thedude.com

This is always such a difficult event to shoot. The F-18’s are moving at speeds up to 650 miles per hour, and perform their most breathtaking maneuvers more than a mile away. I have to use my longest lens with the camera set to ISO 1000 so that I can use a shutter speed of 1/2500 of a second. Lots of compromises.

I took more than 500 shots. Even so, I think I achieved better results last year. Oh well, I guess I need to keep practicing. More shots here.

My Achiever wife and a couple neighbors got up very early this morning to participate in the KFOG Bridge-to-Bridge Run (OK - walk). I don’t know how they do it. I wish I had a fraction of that energy! While Jack and I were just too busy to squeeze in a 7K walk, we did get to pose with them in front of this giant inflatable floss dispenser!

Thanks, Steve, for taking this fun shot!

Here’s a sneek peek inside Oakland’s Cathedral of Christ the Light. Although the 190 million dollar addition to the Lake Merrit skyline will not be open to the public until 2:00 PM this afternoon, I was able to sneak in yesterday and shoot a quick panorama.

After scratching my head about the outside of the cathedral for months, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the interior is quite nice. The sparsely decorated cathedral is flooded with a diffuse light warmed by the wood louvers. The cavernous space produces the expected acoustics - you know you’re in church with your eyes closed.

The odd feature though is the ginormous Jesus hovering above the altar. The image seems to be created by light passing through a drilled sheet of aluminum. To my eye, the points of light resemble LED’s on an outdoor advertising display or some kind of giant black and white TV, making the effect seem sorta cheesy. Now, imagine that space filled with a colorful stained-glass window. Yes, that would look better.

Need I say more?

thedude and Kelly joined about 1,000 others last night to show our respect for His Dudeness at the first San Francisco Lebowski Fest.

Yes, there were plenty of Jeff Lebowski and Karl Hungus look-alikes. Music was provided by the hilarious Meshugga Beach Party. Primal drum beats and sexual energy came by way of the fabulous Extra Action Marching Band. NEW! Now with Video!

We tried our best to get close to Jeff Dowd, to get a shot of thedude with thedude, but no luck. Perhaps we’d have been able to better focus if we hadn’t consumed those last two caucasions. “Hey, careful, man, there’s a beverage here!”

Yes, you’ve seen this location before on this web site. But not 30,000 pixels wide. The HDView plugin makes this previously unimaginable feat entirely possible. Be sure you have the HDView plugin installed, (Sorry, no Mac version yet) then check it out!

The shots taken by the professional photographer were finally posted today. I hate to say it, but I’m not sure that he made the most of the terrific photo-op. In addition to some tighter shots, I would certainly have made at least a couple panoramic shots of the event and stitched them together. This would have allowed him to get higher resolution and better coverage of this unique event. The good news though, is that he got lots of shots of thedude gettin’ goofy in his little car! :)

The other thing that would have made these shots even better is if Kelly had been there, but she wasn’t feeling well this morning. :(

thedude and Steve out on a shoot on a clear day in October, 1983. I don’t remember where we got the 4 x 5 camera, but I know Steve got some great results with it. Got more scans, Steve?

When I shot this, I accidentally had the lens open to f1.4. The resulting haziness and shallow depth of focus looks pretty cool. I’m going to have to use this effect again!

I was lucky enough to have an amazing seat at today’s Giant’s game. I was in row one directly behind the batter at AT & T park. I think I was closer to the batter than the pitcher was! If you look closely in the very center of the shot, you’ll see a Plexiglas window. My seat was just to the left of it - next to the guy in the blue ball cap facing the camera. :)

Being that close meant that I was too close to the field to shoot a decent panorama. So, to get the shot above, I moved about half way back in the stands. And yes, the Giant’s beat the Marlins, 4-3.

I got up extra early today to take part in a record-breaking photo. I had the chance to appear with a large group of Smart Cars two-abreast winding all the way down the “crookedest street in America“. I was not going to miss this!

The event turned out to be better than I had hoped - in spite of the typical San Francisco summer weather. What made it really special for me is that without making any effort to do so, I found myself in the absolute prime location for the photo. Me and my little car are not only in the first row, but we are in the position closest to the official event photographer. I can’t wait to see (and share!) the results.

But then, any event that includes 133 Smart Cars produces plenty of fun photo opportunities.

It turns out that all of my shoes have black soles, so I borrowed these from my neighbor Steve for today’s cruise and brunch at the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon with John and Laurel. What a gorgeous day!!

If you just gotta see more shots from our afternoon cruise, click here.