Ears

Nikon D100

Taken in Sonoma on our weekend trip up there with some friends.

--Warren

300 E. Lombard

On the way to work today, I passed by this view of 300 E. Lombard - I hadn't seen it from this side before and liked the pattern made by the curved facade of the building.

I made a number of photos of this building back in December. It stands out (to me, anyway) as a really good example of modern high-rise architecture among the otherwise mostly dull skyline of Baltimore.

Don't Know How Lucky You Are, Boy...

OK, I couldn't resist after Eric mentioned May Day!

Here is a portrait of me when I was known as Comrade Stoisha, back in my Glorious Commie Camera days.

I'm going to try hard this weekend to mark the occassion of May Day by putting actual film into one of my actual film (Commie) cameras and talking some non-digital photos.

My plan is to use my little digital camera the way the pros used to use "Polaroid backs" in the old days - to set up and evaluation the shot, then take it using film.

BTW, that was my original thought on the way I'd be using our first digital camera, a Canon A40 2MP P&S model that we bought in Sep 2002. I used it that way for about 2 days, until I found that it actually made very good images on its own.

Volvo Ocean Race Comes to Baltimore

The first of several impressive sailing ships arrived in Baltimore yesterday, celebrating the Volvo Ocean Race.

This beauty is the Cisne Branco (White Swan), a ship of the Brazil Navy. At 253 feet (76 m) long and 154 feet (46.4 m) and fully rigged with 31 sails, it looks like something built in the 1800's. Actually, although it was inspired by the design of late-19th Century clipper ships, it was built just six years ago in Amsterdam.

Another photo from my Canon A620, which I make sure is in my backpack as I leave for work every morning.

Trailside Portrait -- Andrew & Dad

Voigtlander Bessa R, Jupiter-8 50mm f2, Tri-X

Finally!!! I got my Nikon Coolscan LS-30 film scanner working again! I abandoned trying to use the NikonScan software and instead, purchased Vuescan which works beautifully. I have a ton of Tri-X shots that are waiting to be scanned and posted, and this is the first one of the bunch.

Gail and I went for a hike at Huddart Park in San Mateo, and we crossed paths on a wooded trail with this cute little boy and his father. I was shooting my Bessa rangefinder with my Russian 50mm f2 (Jupiter 8). As I mentioned before, I really like the characteristics of this lens.

--Warren

May Project Theme Decision Needed

April is almost over, we need to decide on some themes for the upcoming months.

Please let everyone know your choices.

The themes that are on currently in contention are:

- People at Work
- Decisive Moment
- Self Portrait
- Animals
- People in Love
- Joy vs. Sorrow
- Lines

Gail and I are going on vacation in May, so I may not be able to post anything until mid to late May, but I'll most certainly be shooting lots of pictures!

My choices are:

May -- People at Work
June -- Joy vs. Sorrow (this is a challenge, but should be fun)
July -- ???

--Warren

Friendly Street Cat (Burlingame, CA)

Nikon D100, Tamron 24-135mm

This friendly, furry cat kept following me, wanting to get its belly rubbed.

--Warren

Views at a Railroad Stop

This image is of a mural at the railroad stop in Natick. I thought it was kind of fun and wanted to get a shot of it.


















I was waiting for my train to Boston (to catch a bus to NY) at the same stop when I snapped this image. I liked the shadows on the wall and the angles created by the shadows and structures. There were a bunch of regular commuters wondering what the heck I found interesting in the bridge.

Eric

The Atlantic Coast

This is a picture of the Atlantic off the coast of Rhode Island. It was a gorgeous day. The coast is so different from what we have here in CA but it's just as beautiful.

Eric

Crocuses - Sure Signs of Spring in New England

While I was walking around my parents' neighborhood, I spied some crocuses popping out of the ground. These are great flowers that we don't have here in the San Francisco area. I was thinking of planting some in my yard, but I believe they require the cold as a part of their initial growth. Oh well, they are one of the treats I get to see when I go back East.

