Testing Holga lens for DSLR - Flowers on ironwood eucalyptus tree

I have previously used a Holga film body, but had gotten out of the habit of using it as, frankly, the time and costs needed to use film these days was getting annoying.

But I recently decided to obtain and try out a Holga HL-N lens that is built to go on my Nikon D90. I took my first test shots with it today, including this view of flowers on an ironwood eucalyptus tree.

I especially like the trademark Holga vignetting, which really jumped out after I ran the image through the Raw converter. I was happy with the results without any further processing except resizing for online display.

I plan to keep using the lens.

Green in autumn

Green in autumn, a photo by jeffwc00 on Flickr.

While strolling the UCSD campus looking for photo opportunities, I was struck by this one green leaf (obviously from another plant) laying among many leaves dropped by a tree.

Defiance

Defiance, a photo by jeffwc00 on Flickr.

Having taken a class toward the UCSD Extension photography certificate in a room at the Mandeveille Center on the UCSD campus, I became aware at the time of graffiti being done on walls of the building, especially in one staircase. These were apparently being done by the students of the University's Visual Arts program, which is based at Mandeville Center.

After that class, when I make periodic visits to the campus to search out photography subjects, I've gotten into the habit of going by the Mandeville Center to see if there was any new graffiti to view.

Today, January 4, 2013, I discovered many copies of this sign on the Center's walls. Seems the administration ran out of patience with the graffiti and cracked down. I found this defiant statement on one of the signs. Of course it constitutes graffiti itself as defined by the sign.

Photoshop fun (not really)

Being a student at UCSD Extension, I had previously bought at the UCSD Bookstore the academic license for Photoshop CS4 Windows.

Having recently discovered Adobe no longer allows upgrades for up to three previous versions, but now only the last version (curse you Adobe), I went back to the Bookstore this afternoon planning to buy the full academic license version of PS CS6 Windows.

And they were out. of. stock.

D'oh! I had just been assuming they'd have it in stock and never thought to call ahead and check. The clerks said they're expecting more to be in next week.

Needless to say, at that time I will call first!

Piers of San Diego County

Piers of San Diego County, a set on Flickr.

I had written earlier about planning to take photos of piers in San Diego County.

I am in midst of doing this, and placing the photos on Flickr. Also being a user of Google+, I really should be also posting the photos there, but haven't yet gotten into that habit.

So, for now at least, I wanted to share the link to Flickr set I am placing these pier photos in.

The pier thing

San Diego County is known for its piers. Fishing piers, docking piers, private piers.

I've photographed some of these piers in past, but never with an intensive effort to document them and the environments around them.

I've decided to make such an effort my next major photography plan.

So, at least for now, my thoughts are to photograph the following types of piers within San Diego County:

• Public fishing piers
• The major public docking piers on San Diego Bay:
• the two cruise ship piers,
• Navy pier,
• and the Coronado Ferry Landing.
• And at least one private pier: Scripps Pier, which is operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Access to that pier itself is restricted to the Institution, but the area underneath it is very picturesque and easily reached with a walk from La Jolla Shores beach.

I'm thinking to do this going from south to north, and so will be driving to the Imperial Beach Pier shortly.

Two very different photographic results from one visit to Balboa Park

I decided to visit Balboa Park today before the heat built up too much (we are in the middle of San Diego's first significant heat wave of summer 2012.)

Upon parking, in the lot closest to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, I had a good chuckle from this banner, which was advertising one of the current exhibitions in the Science Center.

I then made my way to the Botanical building, and found a display of a completely unfamiliar plant that had an unusual-looking means of flowering: the Golden Candle (scientific name Pachystachys lutea).

Rather than trying to write up my own description of the plant, I am going to provide a link to an excellent discussion of it on an Australian site:http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/2000/archives/2000/in_the_garden/flowering_plants_and_shrubs/golden_candles

I saw I had a possible diptych after first finding some nice drops from the days watering on one of the plants, then finding a small web, itself covered with water drops, on another of the plants. The spider didn't give itself much space to work, which I'm guessing may have something to do with how untidy the web was.

