It just rained in Southern California. I know. Everyone freak out and slam on your brakes! I came home from work and the clouds were moving in and out as the sun was setting, leaving a hole over the Exxon Mobil Refinery. It looks like they’re pumping out Cumulonimbus.

Photo Date/Time: 10/14/2009, 6:15 PM
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Camera: Nikon D90
Exposure: 1/320, F7.1, Focal Length 70.00mm, No Flash
Post Processing: Cropping.

Future Improvements/Changes: I was supposed to come home, change, and run out the door. I stepped into my backyard and indiscriminately started clicking. I tossed my camera back in my bag and took off, not even checking what I captured. I wish I had more time to see how the clouds were moving to get different views and even climb up onto the roof to get a different angle.

The Great Wall of China is aptly named. Although it has become a huge tourist attraction, the sheer size of this structure is incredible. It is great. While Chinese people in America now have a stereotype of being nerds, taking up occupations of programmers and engineers, I think this wall speaks for the power of the Chinese people as a great empire. I’m sure it didn’t hurt to have a few engineers when building a wall this size either.

Photo Date/Time: 04/07/2007, 9:15 AM
Location: Beijing, China
Camera: Canon SD600
Exposure: 1/160, F8.0, Focal Length 12.12mm, No Flash
Post Processing: None.

Future Improvements/Changes: This was actually a tough picture to take, since there were large crowds of people elbowing their way through as they trekked the wall. Personal space isn’t something that exists in a lot of non American cultures.  I’d like to have taken a better shot that reveals more curves of the wall as it winds back and forth along the hillside.

Here I am, trying to overly creative. Michelle bought some new, breezy clothes for the summer. Naturally that meant it was time for a photo shoot. To make things a little more fun, I dawned my luchador mask to take the photos. I was the man behind the camera, behind the mask. A few shots in the mirror and then two dozen of just Michelle. After that it was far too hot and I had to take the mask off.

Photo Date/Time: 05/10/2009, 2:29 PM
Location: Torrance, CA
Camera: Nikon D90
Exposure: 1/40, F1.8, Focal Length 62mm, No Flash
Post Processing: Cropping.

Future Improvements/Changes: I could have been more patient and gotten some better focus and angles, but the mask is hot on a warm day. I’m not complaining about this one. I like it just for the weirdness.

This is the back side of Antoni Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. His unique artwork and architecture is all over Barcelona. I like the sculptures on this side of the church a lot better. The front side looks like melting Christmas trees. You’d need a hit of acid to try to comprehend what Gaudi had in mind when designing it.

Photo Date/Time: 10/07/2006, 12:21 AM
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Camera: Canon SD700IS
Exposure: 1/125, F3.2, Focal Length 7.47mm, No Flash
Post Processing: Cropping.

Future Improvements/Changes: Except for a few pieces of stained glass windows, the whole exterior of the church is stone. There’s not much in the way of color. It was a nice, overcast day so there weren’t any harsh shadows. It was pretty much a point and shoot photo. All the sculptures are high up so getting a good angle on most of them is difficult. This is one of the few faces that was looking downward. I regret not taking more pictures from different angles. Now it’s 6,000 miles away and I can only wonder.

This photo was taken on one of our land excursions from our European cruise. I absolutely love these cities, where transportation by waterway is almost as common as anything by street. The weather changed so rapidly during the day that most of the sky was covered by clouds later in the afternoon. I have the same shot as I made my way back to the ship. Everything was gray, and there was hardly any blue in the sky three hours later. The time of the photo is Los Angeles date and time.

Photo Date/Time: 10/04/2006, 12:34 AM
Location: Provence, France
Camera: Canon SD700IS
Exposure: 1/400, F5.6, Focal Length 5.8mm, No Flash
Post Processing: Slight Rotation. Cropping.

Future Improvements/Changes: Whites white and darks are dark. This photo looks nice, but there isn’t much going on in it. Those lazy French people weren’t out and about to give action to the photo. I could have used a mime falling into the water. Now that would be dynamic.

On a cruise from Rome to Barcelona, we stopped in southern France. By this time I was tired of castles and churches. I started looking around for other things to catch my interest. I found insects having sex. Being the voyeur that I am, I snapped some shots. The time of the photo is all screwed up, because it’s set for Los Angeles date and time.

