December 31, 2021
Nikon CoolPix P7000
Farewell To 2021: Today is New Year's Eve, and the Powers That Be saw fit to bring us a glorious day, clear and bright, with but a few clouds drifting aimlessly in the sky. In a way, I was hoping to find some sign that 2022 would be a better year, one with less strife and turmoil than the one we've all endured. I found this flower, perfect in every way, seeming to peer out into the promise of morning, and for its sake and mine, hope the New Year brings better tidings.
In many neighborhoods, residents have taken to decorating public spaces, and somebody with a spot of Christmas cheer left an ornament in a berry bush. The shot was an interesting exercise in balancing ambient and off-camera flash exposure. Wrestling with my stubborn Nikon P7000, I got it to flash most of the time, as long as I remembered to set it to Fill Flash, which supposedly force-fires the flash at every exposure. It worked most of the time, which was better than never. The silly camera could never hold its settings, probably because the fixed internal battery could never hold a charge. Maybe this is why it was so cheap!
This magenta ornament reflected the homes from across the street. The photo is of interest only to me.
Be safe. Be well. See you in 2022.
December 19, 2021
Nikon CoolPix P7000
Farnsworth Lane: Like Vulcan Lane in the Castro, this "lane" is actually a wooded pathway situated in an urban greenbelt. It too is populated by a variety of craftsman-inspired homes accessible only by foot, so you can imaging the joy that accompanies the removal of garbage and the delivery of large appliances. At home #36, the flicker of an electric candle helps identify the home.
I brought the Nikon because I didn't expect to see anything click-worthy, and it is the most pocketable camera in my collection. Also, the least liked.
December 16, 2021
TTArtisan 17mm 1.4
Last night's rain was certainly welcome, but the wind that came with it was not. Many recycle bins had been blown over, adding their special flotsam to the leaves and branches snatched from stoic trees. The morning was incredibly still and the air fresh and gentle. This photo was an unexpected reward for pursuing my morning walks.
For whatever reason, somebody saw fit to cleave this poor pumpkin in half and leave it in a parklet that doubles as a dog run. The cut was too clean to be the work of a mere vandal. It also provides a clear case for when the exposure range of the subject exceeds the camera's native ability to record it.
This wayward little fellow seems happy enough despite being soaked to the scales.
December 10, 2021
TTArtisan 17mm 1.4
The homes on Corbett Avenue include a number of apartments that were made in the late '50s. Because of the hilly nature of the neighborhood, many featured terraces that allowed the early morning light to pass through the glass doorways connecting them with the street.
The lighting at sunrise, coupled with the textured surface of the stucco, provide a textured background for this sconce.
Obviously, Billy The Kid wasn't the only concrete tagger.
December 8, 2021
TTArtisan 17mm 1.4
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| December 8, 2021, 6:41 am |
It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year: Christmas is just around the corner, and the Winder Solstice, the shortest day of the year, is about two weeks away. For now, I'm still waking up at 5 am, lounging about until 6, when I think about where my morning walk will lead. This morning, it will follow Corbett Avenue, the same route I walked for years on my way to my elementary school, about a mile away from my home.
It was still dark when I set out, so I was experimenting with the exposure contrasts between the exterior lights of the homes along the way. Just for fun, I activated the "Preview Manual Exposure" mode in my Fuji, so I was literally able to dial in the exact exposure I wanted. Since I frequently use flash, this feature is usually off because the electronic viewfinder adjust to the ambient exposure, which is very different from how the image will be rendered when the flash is used. It was still fun to play with, and infinitely more convenient than using a Polaroid camera to make a test exposure, the common practice among studio photographers in the analog age. Just waiting for the so-called "instant image" could take as long as five minutes, the amount of time it took for the image to fully develop.
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| December 8, 2021, 7:01 am |
I'm a little surprised by how little activity there is, especially compared to the 9 to 5, or 8 to 4 schedule that dictates city life. I had to wait through three traffic light cycles until enough cars rumbled down Market Street to experiment with lighting streaks. The takeaway? The closer the cars, the longer the streaks. Duh.
Cue Copeland's "Quiet City", please.
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| December 8, 2021, 7:18 am |
Tagging, Boomer Style: This is the first time I noticed a "Billy The Kid" signature in the sidewalk cement. This young man (I assume) got around, as his signature nom de cement Back in the day, finding a freshly poured section of sidewalk was cause for small celebration, and twigs, pencils, or sometimes fingers were used to leave, for posterity, what amounts to a tag. Funny, I just realized that all that separates me from today's youthful taggers is our choice of medium.
