photography by wasim.

Author: Wasim Muklashy

Gallivanting Around Grand County, Colorado to Capture Her in All Her 360 Glory

Not too long ago, I shared a post about my adventures shooting 360 in our country’s heartland and some of the eye-opening adventures along the way. Well, then Winter came and most of that gone done kaput – no one really wants to shoot their beautiful destinations in the midst of leave-less trees, mud, and colorless gardens. Well, we’re back in shooting season again, and the first destination client Miles Partnership sent Superswell VR, my Virtual Reality production company, was to Grand County, Colorado, along right on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park looking upon the great Continental Divide. We were there to capture some of the prime destinations in both traditional still photographs and 360 images for Google Street View.

Here are a few scenes , mostly from one of my favorite stops on the shot list, the ridiculously stunning Devil’s Thumb Ranch, that I managed to bring back from a whirlwind trip to the Rockies.

For the 360s, keep an eye on a Google Map or Google Street View soon…

April 9, 2019
Just To Show Me Who’s Boss. Her Majesty, Mount Hood, Just Wanted To Show Me Who’s Boss

T’was a crisp winter’s day in the mountains high above the city is where this tale hath begin…

For real though, it wasn’t just crisp, it was frickin’ freezing! I was up in Welches, Oregon, essentially the gateway from Portland to Mount Hood, to shoot a property for sale in the area for a client. She offered me run of the condo if I wanted to stay a few nights, and being as the mountain was covered in fresh snow from the day before, my camera would not allow me to say no.

I Turo‘d myself a snow-ready all-wheel drive, snow-tire-laden Audi Q3 (for a ridiculous $30/day!? I heart you sharing economy) and headed on up the mountain.

While it was cloudy and overcast much of the first day, I took advantage of that time to shoot the interiors (figured I should probably do the job I was actually up there for…), with one eye on the weather forecast for any opportunity the following day. It showed partial sun that afternoon, so took a gamble, grabbed my camera bag, bundled up, drove to the trailhead and started hiking my way up to Mirror Lake.

And that was the day this Pacific Northwesterner in his sophomore year learned the value of snowshoes. Not because I had them, but because I didn’t, and EVERYONE else did! It was about 2.5 miles each way, and about a half dozen hikers or so that I passed were taking the snow-covered trail like it was nothing. Meanwhile, me and my hiking boots huffed and puffed and slipped and slid my way through the thing. I even had to retire one of my trekking poles on this one (don’t ask why…). It didn’t help matters when one set of hikers on the way back down saw my tripod and figured to boost my morale by explaining “Mount Hood is covered in clouds. Can’t see a thing.”

And, as a I found out about 30 minutes later, they were right.

Sort of.

She was definitely covered up.

And at first I was a bit bummed, but then I looked around at the sky and there were patches of sun raining down on stands of trees surrounding the snow-covered lake bed. I figured it wouldn’t be a complete loss as I was already seeing some ridiculously idyllic winter-wonderland frames all around me.

And then, just before the sun began to set, she decided to give me a short, but glorious, reminder of who’s in charge here. For about 15 minutes, Mount Hood decided to pop out of her office, just to remind me who’s boss.

At the perfect time.

With the perfect light.

And the perfect colors on the perfect clouds.

I could not have asked for a better scene. It was THE very image I was hunting for.

Had I been 15 minutes earlier or 15 minutes later, I would have missed that opportunity (and had I had snowshoes, I probably would have been).

Anywho, here she is, hope you dig…

And here’s some some more zen moments from those few glorious days in the mountains.

And for more of my riffer raffers and wacker knackers:
instagram: @wasimofnazareth
ello: @wasimofnazareth

Finally, if you enjoy these posts, please feel free to subscribe to my mailing list at top right of this page, and I’ll deliver each post to you as I publish them, and if you support the kind of work I’m doing and the things I’m sharing, please consider ‘subscribing to me’ on Patreon.com. Yup, subscribing to ‘me.’ You can even set the price. Literally, $1 per month if you want. No joke, I’m a poor bastard, so your little helps me a LOT.

March 3, 2019
Bearing Witness to History and a Country Evolving – 360˚ Journeys Through the Heartland

A pair of Buddhist monks cross the bridges at Keeper of the Plains, Wichita, Kansas.

It’s been a pretty wildly eye-opening last couple o’ months.

Recently, my virtual reality company, Superswell VR, was blessed with the opportunity to work with Miles Partnership, a marketing company that specializes in the tourism and travel industries. They contracted Superswell VR to shoot 360˚ Google Streetview campaigns for various destinations, including Oklahoma’s Chickasaw Nation, the Kentucky State Parks, and Kansas’ Visit Wichita.

Over the course of about 4 weeks, I went from Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi, sipping through parts of the Bourbon trail, elk calling at sunrise and exploring underground caves in Kentucky, to sacred Native American sites, natural springs, more than your fair share of old train depots and historical museums showing off everything from attempted bank robberies by Bonnie & Clyde to the history of John Deer tractors in Oklahoma, to feeding rhinos, touching the Berlin Wall, freakin’ out over real Egyptian mummies and Meso-American shrunken heads, photographing the first house ever built in Wichita, a Frank Lloyd Wright structure and learning about the African and Native-American histories of Kansas.

