The British Are Coming, The British Are Coming - Welcome "Smile and Wave Boys, Smile and Wave" to Ye Olde Blogroll

We have a new addition here, someone living on London no less, with an interesting story to tell. I tell you what, if this picture is any indication of what we can expect, this will prove to be a worthy BLOG to visit. Welcome a lovely young lady, Panthera and her "Smile and Wave Boys, Smile and Wave."

A Neat Piece of Photoshopping from My Bro

The "Old Fool" (aka Bro Mike) is playing with Photoshop... a lot. I really HATE to give him credit for anything let alone post something on my sacred blog, but this truly was rather good.

Here you see the raw photo and the finished product.

Carnival of Film - Day 9 - High in the Sierra

Took this up in Yosemite above the valley floor. This is not a great exposure and could stand some manipulation. However, I liked the low shutter speed effect.

Shot this with the trusty-rusty Minolta 700si using Quantaray 70-300mm and Kodak Porta film.

BTW - I don't think Portra is worth the greatly increased cost over something like Kodak Ultra Color for my purposes. Perhaps there are uses where Portra shines, but for me I am content with Ultra Color or HD.

Carnival of Film - Day 8 - A Bridge to Nowhere Over the Merced River

This spot on the Merced River below Yosemite brings out memories of my Dad who was an engineer. He would have loved this old suspension bridge. It now goes nowhere, probably an early Ted Stevens R-Alaska project :-) A lovely spot.

The light was bad when we went past this place with the setting sun being just on the other side of the bridge. I had to take some pretty tortured positions and exposures. But, I just did not want to leave there without something to remember it by.

Homey Don't Do Mountain Lions

I was quietly enjoying a sunset atop Toro mountain tonight, trying to capture color, texture, all the usual stuff. I was just finishing up when... I met one of these at an entirely too close range.

My dear partner, Anita, asked if I got any pictures.

Got any pictures?!!!!

Yeah right, I shot them over my shoulder as I was running for my life for the car.

Good God and sweet sonny Jesus, did I get any pictures?!

Well, it's kind of funny now that I am at home in front of my computer telling the story.

Truth be known, we did not have a lot of mountain lions hanging around St. Louis. Crack dealers we had, but no mountain lions. The risk of accidentally being shot was ever present, but being eaten alive was a risk we did not encounter with great regularity.

Next time I go up there, it's going to be me and the 44 in addition to the Minolta, Canon and Fuji.

Carnival of Film - Day 7 - Sunrise at Big Sur

The sun was just rising over the hills to the right of the frame. I liked what the light was doing in the mist.

Minolta 700si, Quantaray 70-300mm w/ polarizer, Kodak HD 200

Snaps in Monterey, California.

I'm at a conference in this lovely town just ten miles down the road from where I live.

Monterey was the colonial capitol of Alta California and brims with history. Many homes from the colonial period still exist as do a number of the government buildings.

Just a great place to visit.

Carnival of Film - Day 6 - Sunrise on El Toro

I have a thing for sunrises. In this case I went up on the backside of our local mountain,Toro, to take advantage of the interesting light and color. I wish I had a polarizer, which I have since ordered.

Canon A1, Tokina 70-210mm, Kodak Ultra Color

What the Heck is This?

I have no idea, but it was growing on a tree on Monterey.

(Yes, I used the digital, I was at a lawyer conference and was not carrying my usual stuff.)

Carnival of Film - Day 5 - Pigeon Point, California

Here is my brother, Mike (aka The Old Fool) at the overlook at Pigeon Point Light Station near Pescadero. This stretch of the coast is famous for its enormous surf and is the home of the Mavericks surfing competition in the winter. That event is truly for the suicidals among the surfers, forty foot waves not being uncommon.

Minolta 700si with Quantary 70-300mm Kodak HD.

Carnival of Film - Day 4 - Winery, Monterey County, California

Now, that is what I call a setting.

I am enjoying this emphasis on film photography... while I can. Lord only knows how much longer this type of processing is going to be commonly available. Fortunately I have a very good local lab.

Canon A1, 55 mm macro, Kodak Ultra Color ISO 400.

Carnival of Film - Day 3 - A Lily

These guys are in abundance in these parts. This one is in the parking lot at our office. They also grow wild all along the Big Sur coast.

Shot this with the Canon A1 with a 55mm macro.

Carnival of Film - Day 2 - Salinas, California

Some detail shots of our humble little berg.

Carnival of Film - Day 1 - San Benancio Road - Monterey County, California

I am posting the first of what should be several days of images done on film. I have come to believe that the color is more true and interesting on film than it is in digital. Digital simply appears to be over-saturated. I realize Mr. Photoshop can fix that, but I just prefer the look of film.

Update: after looking at the first image, I realized I needed a polarizer fror my Tokina 70-210mm to give the sky some pop. That is a 77mm polarizer... there goes my lunch money.

I Fixed It!

Blogger still has me, for the moment. The problem was in one of the Homer images (what else?).

