PhotoKent's Musings

Christmas Letter 2019

Posted on December 14, 2019 by PhotoKent

Christmas Card 2019-4 2019 rolled through like a freight train, didn’t it? Began with me getting all excited about buying a teardrop trailer, working all winter and spring on the photos and admin for our new Temple of Light in preparation for the largest event ever at Ananda Village in June. Then coordinating some amazing creatives for a week of photography and videography of an event with 1000 people

Christmas Card 2019-5 Late January I headed to Tucson to run model trains and see my long time buddies.Joined by Sraddha who was helping one of her best friends move up here to the village.Hiking into a deep canyon near where we live and getting drenched in springtime snow without a jacket.

Christmas Card 2019-14

Our annual hike thru the oak savannah to hidden falls then the annual 40 mile bike ride around Sutter Buttes in the valley before it gets to hot .

Drove up to Portland to take delivery of Ladybug, our new custom built teardrop trailer and driving it home then traveling up in the remote NE section of California to experience the forests and desert and quietude.

Christmas Card 2019-19 Spending several week long trips up in Tahoe/Truckee area hiking, cycling, trying out eBikes, sitting around campfires while the valley roasted in 100 degree temps.Hiking in High Sierra’s is an amazing experience.

Sure can see why indigenous people spent summers there. Fortunately we live at 2700 ft so are somewhat acclimated.nevertheless, hiking up a hillside at 8,000 ft takes your breath away even before you get to the view.Sraddha got an eBike in between everything. Takes the hills out of the ride

Christmas Card 2019 Freezing We discovered that it can get real cold up there in late September,like down below freezing! We also learned that we prefer a bit more warmth.Ya think? Yup, we love the teardrop camping experience in warmer weather, however….

Christmas Card 2019-33 We decided to see how well we could travel with the teardrop behind the subaru. (Hint, It travels well, but we don’t when weather turns cold). Nevertheless we headed to Utah for two weeks in early October.Saw a new niece, and some tall ones too. Had fun with some wonderful family.

We had scored a reservation down in Canyon lands National Park for 4 Christmas Card 2019-35 nights.First 3 nights we great then weather turned as forecasted to freezing temps and 30 mph winds.brr. We bolted out of there to Zion, spending a few nights in motel due to no campgrounds available. A good lesson which we learned that is was time to move up from small trailer to something that is warm inside. The question was bigger trailer or camper van.

Christmas Card 2019-44 Long story short, we found the van of her dreams in Atlanta of all places. Flew out the week before thanksgiving, bought it, and drove it 3000 miles back home. We had planned to drive over I-40 to Grand Canyon for Thanksgiving but the weather turned real freezing harsh so ended up traveling I-10 thru Tucson (in stealth mode) and LA then up I-5. Happy to tell you story in person.

Our new rig is called Wonder by Leisure Travel Vans. Only 24 ft on a Ford Transit chassis with diesel engine. We call her “MighTee Wonder” (MTW) and she drives like a dream. Already planning our 2020 trips.

We wish you all a very happy holidays and look forward to seeing ALL of you in 2020.

Some photos below of new rig. PS She loves driving it!!!

Link to Kent’s Christmas photo album

Sunset at Temple of Light

Posted on January 5, 2019 by PhotoKent

Last night I scooted over to the Temple of Light at Ananda Village near my home to see if I could capture the colors of sunset with the Mavic Drone. Bear in mind the sensor is really small. I flew up and scouted a few possibilities. The other challenge is location of trees to the east of the temple discourages a roaming drone so I carefully maneuvered Hawkeye (name of my Mavic Pro I) to see what I could get. Took a few shots in Raw (DNG) and also some B roll video for future.

Sunsets are tricky timing especially when you are flying a drone with finite battery power. I edited it a bit in Lightroom and photoshop including straightening the trees (Free Transform) because the wide angle lens distorts the edges. adjusted the clarity, and levels. The noise in silhouettes and shadows was due to high ISO needed. I reduced a little in LR.

Here is finished shot.

sunset over temple 2019-01-05

Looking Back

Posted on January 2, 2019January 16, 2019 by PhotoKent

2018 was _________ (fill in the blank).

Learning experience, Whirlwind, Unexpected, Delightful, Challenging, Full filling, Gone. You fill in the blanks. Certainly not boring.

Living a very active, yet reflective, life filled with new projects is challenging. Being “retired” hopefully allows one to have a little more say over not only what you are involved in but when.

