LIGHT AND DARKNESS

I’m sharing two photos I’ve reprocessed while still recovering from my annoying ankle injury. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to get back out in the mountains. Also I now have a Facebook page where I’ll also be posting any new creative work, like it if you want to stay in the loop: http://www.facebook.com/lukeallenhumphrey. Facebook does currently support larger images when compared to my personal site and 500px, which is nice. I plan to update my personal site to accommodate larger images, video, and social integration…at some point.

“Midnight stroll on a quiet evening to the edge of a cliff”. Sahale Mountain, North Cascades, WA. 

“Into darkness”. Cowlitz Glacier, Mt. Rainier, WA. 

The first image shows my friend Brendan and I near the edge of a cliff above our campsite, which is near Sahale’s summit. The camera is sitting on the edge of another cliff on a rock saddle that stretches toward Boston Peak and Mt. Buckner. It took some time to walk from the camera where you see the headlamp, and it began to get really dark, therefore underexposing the images once the Milky Way became visible. This resulted in either an image that was much too dark to appreciate the landscape, or an image that was far too noisy if correcting exposure in post. The reprocessing involved transplanting stars from other images to match how the Milky Way and stars were displayed here (exact overlay, no elements were added/changed), and trying some new experimental Photoshop techniques to remove more noise from the stars. I also replaced the tent with another exposure where the tent was lit more evenly (same tent, same exact location, just a different exposure from the same setup). No additional elements were added to the photo - all the elements are how they were naturally, just enhanced to work around technical issues, etc. 

If I would’ve adjusted the exposure to miss twilight and instead target the darkness that would come later, much of this post-processing may not have been necessary, but I liked the composition/colors so much I thought it was worth saving. Plus I believe all milky way photos a prone to suffer from noise due to sensor technology, so devising techniques to remove that noise goes introduce a more natural effect (your eyes don’t see “noise” per se like a camera sensor). Behind me the Aurora Borealis began to emerge and I was able to capture it via a  motion-controlled time-lapse sequence later this same night (here as many have seen).

For the second image, my friend Cecil and I set out to create an interesting image after finding we had time at Muir before a Rainier summit bid. We rappelled into this crevasse separately because we did not have two ropes long enough to do this simultaneously. The resultant image is a composite of these two separate rappels to this depth. The view/scale/distance into the crevasse/all that is unaltered. If you’ve ever hiked up to Camp Muir, you’ve been a couple hundred feet from this black hole. I dropped my 5D MKII lens cap while taking this photo and I did not hear it hit the bottom. Fear and awe stayed with me the entire time inside of this thing. Does that make me a giant baby who’s easily amused? You be the judge.

Favorite Film Index: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2005-2008

Movies are the greatest source of inspiration for anything I’ve tried creatively. I try to see everything good each year, below is what I thought of 2012. 

Favorite Films (in order)

1. Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow). The subject matter carries a lot of emotional resonance for those affected by the events of 9/11. Bigelow takes all of that weight, curiosity, anger, etc. and stays a course that doesn’t feel contrived, manipulative, didactic, partisan, overly patriotic or anti-patriotic etc., but also keeps the viewer engaged the entire length of the film (well I’m the viewer, so “me”, I don’t want to speak for everyone). When the stealth Blackhawk helicopters took off to Abbottabad I felt an anxious pit in my stomach that sustained itself, even though I obviously knew the outcome. I reflected on what Bin Laden must have been thinking as he heard the low-flying helicopters over his compound. He must have known that day would probably come. I know there is controversy around the depiction of torture, but I feel the movie portrayed it in a much grayer shade that you might have read about. Bigelow can only know so much, we can only trust what the government tells us to a certain degree, and we know those techniques were used, whether successful at obtaining useful information in capturing Bin Laden or not. I’ve seen a lot of botched endings this year, but I thought the choices made for this film were perfect. Cinematographically the last shot is gorgeous as well. This is the second film of hers that has been at the top of my list (see my favorite films from 2009).
2. Samsara (Ron Fricke). Samsara is one of the most visually breathtaking films ever made. It also goes beyond just a series of pretty pictures. Juxtapositions of food factory workers en masse with fast food consumers, a performance art piece where a man in an inane office space performs a primal ritual, stunning aerial images in Burma. You missed a big opportunity if you did not see this at an IMAX theater this year. The film implies certain themes and connections, but it still leaves a lot of mystery an ambiguity which is always attractive to me. 
3. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson). This is a very special film - the writing, the look, the performances, it’s really something to be experienced. My favorite Wes Anderson film since Rushmore, which is one of my favorite films of all-time.
4. Chasing Ice (Jeff Orlowski). Another visually striking film that also follows the struggles of a man trying to fulfill a dream despite enormous obstacles including experimental equipment failures and his own body no longer cooperating. It’s been criticized as being too much about James Balog, but for me that’s what made it one of my favorites of the year. There are a lot of layers to this film besides the familiar “climate change is real” mantra, which we’ve heard plenty about (I didn’t need just another strictly informational film about this subject). His story is handled in way much different than the egomania of someone like a Jason Russell (Kony 2012). I personally identified with the heart-dropping frustration of putting so much of yourself into trying to capture a vision and having some piece of equipment fail, leaving you helpless. The scale and stakes are of course much larger in this project than some of my more modest adventures. 
5. Looper (Rian Johnson). In 2005 Rian Johnson made a modern film noir with high school characters called Brick. I still think about that movie and listen to the soundtrack regularly. Stylized filmmaking with a release of tension near the middle that rouses strong emotions and fires off the goosebumps.
6. The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson). This movie stayed with me for a while. I didn’t know what to think after seeing it. The complexity and sadness of Joaquin Phoenix’s character and the performance behind it affected me. There’s a scene near the beginning where his character reveals a darkness that allows an escape in a disturbingly anti-social, compulsive way. A lot of people walked out of this movie in the theater as I watched, it’s definitely not for everyone. Maybe they left to go watch a sitcom.
7. Marley (Kevin McDonald). This director fascinates me. He made the best mountaineering movie of all-time, Touching the Void, without knowing much about mountaineering. He is all over the map project-wise, but most everything he does ends up being good. I didn’t know a lot about Bob Marley’s life, but I’d glad Kevin McDonald was able to show me just how special he really was.
8. Silver Linings Playbook (minus the end) (David O. Russell). I hate romantic comedies, but this one is much darker and more unconventional, well much of it. I would’ve loved to see David O. Russell sustain the unconventional tone, and explore new territory, but he self-consciously wraps things up Hollywood-style. Still the performances are what I really liked about this movie, Jennifer Lawrence is kind of a prodigy. 
9. West of Memphis (Amy Berg, produced by Peter Jackson). Documentary on top of 3 previous documentaries about these killings in Arkansas that were also good. Why do we need a 4th? The story is that strong and has that many unanswered questions. You’d be hard pressed to find a better example of corruption, pride, incompetence, failures of a local justice system, stereotyping leading to judgments that punish the innocent and let the guilty go free, etc.
10. 5 Broken Cameras (Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi) This film is a great illustrator of the  difference between reading about something on the news vs. actually seeing it from the ground-level with personal context makes. 
