Crusty Fish
One more fish from the fountain in downtown San Jose. Not much else to say other than this one is rusty, crusty and warty. The composition of this one isn’t quite as strong as yesterday’s but I think it works. I should have time to get out today to get some shots as well as see the 6C competition this afternoon. Maybe one of my prior wins will place! We’ll see.
Red Fish, Blue Fish, Old Fish, New Fish
The historic area of downtown San Jose has an old fountain in the park that doesn’t look like it has been used for years. It is very rusty and very cool. I was pressed for time on taking these since the fam was with me and impatient. Not to mention, it was after brunch on Mother’s day. I plan to return when I have more time. In the meantime, I was climbing around a bit in the fountain and grabbed some detail shots. I am pretty sure we’re looking at a fish head here. Just under the upper-lip is a mosquito hiding out. Apparently the small flying insects that surf in my photos surf on fish. 
Americana
On Sunday evening, the clouds were setting up for what I was hoping would be an incredible sunset. Because of that, when we went to dinner, I brought the camera and made sure we had a window seat so that I wouldn’t miss the magic hour. I was prepared to abandon the family and run outside to start capturing it. We finished before that time, and on the way outside, the wind was blowing and I saw this nice little scene that I had seen a million times before. This time, I found it interesting.
The clouds on the coastal range, the flag blowing, and the old signs on the bowling alley. Bowl, cocktails and an American flag. It reminds me of moments from my childhood. I processed this to try and capture the era of alley’s heyday.
Market Post Tower
A gorgeous day with scattered showers opened up a fabulous blue sky, very white clouds that enhanced the tinted glass on the Market Post Tower. This shot is a single exposure. I tried a few, and a couple bracketed series. The single shot worked better than what I came up with as an HDR version. Not to mention, as single-exposure it will qualify for an entry into the travel category in tomorrow night’s competition.
The Terror of Happy Hollow
Happy Hollow Park & Zoo has a new kid-sized roller coaster. As much as I tried to encourage my adventurous daughter (guess which one) to ride in the front so I could get a good photo, she declined. She wanted the back since it goes faster. The other, well she didn’t enjoy things quite so much. I love this photo and just how different the everyone’s expressions are!
A San Francisco Morning
In continuing this small San Francisco series, it’s about time I posted the shot that isn’t the one I really wanted to get. This is the closest I managed to get to that illusive shot. This particular photo doesn’t impress me since, without the ship, it really isn’t anything other than a photo of San Francisco that everyone has. Instead, the lesson I learned in acquiring this image will stay in my memory longer than the image itself.
To get the shot I really wanted, I planned, spent time in Google Earth picking the location, setting the sun angle and time-of-day, choosing the position on the hill and frame the shot with the 3D buildings turned on. Everything looked wonderful and sounded like a decent plan. The morning was forecast to be a rare sunny one, free of the fog that San Francisco is famous for. Additionally, I did some research on other photos with a similar angle. I saw several from other photographers a the correct location, so yes, it could be done. The idea was to have the bay bridge strongly prominent on the left side of the frame with the southern edge lit up by the sun.
The "Planned" Shot - As setup in Google Earth
The city would then appear where the last of the main cables joined with the island. The sun would to light the bridge up a nice gold-tone, and the white on the buildings would to catch the same beautiful glow.
That isn’t what happened. I live in San Jose, which is an hour drive away from San Francisco. This meant waking up and being on the road by 5am at the latest to catch the show. Again, this assumes I know exactly where I want to be and what I have to do in order to catch the 6:30am light. Yerba Buena Island is one tough tiny island to navigate on with its windy roads. To top it off, there is no parking. To get the angle, I would have had to hike about a half mile at the very least. Arriving at the island at 6am and then getting lost didn’t help matters.
Alas, I drove over to the Treasure Island portion where parking is plentiful and the angles are not. I settled for this shot which is a good reminder of how to better prepare next time I’m going to drive an hour away and a horrible hour for a 10 minute window of opportunity.
The last bit I learned was that sunrises are not nearly as cool as sunsets. No dust, no glory. I wonder when that volcanic dust from Iceland will reach the Bay Area.
