Sunday, July 31, 2011

Marin County Civic Center Spire

Civic Center Spire, Marin County  2011

Seen as I was driving to the Sunday AM Farmers Market. Of course I had to pull into the post office parking lot and pull out the Canon G12 before continuing on with my booth setup.

Update: In reference to the puff of steam coming from mid-spire, alert commenter Diane has discovered the following


"The central architectural focus for the building is the 80-foot diameter dome with its 172-foot, slender gold spire. The spire creates a visual punctuation mark that breaks the horizontality of the two buildings. It was originally designed to serve as an exhaust outlet for the furnace and as a radio tower, which was precluded by new technology."


More info in comments. One wonders if the exhaust outlet is still in place with condensation producing the steam . . .??

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Umbrella

Umbrella, Marin County  2011

Again, in the neighbors' back yard.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Sunflowers & Buckeye

Sunflowers, Marin County  2011

. . . in the neighbors' yard.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Preaching

Preaching, San Francisco  2011

Maybe he was preaching.

Maybe not. On the other side of Market Street, I could hear his voice, but not the words.

But he does look rather preacher-like.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

USA 76

USA 76, San Francisco  2011

Seen on a recent ferry crossing into San Francisco.

Yes, that USA 76: USA-76, currently owned by Brad Webb and ACsailingSF, was most famously helmed by Oracle Founder Larry Ellison, and used by the BMW Oracle Racing Team in their preparations to win the challenger series and won the right to challenge for the 2007 America's Cup that was held in Valencia, Spain.

Currently in SF as part of a promo thingie.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

CF Card Failure (Sierra Nevada)—Tuesday, August 15, 2006

C-8080 Screen, Marin County  2006

(from Mike's backpacking journal):

7:00—Sunrise.

8:00—Packing up. As I’m trying to get everything pushed into the main compartment of my backpack, I hear an odd sort of pattering noise off to my right. I turn to see two coyotes running headlong towards my camp site. As I swivel, they dart by me at a distance of 15 feet, plunge down into the gully past my campground, then scoot up a hill and out of sight. I must say, they paid not the slightest bit of attention to me.

9:15—Breakfast and Motrin.

10:30— Made it up to the dam at Waugh Lake around 10:30. Taking photos, as is my wont, when the Compact Flash card went out (I think.) Instead of the image being previewed, there appeared a card setup message on the LCD screen. Replaced battery, no luck. Took out card, put back in, no luck. After some thought, tried to reformat, but no luck. Message actually doesn’t make sense, since of course I formatted the card when I first got it. And the fact that the camera won’t reformat it makes me really suspect that the card is somehow damaged. Don’t see how that could be.

I contemplated continuing on . . . for a few minutes anyway. But of course, I need a camera. First time I’ve had to shorten a trip due to equipment failure, I think.

12:00 PM—An unfortunate and unforeseen return to my first camp!

3:30—Drinking a cup of decaff. coffee. Cool in the shade—65ยบ. A brilliant blue sky. Right now, I’m feeling drained. Hard to describe. Very tired . . . already took a nap. I’m hoping it’s the card and not the camera. I like the camera (an Olympus 8080) a lot.


(Update: Of course it was the CF card. Other cards worked just fine and I went on to take many great photos with the C-8080. Never could retrieve any data from that card . . .)

Monday, July 25, 2011

Monday Dog Blogging

Sleeping Dog, Sierra Nevada  1997

Somewhere in and about Tioga Pass, I think.

Taken with color negative 35mm film. (Taking note of the impending use of inkjet color printers, I started using color film in 1997.)

Interestingly enough, although taken in color this photo works better in black and white. Hm.

Yes, yes, I decided to let him lie.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Sunflowers

Sunflowers, Marin County  2011

In the entryway.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Pumping Plant

Pumping Plant, Monterey County  2011

Going through last quarter's pix. This one seemed just right for a Saturday.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Reflections

Building, Reflections  2011

Puzzling little photo. Just right for a Friday pix.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Oakland Staircase

Staircase, Oakland  2011

Mike sold a large, framed "Convict Lake" print at the Oakland Farmers Market. He delivered it later, after cleaning the frame, glass, etc. Photo taken from customer's art patron's staircase looking out.

No Convict Lake photo on the blog, but it's in portfolio 2 on Mike's web site.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Squash Blossoms / Oakland Farmers Market

Squash Blossoms, Oakland  2011

Taken at the booth opposite mine.

