Thursday, March 27, 2008
Good Bye, Sarah...
One of my favorite photographers passed away this past weekend...I "met" Sarah online at photo.net. We actually met both in DC (where I lived) and in Boston (where she lived), and I had the great opportunity to go "shooting" with her twice. We kept in touch up to just a day or two before she died. We even talked about traveling together next month. I am so sad....
Sarah has an amazing eye for color and composition. I can recognize one of her images from the tiniest thumbnail. One of my favorite trends from Sarah's photos are the many photos that she took of the brightly colored walls in Latin and South American countries. She was capable of using her lens to bring out the color in just about any scene.
Please take a look at some of her brilliant work:
- On Flickr - Sarah's Flickr Screen Name was "All the Color"
- Sarah's PhotoBlog
- On Photo.net - Sarah's photo.net portfolio
- On Lightstalkers
Monday, March 03, 2008
The Iditarod
I have a confession to make. I am really, really, REALLY into the Iditarod. Some day I will go to watch it. (I will never, ever, ever, EVER consider running it ... are you KIDDING??)
I really had no real knowledge about the Iditarod until I went to Alaska. I mean, I knew it was a dog sled race, and that it had to do with a drug serum run to Nome way back when to save a whole town from dying. That's all I knew. But when I went to Alaska in 2003, I learned quite a bit more about dog sled racing (not that I ever actually was ON a dog sled!), and about the Iditarod trail.
Then, in about 2006, I discovered a podcast that I absolutely LOVE called the Alaska Podcast. Well, Scott Slone (the podcaster from the Alaska Podcast) started doing an Iditarod Podcast and that really launched me into an Iditarod fascination. Last year I listened to three different Iditarod podcasts, including Scott's and one from a local NPR network. I read stories about it on the internet. It was a blast!
This year, I am totally hooked. Scott is podcasting it again. He's got some great video! I have also been listening to the NPR news podcasts. I am constantly refreshing the "current standings" webpage to see how my favorite musher is doing (GO LANCE MACKEY!!) And I have discovered that there is a company that has worked together with 19 different mushers who have agreed to take GPS units with them, so that we can follow the race literally live while it happens.
The race doesn't actually start ON the beginning of the real Iditarod Trail. That's near Seward, and would require going through some rather populated areas. So they have a "Ceremonial Start" (this year on Saturday, 3/1 in Anchorage) and the following day have the actual start, north of Anchorage. So they have been racing for about a day and a half at this point. Lance is holding his own. He won both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod last year, and has already won the Yukon Quest this year. His strength is that he has dogs with fabulous endurance. They may not be the fastest dogs, but his team starts and doesn't stop ... so I totally like him for this year's race, too. By the way - his father and his brother have both also won the Iditarod in the past.
Some links:
The Official Iditarod Website
Follow the racers with GPS units in real time
Scott Slone's Iditarod Podcast website - you can watch/listen online without downloading to iTunes
GO LANCE!!
