Rabbi Wise

JWise Photo of the Day

John Wise of Phoenix, Arizona

The tragedy of it all as the day has come when the beard must go. Not all of it, but what is left could be construed as dirt from a distance. For months I was certain that I would careen through the Grand Canyon with a beard befitting a mountain man. Sadly, the reality of not being able to properly bathe for 18 days and a couple of experiments here at home with letting the thing get nappy convinced me that I would probably be better off reducing my responsibility of facial hair maintenance. But, this is certain – I am not going to trim my beard again before my next big backcountry journey, which happens to be next September when we are scheduled to do some horseback riding in the northwest of Yellowstone for ten days. Shalom Aleichem.

The Electronics

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Various cameras, batteries, and electronic gear going down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon National Park on an 18 day dory trip

Besides what we need to clothe ourselves on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, there is the matter of tools to capture a bit of our 18-day journey and a couple of other essentials. First, the essentials on the right are two lithium-ion power bricks that I hope to get approximately 84 hours of power to run my CPAP, which is the purple and white block next to my camera in the top left of the photo.

Starting on the left are two small tripods; one is the Joby Gorillapod, which may be used for attaching one of the cameras to the dory gunwale, and below that is the ProMaster Clamper Jr., also for attaching to the gunwale for those action shots of us traveling through the rapids. Next to the Clamper is a GoPro HD Hero waterproof camera that will be set to 720p resolution (1280×720 60 fps) for slow-motion playback after our trip. An extra battery and 24GB of memory are set aside for the GoPro; they should allow about 5 hours battery use and 3 hours 15 minutes of video recording or about 11 minutes per day. This camera will be used for recording the rapids almost exclusively.

The next camera is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS2 waterproof/shockproof 14mp camera that also records 720p Hi-Def video. For it, we have five batteries and 48GB of memory cards. The Lumix is Caroline’s camera and will be used for video shots from the gunwale but will also be used for stills and, knowing Caroline, more than a few macro photos. Upon writing this, I calculated battery life and memory requirements and decided to order at least one more battery for Caroline.

The third camera we are bringing is my Canon T2i 18mp DSLR. Three lenses are also coming with a Canon 10-22mm EF-S wide-angle, the Canon 70-200mm 2.8 L IS USM telephoto, and a Canon 60mm macro. I’ll have 144GB of memory, allowing me to shoot nearly 5,000 raw images or about 275 per day; this might be too limiting, so I have contingency plans to shoot jpeg images in the middle of the day under full sunlight if I find I want to shoot more. Eleven battery packs have been bought for the Canon to guarantee I do not run out of power before the end of the 18 days. And no, I have not found a reasonable solar solution to deal with recharging batteries when available daylight in the fall is in short supply and is made all the worse by being deep within the canyon. I’m also taking the Canon RS60-E3 wired shutter remote; we have a full moon occurring during our trip, so I think it might be a good idea to be prepared to attempt a few bulb shots for the stars and Milky Way overhead, too.

Other accessories include my Manfrotto 190CXPro3 carbon fiber lightweight tripod with a ProMaster Superlite Ball Head 3. For the GoPro, we also have the Chesty chest harness for attaching the camera just below my chin for a different perspective while we go through the rapids. Our well-worn Garmin Legend C e-Trex GPS will hopefully capture a few of the tracks from the trails we’ll be hiking, and if we have a signal in the depths of it all, we’ll put down waypoints for our camping sites and the end of trails for photo reference after returning home. For lighting, we are bringing 2 LED flashlights, a Petzl 4 LED headlamp, and a Black Diamond 45-watt equivalent LED lantern.

It has been a difficult slog learning how to handle sleeping 17 nights off-grid without requiring moving hundreds of pounds of marine batteries for my CPAP in and out of the canyon. After our trip, I’ll be posting a full review of how the two 9-pound batteries performed.

Finally, the CPAP equipment, 2 of the lenses, the memory cards, spare batteries, and my writing materials are all being locked into a Pelican 1550 waterproof case measuring 18.4x14x7.6 and then lashed to the supply boat, where hopefully it will remain safe and dry.

Pillow Talking The Devil

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Artist Dion Terry holding his most recent work, Pillow Talking The Devil - photo taken in San Diego, California on October 1, 2010

Sitting in San Diego, California, with his newest work, “Pillow Talking The Devil,” is Navajo artist Dion Terry. His newest piece is also my newest acquisition, as when I saw the snapshot of the completed canvas on Facebook, I gave him a call, telling him it was sold to me. I got in the car to drive five and a half hours from Phoenix to San Diego for the express purpose of collecting this extraordinary painting. I arrived early enough for Dion, Tassia, and me to share lunch at the beach and visit a hidden garden before exchanging cash for art.

