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Dark n’ Sunny: Big Bend

February 22, 2016
Art Projects, Photography, Travel
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West Contrabando Dark Sky Site

We recently spent a long weekend in Big Bend soaking in the massive night skies and glowing morning sunrises out of our tent.

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Lunch time view between rides, Pen and Ink, BBRSP

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Love this candid of Michelle looking up from the mine shaft

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Big Bend Ranch SP has an abandoned mercury mine out in the park to explore

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Sun baked textures in the desert

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View from Big Bend National Park Hot Springs, Pen and Ink

Everything is exposed and sun baked. Topographic features visibly exist on the mountainsides undisturbed by trees. Trails here are dynamic and range from fast flowing, to rocky scree, to jeep roads. The light is dynamic and fun to photograph and the distances enjoyable to sketch from rare spots of shade.
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Michelle and her CHUMBA URSA on Crystal mtn trail, yes, those are all quartz crystals!

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The mine area has some cool artifacts like this ole’Chevy

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Kept my map handy in my Wanderlust Gear Rattlesnake bag, sweet patch from Everything Will Be Noble thanks to Brent Knepper!

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Recent fire damage in the Big Bend Nat. Park, native plants will likely come back strong and happy with new seeds being activated by the fires to grow.

Over Cochise Stronghold, AZ

December 6, 2015
bikepacking, biking, Photography, Travel
5 Comments

We decided to get away for Thanksgiving, chasing the sunshine and trying to escape the rain storms that swamped Austin. Planning for Big Bend we changed gears last minute and headed for the Dragoon Mountains in south Arizona based on a route we found on Bikepacking.com Before the trip, Suzan Bright gifted me her vintage Nikkor lenses from her college days as a photo major at Pratt. So this trip I shot full manual with 35mm and 105mm Nikkor lenses adapted to my Sony a6000 mirrorless camera. The setup was great as it is very packable and the lenses are fast to change and intuitive to use. The fixed lenses increased my battery life by a long-shot which was great for covering this 3 day trip into the backcountry. [gallery type="square" columns="4" link="file" size="medium" ids="1050,1064,1063,1067"]

Heading to the mountains
Big skies and views
Big skies and views
With Turkey Sausages, stuffing and mashed potatoes we brought some tasty vittles on our ride. We enjoyed our T-day in this field of grasses with a old working windmill and pump well for company.
With Turkey Sausages, stuffing and mashed potatoes we brought some tasty vittles on our ride. We enjoyed our T-day in this field of grasses with a old working windmill and pump well for company.
Sketching at sunset
Sketching at sunset
Conté and charcoal pencil
Conté and charcoal pencil
Rugged granite of the Dragoon Mountains
Rugged granite of the Dragoon Mountains
Challenging hike-a-bike up and over the Cochise Stronghold.
Challenging hike-a-bike up and over the Cochise Stronghold.
Singletrack and views back into the valley are our rewards
Singletrack and views back into the valley are our rewards
My trusty steed: CHUMBA USA STELLA, with Shimano XT 11speed, Maxxis 27plus Rekon tires and complete Multi-cam bikepacking bagset from Wanderlust Gear.
My trusty steed: CHUMBA USA STELLA, with Shimano XT 11speed, Maxxis 27plus Rekon tires and complete Multi-cam bikepacking bagset from Wanderlust Gear.
Enjoying the trail off the backside of the mountain.
Enjoying the trail off the backside of the mountain.
"It gets flat over there."
"It gets flat over there."
A hard day of pushing and riding had us setting up camp sore and tired. The stars and clear night sky were a delight to enjoy during dinner and stretching.
A hard day of pushing and riding had us setting up camp sore and tired. The stars and clear night sky were a delight to enjoy during dinner and stretching.
Thanks to Postmaster Bill for the photo, he's got one heck of a view. I rode back into town to fix a flat. Luckily the small town hardware store had flat kits, since mine was resting nicely back in the truck...
Thanks to Postmaster Bill for the photo, he's got one heck of a view. I rode back into town to fix a flat. Luckily the small town hardware store had flat kits, since mine was resting nicely back in the truck...
Michelle is enjoying her first bikepacking trip.
Michelle is enjoying her first bikepacking trip.
Kody and Jenny roll through another road lined with cottony desert brush.
Kody and Jenny roll through another road lined with cottony desert brush.
There's a jail over thar
There's a jail over thar
"Joe Bono's" abandoned historic building provided some nice shade while we supped on the last of our food stores.
"Joe Bono's" abandoned historic building provided some nice shade while we supped on the last of our food stores.
***POP ROCKS***
***POP ROCKS***
Historic Gleeson Jail, one of a few old jails we saw on the route.
Historic Gleeson Jail, one of a few old jails we saw on the route.
Big wheels = Big smiles
Big wheels = Big smiles
Michelle, happy to be rolling the smooth downhill back to town. The Dragoon Mountains we rode over rest in the background.
Michelle, happy to be rolling the smooth downhill back to town. The Dragoon Mountains we rode over rest in the background.
and the rode into the sunset.
and they rode into the sunset.
Cold beers back in historic Tombstone, where the whole town greeted us in costume!
Cold beers back in historic Tombstone, where the whole town greeted us in costume!

Vincent Colvin CHUMBA ARIZONA COCHISE-5301

Thanks to CHUMBA USA for the unstoppable bikes, Wanderlust Gear for our flawless bikepacking bagsets, Maxxis for our burly test tires, Smith Optics for our stly'in helmets and Shimano for our smooth new XT 11 speed drivetrains! Our mix of gear certainly made for a reliable trip!

As Reference: Quick On Site Sketches

December 26, 2013
Art Projects
2 Comments

After so much technical plying with the camera I needed to loosen up with some field studies.

On Christmas morning, Santa brought a new sketchbook! Here’s a photo of a longer sketch using the field study from the video as a reference, drawn with Faber Castell PITT pens on 14″x11″, All Media Paper.

I hope everyone enjoyed a great holiday! I’m thankful I was able to spend mine with family, friends and sketchbooks.

Ink Sketch

Hiking at McKinney Falls, TX, Christmas Eve

December 26, 2013
Art Projects
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IMG_6164I’ve been wanting to sharpen my photo skills. I was fortunate enough to have Suzan and Sal to school me in the finer points of controlling shutter speed, ISO and aperture together to get properly exposed phots while on a nice hike this Christmas Eve. I set myself up with a challenge in the shot below. It was hard to capture a balance between the shadows beneath and the sunny bright rock while keeping the figures in focus. I used a shallow depth of field blurring the closest part of the rock and focusing on the figures.  A polarizing filter gives the sky its rich color, deepens the shadow under the rock, and along with shutter speed, subdues the brightness of the sun reflecting off of the rock, allowing me to keep an low open aperture to get the shallower depth of field.

Depth of Field

Back in Fairbanks

July 7, 2012
Art Projects
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I just got back into Fairbanks driving 9 hours down the famed Dalton Hwy. There was lots of construction on the road which is primarily a dirt haul road for truckers taking supplies N through the Arctic. Where the construction took place I usually had sometime to sketch as they only let one direction through at a time. Worked to be a nice way to breakup the trip. While here in Alaska I took over, 1000 photos of clouds, landscape views of the tundra and the brooks mountain range, our field work and I made many of sketches. I have so many ideas for new work! I will update soon with a few selected sketches and photos.