Macro at the Huntington

Yesterday I decided it was time to practice some macro photography. Therefore I packed my camera gear including macro filters, and headed to the Huntington Library and Gardens here in Pasadena. You can see the results in the Photo Gallery > Subjects > Macro at the Huntington. As it turns out, my macro photography skills do need quite a bit of honing. But obviously practicing is fun!

First off the cactus garden. Full of many many very prickly things…

“Prickly Pattern I”
Huntington Gardens, Pasadena, CA
ISO 100, 55 mm, 1/125 s at f/5.6

Then I went into the Conservatory, surprisingly for the first time ever, despite having been to the Huntington quite a few times. There are some great opportunities for photography, under controlled conditions: no wind and no direct sunlight. However, the presence of large numbers of people made it tricky to even attempt to set up a tripod. This turned out fairly problematic for especially the orchids, so next time I’ll make sure to go at a time with fewer people around!

“Two Colored Flower”
Huntington Gardens, Pasadena, CA
ISO 800, 187 mm, 1/200 s at f/6.3

Not just tropical carnivorous flowers were impressive, also structure in the leaves of ferns and palm varieties was interesting. Some of these were quite suitable for black and white shots.

“Lines I”
Huntington Gardens, Pasadena, CA
ISO 800, 123 mm, 1/100 s at f/5.0

“Lines II”
Huntington Gardens, Pasadena, CA
ISO 800, 84 mm, 1/80 s at f/4.5

And finally, the orchids. I am by no means an orchid connaisseur, but I am pretty sure that the collection at the Huntington can be called extensive at least. I’ll come back to try this again! Here is one of the few shots I got to be (partly) in focus.

“Orchid IV”
Huntington Gardens, Pasadena, CA
ISO 400, 96 mm, 1/100 s at f/5.0

The Old Glory of Downtown LA — Part 2: Union Station

On my way home from the old part of Downtown LA, I came by Union Station to take the Metro up north. Having passed Union Station many times without time to spare, this time I had a camera ready in my hand and a couple of hours of daylight left. Union Station is an excellent example of typical Californian architecture: a bit Spanish, a bit Old World style, and again very American too. See for all photos the Photo Gallery > Locations > Old Glory of Downtown LA.

I started off in the Station Hall. By now it was already late in the afternoon, which created some great lighting conditions in the space with large windows. Just watching all these people go by, or sit and wait, sleep, read, talk… makes me wonder where they come from, and where they are going to.

“Union Station”
Union Station, Downtown Los Angeles
ISO 100, 18 mm, 1/3 s at f/3.5

“To Ticketing And Trains”
Union Station, Downtown Los Angeles
ISO 200, 55 mm, 1/30 s at f/4.0

“Anonymous”
Union Station, Downtown Los Angeles
ISO 200, 146 mm, 1/13 s at f/5.0

When I decided it was finally time to go home, I ended up shooting several compositions in the tunnel towards the Metro. One of them I thought had failed miserably, but the blurry image actually turned out to be interesting. The girl in the front seemed lost, or seemed to have lost something. Things inherent to traveling.

“Travel Blur or Searching”
Union Station, Downtown Los Angeles
ISO 100, 55 mm, 1.3 s at f/5.6

The Old Glory of Downtown LA — Part 1: Grand Central Market and Broadway

Last Saturday I went into Downtown Los Angeles. This time not to Disney Hall or Chinatown, but to the Old Glory of Downtown: Grand Central Market, the Bradbury Building, and Broadway. See for the whole shoot: Photo Gallery > Locations > Old Glory of Downtown LA. This photography trip was done without a tripod. Quite a no-no for a photographer, I agree, but I was going for the spontaneous and gritty shots of good things gone by.

Grand Central Market is an amazing place, a bit like the famous LA Farmers Market, but then without the cheesy souvenir shops. It dates from 1917, and it has a great old charm about it. Apart from colorful fresh food, the collection of peppers and spices is impressive. Along with the collection of neon shop signs!

“Peppers”
Grand Central Market, Downtown Los Angeles
ISO 800, 49 mm, 1/4 s at f/5.6

“Grand Central Market II”
Grand Central Market, Downtown Los Angeles
ISO 100, 18 mm, 1/13 s at f/3.5

Next up was the Bradbury Building.  As far as I know, this is the only building in Los Angeles that is on the National Historic Monument list. It is an apartment building still in use, but non-residents are allowed to enter the lobby. It is quite worth it! The iron work is from out of this world, the light is incredible, and Charlie Chaplin is a great model.

