Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Storage Shed at the Standard Mill, Bodie State Historic Park

Storage shed at the Standard Mill, Bodie, CAThe Standard Mill in Bodie State Historic Park, CA, used to process the silver and gold ore from the Standard Mine. Although still mostly intact, this area is closed off to visitors of the park as being "hazardous".

See The Storage Shed in the Bodie slide show gallery

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Bodie HDR Interpretation

HDR Photo of Bodie State Historic Park CA HDR (high dynamic range) imaging is a fun thing to play around with. You are meant to start with a set of photos of the same shot taken at different exposures, but I find that I get nice effects as in the photo to the left by just taking one photo, using Photoshop RAW processor to create two new copies of the image with a -2 and a +2 exposure value, and then using them and the original image as a set of three to process as an HDR image. You have to use software such as Photoshop or other software programs available for sale to combine the images into one. The highlights of the image are formed using the highlights in the underexposed image, the shadows are formed using the shadows in the overexposed image, and then blended with the correctly exposed image. The outcome is greater detail across the entire dynamic range: shadows, through midtones, to highlights.

In this photo the distant mountains and clouds give a great effect, almost like "sumi-e" or ink drawings.

This and other photos of Bodie can be viewed in the Bodie slideshow gallery or the static html Bodie gallery.

Update: Michael Ziegler who keeps an eye on my photoblog posts, added a comment below asking if I could post the original photo which I thought was a great idea, so here it is:

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Sister Lupita

Sister of Perpetual Indulgence In name, dress, and antics, the "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence" are the personification of "theatrical camp". But it's serious business: Wikipedia states that the San Francisco order has raised and distributed over $1million to charities over the years. The first nuns of the order stepped out into public on the streets of San Francisco on Easter Sunday 1979.

According to the website for the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Sisters' mission statement states:

The Sisters devote [themselves] to community service, ministry and outreach to those on the edges, and to promoting human rights, respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment. The Sisters believe all people have a right to express their unique joy and beauty and use humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency and guilt that chain the human spirit. The Sisters' state vows to promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt while serving their respective communities.
My photo of the sister above was taken at this year's gay pride parade in Long Beach this past Sunday. See this Sister of Perpetual Indulgence in my People and Portraits gallery. And go here for a collection of photos from the 2008 Gay Pride Parade and festival in Long Beach.

P.S. Sr. Iona kindly shared below the identiy of this sister after my original post. The kind sister in this photo is Sr. Lupita from the L.A. Sisters of Pepetutal Indulgence.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Methodist Church Bodie Ghost Town

Photo of old Shell Oil gas pumps in Bodie Ghost TownThe old Methodist church in Bodie is the only remaining church in the ghost town. It was built in 1882. The church was restored by E.J Clinton of San Francisco who held the final service here in 1932.

Since then the interior of the church has been badly vandalized, and the Ten Commandments painted on oilcloth which used to hang behind the pulpit has been stolen. So much for the 8th Commandment!

Slide show of photos of Bodie

Old Shell Oil Gas Pumps at Bodie Ghost Town

Photo of old Shell Oil gas pumps in Bodie Ghost TownThese old Shell Oil gas pumps at Bodie stand out. It's not what you expect in a ghost town that had its heyday in the 1880s, but Bodie obviously limped along into the era of the automobile before the ghosts moved in. Because they are so "modern" they stand out and create a great juxtaposition against all the wood and brick.

Turned on by old gas pumps? Then also see this photo of an old "petrol" pump that I took on a trip to my hometown environs in New Zealand in 2007.

Bodie Ghost Town Slide Show

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Bodie Ghost Town Photo Collection

Photo of Bodie Ghost Town CaliforniaBodie State Historic Park is a ghost town located to the east of Yosemite National Park. When the Tioga Highway is open, you can drive there from Yosemite east across the Tioga Pass to Lee Vining and then by going north about 20 mintues on Highway 395.

Bodie was named after Waterman S. Bodey (the spelling of the town is a corrupted spelling of his name), who discovered gold there in 1859. The heyday of the town was in the 1880s when around 10,000 people lived there.

The ghost town was designated a California state historic park in 1962, and is maintained in a state of "arrested decay".

The day we visited was perfect for a photography shoot. The light was bright and the sky was mostly clear but with some interesting clouds that add some great interest to the photos. I have to say that I didn't expect to get quite as much out of my visit there as I did: it was a fascinating place and a photographer's dream location.

Slideshow of photos from Bodie Ghost Town

Photo gallery from Bodie Ghost Town for dial-up visitors (smaller images)

Photos from Yosemite National Park

Overhanging rock Glacier Point Yosemite Bridalveil Falls Yosemite National Park
I took literally hundreds of photos while in Yosemite, but I'm going to leave it at the 23 photos of Yosemite that I have posted to the galleries. (Dial-up optimized version of Yosemite photo gallery). I hope you enjoy the photos.

