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…
Photographing Four Kids is Hard
While the thought of shooting kids (with a camera) is not something I’d normally consider fun, I really could not refuse when my boss asked me to shoot his kids for the holiday. I get butterflies before all photo shoots, and this assignment had me more nervous than most. It’s easier to focus the camera…
Oh Just Frigate
Working on a cover of a book about pirates. The image started as a model from the Sketchup 3D Warehouse, exported in 3DS format, imported into Cinema4D. What you see is pretty much straight out of Cinema.
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…
Distractions
It’s true – the new 5K iMac is mind-blowing. Ii takes just a few minutes on a 5K retina display to realize that there will be no going back. After my boss saw it, I had no trouble convincing him that I could not live without a 5K display at work. So now I’ve been…
Five Days Off the Grid
The most amazing thing about this mini-vacation is that I managed to stay completely away from any form of Internet or phone access for more than five days. This may not seem like much of a feat, but I challenge you to try it.
Attack of the Sexagenarians
Lots more pictures from Chris and Scott’s birthday party on my Google+ page.
Happy Birthday to Me!
I cannot thank you guys enough for getting my fifty ninth sixtieth(!) year off to a such a great start. You guys RULE! Chris and Ben, thanks for being the best of all hosts and for opening the door to your beautiful home. Thanks to Peter and Jane for the excellent conversation, the laughs and…
Amazing Stuff Happens
Kelly and I visited new friend Curtis spectacular home this weekend to have a look at the Burning Man shots on his 19-foot home theater screen. In case that wasn’t cool enough, Curtis had a scheme to make it even more memorable and amazing. Wow! View more pictures of this awesome evening on Google+, of…
Andrew & Jeri’s Dazzling Wedding on the Playa
Surrounded by bees and unicorns, Andrew and Jeri and Ursula and Sophie made it official on Wednesday as the sun set on The Man. With the Reverend Billy presiding, I assure you, this event was more beautiful and spectacular than you can imagine. If you want more, you’ll find a couple hundred high-resolution images from…
Richard Lair
My friend Herve had this to say when he saw my shot of Richard. ‟He has a Faulknerian stance, with a sprinkle of twinkling old Mark twain…” Richard is the world’s authority on the Asian Elephant. He has lived in Thailand for most of his life, and has spent much of that time running one…
iBurn For You
I worked with a 2D file provided by Andrew to create a 3D splash screen for a Burning Man mapping app called iBurn. With it, burners will always be able to tell how far they are from The 7 Deadly Gins or Hungover Camel Hydration Station or even F.A.R.T. Kamp, for when they get the…
It’s Official!
After 10 years of Andrew’s urging me to go, I will finally embrace the dust.
Weekend Renders
There’s a reasonable chance that I’ll be asked to serve on the board of our Home Owner’s Association in a few months, and one topic that will be revisited again is an update of the interior of our building. A facelift is long overdue, and having a few convincing 3D renders may go a long…
I Truly Hate Hiking
Unless of course it’s near Jackson, Wyoming. Hiking isn’t the only thing we did in Jackson Hole. We also shopped and ate way too much. And of course, we took a few pictures. (Some of the best shots from this trip were shot by the Kellster!) It’s hard to pick favorites. Here are just a…
Don’t Panic
A friend asked for a panic button for an iPhone app he’s thinking of building. Now that he has this button, he’s half way there. My first thought was of an ultra-modern chrome and plastic job, but this is what came out. My creative process with Cinema4D is like a box of chocolates … The…
My 3D Server Room – Yay!
What you see is a fairly accurate view of the server room at work. If you’re interested, here’s how I created this. Note that the method I use is just one way to accomplish this. There are “easier” methods, like rendering directly inside of SketchUp with any number of snap-in renderers, (I like TheaRender) but…
Frank & Dot are Octogenarians!
We took a short trip to Cambria and Paso Robles to celebrate dual birthdays with the Hunter clan. On the way, we stopped at the spectacular Post Ranch Inn for a tasty lunch with a view. We both loved the little town of Cambria. Moonstone Beach is lined with cozy hotels, and the pace is…
Weekend Render Madness
For fun this weekend, I did one of the Cinema4D tutorials by the amazing Chris Schmidt. I learned so much in the process. The techniques used to create the spherical wire mesh on the microphone are awesome and so much fun! Thank your Nick and Chris for the awesome tutorials! Dude mic is based loosely…
This is My Brain on Protein
Did you know that there are databases in the public domain with free 3D models of organic materials like DNA, enzymes and proteins? Accurate and highly detailed, these models can be downloaded from a number of sites and imported into most 3D packages, including my favorite – Cinema4D. I have no idea what I’m looking…
Burtie Num Num
Thanks to ultimate hosts Chris and Ben Burt for the lovely soirée on this gorgeous day.
Tower of Power
I had some free time while kelly was riding Go-Go today at Xenophon, so I went out looking for photos. This PG&E tower, on the Xenophon property in Orinda, is about 18″ square; too small for a dude to crawl into, so I stuck my X100S into the center of the structure and pointed it…
San Francisco Moonrise
Last night I witnessed what has to be one of the most spectacular sites on planet Earth – the full moon rising on a rare fog-free, 75 degree evening over a sparkling San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Magical! This one’s for you, Carl.
Bottle Number Two
Modeling this bottle was a great learning experience. I used several cool tools and features to create it. The etched glass on the front of the bottle is a displacement map made by simply assigning a simple image with an alpha channel to the material and sticking it to the front of the bottle. I…
Cinema4D vs. Studio Photography
Inspired by a recent post on Grant’s site, in which he alludes to the many challenges of product photography, I decided to create a challenge for myself. I wanted to see what level of photorealism I could achieve with the Cinema4D Physical Renderer and a few simple 3D objects by recreating Grant’s product shots. To…
Today’s Mystery Render
I often don’t know exactly what I’m rendering or how it works or how it will be used. I certainly have never seen one of these things. I’ve heard it referred to as a “cartridge”, and that’s about all I know. I’m pretty sure the real cartridge shell is not transparent – I’ll bet it’s…
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,…
Farewell Old Friend
It’s hard to believe that I purchased my D3 six years ago. It is without doubt the best camera I’ve ever owned. Unfortunately, it’s massive size and weight became an inconvenience with the introduction of high-quality mirrorless digital cameras. These days I’m much more likely to be seen shooting with my Fuji X100s. Mirrorless cameras…
March 6th is Day of the Dude
Nobody calls me Lebowski. You got the wrong guy. I’m the Dude, man.