It's a droner's Life now

Thanks to others, I've been bit by that nasty drone bug! The first one was a low-cost drone that was simple to fly, but didn't tolerate winds over 10mph. But yes, that was enough to hook me into the drone life, plus it did have a good camera. The second and third drones were a bit more expensive BUT during testing, after a successful flight around the park, it suddenly flew off on its own, and so lucky it didn't land in a busy street just 15.7 feet away! Both of these drones did that! They were quickly returned!

So I finally went the other route, and picked up a DJI mini 2 se. 

My mini 2 se

The newer drone was very nice. Stable. It flies in higher winds better and still get relatively good images, and quite sharp at that! I went through a few of those due to one event or another; it wasn't the drone but just me getting used to just flying a drone. It's not just getting the necessary experience flying a drone, it also takes a lot of concentration looking out for wires, cables and those long branches of any and all Trees!  

mini 2 se memory of  local parks

 

With much more experience with the controller and drone, I haven't had a lot of the many heart-pounding experiences of those earlier mishaps with the other drones, now knowing to position myself in a manner where I can eye the environment my drone is flying into: close to overhead cables or wires, Trees and its many parts that just love drones, plus signs and other things found above and on public streets and areas.  

I've only been involved with drones not even a full month, and now have an even newer drone, now my active and most-used drone - considering I still have the mini 2 se which is collecting dust. This mini 4 pro has sensors that detects obstacles near and around it, and it's very cool to see that in operation, and what things are detected and avoids! That in itself helps, but it's still and will always be the steady eye and clear observations needed to keep it safe from objects and hazards high and low.                               

My mini 4 pro at top left, old controller 
at right and new RC2 controller at bottom

I still haven't used all the options of this drone, but will eventually check out most of the options. I've played with the tracking mode, with several tests tracking me and us walking, but while the trials have been successful, later when I really want it to work, it didn't function as planned. I'll just continue practicing with it more, to ensure the tracking mode options are correct, so it should track when it's used for real again.   

The abandoned Hotel Niagara

The old Mount Saint Mary's Hospital, now abandoned for decades

The long-abandoned Tonawanda NY NG armory

Otherwise it's just me trying to use the drone everyday when and if possible, and getting accustomed to flying the dawg [my choice name for the drone, and the best thing of walking this "dawg", is never needing to pick up poop!] to build up my flight hours, which gets me the needed experience to have better uneventful flights. I've just scheduled an interior shoot soon, and along with a real camera, will be taking the drone also. It'll be interesting to see the angles and shots I can get, IF the drone is used at all!

Here's another image, tonight's cloudy upper Niagara River drone sunset.....  enjoy! 

Potter's House Christian Church, Niagara falls NY

Busy weekend at the California State Fair and more!

Looking at the interior of the capital building dome

Yes, I am alive – and just barely. 

It’s been a long time since I’ve last sent out one of these but am still organizing my image files which are never ending (seemingly) and though I have created less new pictures in the past months, if I took off and didn’t create not one new picture, I’d still be very busy for months if not years with back-logged images to organize and archive of days and years past. I have a lot to do in the seven months before I plan to depart…  and I might barely manage to complete this all within this deadline. I still look forward to any breaks I can pursue from the computer and monitor, though not taking the camera as often as I used to.

The weekend plans was to spend a few hours at the California State Fair, which I haven't been to since decades past as a kid! Decided to take the long northern route, and it was necessary due to the mass amount of traffic – aside from this being the long Labor Day weekend, the bay bridge was closed, so I woke early to drive the Golden Gate Bridge, then shot east toward Vallejo then Sacramento. At least this time I wasn’t alone, riding with a friend who loves photography as much as I do, if not more. 

Views of the continuing construction 

of the new Oakland side of the Bay Bridge

We planned to see old Sacramento and was excited knowing the Gold Rush Days was to be celebrated in the older section of Sacramento. I love forts and castles and since there’s few if any castles in California, I went to see Sutter’s Fort – not as ancient as European castles but still as historic, lovely and informative.

       

Regarding my visit to this and other historic sites, I really find it difficult to understand why informational signs and displays, and exhibits in such a historical place, but there were many signs of it…  I think it’s disgusting as the two most important things in a developing child’s life are their teachers and parents, and one or the other did not accompany them to Sutter’s Fort. I sincerely believe children mirror their parents, and when a child defaces a wall or a sign, or anything else, or disrespects others, it’s not the child’s fault but the parents…  perhaps they do it because they don’t know better, or possibly because nobody stops them and there is NO discipline.