For me, it is more a when since another aspect is living as service filled life. Sometimes the service is requested. Sometimes it is just a feeling that this is what is to be done. Sometimes I even say yes. Other times… well, let’s just hope I reflect on all of it.

Can’t say any major accomplishments this year but some progress and satisfaction from living a directional life.

Many photos and videos. See my youtube channel and website. Photo exhibit at Expanding Light guest retreat. Many greeting cards sold in boutiques. Good health for both of us. Even lost some weight and improved fitness. The Ananda Library working well, The Ananda Bell phones and internet systems are running fine and improved. A bit of travel to see family Wonderful garden House still standing (we live in a major wildfire risk area).

Much gratitude for friends, God, Guru. It’s all about relationships. Within and without.

Other than helping to celebrate Ananda Village 50th anniversary with new temple I am gonna get my General Amateur radio license, a trailer and do some local and perhaps western US travel. Maybe even some more photo/video

The adventure continues…and could even be fun

A Little Hawaiian Interlude

Posted on December 5, 2018 by PhotoKent

Perhaps you haven’t noticed but it’s been a while since last post. no excuses although I can think of a whole bunch. Used to post regularly while we were traveling around full time in the RV but since we moved into house, it has been busy.

Oh, you say, “thought you were retired?” Riiiigggghhhhtttt. “Retirement” means you have, or least you think you have, a little more say about how you spend your time. Could be true unless people think that, since you are retired, you have lotsa time to spend on their projects….

So we took a little time away to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Time flies.We flew to Maui. So here we are in “paradise” which translates to wonderful temperatures, tee shirts, shorts, island time, no worries. Everyone has their picture of what it’s like. It is pretty neat in some ways.

We have enjoyed our hikes and visit to Haleakala National park, the walks and morning swims on the beach, the temperatures, and exploring. But we prefer a more secluded quiet areas less touristy. Guess that is what we have gotten used to over the years. It’s always fun to people watch and there are all forms. At least everyone we have seen/met are pretty relaxed here.

We are ready for the comforts of home tho.

Take home lessons:

Research your accommodations more carefully if comfort is important.

Move around more often if exploring is important.

Pack less stuff

Be open to what is next rather than fixed while traveling

Not sure this is clear but more meanderings.

Springtime at Ananda Village

Posted on March 21, 2018 by PhotoKent

Tulips, tulips, tulips! here is the video I made from aerial footage last spring.

World Market Day

Posted on August 11, 2017 by PhotoKent

Some long time Ananda folks organized and World Market Day here at Ananda Village during this summer’s Spiritual Renewal week.

Be The Change Theme for Ananda Worldwide this year

The intention is to provide an opportunity for an interactive event for guests and gurubais to: Represent our various communities and tell folks about Ananda’s work and offerings in their area; Sell products, crafts, artistry and services; Build stronger communication and relationships among individuals in Ananda worldwide family

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Artists from many walks of life offered their work for sale

I went out with quadcopter to show a friend how it works and got some fun footage. We had to find a good spot to take off then flew around. Didn’t have much time to do justice to this delightful experience but did manage to capture some footage

2 minute aerial video below.

Enjoy!

There’s Joy in the Heavens

Posted on July 25, 2017July 25, 2017 by PhotoKent

Last spring when we first landed here at Ananda Village I had thoughts to fly the Mavic quadcopter over our village. As it turned out the village manager asked me to shoot some footage which ended up in a presentation to the Nevada County planning commission and Board of Supervisors when we applied for the new village master plan permits. Needless to say it was well received.

We held off making this public but now I set it to Swami Kriyananda’s song called “Joy in the Heavens” which seems appropriate.

I have shot more and will be posting more soon. Here is the link to the 3 minute video

Aerial Railfanning in South Puget Sound

Posted on July 20, 2017July 21, 2017 by PhotoKent

Make sure you watch the video at the end of the blog.

Late June I took a little drive up to Portland and Seattle with a stop over in my old home area of Walla Walla. Got a chance on the return trip to stop in Olympia to see my longtime model railroad buddy Jim. Instead of running model trains we decided to go out to Steilacoom on puget sound just south of Tacoma, Washington and watch trains. Maybe even get some aerial footage with my DJI Mavic quadcopter.

Two old friends sitting in the shade watching trains

We parked near the Anderson Island ferry dock in Steilacoom and walked along the tracks to find a spot in the shade. It was warm outside.

