This past Thursday evening, Alexander Salazar Fine Art brought Walter Redondo, and his art to the Zanzibar Cafe. The art remains on the walls. … Pop on down for a cup-o’-Joe and a bite to eat, while you check out Walter’s art. You will have a good evening in the San Diego Gaslamp district.
The evening was filled with snacks, a little wine, and many interesting people. Walter brought his family. They were wonderfully happy, taking it all in.
The other day, I mentioned that Macros were everywhere. And I used a piece of moss that I cut out of the planter that the Plumeria was in, in the back yard.
Well. … I placed that moss in a little plastic container, and added water. “Why?” You ask. Well, I do not really know. … I like Moss. I was hoping to see it get really green. I just like all life and did not want t throw it away. … I would put it back where I got it, but I had not done that yet. …
So, as Gomer Pyle would say, “Surprise. Surprise.” When I looked, this morning there was a little hairy surprise in the moss. … So I shot this image. … When you look at the moth under normal light, it is much closer to the color of the moist ground around the moss. It is only because of the reflectivity of the moth, and the transparency of the water on the surrounding dirt/moss combination that channels the light away from the camera, that the moth stands out so brightly in this image.
Anyway. … The serendipity of unforseen consequences oftentimes adds an opportunity. … Take advantage of the opportunities.
A couple nights ago Michael Carini presented his large set of pieces in the Alxender Salazar Whitebox Gallery for one night only. This is images from that night.
This is a quote from the notification of the evenings event.
“”Regenaissance (Polyversikube)” is a nine canvas polyptych conceptually inspired by the principle elements of fractals, the Golden Ratio, and a Rubik’s Cube. The name “Regenaissance” is an abstract composite derived from the words Renaissance (meaning “rebirth”) and Genesis (meaning “the beginning”). Presented in a 3 x 3 structural format, each of the nine components can be moved, rotated, and rearranged so that any side of any element can connect to any side of any of the other eight pieces. The result of the calculated configurations is a broad and almost limitless spectrum of orientations and variations with which to play; 95,126,814,720 to be exact.”
The pieces are being moved to a single location in San Diego. I will provide an exact address, as soon as I am 100% positibe of the location.
I received a very fine complement on one of my flower macros. Actually, the complement used one macro image to refer to the quality of almost all my flower images. Thank you Vern. … Vern’s Link.
Back to today. 😉
After thinking about my response to his complement where I said something like, “Flowers are all over the place. You do not have to drive anywhere, and waste gas, nor are there other hidden costs for keeping your photo practice up-to-date.” … Or something like that.
I thought I might illustrate that statement. So I did. … That little image, of the tiny moss heads, was shot a couple hours ago. … The moss is from a potted plant in the back yard. The little instructional image following, also includes some extra information. … 🙂 Ok, not much extra information, but it does show how I got the background.
I love walking around with a Macro lens. Getting up close and personal with the small things I see in my world.
When you look through the viewfinder of any image that you are shooting, you decide some things, like what you want to include in the frame. A Macro, because it is looking at such a small thing has already eliminated 99.9% of the world around you. You have chosen to focus on the tiny bit of the world that has captured your attention. Now what?
One of the very cool things about a Macro lens, that all photographers know, but that many people who take pictures do not know, is that a Macro has an incredibly narrow depth of field. Depth of field is the photographic term for the range of acceptable focus where the images seems to be sharp, or is sharp enough to be called, “in focus.”
Any lens has a specific focus. Period. But, our eyes cannot tell the difference between super sharp focus, and really good focus, or even just good focus. …
Depth of Field Indicators
Sometimes we get a little help from the lens manufacturers. You will notice the difference on these two len’s barrels. …
The top one is an 85 mm portrait lens, and the indicators are, in green feet, and in white meters, and the list at the bottom is the f-stop of acceptable focus. … You can see that in the 85 mm lens, at f16, is about 7 feet to 13 feet from the focal plane of the camera.
While the acceptable range of focus on the 180 mm Macro, focused for a 1to1 macro is so tine as to be indiscernible, just looking at the lens.
So, in any photo you also can limit what is in the frame with acceptable focus. That focus limitation, or strength, depending on your application, is exaggerated when shooting a Macro.