11. Barbara (Christian Petzold). Definitely a slower movie. But it’s very subtle and takes it’s time to make little pay-offs that have a lot of depth. Definitely skip if you’re not in a patient mood.
12. Safety Not Guaranteed (Colin Trevorrow). You’d think Aubrey Plaza’s monotone delivery would get old by now, but it somehow hasn’t. This film can only be described as “really sweet”, and that’s a good thing here, it’s not corny or too chick-flick-y. Mark Duplass seems to be everywhere these days, with most of it being good stuff (Zero Dark Thirty, My Sister’s Sister, this…)
13. The Avengers (Joss Whedon). I went into this movie with low expectations, but left the theater very satisfied. Following Jon Favreau’s lead with the Iron Man films, The Avengers doesn’t take itself too seriously and delivers a lot of wit along with the action.
14. Holy Motors (Leos Carax) (fashion shoot scene only). Overall I thought the movie tried a bit too hard to be different, but the scene where Eva Mendes is kidnapped by this monster during a fashion shoot is unique. It’s kind of a Fellini meets David Lynch type-thing.
15. V/H/S (Multiple). I liked Cloverfield a lot and I loved this movie. Extremely disturbing, but entertaining and original.
16. The Intouchables (Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano). Great performances and had a very genuine feel despite re-treading the familiar “fish out of water” territory. 
17. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (David Gelb) I don’t really like Sushi, but this movie is more about an artist who has absolute dedication and respect for his craft, and who has the power and ability to instill that in others. His work is not about the financial rewards, and he’s uncompromising in his approach to a lifelong pursuit of improving himself. 
18. Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino). Definitely good and worth seeing, but I feel like I just saw this in the superior Inglorious Basterds. Meaning I just saw a revenge flick centered around historical, universally unpopular villains. I also wish Tarantino would follow Terrence Malick’s lead and not talk so much about his films, it kills the mystery a bit, and in this case he starts looking a bit foolish. I agree with his stance/defense against violence in films, but I think if he was silent it would serve him better.   See this interview for context.
19. The Cabin in the Woods (Drew Goddard). Campy horror at it’s finest. The “Am I on speakerphone?” scene is priceless (metaphorically, there was surely a specific budget/cost associated). 
20. Searching for Sugarman (Malik Bendjelloul). Story about a musician most thought was dead and many think is one of the best singer/songwriters that ever lived. Very powerful especially once it gets back to South Africa. 
21. Monsieur Lazhar (Philippe Falardeau)
22. The Queen of Versailles (Laura Greenfield). Such a perfect portrait of what is wrong with America. Laura Greenfield is a talented photographer/filmmaker who lets you see what shallowness, lack of culture, and ridiculous amounts of excess looks like…all without overtly judging. 
23. Argo (Ben Affleck). Very entertaining. Traditional movie suspense devices are employed at the end but it all works nicely.
24. Nitro Circus: The Movie (Gregg Godfrey, Jeremy Rawle). Jackass, but for talented people vs. those purposely failing for a laugh. No depth here, just pure pleasure from watching people risk their lives to entertain or just do something that pushes their limits to the edge. There’s a genuine moment where one member of the crew breaks down and appreciates that he’s able to do something he loves with great friends.
25. Your Sister’s Sister (Lynn Shelton). Lesser filmmakers would ruin this narrative, but Lynn Shelton pulls it off. Great performances.
26. End of Watch (David Ayer). A lot of people missed this movie, another movie that feels really genuine. Well most of it.
27. Damsels in Distress (Whit Stillman). Whit Stillman for me is second to Tarantino for great, witty, manufactured dialog. Well I guess there’s also Mamet, Shakespeare, Billy Wilder, ok…
28. The Raid: Redemption (Gareth Evans). Over-the-top ultra-violent martial arts flick. Turn the mind off and enjoy. Sure to be (incorrectly) blamed for a real-life hotel massacre if one ever occurs.
29. The Comedy (Rick Alverson). Tim Heidecker is one of the funniest people alive. Not in any of the stuff I’ve seen him put out, but just when I hear him off-the-cuff in interviews or whatever. He can also act. He’s not funny here, but this movie is dark, bleak, ambiguous, and has a good soundtrack - often  a winning formula for my taste.
30. The Imposter (Bart Layton). Ridiculous, true story.
31. Oslo, August 31st (Joachim Trier). Quiet, sad account, of a lost thirty-something who missed chances due to drug addiction. Despite his talent and intelligence he struggles to imagine a life for himself going forward.
32. Friends with Kids (1st half only) (Jennifer Westfeldt). Falls apart with predictable cliches after the halfway-point, but really funny writing from the director who also stars.
33. Rust and Bone (Jacques Audiard) The scene where Marion Cotillard steps out of the van 3/4 of the way through the movie was original/powerful. The rest was OK and I did not like the end.

