Yesterday my coworkers and I met at Kitty’s in Emeryville to send off another of my favorite coworkers. Hugh (aka Huge) and I have worked side-by-side for almost six years. He’s an amazingly talented SysAdmin, musician and a great friend. I am very sad to see him go. Best wishes to you, Hugh!
Year: 2006
Our Wonderful Wives
Chris and I have much in common, but by far the best thing we share is our beautiful wives. (Hm. That doesn’t sound exactly right…) There is nothing like the feeling that comes with knowing you’ll share the rest of your life with the kindest, most loving, most talented and beautiful women you have ever…
Ansel, 1, thedude, 0
The scene has changed a lot since 1941, and I had very little snow and no clouds at all to work with. So that’s my excuse.
More from Wyoming
Chris knows this part of the world like the back of his hand, so he took us to several of his favorite spots. He led us on a few short hikes and one very long one. (More on that later.) We drove up Shadow Mountain, (Google Earth Placemark) and back down to Jenny Lake for…
Grand Tetons Panorama
I saw numerous examples of images like these in galleries throughout Jackson. (The cabin in the scenes below is the most photographed structure in the park.) Many were shot with a large format camera and exhibited breathtaking sharpness and supernatural colors.
Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Our best friends Chris and Ben have a very cool cabin just a few yards outside the Grand Teton National Park. This shot was taken from the deck shortly after sunrise on Friday morning. We stared at this view for three days and barely noticed the structures in the foreground – our eyes were fixed…
Keeping Cool in Calistoga
OK, I’m beginning to think that we might be a tiny bit spoiled… Yesterday we attended an amazing birthday party for our friend Leslie. We were a bit hesitant to venture out into the 110 degree heat we knew we’d encounter in Calistoga, but we’re glad we went. Leslie is a family friend of the…
Happy Birthday Sonja!
What a perfect evening. We celebrated Our dear friend Sonja’s birthday at Mountain Winery with Chris Isaak, who, just like Sonja, seems to get better with age. Chris treated his devoted and mostly female fans to awesome impressions of Elvis, Roy Orbison – even Robin Zander. Chris Isaak is a thoroughly professional entertainer who can…
Fantastic Fire Arts Festival
Wherein Utilikilt-clad white male fire-worshippers from around the Bay Area converge on the Crucible in Oakland for their 6th annual Fire Arts Festival and play in public with very dangerous but mesmerizing big boy toys. Whoa. The things we saw there definitely fall into the “Don’t try this at home” category. This ain’t your Mother’s…
The Golden State and Blog Categories
I’ve noticed lately that some of the pages on this site are becoming rather unwieldy. Some of my Category pages are enormous. My Photography link, for example, launches a page almost 8 megabytes in size! This is a problem, even on my 6 megabit-per-second connection. Since there’s no practical way for me to reduce the…
Kids Say the Darndest Things
While driving home from dinner tonight at Luka’s Tap Room, I discovered that there’s a punk club one block from our loft. So, naturally, I grabbed my camera and went after some images. Tonight’s alcohol-free event looks like so much fun I might have to go back after dark to shoot the dingy club in…
DAMMIT!
The frustrating thing about this is that I have no recollection of having done it. My guess is that I stopped at the red light, checked both directions, and then proceeded through the intersection – possibly thinking that I was turning from a one-way street on to a one-way street – a perfectly legal maneuver….
Random Goodness
A few of the other fun things that happened on this Wisconsin trip: Jimmy D. showed off his very impressive THREE monitor setup. Three 21″ LCD’s oriented vertically. Wow. Elvis Origami – layers of crispy won tons, bananas, peanut butter, honey, chocolate syrup – Kelly’s favorite dessert at B.J. Wentker’s in Burlington. Huns and Dr….
2006-07-09 21:56:48, Burlington, Wisconsin
Thanks Dave, for a breathtaking look at Wisconsin weather this beautiful evening in Oakland. Awesome. I have never seen lightening quite like this. It appears to come from (go to?) a patch of clear blue sky. Dave, please tell us more about this very cool shot! Looks like 10 seconds at f4.0, so you used…
Chilluns!