Because of this, I’ve had the chance to spend a good amount of time in parts of the country I’ve never visited, and to be able to do it, one, for work, and two, since we were working directly with those destinations, basically with a ‘backstage’ pass to some of the locale’s most awesome attractions and points of interest.

It’s been a whirlwind of amazing.

While travel and the unknown and experiencing new locations is basically what gets me up in the morning, perhaps with this trio of locations, the curiosity was magnified, especially, as much of it was during midterm voting season, during a time in which this country feels more divided than it may have ever been. I was most enthused to get a first-hand feel for the people and the culture of part of the country I did not have much experience in at all.

Yes, some it was what I expected, like driving for hours through areas of several straight miles of flatlands of nothing, or like the old lady in the train depot who had never, in 84 years of life, left that area in the middle of Oklahoma who made it a point to let us know that ‘white folks sat over here and negroes sat over there,’ (to be fair, it seemed through no sense of bigotry, but rather, as it was a museum, just pointing out a part of their history). Some of it, however, left me incredibly surprised and charmed.

Take, for instance, the solar panel farm in the middle of Kentucky, mere miles from coal country where a park ranger was explaining to us the steps they were taking to save the bees from chemical pesticides.

Or the 13 year old black girl and 13 year old white girl who laughingly shared a sandwich together in a Subway staffed by an Indian man and a white woman just 4 miles down the road from a Confederate stronghold where teenage soldiers and slaves were waiting to die just over a mere century ago.

Or the young rancher who was employing social media to attract a new tech-savvy demographic to his family’s horseback riding business less than an hours’ drive from an early printing press on display at that very aforementioned train depot.

Or, simply, Wichita. It was one of the most charming cities I’ve been to in the country, and I would never have expected that at all. A row of museums and parks and beautiful bridges and artworks that line the riverbanks, a wide variety of delicious food options, and incredibly interesting attractions covering everything from colonial history to Native American history to African American history to toys to science.

I don’t know, but to me, those all seem like major pieces of the progress puzzle.

This yin and yang of comfortable tradition versus conscious embrace of what is to come was an incredibly constant theme of my travels through the heartland, and left me with a strengthened conviction that we, as a country, and as a whole, are actually in MUCH better shape than mass medias may make us out to be.

While there is an enormous sense of pride in their history and culture, we must all recognize that, for better or for worse, it was that history that has in large part crafted this nation and planted those seeds for progress to flourish. Furthermore, despite our obvious flaws, if we really look at the American experiment, one that has never been attempted anywhere on the planet ever – throw everything and everyone in the same pot and see what happens – we’ve done remarkably well over 241 short years (that’s just three 80-year old people ago!).

Yes, I spoke to several southern and heartland ‘lifers’ who are more than well aware of some of the uglier parts of our history and ancestors’ roles in it. But it was many of these very same folks, who ranged from the ages of 18 to 80, who went out of their way to welcome a middle-eastern dude named Wasim and made a concerted genuine effort to expose themselves for who they really are: the warm, smart, beautiful, friendly and (mostly) tolerant core of our modern nation.

If I learned anything, it was certainly to let go of all ‘expectations,’ because once you do, you begin to realize that while the hysterical glut of media may make it seem like we’re on opposite sides of the fence, we’re really not. Sometimes we may find ourselves playing offense, sometimes defense, but always on the same field.

Furthermore, we all need the same things, feel the same things and want the same things. While we may have different ideas of how to get there, that’s exactly the sole condition necessary for negotiation.

Regardless, the country is absolutely changing, and there are signs of it all over. Even, as I found out first-hand, in the backroads of our nation’s hinterlands.

And all of it, ALL of it…for the better.

Patience.

Persistence.

Progress.

We got this.

And for more wacka wacka wackas:
instagram: @wasimofnazareth
ello: @wasimofnazareth
google+: +WasimMuklashy

Finally, if you enjoy these posts, please feel free to subscribe to my mailing list at top right of this page, and I’ll deliver each post to you as I publish them, and if you support the kind of work I’m doing and the things I’m sharing, please consider ‘subscribing to me’ on Patreon.com. Yup, subscribing to ‘me.’ You can even set the price. Literally, $1 per month if you want. No joke, I’m a poor bastard, so your little helps me a LOT.

November 20, 2018
The Meeting of Life – A Weekend at the SITKA Center for Arts & Ecology

As a self-employed freelancer you spend most of your life looking for jobs, bidding for jobs, creating decks and proposals and quotes and presentations for jobs and, if you’re lucky, about 15 to 20% of your time actually doing jobs.

Furthermore, more often than not, 80% of those jobs that you’re actually doing are ones you don’t even want to do but have to do to pay the bills.

But every now and then you get a gig that reminds you why you’re doing what you’re doing to begin with.

One of those gigs where you have to stop, slap and ask yourself “Am I seriously getting PAID for this!??”

Well, this was one of those gigs…

My VR company, Superswell VR, was asked by the SITKA Center for Art & Ecology to produce a 360 virtual reality tour of their campus – a campus that sits at the trailhead of one of the most spectacular spots on the Oregon coast – Cascade Head.

This was basically a retreat – I was given an apartment, a studio to work in, free reign of the property, as well as the 80-acre homestead attached to it where the founders still live, and I was surrounded by artists, creatives, happy smiley people, all of whom’s demeanors couldn’t hide the fact that they were just happy to be.