Google Earth still seems like a great tool for planning a shoot. Here is the shot I ended up with as seen by Google Earth.
Google Earth view of the Photo Above
Endless Pier
During my Sunday walk in San Francisco, I really liked the pier and the potential it brought for getting some good shots. For this one I wanted to play with symmetry. The camera is just slightly above the ground, as dead-center as possible. There are breaks in the symmetry with the Bay Bridge being visible through the bars and Yerba Buena island looming on the right side.
Not that it is a surprise, but I did some post processing on this to get the tones as I saw them. It was an incredibly bright day and this represents my view of the pier by the time I got to it. Wanting shade, feeling like the colors were all just running together and high contrast was everywhere.
I have a creative interpretation of this shot that I am working on. Stay tuned.
Closed
This is another image from my stroll around the Embarcadero in San Francisco yesterday. Inside the pier 27 building is a parking garage. Along the north wall is this great row of roller doors. The light coming in from the windows above the door gave everything a nice glow.
This is a three-exposure HDR which has been somewhat desaturated and warmed to setup the contrast between the nice light and old rusty look of the metal.
I have complete title block on this shot. Feel free to suggest something!
Morning at the Ferry Building, San Francisco
This morning when the Ferry Building in San Francisco opened, I managed to get to the second floor to get some shots of the wonderful architecture. Supposedly there is a rule against using tripods there. The guards would walk from far away to politely ask me to stop. The first said I could use my tripod on the second floor which I did until the second floor guard asked me to stop as well. I originally wanted to do some HDR shots, but instead I opted for this single exposure. I love the colors here.
I warmed this up slightly and gave a small bump in saturation and some slight manual vignetting.
#ds151 – Every town, village, or city has distinguishing icons and landmarks. Make a photo of one wherever you are today.
Four Generations
Walking along E. Santa Clara St. in San Jose, the Lincoln Law School building gives great reflections of everything around it. At just the right angle it reflects the City Council building in a way that gives the illusion that it is part of the building at 28th First St. The fourth building in this shot brings forward another architectural style for a well rounded glimpse of San Jose’s diverse architectural styles.
Golden Glass
Downtown San Jose, taken on the same trip as yesterday’s golden clouds. The building was lit up wonderfully from the clouds and sun from the east with the nice pastel colors on the clouds to the north. The negative space adds to this one so I am using this as my Daily Shoot submission for DS102.
#ds102 - Negative space can be just as important to a composition as your primary subject. Explore negative space in a photograph.
Window View – Daily Shoot 47
#ds47: “The new year represents opportunity. Make a photo of a scene looking out a window.”
The great part about taking the caltrain is the view from the window constantly changes. The bad part is that for the most part, the view is not very good. This is a shot of downtown San Jose from the upper deck of the train with the HP Pavillion just to the left.
Parking Garage – Exploring Dark
This parking garage is in San Jose. I wanted to explore doing some dark images. These remind me of some nightmares I had as a kid.
Double-stacked art-bike at Toys R Us
While doing some last-minute shopping at Toys R Us on Winchester in San Jose today, I ran across this bike outside. It is two bikes stacked on top of another. Some great colors and a new approach to a water bottle cage. I didn’t see the owner around. Riding this must quite different.
I also noticed that it has a kickstand. I wonder if it actually works.
Bike Rack
This bike rack is at the Almaden shopping center in San Jose next to the Fresh Choice. I have never seen a bike locked up to it, and yet it looks pretty worn.
Daily Shoot #35: Landscapes
#DS35: “Sundays are a great day for a stroll in nature. Make a landscape photo today, remembering the rule of thirds. Enjoy!”
A nice sunny Sunday December afternoon in Los Gatos, CA.
Daily Shoot #34: Lines
#DS34: “A perfect line can draw the eye in. Make a photo of interesting vertical, horizontal, or diagonal lines. (via @melhutch)”
The clean, high-contrast bricks look great. I only wish there was something interesting in the distance.
Lamp & Vines
I really like how this one turned out. This was taken in downtown Willow Glen, in San Jose, CA.
Daily Shoot #2: Rainy Sidewalk
#DS2: “Out and about walking? You should be! Make a photo of a street or sidewalk scene.”
Rainy day in Willow Glen
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