I guess the is no point to this picture – see previous post.

Metadata: 6.23.10, 11:53A, Nikon D700, Nikon 14-24mm, 1/800 sec @ ƒ/ 5.6

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This lighthouse stands at Point No Point, on the west side of Puget Sound, near the point where Admiralty Inlet ends, in the small town of Hansville, Washington. Point No Point Light is the oldest lighthouse on Puget Sound.

Local residents wanted the lighthouse located further north on Foulweather Bluff. When the Point No Point location was agreed upon, the owners of the land were reluctant to sell. Finally, the owners agreed to sell 40 acres for $1000. Construction of the lighthouse began in April 1879. The first light used was a kerosene lamp. As 1879 drew to a close, the lens and a glass for the lantern had not arrived, so the first lighthouse keeper, J.S. Maggs, a Seattle dentist, hung a canvas over the south window openings to break the wind and keep the kerosene lamp from blowing out.

Upon completion of the light station in February 1880, the lantern room held a fifth-order Fresnel lens. The original masonry structure was 27 feet (8.2 m) high. The present 30-foot (9.1 m) brick and stucco tower is square and situated between the office and fog signal building. A fog signal, formerly used at New Dungeness Lighthouse, was installed in April 1880. There were no roads to the Point No Point Lighthouse for the first 40 years, so supplies had to be brought in by boat.

Lightning struck the lens in 1931, cracking a prism. The tower was also damaged which required patching and replacing the copper tubing.

In 1975, a 90-foot (27 m) radar tower was built on the west side of the lighthouse. The tower is used for the Vessel Traffic System (VTS). In 1977, the Point No Point Lighthouse became fully automated, and only required one man to be assigned to the station. In 1990, the fog bell was replaced by a Daboll trumpet. The lens in the tower was changed to a fourth-order Fresnel lens, which is still in place today.

In 1997, the last U.S. Coast Guard personnel left Point No Point and it stood empty until the U.S. Coast Guard leased the property for Kitsap County Parks and Recreation.

Daisy at Sunset

I printed this on Red River Papers new metallic paper.  I really like the look although you can’t see it here but the paper has a metallic sheen to it.

What can I say.  I like this picture.   Just wish I could reproduce the effect.   To hone my Photoshop skills I often manipulate a picture for hours on end and this one is no exception.  Enjoy.

Date captured:  4.30.10, 7:57PM

Meta: Nikon D700, Nikon 14-28mm @ 1/320 , ƒ/5.6.

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Black and white photography is very challenging art, at least to me.  It always seems like the color version is more appealing than the desaturated B& W version.  But it is also challenging which is why I enjoy the process of converting color into black & white.  I used Silver Efex Pro by Nik Software for this one, its actually a plug-in for Photoshop CS5.

Date:  5.16.2010, 8:28AM

Meta: Nikon D700,  Nikon 14-24mm, 1/320sec at ƒ/5.6

Google Map

These ditches drain water from the fields so farmers can plant their crops.  This entire area was a huge lake during the last glacial period, it was called Lake Agassiz.

From Wikipedia:

Lake Agassiz was an immense glacial lake located in the center of North America. Fed by glacial runoff at the end of the last glacial period, its area was larger than all of the modern Great Lakes combined, and it held more water than contained by all lakes in the world today.

First postulated in 1823 by William Keating, it was named after Louis Agassiz in 1879 after he was the first to realize it was formed by glacial action.

Geologists have come to a consensus on the likely geological history of Lake Agassiz.

During the last Ice Age, northern North America was covered by a glacier, which alternately advanced and deteriorated with variations in the climate. This continental ice sheet formed during the period now known as the Wisconsin glaciation, and covered much of central North America between 30,000 and 10,000 years ago. As the ice sheet disintegrated, it created at its front an immense pro glacial lake, formed from its melt waters.

Around 13,000 calendar years before present (almost 12,000  years before present), the lake came to cover much of Manitoba, western Ontario, northern Minnesota, eastern North Dakota, and Saskatchewan. At its greatest extent, it may have covered as much as 440,000 square kilometers, larger than any currently existing lake in the world (including the Caspian Sea).

The lake drained at various times south through the Traverse Gap into Glacial River Warren (parent to the Minnesota River, a tributary of the Mississippi River), east through Lake Kelvin (modern Lake Nipigon) to what is now Lake Superior,  or west via the Mackenzie River through the Yukon Territory and Alaska. Geologists believe that a major outbreak of Lake Agassiz about 13,000  drained north through the Mackenzie River into the Arctic Ocean.   A return of the ice for some time offered a reprieve, but after retreating north of the Canadian border about 9,900 years ago, Lake Agassiz refilled. The last major shift in drainage occurred about 8,400 calendar years before present (about 7,700  years before present). The melting of remaining Hudson Bay ice caused lake Agassiz to drain nearly completely. This final drainage of Lake Agassiz contributed an estimated 1 to 3 meters to total post-glacial global sea level rise. Much of the final drainage may have occurred in a very short time, in two or one events, perhaps taking as short as a year.

Lake Agassiz’ major drainage reorganization events were of such magnitudes that they had significant impact on climate, sea level and possibly early human civilization. Major freshwater release into the Arctic Ocean is considered to disrupt oceanic circulation and cause temporary cooling. The draining at 13,000 may be the cause of the Younger Dryas stadial.  The draining at 8,400 may be the cause of the 8,200 yr climate event. A recent study by Turney and Brown links the 8,400 drainage to the expansion of agriculture from east to west across Europe; he suggests that this may also account for various flood myths of prehistoric cultures, including the Biblical flood.

Collage made up of four pictures, tree, church window, cemetery and back ground clouds.  Fun stuff !

The window is from a church in down town Fargo, ND.  I don’t know where the tree or cemetery are located.  removing the stained glass from the church window was the most difficult part of this project. But you learn something every time you take on something like this. Blending modes, channels and free transform tools in Photoshop were used.