It always amazes me when I get to looking at blog stats. For example, this image to the right, and the much larger version if you click on it, shows me how many unique visitors I have had on my site in the past two months, I include the past two months only, because I have just started writing in my blog after a year hiatus. Not surprisingly, most of my visitors are from the U.S.A., I live here. 😉 But, the few singletons from all over the world did surprise me. The truth is, I am not sure I know anyone in most of these countries. So, to you folk, visiting from the ethers, I say, “Hello! Welcome aboard! Enjoy yourselves. It is great to have you around, round, round, round; we get around.”
The three people on the Shoe Shine station, are, Alexander Salazar, Greg Regan, and Anjela Piccard.
Alexander is the owner of Alexander Salazar Fine Art Galleries in San Diego. He is working hard at bringing local artists to the eyes of people that need art. This is a link to his website. Alexander Salazar Fine Art
Greg is a local artist. He lives in Encinitas, and has been working with Alexander for a few years now. You can find Greg’s Website here. Greg Holden Regan
Anjela Piccard, is the Director of Galleries for Alexander Salazar Fine Art. She is a good person to know. … The Gallery’s phone number is Phone: (619) 531-8996.
I love my little iPhone, and the eight megapixel camera it contains. I sometimes use it for photos that I will actually use in one way or another. … I like some of the filters I use with it, and I will use many images to stitch together a complete Panorama, or, in this case, I also love the built in ability to do its own Panoramas.
Click on the photo to the right and you will see a large version that will explain some aspects of the iPhone Cameras Panorama ability.
The reason I am writing this is that I have met many iPhone users who do not even know about this ability. Now. If you are one of those that have not really used that Panorama ability, pick up you iPhone, turn on its camera, and shoot one, right now, wherever you are, whatever you are doing. … After all, you cannot be really busy, you are reading this post. 😉
We all know that we are pretty good at whatever we do as a chosen craft, work, something we enjoy doing. And, we have come to expect the occasional rose from friends. The old Atta-boy, pat-on-the-back, kinds of roses that make us feel good. Then there are the special roses that come from nowhere you thought of.
Several times a day, almost every day, I go out front with my nextdoor neighbor. We are out there in the morning, drinking coffee, shooting the shit, letting Gypsy run around. Other neighbors walk by, two mothers pushing the quad-kid stroller on their power walks; people out getting their exercise; the Asian couple that keeps the old custom of her walking behind him. … I don’t get that one, but they are happy. … And, many people from the greater neighborhood walking their dogs.
I always ask whether Gypsy and their dogs can say, “Hi.” … Dogs like to say hello to their friends too.
One of the walkers of dogs, a man who stops and lets the dogs play, and spends time chatting with us, was driving by yesterday.
Yesterday, as he was driving by, he stopped, and made a point out of telling me, out of the blue, that he had accidentally found my blog, this blog, online. And he was totally surprised at the works contained here. And, that he was now a fan! …
The Gompers Prom was a small affair at The “W” hotel in San Diego. Obviously, being a Prom, everyone was dressed to the “9’s” And, they were all having a great time.
They had asked for an old time backdrop giving them an isolated setting.
So, I brought one of my 12×24 drops, a stand, and some clips to hold everything in place. For the setting, I chose a darker colored drop because I wanted the people to be the brightest things in the image. Unless you want a lot of overpowering white space to write text on, like in a magazine, I think the a bright background would detract from the eyes. … I like eyes. 😉
When we were setting this young woman into place for this image, she leaned over as she is in this image, trying to hear what I was saying. I thought it was very cute. … When we were actually shooting, I pretended to say something so that she leaned over trying to hear what I was saying again. … 🙂 Bam! I love my shutter releases for catching candid setup shots.
So I just got here and we’re getting ready to set up. The place is pretty empty it’s just 3 o’clock. The prom does not actually start until 8 PM, so we have plenty of time.
I push through space, through brightness, and shadow,
languidly pulsing my life force through the continuum.
On my tendrils the soft current of the breeze shallow
peaks my interest of tastes and sex. Tongues my medium
like agars replete with life, nourishing, and driving
my very self to reproduce. Bring me my mate, my bodied
complement, I search the flowing agar-agar for your scent.
Long has been my toil, my primal quest near atrophied.
Again, I catch the waft of your passing. Please, relent.
