Of Sunsets and Rainbows

The last few nights have been providing just enough cloud cover at sunset to create a few opportunistic photo ops.

Sunset

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Sunset Rainbow

VIsions of Speed - The Rush of 750 hp

The power of the 750 hp cars hurtling past
3 feet away is an incredible rush, breath taking!

Press has slots in the fence in corners around the track at Sonoma and some of those slots are pretty close to the action.  The above image IS NOT from a zoomed in lens shot. 

Visions of Speed - NASCAR

At Sonoma, CA NASCAR road course race in 2013, taking that corner in just the right way, makes things work good in the corner.

Rolling Hills North of San Jose

Rolling Hills Under Blue Skies

I thought you might like this peek at a piece of territory, amazingly, just north of San Jose, CA.  I headed through Milpitas on the 237 and kept on going.  At the other side of town, the road starts to twist up and into the hills.

I turned left at Calaveras Road, and a few miles in, I was presented with this beautiful scenic, where Calaveras Reservoir started.

It was the perfect day for this picture.

Stark Contrast of Man and Nature

Somehow, I seem to be drawn to this stark contrast of man, machine and the sky blue power of nature itself.  Go figure.

Back on the Road - Bicycling Through Stanford

I oddly wait until the summer is winding down to get back the road again on my bicycle.... go figure.

Cats and Imaginary Dog Scares

I finally figured out what caption to put to this picture I have of "the will."

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Sunrise in Central CA Photo

Was on a road trip in December of 2012 and I had an opportunity to snap a photo with my Droid RAZR M...  and the image that came out of the phone surprised me.

Sunrise in Central California...

The Cat Who Screamed Wolf! Or 'Feed Me'...

She got tired of me taking pictures of her...  I tell ya.

San Andreas Fault From my Southwest Window

Flying on Southwest Airlines, I was taking pictures from the seat.  I had been visually tracking various features, one of them being the San Andreas fault.  This image was taken approximately 15 or so miles W, SW of Bakersfield, CA.  Pretty interesting from the air... there's a certain amount of beauty to the potential devastation of that beast.

Photo by B.E. Simmons

Road Trip - Mount Shasta

Road trip in 1998, hitting up the north side of Mt. Shasta...  

Pot Belly Wood Stove

This is an old pot bellied wood stove that used to hang out in the living room in the house in Maine.  The house was approximately 200 years old...  original equipment.  In fact, this heating system was the heating system for the home.

The image, though cool, is woefully unfocused.  God knows what kind of Instamatic Kodak camera I was using.  But this was too old, and a cool memory.

A Winter's Oak Tree.

Cozy Cottage, Minimal Neighbors

 

A small pond in Maine...

A house with no neighbors.

Oh, the peace and quiet.

~

What am I saying?  It's Maine!  It's blissfully quiet in most parts there!

Image year:  1994

A Man Walks Alone

 

A solitary walk down a lane rimmed by trees.

~

(N. Leeds ME, 1994.

The "road" to the back of the property.

I'm off to play bear whisperer)

The Stargate at Comic-Con

 

The Stargate Portal,
At Comic-Con

District 9 at Comic-Con

District 9 at Comic-Con

It's an awesome movie!

Brandon Routh At San Diego Comic-Con 2009

Brandon Routh
Cool guy.  He took the time to let me take a picture of him at Comic-Con, San Diego.

Photography Products On Amazon

Field Guides to Nature Photography

Digital Cameras on Amazon.com

Camera Supplies on Amazon.com

Bicycle Blurs

Bicycles at speed, Velodrome near San Jose
Photo by Robert Keene

When I saw this photo, I thought it was a great speed / motion blur perspective and asked the photog to send it to me. He did. Thanks Robert!

Photography Books on Amazon.com

The City Behind Me

It's what you can't see behind you,
that's best illuminated by reflection.

Much like hindsight.
(Downtown San Jose, Ca - 2009)

Wind Chimes

In the shade of the porch,
in the push and pull of the ever persistent wind,
this bell makes the sounds of an ocean buoy bell on the waves.
It transports one to another place.

Spring Time Pictures and Shadows

Spring presents many artistic offers
of life, sun and shade.

Making Your Point And Shoot Dance

When you have a simple point and shoot, you don't always have the best ability to set your lighting to the best it could be when taking a picture.

I'm somewhat fixated on not doing post processing of my images so I needed to learn a few tricks for my older P&S. (Point & Shoot) If you need to make your camera think it's brighter than it is, or darker than it is, I've found that if you have something at the same distance that is of a different light exposure, aiming at that, letting the camera set itself, then pointing it at your true subject can give you what you might be hoping for!

These 3 images that I've strung together here show that very practice:

A View From Mt. Shasta

It's 1998. Road Trip to Mt Shasta!
This is the view from Waverly Peak, looking West.
Ah, the expanse of space,
for the lucky eagle whose wings,
let him take advantage
of all that blue.
(OK, hazy bluish space.)
[this image was modified from the original scan to bring forth the trees in the foreground.
otherwise, they'd be a dark blurb. I did lose what little blue I had.]