“Stairs and Light”
Bradbury Building, Downtown Los Angeles
ISO 200, 18 mm, 1/2 s at f/3.5

“Charlie Chaplin”
Bradbury Building, Downtown Los Angeles
ISO 200, 23 mm, 0.6 s at f/3.5

Later in the morning we strolled along Broadway, where all the old theaters are located. Some are still in use, some have been turned into clothing stores or churches. But fortunately most of them still have the characteristic fronts. As the day went by, more and more people were on the streets, as if we were still in the ‘50 s….

“Hustle and Bustle I”
Broadway, Downtown Los Angeles
ISO 100, 250 mm, 1/80 s at f/5.6

The story continues in the next post!

Bird’s Eye View On Winter

On my way back from Europe to Los Angeles, I had the luck that all of Canada and the northern United States had completely clear weather. There were some of the most amazing views I ever got to see from an airplane! However, it turned out that taking photographs through the plane windows cast some weird reflections and color sheens on the photos, and post processing didn’t always do the trick. Nonetheless, I think that they are still interesting shots, see also the Photo Gallery > Locations > Bird’s Eye View On Winter.

Because of the time difference and me flying towards the west, I was flying over the arctic during sunrise. The sun reflecting off of frozen rivers and lakes caused intricate patterns of light and texture.

“Frozen Sunrise”
Canada/Northern USA
ISO 100, 96 mm, 1/800 s at f/14

Later on I could see patterns of meandering rivers and mountain ridges, still with no sign of human existence anywhere nearby. The vastness and emptiness of the land was impressive, and quite daunting too.

“Meandering I”
Canada/Northern USA
ISO 100, 84 mm, 1/320 s at f/8.0

At some point we did see cultivated fields, roads and farms. All covered by a blanket of snow; I can only imagine how cold it must have been there at the time.

“Cultivated I”
Canada/Northern USA
ISO 100, 74 mm, 1/400 s at f/9.0

But then, surprise surprise, we crossed into lands with no roads to be seen. Erosion patterns were spectacular, caused both by incision of rivers, and by the extrusion of layered domes (for the geologists among us….). Aka ferns and onion shells (for the rest of the world).

“Fern II”
Canada/Northern USA
ISO 100, 163 mm, 1/320 s at f/7.1

“Layered Dome”
Canada/Northern USA
ISO 100, 74 mm, 1/200 s at f/7.1

Winter Forest

After the conference in San Francisco I went straight to the Netherlands to spend the holidays with my family. One thing I am missing in Southern California is the lack of seasons. Well – winter I got! It was well below freezing for most of the time, and the day I arrived a lot of snow had fallen. On an easy stroll through a forest there were many pretty sights to be seen. See for all results the Photo Gallery > Locations > Winter Forest.

On the first two photos you can see the typical winter skies over fields and meadows which Dutch and Flemish painters of centuries past were so capable of portraying. One of the difficulties I encountered was good lighting in the snow. Those painters now deserve even more respect!

“Winter Fields I”
Oirschot, The Netherlands
ISO 200, 18 mm, 1/125 s at f/7.1

“Winter Fields II”
Oirschot, The Netherlands
ISO 200, 37 mm, 1/100 s at f/6.3

Within the forest there were many picturesque lanes, lined with trees that had a thick layer of snow on each and every branch, no matter how small.

“Forest Lane”
Oirschot, The Netherlands
ISO 200, 55 mm, 1/160 s at f/5.6

“Winter Fields III”
Oirschot, The Netherlands
ISO 200, 55 mm, 1/250 s at f/8.0

San Francisco

In December I went to San Francisco for a week, for the yearly AGU (American Geophysical Union) Fall Meeting. Five days of meetings, talks and posters with 17,000 other geophysicists. Yes – crazy. Fortunately I was able to go into town for a couple of hours to (temporarily) satisfy my photography hunger. This time I mostly scoured the waterfront, up North between the entrance of the Golden Gate bridge and the Embarcadero. It was surprisingly good weather for San Francisco in the winter, with clear skies and great sunsets. See for all results the Photo Gallery > Locations > San Francisco.

From the Crissy Field area one has a great view on everything which constitutes the Golden Gate: the bridge, the color of the evening light, the strait into the Bay, the mountains across from the Bay, and the container ships passing by.

“The Golden Gate”
San Francisco, CA
ISO 200, 18 mm, 1/250 s at f/10

On another occasion I headed to Pier 39 with its famous floats for seals and sea lions. This time there were none of the latter to be seen, but the floats themselves proved interesting subject matter under the setting sun.

“Floats At Sunset II”
San Francisco, CA
ISO 200, 55 mm, 1/250 s at f/11

Next to the famous part of Pier 39 is an old pier – nothing more than a collection of decaying pillars and beams. The texture of the weathered wood was quite amazing. And now it was finally succumbing to the elements it had been withstanding for seasons on end.

