Posted in Flowers, Places on May 31st, 2006 No Comments »
The Huntington Rose Garden, Pasadena, California. The Huntington Rose Garden is one of the largest and oldest collections of rare rose varieties in the world and I found the roses, while fragrant, uninteresting. There were photographers everywhere and maybe that’s why I just wasn’t interested. I did, however, find some lilies on a walkway beside [...]
Posted in Flowers, Places on May 31st, 2006 2 Comments »
The Huntington Desert Garden, Pasadena, California. This succulent had wonderful leaves that looked like a cross between regular tree leaves and palm fronds because as the plant grew taller the bottom ones broke off. I wonder if palm trees and succulents share a common ancestor? And, I wonder where these plants originally developed. Mrs. Huntington [...]
Posted in Tech Stuff, Video on May 29th, 2006 No Comments »
Amazing R/C airplane demo. Gad, incredible. (Via kottke.org.)
Posted in Flowers, Places on May 29th, 2006 2 Comments »
Pasadena, California. The Huntington Desert Garden (informally known as the “cactus garden”), is one of the largest and oldest collections of cacti and succulents in the world. This place is the garden equivalent of the bar scene in Star Wars. There is so much interesting visual detail in each plant that just picking a spot, [...]
Posted in Architecture, Art and Design on May 27th, 2006 4 Comments »
I love the architectural details of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and each time I return I find new things to photograph in almost exactly the same places I’ve been numerous times before. Richard Meier, the Getty’s architect, has a great feel for light, texture, space, and all of this combined with human usability. [...]
Posted in People on May 27th, 2006 2 Comments »
Yesterday we heard that the Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa invited Vicente Fox and his wife Marta to a party at the Getty (Fox is the President of Mexico). We told the Mayor it was my mother’s birthday and that we did not want to be disturbed but they took over part of the [...]
Posted in My mother, People, Places on May 27th, 2006 6 Comments »
My mother turned 91 yesterday (the reason I flew out to LA) and we celebrated with dinner at the Getty Museum with two of her cousins (also getting on in years). She held court at the table, talking a bit too loudly (she’s losing her hearing) about politics, immigration, the old days, her computer not [...]
Posted in Animals, Places on May 26th, 2006 No Comments »
I was wandering around UCLA taking pictures of flowers and there was a ruckus in the pine tree next to where I was set up. Two squirrels were having a territorial dispute, or, a lover’s quarrel and were racing around the tree, making a lot of noise and dropping tree detritus on my head. As [...]
Posted in Social Software on May 26th, 2006 12 Comments »
A few days ago I flew to California and as usual, I took some pictures out the plane window. I like taking these pictures as anyone who’s followed this weblog will attest to and some of them turn out pretty well: the subject matter is interesting and the photograph, even though taken through a plane [...]
Posted in Aerial Photography, Places on May 25th, 2006 No Comments »
Above New Mexico. The color of seemingly arid desert is breathtaking. At this altitude all you have to do is keep the window shade open as well as your eyes and you can see an “art” show like no other.
Posted in Aerial Photography on May 25th, 2006 No Comments »
Above San Bernardino, California. This agricultural “strip” valley seems to sit between two large stretches of desert. Without the river on the western side of the valley I doubt these fields could exist. Rivers have influenced much of the settlement and development of the world, this is just a micro example of it.
Posted in Aerial Photography on May 25th, 2006 No Comments »
Above San Bernardino, California. On initial approach into LAX we banked hard over a housing development. Each of the grid squares looks like a self-contained neighborhood and each neighborhood has similar street patterns. One can even see the future street patterns mapped out on the developments just being laid out. I realize this is common [...]
Posted in Aerial Photography on May 25th, 2006 7 Comments »
These fields seem to be slowly eroding away into barren wasteland. At 30,000 feet one can more easily see geographic transitions like this and it’s one of the reasons I find flying so enjoyable. Note: there was ice on the window and you can see it in the bottom of the image. Also, I bumped [...]
Posted in Aerial Photography on May 24th, 2006 2 Comments »
The scars from the movement of water are probably not apparent on the ground but from 30,000 feet they stand out readily. Larger arteries divide up into smaller branches and empty into one, large wash in the middle. The word wash seems appropriate given that water was involved and is involved in the watercolor painting [...]
Posted in Photo Resources on May 23rd, 2006 No Comments »
Popular Photography has a useful article: 20 Tips To Boost Your Photo IQ. Even if the first part of it looks a bit simple, scan through it; there are tips here for even experienced photographers and photo printers. Source: Steve Splonskowski
Posted in Photo Printing on May 22nd, 2006 2 Comments »
Red River Paper has a review of the new Canon Prograf iPF5000 which is a high-end, pigment ink photo printer. It’s big, heavy, expensive and it looks like a winner. This printer is Canon’s entry to compete with the Epson 4800.
Posted in Photo Gear on May 21st, 2006 No Comments »
If you have any tripod ballhead with an Arca-style quick release clamp (Arca-Swiss, Markins, Acratech, Really Right Stuff, Kirk, and others) there are various quick release plates you can attach to your camera to secure it to the clamp on the head. Markins makes what looks to be one of the better plates; it’s small, [...]
Posted in Macintosh on May 21st, 2006 2 Comments »
Apple has a support article on How to clean your Mighty Mouse. If the scroll ball skips around or gets jammed, dampen a clean, lint-free cloth and hold the mouse upside down and roll the ball around on the damp cloth. Works like a charm to restore smooth tracking. By the way, once you use [...]
Posted in Birds, Our Place on May 20th, 2006 2 Comments »
A pair of turkeys started grazing on bird seed under our bird feeders and all of the cowbirds scattered to the trees. This one was right next to my office window so I was able to shoot him at relatively close range through the glass. He’s patiently waiting for the turkeys to clear out so [...]
Posted in Our Place, Trees on May 20th, 2006 2 Comments »
The outer wrapper or peel on a shagbark hickory leaf bud folds back like a banana peel. (image heavily cropped.)
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