It was 6:15 AM as I turned into the parking lot at Bolsa Chica Wildlife Reserve. There were lots of clouds and haze in the sky and I knew the light would be soft and muted. So, I turned on Auto ISO (min, iso of 400 and shutter speed of 1/250) and left it there. As I walked across the wooden bridge, I noticed this Rock Dove (AKA, pigeon) sitting below me on a wooden beam on the sunny side.  Normally, I would not have taken the shot but the light and angle "called" me:

It was quite quiet ...  very few birds around. I did notice some ducks sitting and mucking around on a spit almost under water from the high tide:

There were two pairs of Canada Geese squawking a little further up on the trail. They let me get pretty close and with my telephoto I captured this image of one of the males:

And, this shot of the male of the other pair:

At one point, a duck came winging by and I grabbed this shot:

Then a Snowy Egret flew by in the other direction. I've got hundreds of shots of this bird so I normally wouldn't have taken the shot ... but the light and lack of other activity made me do it! :)

And the last shot of this post is a simple backlit shot of flock of cormorants sitting on another spit waiting ...

It was a quiet, peaceful morning but sometimes, with nature's solitude, there is often a reward!

As always, thank you for taking the time and effort to look and comment. 

Adam

You may remember photos I took in Myanmar of the a place called the UBein bridge. It is a 1.2 kilometer crossing that spans a lake. It was built around 1850 of teakwood taken from an old palace and re-purposed for the bridge. It is believed to be the oldest and longest teakwood bridge in the World.

It is a much photographed landmark in Myanmar and is heavily used to cross the lake. Sunset is a great time to take pictures... the light is great, and there's plenty of foot traffic to add to the visual effect. There is a monastery on one side of the bridge so much of the foot traffic is from crossing monks. There's been quite a change in the software since our visit 6 years ago so I decided to re-process some of the images... hence, this post.

All of these images shown here were taken from a small row boat.

As you can see, there are no guard rails and bicyclists walk their bikes across. It is 20 or 30 feet to the water so it took this yankee a bit of nerve to walk across the bridge. You wouldn't want to accidently bump into some one!

Here are two monks crossing:

We had good luck and got great skies to accentuate the sunset:

More ...

This is a favorite that's been shown before:

But, this is my favorite of the group. I love the colors and the simplicity of the shot:

That's it for this post. I hope you enjoyed the look back at some images taken 6 years ago.

As  always, thanks for taking the time to look and comment!

Ciao,

Adam

P.S. This set of images look particularly good when shown in the larger format ... just click on one and see!

There were a few questions about the information in the last post ...  most revolved around two issues: why I shot so many images and why do I keep so many. 

The primary reason to take more than one shot of the same subject in rapid fire secession is that fine differences occur between frames in just hundreths of a second. Think of how many snapshots you've seen where the subjects eye are blinking! Even more difficult is catching just the right  moment in action shots ... birds flying, lions leaping on a wildebeeste, runner sliding into second base, etc.

The other question ... why do I keep so many ... has multiple answers:

• It costs lots of time and money (travel, lodging, equipment costs, etc) to capture those images. Why throw them away? 
• Sometimes a promising image has to wait for my skill, mental attitude, or better software to become the one I envisioned.
• Lastly, I don't know what the future will demand. Recently, a well know wine maker wanted to use some images I had taken 6 years earlier that had never seen the light of day. There is no way I could predict that. 

So keeping all those images is really just a hedge about the future.

A little Experiment

Wanting to test the hypothesis, I went back to a little ad hoc shoot of some sunflowers I came across in the middle  of the big city. Would there be images that I didn't see promise when I took them? Would my views now be different than the initial ones?

For starters, this first image is newly discovered amongst the originals.

This bee shot was one that I originally worked and I've made no  changes to it from its original post:

This bee image, too, was  in the original post but I "re-processed" it a bit ... the primary change was a little crop to make it visually pop a bit more!

Not this one! It is unchanged from the original posting:

However, this image was taken of the same flower at same time. It had never been processed until now. You can see I was playing with using the sun alongside the flower in both images when I took both shots. But now, I took an unexpected path and converted it to a black and white emphasizing the light from the sun!

And, then I went crazy! I took a close up of an image that had been worked before and started playing with changing nature's colors. I like it ... do you?  It's my psychedelic sunflower:

But still, the best is the best. My favorite of that shoot was and is this image:

So, over time some images hold up very well and others ... I go "what was I thinking?" And still others become a new discovery ... I like that!  In this instance, 3 of the 7 images are "new".

A Closing Thought

Photography is an activity that captures time albeit in very small increments. My camera shoots at ten frames per second so the time it took to shoot those 8000 images last year was roughly 800 seconds or just 13.3 minutes of my life in 2017 was spent capturing time!  

Ciao,

Adam

Leftovers!

After spending some time looking at my 2017 images, I concluded that it wasn't my best photography year! I discovered:

• I actually photographed much less than in previous years. 
  • I only captured 8,000 images.
  • Most years (going back to 2012) I captured 16,000 images.
  • And, during that period my highest capture rate was 2012 and 2014 ... 30,000+ images/year.
• The mix of subjects changed a lot, as well.
  • I didn't do any travel so no far away landscapes or exotic people to photograph 
  • The weather has changed and seems to have affected the movement of wildlife (particularly birds) through the sanctuary at which I most frequently photograph.
  •  I seemed to photograph many more flowers than usual!

So all in all, I shot less than half as many images as in the previous 5 years at a much smaller set of subjects!  Aaarrrgh!

But, while perusing the 2017 images, I came across an entire shoot that I had not worked, and those images have become my 2017 Leftovers.  The shoot was taken in Echo Park in June of the Lotus plants in bloom. So with out further ado, here are the images from it that I've picked for this post:

Leftovers

Most people, most of the time, aren't aware of the qualities of light they are seeing ... it is mostly a learned behavior that good photographers are trained to "see". And, it was the light that day, at that place, and that time inside the field of Lotus blossoms at Echo Park that attracted me.

In this image, it was the soft filtered light that primarily fell on this one fully opened blossom:

And, here, see the reflected shadows on the flower? What really attracted me, though, was the out of focus, brightly colored background:

Another seemingly spotlighted blossom in full bloom. This time the less-common, all-white version

It is unusual to catch the intricate details of a dragon fly's wing. Only the light hitting the wings from a certain angle captures the detail. Here's one sitting atop a lotus bud: 

These next two images of blossoms not fully opened are my favorites of the day... nice great, soft, rounded light with unobtrusive backgrounds. 

And, lastly, my own version of virtual reality ... what is real, what is reflected? Does it matter?

That's it for this post and for 2017!

Thank you for being an audience: looking, commenting, and critiquing!

May 2018 bring you happiness, prosperity and good health... I wish the same for me but add to the list the "opportunity to take more images"!

Ciao,

Adam

Best Wishes for the holiday season!

I've been fascinated the last three weeks watching and snapping pictures of three Amaryllis plants as they budded into bloom and went through the cycle of life. What surprised me most was that multiple flowers bloomed out of one stock.

All of these images were taken with natural light as the plants sat on a window sill. Most were taken with South facing morning light.

One of my favorites ... I've named it "The good light."

This is a straight-on shot showing the four blossoms at 90 degrees from each other:

One blossom:

I've named this shot "Edges".

Here's a view looking from the side:

Closer:

and closer:

Near the end, the blossoms starts to shrivel and turns from red to purple:

My favorite of the series:

The end:

Again, best wishes for a happy holiday season. May it bring you good cheer, health, and prosperity for the new year!

Thank you, as always, for taking the time to look and comment.

Adam

We had visitors during the Thanksgiving week. One of the days I christened as an LA kind of day; the temperatures were moderate; a few clouds in the sky; no crowds; and little traffic; etc.

One of our guests had an interest in Marilyn Monroe so we decided to visit her grave site. It's located (along with quite a few other notables) in a very small graveyard amongst the tall buildings in Westwood.

As I often do, I grabbed a camera and lens ...

My normal "walking around" lens was at home (a good place for it, don't you think?) so I grabbed a 105 mm macro lens used for close up kinds of shots. I immediately spotted this bright orange-like bougainvillea bush. The texture of the individual petals in interesting:

I don't remember this shot, nor do I know what kind of flower it is ... but I liked it!

I came across this yellow rose with all the folded petals. They seemed to be competing with each other for shape and form:

Near the end, I spotted this tiny rose in good light and a great background:

I got a little closer.

And still closer for my favorite image from this outing.

It was a nice, quiet, little outing in the big city ... an LA kind of day that happens at just the right time every now and then.

Adam

Remember: Click on any image to see a larger version!

One of the photo contests I often enter each year is targeted at black and white images. This year. I entered the first two images in this blog.  In my mind, the odds of winning a photo contest are slightly better than winning the lottery.  First of all, is number of images one is competing against ... in this case, there were over 8,000.  The next factor is the judges and their unknown likes and dislikes. And, lastly, the photo itself ... is it interesting, well composed, unique, etc?  

This year I entered the first two images in this post to the contest. They were both considered as "nominees" ... meaning they were included in the final selection of the judges. I think of this as the "Close but no Cigars" category!

Do you remember this image? It was featured in a post I did about a year ago of images taken in San Antonio. Its a picture of some old buildings reflected in one of San Antonio's canals. The cool thing about this image is that it was taken with an iPhone 6s.  It  is proof that you don't need a high-end camera to take a good picture ... the operator, more often than not, is more important than the equipment.

This image was also a "nominee". It is one of my all time favorite images of a thousand (or more) snow geese taking flight. It was  NOT taken with an iphone.

But the next two images were! 

Can you figure out what this is? Here's a hint ... it was taken at a restaurant.

And, lastly, another iPhone image ... balloons outside the entrance of a newly opened store in a mall.  To me, its a happy picture!

Well that's it for this post. And, thank you for looking ... a photo isn't worth much without an audience of some sort!!!

Oh, once last thing ... my friend Annie Katz got an outstanding achievement award in the wildlife category in this contest. You can find her image (and all the rest) here: http://www.thespiderawards.com/12gala/index.php

Bye for now,

Adam

It's that time of year when the colors start changing ... almost everywhere except Southern California. I wouldn't be reminded of it except that two of the significant influences on my photography (Moose Peterson and Vincent Versace) by coincidence happen to be in Vermont and Maine showing images via Facebook.

The same two photographers were leading a workshop I was assisting at in Vermont in 2004 and it reminded me to go back and look at the archives. The images in this post are from that workshop.

I've shown this image before but it is my all-time favorite from the workshop. It isn't a bold and "look at me!" shot but a simple image that quietly tells the story. It was shot in color and converted to black and white (except, of course, for leaves). I hope you like it:  

Walking down the street the main street of a small village, I came across a restaurant. I'm a sucker for windows ... click!

And, I moved a little closer and re-framed the shot ... click!

This picture was taken atop a little hill looking down on a village hidden under the foliage. The white steeple stood out like a sore thumb:

The same church and steeple taken later in the day and up close:

And a different steeple taken at a different village:

One early morning, we were out in the countryside. 

Now  you know where we were:

I didn't think of Vermont as being mountainous ... it is but not like the Western USA mountains. A little early morning ground fog, soft red light, a green pasture with some diary cows and a pond to reflect it all ... Oh boy, click!

A closer view of the colors as they began to change:

And, lastly, another favorite; reflections of color in a nearby lake:

We were bit early for the peak colors, but it was still really great to see and photograph.  I hope to do it again one day. 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look, feel, and comment!

Adam

P.S. I was using a "state of the art" Nikon camera back then (D2h). It captured an amazing 4 mega-pixels at 6 frames per second! By comparison, my iPhone 8 camera has 12 mega-pixels, and the current state of the art camera from Nikon has 46 mega-pixels at 9 frames per second! :(

A friend loaned me a signed copy of  Ansel Adams' "Yosemite and the Range of Light."   The book was full of his great black and white images taken in Yosemite Valley. It provoked me to go look at my Yosemite and Sierra Mountain images from a black and white perspective. So this post is totally devoted to black and white landscapes. I hope you enjoy!

If you enter Yosemite from the South, you go into a tunnel. As you exit it, you run smack into this  view. No Photographer, including Ansel Adams, or Adam Felde can ignore this shot ... 

This is a view from the Valley floor looking across the Merced river towards the North East.

Another view of the Valley as I left one afternoon:

On yet another trip, I took this view from the Merced river. The clouds that day were spectacular!

Alabama Hills 1\ 320s, at f\14 || E.Comp:-6 \ 6 || 12mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 200 || Tone: AUTO || Sharp: NORMAL || Camera: NIKON D2Xon: 2007:07:15 14:33:29

I've only visited Yosemite once when there was snow on the ground. In this photo there's a very light layer of fog sitting close to the ground. Do you see the duck in the image?

"Bruce, Look!" I said from the back seat of an F5 as we were winging our way North to Seattle. "There's Yosemite!" And, as quickly as I could say it, Bruce was on the radio with Air Traffic Control requesting a left, 360 degree turn. We were doing 500 MPH as he hung a steep, tight, 3G turn over the valley. I struggled to hold the camera up to window and clicked away. This was one of the good shots. Thank God for auto focus ... Half Dome from air:

On a different trip in the same plane, I took this image of the Sierras covered in snow:

And, a little later in that flight, this image of the western foothills North of Reno. There were fires burning in the area and a strong inversion layer. They created quite an interesting visual effect. The color version of this image is blue-toned from the thickness and color of the smoke.

And, of course, Mt St Helens was in our path so another, albeit less exciting, 360 degree turn seemed to be in order. Click!

Well,  that's it for my B&W retrospective look at a few of the images I've taken of the incredibly interesting range of mountains that run North and South along the West coast of the U.S.

I  hope you enjoyed them, and, as always, thank you for taking the time to look and comment.

Adam

An out-of-town friend and I wanted to do some shooting so we decided to try the Lotus flowers in Echo Park.  Yes, it is true ... the unofficial end of Summer is here. But, more to the point of this post, it is the end of the Lotus's flowering season. So this will be the last post of the Lotus field at Echo Park!  Do I hear cheering in the background?

After opening up, the flower slowly looses its petals. Many of the plants were at this stage:

There were, though, a few "buds" getting ready to blossom:

But, I spotted only one cluster of open flowers like this group of four:

Most  were single blossoms similar to this one. See the dried, brown pod on the right side? After losing all their petals, the center pod dries up like the one shown here, and eventually falls back into the water:

Speaking of water, I spotted this single petal floating in the water. Click:

And, I took this image ... I like capturing the imperfect reflection along with a part of the image that isn't a reflection ... reality and non-reality getting mixed together. Wouldn't a therapist like that ... sorting out reality from all the inputs we get! :)

Here's a beautiful white blossom:

And, a close-up of a similar flower:

The End ... two petals falling onto those large leaves floating just above the water:

Thanks, as always, for looking. I hope it wasn't too boring!

Adam

P.S. Don't forget to click on an image to see in enlarged!

I was looking at some photos from the photographer I consider my mentor ... Moose Peterson. One of them reminded me of an image I took in Winter in Yellowstone on a photo safari in  2009 with him. So, I went searching for the image. It is this one ... as I recall, it was taken through the  window of the Track propelled "bus" we were one at a place called Geyser Basin. For me, it has kind of a soft dreamy feeling:

You know that Yellowstone sits atop a very, very, large caldera ... ie. lots of seismic activity like the geysers. In the winter, it seems like the entire park is filled with steam from them, but more than likely the heat from the vents causes condensation of the air... local fog?

This is an actual geyser erupting, but it is not the famous "Old Faithful" geyser. I converted it to black and white ... seems to make it even more dramatic:

Speaking of drama, Norris Basin was, for me, the most dramatic part of the park ... like being in another world. Dark clouds, steam vents everywhere, a glacial-colored hot pool, and snow. If an alien would have appeared out of nowhere, the picture would have been complete!

I got lots of cool shots (yes, pun intended) but one of my favorites is this very simple but detailed shot of a Bison walking by:

As you can see from these five images, the steam was a central ingredient everywhere!

Yellowstone in the winter is a magical place: minimal people, amazing landscapes, and wild animals. Yes, it  can be really cold but on this trip the temperatures hovered around 0 degrees F!

Thanks, as always, for looking!

Bye for now,

Adam

This is Part II of my posts on Bosque del Apache. It is a National Wildlife Refuge (https://www.fws.gov/refuges/) run by the Federal government located in New Mexico ... Oh God ... lets hope Trump doesn't find out about these ... he'll want to sell them!

Part of the attraction of Bosque is the landscape; part is the attraction of thousands of geese; and lastly the thousands of Sandhill Cranes that winter there. They are the subject of this post.

I'll start with this image taken at sunset. It contains elements of a landscape enhanced by the cranes and their reflections.  In fact, the reflections make this shot for me:

For the record, the Sandhill Crane is a large bird ... about 4 feet in length with a wing span over 6 feet. It is one of the species of birds that mates for life. Here's a shot of a single crane in flight:

And, here's one directly overhead showing that enormous wing span:

Every now and then, if you are lucky and quick, you'll catch two cranes in a dance ... Fun!

Cranes spend the night in a pool of water usually part of a large group. The water is used for defensive element against predators ... entering the water to attack makes noise, and slows the predator. Additionally, I'm told they post sentries to alert the flock should a predator enter the water.

In the morning, family groups fly off to feed. They usually start out with a slow walk staring intensely in the intended takeoff direction. It's almost like watching a fleet of jet liners at LAX as they line up on the taxiway moving slowly as one by one they get cleared for takeoff!

And, this posture means they are at the head of the line. And they'll soon start a run for the takeoff. Like all good fliers, they takeoff into the wind!

And, here goes a group of 6.  Up, up, and away!

A quartet climbing out!

Straight as an arrow:

Another group going the other way:

At Sunset, after feeding in the fields all day, the Cranes return to the water for their evening stay. They use those very large wings to go from a horizontal flight to vertical ... just extend the wings and shift the center of gravity to the back for a vertical descent. It is called parachuting!