“Pier Close-Up I”
San Francisco, CA
ISO 200, 90 mm, 1/20 s at f/4.5

The Fisherman’s Wharf area has many a picturesque sight, not the least around the marina. Despite the buzzing tourist masses it portrays an unexpected tranquillity – but maybe it was the peaceful ambiance of the sunset that got to me.

“Marina”
San Francisco, CA
ISO 200, 21 mm, 160 s at f/8.0

As final shot for this blog entry I wanted to show this quirky superposition of seemingly unrelated elements. Mountains, a ship, a set of rails, a keg, a sign saying “Danger”. Oh my, do I love San Francisco!

“Loading Dock”
San Francisco, CA
ISO 200, 214 mm, 1/30 s at f/5.6

Aftermath of the Station Fire

A few days ago, the main road through the San Gabriel Mountains, Highway 2 or Angeles Crest Highway, was reopened. It had been severely damaged in the Station Fire: signs, rails, stripings and parts of the road itself were burnt, molten or destroyed by rockfall. As a refresher (I doubt you will need one): the largest fire in modern history in Los Angeles County was dubbed the Station Fire, and lasted from late August to mid-October this year. It took two lives, destroyed several homes, along with 170,000 acres (just under 700 square km) of forest in the San Gabriel Mountains and everything in it. The Mount Wilson Observatory, where George Ellery Hale did his work that made him (and Caltech) famous, was spared with enormous effort of many of the 3500 firefighters deployed in total. Some say that cinders and roots are still smoking in various places.

So early today, we drove onto Hwy 2 to take the devastation in stock. It was desolate, impressive, unbelievable, shocking, horrible, beautiful, incredible, heartbreaking; all at the same time. We also saw some signs of hope: tiny green branches and leaves popping up here and there, trying to establish a new existence. Look for more results of the shoot at Photo Gallery > Locations > Station Fire Aftermath.

One thing we were looking for to photograph were burnt road signs. Many must have been replaced already or at least taken away, but we still found some.

“Maintenance”
San Gabriel Mountains, CA
ISO 200, 55 mm, 1/25 s at f/4.0

In the same turnout we saw a row of mail boxes, scarred, but still colorful. I was trying to capture the texture and color of the rusty look that the mail boxes had, at the same time wondering what mail had been destroyed during the fire….

“Mail Box”
San Gabriel Mountains, CA
ISO 200, 45 mm, 1/60 s at f/5.0

Next, we wanted to try and find a somewhat flat area to make compositions of the charred trees and bushes (as far as there were any left). Everywhere we looked, we saw half-burnt yuccas, transformed into shapes like pineapples, but most likely not as tasty.

“Burnt Yucca”
San Gabriel Mountains, CA
ISO 200, 55 mm, 1/60 s at f/5.6

A side effect of all vegetation being gone is the high visibility of trash. Mostly very ugly, but for some reason I have a fascination with rusty things. A discarded bucket was a great study object for abstract compositions. More of this can be found in the Photo Gallery.

“Abstract Detail I”
San Gabriel Mountains, CA
ISO 200, 163 mm, 1/100 s at f/5.6

As we were driving on Hwy 2, we  had many a great view over the expansive burn area. Destruction was total; it could have been a war zone.  Some elegance could still be found in the superposition of gulleys, yuccas and what was left of the seas of manzanitas.

“Charred Gulley”
San Gabriel Mountains, CA
ISO 200, 90 mm, 1/80 s at f/4.5

Evening Skies over The City of Angels

This Saturday, a storm was moving in over Southern California from the Pacific, bringing the first snow to the local mountains. Well – a dusting; not quite the snow storm yet. A storm over the Los Angeles basin can often clear the skies and create great cloud scenes. The hope for clear skies was not exactly justified: the strong winds accompanying the storm blew dust and ash from the recent Station Fire over the whole city, causing a thick brown layer to hang over it. It truly looked like a bad smoggy day in the ’80s….. See for more photos of this shoot: Photo Gallery > Locations > Skies over LA. Before the sun was low enough to illuminate the dust layer, some clouds were still lingering and made for a nice wide-angle shot over the city.

“Clouds over LA I”
Los Angeles, CA
ISO 200, 18 mm, 1/320 s at f/18

Close to where we had set up our tripods, the grass was catching the last evening rays, just as we did. The fine structure of the plans was graciously accentuated by the glistening of the little threads surrounding the seeds (better visible in slightly larger format in the Photo Gallery).

“Catching the Evening Sun II”
Los Angeles, CA
ISO 200, 55 mm, 1/60 s at f/4.5

As time progressed, the sun sank, and started illuminating the dust layer over Los Angeles. Not a pleasant sight, but it made for some nice colors in the sky. In these shots, I was experimenting with different exposure times throughout the sunset to get different colors, and also tried to play with various styles of cropping. More results of this are in the Photo Gallery.

