May 11, 2009

I said I was trying to stay away from flower photos for a while. Leaves are okay ... right?

May 10, 2009

Melissa made currant scones from Tartine's recipe in honor of Mothers' Day. They were amazing. I couldn't stop stealing little chunks of them throughout the day.

May 9, 2009

I finally, finally biked across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a gorgeous day, and I enjoyed getting some shots of the Bridge from angles you don't usually see. I liked this one best, though, for the vista and the way it encapsulated the day.

May 8, 2009

My friends celebrated their impending five-week trip to Southeast Asia by inviting a group of people to their place for an Asian-themed potluck. They used these lanterns to decorate the food area. Nice touch.

May 7, 2009

Another photo of a Redwood City sunset, this time taken after our advance screening of Star Trek ended. I like the contrast between the strong, stark silhouette of the lamp post and the lacy tree silhouettes. I also like that the the colors of the sunset match the color of the lamp light.

May 6, 2009

Early sunset over the Redwood City salt flats.

May 5, 2009

May 5 was a long, hard day at work. Things weren't going right. My head hurt from my attention being pulled in too many opposing directions. To make matters worse, it was Cinco de Mayo, I didn't have any plans involving margaritas, and due to the recession, I didn't think we would have any festivities in the office. I was not a happy camper. Circumstances brightened at 5:00 when email popped into my inbox annoucing that the party would start downstairs in the cafe in half an hour. Hooray! I had to take some of it back to my desk with me, but the difference it made in my outlook was amazing. (Pun intended ... sorry.)

May 4, 2009

I see this view everyday when I come home from work. And every time I see it, I think about how interesting it is that the angle of my approach makes it seem like I'm approaching a tranquil path lined with overhanging trees. A second before or after, a foot or two to the right or left, and it's very apparent that the view is actually of a plain old driveway leading to a plain old house. This photo perpetuates the myth. Sneaky.

May 3, 2009

Ironically, the message on this sign is what drew me to it from across the street.

May 2, 2009

I loved this arrangement of hot sauce when I saw it on the wall of a random Mexican restaurant on El Camino in Redwood City. I think the owners thought I was crazy when I asked to take a photo of it, but they didn't say no.

May 1, 2009

This is one of those click and hope photos that actually turned out well. I get a very energetic, dynamic feel from it, even though you can't see the full face.

April 30, 2009

My Thursday night plans were going to be a San Francisco first for me. A bunch of food carts have started operating around the city, broadcasting their locations to their loyal followers via the magic of Twitter. I was already planning to eat in the Mission, so when my roommate told me that an amuse bouche cart, the "Magic Curry Kart" and a creme brulee cart were going to converge at 19th and Linda Streets, I knew that would be dinner. My friend and I found the carts, started chatting, and by the time we realized we were supposed to put our names on a list to get the delicious-smelling food, we didn't have time to wait for it. Bummer. Dinner became crepes, salad, and fries at Frjtz instead. Not a bad second place, but the Magic Curry Kart still beckons ...

April 29, 2009

I liked the mixture of geometric shapes created between the orange and white tape on these safety poles. Their aesthetic was strongest when you could see more than one pole at a time, so I spent some time playing with different framings and levels of background blur. This was the most successful one, but I wish the middle pole were a little more in focus than the car. Right now it looks too much like they're on the same plane.

April 28, 2009

There's a '50s-style bowling alley sign along El Camino in Redwood City that I thought would be a good photography subject, so I stopped there on my way back from the gym. None of the photos turned out well. This pizza delivery car was in the same parking lot.

April 27, 2009

I took Murray for a karma walk around the neighborhood, which basically means that instead of me waiting for him to stop and sniff something every five feet, he had to wait for me to stop and photograph something. Occasionally our interests aligned, like with this garden hose.

April 26, 2009

I told myself I would stay away from taking photos of flowers because they're a little too easy, but Ali's mom's roses were too beautiful to resist.

April 25, 2009

I spent the morning with some other PDI/DreamWorks employees contributing to the the Rebuilding San Francisco project at Daniel Webster Elementary School in Potrero Hill. Our job was to paint a mural on the upper playground. We painted a mural on the lower playground the year before.

All photos from the day (including the completed mural) can be seen here.

April 24, 2009

I was looking for a photo opportunity while walking between Hahn's Hibachi and Gelato Classico in Palo Alto when the abstract colors reflected in this wall of glass blocks caught my attention. Click.

