Suspicious

I forgot which film camera I used to take this. Gail found this picture in a stack of old photographs. I remember that I saw an unknown cat in our backyard eyeing me suspicioiusly. So I had to grab a camera to take a shot of it. I have not seen it since that day, so he must have just been passing through. This is scanned from the print.

--Warren

Photoshop 80-20 Rule

Hi everyone! This isn't the most exciting photo, I know, but the reason I'm posting it at all is to let you know that I posted a Photoshop/Photoshop Elements tip on my blog that you might like to take a look at.

It includes a short and easy set of steps that I do on just about every photo that I edit in Photoshop. I wanted to let you know in case it might be helpful to anyone in the group.

-- SteveR

Future Dentist

We're having a string of rainy days here, and my film scanner is still disconnected. So I'm looking in my archives for something to post. This series of 3 shots is from my volunteer coverage of the Chinatown Health Fair last October. One of the exhibits was for kids to learn about dentistry. This boy showed a great interest.

I was using my Nikon F4s, Tamron 24-135mm, SB-28 flash for outdoor fill, and cheap print film. The images were transferred to photoCD by Kodak. I think Kodak did a superior job on their CD transfer.

--Warren



Grandma lends a hand:


Unfortunately, this shot was not in sharp focus, but I hope the kids' expressions made up for it:

Urban Renewal

I saw this building near work being demolished near the intersection of Gough and Market and it reminded me of the urban renewal projects back in the 1970s. It was a dash of nostalgia along with a little bit of hope and apprehension for the future. In this pic, old buildings are being ripped down, and in their place there is going to be a set of condos. When I saw the condos for sale sign, I also wondered about affordable housing for people who wouldn't be able to afford these new condos.

Eric

Kirkham Cat

This is a photo of Kirkham Cat. I don't know my pal's real name if he/she has one, but since it lives on Kirkham St., I call it Kirkham Cat. As good a name as any I guess. One day on a walk, I saw my bud on a fence just lazing the day away. Other times, the cat just wants to play and doesn't want you to go.

I hope Kirkham is OK. I haven't seen it around in a while.

Eric

Golden Gate Park's hot house

This house of flowers in GGP is a really cool place and I wanted to catch a photo of it this afternoon. If you like plants, this is one place to check out. It's very cool.

I tried the sepia effect in Picasa just to try and give it an old time San Francisco look.

Eric

Welcome to Star Wars

I was walking home from work and I went thru Golden Gate Park to check out the new DeYoung Museum. What a wild place. It looks just like something out of Star Wars. I remember seeing it a few months back right before the opening and I thought the same thing. This is a nice addition to Golden Gate Park. Across the way, the new Steinhart Aquarium is under construction and I'm sure that's going to be pretty nice, too.

I've lived in this city since 1982, and I just can't get over how nice it is. No
place is perfect, though SF is close.

Eric

Chinese Pavilion

Nikon D100, Nikkor 85mm f1.8D

This is undoubtedly a highly photographed sight at Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park. I wanted to make this version look like a vintage shot (even though it is actually digital).

--Warren

Feb Project -- The Proposal

Our son Ben and I visited New York City this past Saturday, and as usual, we went into Central Park by the boat lake.

As we stopped for a minute at a rustic little pavilllion, I glanced up at Bow Bridge and saw something that looked... unusual. Three people walked to the middle of the bridge, placed themselves in a line along one side, and lifted violins to their shoulders. "Hey, something's about to happen!" I called to Ben.

And something indeed did happen - one of those amazing New York moments. A young man and woman walked, arm-in-arm, onto the bridge, and the musicians started playing the theme from Love Story. We ran to the west end of the bridge and watched the man go down on one knee and propose. Wow. I got a little fahrklempt, I can tell you. I think I left a tear or two on the eyepiece of my camera as I took this photo.

Sylvan Loop Trail, Edgewood Park, Redwood City, CA

Voigtlander Bessa R, VC Skopar 35mm f2.5, Kodak Max 400, Scanned from a print

We went hiking yesterday at Edgewood Park. That's Gail in the distance, walking "into the light" at the end of the tree cover.

--Warren

Sale Rack

Fed 2, Industar-26M 50mm f2.8, Kodak Max 400, Scanned from a print

--Warren

Foggy Dog Walk

Nikon D100

--WT

Soaring Raptor

Nikon D100

--WT

Van Ness St. Station

When coming home from work yesterday, I was able to catch the MUNI subway station in a quiet moment. Even as a kid, I loved riding the subways in Boston. The excitement of the crowds, the movement of the trains, and wonders of modern day transportation still give me a thrill.

Eric

SF on a Rainy Day

It's been rather rainy these past few days in San Francisco, so while Genie went to the Sports Basement, I went to see what I could see. I caught some trees near Crissy Field.