Eric

Springtime in Brooklyn

While visiting with my friend, Keith, in Brooklyn, we went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. I got a couple of shots of the Japanese Garden.













These trees were looking pretty nice to say the least. The flowers were so white, it seemed like they were glowing.

Eric

Springtime in Rhode Island in the Day

Genie (my wife) and my friend, Kris, were checking out a shop in Warwick, RI and I stayed outside to enjoy the day. I took this shot outside the store.

Eric

Springtime in NY at Night

After a great dinner in NY's Chinatown with my aunt and my buddy, Keith Sera, and going to a jazz nightclub in Greenwich Village, Keith and I were walking around Manhattan and I took this image. I haven't the slightest idea where we were.

Eric

Photo-Ops Walking To & From Work...

Bringing my little Canon A620 with me to work every day is getting to be a lot of fun now that I'm on an assignment in downtown Baltimore. I'm always swiveling my head, looking up and down everywhere as I go the 3/4 mile between the Light Rail station and the office.

Here's a photo of 250 W. Pratt Street, caddy-corner from where I get off of the Light Rail. This 24-floor building by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is one of the few really attractive modern structures among the Baltimore skyline.
On the other hand, the building that's reflected in the water here is one that I never tire of making fun of - World Trade Center Baltimore. Unfortunately, WTCB, built in 1968, sits right on the edge of the Inner Harbor, so you can't ignore it and hope it will go away. It's a boring design that also has aged poorly, kind of a high-rise slum.

On the other hand, reflections of WTCB can be quite nice, especially if they are distorted - the distortions add interest to the otherwise yawn-provoking design.

While I was waiting for the Light Rail to take me back home this afternoon, today's Orioles game was letting out from the ballpark at Camden Yards, right next to the rail stop. It was a nice opportunity for some street photography, and my best shot of the day was of these two very loyal Orioles fans. By the way, the Birds won today 9-4 over Cleveland.


The last few shots of the day were "fisheye" images of the wide-angle mirror at the Light Rail stop. I had taken some of these last fall, but yesterday I noticed that the southbound track, the one I take going home, had a more interesting view.

In this image, you can see 250 W. Pratt Street on the left and the Bromo Tower on the right.

... and at bottom center, you can see your intrepid East Coast correspondent using a highly unorthodox camera-hold technique.

(It's hard to see in the photo, but the flip-out-and-swivel LCD on the Canon A620 allows me to hold the camera high over my head, level or even pointing downward, and still see exactly what I'm looking at on the LCD.)

Apr. Project -- American Blossoms

Nikon D100

So, has eveyone forgotten about this month's project?

I took this recently during a walk in Burlingame, CA.

--Warren

A Chinese Laundry

The Lee Family owned this laundry in Natick. Some of you may know my friend, Victor Lee, but it was a different Lee family. This was a real old time family and how they decided upon Natick in which to settle is beyond me. I never knew Mr. Lee for he died long before I was born, but I knew Mrs. Lee and she was a great person. When my grandmother came to the house (from Boston), Mrs. Lee either came by or we took my grandma to see Mrs. Lee. It was really neat to sit and listen to them talk. During the Lunar New Year, Mrs. Lee would also bring us all kinds of goodies, too. She's long gone now, and her daughter runs the laundry. This is a true bit of Americana. I never really thought much about it until this posting, but places such as this are what helped shape America.

Further Images of Small Town America

I wanted to show you guys the downtown area of Natick, MA. The area you see now is the commons in the middle of town. The monument in the middle was built as a memorial to the Civil War vets. Natick is about 20 miles west of Boston, next to Wellesley (but definitely not as rich). When I was growing up, it was a pretty small place with about 16,000 people. It still is small, but with the advent of the computer industry in the early 80's, the place grew. I now experience traffic jams. Imagine that.









