Past, Current

I shot this on August, 2007 in the Communist Sculpture Park. in Budapest, a dusty lot on the edge of the city where they stuck all the Communist era statuary. I made a cyanotype print of this image, and titled it Past, Current. A cheesy title, but it seemed to fit.

Broadway and Leland

Here's a photo mosaic shot at the same place and time as yesterday's photo. I kind of like how this one came out, and I like how a couple of the cars are seen twice.

Uptown

I shot this photo today under the el tracks at Broadway and Leland in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. Uptown is a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, although it still maintains a grungy feel.

Lost Lake

This is Lost Lake at Mt. Hood in Oregon, shot in digital infrared. On a clear day, Mt. Hood is reflected in the waters of the lake. When I was there, it was chilly, and a brisk wind rippled the surface of the water. Mt. Hood was mostly obscured by clouds which were rapidly moving in the wind. If you look close, you'll see that the trees and land line up well in these shots, but in the time it took to snap two photos, the clouds had moved so much that some of them are repeated in both photos (click on the photo to see a larger version).

Painted Ladies

I've shot this row of painted ladies several times, on several different visits to San Francisco. They're in the Haight Ashbury district, a neighborhood I would probably never set foot in if not for Amoeba Records, possibly the best record store I've ever visited.

This time, I've done a mosaic of several shots stitched together. I think the house closest to the corner has been repainted since the last time I was in this area (October, 2007). I love the gray with red trim.

Corona Heights

This is a digital infrared photo shot in Corona Heights park in San Francisco. The filter placed on the camera to absorb most of the visible light spectrum makes for long exposure times, even in bright sunny weather (making blurred motion more likely). It also necessitates setting the ISO on the camera pretty high (it was set at 1600 for this photo). The graininess that often results from the high ISO is usually welcomed by people shooting digital infrared, as it mimics the look of infrared film.

Jelly

Jellyfish in a tank at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. It's an interesting museum in a great building designed by Renzo Piano.

Oops!

For today's photo, follow the link to Lightbender, my other blog. I just posted it there by mistake.

Ghost Trees

Here's a vacation photo, taken at Clear Lake near Mount Hood in Oregon. Clear Lake is supposed to have beautiful views of Mt. Hood reflected in the still water (do a Google image search to see what it looks like). The weather was kind of iffy going into the hike, but we continued on, hoping it would clear. As it turned out, it got progressively worse as we hiked along the 1.5 mile trail to the lake. It was quite foggy and rainy, although the trees stopped most of the rain, resulting in a damp mist along the trail.

Arriving at the lake, we found the fog so thick that you could only see about three feet out into the lake. We were a little disappointed at first, but soon realized that while we were missing the mountain views, we were seeing some pretty stunning scenes. Sitting on the edge of a small mountain lake looking at vague shadowy outlines of trees through the mist is beautiful in it's own way. It was very peaceful and quiet, and while we occasionally heard other hikers walking around the lake, we couldn't see anyone more than ten feet from us.

The foggy, rainy weather was only along the south side of Mt. Hood. Due to the microclimates in mountainous areas, the rest of our trip around the mountain was sunny and clear.

So Long Portland

I'm back home after a fun vacation in San Francisco and Portland. It's nice to be sleeping in my own bed, although the hotel I stayed at in Portland had probably the most comfortable bed I've ever slept on in a hotel.

Here's a small panoramic image I made on Tuesday, my last full day in Portland. The hotel had complimentary bikes available, so we spent several hours riding around the city.

I'll probably post more photos from this trip over the next few days.

Chinese Garden

I shot this infrared photo in the Chinese Garden in Portland a couple of days ago. Chinatown in Portland is nearly nonexistent, but the classical Chinese garden there is wonderful. It's also a little underrated-guide books recommend it, but don't think it's a must visit place in Portland (the Japanese Garden, on the other hand, is a little overrated. I really enjoyed it, but the guide books oversell it).

Vacation is winding down, I fly back to Chicago tomorrow. Today I'm hoping to ride a rented bike around Portland.

Portland

I've been in Portland for a couple of days now. Interesting city, it's hip and sleepy at the same time. This photo was taken along the NW 23rd st. shopping district. Someone had set fire to the fliers on a telephone pole, and this was the result. I want to go back there and shoot some more, I really like this photo.

Infrared San Francisco

This is the view from one of my favorite spots in San Francisco, the top of Corona Heights Park. I shot this a couple of days ago with my infrared filter. The San Francisco portion of my vacation is about over, I'm leaving for Portland tonight. I love SF, but it will be fun exploring around a new area.

California!

My vacation is off to a good start. It's nice being back in the arms of my secret lover, San Francisco! I'm having fun playing with my nieces and walking around the city.

This was shot (as a digital infrared photo) yesterday afternoon on the corner of 25th and California in SF's Richmond District. I like the lens flare.