Eric

Miss Chinatown 2006

Nikon D100

Okay, let's move that dingy alley picture down the page a little.

As promised, here's a picture of Miss Chinatown sitting on a throne fit for a queen.

--Warren

Window to Inner Chinatown

Nikon D100

Another image from the alley.

--Warren

Cocoon

Nikon D100, Nikkor 85mm f1.8D

This is a Chinese lion in its plastic shipping cocoon, waiting to be awakened and brought to life by its dancers.

I saw this lion's head all by its lonely self, on the ground in a corner of the same alley from my previous picture post. It had a luggage tag on it from SFO, which told me that it had just arrived in town, apparently just in time for the parade.

--WT

Drill Team!

Nikon D100

I think this is the Lowell High School Drill Team. They followed the Galileo and Balboa teams near the front of the parade.

This group looked like they were having fun.

--Warren

At the Parade

At the Chinese New Year Parade on Market Street.

Happy Valentine's Day

Nikon D100

I hope you're all having a good day.

This picture is from May 2003. Dolph and I visited the Filoli Gardens in San Mateo, one day on an extended lunch hour.

I had my D100 for just a few months, and Dolph was using his newly acquired Olympus digicam (Dolph uses a Nikon D70 now).

Hey, this month's theme seems to be more of a challenge than the previous month. Is anyone still trying to shoot more? We're only half way through Feb., I think I'll be trying for a few more.

--Warren

Striking a Pose

Nikon D100

A Chinese Opera actor in full costume strikes a pose on one of the parade floats.

--Warren

Spectator Sparkler

Nikon D100

A parade spectator has some fun with a sparkler.

--Warren

Dragons Galore

We have not been to a Chinese New Year Parade in many years. There seem to be a LOT more dragons in the parade than I remember from years past.

For this year, I decided to bring my D100 with just one lens, the 85mm f1.8D. I also brought my Bessa RF loaded with some ISO 400 color print film. I was hoping to be able to shoot some available light stuff, but there was not enough light available after the sun went down :).

I tried bumping up the ISO on the D100 for the initial shots, but I didn't like the noise levels. Over the course of the parade, I played with various ISO and exposure settings. Luckily by the time GUM LUNG (golden dragon) came by as the grand finale, I had my settings pretty much worked out.

--Warren

Pictures follow:






GUM LUNG is the traditional grand finale at the end of the parade:

Optical 88

OK, first you guys were killing me with your beautiful beach photos... next you're killing me with your great Chinatown pictures!

I had to get into the act somehow :-), so I dug into my archives. This photo is from August 2004, taken in New York's Chinatown on a beautiful summer Saturday. I took the shot with my Digital Rebel, in color, of course, but seeing it on my computer a week later, it looked like it would be better as B&W. But that red awning just had to stay!

I used a "hue and saturation" adjustment layer in Photoshop Elements 2 and "painted over" the red parts of the awning. Then I used the Saturation slider to desaturate the photo - the parts that were masked by "painting over" stayed unaffected, while removing the color from the rest of the image.

All this makes me very nostalgic about getting back to NYC - Chinatown and Little Italy, situated right next to each other across Canal Street, are both full of great photo opportunities as well as very nice people!

Father and Son Candid , Chinatown Street Fair

Nikon D100, Nikkor 85mm f1.8D

A father and son enjoy the sights and sounds of the Chinese New Year Street Fair.

--Warren

Chinatown Alley Scene

Nikon D100, Nikkor 85mm f1.8D

We were walking around at the Chinese New Year Street fair when I noticed a side alley. Every few minutes, an elderly Chinese person would walk into the alley. The light was fading, so I wanted to get a shot before it was too late.

--WT

An Old Brick Building

Last Sunday, I returned to the old army warehouse at Crissy Field to see what I could see. Again, it was a bright day. The weather was beautiful.

I really enjoy looking at the shapes and patterns that buildings make. Good designers can create not only outstanding buildings, but some beautiful living areas. I need to travel to Marin sometime to go check out the city hall that Frank Lloyd Wright created. I heard it was very interesting. I don't know how well built it was, however. One example of some great design is San Francisco's Embarcadero. The designers and builders did one heck of an excellent job. The wave of urban improvement that began in Baltimore in the 80's and spread to Boston (like the Faneuil Hall Market Place) finally had it's impact on SF.

As I continue with my participation on this website, I am beginning to see things differently again. I used to see things differently, but as time went by, I lost it. It's probably because I didn't take so many photos. By just taking the time to take photos, you cannot help but start to see things differently.

Well, that's it.

Eric

St. Valentine's Day

I bought some flowers for Genie and one afternoon, I just wanted to take a few pix of them. Something seemed to come out of the little session I had, & I just wanted to post it in keeping with this month's theme.

