Amusing antedotes among dozens of photography tips from "Digital Art Photography for Dummies" author, Matthew Bamberg.
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The Fed's Place
This is the San Francisco Federal Building. Quite modern, isn't it?
The building was designed by the architectural firm of Morphosis. They wanted to go beyond the bounds of "normal" architecture. The company designs many federal buildings.
Some have complained about the design, saying it's not very effective because of the powerful sunlight that comes blazing in through the windows. People have to set up umbrellas to shade themselves!
There's no place in the world like the San Francisco Women's Building. It takes an hour or two to take in all the murals that cover two sides of the building.
The mission of the place is to "provide women and girls with the tools and resources they need to achieve full and equal participation in society."
The murals are filled with symbolism. They were the brainchild of Susan Cervantes. Susan has guided artists in painting murals all over the city. Some of the murals she's painted herself.
There's nothing I enjoy more than making photo sets. When I was sitting in traffic on a tour bus in St. Petersburg, Russia last summer, I photographed some of the people walking by. It's a real slice-of-life set of pictures.
I found that most everyone one who walked that street that day was carrying something. See for yourself--
Here are a couple of cruise ships sitting in port in San Juan. The port's connected to the old part of the city, Old San Juan. The colonial buildings here span blocks and blocks.
Today there are 6 cruise ships in port as opposed to yesterday's 4 (see pic above). That mean there's nearly 20,000 tourists pack into the Old City. Try and walk the streets and you'll bump into other tourists because there's no room to walk.
Finally got to a place where I can get online after being on a cruise ship for a week. I was on Serenade of the Seas, and Barbados was one of my destinations. The picture above is a monkey at a tourist spot in the island's highlands. More about the cruise is forthcoming. Oh, by the way, if you're going on a cruise and wanting to get online on the ship, expect to pay an arm and a leg, like .55 a minute (US).
Painted Ladies
You may have seen a similar picture of the painted ladies to this one. It's not an easy picture to get. You have to be at just the right place in Alamo Square to get this vantage point. The trick is to include some of the grassy area of the square in the frame and to position the downtown buildings directly behind the Painted Ladies.
If you're planning a trip there it's got both travel info and shooting tips. Let your camera take in all The City has to offer!
Meeting the Gentle People
This has to be one of my favorite songs. Just the idea of wearing flowers in your hair takes one on the ultimate trip of mellowness.
Don't be shy sing along with the video. Here are the lyrics:
San Francisco (be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair) lyrics
If you’re going to San Francisco Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair If you’re going to San Francisco You’re gonna meet some gentle people there For those who come to San Francisco Summertime will be a love-in there In the streets of San Francisco Gentle people with flowers in their hair All across the nation, such a strange vibration People in motion There’s a whole generation, with a new explanation People in motion, people in motion For those who come to San Francisco Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair If you come to San Francisco Summertime will be a love-in there If you come to San Francisco Summertime will be a love-in there
Golden Gate Park Statue
Just when I thought it would be hopeless to find anything about this statue, I run into a site that actually has info about it.
I thought this guy was looking for water, when in truth he's grinding up apples! The statue was built for the mid-winter fair in 1894. There's another pic of it here.
Everything you wanted to know about Golden Gate Park is here.
And...yes...I am selling a book about San Francisco these days. It's not only filled with photo ops, but it also has lots of history of the City.
Dolores Park in the Morning
If you climb uphill to the southwestern edge of Dolores Park, you get this dramatic view. If you go early in the morning, you'll get a multi-colored sky, going from gold to deep blue. Of course, you'll have to bring your camera to get this kind of picture...and a tripod.
Getting up before dawn is not the most pleasant thing for most people. If you're a photographer or aspire to be one, try getting up early in the morning just once a week to take a photo of the sunrise (or just before the sunrise when the sky is a rainbow of tones). Look at the weather report. If it's cloudy, don't bother going out. If a storm has just passed, get out there right away, you'll not only get to breathe in the clear air, you'll get a great landscape with it, also. The clouds that the tail ends of storms bring with them are stunning.
I just finished writing the book, 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco. Go ahead and dare to guess 5 of them in the comments below. I'll get right back with you to let you know if you've guessed correctly.
Barrel Reminds Me of Root Beer
Caught this gem of a piece of architecture on the way home from Yosemite a week ago.
It's actually programmatic architecture, or architecture shaped like an object with which people are familiar. In this case the building is shaped like a keg used to hold root beer.
Root beer is a fascinating drink, one of my favorites, actually. Root beer has all kinds of stuff in it minus the kitchen sink. "Depending on the brew, bottler and manufacturer, root beer still contains a large number of herbs (burdock root, sarsaparilla root, yellow dock root, ginger root, juniper berries, wild cherry bark, birch bark, etc.), oils (anise, lemon, artificial wintergreen, etc.), sweeteners (sugar, molasses, corn sugar, fructose, asparatame, brown sugar, lactose, malt extract, etc.) and carbonation (yeast, artificial, forced carbonation.)" (from http://www.essortment.com/all/historyrootbeer_rhnc.htm)
Grace Cathedral Doors of Paradise
The doors of Grace Cathedral are only one of its many draws. For a virtual tour of the place you can go here.
The doors you see above are replicas of the Doors of Paradise in Florence, Italy. Their art form mark the beginning of the Renaissance. Michelangelo had described the doors as being like Gates of Paradise.
Here are details of the real thing. The pictures of the originals are really detailed. Each picture contains a title that explains what the sculpture is about.
Buy a Book and Get a Book Free
It's autumn in Yosemite and the earth is very thirsty. A full season of little precipitation makes the streams short on H2O this year as you can see in the photo.
