Looking for dinner

My wife and I were driving through a less traveled state park the other day around sunset the other day. As well quietly rolled through an empty picnic area, this young bobcat stepped out of the bushes ahead of our car and walked in the direction we were going. He never looked in our direction, never knew we were there. We rolled silently down hill after him. He was focused on some ground squirrels that were playing around their hole in front of us. He snuck up on them under cover of some parked cars, but the squirrels were on to him and disappeared. This shot was taken just as he was leaving to go look for better prey.

Sunset views

These pictures were taken in Venice in 2007 during a wonderful trip there with my wife. The first picture is of the Ponte dei Sospiri or Bridge of Sighs. The bridge spans the canal between the Doge's palace, which contained the interrogation rooms and courts, connecting it with the main prison.

The second image was taken from the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal. Venice is such a lovely city, there are beautiful views everywhere you turn. I must have taken close to 1000 images in the three days I was there. These are just two.

Old or New?

Is this an "authentic" picture?

Actually, this shot was taken inside an antique store in San Francisco's Japantown. The individual pieces (except for the door) are about 100 years old. From this angle, it looks like something I would see in an old farmhouse in Japan. Just goes to show, you can't always judge by what you see ;-)

Sunset Hot Rod

This picture was taken just before sunset at a local enthusiast car show near my home. I'm trying to get some shots that would work in a Transportation category for an upcoming photo contest. I like the colors in the shot and the car was pretty hot too. Not my usual kind of thing to shoot, but that is what contests are good for, they force you to step outside your comfort zone

Dangerous Power

I've been working with one of those electric plasma balls, trying to get some decent pictures. It is suprisingly difficult to get sharp pictures, but it is a lot of fun. Every time you snap the shutter, you never know what you are going to get. You have some control over the plasma direction, but it is limited. The results are quite interesting. But the fun doesn't stop there. Once you have the images, they are just as fun to manipulate in Photoshop. By shifiting the color spectrum, you can bring out some pretty cool detail. You can see more in the Plasma Gallery

Flower Macro Studies

Iris Study

Chrysanthemum Study

I decided to experiment with the macro lens and a tripod. I set up some cut flowers on the desk, with a black wool coat as background and the desk lamp as the light source. It took awhile, but eventually I got the light, aperature and shutter speed dialed in. I love digital cameras! I would never have been able to do this with regular film. You can see the whole study here

City by the Bay

This image was taken a few weeks ago. I went up to Sibley park in the Berkeley hills and set up a tripod. Originally, I was disappointed that the horizon was not as clear as it had been a few days before. However, I was happy to see the light ray effect as the sun set over the fog bank. Can you hear the angel chorus in the background?

I was playing with a lot of manual adjustments during this photo shoot. (I'm still learning the in's and out's of the D70s). One thing I think I will have to remember in the future is to turn off the auto-ISO setting when I want to shoot dramatic low-light stuff. Leaving it on tends gets you ridiculous ISO values (1600+) and grainy blacks.

Purple Carpet

This shot was taken last spring during another walk through the neighborhood. It was near sunset and the late afternoon light was being filtered by some nearby trees and hitting this flower carpet just right. The intense color caught my eye.

Old Budapest

Budapest is actually divided into two halves, Buda and Pest, by the Danube river. The old city of Buda lies on the west side and was the location of the castle. This shot was taken at the foot of the castle, near the river, in an old part of town. The wrought iron balcony caught my eye first. The whole scene reminded me of something from an old movie. I shot this intentionally for black and white. I still can't put my finger on it, but it makes me feel nostalgic for times long gone