Farewell, Endeavour
Last Friday, those of us in SF were lucky enough to witness the end of an era as the space shuttle Endeavour passed by on its farewell flight to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. A fairly large crowd took a chance with the looming fog and gathered near the summit of Twin Peaks to catch a glimpse of the shuttle as it looped over the Bay Area on its 747 transport. Arriving around 9:30, I found a nice sheltered spot with a friendly crowd of photographers, families, and enthusiasts from all over the bay area, sharing stories while we watched the skies for the shuttle’s appearance. Around 10:30, we caught a first sight as it passed over the East Bay far in the distance, eventually looping back to make two leisurely circles over the City and the Golden Gate Bridge, providing plenty of photo ops along the way. Twin Peaks was a bit far from the bridge for the perfect photo, but there was no better place to be as the shuttle emerged from the fog behind the hill, prompting an outburst of “ooohs” and applause from the crowd gathered at the summit. Another once in a lifetime opportunity, found in SF.
Leaving My Impression in the Light, If Only to Prove I Was Here
Just a photo of the shadow I left on the wall when I stopped to take a photo of my shadow… My shadow has been missing from the streets lately. Life keeps me busy, figuring out this website keeps me busy, the day job keeps me busy, but it’s good busy. I’m in the midst of shaking up my routine again, though, and the City calls to me. I should be back out there with the camera soon. 🙂
Wouldn’t Fit in the Carry-On
OK, so this shot is from a recent trip to Hawaii. Not quite SF, but it’s got all the man-made decaying goodness I love, so I’ll go ahead and put it firmly in the “anywhere” category. Send me to paradise, and this is what I’ll be excited to find.
This has to be HDR manipulated, right? How often do you see foreground objects lit this well against a still-lit sky? Believe it or not, I still generally dislike cartoonish HDR effects, and this has only been through some light contrast and shadow/highlight adjustments in Lightroom. It turns out that this light can be found almost every evening on the Kona side of Hawaii as the sun goes down. The land here is lit brightly by the setting sun, while the sky is darkened by the vog, volcanic smog, coming from Kilauea to the west, creating a light balance that I haven’t come across elsewhere. If it weren’t for the fact I only had a week on the island and a lot I wanted to see, I’d have been out wandering this coast shooting abandoned things every evening.
High Above
Hello again! It’s been a little while since I’ve posted here. Once I had this page set up, I decided I’d rather take it in a slightly different direction and have some galleries to go with the photoblog layout. Unfortunately, my lack of coding knowledge, along with a bit of traveling, has slowed that process a bit. It’s getting close to being functional, but there’s still some things left for me to figure out. In the meantime, I figured I’d resume with some posts here.
This one was taken from the window of an airplane bound for Hawaii back in May. We had some great fog that day, and I had the good fortune of being on the right side of the aircraft for a nice view. Airplane windows are a bit tricky to shoot from, but I got a fairly clean window (possibly because they just pulled our jet fresh out of the hanger after the baggage carriers damaged our first one by accidentally ramming it with a baggage cart), and with a fair amount of contrast adjustment, was able to get this shot of the City emerging from the fog.
Synergy
This one resulted from a little inspiration and a lot of luck. I have a tendency these days to get places early and wander around taking photos while I wait for everyone else to show up. It’s my little way of both scheduling some time for photography, and making sure I incorporate new locations into my shots. This one was from a wander around Union Square a little while back. It had recently rained, leaving some nice little puddles behind. I’ll admit, I have a small addiction to reflections. They catch my eye and I’m compelled to take a shot or two. It’s really not such a bad addiction to have, in the grand scheme of things…well, as long as I don’t eventually drop the camera in one of these puddles. Plus, there’s the added bonus of people staring at me like I’m crazy, as this fellow did.
I’ve gotten a pretty good sense of what I can get in frame with my 50mm lens without using the viewfinder. So for this one, I basically just held it close to the water, where I thought I had a decent shot, and snapped a photo when the cab came into frame. Somehow I managed to align things just right and hold the camera still for the exposure. Sometimes it just takes a little luck.
It’s Lonely at the Top
A quiet night at the top of Market Street. I had this shot in mind for a long time, but it turns out that this little chunk of Market Street is blocked by Twin Peaks and rarely gets fogged in. I lucked out on this night, noticing the fog on my way home. I had to grab the gear and run up for some photos before it passed. After 15 minutes of wandering and taking photos, I came home with this shot, along with soggy clothes and a soaked camera…
The Quickest Way To Market Street
Just take this corner faster than 15 MPH. You’ll be down there before you know it.
I spotted this scene on a late night wander up to the top of Twin Peaks when I had to hop over the guardrail to avoid being hit by a car in the dark. Lucky me, I ended up in a nice spot.
Market & 4th & Stockton & Ellis
Is it weird that I have a favorite parking garage in SF? Is it weirder that I’m not sure if I’ve ever actually parked here? I just like the view.
Taken from the top of my favorite garage on a long weekend walk through SF. I set off from home carrying way too much SLR equipment and the iPhone, looking for some new photographic inspiration. Several miles and many neighborhoods later, I think I came up about even between SLR photos and iPhone shots that I liked.
I’ve been digging into the iPhone photos quite a bit in the last few months, mostly as a result of finishing up a 365 project last year and my back needing a break from lugging the SLR everywhere. It’s proven to be a great backup camera and complement to my other equipment. I’ll be posting more iPhone photos soon, and I’ll try to go into a bit more detail about the ups and downs of mobile photography then.
Caught in the Rain
I keep telling myself that someday I’ll invest in an bigger umbrella that can keep both my camera and myself dry at the same time. This night, a choice was necessary. Being far more valuable that myself, the camera won out. I got this shot in a heavy downpour, shortly before my umbrella became saturated, but long after my shoes became sponges. The camera came out just fine, though I think it took me all weekend to get my body temperature back to normal.
More rain is on the way, and I’m still rockin’ the same tiny umbrella, so you’ll probably be able to find me somewhere out there in the city one of these evenings. Look for the soggy guy with a camera.
Shiny Things
Just out testing my new 8-16mm lens by basically putting it, with the camera, into a puddle. It seemed like a good idea at the time…
I spotted this puddle along the Embarcadero, and thought it would be fun to see how much of the Raygun Gothic Rocketship I could fit into a reflection. To my surprise, the whole thing fit, but the angle on the water at the widest edge is steep enough that I lose the reflection. At first glance it felt too busy, but this one has grown on me the more I look at it, and seems to be best in larger sizes.
Follow