Just…

to be.

It’s the kind of place where you wake up to random Buddhist chanting from the art studio next door, then an hour later, you find yourself sipping your coffee to the sounds of bells and Native American song wafting in your windows from the other side of campus.

I got to witness collage classes and calligraphy classes and painting classes – all these workshops of which are strewn about and between the various studios and nooks and crannies across the campus.

As if all of that wasn’t enough, the aforementioned ‘I’m getting PAID for this’ moment solidified itself when I found myself meandering through old growth forest that led to…well…THIS:

One of the most glorious spots I’ve stood on so far in my journey in the Pacific Northwest.

The confluence of the Pacific Ocean meeting at an estuary at the headwaters of the Salmon River.

Within that 3 hour period I saw someone catch 2 Chinook Salmon in the river, made my way through glorious old-growth coastal forest on Nature Conservancy land where an owl announced its presence by silently gliding through the canopy like an oracle demanding your undivided attention, and broke through that forest about 1000 feet of elevation later for my first glimpse of the landscape from above.

Then, on your way back, as you sing your way through this mystical Hobbit land under the twilight, a family of feeding deer go prancing by you.

Forty-five seconds later, you find yourself followed by a herd of elk – it could have been 15 to 20 of them – and, being no more than 20 yards from them – I stood mesmerized. As soon as one turned it’s head towards me, and the herd followed his lead in unison, I realized I had no idea if they were dangerous or not.

So I Googled are elk dangerous (yes, that happened). And that’s when I extended my tripod to have it on the ready and made my way out…

Needless to say, the SITKA Center is a pretty impressive and special little place. With it’s robust programming and its artist-in-residence programs and its location…oh its location…you couldn’t find a better way to spend a weekend…or a week…or a month.

This is a haven.

An oasis buried on the edge of the forest where the trees dramatically meet the ocean.

The meeting of life.

This.

This is the meeting of life.

To view and experience the VR video, hosted by Sitka founder Frank Boyden, here it is on YouTube (best experienced in a VR headset, but still beyond awesome to drag around and see in all directions on your phone or browser):

<br />

And for you Veer.Tv’ers, here’s that link.

And for the Samsung VR and Google Daydream crowds, click this one.

Finally, if you were in the Portland, Oregon area last weekend and happened upon the Sitka Invitational at the World Forestry Center, amongst a plethora of ecology-inspired art, you might have had a chance to actually check it out in live VR demos!!

Now do your soul a favor, go book yourself a Sitka workshop.

Trust me, it’s impossible to be disappointed…

And for more of my wabber scabbers and raff riffs:
instagram: @wasimofnazareth
ello: @wasimofnazareth
google+: +WasimMuklashy

And of course, if you enjoy these posts, please feel free to subscribe to my mailing list at top right of this page, and I’ll deliver each post to you as I publish them, and if you support the kind of work I’m doing and the things I’m sharing, please consider ‘subscribing to me’ on Patreon.com. Yup, subscribing to ‘me.’ You can even set the price. Literally, $1 per month if you want. No joke, I’m a poor bastard, so your little helps me a LOT.

November 13, 2018
Nature + Kiddos = Happy You Happy Me Happy We. The Future of Science and the Environment is in Your Hands.

For all of you that know me, you know that there are few things more important to me than ensuring that not another generation goes by that doesn’t connect to Mother Nature and understand her importance and role in every aspect of our lives, from clean air we breathe to the water we drink.

I will do everything in my power to ensure that not another single generation goes by downplaying the effects of climate change and the role we humans play in it.

And one of the things that I’m proudest of is getting involved with Ecology in Classrooms & Outdoors (ECO).

ECO is a non-profit based in Portland, Oregon who’s sole mission is to connect kids to nature. We do this through both in-classroom educational programs as well as in-the-field service learning programs.

Through this year, I’ve had the chance to join them on several outings, in several classrooms, at several events, and see what and how something as simple as holding a snail can make a lasting impact on a kid’s life and psyche.

It’s beautiful.

And playing testament to the voracity and resonance of ECO’s mission is what has happened this year.

Let me explain.

Over the course of the past 13 years, ECO has already helped bring over 20,000 K-5 kids to nature.

TWENTY THOUSAND.

Most of which come from underserved neighborhoods and many of whom, despite the fact that they live less than an hour from the nation’s highest concentration of waterfalls, have never seen a waterfall before in their lives!

Well, we find that completely unacceptable (and borderline criminal!!).

So as of August of this year, ECO has absorbed three successful similarly-aligned programs: Green Schoolhouse, Dig-In, and Siuslaw Stream Team. What this means is that the ECO reach expands past Portland metro schools, all the way to the coast. Furthermore, we’re now able to reach further than the K-5 students that have traditionally been our demographic. Due to these acquisitions, our hands-on ecology educational outreach programs are now in front of middle and high school students and even include after-school and summer camp programs.

Needless to say, it’s been a pretty monumental year for ECO, and we couldn’t have done it without the support of those who have science and education and our environment high on their agendas and list of importance.

Furthermore, as a non-profit, we can’t do any of this without the support of the public.

It’s because of you that we have been able to grow at the clip that we have, and provide the tools necessary to keep science and nature at the forefront of our future generations’ curiosities.

