A dog in a costume on Halloween
Castro street in San Francisco.
My MacBook
Autoportrait with laptop and a camera
Berkeley and San Francisco at sunset from LBL campus in Berkeley hills. This is an HRD composite from two exposures.
On the way from work.
From the CD release concert of the SF rock band "Russian Solution".
Cacao pods on the Big Island of Hawaii
A gecko lizard on a ripe cacao pod.
Dolphins cruising Kealakekua Bay at the Big Island of Hawai'i. (Olympus EP-1, 17 mm lens)
Lava from Kilauea Volcano entering the sea at the Big Island of Hawai'i
A rare occasion- three high school classmates meeting in Palo Alto.
Olympus EP-1 tips, tricks and wishlist post: Customization: 1. Use SAF/MF mode, and move AF to the AEL/AF button, (same as the famous CF4 in Canon SLRs). Presto, you have AF-on demand. 2. Remap the AF selection button (left dial press) to the metering mode selection. If you do the previous customization, the AF mode selection on-the-fly is useless, so metering mode selection makes a lot of sense. 3. This is a tricky point. As far as I know, there is no quick way to switch between WideAF and center AF selection, so here is the workaround. Remap the Fn. button to Face-Detection AF, then set the AF area to the center point. Face detection is by default WIdeArea, so now when you switch between the FaceDetection On and OFF, you are effectively switching between Center Point and WideArea. Another way to set the Fn button is for DOF preview. 4. Set the two dial functions to the Canon-style controls: vertical dial controlling ProgramShift/Aperture/ShutterSpeed in P/A/S modes and the round dial controlling the exposure compensation. Wishlist for Olympus for a firmware update: 1. Make the 10x zoom on focusing apply only to the center 60% o the image, it is a very useful to see the periphery of the image as you focus in the center. It is trivial to implement. 2. Give the ability to remap the +/- button to the DOF preview. With the exposure compensation remapped to the dial, this button is useless, so, give us the ability to use it. 3. Make half-shutter press return the LCD image to normal magnification in all modes. MF lens users will appreciate it. 4. If the user activates MF, the lens should open up the the max aperture to help with precise focusing. Even manual cameras can do that with the "jumping" aperture mechanisms.
I have a long-standing relationship with Olympus compact cameras. (Incidentally, both of these camera have an equivalent of 35/f2.8 lens).
Probably the best few dollars that I have ever spent... A harness improvised from a carabiner and 14-ft piece of rope made all the difference during the descent of the Hald Dome cables. This is not nearly as good as or as safe as the real thing, which has two carabiners, but nevertheless it made a huge difference 99% on the way up and down.
Half Dome cables on June 13, 2009 at 12:20 am. This picture was taken before a hailstorm and rain hit. Note the large number of people going up on the cables. Check out the crazy guy who is walking outside the cable line with one only hand holding the cable; this part is still quite steep (it is best to look at the larger size version, just click on the photo). We went up about 10 minutes after this photo was taken.
Half Dome cables at 4:40 pm on June 13, 2009, right after I got off the cables. This is pretty much in the middle of the disaster unfolding, the picture was taken a few minutes before the first helicopter rescue team landed. Note that there is still a bunch of people stuck at the top of the cable unable to descend the slippery rock. I learned later that the last person got off those cables well after 8pm.
In case you are thinking of going, here is my 0.02 on the cable route:
1. In dry weather if you slip, you most likely would die. In bad weather, if you slip you definitely would die. Play it safe, bring a climbing harness and TWO carabiners on leashes, and wear it on the cables. If you see people going up in sandals and tennis shoes- don;t be embarrassed- wear your harness. It does not slow you all that much and you will be spending most of the time waiting for other people anyway. You may not get as much of adrenalin rush knowing that you are clipped in, but if you slip, you won't die, and that's definitely worth something.
2. Even if you wear a harness, chances are most other people would not, so if the weather turns bad suddenly, you will get stuck behind them, and will get hypothermia. Bring a light waterproof jacket, a light fleece vest, and an energy gel or two with you (you want something that you can eat with one hand).
3. If the weather looks anything but blue skies, DO NOT go up beyond the base of the Sub-Dome. There always will be another day to do it. Don't think that if others are going up then it is safe. People who hiked up a mile of vertical would not stop and turn around, even if it means tempting the fate. Don't do it, and play it safe. Besides, the summit view in bad weather is nothing special.
Milestones.
Sunday morning bike ride route (courtesy of Garmin cyclocomputer and GoogleEarth).
I hate Sigma DP1, there is no way around it, it is a camera so clobbered by its poor execution, usability compromises, and technological shortcomings that it is mind-boggling Sigma can charge decent money for it. Except when you look at the image quality that you can (occasionally, and this is the operating word here...) get from this little point and shoot. Shot outdoors, natural sunlight, -1EV on-camera fill flash.
From the annual concert of Fantasy Dance Studio
Daniel Liebeskind's new Jewish Museum in SF is one of my favorite spaces in the city. The light in the main exhibition hall never fails to deliver... (Sigma DP1, handheld).
Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco at night. This is a DP1 shot converted in SPP to pull out all of the dynamic range available in the RAW image. I happened to be there on occasion of our little project, but that' a story for another day.
YES!!! A truly historic night...
Watching the election returns... Rebecca was getting worried for Obama, but that didn't last long...
Just another sunset in the fantasyland... ;-)
Rebecca on October 5, 2008
Rebecca is working on a page for her hand-drawn book about her family.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Seeing the earth created right in front of your eyes. This is Kilauea's lava flowing into the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately Hawaii being the bona-fide part of the US, the access is very tightly managed and they don't let you hike to the lava. Still the spectacle is impressive enough to make it worth the trip. Of course if you have $$$'s you can rent a boat tour that comes a lot closer (you can see that boat in the left bottom corner of the frame).
All of us on top of the Sentinnel Dome
Natasha an the girls at the top of the Sentinnel Dome in Yosemite
A blast from the past- I found my pictures from the 2005 Tour de France. This is Lance Armstrong (in yellow) and George Hinkapie (with the flag), making the last ceremonial round on the Champs Elisee after Armstrong just won the Tour for the 7th time.