Favorite Cinematography (in order)

1. Samsara (Ron Fricke, Mark Magidson). See above - 5 years filming with huge 70mm cameras across 25 countries. Digital cameras like the Red Epic only became available near the end of filming. The filmmakers actually wrote/debugged a custom motion-control rig across a custom motion control jib and dolly. But forget their tech-prowess, the result demonstrates that mastering technical challenges is truly in the name of their art, and not the other way around. The images are stunning.
2. Chasing Ice (Jeff Orlowski, James Balog). Beautiful photography and cinematography, including a massive collapse in a glacial icefall that lasts over an hour - caught on film for what must be the first time. 
3. The Turin Horse (Fred Kelemen). In some ways the opposite of Samsara in terms of scale. Shot primarily in one location, a small house in the country, in b&w with natural lighting. A camera floats around like a Tarkovsky film, and lingers on some beautifully simple compositions. The movie creates a sustained, contemplative mood that’s a bit hypnotic (or boring, depending on your mood).
4. Prometheus (Dariusz Wolski). Some beautiful aerial footage, especially in the film’s opening. You can’t be sure what’s CGI and what’s real, but the overall look is striking. 
5. Lincoln (Janusz Kaminski). Long-time Spielberg collaborator has mastered the artificial, stylized, Hollywood-look Spielberg consistently uses. I love it. If you’re curious about how much thought goes into his work, especially as it supports telling the story/elucidating character, listen to the Elvis Mitchell interview.
6. Life of Pi (Claudio Miranda). Despite the massive amount of impressive CGI, the way the camera moves and the shot compositions from someone who really knows what they are doing.
7. Anna Karenina (Seamus McGarvey). Beautiful lighting, scenery, and composition.
8. Les Miserables (Danny Cohen). Gorgeous, especially Hugh Jackman’s earlier number. Stark, contrasty, stylized, vivid, yet very dark almost the entire movie. I love stylized night photography.
9. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Gökhan Tiryaki). Very simple, mostly naturally lit (or realistically lit) scenes that linger on subtle expressions in contemplative unison with the story.
10. Zero Dark Thirty (Greig Fraser)Jessica Chastain photographs so well it’s hard to separate the skill of cinematographer (who is skilled, see his other 2012 move “Killing Them Softly”) from her features just being that camera friendly. There is no shortage of visually striking scenes which include her lit in interesting ways,  the last scene being the most memorable.
11. Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters. The cinematography in this film isn’t necessarily that interesting, but Gregory Crewdon’s photographs are the main visual subject so I’ll place this here as I think everyone should check out his work. He does provide a lot of insight into his process, motivations, etc.

Favorite Performances (in order)

1. Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
2. Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
3. Jean-Louis Trintignant - Amour
4. Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
5. Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
6. Mark Duplass - Your Sister’s Sister
7. Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
8. Greta Gerwig - Damsels in Distress
9. Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
10. Omar Sy - The Intouchables

Least favorite films (in order)

I’m certain there are movies released in 2012 that were far worse than these, but I’ve become good over the years (at a cost) in identifying and not wasting my time with the absolute worst. 