Visiting "Fallen Star" on site

Having previously taken photos of UCSD's latest public art piece, "Fallen Star", from the ground, I have strongly wanted to visit the piece when the site it is on became available for public visiting. Here is one of those ground views:




The availability for public visiting started roughly a couple months ago, but I had not been able to make a visit due to when visiting is available: Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM each of those days. Having scheduled a day off from work for today (August 9, 2012), I decided I'd finally make the visit, and of course bring along my camera.

One minor aggravation of visiting UCSD on a weekday is you have to purchase a parking permit; on campus parking is free on weekends! Oh, well. At least finding a space wasn't too much of a headache, as student presence is always lighter during summer quarter.

So I made the walk to the main building of the Jacobs School of Engineering; Fallen Star sits on top of one its towers. I walked into the lobby and was interested to find no mention whatsoever of the piece to be seen; interesting. So, I got into one of the lobby elevators and went to the top floor, Stepped out of the elevator, and voila, there was Fallen Star. There's a door built into that floor's elevator lobby that leads out to the site, the small garden that is part of it, and of course the Fallen Star piece itself.

This was just before 11 AM. There were already a few people standing around the garden, but the door for the piece itself was locked. Turned out that is unlocked by a staff attendant who remains on site to answer questions and apparently act as de facto security by just being present.

Fallen Star proved to be fascinating, outside and inside. Everything about is deliberately off kilter, which makes just standing in it, much less moving around in it quite an experience! The one exception to this is the chandelier, which hangs on a true plumb, but that is just a factor of gravity.

Also, I seem to recall reading somewhere that all the furniture and fixtures were made at three-quarters scale, which just boosts the slightly unreal feel

One interesting note is that even though it is bolted down to the building, only six adults (plus the staff attendant) can be in it at once.

All in all a fascinating experience.

Here's a photo taken today:

Um, yes, I'm still here. Let's give this blogging another try shall we?

Here's a new post:

As it had been several months since I last used my San Diego Zoological Society membership card, I decided to visit the Zoo today, July 4, and of course take a camera with me.

I ended up with three good photos: Two from a nice head-on view I had of what I think was the largest Galápagos tortoise available to view at the time, and one of flowers on a coral tree.

The flowers on this coral tree caught my eye because unlike flowers I have seen on previous coral trees, which were always a bright red, these were either a dark red or a purple. Hard to say which.

And here is a link to my Google+ album of those photos: July 4, 2012 San Diego Zoo photos

Two cringe worthy traffic moments

I had been intending to concentrate this blog more on my photography, but obviously have not been doing that so much.

So, wanted to write about two traffic moments that occurred today.

First, this morning: I was on the way to church, and was stopped at an intersection a little ways before getting on the freeway. So, I got the green light and started to move into the intersection. But the next moment a horn goes off on my left and keeps going. Which was enough to make me stop. And the next thing I know a vehicle making a left turn through the intersection passes in front of me. If the driver next to me hadn't realized this left turn was occurring and hit his horn, I might have been broadsided. Good grief!

Lesson learned: try to be alert when I get green lights to vehicles that might be coming into the intersection from other directions.

Second, a little earlier this afternoon. I was driving down a freeway when all lanes started to come to a stop. A little later I saw in my rear view mirror a fire engine coming down the left shoulder. And a little after that saw the fire engine had stopped in middle lanes and a CHP car was coming down the right shoulder. When I passed the scene, I was able to make out just enough of the scene to see CPR was being administered to someone laying on the pavement. Yikes!

So, two of the more cringe worthy traffic moments I've had in a long time, all on the same day.

Visiting Marian R. Bear Memorial Park

For years I have been vaguely aware of a large park in San Diego that I had never visited before today: Marian R. Bear Memorial Park.

This Park is in San Diego's San Clemente Canyon, which runs east and west roughly between Interstate 5 and Interstate 805. State Route 52 runs in the northern portion of the canyon between those two freeways (and continues eastward), while the Park is in the southern portion of the Canyon, paralleling Route 52. The two formal entrances to the park are located off surface streets that north and south through the Canyon, Genesee Road and Regents Road.

Today I finally decided to make a visit to the Park, using the entrance at Genesee Road. One of the first features of the Park I came upon was a shallow, very slowly moving stream. Lots of rocks had been placed across the stream, so getting across with dry shoes was no problem.

