Horses Help Barn Bash

Horses Help provides equine (horse) activities and therapies since 1987 and is located on the north side of Phoenix, Arizona.  I’ve gone to probably five Barn Bashes in the past.  It’s a worthy organization that has helped many people.  So I am always glad to attend this fun fundraising event!

This time, I brought Callista and Rick along for the ride and it looked like they had a good time. 

If you are interested in donating money or your time, please contact Horses Help at their website or phone.

Until My Next Adventure, 

See You On Down the Road!

Jim Patterson

Photos from Flickr ...and, here are all the keeper photos!

USC at Arizona Wildcats Field Level Photos 15 October 2016

Saturday 15 October I got back into media work by photographing the USC at Arizona football game from the field.   My first real job as a 16 year old was at a radio station and I worked in news for many years beyond that.  I fought taking a photo journalism class at the University of Arizona because, as I said, “I’m a radio guy!”  I came to photography around 2003 when digital became the rage and now I love it!

University of Arizona Athletics Departments’ Callista Balko Elmore and Tom “Theo” Theodorakis arranged this for me.  Quite a surprise.  I’m sure they knew I was a photographer (and college professor) but I never said anything about wanting to shoot a game. 

I tried to act really cool when Callista gave me the news, but hey after I hung up the phone I noticed my hands shaking, haha. 

There are a few shots I’ve included that Marni took of me on the field.  Makes me look like I know what I’m doing! 

I shot with a Canon 5d Mark IV on high burst rate, ISO 100 (bright sunlight), and at least 1/1000 second shutter.  Aperture priority most of the time at f/5.6.  I used the Tamron 150-600mm lens and a Manfrotto monopod. I edited with Lightroom, mostly cropping and dodge and burn stuff. 

It was HOT on the field.  At one point they put on the big screen that it was 137 degrees on the field.  I think it was hotter.  I do wish there was water on the field for the media people because this desert heat can be a killer. 

All in all a great experience and maybe you’ll find some photos here you enjoy!

Until My Next Adventure, 

See You On Down The Road!

Jim Patterson

Photos from Flickr ...and, here are all the keeper photos!

Olympic National Park Washington

Olympic National Park in the far northwest part of the state of Washington is cloudy, cool, desolate... and quite beautiful!  It's also 180 degrees in climate in every way from my home base of Phoenix, Arizona.  

I was based in LaPush, Washington, about 5'ish hours from SeaTac airport.  The area is owned by the Quileute Nation.  

James and Little James islands (the Quileute people call it A-ka-lat) are considered very important to the native people in the area.  In addition to my photographs, you can see what the area looks like in real time by clicking this webcam link. 

In addition to the various beaches in the area, there is also the Hoh Rain Forest which gets 12 to 14 feet of rain a year.  Yes.  FEET of rain!  Phoenix, where I live, is lucky to get 8 inches of rain a year. Look how lush it is. 

Until My Next Adventure, 

See You On Down The Road!

Jim Patterson

...and, here are all the keeper photos!

Also from my Flickr site.... 

Around Iceland Counter-Clockwise July 2016

Iceland was always in my bucket list.  Every year for the past three or four I always waited too long.  First, I wanted to get to a few ports by cruise, then I thought about a fly/drive there and hit the highlights on the ring road around the island.  Then Windstar came out with a lovely yacht cruise that hit all the places I wanted to see:  Reykjavik, Heimaey Island, Seydisfjordur, Akureyri, Isafjordur, Grundarfjordur, and back to the capital Reykjavik.  It was perfect.  A lovely yacht, great food, wonderful crew, and a tiny passenger list!  

After landing in Reykjavik, we were hustled off to the yacht and off to our first port, Heimaey Island, off the south coast of Iceland.  The photo to the left shows golfers enjoying a warm Iceland day (it was about 50F, a heat wave in Iceland!).  In 1973 they had a horrific volcano eruption.  The tour guide told us he was 14 and living there.  He and his parents left in a hurry... the boat captain told them the boat engine was water cooled and there was a problem:  the water was boiling in the ocean.  Just imagine the terror.  A few years later, he snuck back to the town with a pal and he found his old house.  We drove past the house during our tour.  Much of the island was covered in lava and the locals tried to hide it with grass. 

