Right after some rapids -- thouroughly drenched Danielle
Copyright 2005, Shawn Kielty, all rights reserved.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Monday, July 18, 2005
Thursday, June 30, 2005
An Ode to My Boots
I have this old pair of boots that I bought when I was a grad student in Pullman, Washington in 1994. I was cold and tired of slipping around on the ice and having wet feet from the snow. They were rated to –40 degrees and waterproof, and had what looked to be leather uppers. I moaned at the price and my shopping friend disagreed laughing, but I bought and put them on immediately. It took months to break them in – but they were warm and comfy all through the process. They had Vibram soles and blue laces. I stopped slipping and was rarely cold after that.
It’s been a few years since then, and now when I look at those boots I can see right through the soles to where a sock would live, having finally given them up for dead when I started wearing holes in my socks. 10 years have passed. During those ten years, we (my boots and I) have been in four countries, on two continents – and in fourty four states, and a myriad of national parks, national monuments, and wildlife refuges. We have bagged peaks in the Adirondacks, the Rockies, and throughout the Northwest and California. We have waded together in some of the coldest rivers around, and some of the nastiest, remembering now that I once forsook my trusty boots for barefoot small mouth trout (I mean bass) fishing in the Huron River, only to be rewarded with a nasty cut. I put the boots on and continued. I have worn them to cast bronze, weld and grind things, used them to hold hot metal, and as a hammer. I have literally mistakenly beaten them with a hammer. Together we have been on glaciers, in the snow, the streets of major world cities – and through at least a thousand miles of desert in the summer, and made a few hundred sculptures.
I don’t remember them saying they would be good to 120 degrees, but once they were worn, they were fine. Once I even won a prize at a basketball game because I had blue shoelaces (the person sitting next to me had a picture of a fish in her wallet – and also won a prize). The death knell for these old friends finally came when I was moving out of my warehouse loft. After a week of 16 hour days – literally standing and walking on those poor soles, I caught the hole in the sole on a nail in the floor and ripped the boot open. I had a funeral in the yard.
I want another pair, I tell myself. And the only thing I know about them is that they are Merrell’s, size 8 and 1/2, I think. I go to the store. There’s nothing that even looks like these boots. I look at the old boots. There’s a marking on the tongue, “WTC” it says. A search of the web reveals “ultra watertight construction” is the predominant feature. I can’t find them anywhere. I even looked on Ebay. I go to the web site for Merrell. Lot’s of sandles … but I am not finding my boots. I can’t believe it. I am thinking that these were the best boots ever made. Why on earth would anyone stop manufacturing them.
I am now throwing away the fourth pair of boots I have owned since 1994, this time it’s a pair of Vasque Zephyrs, which crush my toes and cause serious pain in the ball of one foot -- and blister my toes. They are barely broken in. I can remember walking 12 miles as though it were nothing in those WTC boots. If I were in a pinch I could easily have walked 20.
Since I firmly believed that Merrell made the best boots ever, when I was unable to find the replacement boots, I chose a Merrell boot, a light weight “Ventilator,” whose predominant feature was slipping on any wet surface. They are unrivaled in being the worst shoes I have ever owned. They are shit. I have almost died now about 50 times. They provide almost no support anywhere – and are useless with a pack. They actually cause the ball of my foot to feel crushed. Additionally, I bought a pair of low top ventilators, which almost threw me into the Rogue river at the narrows from a height of about 200 ft, due to the very same slipping characteristic. I threw those away that day because I was afraid to take them to the goodwill, out of fear they might kill someone there. If you happen to be a shoe manufacturer or designer, you should pay attention to this part: I swear, I will never put another boot on my feet unless it has a yellow vibram label and squarish lugs. If you want me to buy anything else – you must provide a compelling argument that if I step onto a moss covered rock during a creek crossing with 50 pounds on my back, that they will find a way to stick, or at least help me not to fall. That really means you better start putting some wet moss covered rocks into the store with the boots.
