Welcome to Beautifulvista!

Thoughts, Comments, and the Latest News...

This has been a magical year... one filled with monumental events and wonder. It started off on a bad foot (the passing of our Chocolate Lab and longtime friend Marin), but things quickly improved from there, and continued to improve throughout the year. If one could describe this year... it's been a year of changes.

The photo collection here is an eclectic one... it covers nature and landscape photography, my photo work with Brammo (photographing Electric Motorcycles in action), and also with friends / relatives that we spent time with during this last year. I think there's something in here for everyone... and I hope you enjoy it. Any comments or suggestions, please feel free to drop me a line.

The slideshow (be sure to hit the "Play" button below the first image) can be seen at:
http://www.beautifulvista.com/Photo_Gallery/2010_Best_Photos_Flash_Slideshow

If you don't have Adobe Flash (i.e. iPhone) you can see the same photos here.

I just received a new telephoto lens (Sigma 150-500mm zoom) and had the opportunity to try it out in Bolinas and Point Reyes National Seashore a few weeks ago. The lens is wonderful, and I was able to capture a lot of wildlife photos that I haven't been able to before (at least not with such precision). This collection of photos here is both scenic landscapes and wildlife... most taken with the new lens (the other lens used is the 24-105L mm zoom). I think some of these are my favorite photos to date... so take a look inside (click on the photo at left to see the slideshow)!

I would also like to take a moment to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas (Happy Holidays!) and a very joyful, healthy and properous New Year!

Finally got the photos from Hungary put together. Unlike other photos on this site, this collection is a combination of scenic shots and photos of my future family (Agi and I are now engaged). The town of Székesfehérvár is not known for it's tourism... it is the second largest city in Hungary (and it's formal capital)... and is mostly based on industrial and agriculture economies. We did get out to see Budapest, Lake Balaton (the "Hungarian Sea"), and other very interesting places which you'll see on the Hungary 2009 Trip Slideshow (external link)

A few quick tips for enjoying the slideshow at it's best...

1. Maximize your browser window for the show (photos will enlarge automatically).
2. Once you click on the link, press the slideshow button on the top left to start
3. Slow the speed down to 7 seconds per slide (so you have time to read the captions). Menu to slow the speed down is at the bottom of the slides .
4. Enjoy!

We've been under a crisis over the last week that has prevented me from updating the web site with our trip photos from Hungary. Our wonderful Chocolate Lab has gotten very sick, and we're taking care of her night and day. She's a great friend and companion, and we're doing our best to let her rest and be as comfortable as possible. Once things settle down, I'll get back to updating you with the latest photos. Thanks for your patience and understanding...

Talent (Oregon) is a small semi-rural communtiy just 4 miles north of Ashland. It's a wonderful mix of people here... young, old, progressive, liberal, conservative... and everyone gets along just fine. The roads around here are great for bicycling (which a lot of these photos are from). The pace of life here is much slower than where I used to live (Placerville, California)... and though the Winters can be cold... Spring, Summer and Fall are just really fantastic! There's a lot in the nearby mountains I have yet to explore... but these photos will give a start to what I hope is an ongoing showcase of this beautiful place.

It was a long break, and unfortunately I did not keep this site going as I should have. This will change. My photography has been active during this time though... and there is a lot to share with you... not only including travels around Oregon, but also a 3-week trip to Hungary this last Summer. In addition, I've been doing some photography for Brammo which though does not qualify as landscape or nature photography (unless you count the electric motorcyclist as "wildlife") has some great shots which I would love to share with you.

All this is coming shortly... so stay tuned!

Best wishes,
Charles

January has proved to be a busy month! I started work for a local company called Brammo (they're creating a very, very cool Electric Motorcycle - see the link for further details). As a result, my photography has shifted towards weekends. The above photo was taken on a recent trip to California at the Sacramento Wildlife Refuge. If you have a chance to go there, it's certainly worth the drive! The prime time to visit is from December to Feburary when the migratory birds are wintering here.

The Canon 5D Mark II has proved to be a real trooper... the more I'm using it, the more that I really appreciate what it can do. The above shot was taken in all the wrong lighting conditions...it was a hazy day... the sun was behind the birds... and I didn't have time to get a tripod set up when this flock took off... so everything was spontaneous. Yet, the camera captured very intimate details of the birds that I'm sure my previous camera would have had issues with.

I still have to get in the frame of mind that this camera can shoot videos... it's a big shift in thinking. The above photo would have been phenominal if it was also a video... there were about 1000 birds (most off the frame) taking off at once... the sight of them filling the sky was an absolutely amazing sight.

After many evenings sorting hundreds of photos, I posted the Bolinas Winter Photo Gallery this morning. This is a wonderful collection of photos in and around Bolinas... I think you'll really enjoy them.

Bolinas is a small community just north of San Francisco (in fact you'll see SF in the background in a couple of images). The community is an eclectic mixture of people from all walks in life, and for the most part, likes to remain unknown. It is a very beautiful spot (though quite often foggy and overcast) - one that I spent many summers growing up in. The Point Reyes National Seashore is just to the north - and the Marin Headlands nearby to the east. Overall, it's a very scenic and beautiful area for photography.

The dawn of a New Year... may it bring only good things to you, your family and friends!

We just returned from Holiday travel in California... a wonderful time with friends and family. We also did a side trip to Bolinas (on the coast just north of San Francisco) where I had the opportunity to capture some images of the beautiful scenery and wildlife there. I'll be posting a new Photo Gallery on this in the next few days. One thing for certain, the new camera performed incredibly well, and you'll see some wonderful photos with the new Gallery.