More of same:

For the black and white fans, a B&W example:

Near the ground, they move back to a horizontal position, extend the legs, and glide in for the landing:

One evening I decided to be "artsy" and used a very slow shutter causing movement by the cranes in the water to be captured as a blur:

Next to the pond runs a Burlington Northern/Santa Fe rail line. I couldn't resist this abstract using that slow shutter speed:

This concludes my retro look back at a little-known unique place that I love to photograph. We are blessed in the USA to have a stunningly diverse natural habitat. The government's wildlife refuge program is one way to try and keep it from disappearing.

And, as always, thanks for taking the time to look through my viewfinder with me. I hope you enjoyed it.

Adam

"Nose art" is the term used to describe the "art" painted on the noses of many WWII planes. Often, it consisted of pinup pictures and the name of the airplane ... frequently named after the pilot's girl friend. Google "nose art" if you want to see a bunch of examples.

But, airplanes isn't the subject of today's post. Nope, today I've got examples of designs of the front-end (nose) of some pretty cool autos! Because most cars today use internal combustion engines (ie. gasoline users) and since most of those engines are mounted at the front of the car, designers, in order to cool and remove heat from the engines, usually create a large opening for air to enter the engine compartment. And rather than just leave a big hole in the front, they cleverly cover it with a grill or "something."

That's exactly the case in the first image ... a 1954 Plymouth Explorer "concept" car by Ghia:

And a 1962 Ferrari 250G ... I'd like to own this one!

In this 55 Chevy Biscane XP37, the designers put the airintake (and covering grill) down low ... I suspect it reduces the drag caused by the air entering the engine compartment, but I'm not sure:

Sometimes, as in this Bugatti design, more air is needed than can be supplied by the opening in the nose.  So, hood louvers are created in the hood covering the engine: 

Here's a classic Plymouth Hot Rod created and styled by Bob Foose, a well-known, Southern California, stylist:

And, a closeup of the Plymouth's headlights: 

You all know this ... a  VW Wagon.  There's no grill on this vehicle ... you guessed it ... the engine is in the back!

Air is also an essential ingredient in the explosive fuel/oxygen mixture. Sometimes special air intake pipes like these are used in very high performance autos to get more oxygen into the engine:

All of these cool cars (no pun intended) were photographed at the Peterson Auto Museum ... a must visit for those who like automobiles. 

And, as I've said before, I believe the designers of these autos are real artists! "Nose art" or "Knows art"?  You choose ... either works for me! :)

Bye for now,

Adam

P.S. Thanks for looking!

From Wikipedia: 

A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, or shells) or man-made (drinking glasses, books, vases, jewelry, coins, pipes, and so on).

When I haven't taken any photos for a few days, I get restless and start looking for something to photograph. Often, its a still life image composed from veggies lurking in the kitchen.

And, when I look at the resulting images, I'm frequently startled at how often I really don't see something until I bring the viewfinder of the camera to my eye ... For me, that is the magic of photography!

All of the images in this post were:

• taken hand-held.
• Used only natural light from a south facing window was used.
• All but one were taken on my dining room table!
• Most were photographed in the morning ... usually before 10:00 AM.

Tomatoes in a bowl with a green lemon in the background ... shadows from a plant on the window sill:

One lovely rose in a vase on the window sill:

Lemons in the magic bowl ... a pyrex bowl that bends incoming light along its rim and base:

Heirloom tomatoes on the table:

Green Heirloom Tomato: 

The magic bowl in full display with heirlooms:

Persimmons on a tray:

Artichokes!

Edward Weston, an Ansel Adams contemporay, took a series of black and white images in 1929 of a green bell pepper that I've long admired.  He said: 

It was a bright idea, a perfect relief for the pepper and adding reflecting light to important contours. I still had the pepper which caused me a week's work, I had decided I could go no further with it, yet something kept me from taking it to the kitchen, the end of all good peppers. I placed it in the funnel, focused with the Zeiss, and knowing just the viewpoint, recognizing a perfect light, made an exposure of six minutes, with but a few moments' preliminary work, the real preliminary was on in hours passed. I have a great negative, ‒ by far the best!

You can see his image here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper_No._30.

And, my attempt to mimic his idea:

And, on the ever present black table top:

Thanks, as always, for looking.

See Ya!

Adam

Oh yeah, don't forget to click on any of the images to see them enlarged!

I love to explore Los Angeles. I've lived here for at least 50 years (not all of it contiguous). And, much of that time, has been spent driving throughout the metropolitan area for my work supporting IBM customers.  I'm sure I've driven more than 500.000 miles on its freeways and streets.  Peter, a life-long friend used to ask (when bored at work) to go on a "Mysto Trail" ride to explore some area. More recently someone called me a "Human GPS."  I do love to wander and explore!

After all that time and mileage, you would think I had explored all the interesting areas. It's NOT true! And, today's post is about finding something new. It is a very large cemetery called Rose Hills Memorial Park. It was founded in 1914 and is very large ... 1,400 acre's of land! Most of it lies on surrounding hills in the San Gabriel area of Greater Los Angeles. On a clear day there's a great view of the area!

At the top of the first major hill is this chapel:

I was surprised at the architecture inside:

A view of the ceiling rafters:

Conceptually, it reminded me of this view of a chapel in Arkansas that I photographed a couple of years ago!

At the very top of a different hill was large structure ... a Buddhist  temple. I was surprised, though I shouldn't have been, as this area is home for a large population of Asians living in Los Angeles. Inside the temple, are the remains of many. It is the tradition in Buddhism that remains are cremated rather than buried in the ground in a casket.  

There is a great view from the other side of this temple so I decided to walk around the round building. At various points there were insets of Buddha poses. And around the entire exterior were places for cremated remains. Essentially the building will become a big vault for a large number of remains!

One of the insets had a little doll of Homer Simpson "standing" upright. It was an incongruity that needed to be photographed! Since there were remains in-cased in the wall, I assume the doll was left as a remembrance by a loved one.

On my way out of the parking lot I spotted this item. A GTE Phone Booth!  But, GTE merged into Verizon in 2000 and Verizon sold its California business to Frontier two years ago. So this telephone booth is at least 17 years old. Given the revolution of smart phones, I suspect there may be a few viewers who might not know what this is.

And, as I thought, there's no phone in the booth!

I heard a lot of squawking overhead and looked up to see two crows yelling, screaming, and diving at a hawk! Part of the nature is everywhere program that Mr. Trump seems to be unaware of!

Sorry for the political comment ... couldn't help myself.

Bye for now,

Adam

I've been reviewing some of my images from the past and came across one of my trips to Bosque del Apache.  It is a National Wildlife Refuge located between Las Cruces, NM and Albuquerque, NM. The nearest town of any size is Socorro,  NM.

The Refuge is the winter home of thousands of Snow Geese and Sand Hill Cranes. Depending upon the weather, they usually arrive by Thanksgiving and stay through the winter.

I've visited there 5 times during the last 15 years. Each visit has been unique in some way; and each has been spectacular.

This first image was taken as a thousand (or more) snow geese took flight in mass:

The geese usually spend the night in water ponds. They station guards around the various groups to stay alert to marauding predators (Coyotes). This is one of the largest ponds. Most of the geese had already left this pond when this shot was taken.

Here's a closeup of two geese gliding in for a landing:

The surrounding are quite stunning at this time of year. The fields are golden from the corn that's grown ... it's what attracts the birds. And there's a backdrop of hills to the West. The Rio Grande flows southward to the East.

One of my favorite landscapes of Bosque. It was taken on my last visit:

A single Snow Goose quietly resting:

A group leaving one of the ponds in the early morning. I've seen the ponds freeze over. It makes for an interesting take off!

And, here's what thousands of birds looks like as they all take to the air. It's a spectacular sight and sound show:

An hour or two away to the West, is the Very Large Array radio telescope used to probe deep space. There are a bunch of these large dishes on rails spread across 6 miles or so of space. And, at the moment I took this picture, rays from the Sun broke through the cloud shining down on this one dish. Another ET Phone home!

I hope you enjoyed this look back at some of my many Bosque images. I might throw in some Sandhill Crane images next Thursday.

As always, thanks for looking!

Adam

P.S. Did you remember to click on the images to see them displayed in a much larger format?

Landscape photographers want nice light.  They often refuse to take images during the harsh light of the middle of the day; preferring instead, the light at sunrise and sunset... the so called Golden Hours. But, as in all generalizations, there are exceptions. It is often possible to find soft light in the harshest of circumstances. Today's images are examples. They were all taken at 12:30PM on a sunny, hot day in Los Angeles' Echo Park.

The first image is of an all white lotus in full bloom. It's shielded from the sun's direct rays by neighboring plants:

And, another plant (but with red leaves) similarly situated:

I love the background colors on this image of a plant about to open its leaves. That cheery background makes for a happy image. It's a great example of how the background effects the image and sets the tone:

This is what's left of the stock after the leaves and center strings fall off. It reminds me of "ET phone home" movie!

A portrait orientation of a bud in nice light:

I've gotten interested in taking pics of the reflections of plants in water. This one I converted to black and white. Speaking of tone ... Do you like it? I bet most won't.

The Lotus plants are home to lots of different life: ducks, birds, bees, etc. Here's a Dragon Fly resting on a new bulb:

And, a close up of the leaves of a plant converted to Sepia:

Lastly, a perfect bulb in perfect light, with a perfect background! Probably the image I like best of this two part blog.

Who says you can't photograph outside at high noon! As with every generalization, there are exceptions. And, sometimes, they provide for the most exceptional opportunities. Photography is no exception ... yes, pun intended!

As always, thank you for indulging me and providing an opportunity to show my work!

Next time, a place in LA that I've never been to.

Until then, 

Adam

It's Summer time ... and the lotus plants in Echo Park are in bloom:

Echo Park is within walking distance of downtown Los Angeles and has become a popular neighborhood that's seen a significant revival:

The red/pinkish blossoms are the most predominate:

The light attracted me to this particular flower about to open fully:

This is the same flower but shot in landscape mode:

The white colored blossoms are less common:

A close-up of the center of the  flower:

And, interesting light on this blossom!

I took this image of three lotus blooms three years ago and its still one of my favorites ...

As  always, thank you for taking the time to look and comment.

Adam

It has been a different kind of week or two and my recent images reflect that.  

We were out and about eating Vietnamese food and were near the final resting place of FC's parents ... Both of whom I much admired. She asked if we could stop and spend a moment.  

Both of them, in the Buddhist tradition, were cremated. Their ashes are contained side-by-side in small containers in-cased in a wall in a building within a cemetery. Upon walking into that room, we saw this ... two Buddhist priests performing some type of ceremony with much incense, chanting, and clanging of symbols, and an offering of food and money to take to the after life.

I've been to three Buddhist funerals but have not seen this ceremony which takes place later.

Click!

On the day before Memorial Day, I visited the Los Angeles National Cemetery again. It is an impressive place that draws me back again and again ... particularly when all of the graves are marked by the addition of small flags. There is a certain gravitas about the place that I find hard to ignore.

Click!

The flags only emphasize the rows upon rows of graves. Wait for the wind to blow them in the right direction ... Click!

And, it isn't flat  ... there is  a gentle rolling hill that is part of the acreage.

Yesterday, an old college friend was in town with his wife. I and another college friend met them for lunch ... at a Vietnamese restaurant in Orange County. Afterwards we visited a "Vietnamese" mall where I spotted these six girls checking out jewelry. They seemed to be having so much fun ... I couldn't resist ... out came the iPhone.  Were they picking out a wedding ring?  

Click!

Then, too, last weekend, we hosted an Indian friend who was returning to India for a day of sightseeing.  Of course, Downtown LA was on the agenda. This is the Bank of America building with its Calder modern art piece in front ... one of the buildings I've photographed previously.  This time, I  played with the image in post trying to emphasize the vertical nature a bit more.

The Sun was reflecting off one of the two Cal. Water Plaza towers so I went for the star burst effect. If you have a "real" camera, dial in f-22 or greater and point it at a bright light source.  BTW, don't stare at the sun.  Click!

I moved a little closer, and loved the quality of the light being reflected off those two towers.  Click!

Buddhist ceremonies, Memorial Day at the LA National Cemetery, Tall buildings, Vietnamese woman shopping for jewelry, etc  ... they seem to have nothing in common other than they were serendipitously part of my wanderings this past week. 

As always, thank you for looking. I  hope you enjoyed this little "show."

Adam

Memorial day is this coming Monday. (May 29, 2017).  It is a United States Federal Holiday to remember the people who died in the service of the country.  And, frequently, the US Flag (Old Glory) is used as the symbol of that service and the life given.

I've been a "watcher" of flags for a long time and almost never pass on an opportunity to take a picture of one!

Watch a flag in a wind for awhile ... It seems as if there's no two exact displays:

This picture was taken a small town in Vermont during the fall. The red leaves from the tree and red stripes from the flag combine in the reflection of the window. The flag is  paper-thin... not the first time it flew in that position.

For me, one of the most moving displays of flags was this next one. It isn't just a bunch of tattered flags stuck in the chain link fence of a poor, small, rural Catholic Cemetery in New Mexico.  No, it is the heart-felt, remembrances of the loved-ones of the fallen. 

Again, lest we forget; it is about the individuals who have given their lives in service ....

But that can get lost in this next shot ... I was late getting to the National Cemetery in Los Angeles and took it through a chain link fence. This place is always jerks me back to reality. In the aggregate, it is impossible to ignore the thousands and thousands of lives given in the service of the Country. 

It is a strange time in the US now ... I hope this adds just a tiny bit of reflection from you about our past and our common objectives for the future. 

As always, thank you for taking the time to visit the blog site.

Adam

No doubt about it ... I have a love/hate relationship with my iPhone camera! On the one hand, its almost always with me. On the other hand, there are lots of circumstances in which it isn't very usable.

Take this first example, I was visiting the LA County Art Museum. We walked through the Peterson Auto Museum (it's across the street) and through its lobby. The Bugatti exhibit is still there and I snapped this image of a Bugatti shell hanging from the ceiling. I love the curved lines! 

When they remodeled the Peterson Auto Museum, they added a facade to the exterior walls. Here's what one side of the building looks like from across the street.

And, this is what that facade looks like from underneath:

I have offered ten dollars to people who could figure out what this next picture was ... no winners. Taken with my iPhone, it is the top glass cover of a fish tank. Bubbles (large and small) had collected on the underside of the cover. The red color ... provided by a fish swimming by!

The next image was taken with an iPhone at the San Gabriel Mission. The inset window with the bars is the bapistry. I converted the photo to black and white and "messed" around with it in Photoshop to give it a "charcoal" drawing or brush and ink kind of a feel. Something about the image appeals to me!

The last three photos were NOT taken with an iPhone!

Last year, as I was driving through the city, I discovered a small plot of land with growing Sunflowers. It looks like a very small garden center but there's no one there and it has always been locked up. Fortunately there is an adjacent parking lot from which I took these images: 

Isn't nature amazing? Look at the symmetry of the center of the flower!

My favorite:

Well, that is it for this post! As always, thanks for spending the time to look! Comments are always welcome.

Adam

Well, it is Spring so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Tulips keep wandering into the house.  I stare at them for awhile, sigh, and get the camera out ... its like an addiction!

First into the house were a pair of light purple tulips. They sat on a shelf over the kitchen sink against the white wall. I applied a little softening to the images giving them (in my mind) a little whimsy:

After that nice softly colored pair, a very brash bouquet of Orange Tulips snuck into the house for Easter. They turned red over time. I tried ignoring them ... sigh. Click!

And click!

Then came my big mistake! I decided to have another go at the wild poppies in the Antelope Valley. Wow, the wind was blowing at 30-35 mph ... and if you remember my earlier missive about poppies ... they hate the wind ... most were closed up tighter than a drum. I found a group sheltered  a bit behind a big clump of wild grass. They yielded these three images:

I zeroed in on one flower with my macro lens (it allows me to get close) and took this shot from above:

and then got down on my knees and took this favorite of the season:

I think that might it for Springtime flowers.  Thank you, as always, for taking the time to look.

Bye for now,

Adam

Better late than never ... I've been looking down at my next-door neighbor's beautiful Calla Lilies for a few weeks when a friend sent me a black & white photo of a Calla Lily taken by Imogen Cunningham.  She, one of the first professional woman photographers, was known for her black and white "flower" images.

It moved me to action, and after a quick email to my neighbor to get access, I managed to photograph a few images I liked.  

They were taken in the late afternoon.  The lilies were placed between the Sun and the camera (photographers use the term "backlit"). The flowers were in full sunlight. The very cool, totally black background came from the strong shadows of a tall fence about ten feet away.

This is a side view of one of the flowers:

A shot angled from slightly above:

Two flowers trying competing with each other ...

This flower was shot from below ... the flower acted as a shield of that big white ball (the Sun):

A portrait format shot looking down into the flower ... converted to a sepia-toned black and white image:

Twins? This is one  of my favorites.

The classic! It's the first image but cropped a bit and converted to black and white.

And, lastly, my favorite, another portrait oriented image with beautiful light.

Happy belated Easter and Passover!

Adam

Did you know that the State Flower of California is the Poppy?

It's a very finicky flower that requires just the right amount of rain and sun to blossom. And, its difficult to photograph:

• It doesn't like early morning or late afternoon light ... of course, that's the "soft" light photographers like best!
• If the wind is blowing, the blossoms will stay shut. And, when does the wind blow most frequently in the desert? Yes ... in the afternoon.
• It needs just the right amount of rain (not too much, not too little) at just the right time.
• Photographers like landscapes with clouds in the sky. What do clouds usually bring with them in the  desert ... yes, wind!

So finding the right conditions with clouds in the sky and a not-too harsh light and light winds blowing can be problematic. Then, too, the California drought in the last few years really hit the poppy fields hard. Last years bloom was the worst I've seen in many years.  

So, during the rains this winter, I wondered if it would be a good year for the poppies. The answer is in ... YES!

Luckily, over the years, I've found a reliable spot that's off the beaten track. It requires all-wheel drive or better to get into and thankfully, the large crowds at the State's Poppy Reserves this year haven't found this area. 