After trying that (the ventilators) I went down to the local independent shoe store (we’ll leave RedWing out of this, because they make pretty good shoes), and bought the Vasques. I have had the boots for about a year, and they stick to everything except my wet patio (they have vibram soles, go figure), and provide great ankle support. I went for a 2 mile hike four days ago in the Superstition Wilderness, and three days later my feet feel like they have been beaten with a hammer. What I really don’t understand is why I can’t seem to find a pair of boots that I can put through hell, and will grab the ground, keep me warm, and protect my feet from damage, whether I am stepping into the icy Couer D’Alene or the deserts of Death Valley, a parking lot in Phoenix, or a scrabble covered trail. I want a pair of boots that loves me and trusts me enough to let me decide where it’s safe to put my feet. Granted they all look cool and high tech, but they don’t work. I want a pair of boots that stands up to what I dish out and performs, not a pair that asks me to put up with them.
I think I am going to have to go out into the yard and dig up those old decent boots, my old friends, and put some new soles on them.
Copyright 2005, Shawn Kielty, all rights reserved.
It’s been a few years since then, and now when I look at those boots I can see right through the soles to where a sock would live, having finally given them up for dead when I started wearing holes in my socks. 10 years have passed. During those ten years, we (my boots and I) have been in four countries, on two continents – and in fourty four states, and a myriad of national parks, national monuments, and wildlife refuges. We have bagged peaks in the Adirondacks, the Rockies, and throughout the Northwest and California. We have waded together in some of the coldest rivers around, and some of the nastiest, remembering now that I once forsook my trusty boots for barefoot small mouth trout (I mean bass) fishing in the Huron River, only to be rewarded with a nasty cut. I put the boots on and continued. I have worn them to cast bronze, weld and grind things, used them to hold hot metal, and as a hammer. I have literally mistakenly beaten them with a hammer. Together we have been on glaciers, in the snow, the streets of major world cities – and through at least a thousand miles of desert in the summer, and made a few hundred sculptures.
I don’t remember them saying they would be good to 120 degrees, but once they were worn, they were fine. Once I even won a prize at a basketball game because I had blue shoelaces (the person sitting next to me had a picture of a fish in her wallet – and also won a prize). The death knell for these old friends finally came when I was moving out of my warehouse loft. After a week of 16 hour days – literally standing and walking on those poor soles, I caught the hole in the sole on a nail in the floor and ripped the boot open. I had a funeral in the yard.
I want another pair, I tell myself. And the only thing I know about them is that they are Merrell’s, size 8 and 1/2, I think. I go to the store. There’s nothing that even looks like these boots. I look at the old boots. There’s a marking on the tongue, “WTC” it says. A search of the web reveals “ultra watertight construction” is the predominant feature. I can’t find them anywhere. I even looked on Ebay. I go to the web site for Merrell. Lot’s of sandles … but I am not finding my boots. I can’t believe it. I am thinking that these were the best boots ever made. Why on earth would anyone stop manufacturing them.
I am now throwing away the fourth pair of boots I have owned since 1994, this time it’s a pair of Vasque Zephyrs, which crush my toes and cause serious pain in the ball of one foot -- and blister my toes. They are barely broken in. I can remember walking 12 miles as though it were nothing in those WTC boots. If I were in a pinch I could easily have walked 20.
Since I firmly believed that Merrell made the best boots ever, when I was unable to find the replacement boots, I chose a Merrell boot, a light weight “Ventilator,” whose predominant feature was slipping on any wet surface. They are unrivaled in being the worst shoes I have ever owned. They are shit. I have almost died now about 50 times. They provide almost no support anywhere – and are useless with a pack. They actually cause the ball of my foot to feel crushed. Additionally, I bought a pair of low top ventilators, which almost threw me into the Rogue river at the narrows from a height of about 200 ft, due to the very same slipping characteristic. I threw those away that day because I was afraid to take them to the goodwill, out of fear they might kill someone there. If you happen to be a shoe manufacturer or designer, you should pay attention to this part: I swear, I will never put another boot on my feet unless it has a yellow vibram label and squarish lugs. If you want me to buy anything else – you must provide a compelling argument that if I step onto a moss covered rock during a creek crossing with 50 pounds on my back, that they will find a way to stick, or at least help me not to fall. That really means you better start putting some wet moss covered rocks into the store with the boots.
