Through the Clouds

Our boat trip along the Kenai fjords in Alaska was one of the most memorable travel experiences of my life. Despite the rain and fog and the constant rolling motion (4 foot swells in places, they said- is that unusual? I don’t know.) and sometimes rough waters, it was amazing! We spent most of our time on deck, except for when the rain became too much, and were constantly awestruck by the dramatic coastline and the opportunities to see whales, puffins, eagles, porpoises, seals, and sea lions. And oh yes- glaciers! My photos of the scenery include mostly gray shapes with water spots- not too many keepers, considering how many I shot.

Here is one of my better land/sea-scape shots- taken while the boat was in motion and there was little rain. I wish I could say exactly where on the map this was. The mountains seemed to rise right out of the sea- with snow and glaciers and clouds to round out the scene.

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Stopped Me in My Tracks

These beautiful flowers stopped me dead in my tracks as my friend, Carol and I entered the restaurant where we had lunch in San Francisco. We both ended up taking a few photos- the flowers were so gorgeous! We ended up photographing them from different angles- and edited them in ways that were opposite from each other, as well as opposite of our usual styles.  Carol’s photo is an impressionistic rendering- and mine is more of a standard photo, edited for clarity.  It’s as if we switched styles!

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Cable Cars- Two Ways

Our hotel in San Francisco was right off Market Street, so I didn’t have to venture far to get the ultimate tourist shot- cable cars!

In color:

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Toned black and white:

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I took a long time editing the original image in Photoshop. There was some cloning out of traffic barriers and some slight Glow filters applied. But then in Lightroom, I ended up cropping out some of the area I cloned and converting the image to black and white. Sometimes I just can’t make up my mind! Lonnie likes the color version better; I prefer the black and white. Different strokes!

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San Francisco Architecture- Then and Now

THEN:

The beautiful and ornate Southern Pacific Building (completed in 1916) was right across from our hotel at the corner of Market and Embarcadero. This was taken through the window in Carol’s room.

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NOW:

This reflections in this skyscraper seemed to create a column of Japanese Kanji running down the side of the building- fascinating!

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Floor with a View

My husband had a meeting in downtown San Francisco last week, so I accompanied him for a (very) quick getaway, which consisted of one day and two nights. My friend and photo buddy, Carol met us there, and she and I had a great time visiting and walking around the Embarcadero area with our cameras.

Lonnie went to get ice shortly after we arrived, and informed me that he had found THE shot- and it was right down the hall.

THIS is what he found when he looked out the window at the end of the hall:

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We were on the sixteenth floor, right across from the Ferry Building and the Bay Bridge! Yes- a great view indeed! Carol had mentioned that she wanted to do some night photography, so I was happy that the perfect view had been found- right down the hall- even though it meant shooting through glass.

Carol had brought an extra tripod for me (one of her old ones, which is exactly like mine), so we set up at the window the next night for some fun night photography.  Trying to lean the tripod with camera attached flat against the glass and keep it there without slipping, in order to prevent reflections of the hallway lights during long exposures, was a challenge for me!  I managed to take a dozen or so shots- and most had reflections and less than tack sharp focus. The above photo is one of the better ones (but I did have to clone out some reflections).

A beautiful city by day- and equally beautiful at night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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