Here’s a quick iPhone 5s grab shot as we were walking along the Embarcadero to Pier 24.
Tweaked in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC – with a touch of platinum toning applied.
My friend Doug Kaye and I recently visited Pier 24 to see the current exhibition: “A Sense of Place”. We’d been wanting to go for several months but it’s a hard place to get into. They limit attendance and require an advance (but free) reservation. Only 20 people go in at one of three times each day. Once you’re inside, you really appreciate the lack of any crowds – so the reservation process definitely helps create a much higher quality experience. We got lucky one day and found a couple of slots open.
The space inside is just perfect for photography. The provide you with a booklet that provides the details for each photo – no little signs on the walls next to the photos.
My favorite photographers from the current exhibition are: Todd Hido, Stephen Shore, Jeff Wall, Andreas Gursky, Lee Friedlander, Eric William Carroll, Paul Graham and Rinko Kawauichi. Beautiful work from each of them! Doug and I spent the most time exploring a Vancouver nightclub shot by Jeff Wall – In Front of a Nightclub – a fascinating work! From a distance, the image seems flat but when you get up closer – within say 5 feet or so – it begins to really show some depth. Very fun!
Here’s another image shot inside Pier 24 – these are street shots of New York City by Paul Graham. I like how some of the images are mounted low. Graham’s using the “stage” technique – seeing first an interesting background and waiting for it to fill with subjects of interest.
Sometimes reflections hold the key to great images. Here’s a recent example from New Year’s Day – shot outside of San Francisco’s Exploratorium – and it’s glass wall. I really love this image!
Shot with my Fujifilm X-E2. Post-processed in Lightroom 5 and VSCO Film.
On Friday, Doug Kaye and I were on our way to an appointment to visit Pier 24. If you’ve not been to Pier 24, you HAVE to go. A beautiful experience.
I shot this with my iPhone 5s as we walked along the Embarcadero. Pier 24 is jutting into the image from the right. The pigeon caught my eye!
Converted to monochrome in Lightroom 5 using VSCO Film.
One of my favorite local spots in Menlo Park is Cafe Borrone. I’m often there early for breakfast and sometimes, with colleagues, for lunch. Great food, great location, beautiful light, art, music. It’s a delight.
Today I headed over to Cafe Borrone for an early lunch – actually breakfast – and, as I was leaving, captured this image of the plaza with my iPhone 5s.
On my way around the corner, I noticed that the new area soon to become Borrone Marketbar was beginning to be revealed – and I snapped this shot below. Looking forward to the launch of the Marketbar! You can read more about the Marketbar here.
For some reason tonight I started looking back through my image library for images from France.
I stumbled across this one from 2002 – shot with my first digital camera – a Kodak DC290 – at Versailles. I love the composition – totally accidental though it was at the time! I captured a very special red head in the photo!
I post-processed this using a bit of Topaz Simplify and Photoshop CC’s oil paint filter. I love the look and the subtle textures!
In August 2010, I took a workshop focus on Tomales Bay and Point Reyes. One of the other participants – Jack – was shooting with a set of classic cameras. It was a joy to watch him work.
Here’s a shot of Jack taken early on a late August morning along Tomales Bay. He’s shooting the famous Point Reyes fishing boat – aground at Inverness. The morning sun is on his back. I can smell the scene.
Shot with my Canon 5D Mark II and the Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS lens. Post-processed using Lightroom 5, VSCO Film and Photoshop CC with Topaz Simplify 4.
The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away. — Picasso
The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it. – Ansel Adams
My photo buddy Doug Kaye captured this shot of me yesterday on New Year’s Day as we were shooting the Fog Bridge outside of San Francisco’s Exploratorium.
I don’t seem to be the happy street photographer in this image – but it’s not exactly a posed shot! When I’m out shooting, I’ve typically got one camera on my hip (a Fujifilm X-E2 in this image) and my iPhone 5s in my shirt pocket. I regularly flip between them – depending upon what I see, a need for speed or a desire to slow down and work a subject. Sometimes I’ll have a third camera either on my belt or on my left hip.
In this image, I’d just taken a couple of shots with my Fujifilm X-E2 (see below). I let the Fuji fall to my hip, pulled my iPhone out of my shirt pocket and then turned to see what Doug was doing – bang! – he captured this shot! Good fun!
Doug has a new Sony a7 and a vintage Leica Elmar-M 135mm lens that he recently bought used. It’s a pretty magical lens on the new Sony full frame sensor! Here’s an image I shot of Doug shooting with this camera/lens out on San Francisco’s Pier 7.
This image has been cropped a bit more from Doug’s original – and a touch of platinum toning was applied in Photoshop CC.
Here’s one of the Fujifilm X-E2 shots I took just before turning to look at Doug – tweaked a bit in Lightroom 5:
