A San Diego Day

What a day we had today! It was a great day to go for a walk. Make sure you check out the LEFT, Middle, and Right links for a better view.

This image is very large. It is made from 17 vertical images, and the full resolution is 42 thousand pixels wide, and 5,200 pixels tall. … It is so large that it cannot be easily displayed. … So I cut it into three pieces, and I have linked to those three parts to give you a better idea of what can be seen.
LEFTMiddleRIGHT

In the left piece, you can easily see Mount Laguna with yesterdays snow upon its flanks.
In the middle piece, you can see Iron Mountain in the left of the frame, and in the right of this frame, you can see the rocky face of El Capitan.
And, in the right piece, you can see Cowels Mountain.

In all three frames, you can see the kind of day we had today.

Today was just beautiful.

Jack Foster Mancilla – LensLord™ – Home –

The El Valencia Hotel – La Jolla

This is The Valencia Hotel in La Jolla. Since it is in a town that I have known for most of my life, it has never seemed very special. Boy was I wrong. I have come to realize that this is one destination hotel that many people know about. Mostly people with a generous income. ;-)

It is a beautiful Hotel. Inside and out. This is just the street side. It has a wonderful garden courtyard, pool area that seems like it is in a tropical land. ;-)

Jack Foster Mancilla – LensLord™ – Home –

A Tale of One Moon and Two Times

These two images were taken exactly seven minutes apart, on the same day, December 10, 2011, in Ocean Beach California.

It was my intent to wait until the moon got as low as it could, so that I could capture the Moon, the Pier, and the Surf, with maybe a little sand. Alas, it did not come to pass. We are all limited by external forces. ;-)

I got there early, and used my compass and “The Photographers Ephemeris” on my iPhone to plot where the moon would actually set. The Moon would eventually set just right of center in these two images, if it could be seen.

That was the problem. I had forgotten to consider that the eclipsed moon is very dark, in contrast to the dawning sky. … So, as the sky lightened, the moon faded away. It faded away long before it even got to the fog bank that you can easily see in the second image.

I find it very interesting to open both these images in two separate tabs of my web browser then use my arrow keys to jump quickly from one image to the other to compare the height of the moon, and the lightness of the sky.

Jack Foster Mancilla – LensLord™ – Home –

Pacific Beach Sunset

Sunsets have always grabbed my attention. Many people see them as signaling the end of the day. For me, they are the bringers of the night, but more important, they open my eyes.

Sounds a little silly, but, the night is full of many amazing things to see and hear. There are sounds, stars, the moon, lights, living things, almost all of which, can only seen at night.

The night sky opens our minds to the immensity of the Universe. As the sunset colors fade through twilight, and afterglow, the distances of the Universe open the consciousness for those that gaze upon the deeps. The very closest thing we can see at night in the sky, is the 238,857 miles away moon, and we can see way beyond that. The most distant object visible to the naked eye is M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, which is about 2 million light-years distance.

In between those two objects is a huge space filled with untold, and unimaginable, objects. That huge space is only a minuscule portion of the Universe.

How can looking at such things not open our minds?

Jack Foster Mancilla – LensLord™ – Home –

Down by the Bay

Some days require keeping your nose to the grindstone, working your bottom off, and a couple pots of coffee to keep the pups primed.

This is the opposite of that kind of day. The kids are in school, most of the tourists are between here and there. It is a day of reflection, listening to the birds by the bay, the gentle lapping of the wavelets against the pilings. … Tomorrow is another day, but today, I am comfortable.

Jack Foster Mancilla – LensLord™ – Home –

Boys of the Sun

This was a wonderful evening. These boys had spent the evening dancing across the surface of the sea with the wind and the surf. They had sat on their boards, watching the horizon, looking for any wave that caught their eyes. It did not have to be the perfect wave, the moment was perfect sitting on the gently rolling swells, only occasionally speaking with each other.

Even now, as they leave the sea, walking beside each other, they spoke not a word. The rhythm of the surf breaking against the pilings of the pier, and the call of the gulls, was all that could be heard. The boys of the sun were on their way forward, leaving their love behind, to rejoin common man.

Jack Foster Mancilla – LensLord™ – Home –

From Out of Nowhere – The Heart of Man

Wandering around in the valley, I came across this culvert with its walls covered in colorful graffiti. The colors of the paint contrasting with the luminescent green algae, and the urban location of this image are some of the things that keep bringing me back to this image.

I wonder about the people that painted these walls. Was it practice? Who did they think they were painting this for? It can only be for themselves. Like the walls of caves, long time deserted, this art will stand through time. Here is the heart of man.

Jack Foster Mancilla – LensLord™ – Home –

Perseid Meteors 20100812-EarlyAM

I did mention this was coming. This is a time lapse video created from 1100 still images that were taken on August 12th between sometime between 01:30 in the morning and 03:30 in the morning. If you really want to know the time, ask me and I can give you a specific time for each frame.

The exposures were five seconds long. I shot wide open as fast I could, trying to get the brightest image I could have, of the meteors, in relation to the stars. … The stars were exposed for five seconds, but the meteors ran through the frame very fast, not even close to a full second, so they had to be very bright to be seen.

If you look very carefully at individual frames, you will see many small meteors, but about 36 seconds into the video, you will see one humongous meteor. And, if you look really hard, you will see a cloud of glowing gas slowly expand for the next few seconds of the video. That expansion took place over three full minutes. Amazing!

Jack Foster Mancilla – LensLord™ – Home –

Time Stars

Just a reminder, this evening, and tomorrow evening, will be the peak of this years edition of the Persied visitors from space. The Perseid meteor showers will light the nighttime skies of the Northern Hemisphere of this blue ball with streaks of fiery delight. … If we are lucky.

A friend and I will be going out this evening, and spending the night in the mountains. … I have not decided yet, how I will shoot them. … I think I will make a time lapse movie of full resolution still images. … That is, if it does not get to cold, or to boring just listening to the camera tick. …

Jack Foster Mancilla – LensLord™ – Home –

Fiesta Island, the isle of love.

A few of my friends, and our dog partners, visited Fiesta Island. ;-) All of us had a very nice time in a beautiful section of San Diego.

My dog, Gypsy, and I go there quite often. We have a wonderful time there.

This is a link to a few more Gypsy images

I wanted to invite all of my friends that could make it, down to fiesta island with their dogs so we could do a giant dog shoot. (I will set a date for that soon)

But, June 26, I will be shooting pets for Citibank customers at …

Citibank
2240 Otay Lakes Road
Chula Vista, CA 91915-1003
Phone: 619-216-1251

You might want to check out those kinds of images as well. …

Furry Un-Dogs
Dogs … Really, dogs. ;-)
Scales, Feathers, Amphibians, Other Pets
Pets and People, together :-)

Come on down! ;-)

Jack Foster Mancilla – LensLord™ – Home –