My Favorites

iPhone Friday

December 14, 2012 by Justin Balog 0 Comments

You might have to bear with me on this one, I’m going to be getting deep and a bit long-winded the rest of this month. It’s the time of year that we reflect back on the year we are leaving behind. I hope that everyone who visits here has had some great moments in their 2012. I started to reflect on the great moments in my own 2012 when I began to realize that many of them were either directly or indirectly related to the friends I’ve met and the adventures I’ve undertaken as a result of this site.

You might be asking why I shared this revelation on iPhone Friday? I often talk about iPhone Photography as a tool for democratizing photography. You could also read that as ‘democratizing creativity’. If you know anything about this site, you know that helping other’s discover their own creative vision it what it’s about. Today I reflected on exactly what that might mean to you as a reader. It could mean a lot of things. But one thing stands out from all the rest regarding discovering your own creativity….the fantastic community of talented and beautiful people that comes with it. People that will surely enrich your life.

With that being said, if you’re not already involved in a creative community or you’re not sure whether you are a creative person….I say, YES YOU ARE and you should get involved in one. Also, because the iPhone (or any mobile phone) is a powerful creative tool, I’d love to see you pick it up and pursue that quiet creativity that has been calling you all these years. Listen to that beautiful excitement that resonates inside you and go out and begin to make your own magic!

Over the coming weeks I’ll be sharing some of my favorite iPhone images from 2012 and the great people I have met by being involved in a beautiful and creative world. I hope that you all do the same. Also, if you weren’t one of the people I was able to meet in 2012, I hope we can meet in 2013. From what I have found, the folks that visit here are some of the nicest and most creative folks I have met. Looking forward to meeting you all soon!

Well, one of the first encounters that I had on this great creative adventure in 2012 was a rattlesnake. I will say my mom wasn’t too excited to see this photo…yes, she still worries about me. But my nimble bike handling skills proved superior and we (the snake and me) both survived this close encounter.

Filed Under: iPhone Friday, iPhone Photography, My Favorites

Crescent Valley – Part IV (Jay)

September 29, 2011 by Justin Balog 5 Comments

I have spent an entire week sharing with you a small corner of the world that you might have never known about. I will admit, the previous installments have painted an image of desolation. That was my intent. This is the feeling you would have taken away had you just drove through town and not bothered to stop and meet the people. So let me take a second to introduce to the most interesting man in the world.

His name is Jay, and he has been a 40 year prospectin’ resident of Crescent Valley, NV. Yep, you read that right, he is a real live prospector. He has staked claims all over the valley and its surrounding hills. He literally drives stakes into the ground to mark his claim…old school like you read about. But that doesn’t even begin to tell his story. He’s a modern day Indiana Jones. Here is what I know. The timeline might be a bit off but you get the idea. After getting into a few fist fights in Mexico at the age of 20, he dialed in an education in his home country of Canada. Then he spent 7 winters in the Arctic and another year mining back in Mexico. Eventually he ended up in Crescent Valley. He has been here for over 40 years. Since then he ran an Assay lab in Elko, engineered a Baryte mine, and prospected the heck of them hills. You know what comes along with 40 years of prospecting the hills of Nevada? Lots, and lots of stories. Stories that would put the Dos Equis Man to shame. Jay is the real McCoy. Not only is he knowledgeable, he is generous. He spent 3 entire days answering every question we could think of about Gold Mining, Crescent Valley, Remittence Men, and fist fighting.

What’s the lesson? You miss all of this when you don’t take time to visit with folks. I doubt there is another Jay out there, he was 1 in a million, but you get the idea. The world is more than beautiful vistas and tourist destinations. Next time you want to go somewhere, go to the middle of nowhere. That’s where you will find the real gold!

The Story of Crescent Valley

Thanks for the tour Jay, we can’t say enough.

Justin, Shauna, and Betty…..

Filed Under: Americana, Crescent Valley, Crescent Valley, My Favorites, Nevada, Nikon D700, Series, Tips, Travel

The Forest Breaks Into Song

July 11, 2011 by Justin Balog 4 Comments

I wrote about the magic of Pennsylvania before, but as I continue to go through my library of images I’m reminded of just how ‘shire-like’ this state is. If only it had a few rocky peaks, Peter Jackson might have been able to film ‘Lord of the Rings’ here. Everyone has those moments or places they will never forget. For me, this is one of those places. It is the overlook near Kentuck Knob. Actually, this tree had this view. Could you imagine being this tree and experiencing this view 365 days a year for hundreds of years. Not only did this tree have a heck of a view, the forest was home to beautiful wind chimes. They called them ‘sound sculptures’, but they were basically wind chimes. As the breeze filtered through the trees, a magical band would begin to play and the forest would break into song. I’m not sure about 365 days a year for hundreds of years, but I could have easily spent the entire afternoon in quiet contemplation here.

Continue for Capture/Processing Notes…

Filed Under: Gitzo Traveler, Landscape, My Favorites, Nik Software, Nikon 17-35 2.8 AFS, Nikon D700, Pennsylvania, Photomatix, Processing Notes, Travel

The Lonely French Church

May 4, 2011 by Justin Balog 14 Comments

French Church HDR

This was the first image I made during a trip to France last year. Possibly one of my favorites. We were rushing to meet up with our group, but that didn’t stop us from making a couple images along the way. When you pass a scene like this, it’s impossible to pass it up. Always better to stop, then crash your car ‘gocking’. This little church sat on the hillside of small French town at the base of the Pyrenees. Behind those clouds is one of the great climbs of the Tour de France, the Col du Tourmalet.

Free iPad Wallpapers: I will be offering this image, along with 2 other images as free iPad Wallpapers to our monthly ‘Good Newsletter’ email subscribers. The email newsletter is totally free, and easy to sign up for. Just fill out the form below. If you can’t see the newsletter sign up form, click here.

Tip: There is actually a small parking lot in front of this church, and at the time, there were a couple tourists parked there. I can’t blame them. However, the small Fiat kind of ruined the image for me. To solve this problem, I got down real low on the hillside below the church, and shot up at it.

Continue for Capture/Processing Notes…

Filed Under: France, Gitzo Traveler, HDR, La Mongie, My Favorites, News, Nikon 80-200 D 2.8, Nikon D700, Tips, Travel

A Fish Story

March 8, 2011 by Justin Balog 8 Comments

Last night I was catching up with a friend over at Nik Software. We touched on the normal topics of photography, but more importantly we swapped a few Cousteau stories. Apparently both he and Tony Corbell are divers and planning on getting back in the water. The story I told was about a recent wreck dive in Cozumel. We dove a 140ft ship who’s entrance was guarded by large green moray. Seriously, he was big and here are the photos to prove it!

Processing Note: To keep things in the Nik family, I used their new Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 to perform the B&W conversion. Don’t worry, Silver Efex Pro 2 is incredible, it’s my old noisy point and shoot that is lacking. I just can’t justify the cost of a housing for my terrestrial camera for 2 weeks of diving a year.

Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 has a cool new feature for selective color using their signature U-Point technology. Worked perfect on the green moray!

Note: Eels, although you don’t want to provoke them (or anything for that matter), are pretty mellow. Not much to worry about when you come across one. Just be psyched that you saw it, eels this big are pretty rare.