just in da nick of time!

I had gone to Treasure Island to record the fireworks, and because of the wind and smoke from the fireworks explosions, nobody on that island saw anything! During that time, my camera was exposed to a lot of wind and salt water spray.... later that week I cleaned my lenses and camera bodies very thoroughly. A few days later, I had to shoot an event and even after many tests at home, at the event site prior to the event, and during, the camera ~ a very nice and new Canon EOS 40D ~ just died. It wouldn't focus, it wouldn't fire... it was dust! I thought it could have even been the salty air blowing on the cameras, though it's happened to previous cameras with no ill effects.

Lucky was I in planning to shoot that night with two lenses, so in taking two bodies swapping lenses on a single camera body wasn't necessary. I instantly changed to the backup camera and continued shooting as if nothing had happened. I didn't even think of the other "broken" camera body till the event ended and I could devote time to it.

All that following week, I tested it and even used it twice, and it worked great. Since I had already "tested the waters" at the event location, I took a single camera body to another event at the same location just a week later. You guessed it: the same malfunctioning camera body. Sure enough, after the previous tests and use, the test beforehand and just again as the event began, it died again after a few snaps. I couldn't figure it out. Fortunately I was able to use a camera owned by the event coordinator but it was a simple point and shoot, and the shutter delay really frustrated me, in that because of that I had to really anticipate actions, movements and emotions. But I got through the night.

The next Monday my camera was turned in for repairs and just now - a week later, I've been informed my camera is back!

**jumps for joy**

The reason for the malfunction was a loose wire. It couldn't have arrived too soon as tomorrow I am shooting the Tall Ship's arrival into San Francisco Bay. Plus, I've missed that 40D. It's heavier and weight in a camera is a steadying factor that keeps me happy. Plus the grip is very comfortable unlike my backup EOS XTi, which has a smaller grip and is very uncomfortable on the middle fingers.

I'm planning to capture the grand sailing vessels from several vantage points, as this is my first Tall Ship event outside of Spain where I attended and experienced the ships in Cadiz in 2000 and again in 2006. Somehow, sailing vessels in a beautiful and ancient city like Cadiz is so appropriate.

Otherwise, things are calm for now. I am starting a personal walking program as I am gaining too much weight from constant driving and little exercise, plus for the first time in many decades, the ability to eat big meals each and every day!

As I type this, I am also starting to seriously begin work on my photo book "Memories of Rota", which features my black and white film images taken in Rota (Cadiz), Spain from 1976 to 1979. I already have a private publisher for the finished book, which I hope will be published in spanish and english. At least 35 images will be featured with captions describing my moods as I experienced spanish life..... and lived some of the best years of my young life. I will be designing the book, its layout and am contacting a spanish university for the translation from english to spanish as my spanish is street-dirty.

I am headed to Eugene again in less than a month to record a friend's wedding. I love to see and capture the emotion of events, any events and I love weddings! I always consider it an honor to be trusted to be a participant in any social event!

I've done some more construction; it's so good to build something! I've done this in my far past but nothing ever came out well - due to the lack of the correct tools. This time, I had the tools and I was pleasantly surprised at the results!

As in all the other places I've lived including Eugene, I enjoy helping people. Sometimes the shocked faces of people standing on the corner with map in hand is a laugh, but I know that I have been to many countries in my life, and I would have been very grateful to have someone help me with directions. From my room three stories above, I can see so many tourists stopping to catch their breath after walking up a steep hill - and headed toward a steeper hill. I've willingly gone out of my way to give bits of direction, including to let them know if they only went two blocks down, they could avoid all these steep hills! I continue doing this with great pleasure as I am again in my hometown.....

Don't be so suspicious; there are good people in the world who just want to help with no strings attached, nor money required in payment for information given. I have stopped my car to help a couple walking up these hills with a huge suitcase, and toured the streets with others to show them the beautiful victorians. I've advised people on many things, even with where to take better pictures! I've walked over to couples taking pixs of each other, offering to capture them both on just one frame....

Some people like me just like to help.... please allow us to help you!! I remember in Spain the americans were the worst of these types; they would frown their foreheads and refuse with a great display of hatred on their faces! What would create this type of reaction during a family vacation?

Sigh....

Hot or Not?

The past few days have been forecast to be hot in the City, but while the heat stayed in the high 90s and even surpassed the 100s around the Bay Area, in my City it's breezy and not even in the 80s. Yet, I find it so amazing how one area of the City can have sun while the other half is draped with fog! Just a mystery that I love to explore and even more in viewing!

I had a nice foto shoot in Half Moon Bay during the last weekend, where I met with a Chico teen model and shot with her. It's sad and disappointing to think that in such a populous area as is San Francisco, I can't find a real and serious "model" to work with. The few models there are seem to be immature and even more irresponsible, expressing a fleeting desire to work and saying a quick "hi" then disappearing faster than this fog that rolls in at night. All of the real models I have worked with have all been from outside the City.

