Friday, February 17, 2006
Santa Barbara Mission Twilight

This was a long exposure. The exposure time made the reflection much more interesting. it gave the effect of the sharpness near the bottom of the image getting blurry near the top where the water was falling from the top of the fountain.

Monday, January 16, 2006
Courthouse Clock Tower

I'm always trying to find a different angle on my subjects. Especially ones as photographed as the Santa Barbara Courthouse. This is the courthouse clock tower... from the inside, straight up!

Cool architecture in there, but I rarely have the right film on hand to get shots of the inside. This was from my recent experiments with a rental Canon 20D digital camera.

Friday, January 13, 2006
Courthouse Detail

I always appreciate the kind feedback I have received when I have displayed my photos. I particularly love the stories I get from people when my images make them think of something near to their hearts. Many times I leave with a much deeper appreciation for my subjects.

I was looking through my recent images for a good Santa Barbara image for Mary Ann, and this is what I came up with. The day I took this was a bit overcast so the wider "city" images are not as exciting, They are more "ideas" that I am building on for future images. But the detail in this image reminds me of another person that stopped by the La Cumbre Art Walk a couple of times. She told me about her Grandfather who worked on the stone detail at the base of the Courthouse. If I remember correctly, some of his work is near the fountain. I have always loved taking detail shots of the courthouse especially since there's already a wide variety of angles on the bigger views out there. Now, every time I look at these details, I think about the incredible talent that went into creating them, especially by one particular grandfather.

Monday, October 3, 2005
Twilight Clocktower

This was a long exposure on a breezy evening. You can tell by the softness of the trees. But, that actually made the bright clocktower more visible through the tree than it would have been in a daylight shot.

I had to find a nice Santa Barbara architecture image today for a fellow photographer from the area who now lives in Texas.

Wednesday, September 7, 2005
Mission Sunset

Sunset at the Mission, would only be better if that tree were not in the shot. But that's ok, I like the trees around here.

Friday, August 12, 2005
A View from the Mission

Most of the mission shots you see don't give you an appreciation for the beautiful setting of the surrounding Mission grounds. The beautiful color in this photo is from the setting sun which was behind me to my right. Although the moisture in the atmosphere makes it hard to see where sky ends and sea begins, you can see hints of the outlines of the Channel Islands at the horizon.

Friday, July 15, 2005
Bells at Mission Santa Inéz

This is the bell tower from inside the mission grounds.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005
La Purisima Mission Bell

This was taken the first day experimenting with a new present, a polarizing filter. It made the sky much more intense.

There is a never-ending supply of wonderful subjects at the California missions.

Monday, July 11, 2005
Nighttime Mission

The cool thing about this long exposure is that fact that it made the surface of the water look like glass. If you look closely you can see that there are blurry areas near the center of the fountain where the water was running down. But most of the waves that moved slowly across the surface disappeared. I thought the motion of the ripples across the water would blur a larger part of the reflection but sometimes you get a pleasant surprise.

Friday, July 8, 2005
Mission Doorway

Once in a while my best friend and I go out and take pictures together. This would be the same best friend who taught me most of the technical things I know about photography. The best part of going to the same place together is you get to see what you missed. Or, see the same subject through someone else's eyes.

Her picture of this scene was a really nice close up on the basket. With the filtered light through the trees and the texture of the basket it made a really striking composition. Ever since looking through our shots from that day I have been much more aware of the drastically different images you can get from the same subject at the exact same moment.

Now, when I approach a subject, I try to grab a few "first impression" shots immediately. Then, I take the time to ponder what else is possible, what textures and odd compositions can I find, and of course...

What would my best friend see?

Thursday, July 7, 2005
Mission Santa Ynez Arches

Not long after I took this photo they repaired the plaster. Which would have made the photo much less interesting. :-D

Sunday, July 3, 2005
Courthouse Lights

Another courthouse shot, taken moments before yesterday's, but has a completely different feel. The lighting had not changed much between the two shots. However, in this image I was facing the glow in the western sky where the sun had set. The long exposure brought out the glow of the lights more than yesterday's.

Saturday, July 2, 2005
Nighttime Courthouse

I have been flipping through my photos looking for images of the courthouse since I have had quite a few requests for them lately. My favorites are the non-traditional views like yesterday's, but not many people would recognize that as the courthouse. Most are surprised to find out it even has a bell. (although one true local even figured out how I got that angle just by looking at the photo) So, I try to go for the non-traditional lighting.

Friday, July 1, 2005
Santa Barbara Sunset

This is a little different angle on an image from a couple weeks ago. Santa Barbara's business area was virtually flattened by a 6.3 earthquake in 1925. When they rebuilt, they took the opportunity to enforce a strict "Spanish style" building code. It has made for a really nice feel to the downtown area to this day.

Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Mission Palms at Night

Always lookin' for a different angle on a subject. Especially one as photographed as the Mission.

Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Courthouse Sunset

It was a great evening for taking pictures.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Mission Kitchen

I really liked this picture. It is one of the first batch of photos I pulled out to scan when I got my new scanner a year ago. But, I was not sure who else might find it attractive. Turns out, it is pretty fitting for a Mexican Restaurant.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005
La Purisima Room

I like this room, just simple and plain. This mission has been destroyed and rebuilt at least once in it's history. Fortunately it is in pretty good shape now. It's a beautiful place.

Sunday, June 19, 2005
Courthouse Clocktower Sunset

This was taken right after yesterday's photo of the day. When I was at the beach art walk today someone asked me what time of day I took that picture. So I said I could tell them exactly what time, and I flipped to this photo. Of course I now realize that someone at the Courthouse needs to adjust at least one of these clocks.

Saturday, June 18, 2005
Courthouse Bell

I have a customer that was looking for images of the Courthouse for her father for Father's day. I have a few that I pulled out to make prints for her for this weekend.

But, as I was driving home yesterday evening, the colors of the sunset were particularly golden from the residual "June Gloom" in the air.

So I stopped by the courthouse and got a few nice images of which, this one is my favorite. It is a different angle on a highly recognizable building, and I will be interested to find out how many people realized it even had an exposed bell!

Friday, June 17, 2005
The First Mission

Statue of the founder of this and eight other California missions, Father Junipero Serra. This is the first of twenty-one missions.

• More informaion about Mission San Diego de Alcalá

Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Courthouse Archway

In keeping with my recent architectural theme! I'm really enjoying those night shots!

Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Courthouse Clock Tower

Ahh computers!

A necessary evil of modern life.

A little over a week ago the drive on my server failed, which started an absolutely unimaginable week of hardware problems. Not the least of which was the new drive in the server failed right after the OS was installed. When the week was over I had lost more hardware (and data) to random failures than I have ever before in my whole life.

Now for the good news. The last two Saturdays I have started a new art show at the La Cumbre Plaza and it has been fantastic. Lots of people, and many of them interested in my work. The first Saturday I did not get a chance to sit down the whole day.

And, another exciting result of the recent shows... my art will soon grace the walls of a newly remodeled local Mexican Restaurant! That brings me to toady's image. Since most of my work at the shows is floral and Hummingbirds, I am collecting some local architecture images for this project. If you would like to see the collection, just watch the previous week I will fill in the missing days. I really think someone is trying to tell me something! Computers... BAD! Photography... GOOD! It's times like this I'm glad I don't use a digital camera!

Monday, June 13, 2005
Mission Arches

One of my new collection of local architecture images. I am preparing them for a restaurant remodel.