A Day in Point Reyes National Seashore
March 7th, 2010 | Author: albert
Linda and I visited Point Reyes today. It was one of these weekends where weather forecasts first predicted 80% chance on rain, then 30% and the day turning out to be beautiful! The whole area is beautiful and scenic views vary from rolling green hills, Eucalypt groves, rugged coastline and sandy beaches with roaring surf. We’ll be returning here in April when the place is awash with spring flowers.
Today’s trip included a stop at the wreck of the Point Reyes, a fishing vessel run aground at Inverness on Tomales Bay. As you can see from the picture below, the tide was out. The light was pretty much perfect. While this shot is not an HDR, I did come back with several bracketed shots and an HDR will follow soon.
The next stop was Drakes Beach. We wanted to to go to the lighthouse, but on weekends the state closes off the road and one has to take a shuttle bus. As we did not have the time, we decided to check out some of the beaches and ended up at Drakes Beach.
Posted in 
Windmill at Kinderdijk
March 3rd, 2010 | Author: albert
Holland is famous for a number of things, but windmills are perhaps the most iconic of all. Used to pump water out of low lying land, windmills played a vital role in a country of which two fifths lies below sea level. The name “Nederland” literally means “low land”.
No wonder that water has been such an influential force in so many aspects of every day life. After all, this is the country with dykes everywhere and is a nation that plays a dominant role in many water-related sports such as speed skating and swimming.
Today, modern engineering takes care of keeping land dry, but the Dutch are immensely proud of their wind-powered water management legacy. Windmills are a nostalgic icon of those early days and are enthusiastically preserved whenever possible. Nowhere is this more evident that in a place called Kinderdijk, where no less than 17 windmills are clustered together and present just about the most classic view of Dutch country side one can imagine. Needless to say it is a popular tourist spot and a great place to go for a day of photography.
I am hoping to take Linda there in May when we will be in the Netherlands so here is a shot to “get in the mood”. This is one of those 17 windmills at Kinderdijk and is a 3-shot HDR. It was a rainy day (as you can see from the clouds), but I was lucky to get this shot with some great reflections during a break in the rain.
Valentine’s Day Sunset
February 17th, 2010 | Author: albert
Spent Valentine’s Day with Linda up at Lake Tahoe. We of course did what photographers like to do and sought out a romantic sunset 
This hot is taken from the Eastern shores of Lake Tahoe. Not quite as much color as we would have liked, but still nice.
Blended two shots here, one exposed for the sky, one for foreground. The long exposures also softened the water as it was quite choppy.
I loved these rocks in the foreground and took quite some shots, all with different compositions. I liked this a lot, but will post more in due course.
Another Fort Point HDR
February 10th, 2010 | Author: albert
You gotta love this place! I know do – probably because I love the HDR results one can get from shooting these brick walled corridors. I find the way that HDR can pull out the details just wonderful. Subjects like brick walls, cobblestone streets and wood grain textures just come alive when given the HDR treatment. Add to that the multiple exposures which lets you capture that wide dynamic range and not hard to conclude that HDR photography can be a real treat for indoor scenes.
So here is another HDR of Fort Point for your enjoyment. It looks like the place was deserted, it wasn’t. It’s all about patience, just waiting for people to pass and quickly make your shots. Sometimes I get lucky.
Master Brick Masonry of Fort Point
February 3rd, 2010 | Author: albert
The magnificent Fort Point is located right under the Golden Gate Bridge, on the South side. It was built to protect San Francisco harbor from Confederate and foreign attach during the and after the US Civil War.
While its many arched walkways are considered to be a great showcase for the art of master brick masonry, it is also great for some powerful photography.
Here is a great example of the “feel” of this place. I just LOVE these corridors that disappear into the distance, no distractions or decorations other than the brickwork, arches, faded colors and those wonderful lines. This is agreat place for a weekend visit (the place is only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday). There are superb views of the Golden Gate Bridge from the rooftop, which is easily accessible.
