Disney Hall

Disney Hall - Los Angeles  2014

Disney Hall Interior - Los Angeles  2014

I've posted photos before of this building taken with a Nikon D90 DSLR. This visit I took an Olympus E-PL5 with me with no discernible difference in quality. And once again I had to use the reflective surface for a self portrait, this time with Joe standing alongside.

Joe, Mike (Disney Hall) - Los Angeles  2014

Tokyo Story

Talking (Tokyo) - Japan  2014

Parting (Tokyo) - Japan  2014

Seen in one of the many labyrinthine corridors underneath Tokyo.

Taken with an Olympus E-PL5 (using the flip-up LCD panel, I'm sure).

Driving Downtown . . .

Dentista - Los Angeles  2014

Vape Shop - Los Angeles  2014

. . . in Joe's Scion, admirably suited for out-the-window photos.

Pumpkins In The Redwoods

Pumpkins, Redwoods - Marin County  2014

Very mysterious. Don't know who puts them there.

Seen On Fairfax Avenue #2

Delivery - Los Angeles  2014

Bus Driver - Los Angeles  2014

Bus was parked on Fairfax near the Farmers Market, the driver checking out his cell phone while the passengers shopped.

Seen On Fairfax Avenue #1

Silent Movie Theatre - Los Angeles  2014

Schwartz - Los Angeles  2014

Fairfax at night and during the day.

I didn't know that the Silent Movie Theatre had been converted to a "cinematheque," but I guess that it has. I can remember going there with my father to watch, yes, silent movies.

Also, I won't be going to see "Bad Turn Worse."

Monday Prairie Dog Blogging

Prairie Dog (Zoo) - San Francisco  2014

Very delicious carrot peel.

Seen at the San Francisco Zoo.

Flame Chicken, Pawn Shop

Flame Chicken - Los Angeles  2014

Pawn Shop - Los Angeles  2014

Coming back from downtown L.A. in Joe's Scion marvelling at the L.A. sights to be found on 3rd Street.

There's a photo of Flame Chicken's Taro Boba on Yelp.

L.A. Sightems

B12 Injections - Los Angeles  2014

Mannequins - Los Angeles  2014

Beverly Boulevard and the downtown garment district.

Melrose Avenue #48: Mao's Kitchen

Mao's Kitchen - Los Angeles  2014

The latest in my billboard series. I noticed this display (actually don't know what it's advertising) when Joe and I were getting sandwiches at the Subway across the street. I had to come back early the next morning with the 14-150mm lens to get this shot.

Another billboard shot: Shoe Kare from 1973.

Melrose Avenue #47: Suitcases, Working Late

Suitcases - Los Angeles  2014

Working Late - Los Angeles  2014

After dark on Melrose Avenue.

I used an Olympus E-PL5 with a 12-50mm lens for these photos.

Melrose Avenue #46: Wild Style

Wild Style - Los Angeles  2014

"Where fashion is beyond." Very colorful, I deem.

Highway Five Rest Stop

Hills, Power Lines - Central California  2014

Rattlesnake Warning - Central California  2014

Driving down to Los Angeles in late October of this year. The weather was remarkably nice . . . clear and windy.

I've never seen a rattlesnake at any of the Highway Five rest stops.

Monday Horse and Crow Blogging

Tuffy, Crow - Marin County  2014

Crow waiting to partake of some of Tuffy's spilled feed. There is always some spilled feed.

Nandina Leaves

Nandina Leaves - Marin County  2014

Nandina Leaves - Marin County  2014

In our backyard.

Top: October, 2014.

Bottom: November, 2014.

Taken with an Olympus 45mm lens wide open.

Game Chest

"Game Chest" - Lake Tahoe  2014

Bier Haus. Another incomprehensible slot machine game.

Discussions

Discussion (Kyoto) - Japan  2014

Discussion - Los Angeles  2014

Top photo taken in Kyoto using an Olympus E-M1 camera with a 14-150mm "superzoom" lens.

Bottom photo taken in Los Angeles using an Olympus E-PL5 camera with a 45mm "prime" lens.

Leaves

Leaves, Autumn - Marin County  2014

Oak Leaves - Marin County  2014

More photos taken with the Olympus 45mm lens, noted for its ability to achieve that coveted "limited depth of field."

