There are three types of wild animal that frequent the apartment complex I live in here in Alameda: ducks, squirrels and racoons. The latter make very infrequent appearances, at night. The ducks and squirrels are more permanent, and more used to being near people.
This little fellow was not too bothered about the camera, even when the flash fired. He did keep one eye on me all the time though – just in case I became a threat unexpectedly.
Another experiment with photos cropped to panoramic aspect ratio, although this one is a more conventional horizontal cropping. It was taken from a boat while on a bay cruise (we didn’t actually stop at Alcatraz, we just sailed around it).
I heard tonight on the ferry that Blue & Gold have lost the contract to ferry people over to the island. Hornblower, better known for dinner cruises and if I remember correctly the owners of the boat this photo was taken from, now operates that service.
This one was shot in Alameda using my Canon S100. There are times when the water in the docks just behind the Ballena Village apartment complex are so still that they are almost glass. This was one of those nights; the sun was just setting in the distance and one of the yachts reflecting in the still water.
These houses are pretty small, but sell for as much as $1.5M because of the private docks they come with.
Another of the photos from my archives (I think I’ve finished going through 2000, 2001 and 2002 which are all in one iPhoto library). This was one of a number of portrait mode photos I took of the sun setting from Fort Funston. This one was then cropped to a more panoramic aspect ratio (1:3), but vertically.
I think it works well; it is a shame that this is only a 2 mega-pixel image though because that is not enough resolution for a 30″ print it seems (and I’d get two of these on a 20″x30″ poster print!).
Another old photo, this one from our visit to Mount Diablo in August 2001. After stopping at the summit, we drove back down to walk some of the lower trails. Our return journey was when we saw this tarantula spider crossing the trail ahead of us. As we got close it stopped and posed for some photos, then continued on its way.
A light dusting of snow covers the trees and the road between Colemans Hatch and Wych Cross in East Sussex. This is where I grew up. On the left side just ahead is the lane leading to the village cricket pitch; on the right opposite it an unpaved track down to a house buried deep in the forest, and behind that the 9th hole of the Ashdown Hotel golf course.
The wall of empty containers, stored just over the water (Alaska Basin) from the Wind River campus in Alameda. These were essentially the view from my office until they started building the two newer buildings (one of which we eventually moved into, but I was facing the other way in that building).
The containers are moved around regularly, although the number never seems to decline enough to be noticeable. Not visible in this photo are the truck trailers stacked up along with the containers they carry.
Perhaps not as iconic as its nearby neighbour, the Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge is still an impressive structure. We didn’t climb it during our short visit to Sydney back in early 2002 – perhaps the next time we visit we will.
My favourite kitchen appliance, although to call it an appliance does it an injustice since it is not only a great espresso machine, but also looks great.
Next time I should try to get a photo of it actually making the coffee. This, and the others in my Flickr stream, were taken the day I got it and before I had made any coffee using it.
Saturday morning I took the camera and my bike and cycled over to the site of our new house to get some exterior photos (I already have interior ones from the pre dry wall inspection we were invited to join last week). So, here is the front of the house so far.
After that, I cycled over to the recently closed Chevy’s, and around the marina area there (trying to find a different way back along the docks, but I didn’t find one and ended up going back down Tinker and through Bayport).