1. Act of Valor (Mike McCoy, Scott Waugh). Unwatchable - horrible acting. It’s a bad idea to cast actual military personal as actors, just like it’s a bad idea to put athletes in commercials for local businesses. 
2. Deep Blue Sea (Terence Davies). A shallow woman cheats on a boring husband in a melodramatic fashion. Anna Karenina, but without the stylization and superior cinematography.
3. Les Miserables (Tom Hooper). I can take some musicals, but not musicals this long where every single syllable is sung to death. Especially when Russell Crowe does a lot of the singing (he can’t sing). I walked out of the theater about 2/3rds of the way through. I also don’t like overdone love stories between two people who’ve never hung out before or had a conversation. Maybe one day I’ll read Victor Hugo’s book instead.
4. Skyfall (Sam Mendes). Some scenes were logically a bit ridiculous, which bothers me if it’s not straight camp or there are enough other redeeming qualities to a film. I understand this aspect doesn’t necessarily bother others, so take that to heart if you decide to read this. The female protagonist takes one shot, hitting Bond, then doesn’t take several more after the villain is in plain sight for a decent chunk of time? OK why? Forgivable maybe if the entire remainder of the movie didn’t revolve around that scene. No cool gadgets and that’s supposed to be funny, except for a very large PLB device? While Q is tracking movements he’s interrupted with a bunch of empty BS dialog by his superior and he simply stops typing and turns around, leaving his computer unattended when the scene implied he needed to be furiously typing, etc to do the tracking? “Oh sorry I’m busily trying to complete the mission, what useless information/platitudes do you have to tell me that will cause me to take my eye completely off the ball?” There were so many scenes that were logically flawed, and not enough other interesting elements to balance it out. I’m all for camp or whatever, but I honestly think you can do a bond that doesn’t include these types of lazy mistakes. I also couldn’t get into the whole “Bond is old now” haha piece. I walked out at the end just as things were wrapping up in a boring, predictable way.
5. Loneliest Planet (Julia Loktev). Trying very hard to be a contemplative indie film. It hinges on two quick, simple events with a ton of walking in between. I get the idea, maybe I’ve just seen too many movies like this by now and the main female character was mostly sort of annoying, so I had little invested in her outcome.
6. Anna Karenina (Joe Wright). I admittedly haven’t read this Tolstoy novel (I’ve read others, ok?!), but  I hope it illuminates some more depth to what seemed like a very shallow narrative. See comments on The Deep Blue Sea above, they apply here.
7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky). Cliche after cliche, corny, contrived dialog, horrible acting from the main character, and a twist that was just a bit…I don’t know, it didn’t work for me.
8. The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan). Let’s just take an example scene to illustrate why this made my “least favorite” list: A bunch of unarmed police officers charged an army of men with huge, automatic machine guns while emotional music plays. I know I’m supposed to feel moved at this act of complete stupidity because they are cops or whatever, but it came off as emotionally contrived and completely illogical. There are many other reasons this movie did not work for me, but I’d have to see it again to now recall and I have a bad taste in my mouth from my initial viewing. I was a big fan of The Dark Knight, but that had Heath Ledger’s amazing performance to help it along. This this one felt too “large” and played-out.

Favorite Soundtrack 

1. Zero Dark Thirty (Alexandre Desplat). Specifically the final piece/credit sequence. 

Still to see: The Central Park Five, The Gatekeepers.

Favorite Film Index: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2005-2008

About a month ago I was injured rock climbing (indoors) when I fell and subluxated my ankle. I recently started walking again, but I won’t be able to get out much for likely another 2 months while I go through the recovery process.

During this nonambulatory period I’ve started looking back at photos taken over the past six years. I’ve found a few photos previously overlooked, and tried some new post-processing techniques to revitalize others. Here are a handful of photos, most of which I haven’t shared previously. I really hope to be back out there soon taking new pictures.

Click any for larger versions.

“Kept in shadows by ancient trees”. Redwood National Park, CA. September 2006 (Canon 10D). Related short film here.

“I forgot where I came from”. Enchantments, WA. October 2011.

“Yosemite Valley in Fog”. Yosemite, CA. January 2009. Short film from this trip here.

“Morning”. Redwood forest. April 2011. Short film from this trip here.

“Under the influence”. McMclellan Peak, Enchantments, WA. October 2011.

“Last rays from the West”. Dragon’s Tail, Enchantments, WA. October 2011.

“Lights”. Camp Muir, Mt. Rainier. July 2012.

Yosemite Falls, California. January 2009. Short film from this trip here.

Alin getting ready to ascend the northern serac on lead. We made our way in between two large seracs separated by a deep crevasse. Towards the far end  ice blocks had filled in the top of the crevasse. Linsey belays from the ice blocks, anchored into the south serac with a screw or two. Click for 500px.com version.

After visiting the serac-filled Coleman Glacier icefall several weeks ago before a North Ridge attempt, I knew I had to return to get more images. This time I enlisted Linsey Warren who I also thought would be perfect for some Steadicam shots in heavily crevassed areas during the day. I’ve been reviewing my Untitled Time-lapse Project and decided it needed more of a human element to better connect the spectacular landscapes with our relationship to that environment. Alin also agreed to join the adventure and ended up leading on ice at night. 