In the past few days the winds have yet again shifted, allowing us to be smoked everyday with the gray haze ~ a result of smoke from the 300+ fires all over California. Health advisories have been issued and in a town north of my City near Chico named Paradise (Butte County), it was reported yesterday that the health issue due to the thick smoke was so bad that even the machine used to measure the air particles for these advisories, broke and had to be restarted and the measurements obtained manually!

Here's a picture from my rooftop this morning.... it shows an orange sun rising over the East Bay and Telegraph Hill.

Toleration and Respect...

... and I am the one who tolerates a LOT. My years in Spain has taught me patience, patience and a bit more patience. In my few months in San Francisco, I have put up with a lot to which I seemingly have gained no respect, appreciation or even praise. It seems to be all taken for granted, and someone somewhere is happy it is I doing the work, moving heavy boxes up and down the stairs, and me cleaning through the mountains of dust and not them.

Or does anyone care at all?

One can tolerate so much, and even the most tolerant will see when things appear to be worst and not better, then for the sake of all, it must come to an end. So, during the next few weeks before driving to Eugene again for a friend's wedding, I will start packing my own things for a change, and moving these items to the garage where hopefully these will be safe while I settle somewhere else. Maybe I'll hit the lottery and will be able to ship my things to Spain but right now don't have the funds to get a place of my own, and I've learned decades ago the car is not comfortable - but if I need to, I'll sleep in the car again.

So, again.... I thought of spending the money to have a new business card printed, and sure enough.... it appears I might be moving yet again! While in Eugene, I had a total of five cards made, each card due to a change of information or a move, each one now displaying old outdated information.

So it's back to the norm: once again it seems I have NO idea if I should stay or leave, and if I were to leave, where I would go nor for how long, but at least I can sleep nights knowing I can be respected and appreciated for who I am.

So, I guess the question here is should I turn a deaf ear or should I keep my chin up and forgive. I am not in a situation to move yet again - now three times in the past two years from Spain to Oregon to San Francisco - and allow destiny to have a gentler hand in my future? As the past has proven, things will probably occur again which creates my torturous existence... who knows what the future brings?

ooooh, the smoke....

...blocked our view of the fireworks, so the trip to Treasure Island was a waste.... or was it?

I had planned on going to Marin County to sit at the headlands for three hours to save myself a good picture spot. Fog was forecast so I thought instead the Marin County bridge lookout point.... but sometimes the fog can be over the water and the northern portion of the bay and not San Francisco. I finally decided driving to Treasure Island... by coincidence, another photography friend was going also, so we planned to meet there.

For those not in the know, Treasure Island is the land added to Yerba Buena Island. It's an man-made island that housed patrol boats during WWII, and most of the facilities on the island was still there, though the housing buildings have been converted and/or renovated and being sold to civilians as condos and townhouses. I must say, for the money, it offers a fantastic view of the bay and the City though the drive is very hectic at times. Most of the still-standing military installation buildings, except for the main administration building at the entrance to the island itself, is now closed off and abandoned. If you ever get a chance to enter the main admin building, it's really beautiful and hosts gorgeous murals on its walls. It's a very spacious building and is great for photography!

So, I fought the traffic through North Beach and the Embarcadero, many areas closed due to the imprending fireworks show, and I couldn't believe the amount of traffic and people on the streets! I can compare it to being within five city blocks of Times Square on New Year's Eve!!

Arriving at the island, I started taking pictures right away... the tip of the Transamerica pyramid was covered in fog, and at times the tip would peek through ~ it was a great image. I then drve onto the island and looked for a parking spot at the very outer end, where I planned to set up. The wind was brisk, and water was being kicked up by the winds forecast to be steady at 15kts, but I thought it gusted at times to about 20 kts. There were already a lot of people walking around, BBQing and with friends and family, and of course along the water's edge were those with tripods and cameras, hoping for that fantastic fireworks picture over the SF skyline.

After some time, I hooked up with my friend and we waited patiently for night to fall. The scene from Treasure Island is a great dream, not only in the lovely skyline but also in the activity upon the bay waters.

Quite a few tankers, cargo and container ships crossed into my line of vision, plus sailboats, tugs, pilot boats and water ferries of every sort. As night fell, the steamboats slipped their moorings and joined the traffic enroute the fireworks site at Pier 39 and the Aquatic Park areas. Yes, I counted at least two Mississippi (I haven't had to spell that since I was in grammar school here decades ago!) steamboats lit like christmas trees... it was a sight to see!

Pelicans flew past many times, always a wonder to see and admire!