A renowned family man, thedude is proud to share with you a few pictures of some of the younger people in his life. Nephews, daughters, sons and daughters of friends. See if you can tell which is which. C’mon, this is too easy! Oh, by the way, Kerry is due this week. 🙂
De Torchum Never Stops
Looks like I have enough images for a couple more days of abuse. Heh! I’m loving it!
More Party Pix!
Here are a few more fab shots from the CLAM reunion in no particular order. That last shot of your humble photographer was made by Dave Seitz. Thanks, Dave! By the way, I saw a couple of videos at the party that I’d love to make available to all of the CLAMS. Jeff, Todd –…
These Are a Few of My Favorite CLAMS
I am sooo glad we took the time to set up the lights in Dave’s garage. My only regret is that I did not spend more time in “the studio”. This is partly due to the 92 degree heat and high humidity, but also because I was just plain lazy. I wish I had shot…
Milwaukee River Cruise
Our most excellent friend Mark recommended a Milwaukee River cruise during my visit to Wisconsin, so we boarded the Edelweiss II at precisely 5:30 on Friday night. The weather was perfect and the cheap margaritas flowed freely while we cruised up and down the scenic river. The riverfront seems to be a happenin’ place these…
Hotel David
thedude’s first and last stop on any trip to Wisconsin is always the fabulous Hotel David. Proprietor Steve David makes sure the cozy Corley Suite is ready for thedude whenever he’s in town. In addition to offering the most comfortable bed in town, Steve pours generously from his well-stocked wine cellar – always finding the…
O’Hare International Airport
One of the first things you may encounter when traveling through Chicago’s O’hare International Airport is the wacky walkway under the tarmac between the terminals and baggage claim. I’m usually too busy to stop and photograph this spot, but this time I was able to spare a few seconds to shoot two quick images with…
A CLAM-tastic Reunion
This weekend’s CLAM reunion was fabulous. So fabulous, in fact that I was having way too much fun to shoot the hundreds of images I’d imagined I’d shoot. I shot a mere 161 images, and our host Dave managed to get a few more. I’m sure there’s enough here for a MyPublisher book, but some…
Reunited!
Yes, miracles DO happen, and here’s proof. Kelly found her beloved Nova!! So, you’re probably wondering how this could possibly happen. What follows is the story of the incredible series of events that led to Nova’s return home. First, we printed a few flyers and stapled them to telephone poles in our neighborhood. Kelly has…
Hoping for a Miracle
This weekend Kelly’s oldest, sweetest bird, Nova, managed to slide out of a narrow opening in one of our loft windows. This is not the first time she’s flown out, but this time her wings were strong enough to carry her too far from our loft. We haven’t found her, and we know that odds…
Pano Tools and PT Assembler
You know I love panoramic photography. I’m always looking for tools to help me improve my results. Some months ago I downloaded Pano Tools and Pano Tools Assembler, but never found the time to try them out – until today. After my first hour with Pano Tools, all I can say is, “W-W-W-WOW!” There are…
thedude’s Work at Aqua Via
Once in a while thedude takes a paying photo job. Hey, he has to pay off these expensive photography toys! This client wanted some generic Jack London Square shots to help promote their new apartments on 2nd and Jackson – a couple blocks from here. We toured the building yesterday. The units are fairly nice,…
Walk in the Wild – 2006
Tonight Kelly treated us to one of her favorite events – Oakland Zoo’s fabulous Walk in the Wild. The adults-only fund-raiser features tons of food and wine, loads of animals, live music, the occasional Elvis sighting and no children. Wow. Is there a better time to be had at the zoo? I don’t think so….
Suburban Illusions – From Camera to Book in One Day
Steve made these images on a sunny Hayward afternoon while riding his cherry 1942 AMC Flash Cruiser, recently resuscitated from a 64 year stint in a “barn at Francis’ house”. The unretouched Fuji FinePix E900 images were dragged directly into a MyPublisher book. Here are a couple of spreads from this sure-to-be-instant-classic. The process took…
Can You Spot the Difference?
Of course you can! Another photographic blunder saved by PhotoShop.