Star Light, Star Bright

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When was the last time you were out late at night under a dark sky? I and 7 other members of the photography club ventured up to Fremont Peak to marvel at and photograph stars, planets, our galaxy, and each other. We arrived in time to see the sun set into a sea of fog....and then trooped up to the observatory to wait for the sky to blacken and stars to emerge. On moonless nights the observatory stays open until midnight for campers, amateur astronomers, and photographers to peer into the universe. This first photo was taken at 9:30, before the sky was completely black. Look closely and you'll see both the Big and Little Dippers.

By 10 o'clock the sky was dark enough to see the Milky Way. I cannot look at it without feeling reverence, appreciation, and a bit bewitched. I veer toward the poetic.

One Hundred Billion
Pinpricks of Glittering Light
Marvelous Milky Way
(I'm taking an online writing class and the last assignment
was to create Haiku)

The final hour of the night, we practiced photographing star trails. To get really long, clear star trails requires taking a series of exposures (like 20 or more) and then blending them into one image. I don't have the skill or the patience to tackle that, so I left the shutter open for 30 minutes and hoped for the best. During that 30 minutes, I leaned back and gazed at the sky, spotting several shooting stars. I liked the image that resulted, but I had to clean out a lot of noise (colored pixels) caused by the long exposure. Do you know why one star (toward the upper right of the frame) does not have a trail? That star (Polaris) and a sextant will tell you where you are in the world: the first GPS system.

This photo of me and a few of my nocturnal comrades
was taken just before we left at midnight.

I learned a valuable (think expensive) lesson on the walk back to the car: take the time to securely stow your camera gear. I didn't and when I adjusted the bag on my shoulder, my camera flew out and hit the asphalt hard. Fortunately, an edge of the lens took the brunt of the impact (shattering the UV filter). I am hopeful that everything still works, but the filter is so dented I can't get it off the lens to check it all out.

You can see more celestial photos on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/mhpc-night-focusgroup/

Apple of My Eye

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Gizdich is a working fruit ranch in Watsonville with acres of apple orchards and berry patches. You can pick your own strawberries or buy them by the flat in the produce store. For this photographer, visual overload hit as soon as I stepped out of my car. Farm equipment (some working and some in neglected disrepair), old cars and motorcycles, antiques, barns, junk piles and scenic vistas reminiscent of Tuscany triggered a fit of ADD. I turned in circles not knowing where to go first. I chose the closest orchard.
I walked in and focused on the apples. The wide expanse of rows and structure had a calming effect and I started seeing forms and color and details. At 7:30am, the overcast, gray sky provided perfect diffused light.

There was enough in the orchards to occupy me for hours, but I knew there was more so I set about exploring. Behind the barn, a crippled motorcycle and a blue, decrepit VW Bug were surrounded by a junk yard of rusting plow and tractor parts. Everything was seemingly held together by spider webs.Inside a shed, I spied a snake pile of irrigation hoses. I was intrigued by the repetitious, circular lines, but didn't think that translated into an interesting photo, so panned the camera during the exposure to create a special effect.

As I continued to explore, interesting subjects presented themselves, some crying out, "Take my picture." I accommodated as many as I could until the sun broke through (ruining the beautiful light), and hoards of people arrived. I was too tired to continue. I packed up and drove home.

"...bombs bursting in air"

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I have photographed Morgan Hill's fireworks display several times and wondered if I really needed any additional photos of fire bursting in air. Starting with the parade in the morning followed by a bar-b-q, the day had already been long. And darkness would not arrive until well after 9:00pm.
Fortunately I had arranged to meet up with others from the photography club, or I might have stayed home.
Whether I needed more fireworks photos was irrelevant. Photography is a journey and I could always benefit from more practice. Even if I deleted every photo, the experience of taking them would strengthen my skills

Hoping to capture a unique image (or two), I used a technique I had read about in an online article. I switched the camera to manual focus and set it for infinity. Then I adjusted the shutter speed to "bulb," which would keep the shutter open as long as the release button was depressed. (I didn't actually keep my finger on the button. I used a cable release attached to the camera.)
The first burst showed me where to point the camera. Then I held the shutter open with my left hand while holding a square of black foam in front of the lens with my right hand. Each time I saw a burst, I pulled the black foam away for a second or two, then put it back in front of the lens to block the light (while still holding the shutter open). Doing this several times during one long exposure produced images with overlapping bursts of color.

An added benefit of this method is that I could watch the full spectrum of the show. Once the camera was set up, I did not need to look through the lens to get the shots. Not all the bursts are in the same place in the sky, so some were missed completely and shots had only a fraction of the bursts, but overall, I found the results very pleasing.




I also took some individual shots.

