Golden Gate Bridge at Sunset

Today, sharing a few more photos from our trip to San Francisco. Here are three sunset shots of the Golden Gate Bridge (click for larger versions). It was cold and the wind was whipping my hair in every direction but it was worth the frozen fingers to see the sun tuck away for the evening on the horizon. Hope you enjoy.

Orange Bouquet

I've been following soulbrush for quite awhile. She's a kind and lovely woman and her blog is absolutely beautiful. She's an artist working with many different materials and palettes and subjects; you never know exactly what you're going to find when you visit her blog but it's always vibrant and always a treat. Also, she posts photos of her adorable granddaughter, Maggie, in the sidebar. Come for the art, stay for the baby!

This is why I was so excited when she announced she was opening an Etsy shop! I rushed there and immediately placed my order for Orange Bouquet.

It's odd that this is the piece that caught my eye. I'm not a flowery girl and orange is one of my least favorite colors. But something about the flow of the lines and the brightness against the darker background really grabbed my attention.

The picture at left is of the framed piece resting on a shelf in my dining room. I haven't quite decided where it will live permanently but for now I'm trying it out against my deep red walls. What do you think?

San Francisco - Street Shots

As promised, I'll start posting a few of my photos from San Francisco. As I go along, I'll be adding them to this album as I feature the newest photos individually in the blog. You can click each thumbnail for an enlarged version of the photo.

This first shot was a man making jewelry to sell on the side of the street. He was near Ghiardelli Square at the cable car turnaround.


The next photo is an extended exposure of the carousel on Pier 39.


And finally, a view of Chinatown. Everything felt very "in your face" there, from the bright lanterns to the interesting people. Even their streetlights (towards the right of the photo) were unique.


Plenty more to come!

Geotracking

My husband is obsessed with all things map-related. And I have a really lousy memory for where/when photos were taken. Sure, the date and time properties on the file help but what if it's just a photo of random trees or a butterfly?

That's where my anniversary present, the GiSTEQ PhotoTrackr, comes in.

It's a small GPS device, roughly the size of a garage door opener. Once you power it on, it locates the satellites to obtain a position. I have to say I'm rather impressed with this as it's done remarkably well even from inside my house. I installed the software to my laptop and then set about syncing up the time between the PhotoTrackr and my camera. This is an important step to remember for later.

Shooting is easy - turn on the PhotoTrackr and then carry it with you (I threw mine in the camera bag). Take photos like you normally would. When you're finished, turn off the PhotoTrackr until you're ready to load the log onto your computer via USB. Again, very simple.

Finally, upload your photos to the computer and load them into the GiSTEQ software. The software will match the timestamps on the files with the corresponding locations in the log and load it all nicely into Google Maps allowing you to retrace your steps and see exactly where you took each photo.

Unless you are a moron, like me, and somehow sync the time but not the date. So no matter how many times I loaded the photos, nothing showed up on my route. It only took me thirty minutes to discover the error and another twenty to find a way to change the data in the photo files so it would finally match up.

Now, it works like a champ. I can't wait to use it on our trip to San Francisco!

Some "Hot" Photos

It's been a bit since I've posted here. We made a specific stop at a cemetery as part of our anniversary getaway this past weekend just so I could snap some photos there. Unfortunately the weather was so miserable that I wasn't particularly inspired.

Lesson Learned: Taking photos from the back seat of the car is lazy and results in unimaginative images. Put forth a little more effort next time instead of wasting the opportunity.

I wasn't going to post any of these but since @dpringle asked so nicely I'm posting what I would consider to be the top three because at least I a) climbed out of the car for them and b) spent 2 seconds thinking about the shot.







The weather is killing me. I really want to go wander with the camera but it's just still too miserable. Go away, summer!

Listening to a house

(inspired by C. Beth)

The hum of the refrigerator,
Whoosh of air conditioning,
Passing cars on the way somewhere important,
The tick-tock of a clock marking the passing of the day.

My house is quiet.

No gossiping of neighbors,
No conspiring of sisters,
No laughter of friends planning dinner,
The tick-tock of the clock marking the passing of time.

My house is lonely.

No baby giggles signaling delight,
No toddler screams expressing frustration,
No persistent “why?” from a curious child,
The tick-tock of a clock marking the passing of life.

My house is empty.
__________________________________________________________

I rarely write anything in poem form but Beth's poem today set off a bit of reflection and a nagging need to respond. By no means do I think this is any good and I debated about posting it but that's what this blog is about - somewhere to let out whatever creative urges I feel, missteps and all.

First Photos

Just a couple of photos from my first trip out with the new g10. The first three are the same image, manipulated a bit in Photoshop. And the last one is a random tree I liked. Everything was taken in auto-mode because I haven't had a chance to even begin figuring out the intricacies of the camera yet but it still performed pretty well.