Fairfax Festival

Mike (after some concern due to a missed deadline) was able to participate again in this year's Fairfax Festival. An enjoyable time was had by all.

Especially since Mike's sales were up.

Photo: Fairfax Festival Booth Viewing—Marin County, 2010

Queen Anne's Lace

. . . just after the rain.

Photo: Queen Anne's Lace—Marin County, 2010

Monday Cow Blogging

. . . out-of-focus cows behind . . . hmm, is that Queen Anne's Lace?

Photo: Cows—Marin County, 2010

Ceanothus & Mt. Tam

I'm calling it ceanothus. Don't know if that's right or not. Taken during a pretty strenuous Open Space hike on a pretty hot day.

Photo: Ceanothus & Mt. Tamalpais—Marin County, 2010

Jerry Garcia

Pix of proposed Jerry Garcia Memorial site in Fairfax. Earlier Jerry Garcia mention here.

Photo: Jerry Memorial—Marin County, 2010

Black Mountain

After taking the fog photo seen yesterday I drove around Lake Nicasio to get this view of Black Mountain.

Photo: Black Mountain, Lake Nicasio—Marin County, 2010

Fog, Lake Nicasio

I reveled in the quiet solitude as I contemplated this scene.

After returning to the parking area, I noticed that other photographers were starting to arrive. But they were too late.

Marty Knapp's Nicasio page is here.

Photo: Fog & Reeds, Lake Nicasio—Marin County, 2010

In Sausalito . . .

. . . checking out the reflections. I was looking for seals, but didn't see any. I did find the Taj Mahal, though, at the end of a pier.

Photos: Reflections—Sausalito, 2010; Taj Mahal—Sausalito, 2010

Monday Cow Blogging

Yes. Cows in fog.

Photo: Cows in Fog—Marin County, 2010

Fence & Grass

Taken with the Canon G9 during a very strenuous Open Space hike in the Loma Alta district. Although I used (OK, the camera used) a fairly high shutter speed the photo still seems a little indistinct. So I went into Photoshop and applied a watercolor conversion . . . voila! Kind of a pointillist effect.

Photo: Fence & Grass—Marin County, 2010

Pond

This reminds me of the movie Blow-Up. This scene interested me primarily because of the sun obscured by clouds and reflected in the pond. But just as I took the photo a small bird flew across the pond, also reflected. But, unseen by me until I examined the image at a larger resolution, noticible as a blur against the farther trees: a much larger bird (hawk?) flying by.

Photo: Pond, San Geronimo Golf Course—Marin County, 2010

Bay Bridge, Self-Portrait

I think I've used the reflections here before. Probably.

Photo: Bay Bridge, Self-Portrait—San Francisco, 2010

The Way of the Geezer: Cheap Mojave Motel

$49.50. We're talking cheap.

You get what you pay for, alas.

Photo: Motel Parking Lot—Mojave, 2010

From Lone Pine Going South

After Whitney Portal, Mike drove back to the town of Mojave. Last weather event of the weather event-filled day was a cloudburst over Owens Valley; thence a stop at Red Rock Canyon.

Red Rock Canyon is nice enough, I guess (one of Edward Weston's favorite places) but they're now charging a fee just to park in the parking lot.

Photos: Clearing Storm—Owens Valley, 2010; Red Rock Canyon—Mojave Desert, 2010

Whitney Portal

Mike drove as far up the Whitney Portal Road as possible (closed at the first big switchback). Clouds were swirling around the impossibly close mountains of the eastern Sierra, with recent snow decorating the pine trees.

Interesting. In a matter of a few hours Mike had gone from below sea level to the base of Mt. Whitney.

Photos: Spring Storm, East Range—Sierra Nevada, 2010; Branches & Snow—Sierra Nevada, 2010

Monday Deer Blogging

Deer seen on the ridge above the golf course. Photo taken through the windshield, cropped and sharpened.

Photo: Deer—Marin County, 2010

Booth: Latest Iteration

As seen at the Oakland Farmers Market in May. Features include:

—table rotated so it's parallel to the side (provides more entry room).

—additional Propanels. Original two panels in front with extra four in back. Note the stabilizer bar up at the top in the rear.

—more bins for flipping through prints. Taller print rack for easier browsing.

I'm tending towards not having frames too far down on the panels. Also, trying to avoid that cluttered jigsaw puzzle look by not cramming in pix too close to one another.

Lastly, I'm experimenting with the placement of particular photos: eye-catching ones in front with more unusual ones in back.

