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Went to the San Francisco waterfront today to see the tall ships that were in for a few days. We went out for a 3 hour sail on the Tolafa. At the same time, the Lynx went out for the tour. This is the Lynx. By the way if you think that San Francisco is cold in the summer, go out on the bay near the Golden Gate. Chip was not happy because it blew off my head into the bay when the wind was really ripping.
Just for fun...
First, the winners of the Kodak National Park contest are in. See all the winners at National Parks website. There were over 11,000 entries. I did not win but feel honored to be a finalist.
As for the image, it is another from my outing to the partially demolished factory in Hercules. Chip gave thumbs down to the image in the previous entry but liked this one.
Today, Art Levit led our camera club expedition. Art has some beautiful and intriguing work of aged buildings and graffiti. Where I scout out landscape work, Art looks for interesting and nearly extinct buildings. We went to Hercules to visit an old gunpowder(?) factory that was being actively demolished as we were worked. I was anxious to go on the field trip and anxious that I would not make any interesting images. After getting home and reviewing, I feel creatively charged and am anxious to try further images in this genre. Thanks Art!
This is my one of my first vertical panoramas. The stitching program has errors merging but I think that adds to the abstractness of the image. Therefore, I consider the errors a happy accident. You will probably see more of these types of images on my blog.
The base shot was of multi-colored ornamental grass. I arrived about 20 minutes to early to my hair appointment. I played around with shooting threw my car window.
I am trying to become more comfortable taking photos in public. I have mainly taken nature shots where I am out in the park and have it mainly to myself. I have still not moved up to taking any candid people shots. I am inching up to it I guess. It did not help when Chip and I went to movies together. We were waiting in line for a move in the lobby. Chip wanted a shot of a movie poster (long story). I take out the little Canon S1 and shoot one pic no flash. About 5 minutes later, I am confronted by a security guard and teenage theater manager. They tell me that the camera is not allowed in the theater and must be turned over or taken outside. So out I go feeling like a criminal.
This is the wall at one of our favorite Chinese restaurants, Yan Can. It has been fairly heavily manipulated.
This is a follow-up to my write-up about my Photo San Francisco visit. After deciding on attending on Sunday, I noticed that there was a panel discussion about publishing your own photography book. There were four panelists...
Here are the points that I picked up...
Greens is a vegetarian restaurant located at Fort Mason. My friend, Nona, says that Greens is so good that she became a vegetarian after a visit. I popped in for a small cup of black bean chili. It was excellent. Sometime, I will bring Chip and sit down for a real meal. The restaurant has a clear view of Chrissy Field and the Golden Gate Bridge. This is a view of their kitchen's window and yes it was fiddled.
A grab shot while walking into Photo San Francisco at Fort Mason. This is the marina located next to the fort. I did fiddle the shot with a Photoshop cross-processing filter just to give a little more pop.
As I went around the corner, I was greeted by this sight. Only in San Francisco....
Today, I drove up into the city to attend Photo San Francisco. I was a little nervous driving by myself because I am incapable of parallel parking. Fortunately, there was plenty of head-in parking available. The event was held at Fort Mason.
Here are the highlights of the show for me...
I am a subscriber to Lens Work Extended. I look forward to browsing through the portfolios and listening to the commentary by Brooks Jensen. The cover of this issue is a gorgeous black and white landscape by Stu Levy. However the extended version includes his portfolio of grid portraits. I found them mesmerizing. They are 20+ individual images forming a portrait of the person in their environment, usually an artist. In most, Stu can be seen lurking somewhere in the background. The best web images that I can find are too small to really appreciate but here is an idea. See grid portraits.
His grid images are fascinating and I think that I am going to try them in my landscape work just for fun.
After a bad work week, last week, and a bad start to this week, I decided to fiddle an image. This is a lens baby shot of blooming sorrel taken a month or so ago. Not very exciting shot by itself so I just started fiddling. Not sure why everything is going orange lately.