Continuing on the path, I was quickly struck by what an attractive area this is. When I took this photo,
I was becoming aware that though I could still hear traffic on Route 52, but by that point the view of the highway was entirely obscured by the Park's trees; very nice. That view remained obscured for my the rest of my walk into the Park.

Continuing on and taking many photos, I quickly appreciated that many trees were growing over the path to some degree, thus creating much shade. Though the temperature was moderate, there were no clouds today, so that shade was very nice.

After I turned around to go back to my car, I noticed a very interesting scene. A large log (presumably the trunk of a downed tree that the branches had been removed from) that had been left in place to allow it to be naturally reclaimed. The evidence for this was that it was well underway to being covered by fungi.

All in all, I was very pleased with the Park, and have every intention of doing more exploring of it, as there is much I did not get to.

A peacock at the Zoo

Two angles: a peacock, a photo by jeffwc00 on Flickr.

I have been very glad I purchased a San Diego Zoological Society membership late last year. Being able to (basically) just walk in when I have the time has been great. I'm definitely getting value for the cost.

Yesterday I decided to make another visit for possible photo taking. Right after entering I noticed a small crowd standing around something and found they were looking at a peacock that was in full display of his tail feathers. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get into position for a unobstructed view before he dropped the feathers to non-display position and wandered off into nearby foliage.

Now, you may wonder why a peacock was out in the open. I can't seem to find anything about online, but I am recalling I learned at some point in the past that the zoo keeps a population of peafowl that are allowed to wander the grounds. This is because they eat lots of insects, and so are a big help in keeping that potential problem under control.

Later during this visit I came upon (presumably) another peacock wandering around just outside the rhinoceros display. This was good because there were much fewer people around, so I was able to get into much better position for photos of this bird. He wasn't feeling the need to display his tail feathers, but I was pleased with photos I did get. Thus this diptych.

Pleased to announce

Holga goes to Kobey's Swap Meet
Originally uploaded by jeffwc00

I have been invited to place up to three prints in a show being put on next month by the arts programs at UCSD Extension.

The story:

Last month the coordinator of those programs sent email to the photography instructors with preliminary details about the photography portion of the show, and inviting them to forward it to any former/current students of theirs they thought worthy to be in the show.

And one of my instructors did so. I responded to the coordinator that yes, I was interested in being included.

She wrote back at beginning of this month with details of what would be needed for each print.

I decided to go with two of my Holga camera photos: the one shown here, and this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffwc00/4836939359/in/set-72157624473390957/

This will be the first time I've been invited to place prints of my work in a show, so I am very much looking forward to it.

G is for Globe Willow triptych

G is for Globe Willow triptych
Originally uploaded by jeffwc00

Sunday, January 16, 2011. Decided in the afternoon to use my San Diego Zoological Society membership and visit the San Diego Zoo to get in some photos.

Which I should have realized before leaving was a pretty dumb idea: A Sunday, really nice weather, of course the place was slammed. When I arrived I quickly realized every parking lot within reasonable distance of the Zoo appeared full, and an overflow lot had been opened.

Obviously there were going to be mammoth crowds inside the Zoo. So I decided that was a no go, even though I could see there was still some space in the overflow lot.

I decided to instead go to the Park West area, the narrow strip of Balboa Park immediately west of highway 163. Even on the busiest days in the rest of the Park, I'm usually able to find a decent parking spot and get in a good walk and possibly some photos.

So, having gotten there, I found this Globe willow in the Trees for Health Garden. I looked it up and down and realized: AH HA, that's my next alphabet series entry AND a nice new triptych. Viola!

In the lion's eye

Panthera leo I
Originally uploaded by jeffwc00

I've been on vacation the past week. On one of those days, December 14, I decided to use my (fairly recent) member ship in the San Diego Zoological Society to roam about the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (formerly known as the Wild Animal Park.)

The highlight of the visit was the lion enclosure. I could see only the male, who was out in the middle of the area, reclining in the shade. He looked relaxed, but was also very much alert to what was happening around him, constantly looking around.

