Orange Wednesday

I have posted smoke-filled bay area skies year after year, but this is truly unprecedented. These shots are straight out of the camera, set to daylight white-balance. The first was taken inside the loft at 8:00 AM, but by 10:30 AM, it got even darker, so I went outside to take a few shots.

CA Fires Wreck Air Quality — Again

Scenes like this used to be pretty rare in the Bay Area. Now, it seems to happen every year. Here is the worst air day of 2008. Here’s a post from 2018, and another. 2019 wasn’t much better, and now, it’s 2020, and here we go again. Extremely rare August thunderstorms brought lightening to a…

Janet and Kelly

Janet and Kelly at Jack London’s Wolf House on a beautiful day in Glen Ellen.

Seeing Double

Kellster at the fabulous DeYoung Museum. https://deyoung.famsf.org/

Smokin’

We had a little time to kill before our first Holiday party of the season, so we visited one of the most interesting Golden Gate Bridge vantage points. Shots from this location are always beautiful. This one is unique because of the intense smoke. It’s bad. Much worse than it appears in this shot. The…

Kelly hangs with the minis

Kelly hangs with the minis at another fundraiser, this time for http://www.sonrisekids.org/. The rest of the shots -> https://photos.app.goo.gl/CtyDqSX2rh5qqsXS7

Warriors Victory Parade

I joined about a million other fans today to celebrate the Warriors championship win in downtown Oakland today. The jostling crowds made it difficult to get much of a shot of anything, but I tried. There were many challenges. One problem is that I chose the wrong side of the street, lighting-wise. I should have…

Isleton and Locke

I visited a part of California I never knew existed with the Johnstone Clan. What a great day it was… Built by the Chinese early in the 20th century, Locke, California is 14 acres of quaintness. The main drag – about three blocks long – is a hodgepodge of rotting and twisty woodwork – an…

Women’s March, Oakland

Oakland’s contribution to world-wide protests against the Trumpocalypse was as colorful as you would expect. The peaceful event lifted my spirits and those of the estimated 85,000+ who participated. Way to go women (and men) of Oakland! The rest of the day’s shots are here.

Thermofisher Ad

Well, we gave up on the Lombard Street idea. I thought it was an impossible shot, and it turned out I was right about that. So, we opted for another iconic Bay Area view. What I like most is that this piece will be printed 6 x 4 FEET in size, and hung around Thermofisher…

John and Michael

I love it when this happens. While walking on the course today, I asked Tom’s sons John and Michael to pose for a quick shot. And I do mean quick. This shot was done in maybe five seconds. I knew instantly that I wanted to give it a retro treatment like this. It’s no surprise…

Happy Birthdays!

Jack and Tres are two of my favorite subjects, and their colorful, wildly-decorated loft is certainly one of the most interesting locations I know of. Happy Birthdays to a couple of wonderful people!! The rest of the evening’s images can be viewed here.

Let’s Be Perfectly Clear

I guess the word “focus” is too confusing? A few more shots from Oakland Zoo’s annual Walk in the Wild.

Lombard Street

Last night I went on a scouting mission. I’m looking for a location for an upcoming project. The Creative Director floated this top-of-Lombard-Street idea. I’m certainly not the first to make this shot, but I was surprised at how easy it was to grab this 30-second time exposure on a cold and windy summer night…

What Just Happened?

We went into it prepared for the worst, but as the energy and the volume level in the arena swelled into a raging torrent, we were swept into the madness. When it was over, we were utterly drained. Stunned. WTF? Of course, none of this diminishes the fact that our beloved team got more than…

It’s official!

After years of helping people for free, I finally started my consultancy. I hope to offer lots of services, (Linux, 3D design, photography, etc.) but my first four customers are all paying for Linux and web work. A great start! No, I’m not leaving my full-time job. I love the people at Thermofisher – some…

Yosemite

After working on a few of my images, I confirmed what I already suspected. Yosemite looks better in black and white. The reason for this, as Mr. Adams clearly knew, is that you can make much larger image adjustments without destroying the image. The color image below was enhanced as much as I can stand….

Welcome 2016

May the coming year bring lots of love, good health and prosperity to you and yours! Cheers!

Joanna Makes Paper Art

Talented friend and neighbor Joanna has started to produce a series of woven paper pieces. They range in size from approximately 20 x 30″ down to about 10″ x 10″. They’re meticulously made and very cool. They look best when displayed as a group, so you can’t buy just one. 🙂 Joanna has a web…

Sausalito Art Fair

I don’t like these wine & crap fairs much. Kelly’s more of a fan. I will say though, that the Sausalito event has to be the best. I think I would be happy to own just about everything I saw today. Among our favorites were the fun paintings of Chris Vance, seen in today’s featured…

1083 Rosies Set A New World Record

What record, you ask? Why, “The Largest Gathering of People Dressed as a Rosie the Riveter”, of course! (Guinness has a world record category for everything, it seems.) The fun-filled Rosie Rally took place in Richmond, CA – apparently the real home of Rosie the Riveter. Participants were for the most part dressed to perfectly…

That was Fun

Lots of wine and food. Perfect weather. Good times.

Oakland Skyline Update

We’ve had about enough of the almost non-stop helicopter sounds outside our window. There are three or four in the air almost every evening that doesn’t include rain. Click for a closer look at this 15,000 pixel-wide view from my rooftop. It’s not the sharpest image ever taken, but this is because the shots were…

Sports Photography is Hard

I photographed my first East Bay United Soccer match today. Simon has not had much success shooting his son’s matches with his point-and-click. I explained that you need a long lens, fast shutter speeds and a lot of patience. Great action shots are few and far between. Most of the time, they turn out like…