This is another view of the commons in beautiful downtown Natick. In the background is a large Methodist church. I suppose I could've shot these photos in color, but shooting them in b&w gave it a more old-fashioned look.

One Way Frampton

I got a pic of this One Way sign in Wickford, RI. I thought it was kind of strange and a bit interesting. Historic New England at its best.

Eric

Time Travel

Genie and I went down to Providence, RI to see an old friend and the 3 of us took a trip to historic Wickford, RI. Wickford has a lot of colonial homes from the 1700's and they are in great condition. I would love to have one of those.

Eric

The Charles River in South Natick

Just got back from my trip to Massachusetts and New York yesterday. It shows the part of town (Natick) I used to love to go to as a kid. On hot summer days, you could ride your bike down to the Charles and just sit by the river and read or just hang out. It was a great place where you could watch the birds, the ducks, and life just amble on by.

I've got some material for postings for the next couple of weeks. Hope you'll like them.

Later.

Eric

There's Always Another Angle

Nikon D100, Nikkor 24mm f2.8

I couldn't resist posting another view from yesterday.

--Warren

Reflection

I took this shot last week on a walk on Clement Street. I've been a bit busy lately.

Unusual Sight...Good Weather!

Nikon D100, Nikkor 24mm f2.8

Finally, a gorgeous Spring day in SF!

We had an unusually long rainy season this year, but hopefully we've turned the corner toward Spring now.

--Warren

Hester Street

I posted these on my blog, and thought you'd like to see them here as well...

From the archive, some photos from an August 2004 visit to New York City. Like Marco Polo, I travelled from Little Italy to Chinatown, a wonderful, colorful journey.

Canon Digital Rebel. Photo of man sitting taken with the "kit" 18-55mm lens, and photo of boy on playground taken with Sigma 70-300 Marco II zoom.

Update: It just occurred to me that the gentleman sitting in the red chair is a dead ringer for former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir

Santa Cruz Street Candid -- Version 2

This version is actually my original crop of this shot. It includes more of the 2nd dog, as Pat suggested.



This is the version that I posted first. It has a closer crop that I thought emphasized the little girl better, and eliminated some of the background distractions.



It was a candid, fluid, grab-shot environment. There was not much time to compose.

Which one do you like better?

--Warren

TPA

This was taken at the Tampa International Airport. I liked how the structure of the ceiling looked. Originally taken in color with the Canon A95 but converted to b&w.

revised 4/12/06:
Warren inspired me to improve on this picture so after he sent me his revision, I thought I would do the same. Here is another try of the same shot but more centered and symmetrical. Thanks Warren.

And, I thought I would also share the original with you here.

Sunshine Skyway Bridge

I was in the Tampa, Florida area a few weeks ago. On that trip I broke my foot so was not able to get around too well. Unfortunately, I could not take too many pictures. On our way to the airport, I sat in the front seat with my wife's Canon A95 P&S camera to try to catch anything that looked interesting. This was taken in a car going 60mph. I had to do some color correcting as taking it through the windshield gave it a bluish tone. I think this is the bridge design they hope to do for the San Francisco Bay bridge.

Bowling Alley Abstract

I've always liked the "graphic" painted on the front of this otherwise semi-shabby bowling alley near my Mom's, and I've been wanting to try some "abstract" photos of it for a while. An overall picture of the scene is at top - not a beautiful sight as you can see. I'm not sure my "abstract" succeeds - what do you guys think?

Taken withe Canon Digital Rebel and "kit" 18-55mm zoom lens. I gave it some "under" exposure compensation so as not to burn out the white-painted bricks in the bright sunlight. The sky was already a deep blue, but the exposure shift deepened it some more.

Rumination...

Obligatory Picture Post: Our 500SL in Front of our Favorite Hotel in Carmel, Canonet GIII QL17, Ilford XP2 Super

Not a very artsy picture, but I think it's a bit strange to have that vintage B&W look with a modern car. The picture was a bit underexposed, I think, which caused it to be a little grainy. Either that, or Walgreen's scanner botched up again. :) On this overnighter, our room was on the 2nd floor, just above the driver's side of the SL in this picture.