I liked the simplicity of the lines of this first one, and the abstract quality of the dancing lights falling off the flowing gold in the last one. You can view more of my fireworks images on my flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/suebrazelton/

"Save the Gilroy Hills"

A woman I recently met (Janet) is heading an effort to STOP development of a section of land in the foothills of Gilroy. She and her committee of neighbors have been distributing flyers, intercepting & informing citizens, and collecting signatures in hopes of convincing Gilroy City Council members to first postpone approval of the project, and eventually disallow it. I don't live in Gilroy, so even though I was sympathetic to her cause, I didn't intend to get involved. Click on a photo to view a larger image.

Then I read an article about a photographer who took pictures for a conservancy in the Sierras that was trying to protect a tract of land from development, and I thought that's what this committee needs: photographs that will show exactly what will be destroyed if the development is approved. The next day I received an email from Janet asking if I would be willing to take photographs that the committee could use in their campaign to save the land. (Don't you just love how the forces of the Universe work?) Even though the hills are very dry with little green left in the grasses, the combination of rolling hills with oak trees is very compelling, especially when the morning light accents the amber grass. I even spied one last remnant of wildflowers.

I did not have access to the land which is cordoned off with a chain link fence. By climbing on a step ladder I was able to shoot over the fence...and when that was not possible, I included it as artistically as I could.

I don't normally get involved in causes or issues, but this turned out to be an interesting project. I sent over 30 photographs to the committee.

Filoli Garden

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"Fight for a just cause; Love your fellow man; Live a good life."

It is from this credo of original owner William Bowers Bourn II that the name Filoli was created for his 654 acre estate in Woodside, CA. The house, formal garden and surrounding acreage is now owned by The National Trust for Historic Preservation and is open to the public.As much as I love flowers, public gardens are not among my favorite places to photograph them. This visit to Filoli was a shoot-out with members of the photography club, and we took advantage of a once-a-month-after-hours-artists'-access to take advantage of late afternoon light and no crowds.The formal garden includes an assortment of individual, smaller gardens, fountains, a pool, several ponds, and a nursery. As I wandered from the Rose Garden to the Daffodil Meadow to the Woodlands, past the Sunken Garden, and on to the Terrace, I looked for hidden treasures, details that would make unique photographs. In an obscure, back corner I found a set of distinctive, patina covered patio chairs...

and in the retail nursery,
a statue of Buddha hidden in plain sight.

As I waited to meet up with the others at the end of our time, I started playing with double exposures. I took the first image of a mostly green succulent and then overlaid it with a similar, but larger one with magenta lined leaves.

You can see more photos from Filoli on my Flickr photostream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/suebrazelton/

June Full Moon: Changing Light

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These three photographs of the June full moon show how the light changes as the sun sets.

This spot at Chesbro Reservoir is a perfect location to photograph the June full moon because the dip in the landscape lines up so nicely with the moon's rise. Moon rise was a full 45 minutes before sunset so I knew the moon would be very faint against a still bright sky. Normally, I like to use a long telephoto lens so the moon looks HUGE, and catch it when it first appears, but at Chesbro, the water and hills are as much a part of the composition as the moon. I chose a shorter lens so I could include the foreground grass and trees to frame the rise. I underexposed the shot to bring out more color.

All the elements came together for this shot taken just minutes before sunset. The sky was dark enough for the moon light to glimmer through, but not so dark that the contrast between sky and moon was greater than the camera sensor could capture. And the layers of warm, sunset color are always appreciated. I don't normally take vertical photographs, but the line of reflection in the water seemed to call for it.

This last photo was taken ten minutes after sunset. I zoomed in to give more size to the moon. Without the sun to warm it, the light turned a cool blue. At this point the moon was very bright against the dark blue sky. To prevent it from being completely blown out, I used a graduated neutral density filter and underexposed the shot. In post processing, I isolated the moon & darkened it to bring out the orange.

I hope you enjoyed viewing my moon shots
as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Roses, Roses, Roses

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The rose garden at Villa Mira Monte, the former estate of Hiram Morgan Hill and his wife Diana Murphy, is a local gem. In private gardens around town, roses have been in bloom since late April, but for some unknown reason, the bushes here have been on their own, private schedule and have held back their blooms... until now.
I liked the delicate feel of this small, single bloom leaning out on its slender stem.

Several members of the photography club joined me for this roses shoot-out. The specific goal for the macro shooters was to capture water drops on the petals. I tried for a different perspective. I positioned myself behind the flower and shot toward the sun, which was just starting to break through the early morning cloud cover and provided a glowing light on the petals. A spray bottle provided the water drops.

I continue to be in awe of the intrinsic beauty of roses...

especially when I see one that is perfect. I was in the right place at the right time to get this shot. I had already taken several shots when the emerging sun shown just enough light to set it aglow. I under exposed it to prevent the light from washing out the deep red color. The black background was a bonus.

Thank you for viewing my photographs.
You can see more photos from this garden on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/suebrazelton/