Mall Shots

I was at North Star Mall with some time to kill.  I had always wanted to try to get photographs of people coming up the escalator so that it showed only their head at floor level.  Here was a chance to try that.  I scouted out a spot in the food court where I would have a clear view of the escalator coming up from the first level.   I sat at a table and put my camera on the chair next to me with the lens (200 mm) aimed toward the escalator.   I turned the articulated LCD up so I could see it,  Since I could not count on autofocus to pick up the person's head, I used manual focus.   I have a wired remote switch that I plugged in and held in my hand.   Regrettably I did not think to use burst mode on the shutter.  I could have gotten a lot better positioning of the person in the shot.  Here is one of the results.

One problem I did not anticipate was the traffic in the area.  Since I was about 30 feet from the target, there was a lot of foot traffic coming off the escalator or going to the down side.  So I had to wait for them to clear before I could take a shot.  Someday I may try again.  And I'll use the burst mode for sure.

Dragan II

Here is another iteration of my attempts to do a Dragan process.  Compare this one to the earlier attempt.

Dream Time

I had heard many times that dreams do not happen in "real time", but when you experience an activity in a dream and that activity seems to play out for an hour, for example, the real dreaming time may only be a few seconds.  I have anecdotal evidence that disputes that.  I had a dream once in which I was with several people on the parking lot at a place where I used to work.  I had in my hand a small electronic device, probably a radio.  Suddenly there was a loud beeping sound and everyone  looked at my radio.  I told them it was turned off, but they still thought I was the source of the noise.  I opened the back and removed the batteries.  The beeping continued and people across the parking lot were looking at me.  Then I noticed two telephone repairmen on a pole above us.  They had some kind of instrument that was causing the noise.  This whole episode consumed about five minutes.  Then I woke up and shut off the alarm clock which was making that exact sound.  The clock showed it had been alarming for five minutes.   To me that says  the five minutes of clock time exactly corresponded to the five minutes of dream time.   QED!

Andrzej Dragan

I was given a link http://andrzejdragan.com/ to the web site of a photographer I had not known about.  He deals primarily in portraits, but not your normal sweet shot of a person.  I really liked the look of his work which involves a good bit of post processing.   I decided to try to get a similar effect.  I didn't succeed, but here is as close as I have gotten so far.  It is a self portrait with some processing steps that make my 75-yr old skin look even worse than it does.  

Please realize that I am making a face here.  I'm not always that wide awake.  I don't have Dragan's lighting down yet, nor his HDR effects.   I'll keep trying.   Comments welcome.  

Tina in Concert

My friend, Albert, posted on his blog a cool image he took at the recent Red Hot Chili Peppers concert.  That got me thinking about taking photos at concerts where cameras are usually prohibited.  About 10 - 15 years ago, Tina Turner had a concert at the Alamodome.  I wanted to try to take some photos even though we would be sitting pretty far from the stage.  At the time I used a Canon F1 and had a 600mm Sigma mirror lens that was very short for that focal length so I put it on my shoulder under my jacket, hoping I would not be stopped.  I loaded the camera  with Kodacolor 1600 ASA film and hoped for the best.   Here is one shot that came out pretty good considering the conditions.  

Now with digital cameras that can use enormous ISO settings, it might be easier to get a good shot.  Maybe I'll try again some day.

Self Portraits on Maserati Wheel Lugs

At a parking lot auto show on Sept. 9, there were some pretty spiffy Ferrari's and Maserati's.  I took some pictures of some of the car parts, including a Maserati wheel that caught my attention because the chrome lugs reflected my image taking the shot.  Unfortunately, I could not find one that had the trident vertical, so I had to rotate the image in post processing to get it vertical.  That made my portrait off at an angle and it didn't look very good.   Last Tuesday I found myself at the Maserati dealership and asked a salesman for permission to take some photographs.  He not only didn't object, but he was aware of the reflection properties of the wheel lugs.   So I found a wheel that was oriented with the trident vertical and took this shot.

I like the strong graphical image of the wheel and the reflected images of yours truly are a bonus.
Comments welcome.