We saw a northbound Amtrak and a coal drag. Listening to the scanner on the iphone we figured out which milepost detector was triggered when the train goes by and could mostly discern whether it was northbound or southbound. I flew around about half mile out in the sound and shot some footage of the ferry’s and the trains. Had to figure out which neutral density filter to use. Think it was ND8 most of the time which allowed me to shoot at 1/50 shutter speed.

Then we moved up to Titlow beach just south of Tacoma Narrows bridge. As we were driving along the sound I stuck my iPhone out the window to catch some video footage of a train going by. (Don’t tell my spouse I did this!)

Railfan iPhone vid snapshot — Northbound frieght out my car window

At Titlow beach we did scout a potential takeoff point, however there was just too many people for my tastes. We did catch a train go by with my iphone All this is in the video below.

Railfan iPhone vid snapshot-2 — Big BNSF coal train northbound at Titlow Beach

As the sun began to get lower in the sky we headed south to Chambers Bay, site of the 2015 US open golf tournament. Being a public links course we drove down to the driving range and decided we could launch from there.

We saw several trains and got one good long video as a northbound garbage train passed by just as i was running out of battery. Was way out over sound about 3/4 mile away when it passed and was down to less than 20% battery by end. Whew.

Aerial UP engines — Union Pacific Engines on northbound Garbage Train

Below is a link to the 10 minute video I created from footage. Some of it was speeded up to get within the 10 minute limit I set but it was still a 1.5 GB size. wow.

Oh yes, I did also see the Southern Pacific tourist steam engine in Portland. That’s in the beginning of the video below. Hope you can enjoy.

Afterwards we retired to a local pub for a bit of nourishment.

The Last Travel Pod Post

Posted on June 11, 2017June 11, 2017 by PhotoKent

If you have never seen our old travelpod blog which is shutting down, here is the last post in it’s entirety:

Star Date Sunday, June 11, 9:15 AM PDT

This is the last post from Travelpod to you for three reasons. I thought the last post might be it but this is definitely the last post. We so much enjoyed this phase of travel and are now happily “home” at Ananda Village, fully engaged in community life, and many volunteer projects as well as cycling, railfanning and working in garden and yard (yes yard, heh heh).

First off: Blog shutting down

The Travelpod blogging system we were using got bought out by a bigger “borg” and they are shutting it down June 18 so I need to send this to you before they do.
Screen Shot 2017-06-11 at 9.17.41 AM
HOWEVER – An enterprising young soul has undertaken the task of providing archive space for the history and I have migrated a copy over there. If you want to see any of our travels you can find them at the following link: http://bit.ly/PhotoKent_TravelArk I hope to resurrect them elsewhere so we will see.

Secondly: We sold CharLi

We sold CharLi, our RV to a wonderful couple in Oakdale, Ca, about 3 hours south of here. They have been looking for a long time for this model and were thrilled to be able to buy it. The added bonus for us was his willingness to buy the tow package also. And he was able to uninstall it so I hitched up Mr. Toad one last time to CharLi and drove both down to his home where we spent all day removing the system. He will install on his jeep. So we are done. See photos below of CharLi with new owners, and a photo of Jim under the Jeep removing the tow bar. Not an easy task!

The Happy new Owners

Removing tow system

Lastly: I have a new blog

I have begun a new blog called “PhotoKent’s Musings” which I am just beginning to use. It will feature some photos I take and also some photos I may have shot in previous years but I will talk about how I made the photo. So it will be less of a travel blog and more of a creative process blog. You can click on this link to find the blog: https://photokent.blog. (oh wait, you are here already)

If you wish to subscribe to updates when I do make a post go to the bottom of the home page and add your email address then you will get an email notification when I post which is usually weekly or so. It will also appear on my Facebook page when I post too.

It has been a wonderful journey and now a new phase opens up. Please consider subscribing to my new blog. And above all, be filled with joy in your life!

Kent

PS here are some additional photos I posted all from iPhone

Sraddha & Kent at Luau

Working in the yard

Cycling with my buddy

Fly Away to the Crystal Hermitage

Posted on June 9, 2017June 11, 2017 by PhotoKent

During the Tulip season here at Ananda Village, I spent some time flying my quadcopter, the DJI Mavic Pro around the Crystal Hermitage. Still playing with the footage but I did create this short, simple 30 second video which I put on the Crystal Hermitage Facebook page. All it took was to fly out into space from the side of the mountain on which the Hermitage resides.

here is the video

Isn’t that cool?