Which brings me to the inevitable ask – every year, Portland’s weekly, the Willamette Week, puts out their annual ‘Give!Guide,’ which highlights some of the region’s most promising and influential non-profits, and creates campaigns to help bring attention to them. So while we’re running around comparing menus for the holidays and figuring out what friendsgiving we’re going to attend and whether I should buy this in black or blue or an L or an M (or an XL washed once…) or a 44” instead of a 41”, the Give!Guide is a reminder to keep those less fortunate than us in at least a corner of our minds.

And for the fifth year in a row, ECO is prouder than proud to be selected as one of those organizations represented. And what we are able to raise through the Give!Guide each year is a very big reason we are able to do what we do.

But the biggest reason – you (and your generous wallets…).

Literally, 10 dollars.

TEN DOLLARS

is enough to bring a future ecologist, scientist, park ranger, river guide, outfitter or conservationist into the program.

One month’s worth of Netflix.

TEN.

FRICKIN.

DOLLARS.

Two days’ worth of fancy shmancy pumpkin spicy ‘coffee’ concoctions.

TEN.

MEASLY.

DOLL HAIRS.

So if you’re looking for some last-minute tax deductions and want to SAVE THE WORLD at the same time, drop a dollar (or two, or 10, or fifty) into ECO’s coffers.

You can even give on someone else’s behalf (which makes a perfect gift for the nature-lovers in your circles).

You, your kids, and your kids’ kids futures depend on it.

Literally.

So here’s that link again: www.giveguide.org/#eco

Doooo iiiiittttt!

And for a 360 glimpse into what we do at ECO, here’s a little video produced by Superswell VR. Grab a headset and join us, or drag around on your phone or browser to see everything in all directions at all times.

Eco.

Find them.

Follow them. (FB / Twitter / Insta)

Help them.

Help you.

<br />

Oh, did I give you that link yet? www.giveguide.org/#eco

Just in case I didn’t: www.giveguide.org/#eco

Toodles,

wasim.

November 8, 2018
The Future of Forestry Coming into Focus – Breaking Down Barriers at the Society of American Foresters Annual Convention

I recently had the distinct pleasure of photographing the Society of American Foresters convention, this year held in Portland, Oregon, and I must say, it’s quite refreshing to see how the face and core of the organization is adapting and evolving with the times and today’s realities.

For one, while there was plenty of talk about forestry in the sense of its traditional paradigms – logging, lumber and industry – there was an equal, if not even more pronounced presence bubbling just underneath the surface discussing things like diversity, climate change and sustainability, including inspiring speeches by keynote speakers Oregon State University’s Bob Lackey and Commonwealth of Virginia’s Bettina Ring, who both made impassioned pleas for science and its relevancy in the forestry debate, from climate change to forestry and carbon management.

Additionally, and this was a surprise, was the number of minorities and women that were involved in the conference.

It was amazing.

In addition to the convention’s first ever SAF Diversity & Inclusion Working Group – I walked in to photograph this meeting and it was Asian women and African-American women seeing eye to eye with white men and black men and Muslim women sitting at the same table with Native American and Hispanic constituents and talking about how they all fit and their roles in moving the space forward.

It was truly beautiful.

Another great sign of a growing industry and interest from a young crop of future foresters and ecologists was the traditional Conversation with the Chief, in which a question and answer session is set up with the standing chief of the U.S. Forest Service. This year, it was standing room only. Literally.

We walked in to hear Chief Vicki Christiansen and the seats filled up immediately. Staff had to bring in additional seating which still wasn’t enough, and people ended up sitting on the ground and standing around the perimeter of the room to listen and engage with her.

It was another incredible display in the massive interest that is taking over the industry, and finally having a say in it, from all sectors including environmental, scientific community, minority community and the international community.

Needless to say, there was a dark period in the industry.

Not doubt about it.

This wasn’t your average ‘how can we make money off of trees’ forestry conference. While there was certainly a good amount of that, there was an almost equal representation and sentiment expressing how can we work on the trees behalf just as much as the trees work on our behalf.

Judging by the conversations and discussions this weekend, the future of forestry is truly looking good.

I can’t thank the Society of American Foresters enough for having me there. It was incredibly eye-opening and encouraging to hear the different viewpoint and witness the foundations being set for the future of our trees and how we manage them.

I (and I know I’m not the only one) left this weekend quite optimistic.

October 28, 2018
The Columbia River Gorge and Mount Rainier National Park: A Great Pacific Northwest Smoke Out

The last couple of weeks are exactly why I now find myself living in the Pacific Northwest.

Sort of.

So it’s no secret that this region of the country has some of the most incredibly beautiful and inspiring fodder for landscape and nature lovers and overall wanderlusters.

If anything, the region is known for its copious amounts of water and incredibly liberal natural display of every shade of green known to man.

It’s what I moved up here to explore and embed with.

Between the forests, the waterfalls, the rivers, the coastlines, the almost-religious focus on sustainability and conservation and nature-worship, and perhaps the world’s most concentrated populations of tree-huggers on the planet (myself proudly and unapologetically included), it’s enough to occupy infinite lifetimes of discovery.

What we didn’t see coming (well actually we did) was the supercharged effects of climate change, not surprisingly, affecting some of the most heavily forested areas in the country.