April 23, 2009

Taken at Take Your Kids to Work Day. I love the color coordination of the Sixkiller family ... including Bob.

April 22, 2009

Irises are such bizarre looking flowers. This one was blooming in front of our house, so I took a bunch of photos in celebration the arrival of spring. I chose this over the more traditional ones because I like the diagonal angle of the roof and how it divides the background.

April 21, 2009

In a moment of compassion for our furry dog on a hot day, my roommate decided to leave the screen door open so he could wander in and out of the cool interior of our house at his leisure. Good for the dog, bad for me. The open door also allowed this giant moth into the house, and it decided to take up residence in my room. MY room! When it flew in and started buzzing around my overhead light, I thought it was a hummingbird until reason told me hummingbirds don't actually fly around at 8:00 at night.

This photo was taken the next morning when I woke up to find the moth perched on my blinds. I had to use the flash to get a clear image, and had I been fully awake, I'm not sure I would have taken the chance that the bright light would cause the giant moth to start flying around again. Thankfully it didn't.

The moth was humanely returned to the outdoors later that evening ... if you consider hearing a lot of shrieking, being shoved into a plastic container, and being unceremoniously flung out the front door humane.

(In case you're wondering about scale, each blind fold is about an inch wide.)

April 20, 2009

This photo reminds me that even when you're focused on your subject, you shouldn't be oblivious to what is happening in the world around you. I had half-heartedly settled on this tree as the day's subject, and because I was so unilaterally invested taking its photo, I nearly missed the hundreds of birds swooping around in formation over the salt flats behind me. I turned around in time to witness the end of their performance -- which was spectacular -- but not in time to document it well.

In the end, I like this photo for its textures and colors, as well as the flower/star shapes the blurred leaves make in the background. Without a zoom lens, photographing the birds was kind of a lost cause anyway. And without stopping to photograph the tree, I guess I wouldn't have been outside to see the part I did see.

April 19, 2009

Bridge in Central Park

Making it black and white gave it a lot more presence. It's amazing how much of a difference it can make sometimes.

April 18, 2009

Erin very patiently wandered Time Square with me while I stopped every few feet to snap a photo. When this "free hugs" sign popped into view amid the throngs of people, I took a few shots and hoped for the best.

April 17, 2009

Couple in Central Park

I took the photo in color, boosted the contrast, converted it to black and white, and blurred the edges. I really like the result.

April 16, 2009

The whole color concept was abandoned when I realized my weekend trip to New York City cut right in the middle of it. I went partly to help my best friend from Maui celebrate her last day of medical school and partly because it would be my last chance to visit her in New York before she moves to Omaha in June. I took this photo in the Subway while I was waiting to catch a train to Erin's apartment on the Upper East Side. I liked the wide variety of patterns and shapes in one little patch of wall.

April 15, 2009

Somehow I skipped yellow and went to green. I wish I had scraped the bits of avocado off the pit before taking the photo, but I really like being able to see the texture of the cutting board and the moisture on the avocado flesh.

April 14, 2009

I knew I wanted my orange photo to be of a traffic cone, so I was very happy to find some on the road near my house as I was driving to work. I like the way they're lined up, staggered into the distance.

April 13, 2009

Shopping carts in the Redwood City Target parking lot. I took a bunch of photos looking through the diagonal plastic squares that make up the sides of the carts. They were fun, but I didn't get the depth settings right so the red was a little overwhelming. Driving home, I decided to implement a daily a color theme for my photo of the day. Red today, orange tomorrow, and so on. Sometimes it's hard figuring out what to photograph, and I hoped going by colors would help focus my attention.

April 12, 2009

This is not your typical farmers' market photo. I did take some of the expected photos of leafy greens and juicy fruit on California Avenue in Palo Alto, but this one of a building at the far end of the market proved to be the most striking. I like how crisp, clean, and exact the lines are, especially since the colors they separate are so different. The other surprise of the morning? Spicy chipotle ketchup. Delicious!

April 11, 2009

One of the highlights of living near Stanford is being able to walk "The Dish" when warm weather arrives. The steep hills give the walk some substance, and the views are always spectacular. On really clear days, you can see the San Francisco skyline forty miles away.

April 10, 2009

In honor of Easter, DreamWorks hosted a lunchtime egg hunt for the children of their employees. The kids were so engrossed in their search for the plastic eggs and the chocolate within that it was easy to take photos without them noticing. I like this one because I was able to take it right at the point of discovery.