All this is well and good, but whether or not any of it influences sales is very much unknown.

(First version here.)

Photo: Booth—Oakland, 2010

Some Flowers

Top: taken outside the Rincon Building in San Francisco. Bottom: landscaping in a parking lot border off Highway 101 in Marin.

Photos: Flower Stand—San Francisco, 2010; Flowers & Leaves—Marin County, 2010

Owens Valley Overlook

Mike drove up the Whitney Portal Road until he reached his best viewpoint: a wide flat area with some bear-proof dumpsters. He's been there many a time: oh yes. Flakes were still coming down; there were clumps of snow in the sage plants. The Nikon's aspect ratio (that Mike has complained about) was made for this kind of scene.

Earlier photo from same viewpoint here.

Nikon aspect ratio complaint here.

Photo: Clearing Spring Storm—Owens Valley, 2010

Owens Lake & Alabama Hills

Looking west across Owens Lake: low clouds kept the Eastern Sierra from view. Mike finally found a pullout to snap telephone poles against the distant alkaline line of the lakebed.

Driving further along through Lone Pine, the Alabama Hills came into sight, with snow-covered mountains as a backdrop.

Photo: Telephone Poles, Owens Lake—Inyo County, 2010; Alabama Hills & Sierra—Sierra Nevada, 2010

The Way of the Geezer: Snow Flurries

At a wide-open space high in the Inyo Mountains: snow starting to collect on the ground. Mike pulled the truck over and turned off the engine; as he did so he heard a curious, very unique dry chittering sound. Turned out that he was in the midst of falling snow pellets, otherwise known as graupel. Small pellets, lighter than hail, but heavy enough to be heard as they hit the ground.

Photos: Snow Flurries—Inyo Mountains, 2010; Telephone Poles—Inyo Mountains, 2010

Monday Goose Blogging

Seen in Oakland during my latest Farmers Market there. Yes, very contrasty.

Photo: Goose—Oakland, 2010

The Way of the Geezer: Leaving Death Valley in the Rain

Mike woke up during the night to hear rain falling on the camper shell. In the early gray dawn he struggled out of his sleeping bag, donned his parka and emerged into a wet and drear campground.

After his granola bar and coffee breakfast he left driving east on highway 190, windshield wipers turned to the full on position. Once inside the clouds blanketing Towne Pass he encountered extremely limited visibility and a scattering of snow on the sage plants.

Photos: Panamint Valley Road—Death Valley, 2010; Snow & Fog—Death Valley, 2010; Raindrops on Camper Shell Window—Death Valley, 2010

Old Ship

Interesting sight seen from the Larkspur-San Francisco ferry: very old ship being towed, most likely to be scrapped.

Photos: Old Ship 1—San Francisco, 2010; Old Ship 2—San Francisco, 2010

Death Valley Hills

The hills in back of the Texas Springs Campground are curiously spongy and friable. One sinks into the crumbly soil at each step, but when looking back there are no footprints.

Curious, as I said.

A 1992 photo here.

Photos: Hills 1—Death Valley, 2010; Hills 2—Death Valley, 2010

The Death of the Tripod

There they are again: photographers lined up in front of a famous landscape, and, emblematic of their Serious Intent, most of them had their cameras firmly screwed onto a tripod.

But isn't it time to seriously reconsider the utility of the tripod? Right now I can think of only a few situations requiring the use of a tripod: an HDR (high dynamic range) shot (requires varying exposures of the same shot), extremely low light photography, and product-type shots: all technical and/or specialized situations. And the technical reasons for using a tripod are gradually diminishing: hand-held HDR shots are becoming more common, and the latest digital SLRs are becoming more proficient at combining high speed with low noise. Add image stabilization into the mix and shots that only recently would have been tripod-only can now be easily handheld.

I know that some say that a tripod will assist in composing a photograph, but I just don't see it; in fact, I have more "keepers" shooting handheld than when using a tripod. (Why is that? Best guess: a) handheld = more flexibility in shooting angles and, more shots, b) tripod = static compositions and, decreased shots.) (And, when I say "more shots" I mean more varied shots.)

You can find a lot of advice on photography blogs, the writers somehow compelled to start compiling lists of do's and dont's in which can often be seen a certain kind of geezerish Tripod Nostalgia at work. Sure: in the olden times a tripod was, in fact, necessary in order to take the photograph, since a 4x5 view camera was really not meant to be used handheld. But now?

For a pro-tripod view, here's George Barr.

Photo: Photographers, Zabriskie Point—Death Valley, 2010