From Portland all the way up to Seattle, the Pacific Northwest has been covered in a thick layer of smoke and haze from the wild megafires flanking us in every direction from California up to Canada.

Image by Mark Graves for The Oregonian

It’s just marinating over the city like a modern-dust bowl, and oftentimes visibility is no further than the building across the street. In fact, over the past 2 weeks, this has been a recurring news-story:

“Air quality in Portland ranks fourth-worst among major cities worldwide according to a data visualization tool that tracks air quality.” –KGW

Think about that for a second…that’s worse than Beijing. And that has been the increasing trend for the past half-decade.

And this has now gone on for exactly one month.

Furthermore, we’ve seen more over-90 degree days this summer than not, which is NOT typical for this region. It’s a very disturbing trend that, in speaking to several locals, has increased dramatically over the past several years. Being as how this area is the hub of forestry, I’ve attended (and worked) several symposiums and talks and panels and events centered around this very topic.

However, not one to spread doom and gloom, I wasn’t going to let this hamper my exploration of the region, so while Mother Nature was busy taking care of herself, I figured we’d use the incredible light provided by the fire-smoke-diffused sky for photography and sunsets and sunrises that look like sunsets and over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been able to put a good dent in my list of ‘things to do’ up here in the Pacific Northwest. First off, a cousin came to town to escape the big city life of Los Angeles, and wanted some ‘nature time.’ We only had 48 hours, so figured we’d make the best of it.

We started off in Beacon Rock State Park along the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area, where we hiked by the Pool of the Winds up to the semi-treacherous trek to the summit of Hamilton Mountain. While it was a fairly decent burner, about 1700 feet elevation over the course of 3 miles, the air quality certainly had a hand in it hurting as much as it did. We did, however, get some pretty incredible views and colors because of it. After that, we made our way through Hood River’s fruit loop and picked up some fresh cherries for the ride back down the mountain through Mount Hood to Portland.

Then, just last week, along with a photographer friend Rob Dweck (check out his stuff…seriously…especially his black & whites!!), I made it up to one of the locations that has been on my photographic bucket list for a decade – Mount Rainier National Park.

Typically known for crystal clear summer skies and crisp contrasted majestic mountain – peak, driving into the park, due to the thick haze, we hardly even knew it was there.

Legend has it a majestic mountain lies in there somewhere…

Even at sunrise the following morning, I had to use a polarizer on my lens just to cut through enough haze to identify that a mountain even existed over Mirror Lakes. It eventually cleared enough for her to show off her grand self, but throughout much of the rest of that day, we were avoiding the grand viewpoints because…well there were none.

This did, however allow us to focus on the forests and waterfalls and use the haze to the best of our advantage as we can – contrasty black & white images and landscapes, more focused compositions in heavily forested areas as we hiked down portion of the Nisqually River and up through the forest towards Comet Falls, the park’s largest waterfall.

On our final day, we got somewhat lucky. We arose for sunrise again to try to catch Mount Rainier in all her beauty from Paradise. Unfortunately, the fog, mixed with the haze, covered her up completely and we were unable to get a glimpse. That unfortunately turned quickly to fortunately because due to those very conditions, I did manage to capture what turned out to be my favorite images from the trip. They weren’t the images I imagined I’d capture from Rainier, but I can’t complain at all – with the fog slowly lifting and the tops of the trees ever-so-gingerly monochromatically poking their way through – I feel like they were pretty unique images.

And, well, it was fun.

Finally, on the day we were leaving, the haze lifted enough to show us Rainier in the glory she was meant to be seen in. We figured we’d hike the Sunrise Loop, a 7-mile loop trail that took us through the forests, above the treelines, almost up to the basecamp of where the crazy-folks that climb the whole mountain prepare and acclimate to the elevation before beginning their awe-inducing ascents up to the summit, and back down through the idyllic meadows and streams and wildflowers caused by the glacier runoff back down to the Paradise Lodge.

Easily one of the most beautiful hikes I’ve ever done.

And can’t wait to do again.

Anyhow, below are some images from that trip up to Mount Rainier National Park. Hope you enjoy:

And for more of the riff raffs and scabber dabbers:
instagram: @wasimofnazareth
ello: @wasimofnazareth
google+: +WasimMuklashy

Finally, if you enjoy these posts, please feel free to subscribe to my mailing list at top right of this page, and I’ll deliver each post to you as I publish them, and if you support the kind of work I’m doing and the things I’m sharing, please consider ‘subscribing to me’ on Patreon.com. Yup, subscribing to ‘me.’ You can even set the price. Literally, $1 per month if you want. No joke, I’m a poor bastard, so your little helps me a LOT.

August 24, 2018
The Tale of two Teslas, a Trip and a Tire. Oh, and the Palouse. A Photography Trip to the Palouse was part of it…

We were only 55 miles in when it happened.

This was a trip that has been in the works for a year.

Ever since we won a raffle prize for 72 hours with a Tesla, a friend and I have been giddy about getting the thing scheduled. Time gave out on us during the Summer of 2017, and winter in the Pacific Northwest is…well…winter in the Pacific Northwest, so we held out and waited until just before the one-year expiration date on the prize – Spring of 2018, which seemed totally worth it being as now we had a choice with a Model X instead of just a Model S – I mean look at those Falcon doors:

Anyhow, 72 hours gave us just enough time to drive from Portland, Oregon, along the gorgeous Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, up through the valley and into the high desert before veering Northeast towards the Palouse in the eastern part of Washington State along the border of Idaho. We were especially excited because we were also planning on shooting some 360 virtual reality video of the entire experience for Superswell VR.