Olympus 45mm Lens

Leaves in Rain - Marin County  2014

Seed Pods - Marin County  2014

I had tried this lens earlier as a rental and decided that it was of limited use to me.

However . . . I've now reconsidered. I think that it might come in handy for toddler photos (it's kind of a telephoto lens, with considerable background lens blur for subject isolation.) Unfortunately it's not a zoom lens which restricts its flexibility.

These photos were made with the lens wide open at f1.8 as an experiment in limited depth of field.

Olives: Sad Story

Olives (Fruit Fly Damage) - Marin County  2014

The 2014 olive story is another one of total decimation by the olive fruit fly.

I guess that's it. I was following a weekly regimen of spraying in the early A.M. (spray approved for organic outcomes) but it clearly didn't work. I'm thinking that having just one tree is just a little bit dicey . . . something that is prescribed for an olive grove might not work for such a small sample.

Next year I'll probably try to prevent the tree from fruiting (supposedly you can do that).

Monday Cat Blogging

Cat - Berkeley  2014

Taken last 4th of July, actually, in Berkeley during the famous Carlotta St. Parade. Nice potluck after the parade!

Potluck - Berkeley  2014

Stable Pix

Stable, Oak Tree - Marin County  2014

Stable, Oak Tree, Rain - Marin County  2014

Near Tuffy's paddock.

Total Rewards

Total Rewards - Lake Tahoe  2014

Very odd ad seen in a Lake Tahoe casino.

Not quite sure just what kind of experience is being depicted . . . I have to say, that doesn't look like the weekend I always imagined.

Frontyard

Mexican Sage - Marin County  2014

I need to get a photo of the Mexican Sage on the blog before winter lays it low.

Backyard

Nasturtium and Fence, Fall - Marin County  2014

Serrano Pepper - Marin County  2014

Serrano Peppers - Marin County  2014

In our backyard in September - October.

Nasturtium in pot, fence.

Serrano peppers changing color, green to red.

Photos taken with an Olympus E-PL5, top two using a 12-50mm zoom lens, the bottom one with a 45mm prime lens.

Jackson Church

Church (Jackson) - Central California  2014

OK, so this time I actually did know that I wanted the image to be black and white. Also, I tried to get enough of the structure in the original photo to allow for the inevitable cropping once I applied some perspective correction in Photoshop. I used the lens correction menu in Camera Raw, but since then Dan showed me that you could also use the cool Perspective Crop tool in Photoshop.

The original image:

Church (Jackson) - Central Calfornia  2014

Jackson

Brick Building (Jackson) - Central California  2014

Water Street (Jackson) - Central California  2014

We stopped and had lunch in Jackson, a historic gold-mining, now tourist town at the intersection of highways 88 and 49. Cloudy and warm . . . nice light.

50 Years Ago Today #1

3 November 1964 - North Carolina  1964

Who among us can say, with any degree of certainty, exactly what they were doing on this date 50 years ago?

Well, maybe some can . . . and maybe there are some that weren't even born 50 years ago.

Anyway, as it so happens (as it was meant to happen) Mike has documentary evidence of what he was doing on November 3, 1964. Yes, he was kneeling on the grass outside some barracks in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, getting a first-hand look at the capabilities of a psychological warfare unit. Wow!

And not unlike Marcel Proust's childhood memories of madeleines, Mike's Fort Bragg memories are confined to tastes: Fanta soda and hoagies.

(The next stop on Mike's Army tour was Fort Carson, Colorado. Then, Okinawa.)

From Highway 88

Clouds, Granite (from Highway 88) - Sierra Nevada  2014

Well, we couldn't return to the Bay Area using Highway 50 because of the fire. Our alternate route was Highway 88, another trans-Sierra highway to the south. Actually it's more scenic than Highway 50, but not as user-friendly . . . not as many passing lanes. Nice clouds, though!

Incidentally, I planned the route home using my old plastic fold-out map of Northern California. Much easier to use in many ways than the iPhone.

People Waiting at a Train Crossing

Waiting at a Train Crossing - Japan  2014

Anonymous intersection at an unknown town in Japan taken as we sped by. Taken with an Olympus E-PL5 with a Panasonic 14-42mm lens, 1/2000th second.