Zion and Bryce National Parks

We recently made our first ever visit to Zion and Bryce National Parks. We knew we were in for a treat, but neither of us imagined just how spectacular this part of Utah is.

2015 Ion Summer Party

We had a company picnic yesterday. As far as I can tell, there was no particular reason for it, but it was a beautiful day, and the pictures worked out well. View the rest of the photos here.

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…

I Walked Five Miles to Get This Shot

The eastern half of an icon of the Bay Area is coming down after carrying up to 300,000 cars per day for 77 years. Progress is slow, but this week a gap appeared in the longest cantilevered section, and I decided that this needed to be captured. Luckily, the replacement span has a very wide,…

Paradise Valley

Julie shot this panorama with her iPhone. She was, “Driving north from Yellowstone WY toward Livingston MT – looking east.” Beautiful!!

First D800 Panorama

This 14 image panorama of the cavernous Craneway Pavilion was reduced to approximately 1/10 of its original resolution, and it’s still 8,000 pixels wide.

Holy Crap – My Mind is Blown

I’m speechless. After looking at a few of these, I guess I’ll just throw my cameras away. Way back in 2008, I shot some photos from a balloon over Bagan, Burma, and was pretty satisfied with the results. Well, I’m humbled to say that I’ve been utterly outdone. This Russian Panorama site is absolutely amazing…

Welcome to Panorama Country

Jackson Hole experienced its greatest snow accumulation ever this year, and we were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. I’m posting these images super large this time so you can check out the details. (I’ll add GPS info as soon as I get a chance.)   The images in…

Wrong Place, Right Time

This rainbow peaked while I was on the Embarcadero in the city on my way to the top floor of the Transamerica Pyramid. The shot might have been better from almost any other vantage point – assuming that a rainbow was actually visible from any other vantage point. This beauty lasted all of two minutes….

Las Vegas

We took a mini-vacation to celebrate a couple of Virgo birthdays. I was too lazy to drag my heavy camera around much, but I did shoot this 12 image panorama of Kellster, Jeff and Wendy at the beautiful Parasol Down at the Wynn.

View from the Amangani

The beautiful Amangani Resort in Jackson Hole. This is actually a 6-image panoramic image, shot with my trusty Nikkor 50 mm and stitched with AutoPano Pro.

Size Matters

While it may not be my best photo ever, this one has the distinction of occupying more disk space than any other. Comprised of 37 hand-held frames, shot with my cheapest lens due to it’s low distortion, and stitched together with the mind-blowing AutoPano Pro. The original is more than 24,000 pixels wide. The 16-bit…

Welcome to Wyoming

Here is my second attempt at recreating one of Ansel Adams’ masterpieces. A faithful reader points out that in this shot of Kelly in the the canyon, the mountain on the left (Mt. Owen) is 6000 vertical feet above Kelly and the peak is just one mile as the bird flies from that spot —…

Point Arena

Unexpectedly perfect weather helped make our weekend with Tom and Julie thoroughly enjoyable. You might be surprised to know that today’s Featured Image above was made with an iPhone and AutoPano Pro.

Wolstenholme Fjord, Greenland

My latest scanning project keeps turning up gems. I am so glad I shot this panorama of Wolstenholme Fjord — purportedly the only place on earth where three active glaciers join together. If I could have anticipated today’s technology, I might have made a much more detailed shot than this one – consisting of just…

Oakland Zoo Lights

One of the most charming events we’ve seen this holiday season is the Oakland ZooLights. Periodically, the tens of thousands of Christmas lights are set to music in a dazzling light show. Fun for kids and bah-humbuggers alike!

Gualala

I love barter. In trade for some web work, I get days at this fabulous house. This works out great for everyone involved, but the biggest beneficiary is definitely me. Its on trips like this that I am reminded how great my friends are and that I have the most wonderful wife in the world….

Blustery Day on the Bay

With temperatures on the bay hovering around 50 degrees, it might not have been an ideal day for a Hornblower Cruise. Nevertheless, the mighty IT team braved the elements and posed for the obligatory group shot.

Beach Party? Not!

The buzz surrounding last night’s party was all about 200 tons of sand, five swimming pools and “swimwear encouraged”. Hm. Sounds like an indoor beach party, right? Well, the event resembled a beach about as much as I resemble Brad Pitt. Oh – there was sand scattered about the 250,000 square foot industrial space, but…

Fifty Big Ones

Congratulations, Mike and Myrna! To me, the coolest thing about this reunion is that Kelly’s aunt and uncle were able to round up all of the bridesmaids and groomsmen from their wedding – fifty years ago. Amazing. Mike and Myrna have this spectacular view from their remote ranch north of tiny Friant, California.

Two More Kakku Panoramas

Well, it’s been five months since we returned from Burma, and I’m still looking at the pictures pretty much every day. Luckily, I like looking at pretty pictures of things and places I’ve seen. No matter how good (or bad) you think these images are, they definitely look even better to me, and hopefully, Kelly…

Mya Thein Tan

I swear that I saw this lovely temple referred to as the “whipped cream temple” somewhere. You can see why. This was one of my favorite temples. Nearby, we stopped to have a look at the Massive Mingun Bell. Weighing in at 90 tons, it is the world’s largest cast bronze bell.

Mingun in the Morning

On the morning of our ninth day in Burma, we took another slow boat ride up the Irrawaddy. This time, our destination was the huge, unfinished Mingun Pahtodawgyi. If it had been finished, it would have easily been the largest pagoda in Burma – nearly 500 feet tall! In its ruined state, it’s merely the…

Syun Oo Pone Nya Shin Temple

This beautiful temple is on Sagaing Hill, has a great view of the Irrawaddy River and a fantastic tile floor. We loved the colors and the geometric patterns. The shot was made by stitching eight images together. The view encompasses a bit more than 180 degrees.

Bagan, Myanmar – Take III

While Kelly indulged in yet another spa treatment, Tum and I went back to the temples to shoot some more. We weren’t alone. A hundred or more people came to watch the sunset. Later, we arrived back at the Thiripytsaya just in time to see this.

Ananda Temple

The outside of the temple is beautiful, but it’s what’s inside that really shines – four spectacular gilded wooden Buddhas. (These shots are all high-resolution vertical panoramas. Look for large copies of these printed on metallic paper in thedude’s loft soon!)