I'm sitting in on Ovidiu's session on Cocoon control flow at ApacheCon, being a bit tired after a wonderful morning. My phone rang at 4AM in the morning, it was that same Ovidiu inviting me for a sunrise trip to Red Rock Canyon, a 20 miles drive outside Vegas. We left the hotel around 4:30, grabbing some coffee and snacks along our way. We arrived at the Valley a little bit early, the gates only opening at 6AM, so we went back to a lookout place to snap pictures of the rising sun illuminating the canyon mountains.
After that, we went driving onto the Scenic Drive, a 15 mile scenery-viewing tour along the mountains of which the canyon is composed of. Plenty of pictures, beautiful scenery, a great way to start the day. Then, we hiked to the Calico Tanks, a ridge with natural water tanks providing an extra-ordinary view on Vegas and its surroundings. We got there after about an hour, and enjoyed the view for quite some time, also to give Ovidiu plenty of time to goof around with all his photo gear. You name it, he's got it: lenses, adapters, a body (camera, that is) to die for... We took a lot of pictures, also talked about all sorts of things people talk about when getting back to basics, in a beautiful natural setting. Ovidiu and I have met each other now only two times, and we live many time zones apart, but still there's a sense of connectedness, feeling relaxed and sharing a common mindset. Great fun, leaving an afterglow in your mind.
After hiking back, we drove some more along the Scenic Drive, where I finally discovered some network coverage (no wonder I had some issues with that, being 'out there') and I had a heart-warming phone call with wife and kids - my baby-daughter actually saying 'daddy' on the phone for the first time (she says it all the time, against everybody, but never did so when I had her on the phone).
This was a truly wonderful morning, a great way to start the last day of my short stay in the US. Rough, unsorted pics can be found here. Thanks, Ovidiu.
You're more than welcome, thanks for coming along! It was a great start of the day, that's for sure.
If I were to mention the most essential accessory in my collection, I would say is the tripod and the head that goes on top of it. Without them, any lens or camera body that you've got are not used at their full potential.
Yes, I envy you ;-)
I met Ovidiu just once last year, and experienced the same "connected neurons" feeling, the two of us instantly becoming familiar. Great feeling, great guy.
Add me to the list :). Ovidiu was kind enough to take me on a tour of Silicon Valley and Google when I was over there for OSCON this year. A great day and a great guy. BUT: He definately lives in the WRONG time zone :-).