gbarto.com photos

Took the dog for a walk.  There was a helicopter out.  Lifeline, apparently.  The neighbor said it needed a place to land.  I don't know of anywhere open enough other than the wildlife preserve at the top of our mountain and the nudist colony one ridge over, both problematic places.  An emergency vehicle went out an hour later, so hopefully they got the person out.  Here's a look at the chopper, which buzzed our driveway a half dozen times trying to decide if it would work, I guess (and guess not), along with a few flowers.

 
If you're curious, there are a few more shots at the July archives for the offsite photo blog.

There are lots of new photos at our photoblog offsite, including these:

Sun- and Cloudscape - large / Monterey - Washed out

To get these images full size and see the full show, including pelicans, Superdog Pascal and more, click here.

Here are a few shots of the dog at home, as well as an addition to the living room. Pics at half-size, no links.

The third shot was taken as the dog took a bath after helping us finish dinner - pizza!

Here are a few shots of flowers just after a rain in Sunnyvale (irony not lost on the photoblog) the other day. Note that the photos are posted at half-size, without links, as opposed to 1/4 size (with links to 3/4 size pictures).

In Monterey (see below for the rest of Monterey), we had the dog along, of course. And we had great success not only getting the stick but getting photos of Pascal the superdog getting the stick. Observe the tenacity with which he retrieves!

April 11 brought us to Monterey, one of the loveliest spots along the California coast, at least in our neck of the woods. It's also one of the most dog-friendly. However, it was cold and foggy on our arrival, as can be seen in the photos.

Because of the cold, there weren't many people on the beach. But there were birds aplenty and I attempted to capture a few. The only thing I caught in flight was a kite (not pictured), but enjoy the sandpipers and others that stuck to the ground.

On April 10, we went to a little park near Livermore. For those who don't know, you get to Livermore by driving halfway from San Jose to Oakland, turning east and continuing till you get nowhere. This place is a few miles south of there.

The park wasn't too bad, but because the visitors' bureau was closed we couldn't get a definitive answer on where our superdog Pascal could run loose.

The shots you see are on either side of a little lake where people loll on gravel beaches and put in small watercraft.

Here it is, another walk with the dog, this time not pictured.

These shot the evening of April 4 using my handy little Fuji. The four salvageable shots (out of 18) featured below. All of these were shot using the infinity flash - auto flash couldn't figure out what to do with the light conditions.

The first of these is an illustration of just how well street reflectors pick up your flash. They're one of many things out there to either completely wreck your nighttime photograph or at least create an effect that isn't at all what you intended.

The second shot not only captured the last rays of the sun as it slunk behind the mountain, but a gorgeous moon hiding in the clouds. Of course that's not the moon, or else it would also be visible in the third shot. It's just light reflecting in the lens. I'm not sure where from, though, since I get this moon from time to time for no apparent reason. I'm not sure if it's a flaw or a feature.

The third shots, sans moon, catches the reds a little better, as does the sharper and brighter fourth shot.

Be sure to have a look at the photos full size, as the thumbnails don't really capture what makes them... good, bad, or whatever they really are.

Now that this has been set up, it's time to actually put up a few photos on the gbarto.com photoblog. These come from a walk with the dog the other day.

The third shot is my guide getting distracted. The fifth, when seen full size, reveals that man is indeed everywhere - there's a tire in the middle of the picture. The other shots are, well, pretty mountain shots. I hope.