Happy Holidays

We went down to Union Square on Christmas Eve.

I hope everyone has a great New Year!

--Warren

Wharf to San Francisco

Got a shot of this when Warren and I went to Treasure Island a while back to shoot. I am learning to see pictures within pictures, i.e. cropping. This is actually part of a larger picture where you can see the city.

-- Eric

Merry Christmas to All and to All A Good Night

I know that not everyone celebrates Christmas, but I just wanted to send out a holiday greeting to you, my friends (and brother-in-law). I hope this holiday season and new year brings good health and good cheer to you and your families.

Oops..gotta go. I think I hear some reindeer bells off in the distance.

--Eric

Two Turtle Doves??

Sorry- no... It's just some pigeons :)

Trees Along Fort Mason

On Thanksgiving Day, Warren & I went shooting, and I caught this. The man walking among the tress gave it a lonely feel.

-- Eric

Hong Kong Night Scene

The trip to China was fun, but the best part was Hong Kong. The food and the feeling of the area (due to both British and Chinese influence) is different from all of the other places. It's my favorite place in China so far. Here is a night shot on Temple Street. All of the neon signs reminded me of Japan.

--Eric

Self Portrait, Aug 2006

Nikon D100, 24mm f2.8

Every so often, my best friend, Greg, and I take a day off to go for a day trip in one of our cars. I took this opportunity to grab a photo of myself from the passenger seat.

--Warren

Friends

Nikon D100, 200mm f4, 2x teleconverter

--Warren

Bin of Apples

Nikon D100

We visited an apple farm earlier this year.

--Warren

Muni Pier at Aquatic Park, B&W Version

Nikon FM, 50mm f1.8, Max 400

Here's a B&W version of the same location, with a slightly different composition.

--Warren

Fracture

Nikon FM, 50mm f1.8, Max 400

--Warren

Playing at the Park

Nikon FM, 50mm f1.8, Kodak Max 400

This boy was playing "catch" with his father (outside of the image) at the park above Fort Mason Center.

--Warren

Superman!

I stopped by Geppi's Enertainment Museum in downtown Baltimore yesterday to scope it out for a photo assignment this weekend - I'll be shooting the bar-mitzvah dinner and party there Saturday evening. It was the first time I'd been there, and I was gobsmacked by the amazing display of popular culture. Geppi's displays and artifacts go back to colonial times and continue through the era of radio, the early days of TV (Howdy Doody anyone?) and up to the present.

The thing that attracted me the most yesterday was this slightly larger-than-life statue of Superman. I grew up with the old Superman TV series. Superman, airing for a half-hour about 4pm, was the only thing I was allowed to watch on TV when I got home prior to getting my homework done.

I was nine when George Reeves killed himself, ending the old TV series. In 1978, I heard about a new Superman movie, starring Christopher Reeve. The screenwriting was pretty awful, but Reeve was just right as Superman. For me, at age 28 and still a kid at heart, he became Superman, and remained so until his death at age 52 in 2004.

Grandfather and Grandson

When I was in Hong Kong, I got this shot of a grandfather out with his grandson. You can really see the affection he has for the kid. I have to give the grandson some credit, too. He was very well behaved, and you could tell he loved his grandpa a lot.

Eric

The Little Rascals, Chinese Style

"Oh yeah? Wait till I tell Alfalfa about this!"

I saw these kids while wandering around Beijing with my pal, Kris. I got a shot of these kids outside the Forbidden City in a residential district. They cracked me up!

Eric

Attention All Soldiers of the Chin Emperor!!

In Xian, I was able to see the tomb of the Chin Emperor. What an amazing treat. Each of the soldiers seemed different, and I'm sure that if they were patterned after real ones, those soldiers were very tough hombres. I'd consider taking those guys on my journey, too.

Eric

The T

No, it's not the subway system in Boston. I took this photo back in Feb 2008 with the Sony. The sign is for a hamburger joint at the Port Building I think. I like the color and the contrast to the rest of the scenery.

Eric

Cameras and Coffee, Always a Good Combo

Pentax Program-A, Tamron 28mm f2.5, Kodak Max 400

Well, maybe not so good a combo if you have too much coffee, then your hands will be shaky. :)

Eric and I took a nice coffee break at Ghirardelli Square during our photo shoot/walk.

--Warren

Testing a Nikkor 200mm f4 Micro (Macro)

Nikon D100, Nikkor 200mm f4 Micro

I never had the pleasure of using such a lens, until now. This is another of the recent acquisitions. A kind acquaintance knew that I was into film Nikons and GAVE (!!!) me his old gear! I am very grateful, and as always, I try to actually use any gear that gets donated my way.

