a wounded soldier in reaching the American lines at great risk to his own life.
My wife gave me a Gorillapod Hybrid for Christmas... a neat and flexible tripod. Today, after consuming a 3 pieces of Julekake and much more for brunch, I decided a cross-country ski was in order through the Northwoods. I drove 25 miles out of Duluth to Boulder Lake and was lucky enough to be the 1st person of the season on the trails. After a 11.5 kilometer ski through a Winter Wonderland, I returned to the trailhead and grabbed my new tripod. Actually I wrapped it around my bicep and headed back out into the forest.
I took the photograph shown below by attached the tripod to the trunk of a small pine tree, and then using the carpenters level which is built into the tripod to insure a level photo. Pretty Cool. Merry Christmas from the Northstar Nerd!
Click upon either image to maximize.
Read my trail report via SkinnySki.Com ... learn more about Boulder Lake.
You may not think of the USA Today as the newspaper of Duluth, Minnesota. After all, Gannett certainly does not target the NorthstarNerd who lives in the frozen northland! However, spend some time with my post and you will learn a number of items:
Let's address the second item first. The largest newspaper in the state of Minnesota, the Star Tribune, offers a digital only subscription for $52 per year. While I applaud the Star Tribune for their efforts, review of their iPad app demonstrates a less than optimal user interface, and integrated digital media. Like most newspapers, the Star Tribune covers national stories, but they are really only repeating what any netizen can get from better national sources who have deepers pockets (like the USA Today).
In terms of the first item, review some of the images I've included below. I added USAToday.Com to each image to insure proper attribution. You'll discover that the USA Today has an easy menu, and integrated video, weather, and high resolution photographs. I've only included sports photos, but they have the "Day in Pictures" for each section. One of my personal games is to review all the high-res celebrety photos and see if I even know who are the stars and starletts featured (normally, the answer is "no"!). I also like to toggle the descriptions on and off for the main "Day in Pictures" photos, and see if I understand or know the context.
The USAToday is one reason I love my iPad. The reading experience is wonderful, and "consuming" the app has become part of my daily routine.
Oh yes ... why is the USAToday the NorthstarNerd's newspaper of choice. Believe it or not, I am constantly amazed how often they have photos of Winter sports events presented in a manner which my Minnesota media does not. (two versions of every photo ... with and without captions).
Enjoy! (one football photo for you non Winter sports fans)
Remember ... click on any image to expand and view at full resolution.
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Biathlon! (Nordic Skiing)
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Ski Jumping 1! (Nordic Skiing)
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Bob Sledding!
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Cross-Country Skiing! (Nordic Skiing)
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Ski Jumping 2! (Nordic Skiing)
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Downhill Skiing! (Alpine Skiing)
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American Football
Normally I only use my GoPro camera for cross-country ski races. However, this afternoon I decided I would take photos of citizen skiers out for a fun afternoon. Due to the lack of snow, the entire world turned out to ski at Elm Creek on the 2 km man made snow loop. There is not a single photo of me, but you'll find my wife in the earlier shots (woman with light blue hat, and dark blue stocking cap)!
I wear my GoPro on my back and take still shots of everyone else. SkiCam Man returns for my 3rd Winter. Enjoy!
Here are my two Picasa links:
A quick side note. GoPro cameras take better photos when it is sunny ... during my ski it got cloudy.
Wow! Fantastic! Superb! I really can not think of enough adjectives to complement French photographer Tanguy Louvigny, who created a time lapse video of the Normandy and Brittany country-side using High Dynamic Range photography (HDR Wikipedia Link). His movie incorporated 30 frames per second, that’s 90 exposures for each second of screen time (HDR takes each shot in triplicate using different exposure settings ... learn more from my prior post on HDR).
Equally amazing is the Legos camera / tracking system Mr. Louvigny built using Lego Mindstorms. Quoting Open Culture, which is the web site from which I first learned of this video: "To create the moving-camera effects, Louvigny designed and built his own robotic three-axis motion system using Tetrix motors and a LEGO Mindstorms control system, which he programmed in ROBOTC language. This allowed him to automate the tortoise-like dolly, pan and tilt movements."
Take some time to review the photographer's web site ... you'll find more equally fascinating creations. However, for the moment, relax, turn your computer's speakers on, and enjoy a trip through the French country-side from sunrise to sunset. Wow!
Hdr skies from Tanguy Louvigny on Vimeo.
For those of you from warmer parts of the world, this photo is an attempt to help you understand why I love cross-country skiing at night. While exercising the body, I relax the mind! Who cares if the temperature is 14F? This photo uses HDR technology and was taken a few hours ago just outside the chalet at Elm Creek park in suburban Minneapolis. Click upon the image to view full sized.
Two months ago I did not know my aperture from my f-stop (answer is ... they're the same). As I posted earlier this week, I decided to take a class, and among other things learn about HDR Photogaphy (high dynamic Imaging)! My new camera is a Canon Powershot SX30 IS, and I'm finally learning how to use all its features ... including image bracketing (HDR) while I either give preference to Aperture Size or Shutter Speed (takes 3 images while adjusting the exposure up and down from my settings).
One's first impression, HDR might seem to be one of those features only for the camera geek, or professional photographer. I discovered otherwise. During a long bike ride on the Willard Munger Trail in northern Minnesota, I arrived at the St. Louis River gorge near Jay Cooke Park. As it was still morning, the sun had not reached well into the deep ravine. This meant shadows and sun where those two combination did not make for optimal photographs. Coming back at another time was not a preferred option, unless I wanted to add another 30 miles to my bike ride, not to mention another 1,000 foot hill climb.
Enter HDR to the rescue. I set my camera for aperture priority (distance landscapes), and soon had three bracketed photos (normal, shorter exposure, and longer exposure). The photos provided an interesting combination of color and shadow, but never in the same image. Well, using the magic of HDR integration, I combined the photos into one neat photo (see images at end of post).
Here are the three free HDR services and one paid option which I ultimately purchased ($30), and my reviews of each. I realize Photoshop would do a fantastic job, but remember I said this blog post was for amateur photographers. Photoshop is way to expensive for me.
As they say ... as corny as it sounds, a picture is worth a thousand words. Thus, here are my images from the St. Louis River gorge, and the final photo (actually a few options). The original images have been pair down in size for fast viewing. The HDR photos are provided at full resolution. Click upon any image to view at full size.
The other tool I use is Google's Picasa software (web and computer versions). It allows me to make basic edits, and share on the web.
Orginal Photo: aperture f8; shutter speed = 1/100 second
Unfortunately give the location of the railroad trestle over the river, I was forced to take this photo somewhat into the sun given the time of day. The end result are some color washouts.
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Shorter Exposure (darker): aperture f8; shutter speed = 1/200 second
By shortening the shutter speed (automatic bracketing) I was able to get a deeper blue for the sky, and greens for pine trees.
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Longer Exporsure (lighter): aperture f8; shutter speed = 1/80 second
The longer shutter speed (also taken automatically), I was able to get resolution on some of the shadow areas.
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HDR Result #1: Photographic Option Choice
Notice how this photo combines elements of each of the three original images. The sky is blue, not washed out. Many shadows are eliminated, and one may actually see the bubbles from the upstream rapids.
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HDR Result #2: Painterly Option Choice
As I mentionned, you become an artist. This version allowed me to bring out the color of the granite and all the red pine needles laying on the rocks. Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It was fun playing around. These were details I had noticed with my eyes. My challenge was to represent these aspects of the scene in a photograph. A professional photographer could bring out much more using these images, but remember ... I said this blog post was for the amateur! Have fun and explore.