If you’re not familiar with the Palouse…just Google it. It’s been on my photographic bucket list since it was put on my radar about a decade ago, and this seemed a perfect opportunity being as how it was just within range of a full ‘tank’ of electricity on a Tesla Model X.

The region is a seemingly endless landscape of rolling green and purple and brown and red and yellow hills that make up a primary part of the agricultural region of eastern Washington State.

The textures, the landscapes, the shadows, the contrasts…they all make for a photographer’s playground, and we were ready to play!

As our excitement level began to reach a peak as we approached The Dalles on the Gorge, where we planned to top off the tank at a Supercharger while grabbing lunch, the car, which is the most incredible machine you can ever drive, began to beep.

And then it beeped louder.

And then a large red icon popped up on the dash indicating that there was only 2psi in the front driver tire.

Basically, we got a flat.

Ok, no big deal…right? Put the spare on and get to the Dalles and have it patched right?

Wrong.

Apparently, these buggers don’t come with a spare. To be fair, it’s not just Tesla, it seems like no electric cars at the moment are currently equipped with a spare tire.

Ok, fine, I’ve got Triple A, so let’s do the thing. So I called Triple A, they began the process of sending out a tow truck to help, and then, just as we were breaking into a bag of chips for ‘lunch,’ we got the call from the tow company,

“Sorry, we can’t tow a Tesla, we don’t have the experience and don’t want the liability.”

What?!!

This is exactly your job.

Literally your job.

This is what you’re supposed to do!

Anyhow, stuck on the side of freeway, we had no choice but to make the call to Tesla themselves, who suggested sending out their tow truck to tow it back to Portland, and swap us out with new car.

TOW IT 60 MILES BACK TO PORTLAND FOR A FLAT TIRE!??

No…just, no. This is when we suggested just sending a new car on the flatbed so we can simply swap it out on site, saving a solid 3 hours. Being as how it was already 4pm at this point, and we still had 4 hours of driving, that seemed to make more sense. Thankfully, they agreed.

But then, another curveball. As we stood on the side of the road admiring what was now a useless 100 thousand dollar piece of steel and lithium-ion, a construction crew began to drive by and cone off the 1 lane, the closest to the shoulder. We were now in a construction zone as a paving crew began making their way towards us.

This was when the sheriff got involved, who was insisting we needed to get the car moved for the construction crew. We told him our situation and expressed how much we’d LOVE to be able to move the bugger, so he decided to get on the phone on our behalf with the tow company.

You KNOW things aren’t going to go your way when even the sheriff couldn’t convince them to come out and move the car.

We were now effectively in a race between the Tesla tow truck showing up and the construction crew full of gravel meandering mere inches from a loaned Tesla Model X.

And the sun was about gone.

Fortunately, the tow truck showed up first. They dropped the Model S off the flatbed, loaded up the Model X, made a few quips about how many times they’ve had to do this, and we were on our way…

First stop, the town of The Dalles just 13 miles up the river for dinner.

Once finishing our first meal of the day, we were now ready to drive through one of the most gorgeous parts of the Pacific Northwest…in the complete dark.

While the car itself is BEYOND a joy to drive, there was plenty of intentional cold air blasting in the face, slapping myself in the face, and revving up on gas station coffee to do the thing.

After finding a Supercharger around Kennewick, Washington, about halfway through the trip, and sat for around 45 minutes to fill the sucker up, we finally rolled into our Airbnb at about 4am, and to Idaho’s credit, our host woke up to greet us!

After finally passing out around 4:30am and getting a solid 3 hours sleep, a woodpecker decided to repeatedly slam its face into the wooden cabin’s walls inches from our eardrums.

Yeehaw!

Ok fine, these are all essentially champagne problems. I get it. I’m complaining about a free Tesla road trip and a charming A-frame cabin in Idaho.

Buck up, you’ve got a full day to go do the thing you came to do…photograph the Palouse!

Well, that is, of course, after finding a charger.

We were led to the University of Idaho campus, found one of 2 charging stations, plugged the bugger in, and walked around campus a bit to grab some photos and chow down while we waited about 2 hours for enough miles to get us to Steptoe Butte, our destination for the afternoon light.

Steptoe Butte is one of the highest points in the Palouse and offers you a 360 degree view of the entire region – rolling hills of every shade of pink and blue and green and yellow and brown as far as the eye can see.

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t cooperating with us fully – there was a deep haze on the horizon as rain-clouds were beginning to make their way to the region, so we only found about a 15-20 minute window where the sun broke through the clouds, allowing us to capture at least a few frames of the legendary contrasts that define this landscape.

As we rolled back to the cabin, we figured we’d just plug in at the crib and have a full ‘tank,’ in the morning to get us most of the way back to Portland. Our host, who drives a Nissan Leaf, another electric vehicle, left us a cord in the driveway. We plugged the bugger in and off to sleep we went.