December 4, 2021
TTArtisan 35mm 1.4
A clever use of an old horseshoe. Homeowners place them on ledges to prevent skateboarders from "surfing" them.
This stylized life mask was found in a planter box on 17th Street. Had I not been curious about the renovation of a nearby house, I would have never noticed.
I've walked past this house a hundred times, but never thought to photograph it. I happened to be across the street, and the 35mm lens provided a near perfect framing.
December 3, 2021
Nikon P7000
Christmas In The Castro: I had to mail a letter this morning, so I brought a camera, just in case. Christmas decorations are starting to appear, and the cheerfulness of an airborne Santa is offset by the fact he's sitting on a pop-up extension to a restaurant, a reminder that the pandemic still looms on the horizon.
I brought my meah Nikon P7000, a camera I delegate to high risk occasions when an expendable camera is the safer choice. It collapses nicely to a size just small enough to fit in my vest pocket. I never considered its performance equal to my lesser Fujis, but it is compact.
This disappointingly soft image of a Frenchie was made at a groomers in the Castro. I didn't know the business existed, and I may make it a regular stop when I need some cheering up. Maybe it was the old window glass that degraded the image, but the sad truth is that the camera's lens can't cut it. Add the overall slow response of the autofocus and the shutter lag and you can appreciate the progress we've made in digital photography. Truth be known, the image is no worse that one made with my beloved Olympus 35 SP, a camera I never considered particularly able.
By the way, this Frenchie looks like a caricature of my family's beloved boxer Jocko.
I'm sure there is some significance to the dress and gender of these two paintings. The artist is Danyol Leon.
December 1, 2021
17mm F 1.4 TTArtisan Lens
When photographing at dawn, one encounters night lights that haven't yet turned off. As with other similar photos, there's a balance between ambient light and that provided from artificial sources. I liked this one.
November 28, 2021
Fuji X100S, FlashQ Flash
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| 1/1000 second, F 4.0, ISO 200 |
Taking A Break: I felt I deserved a break from manual focusing, and went in a totally different path I brought a Fuji X100S camera and a QFlash, just for fun. The Fuji's leaf shutter would allow me to use a wider variety of exposure times, but 1/1000 seems to be the minimum setting to avoid possible transmission delays when using radio flash triggers.
In this shot, the early morning sunlight created a highlight on my subject's left. All Minions look the same to me. The radio trigger feature allowed me to position the flash high overhead, as you can see by the shadow cast by the goggles.
November 27, 2021
17mm F 1.4 TTArtisan Lens
Web Maintenance: The 17mm TTArtisans lens is definitely not a macro, and when set to its closest distance, you can nearly fill the frame with a 4" x 6" index card. It was the lens on my camera when I found this spider, wandering about his/her web, seeing what was available for breakfast. In this case, it was a small flying insect a mere inch from the spider's gnat hole. Check the close crop and lick your chops.
I certainly own autofocus lenses that could have made short work of the task before me, but my intention of the whole morning walk/photo excursion was to bring myself back to a simpler time when I had to make do with my beloved black Olympus 35 SP. Back then, an accessory pouch consisted of a spare roll of Tri-X, while now I am given to taking a tiny electronic flash and most recently, a filter pack. The line where simplicity ends and complexity begins is always shifting, especially when some new shiny object finds its way to the web-verse.
November 22, 2021
17mm F 1.4 TTArtisan Lens
When I looked at this gate pull more closely, I noticed it was actually a reclining figure.
A discarded work glove, found on the stairs of a house undergoing renovation. I thought it looked like a cuttlefish.
I really like these inflatable turkeys. Some day I'll have the courage to actually buy one of my own.
November 21, 2021
35mm F 1.4 TTArtisan Lens
My new best friends on 17th street continue to parade a squad of new furry friends for my favorite beagle. Panda bears make good friends, too. I was photographing from the curb, so the perspective is a bit flatter than when I used a shorter lens. The shooting position also helps to conceal the horizon line from the buildings behind me in the folds of the window curtains, so my three new friends is relatively free from glare. Direct light from the early morning sun helps, too.