Last nite, I attended a presentation by Robert Buelteman about his new photographic work called 'Through the Green Fuse'. The green fuse images are surreal and magical. The write-up said he suddenly found himself tired of black and white landscape photography and gave up the camera, lens and computer to make these images. Wow! That is all my favorite things about photography.
Before, I describe his process please review the portofolio. Let your imagination run wild about how these images were made.
Continue reading "Robert Buelteman - Through the Green Fuse" »
One more from Sunol on Saturday nite. Chip did not like this one but I did. I will admit that I like the color version better.
Found this one taken last month at Little Yosemite. The sharpness was not as good as I would have hoped.
Just playing arount with my tiger lily shot from Berkeley Botanical gardens. Wanted it to look scuffed up and textured.
Trying out making the mid-tones much darker. Think it gives a more painterly feel. For this shot, tried with and without the tree branch arcing over the top. Decided for the tree branch version for now.
After the terrible events of this week, I think my friend, Nona, has the right idea. "Practice acts of non violence everyday."
One more from my 4th of July mini-vacation.
One more from last nite's Sunol adventure. I spent quite a time on this one deciding how to crop. Not sure if it is perfect yet but better. If you are wondering, the orange color in the water is reflection from the browned up hillsides that was cropped out.
To celebrate the last of my four day weekend, went out to Sunol by myself for a quick visit. Tonite, decided to crawl around under the bridge. The grasses were beautiful and I will have to return.
One more that is similar to my recent work...
Chip and I went to the Alameda County Fair today to see the photo exhibit. We arrived just when the fair opened. No crowds and not too hot yet. It was interesting to compare Marin's photo exhibit to Alameda's. I Found that I liked the selected entries much better in Alameda versus Marin County. Chip agreed and noted that there were far more sold pieces at the Alameda County Fair. Did make a mistake though -- wore my shoes without socks and promptly developed two big blisters on my heels. Doh!
Chip and I had plans to go out to the coast with the dogs for the holiday. Unfortunately, Bocifus developed a very upset stomach. Instead, we went out without the dogs to Sunol. Already the water level in Alameda creek has fallen significantly so that I can wade out to the middle of the creek. I had a difficult time deciding how to crop. I was looking for controlled eye movement that I learned in the Michael Seewald workshops.
Here is one more shot from the Berkeley Botanical gardens, a Matilija poppy. For this one, I needed three hands. One to hold the flower given the slight breeze. Another hand to hold the reflector to reduce the harsh light, and a third hand to trip the shutter.
Even though I was leaving, I stopped for the tiger lily...
After second workshop with Michael Seewald, I returned home with a refresher on the fundamentals of composition. I would describe Michael's composition as restful flow. His images encourage the viewer's eye to look around the image over and over again with places to rest that avoids visual confusion.
Photoshop Tip: To visualize the rule of thirds in Photoshop, use the Edit | Preferences | Guides, Grids & Slices command. Select gridline every 33.33% with 1 subdivision. Show the grids using the View | Show | Grid command. Now, your image (no matter how cropped) has a grid showing the rule of thirds.
One more shot from the Marin county fair. Taken while riding the Ferris wheel. Just for fun. Happy 4th of July.
After visiting the fair and riding the ferris, we sat down on the edge of the lagoon and waited for the fireworks. I had fun handholding the camera and trying for the fireworks.
Once the fireworks was over, the real adventure started...
One more image from the Marin County fair. Turns out that your ticket into the fair lets you ride the Ferris wheel. I cannot remember the last time that I rode a Ferris wheel. It was a kick.
Went up tonite for the opening of the Marin County Fair with Aphra. We both had photos accepted into the fair but did not know how they placed. Turns out that you have to go to the fair to find out. Aphra had an Honorable Mention and I had no ribbons. It is fun to see all the types of photography and broaden my horizons.
This image marks a new category. I bought a small Canon S1 to carry in my purse. These are fun shots using full auto mode and no tripod. This shot was taken from the ferris wheel and overlaid with an earlier shot when there was more light.
Took a photo workshop this weekend in Carmel with Michael Seewald. While walking to class, to this doorway shot and then fiddled it at home.