This first shot was taken behind a ridge line that provides shelter from the wind:

The next two shots were taken from the exact same spot. The difference between them is the focus point and the aperture of the lens in each instance:

See how the background is blurred in this image ... hopefully focusing your eyes on the flowers in the foreground:

I turned around and saw this dramatic lighting of the hills ... no poppies but I liked the composition ... Click!

Here's another cluster of flowers a little closer to the base of the highest hill in the area:

The track I was on turned to the Northwest and I crossed over the sheltering ridge line to this spectacular view. FYI, those vertical towers you see on the right side of the image against the mountains are windmills!

I got down low and took this photograph of the cluster of poppies you see in the lower left corner of the image above:

A little further down the track we came across this ridge filled with poppies:

So 2017 is a good year for the poppies. If you are in Southern California, go visit them ... but not on the weekends!

Thanks for looking,

Adam

P.S. Did you remember to click on any of the images to see an enlarged version of it?  They look much better that way!

In the last few months I've had the opportunity to visit the "remodeled" Peterson Automotive  Museum in Los Angeles twice.  They were showing a fabulous exhibit of beautiful Bugatti automobiles. I've always been quite taken by the style of a Bugatti ... particularly the older machines.

First a brief history direct from Wikipedia

Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a French car manufacturer of high-performance automobiles founded in 1909 in the then German city of Molsheim Alasce by Italian-born Ettore Bugatti. Bugatti cars were known for their design beauty (Ettore Bugatti was from a family of artists and considered himself to be both an artist and constructor) and for their many race victories. Famous Bugattis include the Type 35 Grand Prix cars, the Type 41 "Royale", the Type 57 "Atlantic" and the Type 55 sports car.

The death of Ettore Bugatti in 1947 proved to be the end for the marque, and the death of his son Jean Bugatti in 1939 ensured there was not a successor to lead the factory. No more than about 8,000 cars were made. The company struggled financially, and released one last model in the 1950s, before eventually being purchased for its airplane parts business in the 1960s.

In the 1990s, an Italian entrepreneur revived it as a builder of limited production exclusive sports cars. Today, the name is owned by German automobile manufacturing group Volkswagen.

Photograph 1: The Bugatti Symbol found on every Bugatti:

Photograph 2: This picture is of a Bugatti shell hanging from the museum's ceiling in the lobby:

Photograph 3: The hood of the shell shown above:

Photograph 4: The top of the radiator of an older Bugatti:

Photograph 5: My favorite Bugatti of the show ... called the Jean.

Photograph 6: The sloping rear of the Jean

Photograph 7: Side view of a 1994 Bugatti:

Photograph 8: Carbon fiber panels replacing metal on the newest, hottest Bugatti:

I hope you enjoyed this brief look at one of the  major marquee's in European Automobiles.

Thanks, as always,

Adam

It has been awhile since I lasted posted ... my apologies. I ran into one of those rude, unexpected, life experiences that, once again, reminded me of my mortality! Actually, lying on my back for several days got me thinking about about which of the many images I've taken are my favorites  ... really with thousands of images on file its nearly impossible to figure out.  I decided, instead, to show you the ones I look at almost every day ... yes, the ones hanging on the walls.

In the beginning:

This image was taken with my first digital camera, a Nikon D1x, at Sunsert; from the hills above Berkley; looking West to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was certainly one of the best of my early digital images and has always had a spot on my wall!

My Business Card Photo:

I used this image of a Great Egret taken in Florida as the photo on a business card.  As a viewer you can't tell, but this image is shown as it was taken ... with a large telephoto lens, and no cropping.  Capturing a bird in flight using a large telephoto is an acquired skill and I managed to get this one right and that's why its one of my favs. 

The  Lotus:

Years ago, I found Lotus plants growing in Echo Park and took this image of one of the blossoms on its last legs. I love the symbolism of the Lotus ... it grows up out of the mud; buds; blossoms; and then looses its seeds back to the mud to begin the cycle again. With great light, I used a large telephoto lens to isolate this plant. The image was accepted as one of a hundred for a juried competition by a curator from the Los Angeles County Museum about 6,000 images submitted for the competition that year. 

The Big Splash:

This image was selected as the best amateur photo in an Audubon Society juried photo competition. I love the soft early morning light and the action of the brown pelican's dive.

Luck and timing are often major ingredients in creating good images ... one or two thousandths of a second either way, and you have a different image. That's one of the reasons action photographers want a camera that can take images at a high frame rate; and its one of the reasons professional photogs take so many shots of the same subject.

The Window:

This image of a window was taken on the grounds of a Buddhist Temple in Kaw Law, Myanmar.  It is really a simple picture but I love the symmetry of the lines; the soft pastel colors; and the wear and tear of various components of the window. Worn though it may be, there is a certain strength and durability reflected in this image. And, then there is the mystery of what's behind the window!

The Basket Lady:

Taken at a market in Myanmar, I knew almost instantly I had taken an image I was going to enjoy for many years! And, in a strange way, I knew, too, the trip would be a photographic success for me.

The Student:

The chills ran up and down my spine when I entered this building where student Buddhist monks were studying and praying. The lighting was dark, and there was a certain solemnity pervading the room. Though we were noticed by the four monks, they did not react. I decided to focus initially on this lone monk in the corner.  The red robe sucks your eye to the subject. Enlarge this image and look at the walls ... they were used as a note pad.

Ode to Ansel:

There I stood (at Tunnel View) staring at the full moon rising over Yosemite Valley. I was with a bunch of other photographers. It was an awe-inspiring view.  Most were using a wide angle lens to try and capture the whole scene.  I knew I'd see twenty essentially identical shots the next day... I'd already taken one myself!

How could I capture something different? After all, I was in Ansel's cathedral ... could I do something Ansel-like? I went back to  my car and got out a large telephoto to isolate this shot of the Moon and El Capitan. It was a cool shot that got even better when one of you viewers upon seeing the color version, suggested it would look great in Black and White. Bingo!

Nature's Call:

I can't say in words how amazing it is to see, hear, and smell a thousand wildebeest hurtling themselves down a steep embankment to cross a river in which they might drown or be killed by a crocodile. It was a powerful example of the force of nature. The drive to continue living as the species was more than apparent that day ... it was palpable!

Incense:

You don't always have to travel great distances to photograph the "exotic". I took this image at an local Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles a few miles from my home. The ephemeral nature of the incense smoke in this picture has always appealed to me emotionally.  It can be seen and smelled but has no substance. An ideal representation of a spirit ... no wonder it has been used in religious ceremonies for centuries.

Inverted:

Oh, I can not look at this picture without smiling and remembering the joy and freedom offered by a machine capable of going wherever you direct it to go.

Right side up; upside down; sideways ... it doesn't matter. It is an awesome ride!

Professional photographers will tell you they are not trying to make pretty pictures ... they are trying to take photos that provoke the viewer's psyche in some way.

... And, I hope one or two of my favorites have done that for you!

As always, thank you for making the effort to look.

Adam

... that I can photograph a group of tulips in a vase!

We received a bunch of tulips in vase marking the Lunar New Year. They came with the bulbs placed in a clear glass vase in water ... hydroponics in action!  And, sat on the table opposite a window facing south for about a week.  I took photos during that period on three different days from many different angles and with different light.  This post contains a few images that I liked.

First up, the classic landscape view with side light:

A portrait (vertical) view taken at the same time:

Another landscape view closer than the first, and with the flowers placed on the left side of the frame:

A closeup of one of the buds:

Several days later ... A Single blossom reaching out to the light source:

A flower fully open, in its last days and backlit (The source of light is behind the subject):

Another single flower reaching to the sun taken a day later in strong, bright, side light and sharp black and white background:

Another back lit blossom but taken directly behind the flower petals:

Very strong light with total black background shining on a single blossom:

And my favorite ... a square cropped back lit image of two blossoms:

All of the shots were taken during the morning before 8:00. The strength of the light varied substantially as the weather moved through the LA basin during that week. The first three, softer shots were taken on a completely overcast day. You can see how the quality and  source of light really changes  the  character of resultant image. That brings up the ever present and often asked question ... which of them best reflects reality? The answer, I think, is in the eye of the beholder.

That's it for this post. Thank you for taking the time to look. Comments are always welcome.

Bye for now,

Adam

As I indicated in the last post, the weather has been quite uncooperative this winter for photography. So, when the weather is bad, I start looking indoors for something to photograph. Some museums are good places to look for interesting subjects, and one of them is the Peterson Auto museum. I have gone twice in the last two months of 2016.

I've never been a "biker", but I really liked the look of the Ducati 916 motorcycle on display. It turns out that I'm not alone ... according to Wikipedia "the 916 has consistently been declared to be one of the most beautiful motorcycles ever produced."  

"To many enthusiasts around the world, the 916 was not simply the latest superbike, but the best there had ever been. It set new standards of performance, handling, and braking, but also style and charisma. ... The 916 changed the face of sports bikes in a way that only the original Suzuki GSX-R750 had managed a decade earlier."

And, that got me thinking about design ... Is it an art form? Are designers artists? The answer, I'm afraid, is "blowing in the wind" at 160 mph ... the top speed of the 916!

Here's a plan view photo of the bike;

The front wheel with disc brakes, shock absorber and wheel attachment:

Don't you love that red? Reminds me of another vehicle from Italy classically painted in red.

I loved the detail and the colors of the exhaust header and tail pipe assembly. It must get hot when pushed. Metallurgists, I think, call this bluing, and now I know why!

And, the exhaust end of the tail pipe. This picture, along with the one above, are my favorites!

I hear another storm is on its way this week ... no more drought for California.

Enjoy,

Adam

P.S. Don't forget to click on an image to see a large version of it!

... the storms, I went down to the pier.  

We had 3 successive storms march through the area in a week or so.  Supposedly they brought high surf. My camera gear was gathering dust and I was feeling a little "rusty," and desperate to take some pictures. Why not shoot the "high" surf?  OK, off I went down to the Manhattan Beach Pier.

I've never taken any but "Under-the-Pier" shots are common. they are often taken in low light on a tripod with a slow shutter speed to create the effect of a smooth, waveless ocean. I was trying for a different look.  

Here's my first shot:

This is the same shot but with a vertical (portrait) orientation and a larger wave breaking as it headed to the beach: 

I wasn't terribly impressed with the size of the waves under the pier so I went up top and took this image of one of the pier's light posts. I included the Sun looking for the "star-burst" effect. I got it, but I also got this interesting bubble like effect. I'm not sure why the lens acted this way. But I like it:

Of course there is the requisite wide angle shot of the waves:

They weren't so big ... maybe it was low tide?

Back at the computer, I converted one of the shots from under the pier to black and white. It's my favorite!

I think I should have gone earlier in the storm cycle! 

Thanks for looking at my little journey to the beach. I hope you enjoyed it.

Bye for now,

Adam

It has been nearly 20 years since my last trip to Vegas as a destination.  It's still full of glitz, lights, people, and smoke.  The gambling tables seemed much less busier than I remembered.  The minimum bet now at most of the black jack tables was $20.  We were there to see a Van Morrison performance.  He delivered!

I didn't want to lug one of the good cameras, and I've found a new camera app for the iPhone called "645 Pro" that I wanted to put to the test for the trip.

As I've implied Vegas is still Vegas, full of glitter ... even iPhone cases:

And the strip is still the strip ... lots of lights, lots of autos, lots of people:

I  enjoyed Bellagio's fountain show at night.  And, the new camera app did amazingly well in that environment:

It's always important to remember to look behind you when photographing ... I turned around and saw this framing of Caesar's Palace:

Something new to me was this thing. I'm guessing its function was that of a giant awning during the hot summer but this is Vegas so who knows?  It looked to  me like an Alien Space ship (And, hey what better place for an alien ship to land then here).

The view from underneath the space ship:

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!  What's this?  A close-up of a hanging lamp  ... it stayed in Vegas. :)

That's it for my short two day trip to Vegas. I think I'm good for awhile before I "need" to return. I hope you enjoyed this little peek using the iPhone 6S and the 645 Pro camera app.

Adam

P.S. If you want some control over your iPhone camera this app is a good one.  The iPhone still leaves much to be desired though for other than "casual" photography stuff.

You may well be tired, by now, of Big Bird images.  These are the last of the "season" which was remarkably short ... this has been a trend the last three or four years.  First up are some images of Big Bird that didn't make the earlier posts:

Circling to land in the "good" light:

Detail of Big Bird's feathers ...

Getting a little closer ...

In black & white ...

I call this image the "X" Factor ...

There's almost always another crowd competing for the same meal.  Here's some them.

A Great Egret crossing the channel against the sun ...

The ever-present Gull looking for an opportunity ...

And, the army of cormorants.  Here's a small group with a head throw by one ...

A Landing. A mini-X factor?  ... 

Cormorants are not graceful fliers like Big Bird. They are built to swim underwater to catch their food rather than dive for it from above like Big Bird.  Their take-offs and landings are longer, more labored, and not nearly as graceful. 

Intensity #1. Just getting airborne ...

Intensity #2,  Another  ... 

I hope you enjoyed  this mini Big Bird series and, as  always, thank you for taking the time to look and comment!

Adam

Many of my bird images were taken at Bolsa Chica ecological reserve while standing about three feet above the water on a wooden bridge crossing a main channel.

The bridge provides a great photographic platform!  First and most important, the water birds have little or no fear of humans standing on the bridge so we get a close up ability not easily attained otherwise. Secondly, the bridge provides a shadow that fish like to use to hide out from their predators ... the birds. Big Bird, in particular, has no reluctance at diving for fish next to the bridge ... sometimes, when the action is heavy, splashing the unaware photographer!

Another unique advantage is that at sunrise, light streams under the bridge, bouncing off the water and casting a beautiful soft light on anything within a few feet of it ... leaving everything else in shadows.

All one has to do is patiently wait for a subject to float into that beautiful light.  On this morning, 12/01/2016, Big Bird floated around for a bit; decided there were no fish for breakfast; and left.  All the while, lit by this soft, gorgeous light from the rising sun!

Where are they?

Time to leave...

Two hops...

Three hops, and ...

See ya!

Thanks for looking!

Bye for now,

Adam

Along with the arrival of Big Bird came its close relatives ... The American White Pelican. Unlike Big Bird, they come and go so quietly that it seems like magic. We'll turn around and find that a group of them has arrived without fanfare. And, then, we'll turn back to the action; turn around again and poof ... They're gone. My friend, Mike has nicknamed them "White Ghosts" because of this sudden appearance/disappearance skill. 

The White's are much larger then Big Bird (the California Brown Pelican) and because of this, they can't dive for their food as Big Bird does.  So, most often, they work together fishing for food as a group. It seems like they "herd" the fish to shallow waters where it is easier to capture them.  Like their cousins, they do not vocalize amongst themselves. 

These birds with their large wings discovered long ago the aerodynamic concept of "Ground Effect". In flying close to the water, a cushion of air builds up under the wing that allows the bird to stay aloft with a minimum of effort.  It is much more efficient than flying higher and having to expend more energy by flapping their wings.  BTW, pilots discover this effect when they attempt to land an airplane the first time. All of a sudden, the touchdown point is further down the runway than expected as the descent rate dramatically slows when the plane gets close to the ground.

Here's one of the White Ghosts sneaking in at dawn:

I'm sure you've heard the phrase  "Get all your ducks lined up"  ... but I bet you've never thought about getting your pelican's lined up! 

This guy came flying right over my head.  Can you get an idea about his size? Its wingspan is about 9 feet ... yes, that's nine feet!

This seven image sequence of two white pelicans departing is unusual in that their wing flaps are synchronized through the entire take-off.  

They reached flying speed ...off they go into the sunrise!

I used to think about the freedom birds have that is inherent in their capability to fly, but as you can see flight doesn't come without a lot of effort.  And it is particularly true for larger birds.  Effort means more energy required which in turn means more food needed.  It is a cycle that exists for humans, too, but one we don't think much about in today's modern society!

I hope you enjoyed this view of Big Bird's cousins. 

And, of course, thanks for taking the time to look.

Adam

P.S. The images look much better enlarged. Just click on one ... you'll see!

P.P.S.  If you ever want comment, you can just click on the button below or, of course, send me an email.

This was the view as I pulled into the parking lot at Bolsa Chica.  It was 6:35AM and the sun was just peaking over the hills to the East; there were a few birds floating in a "gaggle", but no action! It was quiet.

A few minutes later, I took this shot of a Grebe floating alone in one of the large channels of Bolsa.  I like these types of shots ... they remind me of how small we are compared to the immensity of nature. I think, too often, in our modern day lives, we loose that perspective.  

And, then, out of nowhere, Big Bird circled the area and came in for a landing. The next six images are part of a sequence of 15 that I captured as it touched down.

I was panning with the camera from left to right in the sequence and managed to get the bird in roughly the same part of the image throughout the landing... that's "goodness" in an action sequence.

Thanks for stopping and taking a look,

Adam

P.S. Don't forget to click on any image to see larger versions.

I spotted the line of Ginkgo trees even before we turned into the entrance to the Far Niente winery.  (They claim to be the oldest in the Napa Valley area... beginning in 1885. There's another, Buena Vista, also claiming the oldest title.)  Both have great wine, but Far Niente has something special ... a long driveway lined with Ginkgo trees. 

The number of leaves lying at the base of trees leads me to believe that I missed the peak, but still ...

The view from the center of the road at the entrance is pretty spectacular:

I moved to the right side and took this picture looking down the row of trees and included part of the vineyard: 

I think, though, I may like this vertical orientation better:

My favorite shot is the next. It was taken from the left side of the road:

But then again, this image taken on the way out, is a strong contender:

The grounds of the vineyard are also very attractive, but I was clearly smitten by the Ginkgo trees in color! They were one of the unexpected treats of my visit to Napa.

Thanks, as always, for your comments and your time.

Bye for now,

Adam

I recently spent a few days in Napa, Ca.  For readers outside the USA unfamiliar with its geography, this is largest center of wine production in the country. It was past the peak of the fall colors but there were still many reminders.  Fortunately, I was hosted by my brother who lives in the area.  These first two images were captured as we entered the area.

The view from the parking lot where we ate lunch. The leaves are still on the vines ... but not for long:

Something about this shot appeals to me, but views like this are everywhere.  It was taken from the car at a stoplight as we waited for it to change.

Speaking of light, it was great. The air was crsip and clear and "color" everywhere I looked ... like this simple shot of pyracantha in great light that caught my eye:

or this red leaf in a tree:

And another tree filled with color:

And, of course, I had to stop and shot the early morning dew on a red flower: 

As you will see in the next post, not everything was red. Lots of yellows, too:

I'll end with a wide view from atop the high ground of one of the wineries we visited:

I'll show more from this winery along with another stunning site in Part II ... the next post.  

Thanks for looking.

Adam

I've continued to explore still life photography with the "arrival" of interesting food stuffs in the house.  As you can see, the first three images are of picturesque pears found in an Asian market.

Like all of my recent still life images, they were taken on a black dinning room table next to a south-facing window in the shadow of another building. Nothing could be more simple ... As photographer Vincent Versace might say: No photons were hurt in the creation of these images ...  the only light used came from a nuclear fusion occurring 93 million miles away!

Four Pears:

And a reflection:

A closeup taken with the pears inside the Magic Bowl:

Magic Bowl ... What's a Magic Bowl?  Well, it is the name I've given to the simple "empty" Pyrex glass bowl shown in the next image. You can see how the clear rim of the bowl lights up with a blue-green cast when its placed in the same light as the fruit shown in the first three images.

But here's the real magic! Look what happens when stuff is placed inside the bowl. Magic happens ... the bowl seems come alive with light:

A close-up of the light bouncing around inside the rim of the bowl:

More:

And my favorite ... 360 degrees of light bouncing around the rim of the magic bowl ... encircling and highlighting those heirloom tomatoes!

Well, I've come to the end again ... another moment playing with, and exploring the magic of light.

I hope you enjoyed this little change-up. As always, thank you for spending the time to look and reflect ... yes, pun intended!

If you live in the United States and are a citizen, please take the time Tuesday to Vote!

Adam

On this trip, it seemed like I didn't take a lot of "typical" landscape shots.  I think I was more focused on the people ... but we were out at dawn almost every morning and often had shoots at sunset!

This shot was taken in Bagan from atop one of those monuments you see in the image.  Sunrise is still minutes away:

And, here's the other end of a day photographed from a monastery situated atop a hill near Mandalay:

BTW, accomodations in Myanmar were excellent ... not  much different than a Marriott.  This is the entrance to our hotel at Inle Lake ... entirely built over the lake, and only reachable by boat.

And, this is the view from that dock looking out at the lake: 1/ 1250s, at f/9 || E.Comp:-4 / 6 || 24mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 400 || Tone: || Sharp: || Camera: NIKON D3on: 2011:12:15 20:29:37

Here is another landscape, taken from our van as we "sped" along one of their "superhighways" at 35 mph.  Seemingly Myanmar is very fertile, and has the climate to grow almost anything.

Most of the rice fields had been harvested but we stopped to take some shots of these.  I had visions of the highly-terraced, steep plots seen in photos from other countries but that wasn't the case.

We came across these two women working a field.  They had come via the oxen-pulled cart from a near-by village with child.  They had been working the field by using only hoes.  The oxen-drawn cart shared our superhighway (of course)! :)

Behind the image above was this hillside. In the lower right side of the image you can see some other workers in one of the fields:

Lastly, in our wanderings, we came across a warehouse containing some of the products from the fields:

This is the last Myanmar Redux post.  It's obvious by now that the Myanmar trip was a memorable one. I would encourage anyone interested in South East Asia to visit there. I hear that it is changing rapidly as it gets more integrated and open to the World.  

As always, thanks for stopping and taking a look.

Bye for now,

Adam

Do you remember these three men from the original set of posts on Myanmar? They were moving a man-made floating island from one part of Inle lake to another.  It was hot and hard work.  They started at Sunrise and explained it would most likely take them all day to get to the "parking" spot.  

Flat space around the Lake is at a premium, so over the centuries, they have created floating islands on which to grow produce. These islands are treated just like any real estate ... it can be bought/sold, moved, etc. 

Oh, btw, this island was about 150 feet long and 30 feet across!

The face of this man was way too dark in the  original.  I used some new tools and technique to lighten it while keeping the rest of the image at the captured exposure?

And if you don't think it isn't hard work, check out this close up of the effort:

These men are fishing! They've put out nets and are striking the water with their oars to cause the fish to swim into the nets!

Since the only means of transportation is on the water, everyone, (young children, women, etc.) learns to handle a boat. These two women rowing home after a morning at the market are one example:

This is the best of the "found" images.  It's a Fisherman setting his net late in the PM. Fisherman in Inle Lake use a unique standing rowing style. Notice one leg is wrapped around the oar.  So he can row the boat while standing!  For sure, I would fall over board with in seconds.  In any event, this is rapidly becoming a favorite image.

That's it for Part 3.  Thanks for looking!

Adam

Windows

For one reason or another, I like taking photos of Windows.  Perhaps its because looking through a viewfinder of a camera is liking looking through a window? Maybe it's simply just my curiosity about what is on the other side?  In any event, there were some interesting windows to photograph in Myanmar.

This fist image is my favorite and it isn't new ... a large print has been hanging on my wall since returning from the trip.  I look at it every day ... and  most days actually see it. I love the soft colors and the textures. Mostly though,  I think it is a subtle reminder about how fortunate I am to be living at this time, in this place.  

It was taken on the grounds of a Buddhist monastery.  I believe the building was the monk's living quarters. 

And this is another window at the same monastery:

This building is built on stilts over the water.  The photo was taken from a small boat as we motored through the "streets" of the village. I've seen the practice of airing bedding, clothes, etc. frequently in my travels abroad ... but not in the U.S.A.  It would be considered bad form to hang bedding out my window in Redondo Beach.  Any explanation? 

There was a new building at the afore mentioned monastery.  The windows were much enhanced over the earlier ones!

This shot intrigues me ... what's the subject? Is it the grittiness of the window panes, the complexity of the window's geometry or is it the vague notion of the clouds outside?  Usually an image with an ill defined subject doesn't work ... and this might not work for you but somehow does for me.

Imagine how much extra work was required to make this complex window. Was it done for ventilation in this hot tropical environment while providing some semblance of privacy?

I said it earlier ...  I like photos of windows and door.  I hope you do too.

As always, thank you for taking the time to look through the window of my camera.

Adam

Putting together the previous post of faces of women in Burma (Myanmar) caused me to think about changes that have occurred in my photography during the last 5 years.  First of all, I'm using cameras that are two generations newer than the one used in Burma.  They open up new opportunities.  There have been other, perhaps more significant, changes too:

• Advances in the software I use to complete the picture taking process ... Many of the "typical" problem areas now have practical solutions 
• My skills in post processing are much better than they were five years ago ... in my opinion. 
• Finally, there has been growth ... or at least, changes in my view of the world.  Those changes creep into the images I take today, but also into my view of those I've taken in the past... what I passed by yesterday, I might not pass by today.

So as I gathered those images in the previous post, I realized it might be worthwhile to review other "original" raw images from the camera that had not previously been processed.  I found a "bunch" of them ... many have not been see before, and some have been using new techniques and capabilities.

The Ubein Bridge at  Sunset

This heavily-used, 3/4 mile long bridge was built around 1850 and is believed to be the oldest and longest teakwood bridge in the world. These two images were taken from a small boat at Sunset.

This next is my favorite of the two.  I didn't recall seeing it during my earlier "passes" through the Burma images.

The Cave:

On our travels to Inle Lake, we visited a cave built into the side of a hill that contained hundreds (more than a thousand?) of statues of Buddha.  Here's two images that hadn't been processed:

A Fly On The Beer:

I know ... it makes no sense unless you've visited a hot, tropical county.  Then a nice cold beer makes a lot of sense! Unlike most images, I can not remember taking this picture ... and no, I didn't have that many beers. :)  Oh, by the way, I really liked the beer in Burma.

A Spider in the Web:

They grow 'em big in those tropical countries!

I'll do one or two more "recovered" photos posts in the next week or two.  

Did you remember to click on an image to see a larger version?

As always, Thank You for taking the time to look.

Adam

P.S.  To see all of the images that I'd previously processed from  Myanmar, go here:

        http://naturallightimages.zenfolio.com/f1010730329

The three photos at the end of the previous blog came from a trip to Myanmar in December of 2011.  It's hard to believe that five years have passed since then. That trip was an important event for my photography.  As I said in the Introduction to the book: 

"While in Myanmar, I dimly recognized that I was changing as a photographer. But it was only when I got home and began sorting through the gigabytes of images that I fully realized that it was the people more than the places had that had truly entranced me."

I had gone back to that "shoe box" looking for some specific images for a project. And, while rummaging around, I came across some of my favorite people shots and thought it might be interesting to re-post them ... particularly for those readers who were not around at that time.

What follows are 6 images of females from Myanmar that I particularly like.  I hope you do too.

The Basket Lady:

This image was chosen for the cover shot of the book. Why carry an empty basket when you can wear it and keep your hands free? It was obviously a technique she had learned long before this shot was taken. Sights like this are one of the reasons that foreign travel is so visually interesting! Myanmar was chock full of them.

The Infectious Smile:

I can't help but smile when I see this next image. This lady's great smile is infectious.  There is a warmth and openness to it. She was seemingly unaffected by the stains on her teeth caused by chewing betel leaves.  And she was aware and open to the fact that I, a complete stranger, was taking her photograph.  And, wouldn't it be great if we all reacted that way? 

The Questioning Girl:

"Who are these strangers with pale white skins?"  This young girl was looking at us from the entrance to  the "courtyard" of her home as we walked down the "street" of a small village.  Clearly she was puzzled by our little group. I love the questioning look on her face, the dappled light, and the color of the background. 

Somewhere Else:

What was she thinking about? She seemed to be somewhere else... far, far away in another galaxy?

Intensity:

This older woman was sitting on a bench at a railroad station in a small hill-country village. I'm not sure I've ever been under such a visual open scrutiny. Do you think she was angry or just curious?  Contrast her look with that of the smiling lady.  

Sadness:

I captured this next image of woman in a rail car waiting for the train to leave. There's a haunting look on this woman's face. Is it sadness? Is she weary and tired? Has life been difficult? Is it a look of resignation? All of these questions and maybe a dozen more come to mind when looking at the image. I am moved by her gaze and want to know more. 

Notes:

*  Most women in Myanmar use a yellolwish-white paste made from ground bark of a tree.  According to Wikipedia, the creamy paste is applied to the face in attractive designs with the fingers.  It has a smell like sandlewood and it's said to provide protection from the sun,  help remove acne and promote smooth skin. 

*  It is that time of year when the wildlife are in transit between their spring/summer locations to their fall/winter hangouts. Shooting has been almost non-existent.

* I've been looking at the original images from the Myanmar trip have come across quite of few that I passed by on my initial post-processing passes. It looks like I will follow up with blogs featuring images that have not previously seen the light of day. 

*  If interested, the book "Portraits from Myanmar" can be purchased by logging into Amazon.com and searching for the title of the book.  It is also possible to read it online by going here: http://www.blurb.com/b/5481828-portraits-from-myanmar and clicking on the Preview button.

As  always, thanks for taking the time to look and  comment.

Adam

It's "Odds and Ends" day, today.  I had a few additional iPhone 6s images that didn't make it into last week's blog.

First up is this shadow projected on the wall of a building along the River Walk in San Antonio. I liked the detail of the shadows being projected on the  wall.  You can see just a tiny bit of the grate running along the very top of the image:

We tried getting into the Alamo but it was closed.  Here's a shot of the outside with the Texas State flag flying on a State building in the background:

These doors were cool.  I liked the texture and "old" feeling they project:

Another shot taken standing in front of those doors and looking up:

Ready for a change of pace?  Ok, here goes ...

I was rummaging through the "shoe box" containing photos from Myanmar (Burma), saw this photo and said Whoa!  I think it was included it in one of the original blogs.  But, its worth looking at again.  It was taken from the porch of my hotel room at a place called Inle Lake. The Sun hadn't burned off the early morning overcast yet. The purple/maroon tones in the foreground are the reflection of a cloud overhead being lit by the sun.  I like the peacefulness of the scene.  

Speaking of Sunrise ... this shot of hot air balloons was taken from atop a temple in a fabulously interesting place called Bagan, Myanmar. At the time I took the shot, I knew the next morning, I'd be up there looking down ...

and, here's that view the next day!

That's it for this post.  Thank You for taking the time to look ... spending it (time) is one of the most important things we do!  BTW, these last three shots were taken 5 years go. 

Comments are always welcome.

Thanks again,

Adam

Photographer #1  "What is your best Camera? "  

Photographer #2  "The Camera I have with me!"

I was reminded of this dialogue last week as I prepared to travel to South Texas for a long weekend "family" event.  I was debating about including my "best" camera and lens in my luggage or just winging it with my iPhone.  ( FWIW, I really dislike packing these days and the thought of adding 10 more pounds to my luggage wasn't very appealing.)  But, there might be some photo opportunities as this would be new territory for my photographic eyes.  In the end, I opted to travel light...Sigh.

The Best camera would have to be my iPhone!

South Padre Island:

The first three shots of this post were taken on S. Padre Island in the Gulf of Mexico located at the very tip of Texas. The weather there is HOT and Humid ... essentially 90+ degrees during the day dropping to 85 degrees at 11:00 PM! 

The heat was a central and ever-present theme.  It was impossible to ignore.  This black and white image of the Sun glowing behind the Palm trees was meant to convey a little of that presence!

While eating dinner at the Hotel, I  noticed this really soft sunset.  I excused myself from the table; walked out and took this shot.  Though I had my best camera with me, I began to wish I had brought the "better" one.   I really wanted to isolate the mound (on the far side of the walkway) with the tall grass blowing in the gentle breeze but that wasn't possible with the iPhone.  Instead I choose this equally compelling but very different composition showing the hand of man ... the walkway, in the image.

One morning from my room.  The skies seemed to perpetually have really cool looking clouds hanging around. A nice change from Los Angeles which has really boring skies!  But, what really caused me to take the shot was the floating oil drilling rig being towed-out to sea by 4 tugs in this scene:

San Antonio:

We spent a few days exploring San Antonio.  It's an interesting city with an area called "The River Walk."  Think of a modern mini-Venice situated in the middle of a large Texas city.  There are several miles of canals, and it's located a couple of blocks from the Alamo.  The river's banks are lined with large beautiful cedar trees (and, of course, shops, hotels, restaurants, etc.) giving it some relief from the ever present heat.  Here's a simple snap from the iPhone:

Another simple shot.  The iPhone couldn't produce the shot I wanted of the colored umbrellas ...

So, I went for the reflections:

Here, too, I couldn't get a clear shot of this old, interesting building so I opted for the reflection and converted it to black and white. It's my favorite of the trip:

Here's another scene along the River Walk.  I took care to include the state flag flying atop the building in the background but that left the walkway in the dark shadows.  Photoshop saved the day!

And, yes, it is even possible to take a close-up of a flower with the iPhone!

Like most human endeavors, photography involves making kinds of compromises.  Certainly, the camera gear is on of the types of compromises, but it  usually isn't the most important one.  More often it is the view of the person taking the picture.  Recently, I ran across a nice short blog that might help explain this better.  You can find it here: http://www.shotwithmytrustyiphone.com/you-say-you-dont-see-like-a-photographer-but-you-want-to-maybe-this-will-help/

That's it for South Texas ... an interesting but very hot place in September!

Adam

So, a little tired, and a lot excited from the morning shoot, the driver and I headed off to our lodging for brunch and a little rest.  We arrived about the same time as the group who went ballooning.  

About 2 or 3  PM, we all piled into the SUV's and headed out for the afternoon shoot.  What could top the morning  ... nothing,  I thought.

We drove along the Southern rim of the Mara River for a ways and stopped when we saw this next image. The large number of wildebeest about a 1/3 from the bottom of the image are standing on the cliffs of the Eastern bank of the Mara river.  Between us was the river and its large banks.  They want to get to the other side!  We stopped, waited, and watched ...

Go ahead ... Let the Photo Gods make my already great day into a fabulous one! Why not have a river crossing ... hey, why not two? And so it was.

On some unknown signal, one; then two animals started down the embankment. It was if the flood gates had been opened. The whole group started down the steep bank to the river's edge and plunged into the water:

For the next five or ten minutes, wildebeest after wildebeest poured over the edge and down the bank:

A close up showing all the dust that many hooves caused:

Frequently, for no apparent reason, a wildebeest would leap rather than enter the water on all fours:  

I'm not sure when this shot was taken... perhaps after fording the river on the other side.  See the white marks on the backs of several of the animals in this photo? Particular types of birds use the backs of these wildebeest as perches.  Yes, they get a free ride and to add insult, poop!

We saw two large river crossings that afternoon.  All of the above images were from them.  My favorite shots, though, came from a crossing that happened the very next day. We managed to see three river crossings in total during a two day period.  The Photo Gods favored us!

This image was taken the next day. I discovered it as I rumaged through the collection looking for shots I had missed ten years ago.  It's becoming one of my favorites from the trip:

And, this is a remake of my most favorite shot. Also taken the next day.  Here, the herd abruptly decided that the entry point into the water wasn't safe and they made a left turn; wondered down the river for about 20 yards and entered there:

So that was my "National Geographic" day in the Masai Mara staring the most numerous and comical looking of animal on its Great Migration.  It was, of course, totally unplanned ... and the spontaneity is a large part of the reward of watching nature!

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to look and respond.

Bye for now,

Adam

P.S.  Did you remember to click on any of those horizontal images?  They look so much better larger.

On August 20, 2006, I arrived in Kenya to join a two-week, photo safari to photograph the annual Great Migration of wildebeest.  The migration, called one of the World's Great Wonders, involves the movement of 1.5 million wildebeest as they search for water and better grasses. In August each year, they cross from Tanzania into Kenya crossing the Mara river that separates the two countries.

Even after witnessing it, I find it impossible to describe the scene with all those animals foraging in the grasses, but here's one photographic attempt. Each of those dark spots in this limited view is a wildebeest.

