September 11, 2020 — My Office, California
Creating space like this is the only way I can breathe.
(Nikon D850, Nikon 24-120mm f/4G VR. RAW processing and initial editing in DxO PhotoLab 3.3; Final editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
September 9, 2020 — Oakland/Berkeley Hills, California
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This morning at 8:40 a.m. the sky was a dim red-orange. Sunlight was filtered by fire smoke from a 350,000 acre group of fires in Mendocino county, more than 100 miles to the north. The red-orange light was then diffused through thick fog. Apocalyptic. It was so dark that we had lights on in the house all day.
I wondered what it looked like at the top of the hill. Would it still be immersed in fog or would the road rise above it and look down on the fog deck?
A few miles to the south, it was the latter.
I stood by the side of the road, mask on not just for Covid, but to prevent breathing fallout particles 1–2 mm in diameter. White specks were all over my camera. And me. Many clicks occurred. But for an occasional car driving by, it was dead silent.
I said to a guy standing next to me, “This would be beautiful if it were not so ugly because of the conditions responsible for it.” He agreed.
Another guy, an off-duty fire fighter, said, “So this is the future.”
But I went to photograph it, and that’s what I did. With profoundly mixed emotions.
(Nikon D850, Nikon 24-120mm f/4G VR. RAW processing and initial editing in DxO PhotoLab 3.3; Final editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
September 8, 2020 — Berkeley, California
Fog on the bottom. Smoke on top.
(Nikon D500, Tamron 100–400mm f/4.5–6.3 Di VC USD. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.3; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
September 8, 2020 — Berkeley, California
But it did, at 8:38 a.m. The fires burn on.
(Nikon D500, Tamron 100–400mm f/4.5–6.3 Di VC USD. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.3; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
September 6, 2018 — West Shore Lake Tahoe, California
Same shot as in yesterday’s post. I saw this interpretation in my mind’s eye last night, but it was too late to work on it. I put considerable time into it today.
New observation: The more minimal and subtle the picture, the more time goes into it.
But I was really hummin’.
(Nikon D850, Tamron SP 24–70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2. ISO 64, 1/2 sec at f/5.6; RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.1; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
For more Abstract Horizons, see amagaphoto.com
September 6, 2018 — West Shore Lake Tahoe, California
One of my first tries at Intentional Camera Motion. I’d given it a shot several years earlier and then let the idea drift. Then on this darkening September evening I sprang (well, really, twisted) back into action. I was originally inspired by Bay Area photographer, Audrey Heller, whose Linger Collection made me do just that.
I’ll do a few more this weekend — like I did last year.
(Nikon D850, Tamron SP 24–70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2. ISO 64, 1/2 sec at f/5.6; RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.1; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
For more Abstract Horizons, see amagaphoto.com
June 9, 2013 — San Francisco, California
I’d given this up for lost. The RX-100’s chromatic aberration on the edges had ruined it. Then I looked at another approach. This is a crop from the center, much massaged. Lots of selective sharpening and minus Clarity combined with selective increase and decrease in Vibrance. No fancy filters. Ever.
An exercise in soft, made while listening to Derek Hunter Wilson’s new album — an exercise in soft minimalism in itself.
(Sony RX-100. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.3; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
August 26, 2020 — Berkeley, California
There’s a fog upon the Bay.
But they have not lost their way.
They’ll be docking soon they say,
While they still have light of day…
(Nikon D500, Tamron 100–400mm f/4.5–6.3 Di VC USD. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.3; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
August 16, 2020 — Sonoma County Coast, California
Taken 33 seconds before the one in the last post.
Similar — but to me, oh so different. This one gets me where I want to go.
Or closer, anyway.
(Nikon D850, Nikon 24-120mm f/4G VR. RAW processing and initial editing in DxO PhotoLab 3.3; Final editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
August 16, 2020 — Sonoma County Coast, California
A blindingly bright afternoon. Calm day — but each wavelet was its own mirror, each adding to the millions of tiny suns out on the water.
ICM — Intentional Camera Motion — does wonderful things with time and space as they combine in the camera in myriad mystical modes.
Then in the computer, more magic happens.
(Nikon D850, Nikon 24-120mm f/4G VR. RAW processing and initial editing in DxO PhotoLab 3.3; Final editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
August 17, 2020 — Sonoma County Coast, California
There was a guy in England, an RAF officer, he was. A cracking good pilot. He lived at the RAF Aerodrome, which he and all his mates called the ’Drome. He was an affable guy; extremely well thought of. Popular. He had an easy way about him. He also had a unique talent. He was completely ambidextrous. No matter what he did, he could do equally well left- or right-handed. Even better, he could write forwards and backwards, left-to-right to right-to-left with aplomb. Sometimes for amusement he’d start a sentence on the left margin of a piece of paper and stop midway through and write it backwards from the other margin, meeting in the middle.
Like so.os ekiL
His name was Robert, but everyone called him Bob.
His American friends called him their pal in drome.
Don’t know why I chose today to tell you this story, but there you go.
(Nikon D850, Nikon 24-120mm f/4G VR. RAW processing and initial editing in DxO PhotoLab 3.3; Final editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
August 14, 2020 — Sonoma Coast, California
At the moment, California is hot, dry, and incendiary. This is cold, wet, and quenching. Think good thoughts.
(Nikon D500 Tamron 100–400mm f/4.5–6.3 Di VC USD. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.3; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
August 20, 2020 — PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, Vermont
A couple of months ago I submitted some photographs to three juried exhibits in different parts of the county. I’m happy to say one of my pictures was selected to be part of the Landscape exhibit at the PhotoPlace Gallery in Middlebury, Vermont. One selection out of three tries on the first time out ain’t bad, I’m thinking.
The juror was Ann Jastrab, who is the Executive Director of the Center for Photographic Art (CPA) in Carmel, California. To have my work selected by her is quite an honor.
I’ll be entering more, including answering a call for entries at the very same CPA. Watch this space for future photographic developments…
(Nikon D750; Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Zoom. RAW processing in DxO PhotoLab 3.2. Final editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
PS: This picture was originally posted here.
August 18, 2020 — Sonoma County Coast, California
This time looking south. Camera was moved, intentionally. Again. A very different evening. There had been lightning a couple nights previous.
(Nikon D850, Nikon 24-120mm f/4G VR. RAW processing and initial editing in DxO PhotoLab 3.3; Final editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
August 17, 2020 — Sonoma County Coast, California
Camera was moved, intentionally. The best of two shots, blended.
(Nikon D850, Nikon 24-120mm f/4G VR. RAW processing and initial editing in DxO PhotoLab 3.3; Final editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
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