I'm back in Barrow again but this time to get the new IT tech set up for the summer field season. He is a university student from Anchorage and is anxiously looking forward to this new experience. After dinner today, we walked a short way out to the coast on a boardwalk and there was a great view of the ice covered sea. It is about 8:30pm and the sun is still high in the sky. The haze in the distance is where there is probably open water.
I am trying out a new iPhone camera app called Hydra. The picture above was in HDR mode and instead of just taking two or three photos, it took nine. I think it did a great job. The second photo was a test of the high resolution zoom feature. The iPhone sensor is 8 megapixels and this image is a 2x zoom with 8 megapixel resolution. It did this magic by taking advantage of the fact that hand holding isn't perfect and took 42 pictures. It then combined them together in software resulting in an 8 megapixel photo of just the center of the frame. Magic...
This is the short boardwalk out to the edge of the cliff looking back towards town. The restaurant we went to is the grey building on the right. Arctic Pizza. In many areas the snow has melted leaving a lot of swamps and mud. Boardwalks are nice to have.
The last image is a iPhone pano using the built in camera software and moving the phone from left to right. It was a beautiful evening. Almost painfully bright. The sun won't set again until August 1st.
Despite the sun, the last picture reminds me of an end of the world scenario...
ReplyDeleteFeeling the need of a hot water bottle now.
Happy to provide a look into what it would be like as the recovery process begins after a "nuclear winter". No trees, frozen oceans, etc. And to provide a need for hot water bottles. ;-)
DeleteRichard, in the first photo the interesting tracks (on the beach?) don't look like any tires that I know of. Are they sled tracks?
ReplyDeleteSled and snow machine tracks mostly. This is the middle of the spring whale hunt and there is a lot of snow machine traffic on the ice. Pretty treacherous if you don't know what you are doing.
DeleteEverything looks as if it's from another world, a science fiction story maybe. It's a long way from the central Pennsylvania landscape I wander in.
ReplyDeleteThe iPhone is an amazing little tool for photography and video. Nice work!
No trees or bushes, no little creeks with frogs, and no asphalt (except for the airport runway). Not at all like PA or for that matter, Fairbanks. I'm still impressed with the iPhone camera and apps.
DeleteI don't know how people manage to develop these apps but they do.
ReplyDeleteThe pictures turned out great. Was this your last trip to Barrow for work?
No, I've already been hired back as a part-time temp for the Barrow project. I'm thinking that I won't need to travel up for the summer.
DeleteNot even retired yet and you've scheduled more work. They just can't do without you.
DeleteIt will give you some farkle money too.
For the Ural, repair parts, tires, oil (every 2500 km), etc.
DeleteAnd here I thought the last time you reported being in Barrow was going to be your last.....that part-time work should help with gas and tires eh?
ReplyDeleteNope, that was an assumption. We were in the process of getting a part-time, temp, non-benefits eligible position set up to continue working on the Barrow contract.
DeleteGreat photos. Amazing what they come up with, though credit still goes to the photographer. :)
ReplyDeleteWell, thank you, but in this case, I was just holding the phone to see what the software could come up with...
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