That’s Just Dandie

Kelly poses with one of Xenophon’s newest therapy horses on a beautiful Sunday morning. Oh – Kelly likes this shot too. Something about Dandie’s ears being pricked.

Golden Canyon

It must be said – this is one god-forsaken place. I can see why it was used as a proving ground for the Mars rovers and cast as the home of the Jawas in Star Wars. We found some interesting views along our 2.5 mile hike, but mostly just rocks and sand.

How Low Can You Go?

If you’re on land and in North America, the answer to that question is, “282 feet below sea level”.  

Vdara Hotel, Las Vegas

Kelly and I agree that this is the nicest Las Vegas hotel we’ve ever had the pleasure to visit. No casino, no smoking, free valet parking and a breathtaking view. Service was outstanding, and the price at the Vdara seemed reasonable! A rare combination, all but impossible to find anywhere else in Vegas. If you…

James Was Here

OK – I’ve been feeling kinda bad. My pal Jim visited for a week, and, despite great conversation, great weather and meals at places like Haven, Sea Salt and of course Chop Bar, I took a grand total of one photograph. With a cheap-ass point-and-click. I guess it could have been worse – I could…

Gualala 2012

We took Kelly’s parents along this time. We couldn’t have hoped for better weather in mid-January. No Internet for almost four days. What a wonderful trip! Loved it!

Last Night at San Gregorio Beach

I’m pretty happy with this shot of my wife with her parents and best friends Jeff and Wendy. To make it, I used my new FourSquare lighting system, held high above my head while I clutched the D3 with the other hand and snapped this about 30 minutes after sunset. The colors in this one…

More from Wyoming

Some of my favorite shots from our trip. Thanks to all of you. What a great time.

Point Arena, 2011

Thanks Tom and Julie, for including us in your trip fabulous food-filled trip up nort’. The whole weekend was fabulous. Steaks on the grill, shopping in Mendo… But that meal at Cafe Beaujolais was one of the most memorable ever. Awesome.

Warmest Day of the Year

Jim Rowe’s visit is coinciding with some spectacular Bay Area weather. The high temperature in Oakland was only in the upper 50’s, but in the warm sun it felt like 75. Perfect weather for oysters on the pier at the Lake Chalet. Later, we went up to Skyline Ranch to visit with Kelly and Bandit.

Our White Christmas

I was not looking forward to driving 5 hours to Shaver Lake to be held prisoner in a cabin in the snow, but that’s not how it turned out at all. The holiday I dread the most turned out to be more than tolerable this year. At times, it was actually fun. The food and…

Introducing Bandit

Kelly’s childhood dream finally comes true! Accompanied by their official photographer, Kelly and Bandit took a short ride on this sunny, 70 degree day. Looks like Bandit and Kelly are getting along splendidly. Many thanks to the great folks at Xenophon Therapeutic Riding for all of the support. Without your help, this would not have…

My New Favorite Lens

Steve has an 85mm f1.4 Nikkor lens for sale. I’d love to own it, but even used, this is one expensive lens! This led me into a search for alternatives, which led me to an entire Flickr group devoted to this interesting lens. I was impressed that these beautiful images were made with this amazingly…

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.

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 —…

4∞ and Fabulous!

It’s been far too long since we spent quality time with Andrew, Jeri and the kids. What a wonderful evening. Thank you so much for the great food and fun. Happy birthday sweetie!

No Fireworks Here

According to weather expert Chris, The San Francisco Bay Area was the coldest spot in the US this Fourth of July, with the possible exception of a few locations in Alaska. Along with temperatures in the 50’s came the famous fog, which obliterated any hope of seeing any fireworks. Oh well… We did get to…

Happy Birthday, Tom

As always, a great time. Fabulous food and friends! I managed to get only a few in-focus shots in the pitch darkness at Tom and Julie’s. 🙂

Happy Birthday, Laminator!

Welcome to your fifth decade, Dude. Hard to believe. Don’t listen to Hillary – I love the shirt.  

Fifty and Fabulous!

Happy New Year, and Happy Birthday, Kelly! Thanks very much to all who helped us celebrate the end of the decade and the Kelly’s birthday!

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….

Bixby Bridge and Post Ranch Inn

On the second day of Matt & Kerry’s visit, we drove down past the scenic Bixby Bridge through Big Sur and on to our destination – lunch at the Post Ranch Inn. The overcast skies didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for this terrific lunch. I’m getting hungry thinking about that pork chop.

Balloon Festival

The November full moon is cause for celebration in Taunggyi, Myanmar. The Hot Air Balloon Festival must be seen to be believed. It was a wild and wonderful way to end our trip. As beautiful as they are, still images can not adequately capture the cacophony of light and sound. Have a look at the…

Happy Easter!

thedude and Kelly celebrated the day with a non-traditional Easter brunch at the Claremont Hotel. We raised a toast to the U.S. Navy for rescuing Captain Phillips unharmed. This was also a chance to experiment with my new Canon G10, which so far is wonderful to shoot with, and produces amazing images for a camera…

Carmel Weekend

One of the best things about the Bay Area is that you can drive two hours and see sights like these and end up in Carmel-By-The-Sea. And if you’re like us, you’ll take the wrong turn at least once and discover a cemetery bursting with colorful flowers, lush, green fields, happy cows and sea lions…

Kakku and Pa-O People

On the morning of our twelfth day in Burma, our guide told us we would be taking a three and a half hour drive to Kakku. This is the amount of time required to drive 26 miles on Burma’s horrible roads. Our rough ride took us to yet another truly amazing site – more than…