Aloe Flowers #1

I went to the Huntington Library to visit the gardens this past weekend as I'd heard that the aloes are blooming at this time of year. There is a large desert garden at the Huntington Library and in fact that is always my favorite part of the gardens to visit. It is a blaze of red, orange, and yellow at the moment as the aloes are in full-bloom.

The Huntington Library and Gardens are located in San Marino which is adjacent to Pasadena in Los Angeles. If you are visiting L.A., add it to one your places to visit, especially if you love gardens. The gardens are extensive. In addition to the desert garden, there is a Japanese garden, and in the spring of 2008 a Chinese garden will be opening. There are also plants featured throughout the large grounds from other parts of the world.

Find out more by visiting the website at huntington.org

Autmn Leaves

A layered composition of some autumn leaves with a background of a photograph of a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls that was in the LA Times the other day. There is a third layer of some wood flooring at a very low opacity. I used different blending modes for each layer to bring out the colors of each layer in what I thought was the most appealing manner, giving emphasis to the warm reds to complement the autumn feel.

Ginkgo Trees in Fall

I know I'm a bit late for this, it being winter now and all that, but can't let these beautiful ginkgo trees near the Pomona Fair Grounds in L.A. go by. This is nature's palette at it's best with yellow and green on blue.

Ginkgo trees have always been my autumn favorites. There a many of them along Prince's Street in Auckland right by the University of Auckland. I always used to think the carpet of bright yellow leaves that fell around the trees was the closest thing to yellow snow that you could get...and I'm not talking about anything to do with dogs here!

These Asian giants now come in dwarf varieties, which really pleases me since I love them so much, and I have two of the little beauties in my garden in pots.

Portrait of Terry

This is a photo I took the other night of my friend Terry on the occasion of her 60th birthday.

What is HDR Photography

You might have noticed that I describe some of my photos as being "HDR". You might be wondering just what is HDR photography, so here's an explanation for you.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. HDR photography consists of blending multiple exposures of the same subject at the same aperture setting but with different exposure lengths. Shooting the same subject in this manner is known as "bracketing" and most SLR digital cameras will have a bracketing setting. My Canon EOS 20D for example, allows you to shoot 3 images in a bracket. Under the menu option you specify the exposure intervals and then you also need to set the camera to shoot multiple exposures. When you hold down the shutter release, the camera will take the 3 different exposures for you. The result is that you end up with photos that are under-exposed, correctly-exposed, and over-exposed.

In the blending of the multiple images into the one photo, the over-exposed image is accentuated for the shadows, and the under-exposed is accentuated for the highlights. The correctly-exposed image is used for the mid-tones.

There is software available to assist with the blending, starting with Photoshop and other programs available online. I also have purchased Dynamic Photo HDR from mediachance.com, and Photomatix Pro available from hdrsoft.com. Photomatix has a free version, but when you save the file it puts Photomatix all over the face of the photo, so if you're going to get serious about this stuff, you'll need to hand over some money.

Here's a link to some of my HDR photos.

San Gabriel Mountains from Irvine

I actually missed the best opportunity for this photo last Tuesday when there was more snow on the mountains and the sky was impeccably clear. It had rained on the prior Friday, which is a very good thing for us in Southern California where we are in a drought, and snow had fallen on the San Gabriel mountains east of Los Angeles. I didn't think to take my camera with me we I rode my bike to work on Monday morning and as soon as I saw the view of the mountains my heart sank. On Tuesday it was cloudy and then on Wednesday I finally got this shot. It's not as good as it could have been on that Monday when there was more snow and the air was crystal clear, but this isn't too bad, I guess.

This view of the San Gabriel mountains is looking north across South Lake on Yale Loop. On winter mornings after rain has fallen and passed, the view can be pretty spectacular. This just gives you some idea of what it's like. Perhaps later in the winter I'll get another shot at it with lots more snow.

One plus in this photo, however, is that the liquidambar trees still have their leaves so that makes for a great contrast of primary colors in this photo. They are the trees with red leaves on the left side.

This is an HDR (high dynamic range) image composed of three exposures at f/20 with exposures of 1/125, 1/30, and 1/8 at ISO 100.

Vision of Animal Spirits

In this work I have tried to create an interpretation of Joseph Campbell's statements about the animal spirits leading the native American Indians to the afterlife.

This photographic artwork is a composition of this photo of a native American Indian I took at a pow-wow at UC Irvine and another of rock paintings which I took at Arches National Park in UT.

Orangutan

Orangutan comes from the Malay/Indonesian languages and translates literally into English as "People of the Forest". This handsome faced gentleman lives at the San Diego Zoo and subsequent to this photo spent some time using a twig to work silicone sealer from the glass of his exhibit.

To learn more about orangutans, visit the Orangutan Conservancy.

California Poppy - Artistic

In this artistic rendering of my photo of a California poppy I have tried to create an overall "crazing" effect like you see on some pottery finishes. Be sure to view the larger image to get a better appreciation of the effect.

California Poppy

This delicate little flower is the state flower for California. A mere 4 yellow petals are held aloft a slender stem but what a show they put on, especially if there has been a decent amount of rain in the winter.

The flowers range in color from yellow through orange. Since I made some significant alterations to the original photo of this California poppy, here is the original so you can get a truer idea of the flower.

Guy in Straw Hat and Levi T-Shirt Portrait

A portrait taken in the 4th of July sun of a guy in a straw hat and Levi t-shirt at a friend's party.