The remainder of the photographs shown in this two-part post were taken on just one day ... day 12 of the trip.  On that day, most of our group (a total of 10) had decided to take an early morning, hot air balloon ride over the Masai Mara.  Those who didn't opt for the balloons would go out as normal with a driver in one of the four-wheel drive vehicles.  As luck would have it, I got a rare treat ... a driver and vehicle all to myself for the morning.

The purpose of the trip was to photograph wildlife so it was understandable that most of the photogs were not into taking landscape images ... so my first treat of the day began with this stop:

The shot doesn't do justice to the feeling I had of the immense space devoid of any human artifacts ... something pretty rare in our modern society. And, those Acacia trees ... they are often the only thing sticking up on those wide open plains. To me, they symbolize this part of Africa!  As the Sun rose, I zoomed in:

After this stop, we went off to find some wildlife. I would say to the driver: "Hey, let's go over there" ... and over there we would go! It was great freedom from the norm.  At a point, we came across a mother and three Cheetah cubs surveying their World from the top of a ridge:

As an aside, one of the things I noticed was how frequently many of the animals (the hunters as well as the hunted) used whatever was available to get a higher. clearer view of their surroundings.  They would climb up on a a rock, an ant hill, or like this cheetah, a ridge to gain some height.  This next shot  is a different Cheetah family taken on a different day illustrates the point.  The group is standing on an ant hill ... yep, I always wondered where that expression came from ... now I know!

While those cubs were pretty cute, I liked this next shot of the mother better. She's beautiful and I got the sense watching her that she's trying to figure out her next move.

We left the Cheetahs and came across a couple of female lions.  One of them was being very lion-like and was hassling the other ... nudging her, lying on her, scratching its face on her, etc.  After taking a few photos, we started up again.  

Off in the distance, I noticed a line of wildebeest and asked the driver to make our way over to the line ... as an aside, when traveling (as opposed to grazing) wildebeest travel in very orderly lines ... sometimes miles in length.  I wanted to get a picture of that.  As we got near, I noticed a strange behavior from wildebeest line ... as they started to cross the track we were driving on, they suddenly began panicking, jumping high, etc.   

Then I spotted the reason lying in the tire track of the path.  "OMG," she's going for a kill!

Because of the big telephoto lens I had on the camera, keeping both the wildebeest and lion in sharp focus at the same time wouldn't be possible. I decided to keep the focus on the lion and time my shutter releases as the wildebeest realized the danger they were in.  That way I would be ready to capture the lion's strike:

The line of wildebeest started to catch on to the danger and began changing the direction of the line.  At about the same time, the lion decided to move into the grass but was too late.    I call this image "I thot I saw a putty cat".  Can you imagine what walking through these grasses must be like? Scary!

In disgust, she got up and walked by the vehicle; stopped for a moment and stared directly at me!  I involuntarily flinched causing the driver to laugh.  I caught this last image of  her staring wistfully at the wildebeest line in its new location:

Wow, what a day!  I need a break ... its time for breakfast.  But, wait, it gets even better.

Adam

This is the third and last part of Chasing the Light ... my tiny, tiny, exploration of shooting the Lotus in bright sun light.  The first image is another bud waiting to bloom thats situated in pretty strong light:

Here's a close-up of a single pale yellow blossom.  You'll see it again in the last image of this post.

I almost always do a loop around the lake.  This time was no exception and at the far end, I found light streaming through a dense area of tall brush and trees. It was falling on a white flower.  Since sharp shadows and strong light seemed to be the theme of the day, I took a series of shots.  I don't know their name (of course) so I called them the "Rising Sun" flower.  You'll see why in the second image.  

My favorite of the three "Rising Sun" shots:

And another:

Here's a Lotus flower situated in sharp shadows:

And, I close with my favorite shot of the adventure.  It's the same blossom shown in the second image but zoomed out a bit. I think seeing more of the background makes a big difference.  Your choice between the two would be?

Thanks for looking and for letting me explain my little exploration of a photographing in an environment where the light consists of strong contrasts in brightness and the dark... a situation that challenges most camera equipment!

Bye for now,

Adam

This is Part II of Chasing the Light ... my very tiny adventure in looking for good light on the Lotus plants in Echo Park on a day when the Sun was out in full force.

Though it is unusual these days to see a black and white picture of a flower, I thought it worked in this case where a shaft of light was shining through the vegetation to land on this one blossom.  And, as you can see. the background of the three bulbs was quite dark.

For me, the black and white style gives some mystery to the image ... maybe a bit foreboding?

I liked the juxtaposition of the flowerless pod on the right and the blossoming lotus on the  left.  Again, the circles are light reflected off the water.  You often see this effect in movies and video. 

This image shouts simplicity ... a single bud in the corner of the frame.  Note that the only detail in the entire image is contained in about 1/3 of the  bud which itself takes up only 20  - 25% of the entire image.    

Oh, I like this image.  I hope you do, too!

Half of the petals of this Lotus are gone.  I should have framed the flower so that it was located on the left side of the frame.  Where it is located seems to create some tension.

Another shaft of light falling on the remains of a flower.  The white petals immediately draw your eye to the image.

I close with one of my two favorite shots from the shoot. There are only two items recognizable in the image but it is enough to immediately define the shot.  It is the Light that makes this image work.

I've got a few more images from the shoot that I'll share in the next post.  

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to look at the post.

Adam

I went back to Echo Park with my friend Mike to see how the Lotus Plants were doing and take some more pictures.  We timed it to arrive around 4:00 PM hoping for soft light.  But, it was still "hot" light ... not the soft, red, sunrise/sunset, kind of light I had hoped for.   This first Lotus picture was taken out in the open with that light.

So, I started looking for subjects that were hidden partially from the direct rays of the Sun.  Here's the backside of a Lotus leaf partially shaded by other surrounding plants:

The sun was behind me in the first two shots and I like shooting flowers where the plant is positioned directly between the camera and the Sun.  Its rays cause the flower's petals to become translucent.  It's an effect I like. So I started walking across to the other side of the lake to get the Sun in the position I wanted.  

On my little jaunt, I came across another photographer taking shots of a young, black woman.  She had really nice sharp facial features and the light coming off her dark skin and hair was fabulous ... I took a quick click.  I really like the result! What do you think?

I found a completely open flower lying on its side ... almost touching the surface of the water.  It's end would be soon.  Click!

This next image was out in the open.  I liked the arrangement of the open bud on the right and the three unopened buds on the left side.  Because the light was too bright and uninteresting, I underexposed the image by a significant amount.  

I call this shot the "Michelin Man" because of the circles on the left side of the image ... they look like a man and reminded me of the comic Michelin figure used in their tire ads. Those circles are caused by pinpoints of light reflected back into the lens. This image, too, was underexposed.  Detail was brought back in post processing using Photoshop.

This shot is  similar to the one above.  I like the juxtaposition of the open flower and the remains of an earlier flower, and the way light fell on the open flower.  It's one of my faves from the  shoot.

That's it for this entry!  Thank you for taking the time to look and comment.  

Bye for now,

Adam

P.S.  The detail in the flowers really shows up in a larger size ... I hoped you clicked on at least one of the images to see that.

Note: This particular post is easier to understand if you will click on the images to make them bigger to see more detail!

Is it a hit?  Is it a miss?  That's the central question serious photographers ask themselves when looking at images from a shoot.  It is a difficult question as there are instances when the answer is "maybe" ... and, instances when there is no right or wrong answer.  

When I first saw this closeup image appear on my monitor, I was excited at the detail and the soft, smooth background but I thought "My God I hope I've got a better image of this sequence"... I had clipped most of the two wings and positioned it at the very top of the frame.  Clearly the bird photo-police wouldn't be happy with this one! Still, there is something about the image that draws me to it.

My first-look wish came true... there was a technically better image... It had the same degree of detail, and much more of the bird ... including all of the right wing. I had lucked out and gotten a good, closeup shot of this difficult-to-photograph bird. What do you think? Do you like it better than the first?

I thought I did.  

But, as I stared at these two images over the next few days, I came to realize that the first image had some important characteristics missing in the second. I saw three things I really liked about the first image:

• It does not have the distracting (to me) second line of blue water at the bottom of the image which tends to pull my eye down away from the subject.
• Though, the entire wing is not shown, the very essence of the bird ... the feathers of that wing are shown nice detail on the underside of the right wing. Those feathers allow that bird to fly!
• And, most importantly, the birds neck and body have more extension ... conveying the intensity and importance of the moment.

Though others will likely have a different opinion, I judge the first image a hit.

Even after taking and looking at thousands of images, there are still times when it is difficult to decide what does and what doesn't work.

I'll close this post with an image I knew was a hit (for me) from the first moment I saw it on the camera's LCD screen. I like the pink tones in the clouds behind the bird; its fully outstretched wings; and body position. It is clearly one of my favorites from this season's images:

That's it for today.  Thanks, as always, for taking the time to look

Adam

I've nicknamed the Forester Tern photographed in the chase sequence "Buddy." Yes, I know its pure anthropomorphism, but it just seems to fit.  It's a cheeky little bird defending its territory. About a week after photographing the chase sequence in  the "It Works!" post, I was back at Bolsa Chica .  I was hoping Buddy would show up ... and sure enough  ...  while standing in the area where the chase sequence had taken place, Buddy came flying in for a momentary rest.  

I managed to pick up this four image landing sequence: 

#2:

#3

#4

Sorry,  I missed the actual touchdown!  I'm not very fluent in talking in Tern, but Buddy seemed happy to see me as he greeted with a very loud and long sequence of chatter!

Then he Terned tail and took off! He came back later and I managed to get this one image ... my best of the day, I think ... of another landing!

All in all, it was another interesting Tern of Events!  

Bye for now,

adam

P.S.  You can thank my friend Marc M. for all these terrible puns ... he started it!  :)|

The Echo Park area of Los Angeles has always been one of  my favorites.  In recent years, the area has experienced a renaissance as the concept of liviing in downtown has grown in popularity, and, as you can see from this first image, Echo Park is next door.

I always enjoy the short walk around the lake ... really, one of the reservoirs for the city's water supply.  And this time, I stopped to see if the Lotus plants were out. Only a few were in bloom ... most were still in the bud stage.  But, the Lilies were in full bloom.

Here's to Monet:

But, its the images of the Lotus plants in bloom that interest me most.  This portrait orientation of a plant just before it opens is my favorite of the day. I like the slight hues of red and blue at the very bottom of the image.  

Unlike a lot of plants, the leaves of the Lotus are much larger than the flowers... and they shouldn't be ignored!

A close up of a bud just before it opens ... in the background is the outline of a bud not as far along in the process.

In terms of numbers, red flowers seem to dominate over the pure white images. 

Well, that's it for this post.  Hopefully, I'll get to Echo Park this week to watch the progress as the buds begin opening!

Thanks for looking,

Adam

Modern day digital cameras are part mechanical, part optical, and part computer. As an example, my new camera has at least two computer processors tucked away inside. 

The computer part means today's cameras offer the ability to customize how they operate. On this camera, there are at least 80 menu items in its firmware and each of those items offers at least two choices to make.  Some of the main items ... the autofocus settings as an example, can really effect the cameras performance so setting it up the properly for your type of photography is a process that takes a little time, some patience, and a bunch of "picture taking."

Lately, I've been testing using Forester Terns as subjects ... they are small (about the size of a gull or pigeon) and extremely quick making for a real challenge.  Last week, the new camera and I (another important ingredient) finally started to achieve the performance I had hoped for.   The proof of which is the following sequence of 11 photos.  The images of two Forester Terns are shown in the exact sequence they were taken as one Tern confronted another.    

The Aggressor spotted the Interloper in this first image:

The next three images were captured as the Aggressor started down.  It was moving fast and squawking up a storm ... yelling at the Interloper ... as it went!

I managed to keep the Aggressor in my viewfinder for the first four images but lost it, and picked it up again in the next image as it caught up with the Interloper crossing the wooden bridge I was standing on.

The camera did amazingly well capturing and keeping focus of the two birds... the camera operator didn't do quite as well as he managed to clip the wing tip on these two images.

The birds climbed to gain altitude.  Again, I lost the initial climb but picked them up again in the next image  ... clipping one the top bird's wings ... again!

Finally in the next four images, the camera and I got it right!  

This is my favorite shot of the sequence!

In the last two images, the action drifted to the left of the frame.  I don't know if the birds flew there or, as is more likely, I moved the camera ... in any event they ended up over on the left.

Now, here's the big deal:  

According to the clock in the camera, all of the action in these 11 images took place in under 3 seconds of elapsed time!!!  

The camera performed admirably ... the camera operator, it seems,  needs a little work!   :)

Thank you for looking,

Adam

P.S.  Remember to click on an image to see a larger version of it!

This post continues with photos from the impromptu tour of downtown Los Angeles.  

The first image is the Bank of America tower.  Originally called the Security Pacific Plaza, it was built in 1992.  It's 55 stories tall and interestingly the four sides face due North, South, East, and West.  The Orange structure in front of the building is a large Calder sculpture.

Some properties do not allow photographs to be taken on their property using "professional" looking cameras!  It's ok to take a photo of the structure from the sidewalk ... its  public property or use a cell phone but lift one of those big cameras to your eye and you'll soon be politely asked to stop by a security guard. This is one of those buildings.

This image is of the North side of the Bonadventure Hotel.  It's 35 stories tall and consists of a round central core surrounded by 4 circular tower.  I watched it being built in 1976 from the 21st floor of the building on the right side of the image. 

This photo was taken from the lobby or ground floor of the central tower.  The lens is pointed upward at one of the external towers.  The glass "tube-like" structure on the right hand side is an elevator shaft that runs up through the glass ceiling of the lobby to the outside of the building:

One of the gems in LA is the library system which has 6 million volumes contained in is facilities.  The  tan concrete structure in this image was built in 1926.  It is the Central libarary.  A new Atrium wing was built in 1993.  It can not be seen in this image. 

The Atrium addition is 8 stories tall.  This image was taken on the middle level looking upwards to the top levels. It's quite different in architecture from the original building.

These red beams are the rafters of the Atrium holding the structure together and ...

Used to support threegiant unique chandeliers:

Another really cool building inside is the Biltmore Hotel. It was finished in 1923. It was, at the time, the largest hotel west of the Mississippi. Of course, it was the scene for many "Hollywood" events including some of the original Academy Awards shows.  Its also been the "location" for many movie scenes. During the 1990's, it underwent a major renovation. The image below is the front desk area of hotel.

Called the "Rendezvous Court", this was original lobby and front desk area of the hotel.  It was converted to this "cafe" area during the rennovation.

Next to the Rendezvous Court, facing the street is the hotel's barber shop.  As we walked by, this person was apparently getting a "Mohawk" haircut. He and the barber kindly agreed to allow me to take a photo!

The last image is the bank lobby of a very old building that was once the HQ for So. Cal. Edison before it moved to the San Gabriel Valley.  It's quite beautiful inside ... something not conveyed by the rather plain exterior of the building.  This is true many tines over ... the gems are in the inside!

The tour is over, but there's lots more to see in Downtown LA.  There are hidden gems like these tucked away from public view.  

Thanks, as always, for taking the time to look and comment!

Bye for now,

Adam

So I seem to be pulled to downtown Los Angeles lately.  In this first instance I was driving down the 10 Freeway on my way home when it came to a complete stop.  

In these situations, I almost always choose action vs sitting still so I exited the freeway intending to cross through the middle of town on the "surface" streets.  My route took me across one of the iconic old bridges crossing the Los Angeles river (Yes, yes, there is a river ... and yes, it is mostly concrete and mostly dry!).

My camera was lying on the seat next to me so I snapped this picture of Bunker Hill through the car window:

On the other side, I parked the car and walked back up the bridge.  I had spotted these cool street lights.  They don't make them like this anymore!

I walked a bit further up the bridge; took my life in my hands; crossed to the middle of the road to capture this shot.  It is visually very busy but I like the leading lines of the tracks and I was surprised at the colors.

I wandered around looking for a clean shot of the Bunker Hill buildings and managed (with a little help from Photoshop) to get this image:

A few days later, I'm driving down the same Freeway in a friend's new car.  He and Francine suggested an impromptu tour might be in order.  It was meant to be ... We found a rare parking spot.  Upon exiting the car, I saw this view of the tall buildings. It is unique because  we are standing below the  base of these structures:

The  next three shots feature various views of this building. In this one, I was highlighting the reflection of the taller building.

It's really a pretty simple structure, and that's what attracted me to this shot:

And here are the same two buildings shown in the first shot of this sequence but from a different angle.

My favorite image of the day, though, was this one.  It should fall down any moment now! Of course, the building sides are not at right angles to each other.

My impromptu tour will continue in the next blog entry with some images of the inside of a few very cool buildings.  As always, I appreciate the time you take to view these images.  

Thanks again,

Adam

Unlike most Angelenos, I'm comfortable and familiar with Downtown Los Angeles ... I worked there for 15 years and lived in a high-rise for two of those years. 

So, as I passed the center of town on my way home one Sunday, I suddenly decided to stop and visit old friends ... the weather was great; I was alone with time on my hands, and a camera in the back.   All of these shots were taken in a small area called Bunker Hill  ...  an area where the wealthiest and most influential lived during the late 1800's and early 1900's.  (You can see some very interesting old photos of Bunker Hill here:   https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/rediscovering-downtown-las-lost-neighborhood-of-bunker-hill)

The first three images are of the Walt Disney Concert Hall designed by architect Frank Gehry ... I watched its initial construction from the balcony of my high-rise apartment!

This image was taken from across the street from the main entrance:

I like this black and white image best of the ones I took that on this visit:

This is a new friend ... the Broad Museum of Art.  It's a brand new building located south of the Disney Hall on the same side of the street.  This view is of the corner where the side (right half of the image) meets the front of the building:

Another black and white.  This image is of the front of the Broad.  It may be my favorite of the shoot.

From across the street ... nothing says LA more than the three "roach" coaches lined up.  The first (Yellow banner) selling Hot Dogs. The second (Bool) selling Korean BBQ and Tacos! The third is selling Vegan Ice Cream ... only in Los Angeles!

