A Picture A Day

Archive for November, 2007

November 20th, 2007

November 20, 2007 – Cal Train


37°29’9.59″N 122°13’53.88″W
A commuter train pulling into the Redwood City train station near sunset. Panning with the train, 1/10 sec exposure with a very wide angle 11mm lens.

November 19th, 2007

November 19, 2007 – Pigeon Vultures


37°22’58.09″N 122°10’45.62″W
Okay, so there really isn’t such a thing as a pigeon vulture, but this flock was in the Arastradero Preserve observing the fields from the top of a dead tree. They seemed very out of place.

The tree itself is a popular photo subject. If you search on Flickr for public pictures tagged with “arastradero” you’ll see the lone trunk show up quite often.

November 18th, 2007

November 18, 2007 – Ghost on the Tracks


38°36’18.49″N 122°51’39.30″W
Taken just after sunset on a railroad bridge over the Russian River. 30 second exposure, I lit myself with a flashlight for about 15 seconds and then left the shot so I would be transparent.

November 17th, 2007

November 17, 2007 – Flashlight Veggies


After shooting my Gibson guitar picture, I wanted to play around more with “light painting”, so I grabbed some veggies and headed down to the garage. This shot is a 20 second exposure in a blacked out room, lit with a small Maglite flashlight moving around to light the scene. This image is direct from the camera – completely unretouched, including brightness, contrast and color balance. Pretty cool.

November 16th, 2007

November 16, 2007 – Oak, Of The Poison Variety


37°33’44.57″N 122°23’46.49″W
I rode the length of Sawyer Camp Trail today, 12 miles round trip. The trail, which is paved, travels along Crystal Springs Lake and San Andreas Lake (both reservoirs).

This image is of poison oak growing up the side of an old abandoned water department shack.

November 15th, 2007

November 15, 2007 – Gibson


My cherry Gibson Les Paul Studio.

Done with “light painting.” 30 second exposure, lit with a small flashlight moving about.

November 14th, 2007

November 14, 2007 – Self Portrait on Escalator


34° 6’9.39″N 118°20’23.16″W
Taken on the escalator in the Hollywood & Highland Center (the shopping mall next to the Kodak Theater). The center art piece is this series of mirrors hanging under a grand piano suspended from the ceiling.

I rode the escalators a few times to get a good shot. This one was taken right before a security guard came and told me I couldn’t take pictures there. Clearly BS, as probably a thousand pictures are taken there every day. I asked her why not, and she said because I might take a picture of a security camera. Huh? I think they were really just getting creeped out by a lone guy going up and down the escalator over and over again late at night.

November 13th, 2007

November 13, 2007 – Small Chair or Giant Pumpkin


I built this Adirondack chair about 18 years ago when my first child was just an infant. It is the same as the other Adirondacks I’ve built, only all dimensions were halved, creating a chair less than two feet tall – perfect size for a one year old to sit in.

The chair now lives on our front porch, and offers seasonal respite for pumpkins instead of munchkins.

November 12th, 2007

November 12, 2007 – Fine, But Empty, Arts

Fine, But Empty, Arts
37°25’33.81″N 122° 8’41.52″W
One of the first pictures I took today with my new Tamron 11-18mm lens. I was able to capture just about the entire marquee of the now empty Fine Arts Theater from almost directly below the sign.

November 11th, 2007

November 11, 2007 – The Kitchen Sink


More frozen water, this time taken with my Olympus point-and-shoot. The camera’s size allowed me to shoot from inside the kitchen sink (now I’ve shot everywhere!). Post-processed in Lightroom to get a more dramatic feel to the lighting.