Long time gone

I have not blogged in several years, guess coming back from Japan made everything here seem unblogworty...

I am back because of something which happened to me last week. I was up at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake performing an Environmental Management System audit. While I was out there, I heard about the Trona Pinnacles, and decided to go out there to take some pictures (see above).

The Pinnacles are about a 20 Minute drive east on Highway 178 from Ridgecrest (the town just outside China Lake where we were staying), then another 6 miles south on a dirt road to the Pinnacles themselves. Everything I read said that it was OK to drive there in a two-wheel drive vehicle, as long as it had not been raining (which it had not).

So, I grabbed my camera, my new GPS logger, and a few bottles of water and drove out towards the pinnacles after work. I arrived at maybe 6:00 PM (sunset was 8:00 PM) and started to shoot pictures. There was a map at the site which showed a circular road around the pinnacles, and I followed that, stopping to take pictures quite often.

Although I thought I was still on this circle road, apparently I had gotten off of it onto a road which is not two-wheel drive friendly. I noticed a truck stopped ahead, and just figured he was there taking pictures like I was, and began to drive around him. When it was too late to do anything about it, I realized that he was not parked, but was stuck in a wide wash that this road crossed. With nothing else to do, I pressed forward around him, hoping to keep up my momentum enough to get through. I got about 15 feet farther than he did, and was within maybe 15 feet of solid ground when I got stuck, and good.

I spent about 20 minutes trying to extricate myself, to no avail. The truck was unattended, and I had seen no one the entire time I was out there. It was now about 7:20, there was no cell phone service, and not a soul around. I got two bottles of water, locked my car, and started walking back towards the highway, 6 miles back up the dirt road, periodically checking me cell phone to see if I had any coverage.

The pinnacles are on the southern edge of the Searles Dry Lake, about 10 miles south of the town of Trona. I could see the town on the other side of the valley, and the dirt road headed pretty strait that direction. As the sun set, I could see the lights from town, and that, along with about a half moon, was plenty of light to find my way. The weather was nice, and I was in no danger, I just knew I had a long walk ahead of me (6 miles to the highway, and then perhaps another 4 into Trona if nobody picked me up).

After more than two hours of walking, at about 9:50, I finally reached the highway, only to discover that the few cars that came by had no interest in stopping for me. Highway 178 between Ridgecrest and Trona is not one of your busier roads, even less so at almost 10 o'clock at night. There was probably about one car every few minutes or so. The first eight or ten cars passed me, but finally a nice couple (the Gossetts) and their granddaughter stopped for me.

I told them what had happened, and that I needed a ride into Trona so I could call a tow truck. I got in their vehicle (a Toyota SUV, a 4runner, I think) and we stated to drive towards Trona. After a few seconds, they told me that getting to Trona would not do me any good. There were no tow trucks in Trona, no cell phone service, and no pay phones. They told me they would take me to Ridgecrest instead, as that is where a tow truck would have to come from anyway. We turned around, and headed back in the other direction for a minute or so, before they realized it would taker them as long to get me to Ridgecrest as it would just to go with me out to the pinnacles and pull me out. They had four-wheel drive and a tow chain, so we headed back out to get my car.

Getting the car out was fairly easy, and only took a few minutes, after which they followed me back out to make sure I made it OK. As we just started back, we passed a tow truck coming the other direction, undoubtedly to rescue the truck which had been stuck right next to me.

I made it out fine, and got back to my hotel at about 10:55, exhausted, with sore feet, and a hole warn in one of my socks. My car was filthy, as were mu clothes, but I was just fine.

Back in California

After nearly three years of living in Japan, I am now back in my old house in Temecula, and back to me old job in San Diego. Things have changed around here since I left, and I am still finding my way around my job, trying to figure out just what it is I am supposed to do.

I have just learned of an opening that may be available as the Air Quality Engineer up at MCB Camp Pendleton, which would mean a much shorter commute for me (saving me over an hour a day on the road!). We will have to see if that pans out...

Countdown

My time here in Japan is almost up. As I write this, I have just over a month left before I move back to California. My wife and kids have already moved (so the kids can start school). Three years really flies by...

So now I am in a mad rush to get in those last few things I told myself I would do while I was over here, but still haven't done. Over Labor Day weekend, a friend of mine and I are traveling by Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to Hiroshima. As part of the trip, I will be getting 4 things off my list:

1) Visit Hiroshima
2) Visit Mimeji Castle
3) Visit the Tsujiki Wholesale Fish Market in Tokyo
4) Stay in a capsule hotel

I think that will just about clean out my list. Other must do's I have completed already are:

1) Climb Mt Fuji (sort of, I never quite reached the top...)
2) See the Hot Spring bathing Snow Monkeys
3) Visit the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City
4) Visit the Imperial Palace
5) Visit Ginza

As much fun as I have had here, I am ready to go home...

Shrine Weekend

I got out into "Japan" this weekend (that is what we call it when we leave base), and went to a couple of shrines and temples to take some pictures. I shot a few pictures with my Kiev 60, and one roll each with my Arcus C3 and my newly acquired Yashica Electro 35 GX. I put about three rolls through my Ricohflex TLR camera, though. For those of you not familiar with a TLR, it is a kind of box camera, like you would expect to see your grandfather using. They are a lot of fun (as long as you are not in any hurry) and can take some really great pictures. Using these old cameras kind of strips away all the superficial parts of photography, and just leaves you with the fundamentals. In the end, all photography boils down to the same thing, and it doesn't matter whether you are using a 100 year old pinhole camera, or the latest 16 megapixel digital SLR, the light is still the same, and the same fundamental process is at work.

