Photo Blog - Niebrugge Images

La Quinta Golf Resort, near Palm Springs, California.

We spent a couple of nights in the Palm Springs area photographing and celebrating our anniversary.  (Note to reader;  if this is Janine, place the emphasis on anniversary, if your are with the IRS, emphasis on photography :)  )

I have learned the hard way that resorts like La Quinta are hard to photograph because they are surrounded by security personnel who seem to only be on the look-out for photographers.  Don’t they have criminals and stuff to worry about? 

Well the one way around this is to stay at the place, and thanks to name your price on Price-line, and the slow economy, that is now very possible.  A room on a Saturday night of a holiday weekend during the winter would have been unheard of last year even at the motel 6 - this year that is all we paid, well except for the mandatory resort fee that covers a bunch of stuff that should have been included anyways.

Well, Happy New Year everyone!

American Kestrel

I think this is a beautiful falcon.  He has been hunting around our campsite in Borrego at least once a day since we arrived here.  Friday, I was finally able to photograph him!  I noticed he often returned to this specific cactus, so Friday I set up on it and waited.  It worked!  I also have some full frame closeups, but kind of prefer this version which shows more cactus.

I have seen these guys in Denali on numerous occasions, but have been unable to get close enough for a descent image.  It is fun to watch a bird like this up close.

The Yankee Peddler, Wrightwood, California.

 For me, the Yankee Peddler isn’t just a cool little photogenic store in Wrightwood, but it is also owned and operated by my sister-in-law Brenda.

We spent Christmas with family in Wrightwood, where I think they had as much snow as we did in Alaska.  It is interesting what happens when it snows in the mountains so close to a huge, snow-less city like Los Angeles - thousands of people flock there to play in the snow.  The traffic was pretty crazy, but it looked like people with sleds and snowballs were having a lot of fun.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Californian desert!

Down power lines in Julian, California.

I’m not a lineman or electrician, heck, I can struggle with on / off switches -  but I don’t think this meets code. 

There are few places in the U.S. that have avoided winter storms this past week, but I don’t know if anyplace looked more unique then the upper Mojave desert.  I was there this weekend and there is still a good two feet of snow on the ground!  One person told me they received more snow last week, then they have in the last 18 years combined.

That much snow on the jumbo rocks and Joshua Trees was absolutely beautiful.  I snuck away from family activities Saturday evening for some sunset photography.  I had hoped to come away with a photo for today, but ended up getting my 4 wheel drive truck so buried in the snow that it took me a hour and a half just to dig it out!  By the time I was out, it was dark, and I was just happy to be driving. 

In the future when I drive down that narrow dusty dirt road in the heat of the desert, it will be hard to imagine anyone could ever get stuck in snow!

Julian California

We made it up to Julian, California yesterday.  It sure looked great with all the fresh snow.  There was a good foot or more of fresh, wet snow still on the ground.

Julian is a cool little historic gold mining town that has a lot of character and charm.  It seems to be a popular choice for magazines doing stories like “Best Places to Live in the U.S.” or “Best Small Towns in America”  Stories like that are a great way to ruin a good thing, but besides too much traffic, it is still a neat little place.  O yeah, it is also famous for it’s apple pies - and they are good! (more…)

It was pretty amazing to see snow down this low into Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.  There was snow on the ground, and branches broken off the trees at the Tamarisk Grove Campground, just a bit over 1,500 feet above sea-level!  It was beautiful!

We tried to drive up to Julian to get photos of this popular tourist destination in snow, but the CHP had the road closed.  If they closed roads in Alaska every time a foot of snow feel on the ground, we wouldn’t get much done.  I was a bit frustrated at first, but then after seeing people (at least some) driving like maniacs, in vehicles totally unprepared for snow - I realized that it was a good thing the state government made decisions for people down here, otherwise it would be chaos!  We will try to get to Jullian again tomorrow - I would like to get there before the snow melts off the trees.

For those familiar with this area, this was a mile or two up the Plum Canyon Trail.

MSNBC

On Friday, as we were getting ready to head out the door, MSNBC contacted us for an image of Arches National Park.  The photo was aired along with a story on the last minute law changes being made by the outgoing Bush Administration - one of which would allow drilling on the outskirts of Arches National Park.  It happened quick - the photo was on the air just over an hour after they contacted us, so I decided to grab a quick photo of the TV.

This Saturday night, a couple of my photos of Spokane will accompany the ESPN’s coverage of a Gonzaga basketball game.

Snow on the mountains rising above Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Between a multi hour road closure leaving Seward, below zero temperatures in Alaska, snow and ice in Seattle, and almost an inch of rain in Palm Springs - our travels were interesting, but all in all, went very smoothly.

It seems strange to see palm trees and snow in the mountains surrounding the desert, and it sounds like much more is in store for this area tomorrow.

We hit the road yesterday for another photo trip.  We will spend some time in Anza Borrego in California.  This puts us close to family for the holidays, and gives us a fun place for photography and office work.

After that, we plan on spending a month in Orange County doing some travel photography.  My coverage of that area is fairly limited - it is a place I have been intending to spend some time at for awhile now.  We are kicking around some other ideas, our plans always seem to change, but hopefully I will have some fun stuff to post here!

Moonrise, Seward, Alaska.

This was captured last night right at about sunset - a little before 4:00.

It is very similar to a mountain moonrise photo I captured and posted here a month ago.  I think it is interesting how different the hues are in this image compared to that image, even though it is basically the same scene at the same time of day.

Encore las Vegas, Nevada.

The new Encore is scheduled to open on December 22.  Judging from the outside, I get the feeling it is very similar to the Wynn.

We are finished updating our website including our section of Las Vegas photos, and a new section of proffesional poker player photos.

We found these teepees driving around the backroads of Moab this Fall.

Here are some random news items that I thought I would share.  Since these aren’t interesting to most readers, I figured I would put them all in one post and bury them after the jump. (more…)

A kayaker on Resurrection Bay enjoying a beautiful afternoon this past Sunday, Seward, Alaska.

A couple of months ago I wrote about a sensor cleaning liquid and wand product made by Dust-Aid.  I really like the wands, they made it easy to get the moist swaps into the champer and allowed me to reach the corners of the sensor.  But the real benefit to me was the fact this liquid could be shipped via air to places like Alaska.

Well I just tried another product that works even better!  In fact, I was able to clean my sensor with just one try in just a matter of minutes!  (more…)

A couple times a year, students from the marine program at AVTEC (a local vocational school), light off a wide variety of signal flares along the waterfront.  This allows them become familiar with there operation and use.  I thought it made for an interesting photo opp.

Pine Grosbeak, Seward, Alaska.

Another visitor to our backyard mountain ash.  These guys are a little more approachable, but nothing like the crows.  I actually tried to slowly touch one of the crows feeding in this tree the other day - I thought he might let me, but he finally hopped to another branch once I got within a foot.

I have had a number of questions about the settings used for some of my recent photos, I will try to get into the habit of posting such information after the jump - that way those that don’t care can ignore it! (more…)

I usually use flash for some fill light, but here, because it was so dark, I made it the main light source.

Seward Boat Harbor at Sunrise, Alaska.

This beautiful sunrise was Monday morning. 

This time of year, because the sun rises at such a shallow angle compared to the horizon, the colorful portion of the sunrise lasts 15 minutes or more.  I always have to adjust my thinking when I travel to a place like Arizona.  There the sun rises nearly perpendicular to the horizon, and the best color can disappear after 5 minutes or less.