We woke up refreshed and ready in the morning, but apparently the car, yet again, had other plans. Apparently we blew a fuse at the cabin instead. Granted, this wasn’t the car’s fault, but what it did mean was that we had no charge…so once again, we found ourselves at a charger behind a local motel, left the thing plugged in for a couple more hours to load up just enough juice to get us back to the nearest Supercharger in Kennewick on our ride back.

Thankfully, we made it with 21 miles to spare.

The remainder of the trip was without incident as we drove our way back along the Columbia River Gorge and back into Portland, arriving home sometime around midnight.

All in all, it was an adventure. There were certainly things – some good things, some bad things, some stupid things.

But ultimately, it was an experience. And for me, someone who bought a hybrid (a 2008 Nissan Altima) back when they were first beginning to appear on the market to help support the future of sustainable transportation, it was a test to see if I was ready to take that next step and go all-electric.

And I must admit, it pains me to write this as I have been, and still am, a major Tesla and electric car advocate, but after that experience, I’ll probably be pulling my Model 3 deposit until the infrastructure is a bit more stable and built out.

If I was using this just for a typical commute in a city from work to home and errands and short trips, or if I could afford to have two cars – one non-electric as a backup – no problem, but the nature of my work, which is photography, videography and virtual reality production, has me driving all over the place, often on long road trips such as the above, and right now, it’s just not practical for those purposes.

The infrastructure is not ready.

Granted, Tesla has vowed to install twice as many Superchargers this year and oil giants such as Exxon and Shell are buying electric car charing companies to begin installing their own charging networks across the country, but despite the incredible headway over the past half-decade in the space, there’s still a bit of time before it’s practical enough for long journeys and road trips, especially if you’re like me and like to get off the beaten path…

While I love Elon Musk and I’m still a HUGE fan of Tesla and the sustainable clean energy movement as a whole, this trip certainly demonstrated many of the limitations of driving an electric car in 2018 if planning on taking lots of road trips.

In the cities, you’re perfectly fine – you’re always within range of a charger (and a spare tire), but if you’re out of city limits, things begin to get more challenging.

And that’s fair.

Tesla’s barely a decade old, and what they’ve accomplished, wholly on their own, in that time frame, is nothing short of INSANE.

But at the very least Elon, for the love of Mars, please add a spare tire.

Please…

Until then…I think I’ll stick with my 2008 hybrid for a couple more years.

Anyhow, here’re a couple images from that trip. Hope you enjoy…

June 4, 2018
Guanajuato – Millions of Gallons of Happy

I hate dogs.

I’ve always hated dogs.

And if you were living with the trauma of being been bit by numerous dogs as a child, you’d hate dogs too.

So when a friend’s friend asked if I wanted to dog and house-sit for her, my immediate internal reaction was ‘NO chance!’

Then she threw a curveball – a Google Images link for ‘Guanajuato.’ This triggered my self-diagnosed compulsive wanderlust disorder (and unreasonable addiction to tacos) and my fingers found themselves frantically replying “YES ME!”

It was beyond my control.

Regardless, I was now faced with the reality of a stranger’s dog, in a foreign country, under my supervision and responsibility.

A half-week of self-pep talks, frantic Googling, revived attempts at meditation and Tony Robbins clips helped quell my nerves enough to reach out to a friend who happens to run a professional dog-training and sitting service. I asked him to draft a ‘How to Love Dogs for People Who Hate Dogs” handbook, to which he borderline-begrudgingly, yet thankfully, obliged.

48 hours later there was a ticket with my name on it from PDX to BJX.

I (think) I was ready.

When I landed, I was greeted by Mosa, the dog, and the wonderful woman whose house I’d be sitting, Miriam de Uriarte, an extremely prolific and well-decorated writer, poet and artist, who also founded the Berkley Child Art Studio during her time in the Bay Area. She has called Guanajuato home for the past 15 years, and there’s absolutely no wonder why.

If you’ve never heard of Guanajuato, upon first sight, your immediate reaction might be a quaint Spanish town was airdropped smack dab in the middle of Mexico, then carpet-bombed by millions of gallons of red, blue, orange, pink, purple, yellow, and green happy sauce!

Founded in 1558, this UNESCO World Heritage city has a rich mining history – at its height, over two thirds of the world’s silver came from the veins in these very hills, and with mining, came money.

Lots of money.

And with lots of money came ornate haciendas scattered amongst seductive theatres, fountains, churches and museums.

The colonial influence is inescapable, and with manicured tree-lined plazas dotted with courtyard cafés surrounded by centuries old rainbow-colored sandstone structures, conjoined by an endless matrix of cobblestone pathways, roadways and alleyways, why would you want to?

However, lots of colonial influence eventually led to lots of inequality.

And with lots of inequality came revolution.

And Guanajuato was ground zero for revolution – it was here the first battle in the Mexican War for Independence was fought.

The Monumento a el Pìpila, where the following 360˚ image was taken (if you scroll the picture around, you’ll see the statue of Juan José de los Reyes Martínez Amaro, better know as El Pipila, overlooking the city) pays homage to one of the heroes that led that battle.

Though its prime mining days have waned, the region’s draw has not. The old mining tunnels are now an impressive network of roadways beneath the city. There are tunnels upon tunnels leading to more tunnels that start new tunnels as each tunnel ends into a tunnel. Heck, even the river that used to run aboveground was diverted into…yup…a tunnel underneath the city.