The low winter shadows create some uneven lighting conditions, and in this case, the foreground is in the shadow of Tank Hill. This eliminates and visual distractions that might have been seen in the foreground if the lighting had been more even. I also managed to include the Moon.
I moved to a position where the background for this tree would be in the shaded side of Tank Hill, and framed the image to remove any details that were too "urban". This is a straight monochrome rendering, and while it's technically black and white, it lacks the depth of a genuine analog black and white image. I may attempts some additional exposure adjustments that might improve my acceptance of this image.
November 20, 2021
35mm F 1.4 TTArtisan Lens
It rained last night, and the morning found a city freshly rinsed and slowly drying in the crisp morning sunlight. The shadows are sharp, and tinted in blue as you might expect when the sky is cloudless.
Here brooms and a dustpan are secured to the side of a maintenance truck. The colors are not as saturated in this rendering, a mystery I have yet to understand fully.
I had to chuckle when I saw this window sticker on Parnassus just east of the UC Medical Center. After checking the Internet, I found stickers, tee-shirts, sweatshirts, and coffee mugs available with this wry tribute to entomologists everywhere.
These three shots were made with the 35mm 1.4 TTArtisans lens. This is the first time out for the lens, and until I've used it more, can't decide if I find it too long for my purposes.
November 17, 2021
17mm F 1.4 TTArtisan Lens
I'm back to using the 17mm lens, which made the shortcomings of the 35mm 7artisans lens painfully obvious. The camera just felt more responsive, although maybe that's just muscle memory from using it daily for almost two weeks. Anyway, I'm glad I had it with me when I noticed this abandoned building tableau on the corner of Ninth Avenue and Parnassus.
My early morning walks present opportunities to watch as artificial and natural light approach similar intensities. The digital movie poster was just a bit brighter than the ambient lighting on the sidewalk, and even more so than the lighting in the streetcar. Or maybe I just want to see another Disney flick.
The streets have a bistro flair, approaching how I imagine breakfast in Europe might look. I don't consider hot chocolate and a croissant an adequate breakfast, but merely the warmup act for something that includes bacon as a main ingredient.
November 16, 2021
35mm F 1.2 7artisans Lens
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| Buy yours here. |
To make the photo at the top of the post, I used the LightPix Labs FlashQ Q20 I just started to carry. I put the flash on the ground at my feet and feathered it upwards to (hopefully) minimize the overexposure of the pole. The resulting highlights were less obvious than when I tried to light the subject from above, but visible if you carefully examine the lower edges of the box. I dare say we don't often see our light sources originating from below,
The same technique was used to throw a bit of light into the vestibule of this duplex. The upper half of the doors were in the shadow created by the light coming from high above. The bit of flash opened the shadow up without calling attention to itself.
I suspect this is San Francisco's answer to the Philosopher's Stone of Harry Potter fame. Little bits of whimsey seem to wander about, and this bit of wisdom was found by the Fire House on Stanyan Street.
November 14, 2021
17mm F 1.4 TTArtisan Lens
Up until now, I thought that sightings of toy animals were the product of a playful child. I may have to revise that theory because this pink lamb was found in the window sill planter box too high off the ground for a child to reach.
I have never seen this large succulent growing in a green space in my neighborhood.
I don't remember photographing this flower before. Now I have.
Urban Blight, circa early twenty-first century.
Just the way I found it. More prescient that one might expect.
November 12, 2021
17mm F 1.4 TTArtisan Lens
Just a quiet morning. The air is clean and fresh, and the cloudless skies have made the shadows deep and sharp. Lots of pumpkins still to be found. Exit Halloween, enter Thanksgiving.
This curved portion of Corbett Avenue abuts upper Market Street. The homes here get direct morning sunlight. What caught my eye was the ladder near the right edge of the frame. I could have worked at the shot a bit longer, but the laws of perspective seemed to be working against me. so I settled for this framing.
November 7, 2021
17mm F 1.4 TTArtisan Lens
Not Halloween but very autumn, this dried corn is one of the first indicators that Thanksgiving is right around the corner.
I floated the theory that shoes were left on the curb were to be taken by the homeless, but these children's articles made me rethink my original theory.
Here's a display of scrunchies and headbands from a store on Irving Street.
I found a framed mirror on 9th Avenue, between Judah and Irving. It's anybody's guess as to the why and how it made its grand entrance.
