Driving home this evening, ready to turn into my driveway, I noticed the tree across the street. The sun was hitting the branches in a way I had not noticed before and the gnarled, windy limbs were like sculpture against the sky. (if only the powerlines were gone)

Messing around with the Pencam to see what happens with images taken while moving. The great thing about having a convertible is that you can take picture while driving without having to worry about getting the inside of the car. I basically held the camera up and snapped, not really knowing what I would get since I didn't look through the viewer. That would be worse than talking on the cel phone while driving. Kind of cool - I especially like the ones that are a little off kilter.

Railroad crossing around the corner from my house	Neighborhood called Palm Haven	More palms - reminds me of movie shots of LA
Palms in the side mirror	Going to work, travelling on 280. I had hoped to catch the mountain views ahead.	At work. Speaks for itself.
Going home down 101, the day is gone and the road stretches on.	Coming around the airport.

all images popup a larger instance

the pied piper	little piggie	stephen's meat products
stephen's meat products	motel city center	motel city center
alma bowl	alma bowl & pizza	5 spot drive in on first street
5 spot drive	stop at the 5 spot drive	garden theater
behind elite	elite	elite cleaners
garden theater

around town, not far from where i live are a ton of signs sporting neon and interesting typography. most of these seem to be older signs from the 50s or 60s and are still in use today. i haven't been by at night to know if the neon is still being used. there are more out there - san jose seems to be a mecca for this type of sign and hasn't been "upgraded" yet. these are a few captured with the new digital camera and experiementing with the in camera saturation.

I spend a lot of my free time gardening. I like the idea of designing in color, texture and three dimensions as well as not being fully in control of the outcome. A friend also referred to the temporal quality as a dimension of exploration. My garden last summer was bursting with color and the flamingos came to roost en masse.The act of gardening as well as just sitting surreounded by the gardens, make me happy. photos shot with Canon Elph APS, scanned with Olympus APS scanner into the computer, no ps work other than resizing
flamingo1 | flamingo2

Experimenting with a 89B Infrared filter on the CanonD30 digtal camera. I spent the day driving around south of San Jose, Ca. The hills have turned golden and the live oaks are all that are green across the landscape. It is hot and the sun burns my skin. This resevoir in Uva (south of San Jose) looks inviting and mysticalin infrared. [CanonD30, 35mm focal length, 8f stop, 4 second exposure, 89B filter tucked behind a UV filter - image reduced in photoshop to 40% original, added green and bumped contrast]

I have been experimenting with a new filter that blocks all but the infrared light. Much like infrared film but no film involved. Here are a couple of early results. Am still working through how you focus when you can't see and what the right shutter speed should be.
backyard | pool

Is it just me or did people look cooler in the 1950's?
mom
dad

This spring a pair of little
birds built a nest in one of my
rose bushes. A couple of weeks ago, the eggs hatched and a brood of
little ones emerged. I am not sure how many there are, but I captured this
routine last weekend. The parents are off hunting every 5 minutes - the chicks
start screaming mommy. Here is a version closeup. The mom (or dad - they look alike) shows up with some grub mmm good. Checks out the situation.
Is it safe?. How safe if I am there with the camera going. But babies are screaming so dinner it is.
These images shot with my new Canon D30 I also posted these same images on a very cool site: Photographica. A place where people share photos and comments. It is very cool. Check it out!

I am converting my personal journal into a GreyMatter photo journal. I will be hosting the pages on my ISP and will be adding images on a regular basis. The Blogger pages will still be linked but I won't be using the tool anymore for updates.

I recently got two new digital cameras - a Pencam and Canon D30 - which finally made it out of Illinois. These two items, plus the desire to share more visuals are prompting this change.

Enjoy.

Seymour is my cat. He thinks he is a dog and follows my German Shepherd around. He is mutant - with seven toes on each front foot and a double purr. I like to think of him as a living Garfield because he is temperamental, driven by food and won't put up with stupid Cat stuff. These images shot with my Pencam
One | Two | Three

Ugh. My boss is leaving AOL. I am really bummed. I was looking forward to working with her awhile and learning about running a large organization and still maintaining sanity. Up to now, I have always worked for men, most of whom were engineers. I was excited about having a female mentor to navigate around this giant corporation. I am not 100% sure what happens next. The timing definitely sucks and I am being selfish because she is moving up in her own career at another really great company.

UPS Package Tracking my digital camera. It seems to have gotten stalled in Illinois. I won the auction on Ebay. I know the shipment delivery date is for the 15th but I want it now and keep checking the UPS site. This is a great site but there doesn't seem to be any way make my camera move any faster.

By the way - the camera is a Canon D30 SLR body using EOS mount lenses. Unfortunately Minolta doesn't make a camera like this or I would have gotten that since I already have a set of lenses. sigh.

I am eager and anxious to carouse around San Jose shooting all the cool old and pseudo old signage here before it disappears.

Just bought a digital camera - Canon D30 - plus all the accoutrements. I can't wait to get it. This will prompt me to publish more often. There are a lot of things I see when I am that I want to shoot to post on the site and I don't want the hassle of film. It should appear on the 15th. coooool