Brown's Book Store

A chill October wind rustled outside the small book store.  Inside, Mr. Brown was dozing in a corner, tired of browsing through his collection of volumes.  And an interesting collection of volumes it was.   Some nearly-full shelves of science, engineering and math books.   A large collection of reports of engineering projects long-ago completed and filed away.   Together with the reports were personal notes detailing relationships between the team members of those projects.  An extensive travelogue section held shelves of materials describing locations around the world with pictures, some vivid, some faded, of those locales.   One whole section of the store was home to photo albums of various family activities. 

There had been a time, some years ago, when the shop was busy.   Friends, family and total strangers would come, looking for information and the shopkeeper was happy to oblige.  But now, there was hardly ever a customer.  It wasn’t as if he needed a customer base to get by, but the sad part was, all those resources were going to waste.  He would gladly give away a volume to anyone who could appreciate its value.  He had gone so far as to stand on the sidewalk and volunteer to provide free material to passing strangers, to very little interest.  Granted, his stock was somewhat dated.   No MP3 tunes, no Kindle books.   But still, his offerings had value.  They were good solid information, and in some cases they came at a significant cost at their time of acquisition.   

Lately he had been concerned that maybe his housekeeping had been lagging and as a result, some of the books were deteriorating.   Pages were missing or had faded due to humidity or whatever, to the point it was difficult to locate just the section that he sought.  He would search for a particular document and more often than not, abandon the search before locating it.  And he always seemed to feel a lot more tired than he ought to be.  Maybe a short nap right now would be refreshing.   Just catch a few winks. 

            *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

At the other end of town, at SunnyVale Rest Home, an attendant pulled the sheet up over the old man’s head.  “Well, Mr. Brown went peacefully.   Just passed in his sleep.”   

“I hear he was quite a man in his day: Successful engineer; traveled all over.  Since he came here a few years ago - that is, until lately, he really liked to talk about his work and his travels.  Would give you more facts than you could handle.”   “Just think of all the information in that brain of his.   More than in a whole book store.  But it’s all gone now.”

Phone or camera?

I've been giving some thought lately to the use of an iPhone for a serious camera.  Not for me since I don't have a smart phone and already have camera equipment I need to use.  But the handwriting  seems to be on the wall about the direction the market is going.  Go to any public setting where a lot of folks are taking pictures.  There will be more phone cameras than film and digital SLR's combined and probably more than the total point-and-shoot cameras.  On forums I regularly monitor, serious photographers are talking seriously about the potential of smart phones (and available aps and post-processing software) for taking serious photographs.  Most admit the results will be limited to print sizes of 8x10 or smaller, but that is true of most point and shoots already.   Which leads me to wonder if the progress in camera phones may signal the end of the point-and-shoot segment.   Why would someone buy another little box to carry around and keep batteried when they already have one that can perform as well and immediately share those results with any number of other persons.  

Topsy-Curvy

The July challenge in the Viewfinders camera club is "curves".   The first thing that came to mind was a roller coaster.   I went to Google Earth and noticed there was one next to the fence at Six Flags Fiesta Texas.   I didn't really want to enter the park or to pay the $15 parking fee, so when I went there, I used the drop-off entrance and luckily found there were some free 30-minute parking spots.  Perfect.  A short walk to the parking lot and about 20 minutes standing around led to this shot.  I like it for a number of reasons.  Hope you do too.   Comments welcome.

Hippo-Flection

The June 2012 theme for the Viewfinders challenge was "reflections".  I wanted to try getting some repeated reflections from several mirrors, so I made this shot.   I used three 12" sq. mirror tiles taped together to make a equilateral triangle box, open at the top and bottom.  I set it on a white board and took the shot from the top.  The target is a small silver-colored hippo that is about 3 inches long.  The only concerns I had were keeping the camera out of the shot and getting enough light into the box to offset the loss from multiple reflections.  I put a desk lamp above the box and used a wide-angle lens to get a wider coverage and greater depth of field.  A photoshop adjustment of brightness let me add some light to the far side.  I am fairly well pleased with the outcome.    Comments welcome.

