This morning, I read the papers and learned about the disastrous aftermath of hurricane Katrina. I hope that you and your loved ones are safe. Plus, a wish that the repairs and rebuilding can start soon.

C and I went back to Hakone Gardens. This time, we went in the late afternoon before they closed. That way, we could avoid the harsh midday light. Right before closing, the light was getting nice as shown here.

Here is another shot from yesterday’s adventure with C. It feels good to take another infrared shot. It has been too long.

Today, C and I went out for my photo shoot in about 6 weeks. We went to Fremont Older Open Space and then Hakone Japanese Gardens. This is from the side of the trail in Fremont Older. These lilies are a California native wildflower that only bloom for a short amount of time. I do not know their real name.

Another picture taken near the San Francisco Art Institute. This is a regular black & white (not infrared).

Welcome, all readers of Photoblogs Magazine. This week, I am honored to be spotlighted. I found Photoblogs Magazine a few months ago. Since then, I have started reading a few (of the many) photo blogs listed on the site. From these blogs, I have seen many beautiful images and found creative inspiration. Please feel free to leave comments or send me an email so that I can visit your site.

This image is a banana leaf taken outside a restaurant while we were waiting for a table. I did not fiddle this image but did do a tonal adjustment. I was surprised (but pleased) to see the cyan pop out.

Chip and I took our dogs for a quick walk around the neighborhood. I took the camera because I saw a white oleander bush in full bloom. None of the oleander shots were sharp — there was to much breeze. However, this lovely rose bush was blooming. I was planning on montaging this with one of my Hercules industrial decay shots but decided it was too nice by itself. I have been reading Andre Gallant’s “Dreamscapes” and feel inspired to photo montage again.

Another from yesterday’s sail on the Tolafa. This is another shot of the Lynx with the Golden Gate bridge in the background. As you can see the fog was coming in. Even though the waves look tiny, the ship’s deck was tilted and moving enough where one hand needed to hold onto a rope and just hope that the camera was steady. I did fiddle with this one a little and apply a cross-processing filter in Photoshop. That nudged the colors a little.

Went to the San Francisco waterfront today to see the tall ships that were in for a few days. We went out for a 3 hour sail on the Tolafa. At the same time, the Lynx went out for the tour. This is the Lynx. By the way if you think that San Francisco is cold in the summer, go out on the bay near the Golden Gate. Chip was not happy because it blew off my head into the bay when the wind was really ripping.

Just for fun…

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First, the winners of the Kodak National Park contest are in. See all the winners at National Parks website. There were over 11,000 entries. I did not win but feel honored to be a finalist.

As for the image, it is another from my outing to the partially demolished factory in Hercules. Chip gave thumbs down to the image in the previous entry but liked this one.