I don't do too much with color, and I did some messing around with this in the HP software that came with my laptop.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Eric

Hilltop Habitat

Nikon D100

This is from our Bollinger Canyon hike. Fog was rolling in from the right by the time we got to this hilltop around sunset(our destination). We think the bird was a golden eagle, but we didn't get a close enough view of it to be sure. I saw an interesting pattern of wires and I only had a split second to catch the eagle in the scene.

--Warren

Conversations at a Bustop

I was walking by San Francisco's City Hall last week and caught these two women having a conversation at a bustop. The area near the corner of Van Ness and Fell Streets provide some interesting shadows during lunchtime.

I also reduced the brightness on my new laptop to see what my postings would look like on the website. So, I am going to post this and check it out tomorrow at work. After talking to a friend of mine who's a photo journalist for a paper in Rhode Island, after exchanging emails with Warren, and after talking to a guy at work who has his own website, I think that the brightness on my laptop may have been throwing off my postings.

Anyway, here it is. The moment of truth arrives tomorrow morning.

Eric

More photos from Golden Gate Park

Here's another shot of tourists fooling around in front of the waterfall.

Feb Project - Quiet Moment

I made this photo last year at Stow Lake. One second exposure with a 300mm lens on Kodak Tri-X film.

Feb. Project -- Lovers' View

Fed 2D, I-26M 50mm, Kodak Max 400, Scanned from a print

Seen at Stow Lake, Golden Gate Park.

--Warren

Do Cameras Have Soul?

Or maybe people just have affinities for certain cameras, and less so with others?

After a fun filled weekend shooting my ancient, almost-50 years old Fed 2D (or 2E, depending on which resource page you believe), I started thinking about why I like it so much. If you compare its features to my modern Voigtlander Bessa R, you would think that the Bessa R would be much more pleasurable to use.

The Fed has a tiny viewfinder eyepiece. The view through the finder is small, and there are no framelines, it shows only the 50mm view, and is not parallax compensated. It has a knob for film winding, and is built like a Russian tractor, rough but serviceable (not that I really know how Russian tractors are built). It's I-26M 50mm lens has clean glass, but the non-click stopped aperture ring is sloppy, and the focus helicals are stiff from coagulated grease that is probably as old as the camera.

The Bessa R, on the other hand, is a thoroughly modernized version of a classic RF camera. It has built in framelines for a number of focal lengths. Its viewfinder is large and bright. It has a built-in lightmeter. While the body is plastic, its feels is decent, and build quality is decent. It also sports a real film advance lever, a hinged back, and a rewind crank (vs. the small rewind knob on the Fed).

For some reason, I "connect" more with the Fed than the Bessa despite all of the Fed's shortcomings that I listed above. Maybe in time, I will, but as of now, I have not warmed up to the Bessa even though it is perfectly competent as a camera.

For me, part of my enjoyment of photography, besides making nice pictures, is using and owning equipment that I like. Cameras that look good, and feel good in the hand are important.

The Fed, and to a slightly lesser extent, my Zorki-4, give me a great deal of shooting pleasure. Maybe part of the reason is because they are so simple and direct that it brings photography back to its simple, fundamental elements. There is no need to worry about white balance, exposure displays, motor drives, focus points, histograms, blown highlights, battery levels, etc...

All you have is a compact box to hold the film, with a decent lens, from which you can adjust the 3 variables that really matter, focus, shutter speed, and aperture, and beyond that, just concentrate on the scene at hand, and how to capture it best with what you have.

Your thoughts?

--Warren

Photos:

Now that Gail is armed and dangerous with her Sony DSC-P72, we're going to see more pictures like this one of me taking a picture of Clarissa with my Fed 2D in Chinatown:



Here's the shot: (Fed 2D, I-26M 50mm f2.8, Kodak Max 400, Scanned from a print)

Shedding a Little Light on Eric's "Father & Children" Photo...

Hi Eric - I hope you don't mind me taking the liberty of playing a bit with your photo - I just used "Picassa" software, which you can download free from Google - it actually doesn't do a bad job in a lot of cases, and it might be useful for you until you get a fancier piece of software.

Anyway, Picassa has a "fill light" control - a little slider that you can move and see the effect before applying it to the image. I used that control plus the "sharpen" tool

What do you think??

Best regards,
SteveR

Aztec Carvings in Los Angeles 

Sunspot

Nikon D100, Nikkor 85mm f1.8D

Seen on one of the rolling lawns at Golden Gate Park. It sure is a nice way to relax on a nice Sunday afternoon.

--Warren

Ace Scrabble Team

This is a photo of Genie (my wife), Gail (Genie's sister) and Warren while we were playing Scrabble on Saturday nite. We all saw this photo and cracked up! I was going to take the hanger out of Warren's head, but I didn't want to wait and play with the pic. I had to post it. I hope you folx get a laugh out of it, too!

Eric