-----------------------------

Hi Gang,

We have a lull in the action. After the torrid activity prompted by Eric's, SteveR's, and my barrage of posts, things seem to have subsided for a while. Eric is on a trip back East to Natick, MA to visit with his parents. We've had record rainfall here in the San Francisco area that limits my camera time. Basically Eric, Steve, and I have carried this forum for the last couple of months. I really appreciate Benson taking time out of his busy schedule to post a comment now and then.

Having said that, only 3 out of 10 people responded to my rollcall that simply asks for you to take just a FEW minutes out of your busy schedules to check in. I understand that this kind of apathy is pretty much representative of similar Internet based, small, special interest groups. I'm just stating this to put it out there, I'm not implying anything else.

All the great activity here for the last few months generated a huge volume of daily notification emails, and unfortunately, resulted in many lurkers and casual observers dropping out of the email list. All the notification emails were beginning to clutter up their inboxes! So, there is only one non-contributing subscriber, and that person chooses not to post comments though he enjoys viewing the pictures.

I can't wait for the rains to end. It's supposed to be Spring, but it feels like the middle of winter! Maybe the sun's return will make everyone perk up again.

Because I've been concentrating on this forum, I've neglected my personal blog, and I think I need to carve out a little more time for posting to there, and maybe back off a little here.

Like I mentioned many times before, I am wondering if a little more exposure would benefit this forum. I am thinking about posting our forum onto photoblogs.org, but NOT exposing the forum to the internet search engines (at least directly). This way, it will still be a little more controlled. Some of you had mentioned early on that you like the private nature of this forum, but since you haven't participated much anyway, it doesn't really matter at this point. I welcome any other suggestions on how to manage our exposure to get some regular visitors (and hopefully get more commentary). After all, if not enough people (or nobody) sees our work, isn't it a wasted effort? Or do you still think that sharing among ourselves (the 3 to 4 active participants) is enough?

I want to put some ideas out there for the next few months' worth of Project Themes out there:

- People at Work
- Decisive Moment

Previous ideas:

- Wintry Weather (we're in Spring now, so this is probably out)
- Self Portrait
- Animals

Anyone else have something they want to try?


Happy Shooting!

--Warren

Mission Statue #2

Canonet GIII QL17, Ilford XP2 Super

Here's the same statue from another angle to give you an idea of what the surroundings looked like.

In this one, you can see how Mary watches over the graveyard from a corner of the Mission.

--Warren

Mission Statue

Canonet GIII QL17, Ilford XP2 Super

This statue (of Mary, I believe) watches over the little graveyard at Mission Carmel. I tried a low-to-high angled shot here. I wanted to incorporate the skyward pointing roofline in tandem with Mary looking up (to heaven?).

It would have worked better, I think, if the background was not so cluttered, but that couldn't be helped. I tried to burn the bright background to darken it a bit, but then it made the image too flat, so I left it as is. I think the high contrast between the roof and the background is an integral part of the composition.

Do you think the busy, bright background detracts from the photo?

Do you think a different crop is possible, and still keep the concept? Personally, I'm not sure it's possible to retain the same feeling with a different crop. Perhaps reshooting with a shallower dept of field would help, or at a different time to get different lighting in the back.

What do you think?

--Warren

April Project -- Fence Blossom

Nikon D100

Nothing fancy here, I just wanted to kick off the April Project theme.

Something old, something new, a fresh spring blossom peeking through and ancient, rusty chain link fence.

--Warren

Runaway Sign

Sony DSC-P72

I saw this while walking down a typically steep San Francisco hill on our way to brunch this morning.

--Warren

Empty Plaza Bench

Nikon D100

Seen at the Japantown Peace Plaza.

--Warren