Bob Crum

The phenomenal super blood wolf moon lunar eclipse was hyped as a must watch event. Many of you watched. Answering my query, I wasn't surprised to hear that many of you agreed that 'twas not spectacular. However, others asked: Where in the photo is the man-in-the-moon churning green cheese? Good grief, I need to get a 1,000mm lens.

The photo of the week is a revisit of part of Sespe Creek after the recent storm. The storm that produced a deluge of storm-water runoff throughout the Sespe Creek watershed causing Sespe Creek to 1) become extraordinarily muddy and 2) rise quickly to a raging torrent.

I witnessed many who stopped on the Old Telegraph Road bridge over the Creek's east branch (actually the so-called overflow) and shot an overview photo to capture a broad expanse of the creek. I also have that ho-hum image. But such photos don't convey any sense of the enormous power of the turbulent creek as it roars downstream to the Santa Clara River.

Recall the many instances when I stated that a photo that tells a story without words is not only photojournalism, it's usually a more stimulating photo. A roaring Sespe Creek is exciting, but something else is quite extraordinary if one would look with photographer's eyes. (Remember that topic?) Stop and take a few minutes to watch the roaring torrent. Besides the loud din-and it was quite loud-you'll see the roaring creek became a contortionist at various locations.

Over decades of torrential rains, large boulders have ended up in many parts of the creek bed. After a storm, the water rises and the flow rate increases. When it hits an unmovable boulder, the water protests as it's forced to go around and/or over it. In the process, it contorts in numerous ways. Like snowflakes, no two splashes identical. Look closely at these areas of hyperactivity and you'll see many fabulous photo ops.

There's a massive boulder in the creek just north of the railroad bridge. It causes an enormous upheaval of the water distorting it in interesting and spectacular ways creating an exciting display.

After the perfunctory overview waterscape photos, I watched the chocolate milk for several minutes and envisioned the photo I wanted to make. With the onset of dusk, I needed to act quickly. ISO of 5000 was required to compensate for the low light at an f/11 aperture. Selecting the shutter speed was a quandary. Ultimately I selected 1/200th of a second to show some blur indicating fast flowing water. The result is the photo of the week.

The point is to demonstrate that by understanding the relationship between ISO, aperture and shutter speed, the photographer can create a photo for a specific purpose. I wanted to capture the enormous forces at play. BAM! Water slams into the boulder! BOOM! Unmovable boulder says not today H²O! Water heaves and screams in agony! My challenge: Capture the forces of nature. And of course, regular readers know how much I relish a photographic challenge.

Another purpose of this exercise is to illustrate, again, the benefits of acquiring photography eyes. Take time to look around. Observe! 'See' and engage the right hemisphere of your brain that performs tasks related to creativity and the arts. After all, photography is about creating photos!

I created the photo of the week as intended, i.e., a photo illustrating dynamic hydraulic forces. Did I succeed? That's up to you to decide. Happy photoing.

Send comments, suggestions and/or questions to: focusonphotography!@earthlink.net

At last nights meeting the city council reappointed two members of the Public Arts Commissions, voted on subdivision improvement agreements with Hearthstone.

At the Fillmore City Council regular Tuesday meeting, the following actions took place:

RECOMMENDATION: SUBDIVISION IMPROVEMENT AGREEMENT WITH HEARTHSTONE FOR TRACT MA 5520
The City Council approved the Subdivision Improvement Agreement and authorized the Mayor to sign the agreement.

REQUEST
The City Council to appoint two members to the Public Arts Commission. Both appointments are for a term ending in January 2023. The city council approved the reappointment of Joe Beebe and Robert (Bob) Crum to the Fillmore Public Arts Commission. Crum is presently serving as chairman of the Arts Commission, and chairman of the Active Adult Commission.

By unanimous vote, the city council approved a subdivision improvement agreement with Hearthstone for tract map 5520. The property involved is situated behind and to the east of El Dorado Estates south of highway 126. Development to occur in two phases... five tracts in phase 1, the remaining two tracts in phase two.

At the public hearing for new business 7B regarding the development impact fee amounts, two speakers addressed the Council stating that present development impact fees is a detriment to any future construction of low-income housing in Fillmore. After addressing their concerns, city manager David Rowlands requested Resolution No. 16-3676 regarding the issue of development impact fees be postponed to the February 26, 2019 council meeting to give staff additional time to revisit the topic and have better numbers to present for consideration. Motion to postpone passed unanimously.

The meeting was adjourned to closed session.

Bob Crum

I was ready! Knowing that the moon will be in constant motion, I installed my camera on a fluid video head on a tripod to facilitate tracking the moon easier than if on a conventional ball head. I was excited as I anticipated the big, bright full moon rising in the eastern sky. The excitement quickly dissipated as I realized that the sky hooks I put up to prevent clouds from obscuring the eclipse weren't working. At 6:30 pm, clouds filled the sky. Depressing but must persevere.

I patiently waited, optimistic that the clouds would disappear in time to reveal the grand event. At 7 pm, still cloudy! At 8 pm, still cloudy! Finally, intermittent clouds permitted brief glimpses of the moon.

