It was really hot today, so I thought a cool water theme would be nice. Imagine diving into the cold clear waters of Lake Tahoe. (But that’s not how this picture was done. There’s a clue on the map.)

Sunset Magazine had their annual open house this weekend. Their gardens host a large number of Western US flowers. These Globe Amaranth were attracting quite a bit of bee interest.

I’d love to retake this picture sometime because I think it could be great. I took this one quickly with my point and shoot, so it’s noisy and a bit blurry.

We had dinner with friends at the North Beach Restaurant in San Francisco. In the basement are a number of smaller dining rooms, one of which has dozens of aging hams hanging from the ceiling. If you were especially tall you’d bump your head on them.

I guess every KAP flight isn’t successful. Eric and I tried, but the wind wasn’t quite strong or steady enough to keep the camera aloft. We got some great macros of the grass, though.

A night shot along the Russian River in Healdsburg, CA. This from the first set of time exposure shots with my Canon 40D. I tweaked the color and did some luminance smoothing in Lightroom. The shoot ended when the patrolling police officer informed me "Technically, the park is closed after sunset." He was really nice considering it was 11:30 at night.

Playing around with my macro lens. The seed is from a small dandelion, and is only about 1/16" long. Backlit with my flash, the background is smooth foamcore. I love the transparency of the seed.

Strobist info: Vivitar 285HV flash about 18" away (in the obvious direction) on 1/4 power.

The San Francisco Bay has a number of great spots for kiteboarding. This is at the end of 3rd Ave. in San Mateo, just under the flight path for planes landing at SFO. I was planning to do some kite aerial photography, but the winds were too strong so I shot the kiteboarders instead. I love this image with the San Francisco skyline in the background.

Using my Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS lens for the first time on a hike in the Stanford hills. This was shot at 90mm. I did a .5% rotation and cropped a bit off the right edge to get the symmetry perfect, otherwise this is direct from the camera.

My birthday is at the end of June, and I asked for a 40D which Sarah agreed to if I completed my 366 A Picture A Day project (c’mon July 9th!).

Sadly, my trusty Canon 10D took a ride down the stairs yesterday without me, landing at the bottom with the lens in a couple pieces and the body no longer recognizing lenses attached to it. (Note to self: hey – use the strap! don’t carry so much!) That camera was my first digital SLR, I got it for Christmas in 2003. I’ve shot over 20,000 photos with it in just the past year, probably 50-60,000 overall. The 10D has joined my other old cameras on a shelf in our family room – my photo and movie hardware on display.

Anyway, I got my birthday present early this year and I’m very excited about using it.
Sad day / Happy day.

Eric and I went to the Palo Alto wetlands for some more kite aerial photography. He and I, and Shane the Dog, are in the top center of the parking lot.

The wind was picking up the entire time we were there. In this image the kite was only about 2/3s of the way out, but the wind was starting to really blow, so the kite was very high. We got concerned about the strength of the line and started pulling it in. I’m glad we did because by the time we got it in the wind was really strong. I haven’t learned by Beaufort numbers yet, but it was maybe 4?