Saturday, August 29, 2009

Shadow Shot Sunday

Shadow Grid

The entrance to an exhibit hall at the San Mateo County Fair provides some great late-afternoon fodder for Shadow Shot Sunday. To see some of last week's entries, go here.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Our Little Cowboy

Our Little Cowboy
Cottage Grove Cemetery, Weldon, CA. I didn't notice at the time that he has the same birthday as my son.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Travel Thursday: Joshua Tree

Joshua Tree

We got lucky the day we went to Joshua Tree National Monument with our friends Mike and Kris; it was an unseasonably cool 80° out there. Just a few days earlier, it had been 111° in nearby Palm Springs. I just wish we'd had more time to spend there, and that the bees weren't so prevalent nearly everywhere we went.

More...

Rawk!

Joshua Trunk

Jumbo Rocks

To the Salton Sea

Rock Line-Up

Berdoo Canyon

Berdoo Canyon Rock

Road to the Edge of the Earth

Bone

Kern River Preserve 07
Kern River Preserve near Weldon, CA.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

I Was Looking at the Black and White World in My Neighborhood

Wistful

Another shot of someone who either lives or hangs out in my neighborhood. This was taken at Sutter and Larkin Streets. The first shot I took of this person can be found here.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Monday, August 24, 2009

Colored Cups

Colored Cups

Mrs. G and I went to the San Mateo County Fair yesterday. It's small and getting smaller; we were able to see pretty much everything at least once (and some things twice) in less than three hours. I did get this shot, however, which is at least one good souvenir.

Jolly Kone Massage

Jolly Kone Massage 02
In Bridgeport, CA.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Shadow Shot Sunday: In My Neigborhood

Shadowplay III

A fire escape on my street makes for some interesting geometry. Must be Shadow Shot Sunday.

Check out some of last week's entries here.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Flower Shadow
The belladonna lilies are in bloom right now at the corner where I catch the bus every morning. (This shot is from last year; there haven't been any shadows in my neighborhood lately.)

Shadow Shot Sunday explained; choice shots from last week on display here.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Monuments

Glacier Point 01
Parking lot at Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Travel Thursday: Shanghai

Pearl Tower Fever Dream

Mrs. G and I spent about five days in Shanghai after our initial landing in Beijing. We were all on our own, having no one to translate or show us around (our guide in Beijing, Chris, did not travel with us, and we did not meet up with my brother until we got to Chengdu). Nevertheless, we found the city surprisingly easy to negotiate, the people very friendly and the food better than we'd had in Beijing. We took subway trains and taxi cabs and walked all over, and never felt lost or uncomfortable.

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Erik & Pal

UFO Bldg

Shanghai Duo

Pearl Tower

Shanghai Sally

Shanghai Fruit

Nanjing Rd

Valley OTE

Valley Motel 04
Motel sign in Lake Isabella, CA.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Stop Messing Around

Stop Messing Around

The Mantra Trailer, seen on Treasure Island yesterday.

Helicopter

Helicopter 03
East of Bakersfield on 178, where the foothills rise suddenly from the rolling plain and the highway vanishes into the narrow canyon of the Kern River, there's a billboard presenting grim statistics on the river's danger: 268 drowned since 1968.

Up the canyon a ways I stopped for lunch at a riverside picnic area. At first I had the place to myself. Then I heard a helicopter in the distance--spotted it a good ways away, above the ridgeline--and watched as it did a slow pass at a respectable height and headed off in the other direction. And as it circled back and did another pass a little lower. And as it came back, slower this time, dropping to 100' or so above ground level. Looking for something, or someone.

And of course that billboard was at the front of my mind. Why else would a sheriff's helicopter be flying that low above the river? Spotting fires, looking for pot farms, searching for a missing hiker...maybe. Fugitive...unlikely. But there's a limited number of plausible scenarios there.

When I got home a few days later I found the Kern County Sheriff's website and checked their recent news releases. Nothing. There had been a drowning a week earlier, but nothing of note that day. So I have no idea what it was all about, except that apparently it wasn't what I was afraid it was.

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Helicopter 04

Helicopter 05

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Shadow Shot Sunday

Stove Shadow & Steps

Saw this on a late afternoon at my friend Mike's place in Romoland, Southern California. The late sunlight creating long shadows made me think this might be a good candidate for Shadow Shot Sunday. To see some of last week's SSS images, go here.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Moro Rock 04 BW
Forest near Crescent Meadow, smoky from a nearby fire, seen from Moro Rock in Sequoia National Park.

Shadow Shot Sunday explained; this week's edition here.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Attack of the Giant Roosters*

Rooster 02

I shot this guy the other day in Kernville. Then yesterday, plate of shrimp: a nearly identical bird shows up in my contact stream. So I did a little investigating, and made a chilling discovery: these things are everywhere. Stock item from some fibreglass manufacturer...or fiendish plot to enslave the world? We report; you decide.

Rooster 01

*Technically capons, as Dave Van Hulsteyn points out, but 'roosters' just sounded better.

Airstream

Caution Hot, Replace if Damaged

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Travel Thursday: Bodie

Bodie 21
I'm loath to tread on Generik's turf, but...

I went to Bodie planning to shoot a bunch of ghost town shots, classic images of solitude and decay. The traffic backup at the entrance kiosk made me think otherwise. Turns out I had stumbled into the sesquicentennial shindig: people in costume, horses, classic cars, live music, parade, barbecue, pie-eating contests, and all that sort of thing. Generally speaking, a zoo. So that's what I ended up shooting.
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Bodie 15

Bodie 09

Bodie 28

Bodie 20

Bodie 13

Bodie 22

Bodie 19