Photo Date/Time: 10/05/2006, 9:17 PM
Location: Sete, France
Camera: Canon SD700IS
Exposure: 1/1250, F6.3, Focal Length 8.64mm, No Flash
Post Processing: Cropping.

Future Improvements/Changes: There’s not really a great focal point in this shot. It’s pretty tough to get a focal point selected when the subject is so small and I’m already so close it. I would like to see one of the eyes and the surrounding hairs come out much crisper. Without a lens specifically for macro shots, it would have taken me numerous shots to get this down, and I probably wouldn’t have been able to figure it out until I loaded the images on my computer.

I took this picture for Michelle so she could post it to her blog. She gets really cool products to review and show off every once in a while. We decided just to take the photos in her sister’s room, because she just moved out. It had bare walls. Unfortunately there were no lights in the room either. We dragged a desk lamp in and set it on the floor. Once I saw the shadows it cast, I knew what kind of pictures I wanted.

Photo Date/Time: 01/21/2009, 8:59 PM
Location: Torrance, CA
Camera: Nikon D90
Exposure: 1/60, F4.0, Focal Length 18mm, No Flash
Post Processing: Cropping.

Future Improvements/Changes: This was just a quick few snapshots to get something up on Michelle’s blog. I would love to have more lights so I could manipulate the shadows even more. More intense shadows would look great in a photo like this.

This is my backyard goldfish barrel. In the summer water changes are pretty much unnecessary. The water lilies grow their leaves up to the surface at a rate of a foot per day, sucking up the waste the fish create. For every five leaves that hit the surface, a flower makes it to the surface. During the day they open up like this. At night, they close up.

Photo Date/Time: 05/04/2008, 11:1o AM
Location: Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850IS
Exposure: 1/125, F8.0, Focal Length 5.8mm, No Flash
Post Processing: None.

Future Improvements/Changes: At the time I wasn’t looking for a specific picture to take and snapping away, but I do like how this one came out. Although it may not look like it, this picture is pretty hard to take. Fish don’t sit still, and when you approach they dive to the bottom. If you’re not sitting at the perfect angle, objects appear in the reflection distracting from the fish and flowers. Depending on how the light hits the water, the water can look a slimy green color. Too much direct sunlight and you see nothing but glare on the water. Too little light and the fish blur as the camera tries to compensate for the low light. This one came out just right for my tastes.

This picture was taken at The San Diego Zoo. This particular bird is not part of an exhibit. He has just figured out that there is a free meal if he hangs out. This may look like a majestic creature, but these birds are very loud and they poop everywhere. After you’ve seen a dozen of them sitting on the roofs of the houses in your neighborhood, squawking for no apparent reason, you might do what I am afraid to do and grab a BB gun. I have no love for these birds.

Photo Date/Time: 05/05/2007, 5:13 PM
Location: San Diego, CA
Camera: Canon PowerShot SD700IS
Exposure: 1/30, F5.5, Focal Length 23.2mm, No Flash
Post Processing: None.

Future Improvements/Changes: I would have loved to reframe this shot and try to get a wider angle on the bird to show its full plumage, but unfortunately there were people all around trying to take pictures of the bird. On top of that the gift shop was in the background, which did not make for a very appeasing backdrop.

I am out of town a lot on short trips for work. Hotel stays are part of the game, but there is something so eerily quiet about hotels. You know the rooms are pretty much all filled, but you hardly ever see anyone. You might see one or two people, but the number of rooms and cars indicate there are hundreds of people behind the doors at any given time. The time seems ways off in this camera, because the camera is on Pacific time and I’m up three hours earlier than normal

Photo Date/Time: 08/19/2008, 3:03 AM
Location: Three Rivers, MI
Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850IS
Exposure: 1/15, F2.8, Focal Length 5.8mm, No Flash
Post Processing: Slight rotation/cropping.

Future Improvements/Changes: The whole picture is kind of dull an neutral, although that is how I remember the hallway. Given a longer period of time, I would try different light settings to see if I could get some contrast. It would be more of an artistic choice. Even though it’s creepy to know that there are people all over the hotel and never see them, I still don’t really want to see them, which is why I won’t be spending time in the hallway trying to get the right shot.