After trying that (the ventilators) I went down to the local independent shoe store (we’ll leave RedWing out of this, because they make pretty good shoes), and bought the Vasques. I have had the boots for about a year, and they stick to everything except my wet patio (they have vibram soles, go figure), and provide great ankle support. I went for a 2 mile hike four days ago in the Superstition Wilderness, and three days later my feet feel like they have been beaten with a hammer. What I really don’t understand is why I can’t seem to find a pair of boots that I can put through hell, and will grab the ground, keep me warm, and protect my feet from damage, whether I am stepping into the icy Couer D’Alene or the deserts of Death Valley, a parking lot in Phoenix, or a scrabble covered trail. I want a pair of boots that loves me and trusts me enough to let me decide where it’s safe to put my feet. Granted they all look cool and high tech, but they don’t work. I want a pair of boots that stands up to what I dish out and performs, not a pair that asks me to put up with them.
I think I am going to have to go out into the yard and dig up those old decent boots, my old friends, and put some new soles on them.
Copyright 2005, Shawn Kielty, all rights reserved.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Umbrella Crowd
This was taken at the Menlo Atherton High School graduation ceremony in 2005.
Copyright 2005, Shawn Kielty. All rights reserved.
Sunday, May 22, 2005
A Year in Pictures
For what it's worth, I just put together about a year worth of shots into a portfolio. So here's what A Year in Pictures looks like, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Enjoy.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Zion Canyon Falls
March 23, 2005, Late afternoon. I worked hard in trying to capture this image. Zion has a wild quiet charm in the spring, as the trees bud out and the wet flow is heavy in and across the red earth. As it was seemingly always cloudy during this trip, again I find myself trying to get closer to the image, to the very rock and water itself. Zion Canyon is a long story of water and rock, and ever present power. The falls and presence of the stone humble me, make me feel threatened, and sweetly -- I delight in the knowledge that I am safe from it. As I compose, and shoot, I am thinking that there must be a way for me to capture the presence I feel in this canyon. I wonder.
"If man's imagination were not so weak, so easily tired, if his capacity for wonder not so limited, he would abandon forever... fantasies of fhe supernal. He would learn to perceive in water, leaves, and silence more than sufficient of the absolute and marvelous, more than enough to console him for the loss of the ancient dreams."
Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
Copyright Shawn Kielty 2005, All rights reserved.
"If man's imagination were not so weak, so easily tired, if his capacity for wonder not so limited, he would abandon forever... fantasies of fhe supernal. He would learn to perceive in water, leaves, and silence more than sufficient of the absolute and marvelous, more than enough to console him for the loss of the ancient dreams."
Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
Copyright Shawn Kielty 2005, All rights reserved.
Zion Canyon Bottomland
March 23, 2005, Afternoon. There was alot of rain while I was in Zion, and clouds were seemingly always present. It was difficult to find interesting shots of the cliffs around the canyon, so I spent a bit of time looking down to the earth. The canyon was alive there and this pond full of fallout from the recent storms and years past, gave me something to look at.
Copyright Shawn Kielty 2005, All rights reserved.
Copyright Shawn Kielty 2005, All rights reserved.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Lower Kolob Plateau Morning
March 23, 2005, 7:00 AM. As is my style when I am on the road, I was up well before dawn. It was a crisp morning with temps below freezing. The neighborhood here was still sleeping and the snow from the night before was untouched on the road before me. Signs of life were beginning to rise from the houses. I was thinking it must be nice to live in a spot like this. Clouds gathered and parted to threaten both snow and sun.
Copyright Shawn Kielty 2005, All rights reserved.
Copyright Shawn Kielty 2005, All rights reserved.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Trip Report March 2005
This was a one week excursion with destinations including Zion Canyon NP, the ghost town at Grafton, UT, Death Valley and the CoralPink Sand Dunes State Park. A much larger collection of images is available at my site. It rained and snowed -- was wet and snotty, and was gorgeous at times. It was a good trip overall -- and I found myself again the first vehicle on untrekked snow laden roads. It could have been better -- but I can't imagine how.
Photograph Copyright Shawn Kielty 2005, all rights reserved.
Photograph Copyright Shawn Kielty 2005, all rights reserved.