What this does is help lessen the congestion of cars aboveground in the city, which is absolutely necessary being as the city is so old, most of the roads are of the small cobblestone variety that don’t exactly allow for most of today’s cars to even fit through them – they were designed for donkeys and small carriages and mining carts and such.

Regardless, that just adds to the charm of the modern-day version of Guanajuato, as this leaves most of the aboveground for walking.

In fact, when you arrive and first lay eyes upon her, the first, and only, thing you want to do is walk.

Every vibrant path, plaza, twist and turn just leads to another insanely stunning all of the above.

Each day, I would just drop myself off at some corner or plaza and just start…walking. It didn’t matter which direction and there was never a destination in mind, and that was the absolute beauty of it. Where you ended up wasn’t the goal, concern, focus, or even part of the plan. The best plan in Guanajuato is to have none, because you will discover something, somewhere, everywhere, all the time.

And if you happen upon something that you particularly like, chances are you’ll never find it again, so you better stop and grab that enchilada or torta or sopa or those zapatos or that shot or whatever it is that caught your eye (or other senses), for once you turn that corner and you find yourself in a whole other beautiful maze to navigate, that location will be long gone.

The colors, the charm, the aromas, the food, the food, the food. Oh my.

This was an absolute photographer’s, and curiosity seekers, and hopeless romantic’s paradise.

How Guanajuato isn’t a more popular destination absolutely blows my mind. At the same time, I’m hesitant myself to divulge the secret that is this gem simply for blowing its cover and contributing to turning it into something that it’s not. This is not only one of the most stunning destinations in Mexico, but one of the most beautiful locations on the planet. Period.

It’s as authentic as authentic gets, and if you’re not charmed by Guanajuato, have the carnitas. And if you’re still not charmed, then, well, you’re just not human and I simply don’t trust you.

Needless to say, the last thing I expected was for a dog to be the impetus that led me to one of the most beautiful destinations I’ve ever been.

Oh, by the way, did I mention, I love dogs…

A full gallery of images from the trip is above (including the lovely Mosa bidding me farewell…)

Here’s a panorama taken from the Monumento a el Pìpila (check this one out in full screen!):

And not to worry, a 360 video in virtual reality for Superswell VR is coming soon as well…

And for more nonsensical yehawwws and weeheewaas:
instagram: @wasimofnazareth
ello: @wasimofnazareth
google+: +WasimMuklashy

You my dawg Mosa!!

And if you enjoy these posts, please feel free to subscribe to my mailing list at top right of this page, and I’ll deliver each post to you as I publish them, and if you support the kind of work I’m doing and the things I’m sharing, please consider ‘subscribing to me’ on Patreon.com. Yup, subscribing to ‘me.’ You can even set the price. Literally, $1 per month if you want. No joke, I’m a poor bastard, so your little helps me a LOT.

April 2, 2018
Young Scientists Growing Up Early and Embracing Ecology

I walked into a 3rd grade classroom to hear them asking their teachers if they had to worry about being shot by guns. An hour later, I found myself joining the school in a walkout to protest gun violence.

The next class I walked into had a list on their TV of steps to take to identify ‘fake news.’

While I haven’t been in a third grade classroom in decades, I was pretty sure this was certainly not the 3rd grade I knew…

I was here to shoot photos for Ecology in Classrooms and Outdoors (ecologyoutdoors.org), a non-profit I’ve recently joing the board of that’s dedicated to connecting children to nature, especially minorities and those in under-served areas.

There are kids that live 15 minutes from the great Columbia River Gorge that have never been in a forest.

I KNOOOOOWWWWW!

This had to change.

And I wanted to help.

I needed to help.

So when I was asked to join the board, I jumped on the opportunity, and so far it’s been a wonderful experience.

After the gun questions and the fake news detection reminders, the ECO educator was introduced and the vibe of the classroom shifted immediately to one of celebration. The kids couldn’t contain themselves that it was ECO day. As for me? Knowing that these kids are getting excited about learning about nature and ecology was one of the most hopeful feelings I’ve ever felt. And when the educator, Betsy Lattig Boudreau, referred to them as scientists, and that galvanized their attention, my heart felt fuzzy and warm.

They were taught the differecnes between native and invasive species, the difference between organic and inorganic material, and were giving the opportunity to plant native trees in a children’s arboretum in town.

I was home!

Anyhow, I had the opportunity to join them on 3 sessions so far, 2 in the classroom, and one in the field with Friends of Trees, planting and learning about native trees in a habitat just outside of town.

There’s plenty more to come, including some 360 Virtual Reality video, but I couldn’t contain myself any longer…I had to share a few images of the happy!

Nevermind the temporary nonsense, the future is looking quite bright people…

If you’re jonesin’ for more yackadaggadoos and wabayabahoos:
instagram: @wasimofnazareth
ello: @wasimofnazareth
google+: +WasimMuklashy

And if you enjoy these posts and support what I’m doing in bring ecology and science to new generations, please feel free to subscribe to my mailing list at top right of this page, and I’ll deliver each post to you as I publish them, and if you support the kind of work I’m doing and the things I’m sharing, please consider ‘subscribing to me’ on Patreon.com. Yup, subscribing to ‘me.’ You can even set the price. Literally, $1 per month if you want. No joke, I’m a poor bastard, so your little helps me a LOT.

March 29, 2018