Field of view

This is a composite image of four photogrpahs of the new West Hgh football filed and bleachers. It was created in a program called PhotoStitch by Canon designed to make panorama pictures easy. Click on the picture for a larger view.

Another view

Photograsphing a wrestling practice I had another one of the crazy idea. I had all the standard stuff of the wrestler as he sparred with teammates but I was struck by the light coming through the large picture window. I changed my shooting position to frame the wrestlers agsint the low setting sun filtreing in through the windows. The image, almost monochrome in detail, has a nice feel to it and gave a different composition to anotherwise ordianry assignment.

A different view

I was on assignment to shoot a news assignment when I had a crazy idea. While at the skate park I was looking for unique view of skate board jump when I decided to settle in underneath his departure point. The view looking straight up framed against the sky gave a unique appearance and sence of height to the photo.

Lunar spectacle

If you cast your gaze skyward this eveing you might have caught this celestial sight. A total lunar eclipse, the last until 2010 inched across the sky starting shortly after 5:30 pm. By 7:00 pm an earthly ornage glow was cast across the face of the moon.



Photographing along side Alice Delaurier-O'Neil we used tripods to steady our shots as we braved the chilly evening weather. We retreated once into the warmth of her house and hot chocoalte while clouds obsured our view. Overall it was a great sight to behold and worth our cold numb fingers.

Chimping

I found this looking through some old photo files. Yeah that's one of my fire shots in the banana.

Neon night

On assignment to the Grand Theatre tonight I was struck by the neon glow of the marquee. It had been some time since I shot the sign on opening night and I tried to capture the glow as the crowd waited beneath.

Even the reflection of the sign in a nearby car was worth a picture.

King Kong

This was part of a cool sculpture on display at the Expressions art show. I photographed this while the school district was conducting their tours of the gallery. The kids may not have known what mixed media and pastels were but everyone knew King Kong on sight.

A face only a mother could love

This mom and her pups were found wandering a Tracy street and taken to the Tracy Animal Shelter.

A Kodiak moment

Falls Trail

I had been waiting to get back on the hiking trail and after heavy rains of January today’s sunny and warm weather was just the ticket for the first hike of the season. Hiking partner Alice DeLaurier-O'Neil picked out a great hike to the Falls Trail of Mount Diablo.


All that rain would be put to good use as it would fuel Donner Creek and the series of falls that feed into it. A 1200-foot climb on the nearly six-mile hike awaited us on trail.


I was anxious to get out and take pictures so I could test out my latest piece of camera hardware, a Canon 40D with 10-22mm wide-angle lens.


Our hike took us along a sometimes muddy trail that wound its way up Donner Creek Canyon. We made our way up pausing at the creek crossings and falls for pictures.


The roar of the water flow greeted us we turned and twisted our way up the Falls Trail loop. I experimented at the falls with slow shutter speeds to capture the rushing water as we roamed in the waters path for just the right angle.


Cool temperatures followed us as we hiked through the chaparral country and we began our descent back toward Clayton our waiting car. One last view we missed on our way in was a field of flowers marking the coming of spring.


It was a fantastic hike and a great way to start our outdoor season. I hope to have many more photo shoots with my 40D along the trail this spring and summer.

Depth

I have been reading a book about landscape photography and one of the key elements the author talks about is depth. The concept of capturing a 3-dimensional subject and producing it on a 2-dimensional media is challenging and one of the points the author notes is imparting a sense of depth by using foreground and background elements for the photo.

With those words fresh in mind today I noticed this juxtaposition while on assignment today. I like the tree giving the tower a sense of scale and the receding lines for distance. It may not be what the author of the book had exactly in mind but I still like this picture.

Sherpa not included

For those considering their next lens purchase.

Only the shadow knows

Punxsutawney Phil made a special appearance in the newsroom before his Groundhog Day forecast. He predicted six more weeks of paranoia for the reporters.