The Subtlety of Grandness

MS posted an updated version of its superb Image Composite Editor and I recently upgraded to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3. So I dug up a bunch of photos taken three years ago on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, moored in Alameda, just across the bay from San Francisco. Stitched them together, and voila. Click to zoom!

And, in a bit of trivia, the balcony of my old place is barely visible in this photo.

As I was transferring my photo archive to Lightroom I stumbled upon these photos that I shot two years ago (April 28, 2007) at about 6 in the morning. I’m looking eastward, toward the rising sun and downtown San Francisco. There’s some really amazing cloud formations at work here. There appear to be airliner contrails at the top of the photo, but I’ve wondereed what’s causing that quill-like structure that’s descending toward the Pyramid. Anyway, this is what can happen when you wake up hideously early in the morning.

Here’s a panorama of the Bay Bridge. Taken from the rooftop of a friend’s Jackson Square condo. Click to embiggen!

Took this a couple of weeks ago from Crissy Field just after the Blue Angels wrapped up practice for the day.

I shot this one the day before, from the Marin Headlands. As always, click for the big versions.

Over the years, I’ve shot collections of photos with the intention of stitching them together someday. Finally toying around with it; I downloaded the 64-bit version of Microsoft Image Composite Editor, which is free and pretty good, though it did give me a really whacked out composite image of Budapest. I’ll have to toy around with it some more.

First, the view from my window. Took these photos today with my DP-1. Not bad for a compact camera, right? Click on it to blow it up; it’s really huge.

Sunday was the last day the Blues were flying, and I went to the Golden Gate Bridge to watch. It was incredible; this was the closest that I’ve ever been to the Blues in flight. From that position they scream in just over your heads as the photos below will attest. The most thrilling moment was when one pushed the afterburners and skimmed in at treetop level; he was on top of us with only a second or two of warning. Then BOOM, he blew past us and accelerated toward the water. It was deafening! You could even smell the jet fuel.

I spent the afternoon lounging on the sandy beach at Crissy Field, the former Army air field on the watery edge of the Presidio that has since been converted to a wetland and park. Unfortunately, I didn’t get there in time to catch photos of a United 747 doing slow-and-low passes as part of the airshow practice, but I did get there in plenty of time to catch the Blue Angels for the second day in a row. Crissy offered a great view that’s close to centerpoint, and there were plenty of high-speed passes going on overhead.

The photos below are better compressed than those from yesterday, but again they lose some of the detail if you blow them up to full size. My original RAWs look amazing. Not bad considering I pulled a muscle in my foot running this morning and could barely limp from the parking lot to the beach.

Seagull on a wing.

Vapor trails come off the leading edge of the wing.

Weeeeeeeeeee!

Two Blue Angels caught in a high-speed pass in opposite directions.

Blue Angel #1 passes the Golden Gate.

Nice view, eh?

More squirrel photos. The little guys were everywhere when I went through Golden Gate Park this morning.

Am I evil if I can’t help but think of this section from The Joy of Cooking?

On another note, I can’t get Wicked Blood or You’re a Wolf out of my head. Amazing songs.

I was taking a loop around the island in the middle of Stow Lake this morning and this squirrel just brazenly darts up to me. I got down on a knee and he waited expectantly. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything, save for my iPhone in camera mode. Note to self: Next time, bring peanuts.

I fears no humanz.

I can haz cheezberger nau?

The London photos below were taken from a 747 about 6 miles up and, oh, about 30 to 40 miles away from the city center. I was enjoying an entire window row to myself and admiring the British countryside when I spotted the city way off in the distance. I grabbed my SLR and my 300mm lens and started shooting. Needless to say, this was extremely tough photography from that range and in those atmospheric conditions (not to mention the smudgy, double-paned plexiglas window). Not the greatest image quality, but I love looking at these and calling out the landmarks. Click for larger versions.

The Thames from six miles up and far away.

The vastness of London from a 747.

Next up is San Francisco; this was on the same flight. Classic San Fran atmospheric conditions (fog creeping in over the Golden Gate), but at least the range was a lot closer.

A bird's eye view of the Presidio and Downtown.

Swooping in over San Fran.