“Horizontal I”
Los Angeles, CA
ISO 200, 250 mm, 1/500 s at f/8.0

“Horizontal II”
Los Angeles, CA
ISO 200, 123 mm, 1/80 s at f/5.0

Devil’s Punchbowl

This Sunday it was time for the Geophysics Fault field trip with the Caltech Seismolab, with as our destination Devil’s Punchbowl at the north side of the San Gabriel Mountains. I have never hiked much in the northern parts, and frankly I was getting a little bored of the San Gabes – usually consisting of chaparral-covered hills and dusty trails. How wrong was I this time… This was by far the most exciting hike I have ever done locally! Not in the least because you actually cross the San Andreas Fault during the hike, which only spans a couple of meters across but has 20 kilometers of offset on it. Think of this hypothetical case: a fence in a meadow crossing the fault would be separated by 20 kilometers. Incredible, right?? Apart from that feat, the trail passes many spectacular vista points, cliffs, and very steep valleys. You can see more photos at Photo Gallery > Locations > Devil’s Punchbowl.

On this occasion, I decided to go for details and simple color schemes in my photographs. This photo captures part of an incredible cliff structure consisting of many layers. When we passed it, the top edges were just catching the sunlight, causing a nice glow.

“Layers I”
Devil’s Punchbowl, San Gabriel Mountains, CA
ISO 800, 250 mm, 1/250 s at f/5.6

Most of the San Gabriels (the part that hasn’t burned…) is covered in manzanitas, yuccas, and grass varieties. But these red bushes I hadn’t seen much in the southern part of the mountains, and were brilliantly glowing in the sun.

“Sunbathers”
Devil’s Punchbowl, San Gabriel Mountains, CA
ISO 400, 154 mm, 1/200 s at f/5.6

After descending into the Punchbowl, we climbed out and over a pass. Just before getting to the pass, there was a view into the valley. Many of the trees lining the creek had already shed their leaves and were prepared for winter. The pattern of their bare branches caught my eye. Ideally it should be viewed in larger size, better possible in the Photo Gallery.

“Gossamer of Nature”
Devil’s Punchbowl, San Gabriel Mountains, CA
ISO 200, 116 mm, 1/160 s at f/5.6

Just before reaching the parking lot, we crossed a patch of small cactus plants. These always intrigue me for some reason, maybe because they seem reminiscent of places far more exotic. They were quite vicious looking, so we did well to not come too close….

“Prickly”
Devil’s Punchbowl, San Gabriel Mountains, CA
ISO 800, 90 mm, 1/50 s at  f/4.5

Venice Beach

This is the last post to highlight the photography work I did before I started this blog. In October, I went to Venice Beach with my friend Alejandro. Venice Beach is a unicum in many ways, most of all because of the people. In this outing I wanted to capture that. See Photo Gallery > Locations > Venice Beach for the photos. First, we ventured onto the Venice Pier. For some reason I always imagine piers and boulevards in the early 20th century in black and white, so I figured that this photograph with an old look was fitting.

“Venice Beach Pier”
Venice Beach, Los Angeles, CA
ISO 200, 55 mm, 1/400 s at f/11

At any beach in California with decent waves, you can find surfers. This shot is also taken from the Venice Pier, which provided some much needed elevation to get into a good position. I had no idea it was that hard to capture a surfer in a photograph!

“Riding the Waves II”
Venice Beach, Los Angeles, CA
ISO 200, 90 mm, 1/200 s at f/7.1

One of the characteristics of Venice Beach is the multitude of cyclists, weightlifters, rollerbladers, and skateboarders. This turned out to be a nice portrait shot of a young skateboarder waiting to do his tricks, seemingly undisturbed by the large number of bystanders watching him.

“Skateboarder I”
Venice Beach, Los Angeles, CA
ISO 200, 187 mm, 1/250 s at f/7.1

Venice Beach of course has its boulevard, lined with hundreds of small tourist shops, some more sketchy than others. And then obviously the fun part of the boulevard for me is watching people doing the shopping.

“Landshark I”
Venice Beach, Los Angeles, CA
ISO 200, 55 mm, 1/200 s at f/7.1

The final topic of the day would be the sunset over the pier and beach. I was especially intrigued by the silhouette of the pier with all the fishing rods, and the lifeguard houses. Due to the straight nature of the beach I could happily make use of a gradient filter, which resulted in great colors.

“Silhouette”
Venice Beach, Los Angeles, CA
ISO 200, 55 mm, gradient filter, 1/400 s at f/10

“Pier at Sunset III”
Venice Beach, Los Angeles, CA
ISO 200, 146 mm, gradient filter, 1/250 s at f/6.3

“Lifeguard House III”
Venice Beach, Los Angeles, CA
ISO 200, 18 mm, gradient filter, 1/60 s at f/7.1