For a while, clouds came and went, dancing in the sky, teasing us by showing glimpses of the lunar eclipse in progress. Alas, about 45 minutes before the full eclipse, the cloud cover cleared revealing the full glory of the moon. Except for seven readers of this column (you know who you are), 2,396,381 of my readers watched in awe.

Photographing the eclipse was not without some frustration. I was reminded again that often there are better tools for a given task than those on hand. My gear consisted of a Tamron 300mm lens coupled to a Tamron 1.4X teleconverter mounted on my Canon 7D Mark II camera. I installed the camera on a Manfrotto MHXPro-2W fluid video head mounted on a Manfrotto 290Extra tripod. I also used a cable shutter release. Furthermore, to minimize camera vibration, I enabled mirror lockup in the camera. All the while, I longed for a 6oomm lens. (sigh!)

As you might expect, I made a bunch of photos. Afterward, I remained perplexed. What was I thinking? The main feature of the eclipse was the moon going dark in the full shadow of the earth, right? So what's the point of photographing a dark moon in a black sky if you can't see the moon in the photo? Good grief. Furthermore, the darkness will drive ISO higher than the moon which causes maximum digital noise! Regardless, I have an exquisite photo of a dark moon traveling 2,288 miles per hour across a black sky.

Instead of the exquisite invisible moon photo, the photo of the week is a bright, colorful moon during the eclipse. Touted as a super blood wolf moon, a photo showing some color makes more sense. Not sure how the photo will appear in the newspaper in black & white, but look closely and hopefully you'll see little white dots: Stars! I love serendipity! How many stars do you count? Did you find eight? See the photo in color at fillmoregazette.com. But first, look again. In the moon's upper right quadrant see the never before photographed moonworkers making scrumptious lunar green cheese and, of course, astronomically smoooth moonshine! Both remain tariff-free so buy some soon!

Though I enjoyed the super blood wolf moon eclipse experience, I can't say that I was thrilled. In my opinion, it didn't seem to match the hyperbole. Sure, seeing the change from a bright, white moon to a reddish/orange orb and then go dark in the earth's shadow was interesting but not exciting. Thrilling would be watching the infamous cow chase a wolf over the blood moon. Maybe next year!

Please take a minute and email me your thoughts about your super blood wolf moon eclipse experience. Was it anticlimactic or were you thrilled?

BTW, there are many reports about hearing loud serendipitous howling. Well, ahem, did you really think that I could resist?

Send comments, questions or suggestions to: focusonphotography@earthlink.net

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is looking for California residents to assist in the disaster recovery effort in the aftermath of the Camp, Hill and Woolsey Wildfires in Butte, Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

California residents who wish to apply for a job with FEMA should create a profile at USAjobs.gov. Many jobs will be opening in the coming weeks and months. Jobs will be posted for seven days only. Search key words: “FEMA Local Hire” and location: “California.”

FEMA officials suggest visiting the USAJOBS site often to view the most jobs available at any given time.

Some of the jobs needed include: Engineer, Floodplain Management Specialist, Geospatial Information Systems Specialist, Administrative Support Assistant, Insurance Specialist, Emergency Management Specialist, Equal Rights Advisor, Customer Service Representative, Analysts, Voluntary Agency Liaison, Resource Manager, Media Relations Specialist, Digital Communications Specialist, Mass Care Specialist, Applicant Services Specialist, Housing Coordinator and Reports Writer.

It is FEMA’s policy to provide equal opportunity to all employees and applicants in every aspect of their employment and working conditions. FEMA supports the concept of affirmative employment to ensure that personnel policies and practices provides equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information or retaliation/reprisal.

Those hired will join a recovery team already in place, composed of local and federal workers, voluntary agencies, and community organizations. Through temporary local employees, FEMA gains valuable community insights, provides jobs, and allows Californians to be on the front lines working in assisting in the state’s recovery.

A bouquet by Judy Dunst thanking our first responders.
Enlarge Photo

Submitted by Jan Lee

Many of us have already made and broken our 2019 New Year’s resolutions. However, this is the year to keep a resolution to participate in the Fillmore Flower Show April 13 and 14 of this year. 2019 marks 100 years since the Flower Show became a tradition in Fillmore. The committee has special plans for the show this year. Our theme is “100 Years Celebrating Flowers.”

Originally, the flower show was a May Day celebration. To quote from an article in the Fillmore Herald from many years ago,” The idea for a flower show originated around 1913 when elementary schools offered a large framed print of George Washington (called the traveling award) to the school with the best display of wild flowers at the annual May Day Festival.” According to the article, San Cayetano Grammar School was awarded the print in 1913, Fillmore Grammar School in 1914 and Sespe Grammar School in 1915. The picture of GW then disappeared for a few years until Mountain View School was torn down and Carl Myers found the picture in the rubble. It was donated to the Fillmore Museum where is remains today.

Whether you are new in town or your family has been here for generations, don’t miss the Fillmore Flower Show this year. Nurture those plants, grow those flowers. Join your neighbors for a display of Fillmore’s beauty, both the flowers and the people.