I was the only person at the enclosure for the entire time I took photos of him, so I was not surprised that more than once he looked directly at me. (We had unimpeded views of each other.) I was very happy I captured one of those moments in this photo.

License Plate Watch 48

Seen today on a Prius: LVE4NOW

Fall

Fall
Originally uploaded by jeffwc00

San Diego has had two days of rain sweeping through the area in a series of bands, with the rain generally falling at moderate intensity. But it came often enough to mostly keep me indoors.

So, when what seemed to be the last of it having passed through on Sunday afternoon, I wanted to get out for a good walk, and take my point-and-shoot camera in case I came upon anything interesting. I drove to one of my favorite areas for doing that, the relatively skinny portion of Balboa Park that is immediately west of State Route 163.

On a sunny Sunday finding parking there can be a challenge, but today there was no difficulty parking at all.

During the walk I came upon an absolute riot of changed sweetgum leaves laying on grass below several large sweetgum trees. But there was one curious matter: The trees appeared to be full of still green leaves, so I couldn't imagine what seemed to be a major amount of changed leaves on the ground had come from.

But I could only imagine before the rain the trees had been a mix of still green and changed leaves, and the rain had been enough to knock down all of the changed leaves.

So, I took several photos of the scene, and decided this was the best of them.

Not gone

No, I haven't given up on this blog. Must admit I really can't say why I haven't been writing anything here, because I have had time.

Anyway, I'm going to try to write more here, especially about my photography.

Doing that jury thing

Yesterday I received in my home mail a jury service summons for California state court.

And today I received a questionnaire from Federal court to determine my eligibility for Federal jury service.

Man, oh man.

Now, regarding state court jury service and me: I don't recall if I have written in this blog about it before, but I get summons for it an amazing rate. And I think I've realized why. I'm aware the state courts get names of persons to summon by using both DMV driver license records and voter registration records. My name is slightly different on those records: for the DMV, my middle name is spelled out; not so on my voter registration.

And I have never been put on a state court jury. Every time I'm sent to a court for the voir dire procedure, I'm always dismissed by one side or the other, usually pretty quickly. I can't imagine never being on a state court jury is a factor in how often I get summons, but who knows.

However - I have been on one Federal court jury. This was in the mid-1980s. I was an alternate through the length of the trial, so did not participate in deliberations.

So: regarding the current situation. Please note I have no objection to jury service whatsoever, but, I don't care for the possibility of being summoned to both courts in the same time frame! Looking at the questionnaire from the Federal court, I see nothing that would disqualify me.

But, a valid excuse for getting out of state jury service is that one was a potential juror for at least one day within the past 12 months. I am recalling such may be the case here, but having no memory for dates, will have to check with my employer's Payroll department on Monday.

Comic-Con 2010: Anticipation and Being

Image via Wikipedia

I usually take a full week of vacation around this time every July. (Last year was an exception for reasons I won't get into.)

This is in anticipation of attending San Diego Comic-Con, usually for multiple days. This year I had every intention of buying a 4-day membership. So, in early March I went to the web site for Comic-Con, and proceeded to learn all 4-day memberships for this year had sold out in November of last year, which truly blew my mind.

So, I decided to go for a 1-day membership, for July 22 (tomorrow), and find other ways to fill my time during the week of vacation.

One good innovation Comic-Con is doing this year is offering early distribution of membership badges on July 21at a place away from the San Diego Convention Center (the site of Comic-Con) for those with 4-day memberships and 1-day memberships for July 22. I'm back from going to that. It happened at the Town and Country hotel's convention facility. The announcement of this that was emailed said this distribution would be available starting at 3 PM. I decided to get there about 2 PM and wait in line after parking at Fashion Valley mall, which has free parking and is next door to the Town and Country hotel.

As I was pulling into Fashion Valley property, I saw people walking away from the Town and Country wearing Comic-Con badges. Huh. There must have been a major line of people waiting for the distribution to have been opened early!

So, tomorrow morning it will be very nice to go straight to Comic-Con programming areas without having to get in line first for the badge.

One complication tomorrow is that in the evening I have a meeting of a class I am currently taking at UCSD Extension. Can't afford to miss that, so I'll probably leave Comic-Con somewhat earlier than I would have otherwise.