Critters great and small

So I was painting some benches in the back yard and found a good specimen of scorpion under one of the legs.  It was daytime and it was very sluggish, so I was able to scoop it into a small jar.  My thought was to try to photograph it.  Today I transferred it using a monofilament loop through a soda straw into a plastic soda cup.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was not alone.  Don't know where the little guy had been hiding, perhaps clinging to the large one (mother?  father?), but he was pretty active, running around the inside of the cup and hiding underneath the large one.  I took some shots of which this is about as good as any, then released the two back into the yard into a leafy area where they should feel at home.  Sure, I may get stung by one of them some time in the future, but hopefully not.  Notice that the little one does not have a tail yet, but his pincers are well developed.


Comments welcome.  gear:  Lumix G1, Leica 45mm Macro handheld, autofocus.

Hurry Back!

We have a small basket near the front door for people to leave notes in when no one is at home.  I don't remember anyone ever leaving a note, but it was a convenient, dry place for a bird to build its nest and here is the result.  I was not able to catch a photo of the parent, but apparently she kept the food coming because the chick is no longer there.  ( I hope the neighbor's cat is not responsible. )  Shot was taken through the window next to the door.

Sun Spots

OK, here's the next puzzle:  How did I get this image of the sun?   Was a telescope used?  What kind of filtering would let me focus directly on the sun's surface?  Or did I just borrow the shot from someone else's photograph?   Or did I use a projection through a pinhole onto a blank surface?


Any ideas?
I will give you a hint:  You could make the same shot without buying expensive equipment.  You would have to buy something, but it would not be costly.

New Puzzle Photo

OK, Sports.  Here is another photo to identify.   This one should be a lot easier than the burning match.  This is something you surely have seen, but maybe not in this color.  And maybe not from this angle.  Any ideas?

Sea Shell in C-Clamp

The Viewfinder challenge for April was "Patterns in Nature".  I bought a sea shell to illustrate the spiral lines they have.  I needed some way to  support it so I could light it from behind.  A C-clamp worked well and the contrast between the fragile shell and the steel clamp suggested I leave it in the frame.  Comments welcome.

Biloxi White

Was in Biloxi MS for a few days this week.  I was anxious to see how the beaches had recovered from the BP oil spill since they have been advertising the Gulf Coast recovery on TV.  All I can say is they are beautiful.  Miles and miles of white sand with no tar balls or seaweed or other debris.  And almost no people.  Here is a shot I took to show the condition. 

Mission San Jose

The Viewfinders camera club had a field trip on Feb. 25.  It was a photoshoot at Mission San Jose coupled with a contest with one entry per member.   I entered a shot inside the sanctuary, but I also like this one because of the aging of the sepia tone.  It reminds me of a post card that may have been sold in the 30's or 40's.   Comments welcome.

Feed Me!

A Stone Oak restaurant installed a sculpture in the form of a large fork.  The Stone Oak Property Owners Assoc objected saying it was too commercial. The restaurant decided to try to keep the sculpture by hiding it behind a curved masonry wall with a window to reveal the top of the fork.  I have photographed the piece several times in the past few years, but wanted to do something different for this blog.  Here is the result that I call, "Feed Me".  Comments welcome.  

This is something I saw and thought I should photograph it.  So what is it?  

Serendipity

Last night I planned to take a moonlit shot of a local golf course.  The Sonterra North Course has a green near the Huebner-Blanco Rd. intersection.  I drove there and hiked down to the course.  I had checked the moonrise-moonset times on-line and found the moon would be overhead at 7:52 PM so I was there at that time to get the best light.  It was quite dark, but using 15-sec. exposures I was able to  get some usable images, one of which is shown here.  Later, when reviewing the shots, I noticed the light streak in the sky and took it to be a jet contrail.  The next morning I read that there had been a meteor sighted from South Texas to Oklahoma the night before, shortly after 8:00 PM.  The EXIF file on this shot shows it was taken at 8:03, so I think I might have caught the meteor track.  If that is what it is, it was a true stroke of luck.  I think the moonlight shows up well if you have enough exposure time.  Tech:  Lumix G1 with 7-14 mm zoom, f5.0 at 15 sec.  ISO 400.  Comments welcome.

Unstated assumptions.

If a kitchen faucet is flowing at a rate of 1 gallon/minute, how long does it take to fill a 6oz. glass?  Well not 2.8 seconds if the water does not stay in the glass.  With the right shape of glass and the right input parameters the answer is never.