For this trip I ended up bringing my 10-pound large Gitzo tripod legs and Sachtler tripod head to get some smooth pans. This made my pack around 75 pounds after offloading some group gear to Linsey/Alin. After arriving at the lower Coleman glacier near some large seracs around dark, we setup camp and starting preparing to do some icefall exploration by moonlight. We made a B-line for the most interesting, largest seracs and climbed through several block systems until finding the perfect spot. As Alin lead I began to feel more nauseous than I’ve ever felt in my life. I struggled to setup a time-lapse wedged in-between these two massive seracs on a small ledge next to a black hole. I became so sick and developed such a headache I couldn’t continue and had to climb out back onto the flatter area on the glacier. There I tried again to setup a time-lapse and could not due to the nausea and pain. I made it back to the tent and then puked up a ton of liquid and went to bed still in great pain. I was devastated that I would not be getting a motion-controlled time-lapse in these seracs as the scenery was gorgeous and I had carried all of the gear up here. There was, however, nothing I could do. I’ve been sick before and still managed to setup my shots, but this mysterious force kept me pinned to the ground. 

Luckily the next day the photography/cinematography gods shined down on us after what looked like a dead-end path through an extremely broken up serac system. I wanted to turn around after climbing up a series of ledges only to face steeper terrain and more crevasses, but Linsey was determined to break on through to the other side. She placed a couple of screws and made it up past a crevasse/ice wall that I thought would drop off on the other side. Turns out it lead us to a perfect playground of crevasses, ledge systems, moats, and seracs. We spent the rest of the day filming travel across these systems. Running out of time we weren’t able to descend into a crevasse/moat system for ice climbing footage, so hopefully the weather gods allow for at least one more weekend of filming before winter arrives. 

Alin leading up the northern serac while Linsey belays. A mysterious and powerful nausea and migraine headache starts to come over me as I take pictures on the ledge of a crevasse.Click for 500px.com version.

The next morning we make our way through a maze of seracs. Linsey follows me through this hole, which I barely fit through to gain a series of ledges. Photo by Alin Flaidar.

Linsey easily takes the lead up some steep stuff after I turn back, concerned we would spend all day in the icefall and possibly get stuck. She found the perfect playground you see below after we had to make our way over more ledges with even wider crevasses. Photo by Alin Flaidar.

Alin and Linsey look out across the late season lower Coleman glacier. We had reached this point through Linsey’s perseverance at ice climbing through a jumble of intimidating seracs.Click for 500px.com version.

Alin takes a picture of Linsey perched atop a narrow bridge in a large crevasse moat system.

Me planning a shot with Linsey up a narrower ledge between two moats/crevasses. Photo by Alin Flaidar.

I can’t show the Steadicam footage here as I’m saving it along with dozens of unseen motion-controlled time-lapses in my Untitled Time-lapse Project, which I hope to release by year’s end.

A big thank to Linsey and Alin for joining me this weekend and being a part of this. Alin also captured some great shots here.

Self-portrait: Looking out at the Emmons and Winthrop glaciers. Click for 500px.com version.

The Milky Way appeared vividly over Little Tahoma and remained that way until it struck the summit crater. The moon had risen behind us from the east. It’s light overpowered the deeper stars and cast long shadows over the rocks surrounding our camp.  The half moon accompanied by Jupiter looked like picture from a children’s book. Out here under the stars, my imagination pushed out the my temporary worries from daily life. The pale blue light and shadows cast across the landscape invoked emotions felt as a child listening to adventure stories set in make-believe worlds. 

The light from a star, perhaps a billion years old from an extinct civilization, focused on my  retina and sent signals via the optic nerve to my brain. Some brains have taken these signals and—motivated by their dreams inspired by this light—built space shuttles to take human beings to the moon, vehicles to mars, and spacecraft with cameras into deep space to bring back pictures of places humans may never visit. Others have built religious experiences and stories around their interpretation of the meaning this ancient light. These stories affected perspectives on the how to live and meaning of life for cultures across centuries. 

A solitary light flashed from near Camp Shurman, someone was saying hello from above the Inter Glacier. We waited for the sound of massive ice blocks and rocks tumbling down the mountain and heard nothing. Tonight the mountain was unusually silent, except for the sound of a strong, warm wind moving across the rocky ridge where the sound of a shutter clicking every 30 seconds lulled me to sleep. 

When our sun finally burns out, will someone a billion years from now—laying out under the stars—catch our star in their eye, a billion years gone, and think about who we were?