The good camera karma keeps on rolling! In this latest installment, I got:

Nikon F2 Photomic (I have 3 F2 bodies now!)
Nikkor-S 50mm f1.4 non-ai (I had one of these and foolishly sold it many years ago)
Nikkor 55mm f3.5 Micro with extension tube, non-ai (I had one of these and foolishly sold it many years ago to Martin, now it's come back to me.)
Nikkor 200mm f4 Micro ai'd
Nikkor-H 300mm f4.5 ai'd (I never could justify buying this because it would just be an occasional use lens)
Nikkor-Q 135mm f2.8 non-ai, the aperture mechanism on the lens if broken. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet.
Sunpak Automatic Flash

These two test shots were taken handheld, with the D100 on a monopod.

Subdial of a MIG Cockpit clock:



A gold tree ornament:



--Warren

Testing a Nikkor-H 300mm f4.5

Nikon D100, Nikkor-H 300mm f4.5

The great gear just keeps on coming my way! I just received this great lens so as usual, I point it out my back window. This time, it's an early morning shot, through a dirty window and through the morning haze. 

I know, it's not the most exciting subject, but this picture was highly cropped from the original and slightly enhanced in PS. I'm very happy with the resolution of this lens! Look at the great detail. Used on the D100, the crop factor makes this lens the equivalent of a 450mm.

This is looking north from my back window towards the Richmond District. I'll be using this lens in the near future for some bird pictures.

--Warren

Hong Kong Street Scene

Hong Kong was the last leg of the trip, and to me, it was the best. The food, the people, the general difference in demeanor, and the language (Cantonese is my first Chinese dialect) made all the difference. My buddy and I were on both Kowloon and Hong Kong island. This is a shot I got of a street in mid-afternoon on Hong Kong Island. I love this place. (I'll post more of the trip as time goes on.)

Eric

Someone to Watch Over Me

Hi all. I was in China (Beijing, Xian, and Hong Kong) back in mid to late October. I saw this in Tien An Men Square, & it symbolized to me how much impact Mao has made on life in China for both old and young. Big Brother Mao benevolently watching the old and the young. Do you think there are cameras behind his eyeballs?

Eric

Silver Lining?...

Or is it?

Today's post is a photo-econometric one. OK, not really, because I don't pretend to know anything about economics other than "law of supply and demand." Sometimes, even a photography nerd takes pictures purely for documentary purposes, and the falling gasoline prices of the past few months promted me to take these.

But I can't resist a small comment about all this. Remember a few months ago, when gas prices were passing four dollars a gallon? Remember all the screaming in Congress and the media about "speculators" driving up the price of gas. Well guess who has been driving it down lately. Do you think any of the firebomb-throwers in Congress will do an Emily Latella over this?

As I filled my tank today at $1.649/gallon, I realized that this was about the price of gas in September 1990. It may not be unadulterated good news, however; this low price reflects the futures market - that is, the "speculators" are betting that oil demand will stay low for a while as the economy declines worldwide.

Meanwhile, let's not go back to our old gas-guzzling habits, but let's enjoy these prices while we can.

Fun with Holiday Tree Orbs

Nikon FM, Kodak Max 400:



Pentax Program-A, Kodak Max 400:

Seen at Ghirardelli Square...

--Warren

Muni Pier at Aquatic Park

Nikon FM, 50mm f1.8 AI, Kodak Max 400

Eric and I went out for a photo shoot on Thanksgiving Day. We started at Fort Mason and ended up at Aquatic Park where we had a coffee at Ghirardelli Square. It was a lot of fun. I was testing two newly acquired film cameras, a chrome Nikon FM with a Nikkor 50mm f1.8 lens, and a Pentax Program-A with a Pentax 50mm f1.4 SMC-M series lens and Tamron 28mm f2.5 Adaptall-2 in Pentax K-mount.

I know I warned against it before, but again, I used some expired film, this time it was Kodak Max 400 which is better than the horrible roll of MAX 800 that I used previously in the Canon T70. I set my FM's ISO dial to 320 and the Pentax was using 400. After seeing the results, I should have rated both at ISO 200 because the old film most likely lost some of its sensitivity. The roll in the FM turned out a little better because of the slightly increased exposure.

This picture was taken with the Nikon, and it turned out okay despite the badly outdated film and horrible digitizing by Walgreens. As we walked around the municipal fishing pier, everything was gray due to the overcast skies. I spotted a couple of splashes of color in the hulls of the two boats anchored in the harbor. I pointed this out to Eric, and we both took some shots of this scene. I shot it with both my cameras.

--Warren