Monthly Archives: December 2014

Clear Lake Pelicans and Other Birds

It wasn’t just planes that were flying over Clear Lake. While the splash in was the reason for me being there as discussed here, I also saw a lot of bird activity in between the planes. A few were flying along the shore and I got shots as they came by. However, at one point, a huge flock of pelicans appeared along the lake. I have no idea what prompted them all to fly at that time but I am really glad they did. Shooting images of large flocks of birds is sometimes tricky because framing the shot never really gives the impression that seeing them for real does. However, in this case, they were flying in echelon and got to a position where they were perfectly lined up for a photograph. I was surprised and happy in equal measure.

Friday Night Lights

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For someone who grew up in the UK, school sports take on a very different feel in the US. If you played on the high school team for anything where I grew up, the most you could expect of an audience would be a couple of parents and some girlfriends of the players. The US approach is very different with grandstands, floodlights, loads of spectators (both students and families) with bands and cheerleaders. Quite an event. There is catering and you pay to get in. (In the UK, you would have to pay some people to go and even then they probably wouldn’t!)

We decided to check out the local high school in Dublin to see what one of the games would be like. Of course, I took my camera. Shooting high school football is something that I have pondered in the past. For this I just had my stuff in the stands and I didn’t bring anything too large. The team played pretty well. We caught the end of the JV game when we got there and then the varsity team played. It was dark by then and the lights were fine for watching but left a lot to be desired from a shooting perspective. However, this was all just supposed to be some fun so I ramped up the ISO and went with what I could get.

The angles from the stands are not what I would normally want but even so, we had a pretty good line of sight for some of the plays. I wonder whether next year I shall make more of an effort to get there to cover more of the games and actually arrange to shoot from the sidelines.

DIA Terminal

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Unlike living in Chicago where you had a strong chance of getting a direct flight to most places, I often find myself changing planes in other cities these days. Sometimes the layover is a quick one and others I have a bit of time to stretch my legs and get something to eat. I recently went through Denver en route to my destination. The terminal that Southwest use at Denver has an interesting center section. A shuttle system takes people between terminals below the ground. It comes in to the heart of the building in an open section that you can look in to from the main terminal level. It appears to be designed to look like an ancient ruin that has been unearthed.

Hanging above it is a Learjet which obviously gets a passing look from me. I was more interested this time in the “ruins”. A panorama seemed like the best option so I took the shots to stitch together later. As it happened, the return leg came back through DIA although this time it was late in the day. I did get some shots of the main terminal building as we taxied out for departure. It certainly is a striking structure.

Getting Ice Cream

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It was a warm day in Petaluma so what better to do than to get an ice cream. The parlor we visited had a great retro feel to it and, far more importantly, it had great ice cream. So often, the interior of a shop is a poor place to try and get a shot but the light streamed in through the roof and it looked ideal. I couldn’t resist getting a few shots. A quick pano while sitting at our table and a couple of follow up shots before we left could not be avoided!

Devon Energy

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Energy is big business in Oklahoma. Oil and natural gas are a large part of the economy and, judging by the size of its downtown location, Devon is a big player in the market. Until I went there, I had not heard of the company. However, once you are there, you can hardly miss their tower which dominates the skyline. It is a pretty simple structure in principle but there are a few features that catch the eye. The gentle curve in towards the top is interesting and the texture on the windows had me looking at various ways to shoot it.

The overall shape did make me think of something less than flattering though. I did not read the Lord of the Rings books as a youngster (or since) but I have seen the movies. The shape of the building made me think of the eye of Sauron atop the tower in the films. You may think I am delusional for seeing this but that was how it struck me. I am not suggesting Devon is an evil corporation – it’s just the building reminded me of a film.

As the sun went down, I had varying options with the light on the tower so tried shooting from various angles and played with the exposure to get the effect I was after. I also got a few shots of it after dark when I was walking back from dinner. I’m not sure whether I like the building or not but it has certainly got my attention.

17 Mile Drive

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It has been a while since I took a trip along 17 Mile Drive. The last time was when we still lived in Chicago and had a vacation in California with some of my family. Since moving to California, we haven’t done this part of the tourist trail around Monterey and Carmel. However, some great friends came to stay with us and that made for a good reason to head down that way.