These two buildings are part of the Wells Fargo complex.  The tower between the two is part of the Water Court complex located across the street.

Here's two towers (on the left) that comprise the "Water court."  

I love the light reflecting off the building on the bottom left:

The  Wells Fargo buildings are not rectangular.  I once had a desk on the 23rd floor at the very corner of the building looking west:

The reflections and angles from/and of these mammoth structures really intrigue me.  Add a little blue sky and some clouds ... Yippeee

It was a  short but enjoyable visit!  I hope you enjoyed it through the lens of my camera.

Adam

P.S.  Thanks for taking the time to look.

The first test of the D500 (Part 1) using the large flag as a subject was good ... The quality of the images was good, Colors good, Dynamic range good, and focus acquisition speed was excellent.  But, it was a big, bright subject ... and even though it was quite windy, most modern "focusing" systems would likely handle that blowing-in-the-wind flag.

My second test needed to be more demanding. But first, two easy shots:

I noticed the light shining through the leaves of my neighbor's Japanese Elm. Click! 

A day earlier, I had been on my way to a camera store to find an accessory for the camera.  I spotted a bunch  of Sunflowers growing on a plot of  ground next to a commercial lot on a busy street in Los Angeles.  The flowers were past their peak  ... and, of course, I had to include the Sun in the sunflower image.  Click!

Capturing small birds in flight is, without a doubt, the most challenging subject I photograph.  So, off I went to my favorite spot to shoot Forester Terns. This particular species is about the size of a Robin but with longer wings.  Their diet consists of tiny fish which they capture by plunge diving into the water. Their flight path is usually quite erratic.   And since they are so small, a long telephoto lens is needed in order to get an appropriate sized picture of them ... they would be just a dot in the frame using a small lens.  

But, a longer telephoto lens means it is much more difficult to pick up the bird in the viewfinder as the angle of view becomes narrower and narrower. There are some additional complicating factors so lets just say this is a most difficult test.

Here's a Tern hovering in place for a few seconds looking for fish in the water:

And another from a different angle:

And a close up of a Tern as it approaches a landing:

And my favorite ... one foot down as it completes its landing on a fence pole:

Today's digital camera is really a computer built around a lens so there are a lot of technical issues involved in all this ... and some human issues, too!  I made some good photos using the new camera, but I missed many too.  No doubt, more practice with this camera would have increased my "keeper" rate.   I really liked this camera but I decided that its big brother the D5 would do a better job for the kind of photographs I want to capture.  I returned the D500 and ordered the upgrade to the D5.

I'm awaiting its arrival.  :-)

Adam

Nikon just started delivering two new cameras.  I was lucky enough to receive one of the first shipments of the Nikon D500.  After setting it up, I wanted  to see how it performed. A non-camera addict might say "Wadda you mean, perform ... doesn't it take pictures?" 

The true camera addict, though, wants to know things like:

• Sharpness of the image; 
• The ability to handle a big range of light to dark (called dynamic range);
• Focus speed;
• Color biases;
• Ergonomics (how it feels ... are the buttons in the right place, etc.)
• How many pictures in a  second can it take?
• How good is the display on the back of the camera?
• The number of shots per battery charge;

My particular focus (ah, what a terrible pun) was centered around the new camera's speed in acquiring and keeping focus on the intended subject. This  is a critical issue when photographing things that move fast ... sports figures dashing about a playing field; planes flying overhead at high speeds; little tiny birds darting about in a seemingly random fashion; etc.  

I'm also very interested in the dynamic range of this new camera ... its ability of its digital sensors to see detail in a scene that has very dark and very bright areas. Our eyes can see detail in a scene with a range of light that is four times bigger than the best digital camera.  How would this camera do?

It was a very windy day and nearby is a large shopping complex flying a very large flag in its parking lot.  Aha, a big but erratic subject that would be a good subject to begin the process of understanding this new camera's capabilities.

And then, too, I'm always drawn to flags ... particularly Old Glory (the nickname given to the U.S.A. flag).  So here are my first test shots:

The camera did a good job of capturing the erratic motion of the wind  and I liked the detail and colors  of the images it took.  But, the flag provided too big a target to use to test the camera's autofocus capabilities.

More to Come!

Adam

Remember to click on an image to see more detail.

In the midst of the Garvan Gardens (see previous blog entry) stands a stunningly beautiful chapel.  It was designed by a well-known Arkansas architect named Maurice Jennings. The Anthony Chapel, as it is called, has been lauded as one of the best deigns of the 20th Century by the American Institute of Architects.

This first shot was taken from the front entrance to the chapel:

Opening the two big doors that mimic the building's shape reveals this interior:

The building holds 160 people and stands almost 6 stories tall.  I walked to the front of the structure and took this image of the area behind the "altar." The buidling truly brings the outside, inside!

And turning around yields this image looking front to back:

As you can see, the building is constructed of wood and glass.  I loved the detail of the wooden rafters holding up the roof:

And, of course, the play of light as it bounced around inside:

Outside the church was this tall structure.  It is, I believe, an electronic carillon.

And you can walk inside ... as I did, and turned around looking out:

This was a great little surprise as I was unaware of its existence.  It was, I  thought, very cool!  You can see a similar structure designed by this  architect in Eureka Springs, Ar.

As always, thanks for stopping  and spending a little time looking ....

Adam

A couple of weeks ago I spent a few Springtime days in Arkansas.  One of the highlights was spending a few hours in the Garvan botanical garden located in Hot Springs, Ar.  I forgot, living in Southern California where the weather is almost always the same, how great springtime is in the South ... the birds are busy; flowers and bushes blossoming; green leaves budding out on the trees; and, best of all, the clean, clear, fresh air!

We missed the peak of the Tulip bloom by just a little, but I did manage to get a few "worthy" shots.  In the foreground is a bed of white tulips and in the background a Dogwood tree in bloom:

While a bit late for the tulips, we hit the dogwood season just right!  I continued to explore putting the Sun in the wrong place ... I think it worked quite well in this shot ... possibly my favorite of the shoot.

But this closeup image of dogwood blossoms is also a contender for my favorite.  Which would you pick?

The Azaleas were out in full bloom.  I didn't know there were so many varieties ...

The play of light between the shadows and full sun kept attracting my attention:

As it also did with this Azalea bush.  There many other Azalea bushes with different colors, too!

I have no idea what this bush is ... but I liked the color and shape of the leaves:

Not a plant but just as colorful was the display of a lone peacock:

The last image is a single tulip in really great light.  It's another favorite.

These gardens are really beautiful and fun to see in different seasons.  I'd be a regular visitor if I lived in the area!  

The next blog will feature a chapel located on the grounds of the garden.  It has been rated as the second best location in the U.S. in which to get married. It's a very cool structure so don't miss it!

And, as always, thanks for taking your time to look at my indulgences ... by the way, they look better when enlarged by clicking on them.

Bye for now,

Adam

"One doesn't stop seeing. One doesn't stop framing. It  doens't turn off and turn on. It's on all the time." - Annie Leibovitx

I stared at this vase of tulips sitting on the dinning table too many times as I walked by.  Something tugged at me each time until finally I was moved to get out the camera and a close-up lens. It was irritating ... like an itch that I had to scratch.

A boring shot of the flowers sitting on the table recording the location of the series. To the left (not shown) is a window ... the sun shining through that window is the source of light for these shots.

The nice soft background for this image came from a planter box outside about 10 feet from the window:

An image of a little cluster with the same background:

A sliver of sun was streaming through that window against the white walls.  It was a perfect shape to use as a background for this single blossom:

How often have you looked up at the bottom of a tulip blossom?  Me, neither:

Then I moved in closer to the flowers:

And then again ... closer still ... 

And again, until I got to the tip of a single flower .... Mellow Yellow! 

Did you know that tulip blossoms have this kind of structure in the petals?  I didn't.

Thanks for letting me share with you, the "itch" I just had to scratch.

Adam

P.S.  Oh these images looks so much better when you enlarge them by clicking on one (assuming you are not using an itty bitty cell phone).

All of the images on this post were taken on the same day at the Bolsa Chica Reserve in Huntington Beach, CA.

The first image is of a group of Cormorants headed for a school of fish at sunrise.  I don't know if it was  a coincidence or if this is really four pairs of birds. 

A single morning dove in flight. I really liked how the sun hit the trailing edge of the primary wing feathers:

A Great Egret fishing from the shoreline.  Notice how that speck of white stands out?  This is another of the "simple" pictures I like to take.

Great Egrets can not swim but forage along the banks.  This one spotted a fish near the surface and flew out to try and snatch it with its long beak.  It is NOT standing but keeping itself aloft with those giant wings:

Success! With fish in its mouth, its headed back to Terra firma:

This is a cousin of the Great Egret ... the Snowy Egret. It is much smaller; has a black beak and yellow feet compared to the Great Egret's yellow beak and black feet.  Snowy Egrets are more common at this location.

My pilot friends will recognize this brown pelican "coasting" in ground effect ... a situation where a cushion of air is created under the wings of any flying object once it gets within a certain distance of the ground (or water).  It is like getting a free ride; requiring little energy to stay aloft.

The exact instant of touchdown:

This is an endangered bird ... once called a Clapper Rail, it has been renamed a "Ridgeway's Rail".  It is abut the size of a big chicken; it can fly but rarely does; preferring to hunt for its food in the Pickle Weed that grows in most tidal marshes.  And, again, I really liked the way the light fell on this particular bird.

It is all hanging out as this Brown Pelican maneuvers into position to start its dive.  I love the sense of motion in the image ... much of it comes from the trailing primary feathers standing up on the birds left wing:

Two backlit brown pelicans:

"Hey, what you looking at?"

I cropped this image into a square.  The object was this amazing wing.  And, did you notice the water droplets falling from the tip of the beak?

That's it for this post.  Thank you for stopping and taking the time to look!

'Bye for now.

Adam

This is the time of the year when the poppies in the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles are in bloom ... but not so much this year!  This season's bloom is the worst I have seen in the last 10 years.  In a few places (including my "secret" spot") there were small patches of  poppies in  bloom but nothing like previous years.

I managed to get a few interesting shots of single blooms but it required getting down in the weeds on my stomach ...

There's a host of small bugs roaming around in those weeds ... They thought I might be their ticket out to more "greener pastures" ... so to speak! 

I always look for a shot that's a little different than my previous ones.  Here's this years ... an earwig  on Mr. Toads Wild Ride as he hung on inside the blossom during a good gust of wind! He's crawling out in this shot.  If it were me, he'd be a little dizzy.  :)

Enjoy!

Adam

For me, sunrise with its orange and golden hues is a special time.  But, it's one of the most difficult times to photograph because of the contrast and extreme range of light ... the remnants of the dark of night mixed with the quickly changing bright, golden tones from the rising sun.  A situation with both "not enough light" and "too much light" almost simultaneously depending upon where you point the camera.  A moving subject makes it even more challenging, and birds on the hunt for fish like to move! The trick is to find a balance between two contrary actions: use a fast shutter speed to "stop" the action of the moving birds; and decrease the opening of the lens to prevent over-exposing the image.

In the first four images of this post, I'm pointing the camera in the direction of the sun.  The general color tones of the image are great and make for a dramatic image ... but the fine detail and coloring of the birds is lost.  The subject is said to be back-lit.

1.  Big bird setting up for a landing:

2.  Touchdown!

3.  Looking for fish swimming below the surface:

4.  The big splash as it hits the water:

5.  By way of comparison, this bird is on the other side of the structure I'm standing on ... the same nice soft red light but the camera is pointed away from the sun.  Now the detail of the bird is apparent but at the expense of the very dramatic colors from the sun.

6.  This last image is my favorite of all I took of the California Brown Pelicans this "season."  It is extreme ... the sun is so bright it's reflection has removed all color from the reflection in the water in the upper right hand side of the image; the birds have no detail yet you know what they are doing; and the colors are fabulous!

It's really a pain to get up and out of the house before the sun rises but, if you are lucky, you most often get a really nice reward watching the big light in the sky turn on!

Thank you for taking the time to look.

Adam

In November the California Brown Pelicans showed up at Bolsa Chica in numbers. As has been the routine in the last few years, they were late and did not stay long. This species is one of my favorites:

• The long beak and pouch give them a very comical look ... especially when looking directly at you.
• They have an amazing flying agility ... particularly given the long wing span ... about 7 feet
• The shape of their wings is very cool and is accentuated by its length
• Their dives from heights are amazing considering their size
• There is no vocalization between the birds (at least in the human frequency range) yet they often act in unison 

A juvenile flying away from me has spotted fish and is putting on the brakes to make a steep turn followed by a dive: 

Here's an adult making a similar maneuver:

Wings are fully extended and its headed down to the "big splash":

Just before hitting the water, the bird folds its wings back and opens its beak to make a big scoop:

Here's that comical look as this adult is pondering its next move:

Getting back into the air takes a bit of an effort... several hops with wings flapping and a final leap usually does the job:

As a student pilot, I quickly learned about  "Ground effect"  ... a natural effect in which any wing creates a cushion of air under it when the wings gets within a given distance to the ground (or water).  Birds, particularly Pelicans, use "ground effect" to float long distances while expending minimal energy:

Oh Boy!  Here's a impending dive lined up directly at me.  You can see the curve of those great wings:

After a morning's work, this bird was found sitting on a fence; resting. It's warily keeping an eye on me ... :

If you ever get the chance, take a moment to watch these big birds at work.  It's another of nature's little spectacles and pretty amazing to see in person!

Thanks for looking,

Adam 

Bad Water

Bad Water in Death Valley National Park is the lowest point in the United States at -279 feet below Sea Level.  Despite its name, it is mostly a salt flat running 5 miles in width and 7.5 miles in length.  

Given it physical status as the lowest point, it is natural to assume that water does accumulate here.  Most of it lies below the top layer of salt in the form of mud, but a small amount is visible on the surface as seen in this first image.

The Salt flats consist of a thin layer of salt and a thicker layer of mud underneath. My previous visits to Death Valley were not preceded by any significant rainfall, and the salt flats were quite dry.  You can see in the image below (taken on one of those previous visits) how the salt has contracted to form these odd geometric shapes.  

This past November saw a larger than normal rainfall (in fact they had some significant road damage).  The salt flats looked quite different ... the patterns in the previous image had been eliminated and a new layer of salt lay on the surface.  And, under that layer of salt was a very muddy base which stuck to my shoes when I broke through the crust. 

This black and white image was taken looking South and is my favorite of those taken at Bad Water this year.

Zabriskie Point

Another favorite spot to photograph is Zabriskie Point.  It is best shot in the early morning.  I've always arrived before sunrise to catch those first red rays as they hit any of the thin layer of clouds that are often there.

Zabriskie Point looks over the unique formation of "hills" you see in the next image.  No direct rays of sun are hitting the formations.  They're a glow from the pink light reflected back to earth from the clouds.  It is a very magical light.

Another view taken a little later.  The quality of the light has changed and with it, the scene.

This formation is called "The foot".  It is located "off-screen" just to the left in  the image above.  Ansel Adam's has taken a well-known image of it.

These formations are lit by the first direct rays of light giving them a different look.

I'll end this post with a sepia-toned, black and white version of the scene.  By the way, the flats you see between the two ranges of "hills" in the middle of the image is Bad Water!

I hope you enjoyed this brief look at two interesting, famous places to visit in Death Valley!

Adam

The Wedding Cake is the nickname given to the Museum Nazionale.  When you see it from afar, you instantly understand the derivation of the nickname as it looks like a giant version of one of those decorations found atop many wedding cakes.  It is located in the center of town at the intersection of several very busy streets:

The surrounding neighborhood is filled with antiquities such as this little "something" which in Rome receives virtually no attention ... not even a plaque:

Next to the Wedding Cake (on its right) is a flight of steep stairs leading up to a small church; a little plaza with museum, and some other odds and ends. I found the entrance to the museum particularly interesting:

Back at the bottom of the monument ... See the two, very large bronze statues at the very top of the structure?

One can visit the very top via an elevator on the back side.   That's where I took this black and white version of one of those bronzes:  

Another black and white view of the classic architecture of one of the sides:

The last three images in this post were taken on another day.  They were shot from the left side of the building and focused on some of the detail leading up to the structure.  It was late afternoon and I was shooting into the sun which created a set of high-contrast images:

This one (my favorite of the three) is a black and white image:

And, this last one is a high contrast color image like the first one of the set:

I close with this rather simple image of those beautiful pine trees for which Rome is so famous. It was taken at the same time as the three images above:

Thank you for taking the time to view the images.

Adam

Asian communities around the World are beginning the celebration of the Lunar New Year.  While visiting Orange County's "Little Saigon" this weekend, I managed to capture this image of a Buddhist Monk catching a wink or two!

My best wishes for a healthy and prosperous New Year ... with lots of great naps!  

Adam

It was early in the morning.  The streets were quiet; not yet filled with the hustle and bustle that was to come.  I'm walking towards the Vatican and spot an ice cream truck pulling into a parking place.  I liked the design on the truck and started to take a picture of it when the driver noticed me.  He got a big smile on his face and started posing (including sticking out his tongue).  It lasted only a few seconds but we both got a good laugh from it.  

Another reminder that Italians love having fun ... particularly the spontaneous kind!

Speaking of gelato, kids are the same the World over ... and who could resist taking this picture:

In Florence, the steps of the Cathedral seemed to be a spot to sit, watch and be seen ....

An Asian woman nicely put together ... well, as best I can judge being of the opposite sex.  :)

There's nothing like a woman wearing pink hair and a red ribbon for a scarf ... ?

Could be anywhere USA!

In Italy, restaurants put people out onto the street to "hustle" clients into their place.  This handsome dude, in Florence, was such a person.  And, the food was good, too!

In the Piazza Navonna (more on that in another post), performance artists of one sort or another were always around looking for support:

I saw this set  of doorways each time I left the hotel and could never resist ... I was compelled to take at least one picture each time.  On this occasion, an older man was moving through the frame.  By the way, the writing says  "The Ultimate Romantic." 