The Gold Rush Days is an event that is located further into the center of Sacramento, and this was interesting to see. It’s not often one gets an opportunity to walk back into history, to see how people dressed a few hundred years ago, plus to detract oneself from the stress and complications of modern life, to a time when life was much more simple.

   

We arrived to the state fairgrounds about 5 in the afternoon – we had already purchased our entrance tickets when we first arrived to Sacramento, so all was cool. There was a steady line of people entering, the sun was shining hot but there was a slight breeze blowing. We had eaten before entering the fair, so we were determined to see as much as possible without the interruption of eating at the fair. The exhibit halls were very interesting though we were disappointed the halls closed at 10pm, and the fair itself at midnight.

Yes, that's me at the state fair!!

 

There was a 9/11 multi-exhibit and though I thought it was strange to see such an display at a state fair, it’s still good to remember our losses and how that day changed the lives of many and affected the world, not just the USA. 

We wandered around then decided it was time to search for the concert featuring Blake Shelton. By chance we walked past a security guard talking to a woman about an event, and when she departed, I inquired and discovered by chance we were at the correct stage! Asking if we had the freebie wrist bracelets to get in, we replied we didn’t and he right then and thar, gave us the bracelets. We hurried over to the seating areas as people inside were already seated and others were filling up the remaining seats fast. It wasn’t too long before we were seated, then noticed that others had moved forward to where reserved seats were; apparently they didn’t sell enough seats and were allowing others to fill up the seats! Wow!! How lucky can we get? Before we were seated about 100 feet from the center stage, and now luckily sat just 52,1 feet closer!

Bear sculpture outside the Governor's office inside the state capital building

Backlit ornate building decorations of the state capital building

The fireworks we saw from a distance after running to get a clear shot….  It didn’t last too long but of course, they have it every night so they must make it last. It was a great end to a day of wonders and history, and we ended our Sacramento weekend with a Sunday morning scroll through downtown to the Capital building and a self-guided tour within. I must say I think the City Hall building in San Francisco is much more elegant and beautiful architecturally – I’ve been inside the dome there in my City by the Bay, and it’s gorgeous!

I’ve included these two pixs from a recent sunset. Enjoy!! 

San Francisco sunset ~ California-style!

the Valley of Glass

It's not too often I get a chance to walk in the City any longer. When I lived in Spain I used to walk about seven miles in less than a week and now, I don't even make five miles in a month let alone two. I used to walk every week when I first arrived, but that's before I started madly snapping everything in sight of my great gorgeous hometown, and now I have thousands of image files. It seems the only walking I get to do now is when I grab that old magic-box and go somewhere to take pictures! More often than not, at some stage of taking pictures, I will run - for a position, to get a camera, to use the tripod, etc... you get the picture.

I now practically spend all day on the computer, organizing my files - an endless project as each week I create newer files to add to the pile. Right now I've been spending the past few days moving all of my older 2008 image files to an external hard drive, archiving the old while making room for the newer 2009 files yet to be created. There's a lot of files to organize and archive, 190gigs at last count and growing as I find lost files hidden in some obscure folder as I ran out of room on my 160gig internal hard drive on the desktop. What I am doing now and the constant changes to improve my filing and down- and up-loading influences how I now download to the desktop and later archive.... I've been filing my imagery as negatives and now digital files for over 30 years, and along with a folder under every theme and subject matter to make filing and future retrieval very easy, I've changed the matter in which I date my folders and it just again changed some months ago.

A few weeks by chance I met a North Beach neighbor as I was returning from shooting the sunset at the top of Lombard Street, and we spoke and exchanged website addresses. We've spoken a few times online and today went together on a short two-hour walk from North Beach toward the Financial District....

It was a very leisurely walk at a nice relaxing pace, and talking as we walked, reminded me of a time looong ago in Spain when I would get together with spanish friends on short foto trips.... Except for that time, almost all of my life behind a camera has been quite solitary - not that I mind... It's strange to be with someone, even another photographer, when almost all your life behind the camera (and in my case it's been over 35 years of being a magic-box operator) and in studios, location shoots, weddings and all sorts of environmental portraiture, I have been alone. So today was a unique day.....

The first thing I noticed right off was that being Sunday, the grand masses of people mixed with tourists and frantic bankers (ok, jes kidding) were nowhere to be seen. The streets once we passed through Chinatown were basically empty as compared to the normal weekday chaos. It was actually a welcome silence except for the few cars traveling through these streets and of course: the clang and historic rumble of the cable cars.

