Hankins-Lawrence Images PhotoNotes June 2006

We realize it has been several months since we published an issue of Photonotes. We apologize for the delay. The plan was to publish six issues this year – one every other month. Well here it is June – and we’re only on the second issue for the year. So the new plan is still six issues this year – published at random dates. We’re giving up on a regular publication schedule. We are hoping to get at least one if not two more issues out by the end of the summer.

Bill and I have had a busy spring – lots of shows and lots of photography. We enjoyed meeting some of you at our shows. Please see our show schedule below – and if you are in the area for one of our shows, please stop by and say hi.

Most of our photography this year has been in the DC area – lots of visits to the National Zoo. We’ve been publishing regular updates on our visits to Tai Shan. If you like to read what he has been up to, please see the Panda Update on our website (you can access it by clicking on the panda photo on our home page at www.hankinslawrenceimages.com ).

We did manage a trip to Florida in February. We spent a few days in the Sanibel Island area, and then a couple of days in the Big Cypress National Preserve. We’ve added a couple of our photos from the trip to our Florida Gallery, and will be added more over the summer.

In May, Patty took a quick trip to Cape Cod – four days of photography and seafood! We’ll be adding more Cape Cod lighthouses and beach photos to the New England Gallery in the next few weeks.

For now – we’ll be photographing in the DC area – the zoo, Brookside Gardens, and adding a few more monuments to our collection.

We hope that you are enjoying your photography. Have a great summer.

Patty & Bill

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2) Heavenly-Opportunity: Must Have Software for Landscape Photographers

By Patty Hankins and Bill Lawrence

As landscape photographers, one of the great challenges is knowing when to be at a location for either sunrise, sunset, moonrise or moonset. We recently purchased a software program Heavenly-Opportunities that makes this task much easier for photographers in the United States.

Heavenly-Opportunities accurately predicts the time and location for each of these events, as well as the phase of the moon for over 30,000 locations in the US. The program includes information for much more than just about every city or town in the country. It also includes information on 500 National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, and recreation areas and 2500 names lakes, mountains or other named geographic feature In the past we had to find information for the nearest major city, now we can have information about the exact location we’re planning on shooting at. On my recent trip to Cape Cod, I knew exactly when I had to be on the beach in the Cape Cod National Seashore to get the sunrise photos I wanted.

In addition, the software allows you to enter a latitude and longitude and get information for a specific place. This is a great feature if you are GPS to determine your location.

Another wonderful feature is the ability to search for specific criteria for a location – and determine what dates you should plan on shooting. For example, we’ve been wanting to get a photo of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol Building with a full moon over the Capitol. We know where to take the photo from (the US Marine Corps Memorial in Arlington, VA), that if the moon comes up between roughly 80 – 100 degrees and if moonrise after sunset – we should be able to get the image we want. With Heavenly-Opportunities, I know that my opportunities for taking the photo in the next year will be on either September 8, 2006, October 7, 2006, February 2, 2007 or March 4, 2007. Needless to say, all of these dates are already in our calendar.

In a previous newsletter, we have already reviewed another program, Ephemeris, which gives the times for sunrise and sunset and positions of the sun and moon. Ephemeris has three main advantages over Heavenly Opportunity: 1) the interface is a little easier to use, 2) it has a version available for the Pocket PC, so that we can carry it into the field with us more easily, and 3) it’s free. If we’re going out into the field and want to know when tonight’s sunset or moonrise is, then we tend to use Ephemeris. The two main advantages of Heavenly Opportunity over Ephemeris are the much larger number of locations included in the program and the search function. The search function alone is well worth the cost of the software. If we’re planning trips, we use this program to plan where and when to be. We wouldn’t mind if future versions of Heavenly-Opportunity addressed the first two issues; we certainly won’t begrudge paying a reasonable fee for valuable software.

Heavenly-Opportunity is distributed as shareware by Fossil Creek Software of Fort Collins, CO. You can use an unlicensed version for 30 days. After than, you really should purchase the license. The cost for a licensed version is $ 24.95. The license allows you to install as many copies of the program as you need – we have it installed on both our desktop machines and our laptop.

As far as we are concerned, Heavenly-Opportunity is must-have software for landscape photographers. We really encourage everyone to go to the Fossil Creek site and download the trial version. Be sure to buy your copy before the 30 day trial period is up. Once you start using Heavenly-Opportunity – you will wonder how you ever got along without it.

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3) News from the National Zoo

As most of you know by now, Bill and I do a lot of photography at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. There are been some new arrivals at the zoo that should provide some great photo opportunities this summer.

Tai Shan, the panda cub, will have his first birthday on July 9. The zoo is planning a birthday celebration for him. Currently, Tai Shan is outside all day long – frequently hiding up in the trees. If you can’t see him from the main viewing area, be sure to stop by the Panda Café for an alternate view.

Hana, the sloth bear, had a male cub on January 9, 2006. Hana and her cub are in their outdoor enclosure most days from 8 AM until 2 PM. If you are lucky, you’ll see Hana carrying her son on her back.

On May 24, Soyono, the Sumatran tiger, had another litter of three cubs, two females and a male. No word yet on when they will go on exhibit. Her previous litter was 4 months old when they went on display. The three male cubs from the previous litter are now living in Denver.

Recently, a group of Tammar Wallabies have gone on display at the Zoo. The group of four adults and two babies on are display near the Cheetah Conservation station.

Cheetahs Damara and Askari, the two males from Tumai’s litter born in November 2004 have left the zoo and are now at the Milwaukee Zoo. Their sisters, Imara and Hatima will be leaving for the Cape May Zoo in New Jersey shortly. While everyone in DC will miss Tumai’s cubs, it is nice to know that the success in breeding cheetahs at the National Zoo means more cheetahs are available for the Species Survival Plan.

If you are going to be the in Washington, DC area this summer, be sure to stop by the National Zoo for some fun photography opportunities.

Visit the online version of this article to see photos of some of the animals we’ve mentioned.

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4. Hankins Lawrence Images Show Schedule

We're going to be selling our photos at some of the art and craft shows in the Washington DC area. If you're at any of these events, please stop by and say hello. We're waiting to hear from a number of shows for this year, so check out our show schedule on the web (available in the Store section

at www.hankinslawrenceimages.com ) from time to time for updates.

2006

Aug 26-27 Lucketts Fair, Lucketts, VA

Sept 23-24 Fall Craft Show, Occoquan, VA

Oct 13-15 Sugarloaf Craft Festival, Gaithersburg, MD

Oct 22-24 Craftsmen’s Classic, Chantilly, VA

Nov 3-5 Craftsmen’s Classic, Richmond VA

Nov 18-19 Fairfax Holiday Festival, Fairfax, VA

Dec 8-10 Sugarloaf Craft Festival, Chantilly, VA

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