This is a 3-shot HDR, each shot is 2 stops apart.
Visiting the CIA
February 2nd, 2010 | Author: albert
The CIA, in this case, stands for Culinary Institute of America, which has a campus in Napa Valley (St Helena to be more precise). Linda and I visited there this last weekend and this place has some great opportunities for HDR photography.
This front view of the institute for example, shows up really well with the dramatic clouds above it. Gives it a bit of a spooky look.
Inside was great for HDR shots. The lobby (I assume that is what it is called) has this staircase that leads up and forms a great contrast with the brick walls, both in color as well as in look. The stone giving an old and majestic feel while the steel staircase is modern and utilitarian.
There were some renovations going on and they were putting up these really interesting wall designs, two contrasting colored wood panels. A great subject for some abstract shots.
Yosemite – In-between Seasons
December 19th, 2009 | Author: albert
Early December in Yosemite – color was well past it peak, but no snow yet. Clear skies, soft, even light, but cold. Those were the conditions we found in Yosemite. Disappointingly, Glacier Point road had been closed for the season, but we were determined to take advantage of all that Yosemite Valley could offer us.
The Cube Homes of Rotterdam
November 23rd, 2009 | Author: albert
These shots are of a series of 39 homes built in the Rotterdam area called the Blaak.
They are quite spectacular to look at and every time I see them I wonder what they look like inside. Each cube is a home and the interior is split into 3 sections. The lower section being the living space, the middle section the sleeping area and the top creates room for an office, family room or a spare bedroom. While I have never been inside them, I read they are quite comfortable to live in, although owning bulky furniture like a piano is somewhat out of the question.
The architect is Piet Blom and the creative spark behind the design was to build a series of homes where each home represented an abstract tree, the cluster of “trees” forming a forest. You can see this concept in the first image below.
I visited Rotterdam in 2008 with my brother in law (who lives in nearby Gouda) who needed an excuse to go out and shoot with his new Canon 40D. We both had a blast shooting these cubes and many shots ended up being quite abstract. The angles are just phenomenal and so much fun to look at.
I hope you enjoy these unusual buildings.
Old City Cemetery of Sacramento
November 22nd, 2009 | Author: albert
Visited the Old City Cemetery recently for a photoshoot.
The Sacramento City Cemetery was established in 1849 after a donation of 10 acres by Captain John Sutter (who was later buried there himself). The cemetery follows the Victorian Garden style, popular throughout the mid and late 1800’s. It is perhaps no wonder that this cemetery provides some wonderful photographic opportunities.
The gardens are maintained by volunteers and the 150 year old place is kept in immaculate shape. It has character, in so far a cemetery can have character. It is a place for reflection, remembering lost friends and family and sadness, yet it is beautiful and makes for a great place to go for a quiet walk, with or without camera.
The shot below was taken in November, towards the end of fall color, but the way the sun hit this tree caused every last bit of remaining color to blaze out in all its glory. Published here as an HDR.
A drive through Hope Valley
November 20th, 2009 | Author: albert
It was one of those Saturdays, nothing planned, not wanting to sit at home, kind of strange weather, not bad, but not particularly good either. What to do? So a friend and I decided to drive towards Lake Tahoe and see if there was anything worth shooting.
Rather than taking the freeway, we decided to go the back roads and took the Emigrant Mormon Trail and then Hwy 88 through Carson Pass and Hope Valley. The higher the elevation, the colder it got. At 8000 ft it was 37 degrees and this was only October!
In many ways it was kind of boring. Fall color was gone and no snow yet, that in between kind of day.
We spotted an area with interesting trees and rocks and decided, considering we’d come all this way anyway, to get out and shoot something, ANYTHING!
This is the result of that outing, kind of cool actually and I am quite happy with the results and it shows that there are photo opportunities hiding almost everywhere.