Pink dogwood flower in the Ahwahnee Hotel Grounds
Next up will be a series of photos of Bodie Ghost Town on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada range from Yosemite. There are some cool shots coming up.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Daredevils at Glacier Point

Two daredevils hang from a rock at Glacier Point Yosemite National ParkAt 3200 feet above the floor of the Yosemite Valley below, this is something I know I couldn't do, but these two daredevils climbed out to the edge of this granite rock overhanging the edge of Glacier Point. It made me wobbly at the knees just looking at them. Across the other side of the valley you can see Yosemite Falls, which at 2,425 ft are the 5th highest falls in the world.

See it in the Yosemite National Park Slideshow

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Half-Dome at Sunset

HDR photo of Half-Dome Yosemite close to sunsetThis photo of Half-Dome was taken from Glacier Point as sunset approached. It is an HDR image from a bracket of 3 exposures spaced 2 exposure values apart.

The view of Half-Dome from Glacier Point is one of the most spectacular views I have seen in my life and is a "must see" and one of the most-highly recommended locations for photography in Yosemite in my opinion. Don't miss it if you are visiting Yosemite. Half-Dome rises nearly 5,000 feet above Yosemite Valley and 8,800 feet above sea level.

See this photo of Yosemite's Half-Dome in the Yosemite Photo Slideshow or in the Yosemite dial-up photo gallery.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Yosemite National Park Series

Yosemite National Park - Bridal Veil Falls and El CapitainI spent the past weekend visiting Yosemite National Park and environs. Yosemite is famous in American photographic lore as being the place made famous by Ansel Adams, and the place that made Ansel Adams famous. I make no pretense at these photos being "after" any of Ansel Adams' photographs. But as I poked my lenses about Yosemite, I often felt the ghost of Ansel Adams, thinking and wondering about him hiking the valley with his heavy camera gear, and what effort he must have put in to capturing those images.

Here are the first few images from my recent trip.

Yosemite National Park Flash Photo Gallery

Smaller images can be viewed in this separate dial-up optimized gallery of photos of Yosemite

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Lorikeet and Secretary Bird

Lorikeet parrotA couple more birds just flew in from the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park. The lorikeet is a multicolored parrot from Australia that lives on nectar. At the enclosure at the park you can buy little cups of nectar and the fearless birds will land on your hand to partake. Which is all very convenient for taking a few photos.

Secretary BirdThe secretary bird attracts a crowd not because of his colors, which are not very spectacular at all, but because of his gawky shape and the feather quills that stick out from the back of his head. Many sites claim the bird gets its name from these quills and the white and black tunic-like coloring of the bird which is suggestive of a male secretary from bygone-days, but the posting for the secretary bird at the Wild Animal Park's website states that the name of the bird most likely comes from the Arabic saqr-et-tair, or “hunter bird.” Anyhow, the bird struts up and down his enclosure constantly looking for prey, and when he finds a bug or whatever it is he is interested in, he jumps up in the air and stomps on it. Quite entertaining actually!

See these and other birds in the Bird Photo Gallery

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Pink-Backed Pelican

Pink-backed pelicanDon't you find pelicans a very fascinating bird? I don't know what it is about them particularly that makes them so compelling; perhaps it is that they look kind of comical, and the fact that they can even fly is a surprise in a way as they seem so out of proportion in every way. But on the wing they are so graceful. This is a pink-backed pelican which hails from Africa. I took this photo at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park in San Diego County. You can read on their website about all the different kinds of pelicans at the San Diego Zoo and Park.

See this photo of a pink-backed pelican in the bird photo gallery.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Disney Concert Hall Photos Sought by AIA

Walt Disney Concert Hall Los AngelesI had some exciting news this week. I was contacted by the American Institute of Architects about using some of my photos of the Disney Concert Hall in downtown L.A. for a project they are doing at the moment called The Shape of America. The series of videos features famous landmark buildings of the United States. Hopefully my photos will end up in the Disney Concert Hall piece when it is done.

Walt Disney Concert Hall Photo Gallery

Anza-Borrego Wildflower Gallery

Pygmy poppies blooming in Anza-Borrego DesertAnza-Borrego Desert Wildflower Galleries Completed

Ok, that's it for the photo shoot from Anza-Borrego Desert. The collection contains forty-one photos in all covering wildflowers, yucca/agave, cacti, and a couple of the local insects I encountered on the day. Most of the photos were taken in Plum Canyon. You can view the galleries in either a "flash" slideshow or a static html gallery which has smaller images. Here are the links to the separate photo galleries:

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers - Flash Gallery

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers - html Gallery


I got some of these photos back from AdoramaPix today and they look pretty nice.

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