Monthly Archives: September 2009

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Redwood Shoot

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Redwood Shoot

Redwood Shoot. Muir Woods National Monument, California. August 19, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A new redwood tree shoot emerges from the base of a mature tree, Muir Woods National Monument, California.

This small, green shoot is the potential start of a new redwood tree at Muir Woods National Monument. Its bright green color contrasts with the browns and reds of the dark forest floor and the shaded bark of the tree.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
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keywords: muir, woods, national, monument, golden, gate, recreation, area, marin, county, san francisco, california, usa, park, redwood, forest, tree, nature, landscape, stock, new, shoot, floor, litter, green baby, base, mature, dark, shade, bark, twig, branch

Morning Musings

Unsolicited advice to the Epson printer division

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I’m spending afternoon installing Mac OS X 10.5.8 on an external boot drive along with my second install of CS4 so that I can print photographs for a client. Despite liking the way my Epson printer USED to work before the Mac OS X 10.6 update, I’m now seriously considering making my next large format printer purchase this fall from HP or Canon.

Epson, if in fact you do not plan to support certain serious printers with drivers for newer versions of major operating systems used by your customers, there is a right way and a wrong way to deal with this.

RIGHT WAY:

On your web site, post a list of printers (and other products) that lists the point in time after which you will no longer provide support and updates. This should be done at least one year prior to ending support. At the end of the support period you should release one final update bringing the drivers to current levels of compatibility. With this information your customers can make decisions about how to deal with the EOL of the products. A real professional courtesy would be to contact owners of these machines using the contact data you have. If handled correctly, you would benefit from considerable good will from customers treated with this sort of respect, and many would make plans to update to newer versions of your products. This is how responsible companies handle product natural obsolescence.

WRONG WAY:

Post incorrect and non-functional instructions and drivers at your site. Post no information about your plans to provide (or not) drivers and updates. Be sure to be completely silent about your intentions. When users discover – with absolutely no warning from you – that their printers that worked yesterday do not work today because you won’t take a bit of time to update drivers… ignore them. (I’ve sent two emails to Epson through the support area of their web site… with no response.) When a customer of yours finally does connect with a real person, be sure to insultingly tell them that they shouldn’t expect support of their too-old non-professional product – that will give them a nice feeling about how your company supports its customers as they consider making future printer purchase. This is how companies who don’t care about their customers handle natural product obsolescence.

(Update: As a temporary solution to the problems that I’ve been having with Epson print drivers and Mac OS X 10.6, I have installed the older Mac OS X 10.5.8 and a copy of CS4 on an external drive. I reboot off the external drive to print…)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

G Dan Mitchell: Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Monterey Cypress, Allan Memorial Grove

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Monterey Cypress, Allan Memorial Grove

Monterey Cypress, Allan Memorial Grove. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. August 21, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Beneath the canopy on a foggy afternoon in the Monterey Cypress forest at Allan Memorial Grove, Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

(Since this is simply the black and white version of the photograph I just posted earlier, I’m including largely the same text here that I included with the color rendition.)

I am always intrigued by the patterns of the trunks and lower branches of the Monterey cypress trees when I walk through the Allen Memorial Grove at Point Lobos. I’m also intrigued – and challenged – by the nearly monochromatic nature of the scene, especially when fog mutes the light as it did on this afternoon. On the other hand, the fog also softens and diffuses the light and decreases the contrast between the light parts of the trees and the shadows.

It was in such conditions that I made this photograph in August on a very foggy – and getting foggier! – late afternoon. When I made the exposure I was pretty sure I would make a black and white print from this scene but I also kept open the option of a color version. When I worked up the two versions later I was surprised that to find that I liked the color version more than expected, so I made prints of both the color and black and white versions and lived with them a bit.

In the end I decided that this black and white version works best as a print… I think. (I also have to point out that this photograph relies a lot of the inclusion of a ton of fine detail that just plain isn’t going to be visible in the small jpg version I can post online. Ah, well!)

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
Friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/gdanmitchell
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keywords: monterey, cypress, tree, forest, grove, trunk, group, branch, afternoon, fog, pattern, point, lobos, state, reserve, california, usa, peninsula, big sur, carmel, pacific, coast, ocean, nature, flora, park, allen, memorial, trail, hike, walk, landscape, travel, scenic, stick, twig, stock, black and white

Locations

More signs of fall in the High Sierra

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I returned last night from a four-day pack trip into the Lyell Canyon/Vogelsang HSC area of the Yosemite back-country, and the signs of the coming fall are numerous.

  • Perhaps most apparent is the smaller number of people in the back-country! Although I traveled some quite popular trails I saw only a small number of backpackers. Ah, post Labor Day in the Sierra – my favorite time!
  • Many of the annual plants are dying and turning shades of brown, yellow, and gold. The mule ears have almost all lost their summer green color, the leaves of plants around treeline are beginning to turn yellow and red, and almost all of the grasses have gone to seed and turned golden-brown.
  • Although there has not yet been a real early fall storm, the weather pattern is starting to show signs of approaching weather systems.
  • The leaves of a few aspen trees are beginning to change colors. I haven’t been to the “east side” since mid-August, but in Yosemite I saw a very small number of yellow aspen leaves on trees along Yosemite Creek just yesterday.
  • Even some of the lower elevation plants are changing – also yesterday, I saw red leaves of some of the dogwood trees along highway 120 just inside Yosemite.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

G Dan Mitchell: Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.