Here's the waiter in the restaurant next door.  We got to know him a bit during our stay, and were always rewarded with a "Bon Giorno" as we came and went.  He took his smoke break in front of the wall.  Click!

Just another pretty girl  ... 

and I totally didn't understand this particular uniform/outfit?  Is it religious?  Is she unique?  

I saw a surprising number of Muslims in Rome.  And did I mention it was hot there?  I can't imagine how this woman survived covered in black.

Could be an American couple in Rome ... but I don't think so.

Que Bella!

The most unusual of all my Rome photos!  

People watching is always fun ... particularly in a foreign country with a camera in hand.  I hope you agree.

Bye for now,

Adam

We left our hotel early one morning at "0-dark Thirty" for the High Speed Rail Terminal on the outskirts of Rome. (Note: This  isn't the old station located in the center of Rome). We were headed for Florence on the High speed, non-stop train. It's a distance of 144 miles.  About an hour and a half later, we stepped off the train in the center of Florence! The train moved at speeds well above 100 mph for the entire trip.  I recall seeing 155 mph on the speedometer in our coach car.

Really, except for a few Third World countries I've been in, the United States has one of the poorest transportation systems!  We can invest in a space program but not a program to move people and goods around efficiently.  What's wrong with this?  

Here's a view of the terminal we started from in Rome:

Florence is a city divided ... by the Arno river runing east and west.  This next image shows the eastern part of the city nestled up against the hills on the north side of the river.

From the image above, panning to the left gets this postcard view of Florence. The Cathedral is on the right side of the image; the Plazzo Vecchio in the center; and the Arno river running easterly on the left side.  That first bridge you see is the Ponte Vecchio.  It is a famous, centuries old, covered bridge with shops lining both sides.  I believe the shops were originally jewelry makers, but I'm not sure that is the case now.

Zooming in closer ... 

And, here we are looking one of the last bridges crossing the Arno in the city.

I converted that image to a "high key" black and white.  It looks like an old architectural drawing or maybe an illustration in an old book?

This is the Plazzo Vecchio, a fortified 13th century palace located at one end of the street that crosses the river at the Ponte Vecchio:

The Cathedral really dominates this part of town.  This is one view of the intricacies of the building's red dome at one end of the building

The walls are built with a really complex design.

At one corner of the Cathedral is this tall tower. The clouds were really cooperating that day!

I don't remember moving from my position above when I took this next image.  I just lowered my camera and turned to the left and captured this picture of the face (entrance) of the church while standing at the base of the tower.

Here's the view looking down the wall of the church while on the opposite side.  You can see more intricate detail of the church's wall.  I don't know what this "lesser" dome covers.

The next two images are my favorites from the day in Florence.  The first is another shot of the tower.  This time standing square to the structure. I converted it to a sepia tone to go with the next image as a pair.

When I started to process this last image in the "digital darkroom", I got quite a surprise... The sun was on the other side of the entrance of the church leaving it in the shadows.  I compensated a small amount for the shadows hoping to get some detail of the church's face.  Later, at home, I noticed a faint rim of light behind the church ... between the church and the sun.  It turned out that I captured a ring around the sun!  The Sun, like the Moon, also gets rings but since it is so much brighter, you can't normally see them.  They happen because of ice crystals forming high in the atmosphere and light shining through it causes the halo.  I'm told that airline pilots flying up around 30,000 feet over the Pacific occasionally see them.  In any event, I immediately set about emphasizing the effect and converted it to a sepia-toned black and white image.  I hope you like it ... a church sanctified by God with a halo!  It would make quite a story ... don't you think?  :)  

The city where the Renaissance started is chock full of history and art.  It's worth a visit of at least three or four days but, alas, not this time.  None the less, I enjoyed my brief visit and I hope you did too.

And, as always, please accept my appreciation for the time and effort you spent looking at this post.

Bye for now,

Adam

This is the second and last installment of the Street Art? posts of images from Rome.

One day I wondered around taking pictures of bars and coverings attached to windows and doors.  Forutnately, you won't get  to see those ... but I did photograph quite a few more graffiti/street art images.  The first is a black door with graffiti squeezed between the lines of the door, and around the  mailboxes attached to it.

More advertising posters pasted to a wall.  I love  "Da Real Thing" with the HI-POWA sound system ...  If you get my drift?

Here's another wall of posters.  It is curious that they are mostly written in English. What's up with that?

Real street art in the making:

Another from Florence.  The tower in the center is a caricature of one of the central structures in the city.  It looks like there are streets going in every direction and Tall buildings.  I have no idea what the two upside down keys mean. Any guesses? 

Here's an artist creating a painting with spray paint in the Piazza Novanna.  They are ethereal metallic looking paintings and I was impressed with the person's skill!  

More graffiti on a door but this time on the glass panes: 

Nope, this isn't art but I liked the the arrow sign hung atop the no-entry sign (a bit confusing to me); the great textured wall behind; the political poster; etc.  It's another one of those "I'm weird but I like it" shots ... maybe we should call them "IWBILI"  shots?  :)

It's clear that not everyone tolerates this form of self-expression.  One day while wondering around on my own, I found this team of volunteers attempting to eliminate the creators' tracks.

And supervisors acting as they do World-wide; standing around and watching?  :)

So that's it. Thanks for hanging in there and allowing me to show some of the good and the bad hanging on the walls of Rome.

Ciao,

Adam

It is an age old question ... What is art?  I certainly don't know.  In fact, I'm always taken aback when someone refers to my photography as art.  I do not think of my images as art.  

This post contains images I took on the streets of Italy that might or might not be art.  You get to choose.  I'm sure that many of you will brand them as graffiti, but they all had something in them that caused me to push the shutter button.

The first image ... Could it be more literal?  An image being drawn on the sidewalk. I saw several instances of this.

More typical were these kinds of images drawn on the doors ... roll up ones like this seemed to be preferred targets.

... though doors like this were not neglected.  This one seems like a kind of community bulletin board.  Is it ugly?  Does it offend your sensibilities?

This piece is  clearly making a statement about money, war, Christianity, and the fires of hell ... I think.

I think this could be thought of as graffiti.  It is a picture I took of a small "billboard" where many handbills had been pasted over time.  The image is one of my favorites from the trip.  You instantly know where it was taken and I love the colors and  lack of structure ... and, yes, I know I'm "weird"!

These next two images are more typical of "decorated" doors.

But this image is different.  At first, I smiled when I saw it but given the subsequent events in Paris and San Bernadino I wonder if its intent was much more malevolent forecast?

This set of stairs went from street level down to the banks of the river.  Art or not, a lot of work by many hands went into its creation.

I'm fairly certain this wouldn't be considered art but I couldn't help it ... the juxtaposition got to me!  I'm guessing someone came along and erased the restaurant's words and replaced them with the anti-war statement but left the last three words.  But, then again, maybe the writer really is against war and tourist menu's ... that would really be a very Italian point of view, and not outside the realm of possibilities.   :)

Art or not, I think these self-expression are interesting and perhaps is a clue to some of the views held by their creators.

Hey, don't forget to click on an image to see a larger version of it!

Bye for now,

Adam

Fun fact:  Did you know that Death Valley National Park is the largest in the Continental United States?  

On our last trip to Death Valley, we decided to photograph late afternoon scenes along a drive called Artist Palette.  It started out not looking like it was going to be very exciting.  But you never know, when fooling around with Mother Nature.

The first scene is looking South over the flat, barren, area called Bad Water. It is the lowest point in North America ... -282 feet below sea level.

In the late afternoon light, the white salt-crusted beds takes on a blue color as they recede into the shade.  FWIW, the blue color is the color of the sky being reflected.  I was intrigued with the straight lines and color of the scene.  It is not often that you get to see such well defined lines in nature.

The next scene was obtained by turning 90 degrees to the left (now looking eastery).  This ridge of mountains runs along those salt beds for many miles.

In the opposite direction (West) was part of the salt beds of the Badwater basin.  I switched to a telephoto and took this image:

It wasn't quite what I wanted ...  I was going for those strong horizontal blue lines so I cropped it to eliminate the distraction of the mountain range in the background.  This is one of my favorites.

We moved along the drive ending up at Artist Palette.  Here's the scene, and now you know how it got its name!

As the Sun set, a nice pink glow started to appear in the East over the palette.

Eventually turning into this ...

When photographing, always remember to turn around!  My favorite of the shoot came from another tourist standing on the ridge behind me watching the sunset. Looking at it gives me that feeling I often get when photographing these types  of scenes ... how insignificant we are in nature's scale of things.  

It was only about an hour long shoot but it yielded some pictures.  I hope you agree.

Thank you for taking the time  to look.

Adam

I went to St Peter's square twice on this trip ... never managed to get my act together early enough to get tickets to go inside.  

The square doesn't really seem like a square because of the two large colonnades that flank each side.  They define the geometry of the  "square." Each colonnades consists of four sets of marble columns.  Three of the sets are seen in this first photo.

And there are square pillars, too!

Between the colonnades is a very large open space.  Up front, near the church, is a large area dedicated to  seating.  The size of the space is difficult to judge, but look closely at the base of the church on the left side ... its just possible to make out a line of people:

In the center of the circle (as defined by the colonnades) is an obelisk standing 83 feet tall.  It was created around the time of Christ in Egypt and moved to Rome. In 1586,  it was installed in the Square.  Here's a shot of the top:

Equally spaced between the Obelisk and the colonnades are two fountains designed by Bernini and installed in 1675:

The fountains caught my attention ... maybe because they provided a little cooling spay brought by the breeze.  Have I mentioned it was hot in Rome?  Here's a closeup pic of the base of one:

The three steps leading up to the colonnades provided a place to sit, rest, and watch.  This is the blue team taking a break:

And, let's not ignore the white team:

The last two shots are my favorites.  I patiently waited for this man to walk down the colonnade and used him as a visual measure of its size:

I continued to explore shooting into the sun.  My most favorite image from St Petter's is this shot of one of the fountains.  At first glance you might  think its a black and white rendition.  No, this is the color version:  

Most public places are difficult to photograph, and St Peter's was no exception.  Keeping the crowds out of the shot and the backgrounds clean was a chore.  

I hope you enjoyed this brief glimpse into one of the most iconic places in Europe (if not the World).

Thank you for stopping by,

Adam

Window Shopping

Looking out or looking in?  You choose:

It is impossible to walk the streets of Italy without noticing the elegant and artful displays of products.  Design is an Italian hallmark and it shows in the windows and immaculate layout of the stores.

Italian leather goods are highly prized around the World.  Of course there are  purses ... :) ... really expensive ones:

Boots seemed to be in ...

The maker of the boot above ... they tout using only leather from Buffalo's:

I thought this display from one store was impressive and visually very cool:

The interior of a store at the high speed rail terminal in Rome:

As was this shop ...

Want a tie with dots?  (Boy, I don't miss that part of the "Dark Suit, White shirt, Tie, and Wing-tip uniform of the old IBM).

Scarves aplenty!

Belts, too:

Of course there are beaded necklaces ... what color would you like?

This purse is almost lost in the fabric of the chair.  I've never heard of the brand but that means nothing!  :)

As can be seen by the sunglass display spread out on the sidewalk, even the street vendors have an artistic bent:

And the hat thing is big over there, too!

Can you imagine this display in a GAP store in the USA?  I think not!

Rome is truly an exciting visual city and its merchants, big or small, understand and add to its ambiance!  

I hope you enjoyed window shopping with me as we wandered the streets of Rome.

Oh, by the way:  Happy New Year!

It isn't hard to find the Vatican when visiting Rome.  It seemed to be ever present on the skyline; visible from most locations.  And, being such a famous structure, it just seemed impossible to ignore. One rather annoying issue was the gigantic billboard situated to the right in the picture below.  

I worked hard to keep it out of view.  A few days later, in much better light, I learned the secret ....

And here is the view (from the middle of the street ... a life defying feat in Rome) on the main street leading into the Vatican:

And, a little closer:

One afternoon we found ourselves at the top of the "Castle".  The clouds came in and put on a nice light show for us:

The range of light was enormous ...  far more than any digital camera on the market today could handle.  So, the last three images (including the one above) are composites  ...  each is made from 7 different pictures taken within the same second and then combined in the computer to make one image.

Let there be light ...

Beside my normal  thanks for taking the time look, I wish good tidings and joy to each of you in this holiday season!

Adam

A couple of weeks ago, a friend asked me if I could put together a collection of images containing reflections.  I responded with "Sure, but I don't think I have very many.  I'll go look."

Well, I was wrong and the review became an interesting exercise ...

• There were far more images with reflections in them than I had imagined... I stopped collecting when I reached 37.
  • I forgot that many of the images of shore birds naturally have reflections as it is a part of the environment they live in.
• I have used reflections to project things that were not in the direct path of the lens.  "Upside Down" reflects what's coming up in the flight path.
• Reflections were a part of images that I hadn't thought about  ... my attempts at taking still life like the "Blue Bowl".
• They have been used to distort reality and thereby emphasizing it ... the Lotus reflections are an example of this.
• Mostly, though, reflections emphasized the story I was attempting to tell by adding dimensionality to the image as is the case with the "Lone Willet" shown above.

When I think about it, it is a bit odd that we go through life "not thinking" about the reflections we see. They are natural and our brain eliminates them from our thinking ... until we see them in a photo or painting.

I put those images in a gallery on my web site.  You can find it here: http://naturallightimages.zenfolio.com/p433445213

My favorites are:

• Number 1   ... "Upside Down"
• Number 6   ... "Serenity"
• Number 15 ... "Willets on an Islet"
• Number 24 ... "Blue Bowl"
• Number 26 ... "The Big Splash"  (It was the top amateur winner in an Audubon contest)
• Number 28 ... "Light as a Feather"
• Number 37 ...  "Lone Willet"

What are yours?

Again, you can find the gallery here http://naturallightimages.zenfolio.com/p433445213

As always, I appreciate you taking the time to look and comment!

Later,

Adam

There was a lot of street walking during the trip.  One day, I think I logged 7 miles on my iPhone Ap.   The slower pace of walking affords the photographer the opportunity to see things that he might otherwise not see in traveling some other way.  

Bicycles, motor scooters, and motorcycles are very popular in Rome.  The first picture is sort of a "setup" shot.  The Sunflowers had been purchased earlier at the open air market.  The bike was parked out side a shop that restored old furniture, and the person carrying the flowers put them on this bike.  

When I came out of the shop I spotted them  ... 

Walking home (to the hotel) one afternoon, spotted this scene on a little cross "street".  I liked the compostion ...

Walking from somewhere to somewhere.  This building looks a little like the Flat Iron building in NYC.  Click!

There's nothing special about this ... an ordinary street. There are hundreds like this in Rome.  But, there was nice soft light (impossible to resist) and a sky full of clouds ... 

This is the equivalent of our Supreme Court.

Horse statues on buildings are big ... this is a closeup atop the building above:

I stared at this light every time I went into the hallway in our hotel.  It finally got the better of me.  :)

A great old looking building.  Perhaps being renovated?  I wasn't sure.

Old Roman stuff is everywhere.  This was opposite the National Monument. 

This one isn't working but do you know what it is?  

It is a Water Faucet!  They are all over Rome and spout water continuously. If you put your finger over the end of the spout, the water gets diverted to a little hole in the spout's top making it much easier to drink from.  Here's an operating fountain:

The colors on this wall got to me.  Oh yeah ... Click goes the shutter!

This last image is a building newly restored Something made me take a picture of it. When I got home, I realized what it was.  Can you see it?

The windows on each floor of the building have different exterior "dressing!"  After seeing this, I went back and looked at other building I had shot. Apparently this must have been the style at one time as I spotted a number buildings with different exterior windows on each floor.

Who needs museums to visit when you have streets like this?   :-)  

Bye for now; See you in a few days!

Adam

The Images in this post look particularly good when enlarged ... don't forget to click on anyone of them!

Two weeks ago, I spent a couple of days in Death Valley.  It was the fifth time I've visited with camera in hand, and the photographic opportunities it presents continues to fascinate me.  

I particularly like being in the Sand Dunes at sunrise.  The sweeping lines and the ever changing light as the sun rises are amazing.  On this trip, we hit the jackpot ... the wind had been blowing fiercely the previous night.  As you will see, that means the human footprints from previous explorers will be gone.  It also means the sand patterns will be at their best.  And, as a bonus, the early bird has fewer people to deal with in the viewfinder.  And so it was!  We trudged about a mile out into the dunes before any rays of the sun hit them.  We were rewarded with this view:

The sand patterns were really cool ... even in the flat pre-sunrise light:

Slowly, the reflected light from the rising sun starts to fall on the dunes changing their color from the dark purples and blues; to tan; to the red end of the  color spectrum; and finally back to sand color.  It can be magical!   

I found a little ridge to shoot from and decided this was the place from which to shoot this sunrise.  

This is essentially the same shot as the one above but taken a few minutes earlier:

Finally, the rays started hitting the upper part of the dune.  I couldn't resist taking a selfie ... Adam-style ... thirty feet tall; wider at the bottom and narrower on top!  :-)

I turned around, now facing east toward the Sun, and spotted the first rays hitting this area below my feet.

I immediately recomposed and took my favorite picture of the morning  ... the Sun's rays breaking over the ridge line casting great shadows; helping to sharply define the sand patterns produced the previous night's wind.

At the base of the ridge in the photo above, you can just make out a "white" patch.  It is shown in the image below.  I'm not completely certain but I believe it is formed by water that has collected in that area and evaporated.  I captured this image with some of those Sun rays.  Do you like this one or the next image which is identical except I removed the rays?

Here is a close-up of the sand patterns taken after the Sun was in full display.

I close with this shot which is almost the same as the third image in this post except taken later in the shoot.  

It was a great morning in the dunes!  Much different than Rome ... I'll return back to it in the next post.  I hope you liked this little breather!

Bye for now,

Adam

For reasons unknown to me, visitors to Rome all want to go to the Spanish Steps and sit on them.  I don't understand the attraction.  But when in Rome ... 

And here's the view from the top looking down:

I thought the images were not very interesting so I decided to make a multiple exposure image of the scene:

The nuns in this next image were photographed at the outdoor market mentioned in the last post.  I really like the background. It clearly adds to the story being told!

