Fall

Oil Painted Fallen Friends

 Having finally figured out how to install and find the plugin Topaz Simplify to PhotoShop Elements, I humbly share a set of photos from my first couple of weeks of playing with this great "photo painting" program.  Though I largely prefer to stick to natural photos, or natural black and white pics with basic tweaks (crop, sharpen, light adjust), I enjoy the occasional big leap to a montage, textured look, or now painted look, and more.  A photographer should choose a style or two that fits and work to perfect it, though sometimes it's just fun 
to take a left turn and venture out.  

Flight South Begins

Rain Reflection

The Fall Classic starts this week!

Fall - to - Christmas Colors at home

While I have 3 other cameras I depend on under varying circumstances, my trusty pocket camera usually stays by my side.  It goes in the top drawer every night with my wallet, keys, etc. - a reminder to tote it around with me every day.  Sometimes I leave it behind though, but today was one of those days when I said, "Maybe something will come up, so let's take it."  As always, I'm glad I did, when a simple trip to pick up my wife at the airport and go to dinner on the way home wound up presenting yet another fun quick shoot of my environs throughout the evening.  Don't be without some kind of camera, cuz you never know.

 San Jose International Airport
 Parking Lot Wall Art

                                                   Buca di Beppo Art Madness...

          Ceiling of Wine Ghosts...

                                       3 Heads are better than none!

Final Shot - just horsing around with night photography

the papaROYzzi

WorldWide Photo Walk, October 1, 2011

While I didn't elect to submit photos for the contest, I joined several MH Photo Club members on the Scott Kelby's 4th annual WorldWide Photo Walk.  We of course walked about looking for new perspectives in downtown Morgan Hill while other photographers in over one-thousand cities around the globe did the same thing today in their city or town.  We were blessed with another beautiful, mild Fall evening and a vibrant downtown as people aplenty adjourned to downtown to dine and further imbibe following the Passport Weekend at our local wineries.  It was a pleasant time with my friends and I found a new angle or two on things in town.  See more photos from this venture through my Events link on http://noKodachrome.com

the papaROYzzi

                                                     Our Oldest Building?  1905

3rd St. Promenade Mural of our Comm. Center Amphitheater

                                Our little Friend Barbara tagged along and shot too

                A Glimpse.  Wall mural through the trees North of Champs restaurant

MHPC members George and Susan shoot

Downtown at Nightfall

A long walk around the ballpark during our last visit to see the Giants in 2011.  With record setting injuries, they missed the mark this year, but we were happy to go and cheer them on anyway, as they held their heads up high and played hard for an exciting win.  I watched it from a dozen locations as I took a five-inning walking tour around the park, looking for a different perspective or two to capture with one of the two cameras I toted around.  AT&T park is so fun to wander in, and is clearly one of - or thee - most beautiful ballparks in the nation.  See more photos from this tour through the photos link on my baseball blog page:  http://baseballnotes.net   Go Giants!  We'll be back...

OK, we're here and ready for the game.  Such a palace, such a ballpark.  Does God live here?

 We didn't get the Division Crown nor entry into the playoffs, but we were pleased to be a part of the crowd that helped break the 128 year record for most attendance during a Giants season.

McCovey Cove and the lower promenade - beyond the right field wall.  Hit one here and you get on the Splash Hit counter on the Right Field Wall.  Less than 60 homers have gone there over 10 years - 

and of course Barry hit over 75% of them...

The Cable Car behind Center Field on the Upper Promenade

Can't wait to go back in 2012!

Original Version on upper left 

I'm still playing with and learning editing, alteration, applying creative textures and effects, and more.  All terms that apply to endeavoring to create.  That is, create from an original photo:  tweak it, upscale it, find artistic elements to apply to come up with something new or different, or take some commonly applied action or look that comes up special or unique when applied to MY photo.  

Thank You iPhoto, Photo Shop Elements, and Aperture for your assistance in my efforts to bring out something different in my photos.  Color Efex joins the team soon, along with Topaz, and the fun and possibilities expand and continue...

Simply put, it's just great to make basic adjustments to a photo - brightness, sharpness, saturation, etc., to see how good it can look and remain a relative "purist", but also to create alternate versions using special tools and programs to explore endless possibilities.  As to the latter, I'm just a beginner, not intending to become an advanced photo editing artist, but rather just a minimally competent one to help always keep my options open.  Cheers and happy shooting, photographers all...

the papaROYzzi

Container Gardening.

Not vegetables.  Flowers.  A growing passion of mine for the last several years, attested to by the now over 60 pots, boxes, and planters now surrounding our house.  

There are many plants I've put on the two sides of the house and the front and back hills to rebuild our landscaping over the last nine years.  Once in the ground though, these plants get watered by our automatic sprinkler systems and groomed by our gardner.  The containers, however, are largely hand-watered, fertilized, dead-headed, and ultimately replaced each Spring - the annuals and others I lose - by me.  I keep adding more perennials and small plants each year to bring down the annual costs and labor to get things up and running again for the summer.  It's an ongoing learning process, but so rewarding to see the blooms come pouring over the edges of the planters each time something I've jammed into a container takes - and takes off.  I plant a few things in the ground in the Fall, but the containers are left to do battle or go dormant during the full eleven months following my April planting ritual.  In another month or so the annuals will start to wither.  I'll wave goodbye to several short-term friends, trim and shore up several perennials in hopes they make it through the winter, and eagerly await next Spring when several new friends will come aboard and add to the symphony of color that plays all summer long.  Can't wait to play with dirt and hand shovels again next year. . .

the papaROYzzi

Blue Hour Full Moon Shoot.  It should come up over there the group thinks.  Meanwhile, the cameras are ready and wondering where the humans went...  It's always great fun hooking up with a half-dozen friends and MHPC members to do a shoot.  The camaraderie is as fun as the photo challenge, with our without a couple of beers later.

                                                                                               While we wait for Mr. Moon to rise, I shoot the barn and outbuildings nearby and below the horizon we are monitoring.  Barns and farm animals always seem to make nice photos.

We finally get the big fella to peak over the horizon and begin to rise.  This is one of the very few shots I get that's worth saving and viewing.  Even with two DLSR's and two zoom lenses, plus shooting at a variety of camera settings, I'm humbled to discover I have to study up a bit more on this subject and come back and try harder.  Still loving digital though:  no film wasted, and the time spent was educational and fun.  

papaROYzzi