Peregrinefund.org Field Report
OK -- it's 1:00 am mostly -- Having taken a nap this afternoon, I am up late doing research on the idea that I would like to try to photograph California Condors in the area of the Grand Canyon or Zion National Park. Basically this seems simple -- find out where they are -- go there with the right equipment -- and take the pictures.
While I was out looking around I found this sad post on the Peregrinefund.org site.
While I was out looking around I found this sad post on the Peregrinefund.org site.
Monday, April 18, 2005
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Is Digital Ready for the Outdoors?
Now my Canon 20D camera is back at the factory, being cleaned. After ten days in the outdoors in some wet weather, out on the Coral Pink Sand Dunes, and then more activity at Death Valley, and at various points along the road, the camera is producing nice pictures -- but with spots from some miscreant on the sensor. Despite following the suggested cleaning method -- blowing it off with a sucky ball -- the spots remain in all my images to varying degrees. It has been gone for roughly ten days now and really -- I am ready to have it back.
This really begs the question "Is digital photography really ready to do things like backpacking, and still be counted on to produce professional results?" I think today the answer is a resounding no. When I called Canon Customer support they asked me if I had changed lenses in the field -- to this I responded yes, about 10-20 times a day. They asked if I had been in any unclean environments -- and I was wondering is snow or sand or rain or pollen dirty? I said -- just in the field.
I have only had this camera for three months -- I have used it a lot. I have several thousand images. But the truth is -- 10-15 days is a long time to go without a camera -- especially if you are using it, and to anticipate this after 5 days of a ten day trip -- or even once every three months, is entirely too frequent to call it reliable.
As it turns out -- I have other cameras -- that use film. Never mind the nuisance of processing, waiting for the results, and having to manage all the film. The film is always clean when it comes off the roll. The process of waiting for the results to return from the lab is nothing compared to manually cleaning little spots off several hundred otherwise worthy images
So if my 20D isn't back by the time I leave for my next event, I am sure I will pull my F1n out of the mothballs and load it -- *it* is a reliable camera.
This really begs the question "Is digital photography really ready to do things like backpacking, and still be counted on to produce professional results?" I think today the answer is a resounding no. When I called Canon Customer support they asked me if I had changed lenses in the field -- to this I responded yes, about 10-20 times a day. They asked if I had been in any unclean environments -- and I was wondering is snow or sand or rain or pollen dirty? I said -- just in the field.
I have only had this camera for three months -- I have used it a lot. I have several thousand images. But the truth is -- 10-15 days is a long time to go without a camera -- especially if you are using it, and to anticipate this after 5 days of a ten day trip -- or even once every three months, is entirely too frequent to call it reliable.
As it turns out -- I have other cameras -- that use film. Never mind the nuisance of processing, waiting for the results, and having to manage all the film. The film is always clean when it comes off the roll. The process of waiting for the results to return from the lab is nothing compared to manually cleaning little spots off several hundred otherwise worthy images
So if my 20D isn't back by the time I leave for my next event, I am sure I will pull my F1n out of the mothballs and load it -- *it* is a reliable camera.
Hello and Greetings
Today was spent preparing for a trip to Bishop CA, securing hotel, looking for sites to shoot and re-connecting with contacts in the area. I am eagerly awaiting the return of my Canon from the shop, as it seems the sensor is dirty from the last trip. This week has been a mixture of taxes and cleanup from my recent trip to Zion Canyon and Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park in Southern Utah. After 5 or 6 days of snow, rain and mixed snow and rain, I bailed out at the suggesting of the park gatekeeper to head for Death Valley to see the wildflowers.
Photograph Copyright Shawn Kielty 2005, all rights reserved.
Canon 20D with EFS 17-85mm Zoom. It was wet under these falls and messy but the camera performed admirably. Notice the drops of water falling everywhere in front of the camera.
Photograph Copyright Shawn Kielty 2005, all rights reserved.
Canon 20D with EFS 17-85 Zoom.
Photograph Copyright Shawn Kielty 2005, all rights reserved.
Canon 20D with EFS 17-85mm Zoom. It was wet under these falls and messy but the camera performed admirably. Notice the drops of water falling everywhere in front of the camera.
Photograph Copyright Shawn Kielty 2005, all rights reserved.
Canon 20D with EFS 17-85 Zoom.
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