The fireworks at Sausalito started at 9pm and I was shocked we could even see it!! The fog had just lifted a little and we could see the lights glittering in the black, as the streams of fire soared upward then exploded. Soon after, the fireworks in San Francisco started and amazingly, the fog was thicker there than in Marin..... I think we saw just one hug red starburst that exploded, its red flares a glimmer of pinpoints of blood-red before it disappeared into the fog below, and that was it. We could hear the fireworks, the thunderous explosions but we couldn't see anything past the light flashes through the thick fog. We didn't know it then, and I didn't think of it either, but the smoke generated from the ground explosions of the fireworks going off created so much smoke on the water's level, that it mixed with the fog to hide everything from us watching from the east ~ and that included my location on Treasure Island. 45 minutes we could actually smell the thick gunpowderly smell that blew from the fireworks barge to the east by the wind. I think the best view would've been from Ft Mason or nearby there. In that spot, the wind would have blown everything away so that one could enjoy the light and color!

During this time, there was a steady stream of slow-moving white lights coming down onto Treasure Island ~ cars and more cars of people wanting to come to the island! That steady slow movement of lights did not stop till after 10pm, then started the slowly-increasing glow of red taillights as everyone tried to leave the island at the same time. So I waited around with my friend and watched the skyline, talked a bit about photography, and waited till the traffic died down.

I arrived in North Beach about 11pm and still North Beach was crowded with a mess of traffic of cars and people! I have never seen my corner so busy at this hour, and even as I was downloading my pictures to hard drive till midnight, I noticed a steady line of cars moving past my windows till past 1am!!!!

Of course, if you want to see my favorite images of the night, see them at my photo page here! Enjoy and hoping your Fourth was quiet and safe!

They never told me this about MY files on CDs

Modern technology is great ~ I always say ~ when it works! Sometimes we think something might be the greatest thing on the planet since sliced butter, when in reality, it's a nightmare.

The best thing about the always-changing computer technology is that everything is always backward-compatible. This means that if you for example, have a floppy diskette with your data on it, it'll work in 2008 as well as when you originally copied the files onto that diskette back in 1997.... that is, if you can still find a computer with a floppy drive.

Right now I have a box full of CDs. It's a big box. The CDs within were shipped to me from Spain. Amazingly the plastic jewel cases arrived without any scratches and not one broken... as compared to a few other boxes when I arrived in Eugene over a year ago, that contained the same precious contents ~ my image files and music ~ and many of the CDs were broken! Jewel boxes, CDs..... all mixed within a box and the sharp plastic edges sratching the CD surface it's supposedly protecting. Try recovering your irreplaceable images recorded onto a CD that has deep scratches, or broken into many pieces!! NOT easy.....

So, here I am with a box of more than 60+ CDs. I'm going through the whole box and burning them all eventually onto my external hard drive I brought with me from Spain. Months ago in Eugene, when I had the first broken CDs, I decided to start using the external hard drive for my images exclusively. Why?

Reasons:
External hard drives are much faster than a CD or DVD drive. The bottleneck is less with an external HD, allowing the huge image files to be read and displayed much faster. NO matter how fast your CPU is or how much/many fast RAM you have, if you use a CD/DVD drive, it's going to be slow.

One also must consider the security of a HD. It's more durable than thin plastic. It has a smaller footprint as a single CD jewel case, but imagine putting up a shelf of 50 CDs (I have) and compare that with an external HD that has 300+ gigs capability and holding so many gigs of images, the footprint is actually much smaller than you can imagine.

Organization is good, if you follow the following rules:
a. Put all new files into a folder classified by subject matter and date. When I am finished with a calendar year of new image files, I move all those files created within that period into a main folder marked with that year, then everything within separated into its own folder titled by its individual category: flora, events, landscapes, sunsets, etc. Furthermore, I separate those into folders by date. You get the picture. Easy to organize, easy to find, easy to store. The better you create your filing system, the easier it will be to find those files weeks, month and years later.

The earliest CDs in discussion were burned in the early 2000s; still the number of errors in attempting to read just the folder is amazing! Can you imagine trying to read just one folder ~ not to mention the contents, I'm talking about just opening the stupid folder ~ encountering errors, and after 30 mins just ejecting the CD, waiting a few minutes and just trying it all over again? To date with this CD in my DVD drive burned in 2002, I am TRYing to copy less than 130 image files. After four hours of uncontinuous attempts, so many read errors, so many ejecting the CD, etc... I am still not finished!!!

So, be forewarned!! And yes, I have a very fast CPU, almost 2 gigs of RAM, and a PC that is about to go flying out the window!!! And there's more than 60 other CDs waiting for the same treatment!!!

Also remember: each year cameras are coming out with better resolution than the last digital cameras. That means each individual image file will be bigger than last year's little files, and with that in mind, can make for a bigger nightmare!!

UPDATE: WoW!! I just discovered that if I copy one image file at a time, I don't get the read/write errors!!! grrrrrr Actually, still a lot of errors but.....