Other than being in the national park taking pictures for my third book, 101 Quick and Easy Ideas for Winning Photographs, I'm stoked because my second book, 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco has been laid out and it looks fabulous!
If you do preorder one drop me an email (matthewbam@aol.com), and I'll send the first 5 people who preorder a copy of 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco a free copy of Digital Art Photography for Dummies.
HOPE
Caught this on a walk near Santa Monica. You know when you think about it, if that were a picture of McCain or Palin instead of Obama, the message just wouldn't work. If you can think of one word for that campaign, what would it be?
Army Act
Note how the background matches the army uniform. Matching your subject's colors to that of the background is a great quick and easy idea for a better photograph.
Big Morongo Trail
The first hiking trail you get to after leaving Palm Springs, CA on Highway 62 on the way to Joshua Tree National Park is the Big Morongo Trail. The trail is in the Big Morongo Canyon Reserve a beautiful area that includes grasses that grow in marshes and ponds with pupfish. There's also this old car buried by the test of time.
Yes, indeed, I'm back after a long book-writing break. I'll be posting text and images as often as possible while finishing up my book the 50 GREATEST PHOTO OPS IN SAN FRANCISCO.
Matt Bamberg Gallery
Please visit my gallery to see a sample of my work.
If you have any questions contact matthewbam@aol.com
I'm Back
Hello everyone, I'm back. After a slew of projects, things are winding down a bit. Biggest news is my new book--"The 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco."
The book comes out next year. Today, I'm working on landscapes for the book. I've been back and forth from the city four times so far and have had some very good days shooting. Lots of pictures with long shutter speeds and, of course, the great San Francisco fog.
More later....
Succulent with Light Purple Flowers
These purple flowers can carpet areas near the beach all over California. They're flowers of a succulent plant, which I don't know the name of. Some of these succulents have bigger flowers that are yellow.
If anyone has more info on these succulents, please comment.
This photograph is part of a larger one that I cropped out. The picture was taken with a Canon 5D with a Canon L series 24-105mm lens.
Under the Boardwalk
Hmmm, I know that tune...but what are the words? Picture is under the boardwalk at San Clemente, CA. The Drifters "Under the Boardwalk"
Season 5 "The Good Fight"
Oh when the sun beats down and burns the tar up on the roof. And your shoes get so hot, you wish your tired feet were fire-proof. Under the Boardwalk, down by the sea On a blanket with my baby, is where I'll be.
(Under the Boardwalk) Out of the sun. (Under the Boardwalk) Man, we'll be having some fun. (Under the Boardwalk) People walkin' above. (Under the Boardwalk) We'll be falling in love under the Boardwalk,
Boardwalk.
From the palms you hear the happy sounds of the carousel, and you can almost taste the hot-dogs and french fries they sell. Under the Boardwalk, down by the sea on a blanket with my baby, is where I'll be.
(Under the Boardwalk) Out of the sun. (Under the Boardwalk) Man, we'll be having some fun. (Under the Boardwalk) People walkin' above. (Under the Boardwalk) We'll be falling in love under the Boardwalk,
Boardwalk.
Under the Boardwalk, down by the sea On a blanket with my baby, is where I'll be.
Under the Boardwalk, down by the sea On a blanket with my baby, is where I'll be.
Ode to a California Sunset
You don't always need clouds for a beautiful sunset picture. The sun setting way behind the marine layer in the Pacific Ocean can disperse light in all kinds of ways.
Just Fishing
There's something relaxing about fishing. You cast out your line and ... wait.
The pier the fishermen are standing on was built in 1928.
So what are fishermen catching? Here's an answer that describes what one can catch on each part of the pier:
"Inshore, anglers should expect to see corbina, spotfin croaker, yellowfin croaker, a few sargo, barred surfperch, guitarfish, various rays, and small sharks. The mid-pier area will yield all of these (but in a lesser number) and, in addition, offer white croaker, queenfish, halibut, sand bass, silver and walleye surfperch, sculpin (California scorpionfish), salema and jacksmelt. The far end of the 1,296-foot-long pier will see all of these but also yield up more bonito, mackerel, jack mackerel, barracuda and, in some years, even a few small yellowtail."
I'm always recalling my trip to Myanmar. With nearly 10,000 dead from the cyclone, I feel for the people of that country. There some of the nicest people in all the world.
The following is from the CIA factbook, "September 2007 crackdown on prodemocracy demonstrators, including thousands of monks, further strained the economy as the tourism industry, which directly employs about 500,000 people, suffered dramatic declines in foreign visitor levels. In November 2007, the European Union announced new sanctions banning investment and trade in Burmese gems, timber and precious stones, while the United States expanded its sanctions list to include more Burmese government and military officials and their family members, as well as prominent regime business cronies, their family members, and associated companies."
Something's gotta give here. Things can't get much worse.
The Walter Pyramid
Who'd have figured that Long Beach would have had such weird architecture? This is the Walter Pyramid. It's a sports complex at Cal State University--Long Beach.
Don Gibbs designed the thing and the Nielson Construction of San Diego built it. It cost $22 million to build.
San Clemente Municipal Pier
Just north of San Diego are a string of beach cities, one of which is San Clemente. If you remember San Clemente was where Nixon escaped the hum-drum life in the White House.
I can see why he did, it's a gorgeous place, sweet breezes, swaying Washingtonian palm trees, and a great pier (see picture).
Downtown isn't far from the beach and there are dozens of shops to mill through.
While I wouldn't want to spend more than a day in San Clemente, it's definitely worth a stop for a great photo op.
