Encounters at the End of the World

Last night I watched "Encounters at the End of the World" by Werner Herzog, at the Litle Roxie. for some reason I have not been able to get the movie out of my head.

I have visited Antarctica twice, the beauty of the ice is haunting and my experiences have always been of pristine wilderness of simple elegant beauty of white and light. And at the same time it is one of the last few places capable of putting us (mankind, as fragile creatures with an over grown ego) in its place. Antarctica will expose you for what you are and is perfectly capable of killing you if you step out of line.
Want I saw last night wasn't an awestruck documentary on the Big Ice, what I saw was not even the exploration of the soul of planet Earth, it was an exploration in to the soul of mankind. I was more about what drives us than about giant icebergs, fluffy penguins or molten lava lakes.

I still can't find a way of expressing how it affected me but I can extract two brief notes that for me are the clues to my vision of the movie:

1) At one point a PhD refers to Antarctica as the place at the bottom were you go when you loose your ties to the real world and fall of the edge of the world.
I guess we all have our ties to reality and react differently when we they are cut (or when we cut them), some physically fall off the map, others will choose a different type of abyss, a darker one without an easy way out such as a USAF cargo plane or a Russian Icebreaker.

2) The 'demented' penguin, as Herzog calls it, that diverts from the established route from the colony to the sea and back and heads out in the direction of the interior mountain ranges (and to a certain death)... what a metaphor for mankind!

I might just have to go ans see this again.

Film's official web site HERE

Random...

This is a boredom induced and totally random post...

...next 10 songs on my iTunes playlist (set on random shuffle)

Little Acorns - The White Stripes
The Dark/Zero to Hero - Black Sabbath
Hash Pipe - Weezer
I see you Baby - Groove Armada
Slicker Drips - The White Stripes
Paradise City - Guns N' Roses
Misty Mountain Hop - Led Zeppelin
Race Car Ya-Yas - Cake
Plainsong - The Cure
Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan

...what the hell, here go another 10 songs:

El Camino Del Exceso - Héroes Del Silencio
Cry Baby - Janis Joplin
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Why Can't You Be Nicer To Me? - The White Stripes
In Bloom - Nirvana
Kashmir - Led Zeppelin
Us And Them - Pink Floyd
Breaking The Girl - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Little Ghost - The White Stripes
Under The Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers

... missing from the list?

I'm Bored - Iggy Pop ;-)

SCUBA

I finally signed up for a PADI open water course... soooooooooo excited!!!
I start on Sept. 12th and should be certified by Sept. 21st.

Just in time for our trip to Kauai :-)

All I need now is an underwater casing for my DSLR.

Lake Tahoe

Margaret and I drove up to Lake Tahoe this weekend for a friends wedding (congrats Kae & Ben!). Before the wedding we had some time to hang out on the beach and go for a swim at sand Harbor, and later that evening, to shoot at sunset at Bonsai rock.... what an amazing place!!! I must go back once the summer tourist have left and get some "quality time" with those rocks!!!

The International Conservation Photography Awards 2008

Four of my images (shown in this post) have been selected to be displayed at the International Conservation Photography Awards exhibit to be held from August 30, 2008 until October 12, 2008 at the Museum of History and Industry (McCurdy Park at 2700 24th Avenue East) Seattle, WA.

The ICP Awards were created in 1997 by Art Wolfe and the competition is held every two years. The winners will be announced at the museum during opening night (I'm keeping my fingers crossed).

More on the ICP AWARDS.

Today's post is about running...

I'll confess right now... I run for fun.

I started running 4 years ago when I decided that I needed to get active again after too many years working behind a desk.
The first few weeks were hell, aches and pains in muscles that I forgot I had. Then things changed and I really started to enjoy my runs. I guess it was a combination of the endorphin boost and the challenge to surpass my previous milestone. After a few months I was completely hooked. Now, fitness is no longer the primary target, I just enjoy getting out in the evening and pushing myself a bit further every day (usually to the sounds of Metallica, Rage Agisnt the Machine or The Smashing Pumpkins screaming at me from the iPod).
The problem comes from trying to manage a training regime and my travel schedule as for the most part I can't take time off from assignments to go for a run (that is if I even have the right terrain to do so).
For the most part my training course will last 4 to 6 months and then I take a break to coincide with a trip. During the longer training regimes I might take a short week to ten days break half way in to the training course, just to give my legs a bit f a rest.
On average I will run between 4 and 8Km between 4 and 5 days a week, usually I will run two or three days and then rest one, I know I could run further but most of my routes in San Francisco have some sort of hill in them at some point... I'm not good with hills!
My shoes are Nike+ Air Moto (the air cushions are great for running in the city with the hard pavement and side walks) and use a Nike+ sensor for my iPod nano to track progress and runs. It is a great tool, you can register on the Nike website and it will store all your training info and present graphs with your runs, you can set challenges, targets and even compete with other runners.
Yesterday my page informed me that I have completed my 95th run with the sensor and passed the 500Km mark... I'm ready for the next 500Km!!!

Field Report: customized Wimberley Sidekick

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have had my Sidekick customized by RRS (read here). My trip to Alaska gave me a great chance to test my new rig in real world conditions and I'm glad to report that it worked beautifully!!! the clamps performed as expected, with no movement, play or creep. They gripped the lens plates perfectly tight.
The RRS replacement tripod foot for the 200-400 VR is great too, you avoid using a screwed in lens plate and the chance of any 'wiggle' when shooting from a tripod and it is long and high enough to still use as a handle when you carry the lens around.
Last night I received the replacement foot for the 70-200 VR and as expected the craftmanship is amazing, the foot fits perfectly on the lens and the RRS ballhead clamps.