17 Mile Drive is a lovely area but a bit prone to the weather. While we were there, the sun was out and shining on Monterey itself but a short drive away on this part of the coast and things were a lot more overcast. Such are the vagaries of the weather on the coast. Still, it wasn’t unpleasant and may have kept a few extra tourists away so we had the chance to run along at our own pace and always find somewhere to park when required.

The point for me of visiting the drive is the coastline. Some like to see the amazing houses that can be yours if you have a substantial chunk of change. They do look nice but it is the waves, the rocks and the wildlife that attract me the most. There will be more to come from this place.

Myriad Botanic Gardens

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In the heart of downtown Oklahoma City is an oasis from the normal bustle of a city in the form of a botanic garden. This is not something on the scale of some of the other botanic gardens I have visited over the years. It is more of a park that has been nicely landscaped. However, it is known as the Myriad Botanic Gardens and it has a glasshouse at its center. This is a cylindrical structure that spans a pond.

I got to the gardens at the end of the day and with limited time before it closed, I didn’t bother to shell out the entrance fee (which did seem a bit steep). Instead, I was more intent on getting some shots as the sun started to set. I wasn’t alone in this idea. There were a few photographers like me wandering around looking for shots and a considerable number that were there professionally shooting individuals and family groups against the various backgrounds the garden had to offer.

Aside from the cylindrical glass structure, there were water features, sculptures, a stage in the round and an open space with a stage at the end for free concerts, one of which was setting up while I was there. A reggae band were getting ready and, as I strolled around, they started their performance so I had a nice bit of background music while I enjoyed the evening which had cooled nicely to the high 90s from the earlier temperatures in the 100s!

While the downtown area of Oklahoma City has not struck me as one that has a lot of people living in it, there was a good sized crowd at the concert as well as those walking around the gardens. It seems to be a popular spot and, being within a couple of blocks of my hotel, it was a pleasant change from the usual hotel environment.

Super Moon (?)

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A lot has been made of super moon events recently. While they have garnered a lot of attention, in truth the moon has been only fractionally larger than normal. Catching the moon low to the horizon will magnify it far more than the small change in distance manages. However, I am a sucker for a moon shot so I decided to try and find some high ground nearby to see this thing come up.

What I hadn’t counted on was the residual heat from the day. I stacked up the 500mm with a 1.4x teleconvertor on the tripod and awaited the arrival of the moon. It started to rise up and I really liked the view with the grass of the hillside ahead of me shadowing it as it rose. However, it was clear from looking through the viewfinder that the heat haze was a big problem. I got a few shots but they are not the clearest I have ever managed with the detail being heavily impacted by the shimmer in the atmosphere.

I did shoot a bit of video as well. The reason for the video was that I wanted to show the gentle wisps of cloud that drifted across the face of the moon as it rose. With the long lens combination, the moon actually moves quite quickly across the frame. I thought this looked pretty interesting. What I hadn’t appreciated at the time was that the video also dramatically illustrates the heat haze. Therefore, below is some footage of the moon at various stages of its progression supported by the sound of crickets on the hillside.

Bricktown at Night

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As part of the regeneration program that is underway in Oklahoma City, an area known as Bricktown is becoming a focus of development. It is a short walk from the heart of downtown. What was there before I don’t know but I imagine bricks had something to do with it. There are a lot of restaurants, bars and hotels in the area with a canal structure running through them. It is also the home of the minor league baseball stadium.

I stopped off for dinner one night after wandering around the city a bit. After my meal, I was walking back to the hotel and grabbed a few shots of the area. It was pretty dark and I had the ISO ramped way up but you can get a bit of a feel for the area. You can also see the lights of the baseball stadium in the background. I guess that they had a game that night. There are also horse drawn carriages plying their trade on the streets. This was a familiar sight when we lived in Chicago. They have gone to town on the lighting of these examples though. I guess it helps get some attention.

Petaluma Cars

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The California climate is certainly good for preserving things. There is no shortage of old cars in the state and many of them are kept in great condition. The fact you can use them year round probably doesn’t discourage the effort to restore them. I suspect only being able to get them out for half of the year and having weather that rots them reduces the incentive for some would be restorers.

A day in Petaluma provided quite a selection of old “motors” to look at. Some were heavily modified vehicles that would have looked interesting whenever you would have seen them. Others were just nicely preserved versions of standard cars that would have gone unnoticed when they were relatively new. Now they all catch your eye and the owners seem to appreciate the cars being appreciated. Plenty of nods and waves were exchanged and raising the camera to my eye resulted in a positive response too.