Hm . . . I actually did OK. Way better than the Fairfax Festival, and in a fraction of the time.

Go figure, as they say.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Sunflowers

Sunflowers, Marin County  2011

In the kitchen window.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Monday Horse Blogging

Horses, Marin County  2011

Tuffy and Champagne, at the Devils Gulch Horse Camp.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

. . . from the archives #65: Clines Corners—New Mexico, 1986

Clines Corners, New Mexico  1986

Photo almost certainly taken with an Olympus OM-1 using (probably) Plus-X film. We were on our way to visit my brother-in-law Joe at his artist residency dwelling in Roswell.

Although . . . there's certainly a lot of grain. Sometimes I used Tri-X, but not often.

More info on Clines Corners.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Exercising

Exercising, Los Angeles  2011

Near the Pan Pacific Auditorium.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Sunflowers

Sunflowers, Marin County  2011

Camera pointing down a little too much: the vase isn't quite in the correct proportion.

If you know what I mean. Too bad I didn't go back and redo it.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Post for Wire

Post for Wire, Marin County  2011
Very f64-ish.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

San Rafael Sightems

Building, Marin County  2011

Red Windows, Marin County  2011

Top: leaving a parking lot on Mission St.

Bottom: Red windows, seen before.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

California Buckeye

Buckeye #1, Marin County  2011

Buckeye #2, Marin County  2011

Cloudy early-morning June sky. Rained quite heavily later in the day.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Monday Angry Bird Blogging

Junco, Marin County  2011

A pair of juncos built a nest in our courtyard last month, and immediately started acting like they owned the place. They even appropriated the olive tree!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Succulents

Succulents, Marin County  2011

A nice Canon G12 shot, taken while dog-walking Betsie. I've always meant to go back there with the D90, but haven't.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

American Scene

Stopsign & Fence, Marin County  2011

I like to think of this as an "American Scene" photo.

As we all know, "American Scene" refers to a type of painting; I don't know if the practitioners ever constituted a formal school.

Wikipedia entry here.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Mike Isn't Buying the Nikon D7000

Nikon D7000, Marin County  2011

The successor to the D90 seen at Costco.

A negligible increase in pixels over the D90. Better video. Much better mode dial (oh well.)

But . . . weighs more than the D90. Mike is only going to be going down in weight from here on out. (Probably famous last words.)

Thursday, July 7, 2011

San Rafael Sightems

Sign, Rain, Marin County  2011

Roses, Painters, Marin County  2011
Top: in the Staples parking lot.

Bottom: taken from the car wash waiting area.

Not that I frequent the car wash waiting area, you understand. I'm only there when the inside of the car has reached a certain tipping point.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

San Rafael Sightems

Rainspout, Marin County  2011

Overgrown Truck, Marin County  2011
Seen in the order sighted.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Electrical Box

Electrical Box, Marin County  2011

I visited this year's Fairfax Festival and all I got was a photo of this little tableau in a nearby electrical box.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Monday Horse Blogging

Champagne & Flag 1, Marin County  2011

Champagne & Flag 2, Marin County  2011

Champagne checking out Mike's handheld lil' flag.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Wave

Wave, Point Reyes  2011

. . . Queen Anne's Lace in the foreground.

Very serene.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Restroom . . .

Restroom, Marin County  2011

Reminds me, a little, of the Fluff 'n Fold storefront.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Backpacking with the Kindle & iPhone

Kindle & iPhone, Point Reyes  2011

Mike wanted to try out the Kindle as a backpacking item. Also, he was curious to see if there was any reception for his Verizon iPhone at Coast Camp.

iPhone: There wasn't any reception. But! Mike was able to listen to an NPR podcast of Fresh Air when it got too dark to read.

Kindle: Some background: Mike likes to read when he's up in the mountains (or wherever) camping. If he's backpacking, weight is a major consideration, so he hasn't been able to take as many books as he'd like with him. The Kindle solves this problem since it only weighs around 12 ounces.

Above we see the Kindle put into an aftermarket case. And, durability issues are still somewhat unresolved. (By the way: note the totally superfluous keyboard.) Anyway, for this one trip, the Kindle worked just fine. Of course, new models will be coming out on a regular basis, thus proving Dan's Rule: "In Tech Matters, It Never Hurts to Procrastinate."