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Category Archives: PhotoJournal
About As Far As You Can Go Without A Passport
Imperial Beach, CA bills itself as the country’s southwestern-most city.
Unlike its east coast counterpart Key West, it is not the southwestern-most spot. That honor goes to Border Field State Park a couple of miles further south. Neither has quite the ambience of the southeastern-most claimant but either has a case: Geography is on their side.
Quiet here today. The season, such as it is, seems over except perhaps
for weekends. After LA, which I return to tomorrow, most parts I visit will seem
quiet from here on out. Don’t get me wrong; I like Los Angeles. I’ve made a number of friends there and have grown fond of them and it very quickly. But as my daughter observed, as a city it tends toward presumption. It’s loud in the way tacky weekend golfing outfits once were. But I’m still going back.
I’ve promised myself I will stay no longer than the 14th October. I’m thinking I’d like to make Austin before my daughter takes off for the BVI on the 31st. But then it might also be nice to drive back up to Oakland and celebrate my son’s 28th birthday with him, assuming he’s not back on the road again by then.
No matter how you slice it I’m spending way more time in the Golden State than I had thought I would and I’m trying to figure out why. An odd sadness decended upon me a couple of weeks ago when I left Oakland (and Charles) behind on my way south. And when I left LA ( and Mitzi Jo) yesterday, again headed south, the feeling reinvaded my emotions. It was as if I was leaving home. Oddly I didn’t feel that way when I left Virginia and truly have experienced no homesickness whatsoever on the trip other than for these pseudo-homes here on the coast.
Beverly Hills Night Shots
On the way back from somewhere the other night Mitzi suggested I might want to take a look at the Beverly Hills City Hall complex – that it might have some photographic value to impart. I had shot this from a couple of distant angles during the day but hadn’t seen it at night. I’m glad she brought this up. It’s a beautiful spot and indeed has a great deal of photographic appeal.
It also gave me a chance to work on both night shooting settings as well as post-processing using DxO. I decided I would produce these as black & white images and apply some Film Pack 3 appliqués. The color came out quite good and I’ve posted a couple to show you the difference. But ultimately I liked the starkness of B&W.
Steve Jobs: Imitated, Never Duplicated – NYTimes.com
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/steve-jobs-imitated-never-duplicate…
-rghSent from my iPhone
[the3six5] October 6, 2011: Bradley Machov
Begin forwarded
Subject: [the3six5] October 6, 2011:
October 6, 2011: Bradley Machov
I wake up most days worried that I’ll have nothing to write about. Maybe I’ll feel too boring to write something interesting, or too tired to write at all. Maybe the biggest news story for the day will just be an announcement that Neil Patrick Harris is hosting another awards show.
Today was not one of those days.
As I found out when I got home last night, Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple computers, finally succumbed to the cancer he had been battling for years.
I’ve spent my day trying to figure out what his death means to me. It’s weird, and a little embarrassing to admit, but Steve Jobs has had more of an influence on my life than everyone but roughly fifteen people. By my estimate I’ve spent close to $2,000 dollars on Apple or Apple-related products—and that’s probably below average for an urbanite 23-year-old. I’ve never known a world without Jobs’ presence. I have an iPod and a MacBook, and the only reason I don’t have an iPhone is because I don’t want Apple completely running my life. I have been alive long enough to remember buying music in stores, but iTunes has been around for such a large chunk of my life, and it has so fundamentally affected the way I gather music and information, that it’s impossible to explain how my life would be different without it.
Our relationships with public figures like Jobs will always be different than our relationships with friends and family (despite TV’s insistence that they be the same). Jobs didn’t just enter my life, like TV and movie stars, only at the times when he asked for my attention; he entered my life, stayed, and ultimately altered the way I live it. Because of him my music buying is easier, my radio listening is more convenient, and if I ever were to try and make a movie, that too would be with his help. He’s an inspiration to millions, and personally, someone I flat out respect. The world will go on without him, but this day, rightly, has been all about him.
About the author: Bradley Machov likes to write. Contrary to what it may seem, he is NOT an Apple fanatic. See some more at bradleymachov.com
Posterous Spaces is the place to post everything. Just email us.
