Guitarist on Market Street

Never mind the fog--it's really summer when you find free concerts at noon in downtown San Francisco. A guitarist from the Larry Walker Band rocks out to the great joy of passers-by. He "pops" out of the background because of the Bokeh qualities of the 18-200mm telephoto lens. I also like how the white hat and white piece on the guitar appear to be pointing at each other, drawing the eye into the composition.

When Bad Lenses Go Good

Some users have faulted the Nikon 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED IF AF-S DX VR lens for softness. I think they must have been thinking about the amount of bokeh (blur in out-of-focus areas of an image)in the lens. Well, that's what I like best about this lens. The flowers are tack-sharp and the background is so blurred it takes on a painterly effect. I'm crazy about this lens. I wouldn't use it for every image, of course. But when I want a lot of bokeh, this is my go-to lens for sure.

The Camera in the Window

This is a test shot from my new Nikon D5000. What a sweet little camera! Nice subject--a classic Kodak embedded in a stained glass window at 4th Street Studios in San Francisco.

Slam Dunk in SOMA Garage

So I'm poking around inside this cool brick building on Townsend Street, formerly the mighty California Electric Station, now a parking garage. As I was leaving the light fell just perfectly on the basketball hoop suspended over a row of cars. Fabulous composition and light!

Moonrise in the Park

Getting a shot of the moon rising/setting over the California Academy of Science has become a minor obsession of mine. Four conditions must be ideal to the the shots I have in mind: time of day, season of the year, trajectory of the moon and the weather. Amazing how few times a year they all combine to get that perfect shot. I like this one but it's not the shot I'm dreaming of.

Beautiful Surprise

While downloading new files from the Nikon this morning I found this ravishing image shot December 6th I had totally forgotten. Don't know even where it was shot. What a pleasant surprise.

Circles & Staples

A telephone pole on Zoe Street in SOMA, San Francisco.

Peeling Wall

An aging door in South Park is beautiful up close.

Blue-Blooded Fire Hydrant

San Francisco fire hydrants are color-coded by where their water comes from. A water tank atop Nob Hill is the source for blue hydrants, according to Barnard Winn's "San Francisco Underfoot."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/30/BAVB1AO2PJ.DTL

Graffiti - is it art?

Not a big fan of graffiti, actually, but I like the hypnotic quality of this close-up view.

Solitary Splendor

Magic hour in San Francisco. I'm shooting from a 12th floor SOMA penthouse, looking down at the semi-industrial part of town. Amidst the graffiti d warehouses, storage units & anonymous high-rise buildings St. Joseph's Cathedral glows like a beacon. But at ground level, St. Joseph's is empty and abandoned. Surrounded by a chain-link fence with ferocious No Trespassing warnings. Broken windows. The exact opposite of the original glory you see from the sky.

Inspired by the movie 2012

A very mysterious and futuristic image--calling to mind the arks in the movie 2012. Can you guess where it was taken?

Abstract Art in Real Life

This is a wall in the latrine at Headlands Center for the Arts in the Marin Headlands. The art center is housed in former US Army barracks. This wall has aged wonderfully. Put it in a frame & you'd swear it was a work of art.

Little Red House on the Mountain

I spent the first weekend in April on a mountain top in Utah. It snowed for 24 hours straight and when it stopped snowing, Oh. My. what a beautiful world. This shot was taken just before dawn. The sun is illuminating the sky in the west, but hasn't hit ground level yet. Notice how the trees lead up to and embrace the little red "house," in a very satisfying composition.

Aspens 1

Adobe's Lightroom is the most amazing tool. I used its "cold tone" preset as a starting point to make this image look as wintery as possible. By contrast, the next picture has no manipulation at all. The file is pretty much just how it came out of the camera.

Aspens 2

This is how the aspen grove looked in real life.

Winter Scene 1

Another "cold tone" treatment. I love how the tops of the trees pop against the shadowed hillside behind them.

Winter Scene 2

This is the scene as it actually looked. It's beautiful, but it doesn't evoke winter as strongly as the toned picture. In fact, to my eye, the toned picture almost looks more realistic!

Sunshine and Shadows

The valley floor is bathed in late afternoon sunlight. Rapidly moving clouds shroud the mountains. A red tractor casts a long shadow in the pasture. Springtime in Cache Valley, Utah.

Primary Colors

No, this picture was not staged! It's exactly what I saw--a yellow bike with red tires parked in front of a blue building in late afternoon light. This is exactly why you should never go anywhere without your camera. You can never predict when a picture like this will appear and be your only chance to capture it. I've never seen that bicycle again.