Photo 365 - Day 65 (Best Hat Ever)

Day 65 (September 7th, 2010)
Title: Best Hat Ever

Top Hat - 1930
Bowler - 1940
Fedora - 1950
Beanies - 1960
Cowboy Hat - Never
Baseball Cap - 1980
Baseball Cap (Backwards) - 1990
Baseball Cap (Sideways, 90 degrees) - 2000
And now - The Board Cap - Forever!

And while carrying a coffee and cell phone. 

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 64 (Sailing)

Day 64 (September 6th, 2010)
Title: Sailing

This Labor Day weekend was jam-packed with beach fun in Santa Cruz.  One of the things I love about a perfect summer day is all the sailboats!  There were an armada of sailboats out playing on the sea, from large 6-8 crewmen boats to little 2-man boats, but everyone was having a good time.  The water was really calm and the weather was perfect (78-82) for sailing.  So perfect in fact, I avoided even getting near a boat and just hung out at the beach taking pictures of them!  I figured, the last thing I'd want on a perfect day would seasickness and throwing-up all over the dolphins.

[Squeak] [Squeak] - That's dolphin for "Thank you!" 

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 63 (Last Days of Summer Slack)

Day 63 (September 5th, 2010)
Title: Last Days of Summer Slack

We were in Santa Cruz for this Memorial Day weekend and it was a nice chance of pace from the "hustle and bustle" of the city.  The weather was perfect and so was the company.  We went and hung out a the beach for a bit, watched the boats and generally got some good End of The Summer slacking in! 


I got this particular photo with my 28-135 lens (f/14 at 1/400th).  I really liked the clear blue sky, all the boats (there are tons of them - just look at the horizon!), and the folks just relaxing.  There were also dolphins playing in the water, but I was unable to shoot them (they are fast and too small to get with this lens).  I thought about cropping the left side a bit, to remove that other group of people (as well as that one sailboat), but then I kind of isolated the main group as well as removing a nice anchor-point of the photo. 


Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 62 (Fog Bank)

Day 62 (September 4th, 2010)
Title: Fog Bank


To paraphrase the great Crocodile Dundee: 



That's not a fog bank
Now THAT'S a fog bank!

A few days ago, the heat in the Bay Area was really hot (at least for us - high 80's to mid 90's).  And, then the heat just went away and our lovely fog finally came back!  And it came back with a vengeance!  Within 20-30 minutes, it went from clear and toasty to nearly impossible to see more than a few hundred feet in-front of you because of the fog!  The temperature dropped 20-30 degrees (I know at our house, it went from 88 to 65) in an hour.  It was strange watching it, because it looked like it had a life of its own.  I remembered the story, The Fog, by Stephen King and suddenly thought "damn, all those monsters are really going to mess up highway 80!"  Still, it was fun to watch the city disappear! 

If you look closely, you can still see the electric tower in the top-left section and just to the left of it, a top of one of the skyscrapers! 

Enjoy!

Photo 365 - Day 42 (Wave Crash)

Day 42 (August 14th, 2010)
Title: Wave Crash

This is my third in a small group of wave shots.  I liked this shot, because it shows all the stages of the wave in action.  Starting from the left, you have the apex, then is starts to crest (little whitecaps are forming), the "spill" as is begins flowing down, and finally the "crash" (or impact) as the wave hits and the "foam" sprays out. 

Ps: Sorry for the delay in getting this picture up.  Was up waaaaay to late playing games and was in a game-induced coma till like 11am.  Today's photo will still be coming!... at least, as soon as I take it, it will be!

Photo 365 - Day 41 (Smile and Wave)

Day 41 (August 13th, 2010)
Title: Smile and Wave

This is my second in a small group of wave shots.  When I saw this photo, I couldn't help thinking it looks like the ocean is smiling... And needs dentures. 

Photo 365 - Day 40 (Wave Form)

Day 40 (August 12th, 2010)
Title: Wave Form

This is my first in a small group of wave shots.  My brother, who is sadly stuck on the East Coast, doesn't have real waves, so he requested a few pictures of what West Coast waves look like.  These are certainly not "huge" waves as one gets during high tide or during some of the swells, but they certainly are photogenic! 

Photo 365 - Day 39 (Half Moon Bay)

Day 39 (August 11th, 2010)
Title: Half Moon Bay


My first attempt at a landscape with a uber-small aperture (f/45).  There are a few problem with it, but nothing that I would consider a "deal-breaker" (aka: delete and pretend I never took it).  First, I wish I had a tripod when I took it, I shot it hand-held using a 70-300mm lens.  It might have made is a bit less blurry with a tripod so I could have stepped down the shutter speed (1/60).  Second, (in conjunction with the first), I should have upped the ISO to something like 200-400 to reduce the blur (it was at 100 to lower the graininess).  Still, lessons for next time!  Tripod, Tripod, Tripod!