Macworld Mystery data usage | Phones | Mac 911
Charles and I recently discussed the advantages of changing from an
unlimited to a limited data plan for my iPhone. I have the former; he
the latter. He claims he’s saving about $50 a year by using the
limited plan. He changed when his monitoring told him he wasn’t using
as much data every month as he had thought he was.
overcharges – mystery or otherwise. At least I hope that’s the case. http://www.macworld.com/article/162603/2011/09/att_overcharge.html#lsrc.nl_mwweek_h_cbstories -rgh
Sent from my iPhone
Tools of the Trade?
Strolling Wilshire
This Evening’s Show Subject To Cancellation
Pismo Beach
Sunset Over Morro Bay
San Simeon Pier
The pier here at Hearst Beach SP in San Simeon is quite attractive.
Elephant Seals Galore
Make an Offer
Bixby
My Bixby Bridge shot for the day – well, actually, I guess for the trip
Seals – sort of
Can’t Find The Rock
In 2004 Ruth and I toured the area between SF and Monterey by car. She
had business in Monterey and I rode along because I could and any ride
with Ruth was always worth the time invested and then some.
We stayed in The City for a couple of days and then rented a car and
headed south. Along the way we stopped at Pescadero Beach SP. I took
several shots of Ruth perched on a rock overlooking the ocean. And
then some nice passerby stopped and snapped a shot of both of us on
the same rock.
It became memorable because it was one of the few photographs
reproduced for display, in her office and at home. She was hard to
please when it came to photos.
So when I plotted the trip down the PCH I knew I would find my way back to this spot just as I had to a number of other places that Ruth and I had visited with one another. But when I arrived the first problem became finding the rock. I finally settled on the first one you see pictured here because I did not have a copy of the reference image with me. Later I managed to ferret the older pictures out of the files and decided to post them as this update. and oh yes: I had identified the correct rock despite the changes the California Park Service had made in the area since my last trip down the coast.
If the jump in time sounds confusing just let it pass. I do. Time is over-rated – sometimes. The only thing it’s good for is consumption. We were time-consumers on the afternoon this picture on the rock was taken. It was a good day. Returning to that rock touched my soul just the way it did on the first visit. Just the way Ruth did.
I decided it was also important to place a new visual stake in the sand for this trip. As much as I wished that Ruth could be included in these new pictures it wasn’t going to happen no matter how long I stood there and watch the surf come and go. Time Slips Away
Last Shot of the City
Time to head south. Can’t look back. Might turn into salt.
Eastern Sierra
We’ve had our own private campground here – Moraine. It’s a beautiful
site that we got for free because the one for which we had
reservations had been closed due to budget constraints. This one is
all ours because it had been closed for the season. But the one we had reserved for the group was closed for budget constraints. In consolation we were given this site for free. Good Price.
Sunset in the Sierra
Mono Lake
Mono Lake is so salty you can bob standing up
Yosemite +
Camped last night in the Inyo National Forest Cold!!!! Swimming today
at Lake Mono which is about as salty as the Dead Sea.
Alamo Square
Last time I took this shot Ruth was in the center of it. It was an
overcast day and raining off and on. April 2004. It was a very good
year.
No Fish
So after a pretty good photo outing on Treasure Island this morning I
thought I’d drive into The City and see if I could do even better. I’d
paid the one-way toll; might as well get my money’s worth, no?
Embarcadero, as good a place as any. I wandered around several of the
piers anchored by The Ferry Building and chatted with a few of the
early morning fishermen looking to hook lunch or dinner or something. “Catchin’ any fish?” I asked. “Nah”. Nuhtin’s biting” was the usual response. Else a shrug. Same for me. Walkin’ up and down these piers and can’t get a shot to
save my soul. Think I’ll go over to the coast side and look for seals. Catch you
later; story of my life:)
Kids
I only get to see my son Charles once or twice a year, and much of the
last five years less than that. It turned out that we were both going
to be in the Bay Area during the same twelve hour period so we’d made
arrangements to get together for coffee and a bite to eat.
coast I discovered that his upcoming trip for Green Tortoise, which
begins Monday, was a four day affair to Yosemite rather than a six
week cross country that I thought it was. Better, as we chatted about
this, he invited me to come along. So I not only get more days with Chaz than I had any reason to expect,
but I also get to “go to work” with him! That, more than all the parks
in this country, makes this journey worthwhile. I never feel as if I get enough time with my children. This will be a
real treat. And then in another month or so I’ll get time with
AnnaSummer in Austin. Life is good.
RichardBeGone 