Well... dough-nuts!

Now What?

All my side-bar stuff; profile, blogroll etc has moved to the bottom of the screen. I'm afraid to go into the template and risk loosing all the stuff I have added over the last year. Maybe i should just go to bed and it will heal itself... yeah, right.

Oh, Oh...

This afternoon, after dropping the film of for processing and scanning, something occurred to me, did I remember to change the film speed setting when I reloaded the Canon? It's an older camera, and you have to do that manually. I'm pretty sure I did not.

Doh!

Bella The Attack Kitty

My pal Tarty over at IlluminasJon has been on a kitty riff here for a few days, so I thought I would make a small contribution to the genre.

Meet Bella the Attack Kitty, my little hairball. She is about 4 1/2 lbs of attitude. She loves to sleep on my chest, when not otherwise occupied ruling the world, and makes me smile a lot.

Baby Goes for a Shoot...

I swear, this thing must be female.

You don't just go out and shoot and come home. You practically need a porter to get all her stuff out in the field, and it isn't light in weight. But once you get there, if you have given her everything and all the time she "needs," woo-hoo, boy, is she fun!

One Digital from Today

I thought it was kind of pretty...

Back for Film Safari - The Film Cameras

I use a Canon A-1 and Minolta 700 si with a pretty wide variety of lenses.

The lense on the Canon in the pic is a Tokina 70-200 mm f 4.5 (constant). This is a very serious piece of glass and delivers some remarkable results when the photographer doesn't screw up. The Canon is now used for almost all my tripod shooting. It is precise in the extreme, but not quick to use.

The Minolta 700 si is the best of the fully autos. It will be the foundation for when and if i make the jump to digital SLR as I have a lot of glass and it all fits the Maxxum 5d. I use this camera now mostly for hand-helds as it is very quick.

I love film. It has a more etheral quality than digital. It also is extremely demanding. However, it lacks that immediate gratification of digital, not to mention knowledge of the results in a timely fashion so that corrections can be made.

Pajama Library Joins Ye Olde Blog Roll

I'm on the way out the door to shoot film at yesterday's site, but wanted to add this blog to the roll of honor.

A dandy blog from Colorado with good writing and photography. Another woman... hmmm. Come on guys, there's got to be more of us out there :)

Anyway, drop by her blog here, well worth the time.

Talk about a Clear Sky!

Another shot from ye old digital this morning on my scouting trip. Handheld, I shot the pic on a whim. Not bad for no steady cam etc, only 4 megapixels and cropped.

Polarizer... YOWZER!

Man, is that sky BLUE!

Marketing Maven I Ain't! :P

Site meter... Good thing I don't much care about such things!

It's All About Light

Got up before sunrise and headed up into the local hills to catch some light and color and to find a location to do some serious shooting. I use the digital on these scouting missions. I'll take the film cameras back up there tomorrow.

Two Years AgoToday The Rest of My Life Started

Welllllllll, life is full of surprises, some of them even result in good things.

As Lincoln famously quotes the fellow who was ridden out of town on a rail, "If it weren't for the honor of the thing, I would just as soon have walked."

On June 16th, 2004 I and many of my fellow workers were laid off from our jobs. If you have ever lost a job, you know how that feels. Terrifying comes to mind. Then comes anger, yada, yada. Then comes loading the truck and getting out of Dodge.

At my tender age (?), I was not about to waste any more time. This time I was going to go and do what brought me some measure of happiness. And while the results of that decision have been less than perfect, I have not regretted for a moment making it.

My goodness, that is one heck of a long drive.

And so the adventure began.

Grandpa's Shameless Bragging

This my latest of the apple of my eye, Ava Lee Wilson. She is not only beautiful, she is brilliant, just ask me.

San Carlos / Carmel Mission

Carmel is the gem of the Spanish Mission system in California. It is beautifully restored. Father Serra, who spearheaded the colonization of Alta California is buried here.

The seat of colonial sectarian power was at the nearby capitol of Monterey. It is not surprising the religious and governmental centers were located with a few miles of one another.

Humble Photog at the Golden Gate / Wazup with Blogger this Weekend

Well, blogger has been mis-behaving this weekend. No posts as pictures would not upload. I'm just fiddling with this darn thing at 9:30 PST Sunday, and it seems to have taken this pic. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Anyway, this is the Civil War era fort under the Golden Gate on the south side of The Gate at The Presidio. It is really a neat place to visit My son and I wandered around here for a couple hours.

Big Sur - A Little Something Different - Nepenthe

Nepenthe is a well known restaurant just south of Big Sur. It is perched on the cliffs above the ocean and has some spectacular views. It has a rather eclectic (well, not for Big Sur) gift shop on the lower level.

Amazing Grace or Something Very Much Like It - A Wee Video

I reworked the video of the Pacific Grove sunset which can be found here. I decided "Amazing Grace" said it for me for reason I won't bore folks with. Suffice it to say, it spoke to my heart.