The Argus I mentioned above is a camera I just had sent to me from my parents. It was the first camera I owned. We bought it at a Salvation Army store for a few dollars when I was taking a photography class at a local junior college one summer. That must have been about 1984 or 85. It served me well for that class, and based on the pictures I took this weekend, it is still a great little camera.

Anyway, back to this weekend. On Saturday I managed to get out of the house to go to a couple of shrines and temples to get some pictures. All three places I went were almost entirely empty, and completely beautiful, making for great shooting opportunities. The best was the last place I went, a shrine in Fussa. When I got there, they were burning piles of leaves on the grounds as part of a clean up, and the columns of smoke winding around the statues and trees made for a very picturesque scene. I shot a full roll with my TLR, and most of another with my Argus. It was kind of magical...

Conformity and Non-Conformity

The Japanese conform. Very few of them do anything out of the ordinary (at least to there way of looking at it). This includes the way they dress during the week. Everyone here wears a uniform. School children all wear uniforms (the girls dress up in naughty Catholic school girl uniforms, and the boys dress up like they are in Prussian military schools), the road crews all wear uniforms (or rather, wear several different uniforms, all color coded to depict their function), even office workers all wear uniforms, in the form of almost identical suits. The Japanese seem to love to wear uniforms.

But I think this causes a problem. None of them get to express much individuality most of the time. However, on the weekend, some of them have found a way to express themselves. A few people, especially younger women (teens and early twenties) dress up in outrageous costumes and hang out in public areas to be seen. However, even in this small amount of non-conformity, they manage to conform, because they all dress basically alike. There are some variations, but in any given location, all these people are dressed in the same style, and usually have come with at least one other person who is dressed almost identically. So, even on the weekend, in their attempts to express themselves, that have managed to just change one uniform for another.

I think we should feel lucky that communism did not get a foothold here in Japan, because I think they really could have made it work.

I Hate People

I have said it before (although maybe not here), but I hate people. Not everybody, and not all the time; but most people, and a good part of the time. People, in general, are idiots; and worse than that, self centered, self absorbed, self important idiots (I guess I can't claim to be any different, except, of course, that I really am that important).

On a slightly related subject, I have been looking over some web sites with photography contests of one sort or another, including http://www.monsterphoto.com (with a $10,000 grand prize), and http://www.jonessoda.com/gallery (where your picture could be features on the label of one of their sodas). On these sites, you can view the photos that others have submitted, and I am amazed at the absolute CRAP that most people are submitting. Here are my basic rules for a contest entry:

1) The picture should be PROPERLY EXPOSED(or improperly exposed in an interesting way)

2) The picture should be IN FOCUS(or, once again, out of focus in an interesting way)

3) The picture should not be of any of the following:
a) a dog
b) a cat
c) your kid eating something messy, or being what you assume is "cute" (trust me, no one else cares how cute you think your kid is. Besides, they will never be as cute as my kids, so just give it up.)
d) you taking a picture of yourself taking a picture in the mirror

4) The picture should not include a DATE STAMP (learn to use your camera's functions)

5) The picture should actually feature the thing you are photographing (a tiny buffalo in the middle of the picture surrounded by acres of grass is not interesting. Invest in a telephoto lens, or get closer.)

6) The picture should not include your finger over the lens (or any other unintended obstructions)

7) The picture should not feature a car (unless it is an old rusting car covered in overgrowth)

8) Just because a picture is in black and white does not make it good.

If you want to see what I mean about awful pictures, got to jonessoda.com and look for picture by Alana from Lacey, Washington. She has managed to put together a truly amazing collection of the absolute worst picture I have ever seen. Now to be fair, we all take bad pictures, but we don't enter them all into contests. She seems to have no ability to edit what she is posting. One or two of her pictures are fairly good, but they are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of CRAP she is throwing up on the site. If I were running the contest, I would disqualify all of her pictures for that very reason...

My name is Justin...

...and I am a photoholic. I admit it, I have become addicted to photography and to photographic equipment. In particular, I find myself drawn to cameras from the Former Soviet Union (FSU). These cameras are, in my opinion, beautiful cameras. They are simple, and beautiful.

In particular, I am drawn to the Soviet copies of Leicas, namely the FED and Zorki cameras. I currently am shooting with a Soviet Contax copy called the Kiev 4 (made by the same Zaphod Arsenol that made my Kiev 60 I have spoken of before). These cameras are such faithful copies of the Contax's and Leica's they were made after, that they can share the same lenses. I have coming to me right now a FED 2a, FED 2e, FED 3a, FED 3b, FED 5, and a Zorki 4. All are 35 mm cameras which use the Leica 39mm screw mount lenses. I can't wait for them to come....

For more information on these cameras, I would recommend the following two web sites:

http://www.geocities.com/fzorkis/index.html

http://homepage.mac.com/mattdenton/photo/cameras/index.html

My name is Justin, and I haven't shot a picture in almost 15 minutes...