A few more thoughts on the new Canon 5D Mark II camera... a 21 Megapixel camera needs the largest capacity Memory Card one can get. I used a 32GB Flash Card... and almost filled it up completely (about 40 RAW images takes up almost 1GB of space... if you shoot movies it quickly gets a lot worse!). As such, I had to scale back any ideas of recording movies on this trip - and the next few trips until I can afford several more Memory Cards.

Another thing I learned from the new camera is that even though it shoots high ISO images (such as described below)... it doesn't mean you should! The high ISO images have higher noise, and as a result are more difficult to edit - especially if you're doing any heavy cropping of the image. The lower ISO images were much easier to work with.

Having said that, the high ISO capability did come in very handy, especially when something happened quickly and a tripod could not be set up in time.

I'll have more thoughts about this and other features of the new camera once the Gallery gets posted.

We have a new Photo Gallery up this morning... some images as a result of this unusually cold Arctic Air that has blanketed the Ashland / Talent region (along with the rest of the Pacific Northwest). These images were taken in the Ashland / Talent area in the last few days while walking around (and trying not to slip on the ice!).

Of special note is that all of these images were taken with the new Canon 5D Mark II. I'll have more thoughts and comments about using the new camera in the coming days.

More impressions from the Canon 5D Mark II which just arrived a few days ago. I was going to start off with more of a general impression first... but this one just knocked me for a loop... so this is a slightly more technical post than I had originally planned.

One of the strengths of this camera over my previous camera is that I can now shoot at high-speed (higher ISO - which gives faster shutter speeds over my older camera). This allows me to capture shots that would be next to impossible previously.

As an example , here is a (rather unremarkable) photo taken with the new camera of a duck in snow... with one exception... it was shot handheld at ISO 3200 which gave me a shutter speed of 1/2500 second (at f/8). That's high enough shutter speed to freeze just about anything in motion and give a sharp image.

Let's zoom into the area where you see the square on the duck above (actually we're going in much further - but I was afraid the box wouldn't show up on the image... this gives you an idea where we're looking).

Wow... you can see intimate details of the feather's texture and hairs (at the end of the feathers)!

The only problem here is that there was some noise induced by the high speed setting. You can see it on the lower left and upper right areas... the colors look a little "splotchy". Fortunately there are some excellent noise removal programs (Noise Ninja is what I'm using currently) that help reduce the effects greatly. Let's try it again using this program...

Ahh... much better! Most of the details are preserved and the blotchy colors (or sensor noise) are removed.

Keep in mind that we've zoomed in so far that we're looking at about 1% of the original image! Absolutely remarkable!

My older camera couldn't shoot anything of quality above ISO 400 - which would have given me about 4 times slower shutter speed - and thus a potential blur for being handheld instead of using a tripod. On top of this, I now am getting double the resolution - as my previous camera was 10 Megapixels - and this is now 21 Megapixels... so these feather details simply wouldn't have been possible.

More impressions to come soon... but I will say that I'm finding the image quality that this camera can produce is amazing...

Well... it happened... the (Canon) 5D Mark II arrived, and I'm busy in the midst of learning how to use the camera effectively. This along with a new computer has kept me working late hours getting everything up to speed.

I'll be posting some images from the new camera shortly, but suffice to to say that the quality of images from this camera are nothing short of amazing! As an example, I shot an image today of icicles that formed on a fountain during this deep freeze we're having. The camera not only captured (and exposed) the fountain and the icicles correctly, but also the air bubbles trapped inside the icicles!

21 Megapixel images are a marvel to look at, though it's apparent that the lens quality must be of the same caliber to make use of all that high resolution... also any mistakes made in image composition will show up in immaculate detail... so getting it right is paramount.

I'll be adding some images and some comments about the learning curve of using such a high-quality professional camera in the coming days.

Navigation through this web site will be simple...
the links will always stay at the top of the page..

To return to the main page (this one) from any
other location, click on the Beautifulvista link at
the top left.

Welcome to the new and updated Beautifulvista Web site!

There are many changes in progress. This site originally started as a bicycling/outdoor activity web site, but during the last few years started to shift it's focus to outdoor photography... it was a very subtle change at first... one that even I didn't recognize right away.

As the site's updates and enhancements further continued, it became more and more apparent this was evolving to a nature / landscape web site based on my experiences in Northern California, Oregon and other parts of the world.

To reflect this change - along with my recent move up to Oregon - this site has been overhauled completely. The bike maps (which were the first start of Beautifulvista), will remain here for a while to let local sites (in El Dorado County) get the files I gave them up and running (you'll see a couple links already available on the Bike Maps page).

To kick off the new site, two new slideshow photo galleries have been added... one with completely new photographs of Oregon - some of which I feel are the best I've ever taken. The second photo gallery is of scenes in and around Northern California... basically the best of the best photos from the last year while I was there.

More themed photo galleries will be added in the future.

The main page (the one you are currently reading) will contain the most recent news, thoughts, comments and events (in other words, it will become what many describe as a Blog page).

The "Other Photos" page will contain non-gallery photos... some of which are from the old Beautifulvista web site... others will be coming in the future from new trips and events. Think of the "Photo Galleries" as showcasing the best in photography, while the "Other Photos" page is more personal in nature.

And of course, there is a Link page to other sites of interest.

Finally, if you are interested in prints, and/or using these photographs for a variety of purposes (web sites, publications, etc.), please feel free to contact me. I welcome all email inquiries, and look forward to hearing from you (general comments are also most welcome!).

Best wishes,
Charles