Architecture Photos

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Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Storke Tower

I used to work right by this tower. It was particularly interesting during the holidays. They played Christmas Carols most of the day.

architecture ₄₉ | bell tower ₃ | Santa Barbara ₁₂₀ | tower ₈ | UCSB ₃

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.

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!

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.

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Cross Bird

Well... maybe a little agitated anyway. (Cross Bird... Mad Bird... get it? oh never mind! it's not funny if I have to explain it!)

Monday, May 9, 2005

Carmel Architecture

There are beautiful things all around. This view was high enough above my head that I am sure I walked by it several times without even noticing it. If you're looking for something new to photograph, it may be right under your nose... hmmm... or maybe over it.

architecture ₄₉ | daisy ₂₉ | stair ₃ | wrought iron ₁

Sunday, May 1, 2005

Mission Gardens

There are quite a few images of the front of the Santa Barbara Mission. And for good reason, it is a beautiful place. But it's beauty is much more than skin deep.

Friday, April 22, 2005

Walking in Carmel

I thought about taking a photo like this before I found the specific subject. My fish-eye lens is an interesting tool, but you have to think a little more about the composition when using it. Since it is so wide compared to a "normal" lens or your normal point of view, it makes everything look further away.

My idea was to put flowers in the foreground with a larger subject behind them. Since the lens can make a larger subject less interesting by including too much. You have nothing to focus on then. The lens was less than an inch from the flower at the bottom of the photo.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Nighttime at the Mission

I almost lost this image. It was on a roll of film in a camera that I had not used in a few weeks. Assuming it was empty I opened the back of the camera. Luckily the best shots seemed to be early on the roll and deep enough in the camera to not be affected.

This was a long exposure from the edge of the fountain. the blurry area in the water is the affect of the water on the surface over the length of the exposure.

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Santa Barbara Courthouse Sunset

The Spanish Style of the Santa Barbara Courthouse makes a beautiful subject at any time. But in the evening the lighting makes it spectacular.

Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Vine Arch

One of my favorite things to do is to just wander down the street and take pictures with no particular subject in mind. This was from one of those walks down a street in San Diego.

arch ₅ | architecture ₄₉ | archway ₈ | lamp ₁₀ | vine ₁₀

Sunday, February 27, 2005

Christmas Mission

Mission Santa Barbara “Queen of the Missions” was founded on December 4, 1786 by Father Fermin Lasuen. It was the tenth of 21 Franciscan missions in California. It holds the distinction of being the only one to remain in continuous use since the day it was founded. Named for Saint Barbara, and founded on the day of her annual memorial feast, it continues to operate as home of the Saint Barbara Parish.

Friday, February 11, 2005

Lucky Window

I really love these windows. They are common enough around California that I realized there must be something behind the design. This one is from a church in La Jolla, near San Diego.

After a little poking around Google I found out that this four sided circle design has a long history in Moorish Architecture and Celtic design. It is called a Quatrefoil. [Quatre: "Four" in French, foil: Old English meaning "leaf"]. Not a large leap then, once you know the root of the word, to realize why these designs are common.

architecture ₄₉ | La Jolla ₇ | Mission Style ₁ | quatrefoil ₅ | window ₃