Alameda Creek #2

For this pinhole, I added a vignette blur and oddly I like the effect better.  I guess the extra blur makes the center sharper.

Martini

After our recent workshop together, Aphra and I went out for drinks at the local restaurant, Skates. I had my pinhole lens cap and so we started playing around with images. The camera was propped carefully onto the table and ISO cranked up to 3200. This is the best of the bunch. I was not going to post but Aphra was intrigued by the image. Maybe because it was her glass.

Alameda Creek

Tonite, Chip and I took Bocifus out to Sunol for a walk. Bocifus was acting mopey and missing Cho-Cho. I recently bought a pinhole body cap for my Canon camera. I will say that pinhole is very tough. You cannot see through the viewfinder and so I had to compose iteratively.

Guadalupe River #2

This week has been very difficult. I will not be posting for a few days while I recharge my creative batteries.

A few days ago, we had to put down our little dog, Cho-Cho. Cho-Cho was elderly and started to become extremely sick last Sunday. Chip and I adopted Cho-Cho two years ago from a dog rescue. She was a little black mop and mostly Cairn terrier. We knew she was an older dog but I could not leave her in the cage. After filling out the paperwork, Cho-Cho was literally charging out of the pet store ahead of us to the car. That turned out to be very indicative of her personality, in one word, determined. Cho-Cho has brought a lot of delight into our house. I hope that she is now enjoying a comfy dog bed, many ear rubs, has a shallow stream nearby to explore, and of course, liver snaps. Bye sweetie, we miss you.

Music Concourse, Golden Gate Park

Just a quick grab shot from Golden Gate park. This is the Music Concourse across the street from the deYoung Museum.

Yosemite #25

This is another "Lost Yosemite" image. After reviewing those images, I decided this one is worthy of posting.

On a different topic, I am taking a portfolio class. Our first assignment is to go out and find two or more books that inspire us. Not necessarily photo or art books. I was wandering around Borders and the book "Magical Secrets about Thinking Creatively" caught my eye. The cover has this wonderful image of a rooster that I had seen at the de Young Museum. That roosterlooked like it could step off the wall. The other image that caught my eye was a self-portrait by Chuck Close. This a lovely book with extremely interested stories about 13 artists and their creative process.

The first secret: "Cultivate Sensuality – Discovering details of the physicality of materials."

Quilts of Gee’s Bend

Today, I went and visited the de Young Museum to see the quilts of Gee Bend. These woman are descended from slaves living on the former Pettway plantation. During the day, they worked the crops and at nite they gathered to make quilts. While quilting, they sang, prayed and quilted. The results are breathtaking. Their quilts are vibrant and amazing. Their circumstances were so dire that every scrap of clothe from old work clothes, fertilizer bags, and scraps of cloth found on the side of the road were scavenged and used. Each quilt is like an abstract painting. There is no picture of the quilts because photography was not allowed.

P.S.  To see images of the quilts.  See To see images of the quilts.  See http://www.quiltsofgeesbend.com/quilts/.   Make sure to click on the quiltmakers link on that page to see the woman.

Guadalupe River

Today was a quiet day. I ran out of steam and spent most of the day in bed. I crawled out to visit the Guadalupe River. This river is in the process of restoration. At the top of the rise is a bike and pedestrian path.

The "Urban Woods" portfolio has been a recent series of images started this summer. Originally, I thought that I was just missing the forest after living the San Francisco bay area so long. Instead, I think this represents my struggle to find a balance between my creative side and my very highly developed engineer side. I am still trying to sort these two battling sides of my personality out.

I also have a personal goal of completing 30 images in this series by the beginning of December. As it stands right now, I have 28 images in the album. However, I will probably do more pruning and additions over the next few months.

The Garden Path #2

Another from my visit to the Berkeley Botanical Gardens.