June 17, 2004

• Okay, my mom (who now reads my blog… along with apparently every other member of my family) bought me a digital camera for Christmas a couple of years ago.  She requested to see some photos back then and being the fantastic son I am, have produced zero photos in the year and a half since her request.  I rule!

  
  

  Oh sure, I’ve already taken many awe-inspiring photos, such as A Day in The Life and The Story of An Antenna Ball, but I haven’t sent any her way.

  
  

  So, inspired by sydney_chickie’s trip to San Francisco (which she hasn’t blogged about yet… maybe THAT should be my request!), I decided to take a couple of journeys to take some pics.  Pictures are posted in chronological order cuz… well, that’s how they came out of my camera.

  
  

  (You can click on some of the pics for larger images)

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Description: The Palace of Fine Arts – San Francisco

  
  

  Less-Poetic Description: My first night picture attempt.  The camera has an automatic night setting, so pretty much all I have to do is keep the camera steady.  One problem… I don’t own a tripod.  So, I steadied the camera by putting it on top of a garbage can (oh, how romantic).

  
  

  While walking back to my car, the sprinkler system almost drenched me.

  
  

  When I got home and looked at the pic, I saw that most of the detail of the sculptures near the top were all washed out.  Darn it, I wish this camera had more exposure control.

  
  

  The next day, I picked up the instruction booklet… hey, whadda ya know… it DOES have more exposure control. =/

  
  

  Oh well, I guess I’ll have to go out there again some night.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Description: San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge on a foggy night (as if there were any other kind of nights in SF)

  
  

  Less-Poetic Description: Same night as the previous pic.  Looking from San Francisco towards Yerba Buena Island.  The bridge continues on (the string of lights to the right of the island) and ends in Oakland.  I laid the camera on a railing, but had to tilt the camera a bit.  I like this pic the best.  Especially when…

  
  

  

  
  

  Another picture of the bridge with Oakland in the distance.  Unfortunately, while taking this picture, a dog came up behind me and barked.  So, it’s kinda blurry.  I looked back at the dog when the camera finished taking the picture and it didn’t bark or do anything else.  It just walked away.  It’s as if the dog saw me taking a night picture and barked on purpose to mess up my picture.  Doggone… dog.
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Description: Sunset overlooking Marin Hills (I think)

  
  

  Less-Poetic Description: There’s a spot on the hill in El Cerrito that I’ve been where you can get a good shot of the area.  So, I walked up the hill… but couldn’t remember how to get over to that spot anymore, so I walked back down the hill.  The sun was going down, so I figured, “Heck, let’s take a picture of that”.  The end.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Description: A picture from my bedroom window

  
  

  Less-Poetic Description: Yeah, I wish.  Actually, it’s a shot taken from Grizzly Peak Blvd., Berkeley Hills.  There are spots along the road where you can pull over to appreciate the view.
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Description: Same place, nearing night time

  
  

  Less-Poetic Description: Since there wasn’t any place to lay my camera, I sat in the passenger seat of my car, rolled down my window and sat the camera on the edge of the door to keep it still.
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Description: Panoramic picture from the same location

  
  

  Less-Poetic Description: My second attempt at a panorama picture.  The first one I tried to do last year failed miserably.  So, I went on the internet (as you know, the source of everything true in the world) to see how to take a panoramic picture and tried again.  This one came out way better, but there’s still a bit of variation in the light in one of the panels (and it actually pieces together correctly).
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Description: Birdie!

  
  

  Less-Poetic Description: Birdie!
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Description: Interstate 80 – El Cerrito, CA (Albany Hill in the background)

  
  

  Less-Poetic Description: I thought these types of pictures (long exposure of freeways while cars go by) were pretty cool, so I thought I’d try one.  Taken while laying on my stomach on a pedestrian overpass, sticking my lens through the chain-link fence at 10:30pm while drunk people walk by asking me what I’m doing.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Description: Bay Bridge and downtown San Francisco taken from Treasure Island

  
  

  Less-Poetic Description: I’ve lived in this area my whole life and that was the first time I’ve been on Treasure Island… I think.  Treasure Island is adjacent to Yerba Buena Island.  Taken on two different nights.  It was frikkin’ cold the second night.  Not sure why the water shimmers and reflects the bridge/city lights in the first pic and it’s jet black in the panoramic pic.  Any camera experts wanna answer that for me?

  
  

  
  Well, uh… that wasn’t very funny.  So, I’ll end this blog with the first (and unfortunately for me, nowhere near the last) installment of…

  
  

  Not-So-Great Moments in Dramamine Boy History

  
  

  These will all be true stories… sad to say.

  
  

  Okay, there’s a Wienerschnitzel near my house, so I frequently (probably too frequently) walk over to grab some food.  One day recently, it was time for lunch and I decided that Wienerschnitzel would be a fine choice.  It was a nice, hot day, so instead of driving the block and a half to the restaurant, I decided to walk (hey, it’s kind of a long block, okay!?!).

  
  

  I walked up to the window and gave Mr. Myron Wienerschnitzel (name changed to protect the innocent… or heck, maybe that was his name) my order.  “Your total comes to $5.80″, Myron said.  Myron went to get my drink while I pulled out $6.00.  I handed Myron my money, he gave me back my change and also my drink and a straw.  “Your order will be ready in a sec”, Myron said politely (yeah right… “politely”… as if a teenage kid working in a cramped fast food restaurant on a 80 degree day making 49 cents an hour is gonna be polite).

  
  

  Being a hot day, I decided to sip my soda while waiting for my food.  So, I unwrapped my straw and stuck it through the hole at the top of my soda cup.  While taking the first sip of my soda, I walked over to the garbage can, pushed open the flap to the can and…

  
  

  
  dropped my twenty cents directly into the garbage.

  
  

   

  
  

  Aftermath: There I am, standing at the garbage can, the straw wrapper still in my hand and the straw stuck in my mouth in mid-sip, wondering why the heck I just threw legal tender into the trash.  Fortunately, nobody saw this stupid act (unlike future installments of Not-So-Great Moments in Dramamine Boy History) and I wasn’t about to draw attention to myself by pulling off the top of the trash can to go digging for my 20 cents.

  • 4:33 am
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