November 6, 2021
17mm F 1.4 TTArtisan Lens
On the last day of Daylight Savings Time, I was up before dawn, and watched the early morning sun paint the clouds in a pastel shade of pink. I was forced to conclude there is a very different tint to sunrise, as opposed to sunset, which we a programmed to believe was more orange than pink.
Some neighborhoods are slower to de-Halloween their homes than others, and this doorway still shows signs of the departing season.
I spoke with a homeowner whose decorations included these black roses. This photo was made with my new 17mm F 1.4 TTArtisans lens, and am very pleased with its sharpness.
This photo was made on somebody's doorstep, primarily to test the TTArtisan's sharpness. Nice.
November 5, 2021
17mm F 1.4 TTArtisan Lens
The 17mm F 1.4 TTArtisans lens is still mounted on my Fuji X-E1 body. My first impressions of the lens are that it is fast and capable of satisfactory results. However, I find that focusing is becoming a bit of a problem. In this case, this "ghost", suspended from a branch with a piece of fishing line, gracefully swayed from side to side, thus adding to the adventure. Much had to do with the contrast of the desired focal plane. I remember that the fabric snapped in and out of focus easily, while the contours of the plastic skull were a bit elusive. One of the other Focus Peaking settings might prove more effective.
The exposure was helped along with a LightPix Labs FlashQ Q20 II. I'll have a post on that later.
This is a historical first: I actually photographed a person on my morning walk. I asked for permission to photograph him and his dog, and he said yes.
The neighborhood has a number of benches that are painted in a variety of ways. If I were a child I'd like this bench to be my time-out spot.
November 3, 2021
17mm F 1.4 TTArtisan Lens
For some reason, I was out and about about an hour before sunrise. We're about to conclude the Daylight Savings Time, at which time our Arcadian rhythms will better align with a more appropriate life schedule. This morning, I'm using my new TTartisan 17mm F 1.4 lens on a Fuji X-E1. The ISO setting was set to 1600, so my exposure times ranged from slow to ridiculous. However, based on the focal length of this lens, my maximum acceptable exposure time would be 1/17th of a second, or 1/27th if adjusted for an APS sensor. This shot was made at 1/15th, and the image was pretty much acceptable for my purposes.
I detached the flash from its radio hotshoe and placed it on the sidewalk behind the sign. When light from the flash was added to the available light exposure, it produced more more detail in the house across the street.
Before we go much further, I am not overwhelmed by the artistic merit of this photo. I did this just to explore the possibilities of this little flash, and so far, so good.
When I saw the approaching streetcar coming around the track behind me, I thought I might use the headlight beam to produce a "Third Man" sort of vibe. Unfortunately for me, the streetcar apparently had twin headlights, which produced two overlapping shadows. In this burst of exposures, this photo came closest to a single shadow, even though evidence of the dual lights is apparent in the overlap.
Overall, I'm starting to like this lens, and will provide more details in the near future.
October 28, 2021
50mm 1.4 7artisans Lens
My neighbors must feel my longing, and seem very anxious to keep my mood light. My best friend beagle has a new friend. I'm using the 50mm 1.4 7artisans lens on my X-E1 body.
The longer focal length changes the relationship between the subject and the background. Here, the shadow in the background appears larger than the same shot made with a shorter lens. Technically, it's the result of a longer camera-to-subject distance, not some magic inherent in the telephoto lens. Longer than normal lenses allow for longer than normal shooting distances. As a result, items in the background appear larger.
Shooting in autumn positions the sun lower on the horizon, so you get a light direction similar to late afternoon during late spring and summer. The shape and texture of this lion sculpture are more apparent.
Here again, the short telephoto's allows the background to occupy more of the canvas space, and were it a little later in day, the red fire hydrant would be floating on a sea of shadow. Unfortunately, I couldn't wait, and just made this shot. I still love the red.
October 25, 2021
I don't know why there are so many "ghost dogs". Is this an offshoot from Dante in "Coco"?
There have been many handkerchief "ghosts" floating about. When I was growing up, these Halloween decorations were so uncool. I guess they made a comeback. I used the X-E1's built in flash to light this winsome spirit, and wound up adjusting the output by the tried and true method of moving fore and aft until I got what I wanted.
No message here, but it is a repetition of orange in the foreground and the background.
