Dragonfly, originally uploaded by James Kirkpatrick.
I was invited to photograph at the St. Supery Dollarhide vineyard. Since we started after 9am, shooting conditions were awful. I did manage to catch this beautiful dragonfly and that alone made the trip worthwhile.
Marigold, originally uploaded by James Kirkpatrick.
Walking home on a route I usually take in the morning offered a new set of possibilities given the late evening light. Newly planted marigolds have such strong color and contrast against the green very well.
ZZZZZinnia, originally uploaded by James Kirkpatrick.
I really like how intricate and detailed these flowers are. A nice strong contrast against the green foliage helps to offset the outrageous colors.
Way back in the 90’s, when I worked for Geoworks, we worked with Jeff Hawkins whose team was perfecting Graffiti, the handwriting recognition software used on the Casio Zoomer and later PDAs from Palm & Handspring, companies that Jeff formed.
Jeff put on a version of this talk at lunch one day and I’ve been fascinated with the idea for a long time. He’s a scientist of a different caliber. Listening to him is more like listening to a car mechanic talk enthusiastically about your car rather than like a typical scientist, i.e. obtuse and boring.
What does this have to do with photography? Nothing directly, but everything in another sense.
Jeff Hawkins: Brain Science is about to fundamentally change computing
Ouch, originally uploaded by James Kirkpatrick.
Curtis, this one is for you. Bengie Molina could use your services. Curtis Haake is my Chiropactor…..
The old man can still hustle, originally uploaded by James Kirkpatrick.
My employer was kind enough to give me tickets to a great baseball game at AT&T park between crosstown rivals the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics. Barry Bonds showed great hustle on the basepaths and in the field with a leap against the outfield wall to save a possible extra base hit.
Approaching Two, originally uploaded by James Kirkpatrick.
I asked this young woman if I could take her picture. While I don’t pretend to understand her reply, I think she said “Yes”. Occasionally, Anya stops for just the briefest of moments to dein to pose for her “Gramps”
From time-to-time I will be introducing you to some of the people who’ve influenced my photography. Carol Leigh is the talent behind Photo Explorations and Calphoto, two sites I’ve frequented over the years. She’s been an instructor and cheerleader for photographers in California for a long time. We’ve been friends in an online sort of way for a number of years. I consider her an example of the kind of person I’d like to be. Cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, irreverent … well, not exactly up to the scouting creed, but my kind of person nonetheless.
Carol runs a series of online photo classes that are first rate. Each one has about 6 two week segments where each segment is focused on a particular photographic idea. The range is all over the charts and serves to move you out of the ruts we all find ourselves in, photographically and possibly otherwise. A couple of favorites for me were Twilight and Primary Colors.
She publishes an excellent newsletter: Carol Leigh’s Photo Explorations, What, Where, When & How to photograph across the United States. It’s very smartly edited and all the information is presented in the same way a good friend would tell you about the fabulous places she’s been to. I’m especially fond of the maps she includes. They are simple and to the point – no extraneous stuff.
Carol and I have met a couple of times in person. Once, on a scheduled hike on Mt. Diablo and another time just by serendipity at Mono Lake. She had a workshop going on during fall color season in the Eastern Sierras. My friend Gene Anderson and I stumbled into the Tufa area at O Dark Thirty to hunker down in the 35 degree Pre-Dawn when we saw a group led by an enthusiastic woman. We exchanged greetings and she went back to manage her brood of photographers. Gene and I didn’t get any great shots but Carol tipped us off to a wonderful spot in Lundy Lake Canyon. Gene and I spent the rest of the morning up there and I ended up with a shot that is still a favorite of mine.
A generous and giving spirit, Carol has made an impact on my life and I thank her for that.
Full Moon Rising, originally uploaded by James Kirkpatrick.
This full moon was on March 3rd, 2007. It followed an eclipse visible on the east coast though by the time it came up here on the west coast, there was nary a penumbra to be seen. Nontheless, it was a pretty sight. I used a 2x extender and a 500mm lens to get it this big.
Happy Faces, originally uploaded by James Kirkpatrick.
I pass by a building that always has stunning groupings of flowers. I often can’t help myself. After all, I’ve shot flowers until I was blue in the face. Yet, there I was, clicking away. These guys made me smile.