Monday Cow Blogging

Nice cow. Stood correctly in profile for the photo, then turned for a head-on shot.

Photos: Cow—Marin County, 2009; Cow—Marin County, 2009

Hay Truck

Early morning at the stable, fog just starting to dissipate.

Photo: Hay Truck—Marin County, 2009

November Wind

November Wind from Mike Mundy on Vimeo.

Aki no Ame (Autumn Rain) #8: Tokyo Tower

Rain spattering on the window of the hotel; the blurred, damp metropolis with the Tokyo Tower looming in the background.

Photo: Rain on Window—Tokyo, 2008

Crows Landing

A lot of speculation in the blogosphere as to the purpose of the mysterious factory-like building and the tall fence surrounding it just off Crows Landing in Stanislaus County.

The definitive answer seems to be found here: "Ok guys, calm down, the big fence is to keep garbage (papers, cups, plastic, etc) that escapes the primary containment area from blowing out onto the freeway and causing a crash on I-5. If you take note of the fence, it is tall and lanky like one that might surround a golf course driving range. It is clearly *not* a high security perimeter fence. The fence is so tall due to the geographic location of the plant agaist the hills and the attendant high winds that are often present there. As for barbed/razor wire, I will have look next time I go by, but, I do not recall any but could be mistaken. The facility as previously outlined in earlier postings burns waste and generates electricity which is sold to PG&E."

For a fuller explanation of the facility, check here.

Photo: Waste Facility Fence—Stanislaus County, 2009

Bay Bridge & Pier

OK, OK. So I tweaked the pix so that the pier and the bridge are parallel.

Photo: Bay Bridge & Pier—San Francisco, 2009

Oak & Hail

A blustery day in Marin yesterday. When I was out at the stable it started to hail, so I got out the camera and took a photo of my favorite oak. I had to take the picture using my right hand while my left hand reached over the camera with my hat to shield the lens from the sun.

So there's camera shake. Still, interesting.

Photo: Oak & Hail—Marin County, 2009

Oak Tree

Three views of the same tree. The top one and the one directly below taken with my new telephoto lens, the fog photo taken with the critically acclaimed 12-60mm lens.

Photos: Oak Tree—Marin County, 2009; Oak & Fog—Marin County, 2009; Horse & Oak—Marin County, 2009

Monday Avocet Blogging

Taken with my new Olympus telephoto at the Corte Madera wetlands. (Across the street from Nordstroms.)

Photo: Avocet—Marin County, 2009

Aki no Ame (Autumn Rain) #7: Man with Umbrella

We set off to see the Meiji Shrine in the rain. The day had started out wet, with the weather steadily growing more intense; luckily I had my umbrella, my Marmot Precip parka, and some Gore-tex hiking shoes, with the Olympus SLR coming in and out of the parka. The low light levels were particularly challenging since higher ISOs on the E-510 tended to become somewhat noisy. This shot is much better in black and white rather than color.

Afterwards there was lunch at an upscale ramen restaurant at the Omotesando Hills complex.

Photo: Man with Umbrella (Meiji Shrine)—Tokyo, 2008

References:

Meiji Shrine Wikipedia

Meiji Shrine mikereport

Omotesando Hills

Berkeley Self-Portrait

Wandering around Berkeley.

Photo: Self-Portrait—Berkeley, 2009

. . . from the archives #55: Peoples Park—Berkeley, 1971

Was it 1971? At first, I didn’t think that I had the date right. According to the Wikipedia entry on People’s Park, National Guard troops first arrived in Berkeley in 1969. But I think that they were still there when I took this photograph in 1971.

And let’s take a moment to consider the impermanence of physical objects. I took several shots of the troops guarding the park with my Nikon F: the negatives are very clearly represented on one of my contact sheets. All park photographs were contained on one strip of film, which is in fact now missing; I first noticed its absence in the 1980s. Not only that, at one point I had several slides showing pitched confrontations: rioters, tear gas . . . everything. And of course the slides are now also gone. I had to resurrect this photograph by scanning an old print I had (luckily) made.

There might be some moral here in discussing the modern disease of backup paranoia involving a full panoply of multiple redundant hard drives. But I’m not sure what the moral might be.

Someday we will have to discuss this.

Photo: People’s Park—Berkeley, 1971

References:

People’s Park Wikipedia entry.

Contact sheets: the mikereport

Backup Wikipedia entry.

Scott Kelby's Backup Strategy.

Aki no Ame (Autumn Rain) #6: Shiodome

Our hotel was located in the Shiodome area of Tokyo, accessible by a short hike from the Shinbashi Station. A relatively new area, filled with elevated train tracks, modern office buildings and pedestrian overcrossings to take photographs from.

Photo: Rain, Shiodome—Tokyo, 2008

Baker Beach (video)

Baker Beach from Mike Mundy on Vimeo.

Baker Beach

It always seems to me as if it should be "Baker’s Beach." Don’t know why.

I stopped by after delivering a mattress to the Jewish Family Services on Post St. So now we have yet another Golden Gate Bridge photo and another lone fisherman photo.

Photos: Golden Gate Bridge from Baker Beach—San Francisco, 2009; Fisherman—San Francisco, 2009

Aki no Ame (Autumn Rain) #5: Beer Kegs

There’s a multitude of restaurants and bars underneath the arches and overhangs of the Shinbashi Station in Tokyo. I was able to find shelter under one such overhang during a rainy morning while taking photos of restaurant preparations across the street.

Photo: Beer Kegs—Tokyo, 2008