This pop-up in Cole Valley saw fit to add a "prepare to stop" sign. Kinda cute, since the sign is about 1/2 the size of the real thing. A baby stop sign, perhaps.
This shot was made at 8:23 am, barely one hour after sunrise. The warmth of the yellow building coupled with the shadow receding down the walls appealed to me.
The need for outside pandemic seating encourages creative solutions, and there's a bit of disconnect between the sign on the building an this lonesome table seating for two.
I found this bronze plaque embedded in the aggregate steps of an older home. I've never seen a builder or subcontractor signing their work in such a noble manner.
These poor flower petals suffered some water damage from the recent deluge. I have never encountered this pink "petal pox" before.
October 18, 2021
This morning the sun rose at 7:21 am, and this photo was made a full half-hour before. I am always surprised by the images taken with a high ISO (1600) and allowing the camera to choose the proper exposure (aperture priority). I am starting to see the difference the 35mm lens makes when the foreground is compared to the background. I appears that there is a more natural relationship between the two, something I am finding subtle, and appealing.
I think I made a mistake by moving closer, thinking that I would include only a portion of the dump truck. In doing so, I lost the context the truck provided, making it an unrecognizable shape. Including the oncoming traffic was good idea, as the headlights made the "25" more prominent.
I decided to burn in the truck on the right, and dodged the bit of sunrise on the far left. I think the image looks better, as the emphasis is now on the oncoming traffic.
October 13, 2021
I think I know why shoes occasionally appear on my walks. They may be put there for homeless people to take. That makes sense, seeing as this is San Francisco.
October 11, 2021
Not a very good example of juxtapositions, but it's as a good reminder that large areas of sky will always show you how clean your sensor is. The a big blob of blue in the sky caused by some errant piece of flotsam that saw fit to land on my sensor. I did my best to clone it out of existence, but if look hard, you can see it. On second thought, don't look.
The sensor cleaned up nicely, by the way.
I think there are eighteenth months of pent-up creativity. Supply chain influences aside, there seem to be more imaginative Halloween decorations this year. Trick Or Treating has been deemed safe this year, so I guess everybody is making up for lost time.
October 7, 2021
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| Fuji X-E1, 25mm 2.8 F 1.8 7artisans Lens |
The area at the edge of Buena Vista park has a number of homes that reflect an earlier, more opulent time. I mentioned that silent film stars Norma Talmadge and Rodolph Valentino maintained homes in the area, and I'm sure a number of their neighbors decorated their own homes in an equally grand manner. This worn cherub was photographed with the help of the Godox flash held at arms length, triggered with a Nikon flash cable.
Halloween is approaching on raven's wings, as one might say. Pumpkins and gourds are popping up all around the neighborhood. I found this trio rather stately.
September 21, 2021
One finds all sorts of things when walking. Why these shoes are sitting so neatly on a rock in a nearby park is a mystery. Perhaps their owners are lurking about, barefoot on a cold, damp morning. But why? And why are the laces missing?
This photo was made with my smartphone because I didn't think I'd see anything of note to photography. I was right, but the image is still a far cry from what I would have taken with my ancient flip-phone. In my book, it doesn't count as a real photography, but it serves as a record of where I was and what I saw.
September 1, 2021
I found another appearance of the swimming koi near the intersection of Douglas and Caselli Streets. Since the Honey Bears are getting so much bad press lately, I wouldn't be surprised of these fish became the latest street art craze. Unfortunately, they are more difficult to install.
The once ubiquitous street corner fire alarm is now officially obsolete.
August 27, 2021
The bay areas is still dealing with the smoke for the wildfires that ravage the north state. This shot was taken early in the morning, and the smoke-induced haze made for a very warm image. Nothing remarkable, just a record of a subtle shift towards the reds.
Made a simple photo of this flower. The 25mm 7artisans lens isn't really that sharp, the result was pleasant enough to include.
A month ago, I realized that the Palace of Fine Arts was a short drive from my chiropractor. I decided to change to a 12mm F 2.8 lens, and see how it felt to use a lens with such a wide angle. These are tourist shots, nothing more, but having such a wide angle of acceptance made me feel that this great big world became so much more controllable.
The stereotypic photo from beneath the dome. Well, it's done, and time to move on.
I amazed at how well the Romanesque details have been preserved, and in spite of the constant chatter of excited tourists, it was easy to re-imagine the world as it was in a more romantic time.
July 21, 2021
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