"Morgan Hill Today"

The publisher of a new quarterly magazine about Morgan Hill contacted the photography club seeking photographs for the cover of the inaugural issue.  Two of mine were selected.

"Moonrise Over Chesbro"

and "Girl on a Mushroom"

You can see the whole cover and read the magazine online:

http://morganhilltoday.net/current-issue.html

Miscellaneous Catch-up

Click on any photo to view larger images.  Just a collection of photos taken in July with my iPhone.

 Walkway in front of the San Jose Museum of Art

where a few friends and I saw the Annie Leibovitz exhibit

Lexie looking cute

 

Three of the five deer in my front yard 

 I met my niece Ashley in Half Moon Bay for dinner.

 Scenes of Downtown in the Morning

I took this while waiting to speak 

at a Morgan Hill City Council meeting.

OK, all caught up.

Poker Road Rally

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I have been photographing community events in Morgan Hill for the past 7 years.  This road rally raised money for the Morgan Hill Community Foundation.  Using any type of vehicle, participants traveled around the city and surrounding environs, stopping at 23 designated locations to select a playing card.  They could choose their own routes.  Finishing time didn't matter.  Whoever drew the highest 5 card poker hand won $500.  I included this first image because the contrast of the bright sun and the dark motorcycles and jackets was so great that I really had to employ some post-processing skills to tone down the highlights and bring out the detail in the dark areas.

 

This photo was published in Morgan Hill Life, 

a new bi-weekly newspaper.

Moss Landing in the Morning

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Sixteen members of the photography club drove to Moss Landing to shoot the boats, the birds, the beach and each other.  This is what we saw in the morning.  The only thing I did was change the white balance.  The original photo had a yellow tinge.

I took a lot of time to process/develop this bus.  Usually I do as little post-processing as I can get away with because I don't like sitting at the computer for very long.  But this bus cried out for texture and additional grunge.  The first is the original, unaltered photo.  The second is the final product.  Can you see all the changes I made?  I eliminated a few distractions.

I don't know how long this fishing boat has been grounded or what happened, but it makes for an interesting photographic subject.  I tried several different compositions, but I liked this one with the power plant in the background.

 

This was a really fun shoot-out.  

After several hours of exploring the marshes, harbor, and downtown,

 we met up at a local fish restaurant.

Our waitress took this photo with my camera.

Rise of the Full Moon

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If you have followed my blog, you know that I am a self-described lunatic.  The moon fascinates me.  I like to look at it.  I like to photograph it.  In the summer, the days are so long that the full moon rises about the time I am thinking of going to bed.  But I remembered a pond just north of Morgan Hill that would provide a nice reflection, so instead of retiring, I packed my gear and headed out.  I'm glad I did.  Clouds covered the lower eastern sky so the moon did not appear until it was fairly high.  The first 2 photos were take about 15 minutes prior to sunset.

 This one was taken right at sunset

And these two 20 minutes after sunset.  Normally, I quit taking pictures when the sky gets dark and the moon is too bright to retain any detail, but I wanted the reflection.  This took a bit of post processing to pull detail out of the foreground. 

 Same shot with an iPhone

Where will I go for the August full moon?

Any suggestions?

Freedom Run & Parade

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Morgan Hill's Fourth of July celebrations include an early morning 5K run over the parade route (twice).  Under the direction of Barbi Kutilek, five members of the club took on assignments along the course, from the starting line to the finish balloons.  My task was to get the start of the race.  I positioned myself at just the right spot, took a few preliminary shots and waited for the moment when the runners would surge forward.  I didn't include that picture here because when I pushed the shutter button nothing happened.  Auto focus could not immediately find a line on which to focus so it refused to take the picture.  I should have pre-focused and then switched to manual focus.  I have taken many race starts and should have known better.  The camera fired on the second click, but I  missed the decisive moment.  

But... I waited for the runners to come by on the first lap and took this (if I may say so myself) outstanding, worthy of a Sports Illustrated or Runner's World cover, photograph.  

Five runners in sync, in the air, 

and the young man in the front won the race.

After the awards ceremony, I moved down to the corner of Main and Monterey to watch the parade (preceded by a parade of 100 cars) and wait for AAUW's flag waving women.

If you stand on your head and look at this tuba reflection, 

you can see me taking the photo.  Go ahead, try it!

Happy Independence Day!

Fireworks

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Since I was up so early and on my feet all morning covering the race and parade, I decided to skip the fireworks show, even though this one was promoted as bigger and better than ever.  Then Barbi & Dave sent me a text that they had found a good spot away from the crowds with lots of parking, so I grabbed my gear and joined them.  These are all one exposure shots with minimal post-processing.

I got multiple busts in one exposure by moving the shutter speed past 30 seconds to "bulb."  Then, using a remote cable, I held the shutter open for 3 or 4 bursts.  In between bursts, I covered the lens with a piece of black foam, so light only hit the sensor when I saw the next explosion of color & sparkle and pulled the foam away. After 3 or 4 bursts, I ended one exposure and started another. 

I like this last one because it looks like it could have been taken by the Hubble Telescope.

It was a great day of Independence.