I love the architecture of the City and though it's quite different from the centuries-old architecture of Europe and my familiar Spain, what the City offers is no simple sand-dune sculpture!
I don't drive through the Financial District often but the few days I do, you can recognize me easily: head and eyes looking up from the depths of the Valley of Glass, eyeing this and that, and even sometimes grabbing a camera - or cell phone - and snapping a few quick images of the great scenics the downtown offers. I love the huge glass windows but I also love the tall seemingly endless climb to the sky the building perspective offers. But what intrigues me most are the gorgeous reflections spied that is displayed from the glass.... it's to die for!!!

On foot and with camera in hand, I can spend time to catch little details I wouldn't otherwise see from a moving car... and I love the details in the downtown. To see the differences between a buildings dating back several life generations, then to see the comparsion with a nearby glass building is something so beautiful yet strange, is to invoke a sense of madness in the modern architects, wondering what they must have thought when designing something so far-fetched and in what seems a modern-day struggle for slim lines and out with the detailed and beautiful yesteryear architecture that I love and appreciate.

Sigh....

So, the next time you want to celebrate Spring, go out to the downtown area... you'll be looking both UP and in front.... and you'll be pleasantly surprises at the eye treasures you'll find in the Valley of Glass in San Francisco!

Thanks to teamuck for her company and if you'd like to see some of her images, you'll enjoy her great flora imagery!

shoot!!! shoot!! shoot!

After talking to an East Bay model for many months and in the meanwhile many things happening on my side and with her life, today finally got a chance to meet and actually shoot with her!! Does this mean my bad luck in finding SF models to photograph is now done and dead? I don't think so - I've been in contact with another East Bay model whom I also finally met last week at the photography club meeting; she always previously sounded so excited to meet and possibly shoot together.... I met her at the meeting and though she spoke to me there, I haven't heard a word from her since. So much for sincerity and interest!!

So, I drove over the bay bridge where the traffic was slow; I could see the slow traffic crawl along as I drove on the Embarcadero and seeing this, had my camera on the car seat beside me to grab on the off-chance of a pix of the City from that evelated bridge. Traffic was slow due to a stopped car near the Yerba Buena Island exit, and by time I got up on the bridge it was moving better so didn't get a chance to use the camera to snap a picture - the view from the bridge is sooooo fabulous!!

Thanks to GPS, I found her place very easily and we quickly started shooting. When I am in the home of a model, I hate to be demanding, so I stayed where the light was good ~ it was ~ and where she was most comfortable.
This young model has the most lovely eyes and a very luscious form, and wish we had worked together sooner when the outdoors in the warm sun would have been great, but that has now left us.... After starting in color, I soon switched to shooting in monotone and really like the results.

I then left to get downtown where a fellow flickrite was having a photo exhibit but the place was closed. As I was in the East Bay and downtown, I decided to walk around and snapped the interesting buildings and more. At one point, I again spotted the zeppelin this time flying the Oakland skies, and could easily hear its engines and propellers working.
Nobody even noticed it flying and it seemed I was the only one even excited to see the zeppelin. I continued shooting the downtown Oakland buildings and found a lot with interesting ornamental details, even one that looked like a pig or a boar's head on a building!!! I was also surprised to see a new building with lots of lovely reflective glass with the logo of ASK.com at the top ~ I didn't realize ASK.com was in Oakland!!

So, covering a small area of about five to seven blocks, I wandered lost but content with camera in hand. Granted, my other heavy camera was in the shop being repaired for the same problem twice, but I was happy having a backup to use! Stumbling around wondering about the homeless I saw on the downtown streets, I wondered about my personal safety... they didn't seem as friendly in SF so I wondered..... but I didn't have anything to worry about... and continued snapping away. At one tall modern glass-enclosed building, a security guard came out asking me to depart the area and not take any pictures - wow, maybe I can send some carrier pigeons over there, all with cameras....

I drove off then to Central Avenue to gas up before driving across the bay bridge to return home. I also stopped at the little lookout point there taking some pixs of the gorgeous clouds out today!!!!
I couldn't believe how fabulous these clouds were, and wondered if I should shoot the sunset again.... but after arriving home and downloading the pixs, I kept a close eye out the window and as sundown approached, the low clouds and fog came in and I didn't even see a bit of orange.... sigh. A good sign: the other day I found a folded five-dollar bill on the street ~ others had even passed in both directions by the same spot before I did... the last time I found money on the street was in Spain and it was pouring down wet! Now if only the California lottery would help me too!!

Enjoy the pictures!!!!