We spent a perfect three-day weekend in Gualala with a few of our favorite people. We drove up the coast with no firm plans, loaded down with food and booze. We stayed in our pajamas the first day while we waited out a much-needed rain storm, but things got really nice on the second day….
Loving B&W Photography
I’m having so much fun shooting Black and white. It’s a real timesaver, and as a bonus, images look great. Nowadays, instead of trying to correct weird color shifts in images shot under terrible lighting conditions, I just whack the color altogether – and I’m loving it. (Rollover the image to see the original color…
Happy Birthday Baby!
Austin Powers celebrates the big seven-oh with a bunch of old hippies at Urban Legend.
One Man’s Castle
This is Al. I’ve seen Al and his collection of dozens of customized shopping carts moving – ever so slowly – from place to place along my morning commute. I have never seen such a massive collection of well, stuff. Look closely at some of the contraptions he’s built here. I like the functional bits…
Fresno Bee
What I like most about this shot is the minimal effort it took to get it. I just looked down with my x100S set on macro and shot this in the front of the in-law’s house in Fresno this afternoon. I couldn’t get closer without scaring off the bee, so I cropped the shot about…
Budapest
One of many surprises on the trip was the beauty of Budapest in the morning. Wish we’d had time to see the interior of the Gellert Spa. Finally time for a coffee and treats at Anna Café. More photos of beautiful Budapest here.
Bratislava
The capital of Slovakia was not supposed to be on our tour, but due to some loch work, we took a welcome detour to this interesting city. The rest of the images from Bratislava can be seen here.
Vienna
Vienna, with its 1.7 million inhabitants, is the largest city we visited. The city has a modern (and very expensive!) feel. Dozens of quaint cafés serve some of the best coffee and sweets we’ve ever tasted. We only wish we could’ve had a bite of this edible pony. St. Stephen’s Cathedral and another impressive organ….
Dürnstein
After a pleasant three hour cruise, the sun appeared just in time to see this picturesque village from the Danube. Later in the afternoon, we tasted the exquisite “biodynamic” wines at the Nickolai Winery. The rest of the pictures from this day are here.
Melk
The spectacular Melk Abbey provided plenty of eye-popping splendor on today’s tour. We found a delightful mix of the ultra-modern design and treasures from the past. The library was really stunning, but unfortunately, no photos were allowed. To give you some idea what it looked like, have a look at this amazing 3D shot of…
Salzburg
Scenery along the Danube is starting to become really lovely – especially when the sun (almost) makes an appearance. The Salzburg Cathedral. I’m not sure of the significance of the big gold ball or of the dude standing on top of it! View more pictures of our visit to Salzburg here.
Passau
Now on board the River Beatrice, our first stop is Passau. The site of the worst flooding in 5 centuries, Passau is small and charming. Our guide explains that the city was built at the confluence of three rivers – the Danube, the Inn and the Ilz. More Passau pics here.
Fifty-Eight Big Ones
Can you believe it? thedude certainly can not! We celebrated the auspicious occasion with a marvelous party. A huge thanks to Chris and Ben for hosting the event, and to Red for the super-fine grillin’! Click here if you want to see a few more shots.
Bay Bridge Eastern Span at Night
Kelly shot this beautiful video through the open top of our Smart Car after a delicious birthday dinner at Epic.
It Took Just 22 Years…
I finally posted my Oakland Hills Fire Video. It took a bit of motivation from Chris Burt, who mentions it in his recent blog about wild fires to actually make it happen. It’s RAW footage, and the Hi-8-poorly-converted-to-DVD quality is pretty horrendous, but some (like Chris) still find it interesting. For me, the video is…
Arm Chair Nature Photography
I put my recently purchased 15 foot USB cable to work this morning. I set up this simple rig and connected the cable to my iMac, launched a tethered session in Lightroom and went back to my work. Then whenever I heard the high-pitched squeak of a hungry hummer, without even looking out the window,…
Last Night
I like this shot of thedude and Kellster a lot. So I’m posting it. It’s my blog. So there.
Trustworthy Simon
Simon Waddington is a neighbor, cat-lover, accomplished paraglider, who works at GoodGuide and very frequent contributes to Google+. I recommend you check him out now.
Alameda Wine & Art Faire
thedude: Who does your makeup? Buki: What makeup?
A Dozen Protons
Another visualization. Cinema4D physical renderer.
Tudal Winery
Tudal Winery hosted an event at their winery in St. Helena yesterday. We knew the event would feature excellent wines and food, but when we learned that there was no driving involved, we jumped at the chance!
My First Tethered Capture
I finally had the perfect excuse to try out Lightroom’s Tethered Capture. I’ve been anxious to try this since neighbor Steve Fossum used this method to photograph yours truly. This extremely simple rig made shooting the chip much easier than ever before. The ability to view the images at high resolution on-screen as I shot…
Happy 4th to My Old Hippie Friends – and Michael
Thanks to Tom and Cynthia for the amazing eats, and to Chris and Ben, who once again proved to be the hosts with the most.
Fatty Boy
aka Kozmo. Grant took this amazingly detailed shot with his new Canon Rebel SL1 and 40mm pancake lens. Sharpalicious!!
Terramare and Beyond!
Despite near gale-force winds, this motivated group was undeterred in its quest to place a small white ball in a teeny-tiny hole far, far away. First at Sea Ranch Golf Links, and the next day at the Little River Inn. I know – two golf courses in two days??? Don’t worry – thedude has not…
Xenophon HQ
Pictures from this year’s Horse show can be found on the Xenophon web site.
Grillin’ with the Gang
Chris and Ben prepared pork AND lamb for last weekend’s feast. I’m trying out settings on the Fuji X100s. Hope you like the “HD” aspect ratio. These were shot with the Film Simulation mode set to “Pro Negative, High Contrast”. Now, I usually (always) shoot RAW, but it turns out that there are some advantages…
Another Day, Another ‘Do…
…another pizza at Dopo.
Cinco de Mayo Horsie Ride
I don’t need much of an excuse to practice with my new camera, so here we go.