Heading to the far east end of Iceland, we land in Seydisfjordur.  We went to this lovely blue church and heard a trio sing traditional Icelandic songs that were sung to children.. things like "we're coming to your house at night to eat your children."  Seriously.  Iceland is a land of trolls, giants, and monsters that come out at night.   

We also visited the home of Gunnar Gunnarson, one of Iceland's great writers.  By the way, Iceland is one of those rare countries where there are no family sur names.  For instance, if I had a son and named him Fred, his name would be Fred Jamesson.  If you look in the Reykjavik phone book, the names are sorted by first name.  Seen here are giant fingers at the Gunnarson residence.  There were also a number of tree stumps.  A caretaker at the residence asked me if I knew what they were.  I thought... hmmm, grave markers?  Nope.  They showed the various ear markings on sheep so sheep owners could prove who owned what.  

Now on to the lovely little city of Akureyri, located on Iceland's north coast.  It was on the way to Akureyri, at 10:02pm on the 4th of July, that we crossed the Arctic Circle and I have proof!  As sunset was at something like 12:30am (sunrise was around 4am), I was on deck in bright sunlight to see us cross the invisible line.  

The very walkable town of Akureyri loves their trolls!  

If you go to Iceland, you'd better like waterfalls.  Here's one in the Akureyri area called Godafoss.


Isafjordur is in the northeast part of the island.  I went to the Arctic Fox Centre, which protects and rescues the only native mammal.  We also visited a little village of Sudavik, and then the Alftafjordur fjord.  

Our final stop before returning to Reykjavik is Grundarfjordur on the far west coast of Iceland.  

On the yacht, some jumped into the cold water.. the Arctic plunge.  Captain Richard Reville supervises (on the left).  

Here's a look at the coastline around Grundarfjordur, followed by more area waterfalls.  

Back in Reykjavik, we had a lovely tour called the Golden Circle.  We visited a gyser, waterfalls, and yet more coastal scenery.  

Here's the geyser that goes off about every seven minutes.  The guide said most people miss the first spurt, then normally get it after two or three.  I was lucky and got this guy the first time.  

I now feel confident I could return, this time renting a car and driving around the ring road, maybe doing bed and breakfasts along the way.  Iceland has slowly become a tourist magnet, so you'd better get there quickly.  

Another interesting thing to note is hot water from geysers pretty much heats most of Iceland and provides steam generated power for the island.  Although a can of beer may cost around $12 U.S. dollars, the electricity and heat is cheap.  

Until My Next Adventure, 

See You On Down The Road!

Jim Patterson

...and, here are all the keeper photos!

.....And, on my Flickr site!  

Macros in San Diego and More

My trip to the West Coast School in San Diego made it my third straight trip.  Held at the lovely University of San Diego campus, I took the week-long macro course from the great Frank Peele... and it was well worth it.  Nine months of the year I'm the teacher; the summer is for me to be the student.  

Macro is close up photography and I used my Canon 5d Mark III and my Canon 100mm macro lens.  Lighting consisted at times of natural light, strobe lights provided by the instructor, and my own Canon MR-14-ex II ring light.  With few exceptions, most of the work was done on a tripod.  

For extreme close up photography, I used a bellows attached between my camera and a lens. Guess what this object is???

It is Benjamin Franklin's eye on the $50 bill!   

Then I used a white box to photograph my watch.  You could do the same for any product, food, object.  One of the difficulties I had in the past was eliminating the glare off the watch face.  Here, I used a small Canon 270ex flash, pointed outside the white box through the cloth and got a real even light.  

How about the fun of photographing water droplets coming from above?  Now, this took timing.  Drip drip drip FIRE THE TRIGGER!  And hopefully I'd get a good shot.  

Here's some examples of using red dye in water for interesting drips and crashing glasses.  

And, here's what photographing smoke in the dark looks like.  Two strobes from each side, triggered by my remote control.  

We had a flower pot in the classroom and I decided to do some macro work with these.  The next example is a shot used with a Canon Ring Light.


And here's a few more shots of flowers with water droplets and lady bugs.

And the class ends.  Here's a photo of the sunset looking west from Shade's Restaurant in San Diego.  

The weekend we spent going to Balboa Park and La Jolla and the beach.  I used a Canon 24-105mm lens during the weekend.

Until My Next Adventure, 

(Iceland!)

See You On Down The Road!

Jim Patterson

...and, here are all the keeper photos!



.....And, on my Flickr site!