Photo 365 - Day 116 (Oakland Docks)

Day 116 (October 27th, 2010)
Title: Oakland Docks


I got these while visiting Hanger One distillery in Alameda.  They are the giant cranes at the Oakland docks.  These are used to unload/load giant steel carriers off the cargo ships and put them either on trains or trucks.  Normally I see them from my house (much farther away) and they look like those little "bobbing-head birds" that slowly raise and lower their heads.  I had to really mess with the timing on my camera to get a good shot, because the lights were really bright but if I metered off them, I wouldn't get any detail in the shadows.  On the other hand, metering for the shadows made the lights just blow-out any details.  So, its was a fun balancing act of shutter speeds to get a nice shot.  I also like how you can see the stars in the top, but at the same time see the light streaks from the planes coming in/out of SFO. 


Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 115 (Adult Hamster Feeder)

Day 115 (October 26th, 2010)
Title: Adult Hamster Feeder

Clearly I'm a bit nuts.  I was at Hanger One distillery for a lovely birthday celebration of fun, games, food and drink when I saw a row of spirits (re: Adult Beverages) sitting on the bar.  Now, most folks presented with a row of deliciousness, including vodkas, whiskeys, ginger beers, fruit juices, coffee (augmented to the "Adult" level, of course) would have been grabbing the nearest glass and going to town!  I, on the other hand looked at the top of the vodka bottle, saw this little "pour assist tool" stuck on top and I immediately thought: "Wow, that looks like one of those things you attach to a bottle of water for a hamster to drink out of."  And of course, my brain made me take a picture of it.  So now, no matter how hard I try, I can't get the mental picture out of my head of giant group of folks walking up to the bartender asking for a "bottle of your finest" and then all fighting over it who gets to lick the feeder first. 

Can you imagine in the City? 

"Yo, bro, you need to be stepping off that Krystal, else I be busting a cap in yo head!"
Walks up to bottle... .  Sound of that little marble rolling, so only a little liquid comes out at a time. 
"Ahhh yeah!  That's what I'm talkin' bout!" 

Perhaps not...

Enjoy

Photo 365 - Day 113 (San Francisco Park)

Day 113 (October 24th, 2010)
Title: San Francisco Park


I was lucky enough to be a part of the Hanger One multi-birthday celebration event that happened a few days ago.  Basically, there are six of us who have birthdays within days of each other.  It was decided to have one big party to celebrate everyone getting older, and what better place to do so than Hanger One!  We had cake, fireworks, crazy amounts of food, and of course, great booze! 


While the party was rocking, I looked out and saw the San Francisco skyline and knew that I HAD to get a shot of it.  I setup my stuff, and started shooting.  I got about 15-20 shots that were all "okay", but nothing that was spectacular (I think I needed to modify my settings a bit - a smaller aperture would have been a good idea).  When I got home, I realized that since none of the shots were great that I would try to do a HDR with them.  This is the final output.  I like the colors and there is enough detail to really identify specific San Fran landmarks (not just the bridge).  What I didn't really notice the entire time was the fence that matched up almost perfectly with the skyline.  Had I thought about it, or had I been able to see the little screen better on the camera, I would have moved closer to the fence so it would have not been in the shot.  But, after looking at it, I kind of like it.  It gives the feel that the city is fenced in and isolated from the rest of the world.  It also gave me the idea of the "San Francisco Park", only the entire city is the park. 


Enjoy!