My interpretation of Dion’s “Pillow Talking The Devil” is that he has painted a self-portrait of sorts, a powerful and inspiring image that, in the years to come, will prove to be one of his greatest works. The fierce raven is only a part of Dion, with his worn body marked with moments from his past, graffitied and tattooed. Over his head is a halo of innocence, which I regard as his questioning of nature and trying to deal with the subject at hand: honesty. In hand is the snake, also known as the devil. In the Navajo belief system, the snake is inherently evil; it is the devil. The snake is not only in hand confronting Dion it is also a yoke around his neck. So maybe it’s his beliefs that are a burden that he’s trying to confront. This introspection is made all the more vulnerable in that his chest is wide-open and his heart exposed as if to imply that, “I challenge you to prove you are more than a chimera. I think it might be that you simply enslave me with fear, and if I am to truly know myself and my heart, I must ascend and throw off this yoke of mythological superstition while I attend to exploring the heavens through my art – but first, I must pillow talk this devil before me, I must overcome.”

Regardless of what its true meaning may ultimately be, if there even is one, I feel that Dion is on a path of creativity that is uniquely his and is on the cusp of breaking through the art world’s exclusive fortress.

The Gear

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

The gear that will accompany me down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon for 18 days

Just about finished packing for our journey down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Yes, we still have a few weeks to go, but anyone who knows me knows I am obsessed with this trip. Looking at nearly everything that I will be responsible for and that will be needed for 18 days, I am surprised at how little it really is. Of course, there is no food, water, or toilet paper in the photo as those essential items are being supplied by O.A.R.S., our outfitter. Also missing from this photo are my camera equipment and some other things that will show up in a blog post soon.

Pictured in the inventory photo are the following: two pairs of quick-dry convertible pants, three quick-dry shirts, three pairs of quick-dry underwear, three pairs of wool socks, two pairs of silk sock liners, a pair of swim shorts, a nightshirt (the Hello Kitty shirt is Caroline’s). In the gold bag are one long-sleeved synthetic long-underwear top, one pair of synthetic long underwear bottoms, a fleece top, and a bottom. In the blue and gray dry sack are our waterproof tops and bottoms; in front of the drysack is my quick-dry towel. Next to the gold bag is our toiletry bag with Dr. Bonner’s soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, contact lenses, portable clothesline for drying clothes, unbreakable mirror, first aid kit, extra boot laces, etc. The bottom left is my neoprene wetsuit booties for trying to keep my feet warm in 47-degree water. To the right of those are Bathing Wipes; hopefully, these will be the next best thing to a shower. Then the river shoes, a sleeping mat in the gray and orange bag, my empty daypack, and a river hat sit on top of that. On the far left are my tripod, my trekking poles, assorted flavored drink mixes, and 2 Nalgene 1-liter bottles with carabiners to attach to the boat. Most of this gear will be packed into a dry sack prior to departing. Missing from the photo are my hiking boots.

We will be packing our sleeping bags into compression sacks that will, in turn, be packed into a dry sack along with our sleeping mat, a sheet, and a pillow. My camera equipment, CPAP, batteries, memory, and writing materials will all be packed into a Pelican case, but as I said, that photo will be posted soon.

Motels in Mesa

JWise Photo of the Day

Old fashioned motel signs on Main Street in Mesa, Arizona

Nostalgia beckons on Main Street in Mesa, Arizona with a slew of old-fashioned motel signs lining the road. Caroline was attending a meeting of the Intermountain Weavers and I had about an hour and a half to entertain myself. Out of the parking lot of a fancy new hotel where the meeting was taking place I drove east on Main Street stopping to admire these great old motel signs. I wish I didn’t live in the Phoenix area so I could justify taking a drive to Arizona and staying in a couple of these places that harken back to an era when exploring the United States by car brought a sense of amazement that neon was lighting the night and the drive-in restaurant was making life convenient. Today’s hotels are sterile and common, the restaurants uniform and generic. A golden age is gone replaced by a sense that nothing is very important or new. What of this modern era will have us look back in thirty years with fond recollection of a time when things looked more modern than the future?

Cooking Lessons

JWise Food, Photo of the Day

Bitter melon

Went to the Shah’s last night for dinner and got rightly stuffed on bitter melon, undhiyu, beet salad, tuvar dal, paratha, masala bhakhari, rice, and chhaas – a buttermilk drink. For dessert, we had ever so yummy falooda. The bitter melon was a special request of mine, typically it is only enjoyed by old people, guess I’m one of them now. And although it would primarily be eaten by Rinku and Krupesh’s mom, Caroline, Purvi, and me, they took the time to make this specialty for me. I enjoy this so much, I asked the Shah’s mom and Purvi to teach me how to make this dish. So here on Saturday at midday, I came over the house with two pounds of bitter melon and we got to work removing seeds, chopping, teaching me the ones I should have chosen, cutting onion and finally cooking this bitter dish with some mustard seed, turmeric, chili powder, and jaggery. How did it turn out? Bitter and spicy, just the way I like it.