I caught these two people having a conversation at an opening that allowed light and air into the stairwell of the Colosseum.  It seemed like a strange place to have a "talk." 

One of the things different from previous trips to Rome was the number of Asians now traveling to Europe.  These young women were photographed at the Spanish Stairs.

This young man walked by shortly after I took the picture of the Cardinal shown in previous Street Photography post.  I'm guessing he is not yet an ordained priest.

One evening, while waiting for dark to fall on the Colosseum, we had dinner at an outdoor restaurant.  I spotted this young woman, the subject of the next three images, having a meal at a nearby table.  I was taken by her classic expressive face and the very soft fading light.  

If I were king of the World, I would not allow people to wear white or bright colored shirts.  They seem to to be everywhere ... and particularly in my background!

And I close this post with the ever present "Selfie" pose...  As always, thanks for looking!  I have lots more pictures from Rome but lest you get bored, I think I will switch off to a completely different subject for the next post.

Bye for now,

Adam

When you are tired, hot, hungry, and your feet hurt, its time to take a break.  This trattoria was tucked away up a small "street" off the Pantheion's piazza and I liked the mood given off by the shadows, etc.:

There is nothing better than Italian coffee in the morning!  I stopped at a small cafe for this pick-me-up on my way to the Vatican.

Of course you can go for healthy ... I took this next image at an open air market near the center of Rome:

There are delicious fresh sandwiches... just stop at almost any bakery:

Some go for the ubiquitous Coke at mid-day ...

But I preferred a Compari and soda ... You know that old line "When in Rome, do what the Romans do"?  It seemed like a good idea:

The near-by table went with wine and water and an espresso .... 

There's pastry items everywhere.

My favorite window display of sweet items:

This basket of squash was being displayed at the open-air market.  So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm closing this post with it:

If you live in the U.S.A., Happy Thanksgiving holiday!

Bye for now,

Adam

Besides the Colosseum, the other structure in Rome that causes my jaw to drop every time I see it, is the Pantheon.  My first visit this trip was at night:

The Pantheon was built as a temple.  The word, itself, means "All Gods".  The current structure was built between 118 and 125 AD by Hadrian ontop of a previous temple built in 27 AD by Agrippa. In 609, it was converted to a Christian church. The Pantheon is currently fronted by a large square and surrounded by buildings on its flanks.

While it can't be seen from this perspective, the building is circular and fronted by a large portico held up by "Corinthian" columns. After almost two thousand years, the dome is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the World!  At its peak, in the middle of the dome is a hole with a diameter of 30 feet.  The hole has a fancy term  ... "oculus".  It  is 142 feet high. 

Here's a closer view of the top of the portico:

The next image was taken looking up and through the right side of the portico. You can see an apartment building on the other side.

Entrance to the building is through the large doors on the right edge of this next image:

On my second visit, I took this shot of a young lady sitting in front of one of the massive columns to provide a sense of the scale:

The sight looking out at the square through the portico columns.  Amazingly, the square was almost empty ... not a common sight:

Lets go inside!  Immediately, my eye was drawn to the massive ceiling of the dome:

This is the view from the other side:

Then I spotted the intricate lower half of the building:

Remember it is still used for religious ceremonies ... I saw several weddings.  

Here I spotted a bride and groom holding hands; walking down the side street.  Kinda weird by U.S. standards ... and don't you love the Mcdonald's sign in the background ... and the guy purple shirt with the accordion slung over his shoulder:

Back inside I saw a window of opportunity (yes, pun intended) and placed my camera on the floor and took a rapid succession of five shots (each with a different exposure) which I blended together to form this last image:

If for no other reason that the 30 foot hole in the ceiling, It's surely the coolest building in town!  But then, how many two thousand year old buildings have you seen still standing ... another reason for it being the coolest building. Really, though, it is an awesome building inside ... that's why I say its "way cool!"

Bye for now,

Adam

"Street Photography" is the term used for photographers capturing candid images of people on the street, most often without their permission.  For most people, including myself, it is a challenge as it isn't natural to run up to a stranger; stick a camera in their face; and go click!  I overcame a lot of my own anxieties about doing this during my trip  to Myanmar.  (You can see some of those images in my book "Portraits From Myanmar" at:  http://www.blurb.com/b/5481828-portraits-from-myanmar).  

I've developed a procedure that seems to work:  If I'm spotted by the subject before I take the picture, I will point to the camera and make a questioning "OK" gesture.  If spotted after taking the picture, I will walk over to the person and show him/her the image  on the LCD.  Most often I'm rewarded with a smile. Occasionally I get a frown and a "No" gesture which I honor, but more often I get a smile! 

I continued my practice in Rome and here's a few of my "people" pictures:

I asked to take this Vatican Policewoman's picture.  

The lady serving pizza at what has become my favorite place to get a slice in Rome.  Ummn ... hot, fresh, thin crust slices!

I waited patiently as this woman put on her helmet.  I just had to see how she was going to get on this bike wearing a reasonably tight straight dress and knee-length red coat!  I wasn't sure she could do it ... wrong again ... :)

Look Carefully!  She's holding a selfie stick in one hand and a Nikon DSLR in the other.  She  looked at me taking her picture and we both laughed! I've titled it "Sign of the Times."

This Cardinal wasn't very happy.  If those eyes could speak English, I might learn that I've been condemned to an after-life spent in a hot place!

The Server at our morning coffee break.  Those eyes (and note the eyebrows) are equally expressive as the Cardinal's!

Selfies were everywhere.  This one at the Spanish Stairs.  I thought her face was beautiful but the smile rather wistful.  I wonder what she was thinking.

I took this image 1/10th of second too late. She had turned slightly and had spotted me taking it. Per my procedure, I went over and showed her the image in the camera's LCD.  I was rewarded with a "Que Bello!" Even with my limited Italian, I knew it meant something like how pretty! That was nice.

There are several places in Rome where one can get above the street-level visual noise to get a good view of the city.  The first is from the top of a hill in a residential area that reminded me a bit of Bel Air in Los Angeles's West Side.  It is off this street:

At the top of the street is a church (what else) and the Grand Priory of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta ... wow, that's a mouthful. This organization is the equivalent of the Red Cross in the United States.  In any event, at this location, is a locked door with a "famous" keyhole (the old style key hole) through which the Dome at Saint Peter's can be seen.  

With a little bit of patience and a steady hand (the only photographic skill required), one can hold the camera flush with the keyhole and snap a picture.  The resulting image looks like this:

This was a "one and done" operation... there weren't any variations possible though I suppose with some time and if no one else wanted to look through the keyhole, one could setup a tripod and be more precise.  So, I started looking around and saw this woman writing with pen and paper:

Next I spotted these two locks of two couples proclaiming their love of one another.  One was inscribed 28 years ago. I can not help but wonder how they have fared over the 28 years since.  Are they alive? Did their relationship survive? There must be a story there ... 

Finished with the keyhole, we started walking down the hill.  The entrance to a little park was guarded by this fountain:

The real treasure, though, was the view from park.  I framed the Vatican with these fabulous pine trees (for which Rome is famous). The light was "flat" so I decided to give it some punch and emphasize the tree limbs and used a digital process called "Tone Mapping."  It is my favorite of this shoot.

Walking over to the wall yielded this view:

Later in the morning, we visited the giant Museum Nazionale aka "The Wedding Cake".  From the top, you get another nice overview of Rome as seen in these next two images.

And

Much later in the day (I think the same day), we did some night photography on the backside of the hill on which the Spanish stairs is built:

Night photography is like shooting through that keyhole... frame the picture; press the shutter button; and your done.  I added a little to the effort by shooting this without a tripod ... something never done before the modern technology built into the newer digital cameras. I started looking for some other "opportunities" and found this shot ... I call it "Night Shadows" and it features those great Roman Pine trees, again.

Another great day in one of the World's great cities.  I hope you enjoyed this person's view.

Bye for now,

Adam

On the outside, the church at the end of the square on our little walkabout was not much different than any of another half-dozen I visited while in Rome.  Inside, like most, it had a main, central aisle leading to the altar and two flanking aisles on the sides of the church.  And also, like most, it was stunningly beautiful and opulent.  This is a view looking towards the altar.

Looking up at the ceiling ... gilded with inlaid paintings of some sort.

An offset view of the altar:

Offerings to the Virgin Mary and Child:

Christ depicted on the Cross in one of the naves on the right side of the church.  I was attracted by the light streaming in through the Cupola.

Strangely, this next image is my favorite of this group.  It is the aisle running down the right side of the church.  I like the quality, color, and  tone of the light. At the end of this aisle is a place to kneel and pray and next it a small table ... 

On top of the table is this small wooden box with pieces of paper containing hand written notes.  I assume they are notes to God (or perhaps to one of his/her surrogates asking for intercession).  I saw a similar custom (written notes hanging in the wind) in Buddhist and Shinto Temples in Japan.  

All Christians believe that God is omni-present and omniscient... don't they?  Yet, as evidenced by this box, we still receive comfort by writing down and placing in it these scraps of paper describing our most personal, heart-felt feelings and desires.  Is it the act of writing or the presence of the physical piece of paper when finished that gives us solace? And, what will we do 100 years from now when paper will be used only as a rarity to mark ceremonies?  Will we populate a small box with memory sticks?

As impressive as the interior of the church is, the natural light shinning through this simple stained-glass window remains to me the most impressive of all!

Well, that's the end of the posts on our little outing.  The sights we saw are quite ordinary ... they are everywhere ... if you are in Rome!

Bye for now,

Adam

One morning after photographing the Pantheon, our group piled into a couple of taxis and headed to an area south of the Vatican.  Here we embarked on a little "walkabout" on a little street called Lungaretta.  Our  objective was a small Piazza called St Apollonia.  By the way, street signs in Rome are affixed to the side of the "building on the corner" as a placard.

We came upon a corner that had a brick wall surrounding a plot of land.  The wall had been painted in both directions for about 50 feet.  It looked like it had been an informal community project.  Here's an image of  a Roman face ... Caesar?

And this face painted at the corner of the two walls to give it some dimensionality.

There were big fish and horses with riders, too.

But my favorite was of these two horses painted on the two halves of a metal gate.  I think it is pretty cool!

On our way, we passed an apartment entrance with this gate proudly announcing the birth of a little boy!  It is something you would never see in Los Angeles .... we don't walk anywhere, and neighborhoods as a collection of people who know or know of each other don't exist.

After a little lesson on how drinking fountains in Rome work (more about that in another blog), we arrived at the square:

At one end is an old building wrapped to provide a false front while the scaffolding behind is being used  to renovate it.  These wraps are all over Rome, and are something I don't recall from my previous visits.  One thing it does is provide an opportunity to use the false front as a giant billboard! Here we have Apple advertising the camera in the iPhone 6.  On the ground floor, under the awnings, is a small cafe we will soon visit.

In the center of the square is the usual fountain spouting water out of some demon's mouth.

On the other side of the fountain was an unknown photographer looking towards the church at the other end of the square ... Note to Self:  perhaps  on the next outing I should consider changing my photography outfit to something a bit more chic?   :)

At the other end of the Piazza, in the corner, is an old medium sized church... you can see it below in this artist's watercolor painting. After taking some pictures of the inside of the church, I retired to a very cold Coca Cola under the awnings of the restaurant.  Have I said that it was very, very hot in Rome?  

We had a very cute, perky waitress ... and given nice filtered light and camera,  .... well, you know pictures were required:

Later, I went inside to show her the images on the camera's LCD when this other person jumped into the frame ... her boyfriend, a co-worker?  

Somewhere during our morning meanderings, I took this picture of Peppa and her friend. It seemed a fitting end to this post:

Now it was time for lunch and maybe a little nap before the afternoon shoot.  

I hope you found it interesting.

Bye for now,

Adam

P.S.  Don't forget to click on the images to see a larger version!

I'm certainly not an architect or engineer but it seems to me the Colosseum has been built as a series of arches atop one another; at ninety degrees from one another, etc.  It is like a series of Lego building blocks used to create archways to construct this impressive building.  

You can see in this next image how a series of beautiful arches form each level of the structure which are stacked atop one another to create the building:

Here is a closeup of an arch from inside showing its construction from "flat" bricks and mortar:

Can you count the number of arches in this shot?  

On the way back to the ground level, I spotted  this  "internal" arch constructed of granite blocks and seemingly without using mortar.  The holes were said to be created by polished granite facing that was at one point fixed to the structure.  It was removed after it fell into disuse. 

More detail showing an arch on one of the "bulwarks" that was filled in  with more bricks:

Arches, arches, arches.... 

Back on the ground floor looking at some of the structure holding up the floor above:

An example of arches formed at 90 degrees from one another:

Looking from inside through an arch at a nearby structure, itself created from arches:

A parting shot of the Colosseum showing the different layers of the structure, and ... some arches:

That's it for the tour of the Colosseum.  I hope you enjoyed. 

Thanks for taking the time to look.  Did you remember to click on any image to see them in a larger format?  They look best that way!

Bye for now,

Adam

As amazing as is the outer structure of the Colosseum, the inside views are even more so!

But first, some unfinished business from the last post ... one last image of the outside.  It is similar to the previous night image except it was taken on the street level.  The long exposures captured the lights from the buses as streaks of colors as they drove by.  The light streaks mimic the path of the painted yellow center line.  Here it is:

Entrance to the Colosseum is on the first floor; down a corridor, and then up a set of stairs which end on one of the levels.  (note: The next series of photos are arranged as if you took a walk around the level in a counterclock wise manner.)

Light is sneaking in under the clouds from the East (left) warming the colors of the red bricks, stunning me with this breathtaking view:

Walking a little way along the level, I took this close-up of the end of the upper structure in the photo above:

This section is along the end of the southern end of the oval.  If you look closely, you'll begin to notice all the arched doorways that are such a significant part of the Colosseum's design and construction, and for which the Roman's are so famous.

Now  the curve starts going back and the view is of the eastern part of the structure:

This is the end of what's still standing of the upper structure along the eastern side:

A close-up of that section.  Again, check out all the arches over the doorways ... and even some that have been filled in with bricks.

I changed to a wider angle lens at this point to take this next image to show almost all of the eastern side of the structure in one shot.  I'm standing almost at the spot where  I entered the interior.  It's one of my favorites. 

My most favorite, though, is this next image swhowing the eastern side as it begins to curve back to the North.  I converted the image to black and white and blended it back over the color version to get this "dark" version of the scene.  Perhaps a view you might have seen in 500 AD after one of the fires or after it was abandoned?  

That's it for today's post.  I'll spend a little time in the next one with some images of the details of the structure and then move on to some new parts of Rome,

Thanks for hanging in there with me.  I hope you are enjoying the trip, so far!

Bye for now,

Adam

P.S.  Did you remember to click on any of the images to see a larger view?  Really, they are best seen that way!

REMEMBER TO CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO SEE A MUCH LARGER VERSION!

My Mother was Italian and though I didn't have much opportunity to learn the language from her, I certainly got an introduction to the food, culture, and  people  (note: especially the food).  Over my adult years, I had the opportunity to visit the country a number of times including a recent two week trip to Rome.  It was my fourth time visiting the city.  Sound impressive?  Those previous three visits were over 25 years ago! 

A lot of things had changed  ...  Cell Phones didn't exist; cameras are now digital; all cell phones are cameras; everybody is taking picture or worse ... a selfie; there were more crowds; the weather seemed much warmer; Euros are in use now rather than Lira; and, of course, it is more expensive!  But, Rome is still one of the great cities of World.  It is visual feast for the eyes mixing the antiquities with amazing color palettes; churches with amazing interiors on every corner; Taxis, cars, motobikes, and scooters going every which way!  These are some of the things I hope to show you from the 6,500 images I brought home.

I've wrestled with what story to tell and where to start, and finally decided to begint where virtually every tourist starts ... at the Colosseum!  (The very first thing I had to do was learn how to spell the word.  It comes from the Latin word for colossal ... originally there was a giant statue outside the entrance.)

It was built 2,000 years ago from cement and stone.  It's size would still be considered impressive in today's World, and would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to construct.  It was most certainly one of the largest structures ever built at that time.

The first photo, taken atop the Monumento Nazionale (aka "The Wedding Cake")  shows the Colosseum tucked into the middle of the city.  Without a helicopter, its next to impossible to get an single shot of the entire structure ...  The road around it is now closed to all traffic except for taxis and  buses: 
 

Here's an exterior shot of the middle part of the Colosseum: 

The next image was taken on a different day; converted to black and white; and given a Sepia tone:

This image shows the very right side of the highest standing part of the Colosseum.  It can seen on the far right in the first image.

This was taken at night of the left side of the curve:  

Here is my favorite of the exterior shots I captured.  As usual, the light and haze in the air on the far left make it for me!

Another night shot.  It was taken at a very slow shutter speed so the streaks of light from the buses head and taillights would be caputred as lines of light showing the bus's path.

I hope you enjoyed this first post of the Colosseum.  The next will contain images of the interior of the building.

Bye for now,

Adam

A few weeks ago, a friend mentioned that her best friend had done a documentary on Cambodian children.  That struck a chord with me and I went back into the archives to look at some of my images from there.  Here's a few images of children that I took during the four or five days in Cambodia:

Coming home after a long, hot day of touring we spotted these kids playing "king of the Mountain" on a little island:

We stopped and quietly walked up and tired to capture some of the fun of these boys attempting to cool off from the heat of the day!

On another day, we came across a group of boys and girls playing "high jump" over a string held by two of the contestants.  They were quite intent on their efforts.  This young girls showed great form.  Notice the sandals in her hand ... protection for them when she landed?

Another group at another time, both girls and boys intently playing marbles in the dirt.   If you look carefully, you'll see that this girl had a mango resting on the back of her neck.  I think she was sent to the market and stopped for a little play! 

Not everything was fun...  this image of a little boy tugs at my heart strings.  The writing on the sleeve of his shirt says  "US Aid".

We were eating breakfast after visiting a temple in the area.  This little girl lying in a hammock with flowers in her hair was irresistible.  Click!

I don't remember the details of this girl but  I've always liked the questioning look.