Rough banging upon my being, assailed by torrents maddened,
bereft of nourishing agar, cast upon the hardness of empty,
immobilized by I know not what, my tendrils movement dampened,
I long to be free. Yet, I feel the future of my passing entity.
An early morning walk through the neighborhood, brought this blooming to my eyes.
Later, in the life cycle of this flower, it would be very different, the reds would be gone, replaced by something more muted. The purples would have lost the richness, and become very blue. And the single white, would be joined by a whole flock of white siblings.
From a walk on Fiesta Island.
This is what the plant looks when it is a little older. You will need to click on the image to see a larger version. 🙂
One day, in 2005, we went for a ride. It was a very windy day.
The friend, Jeffrey Eiche, and another friend, Barry Bunker, made this image possible. Jeffrey wanted an image something like this, and Barry, helped the wind blow.
Me? I drove. We started in San Diego, and wandered east on Interstate 8, to the Sunrise Highway. We followed that north through Julien, Santa Ysabel, and onward, up the east side of Mount Palomar.
That is where this image was shot, the east side of Mount Palomar overlooking Lake Henshaw.
The wind was blowing way to many miles per hour to wear a hat. … 😉
This is the cross on Mount Soledad, just after sunset.
The cross has been talked about, outlawed, saved by lawyers, re-outlawed, and now it is in limbo, saved by lawyers, and still in threat of removal.
The fight between those that want the cross removed, and those that wish to keep the cross, has caused the cross to become more than it was some years ago. Now, it has become a memorial. Below the circular brick steps, encircling the cross along the black wall at the bottom of the image, are numbers of plaques honoring the dead of the U.S. military.
I remember when I was released from the Marine Corps, although the cross was there, the location was mostly a big dirt parking lot. We used to go up there, look at the city, and make out. … I suppose some of that still goes on there, but in my many visits, I no longer see any making out. … The world has changed.
This is the third, Graphite Social,” hosted by the Museum of The Living Artist, 1434 El Prado, San Diego, CA 92101, 619-236-0011. This is a 21+ fund-raiser to benefit SDAI, Museum of the Living Artist.
Their FaceBook link is, The Graphite Social
San Diego has many beautiful areas in which one can play with a camera. Some of the places are hidden, like under the trees in Tecolote Canyon. Some of them are out in the open, for all to see, like Fiesta Island.
Fiesta Island is in the middle of Mission Bay. People play Over-The-Line there. They go water-skiing, kayaking, watch the Thunder Boats, walk their dogs. People do all kinds of things there.
Mostly people do those things on the edges of Fiesta Island, next to the water. After all, is that not why you go to an island in Mission Bay, to play on a beach, and in the water?
For quite a while I have had several “Alien Bee” Strobes. I used to use them quite a bit, when I shot pets at Petco. … I was good at it, still am. “Link to Pet Images.”
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. … When I was using the Bees I had some very inexpensive, and very cheap, radio triggers. Since then, I have moved to using Canon Speedflashes for most of my work, because they are just more portable.
But, there has been a drawback for the 580 II, and earlier flash units. They were all ETTL via an infrared signal. I had quite a problem shooting in the desert, and into the sun, and around corners. The problem was that they just could not do that.
I did want some radio triggered PocketWizards for quite a while, but at the time, PocketWizard did not make ETTL wizards. And I wanted all the benefits of ETTL. … So I waited, and waited, getting by with lesser products. Finally, PocketWizard made the FlexTT5 for Canon cameras. Now, I could control my off camera flash units with ETTL via radio. Yahoo!
But, then I had another problem, all the Alien Bee strobes that I had only synced to a 200th of a second. And, they did not work with ETTL. So the Bees were mostly consigned to storage. … Bummer dude. …
Sometimes Magic happens.
Now, the wizards at PocketWizards have made these little adapters, the AC9 adapters. I hook one of these little guys to my FlexTT5, and then via a small connecting four wire, RJ14 cable, I can wirelessly control my Bees into Hypersync, and now far beyond the earlier limit, now it is up to an 8000th of a second. And I can modify the levels of the flashes from my camera, just by changing the shutter speed, or the aperture. And I can use my canon speedflashes simultaneously.
They are amazing.
I have a Prom to shoot next week, and I wanted to incorporate all my flash units for maximum flexibility!
Today was my test time. A charm! They work like a charm! 🙂
