Family Fun July 2023

Can't Help Falling in Love soundtrack (played by sister Susan on Cello with Cubase midi additions by me) is the perfect expression for how I feel about family.  With daughter Amber Taylor and family visiting from their current home in New Zealand, a delightful reunion with the entire Bay Area family occurred!

East Bay Hills - latest video!

Hiking in the east bay from 2016 to March 2023.  Such a beautiful place!

Hot Days at the Beach in Marin County

During prior heat waves it made sense to escape the temperature by driving to the beach.  A search of my beach photos led me to hot days at the beach in 2017 and 2021.  But the 6 days in September, where the temperature exceeded 100 degrees for 6 consecutive days, was too much.  The only way to survive without air conditioning was to just lay around the house with the fan on.

Clever Idea on Display in Downtown San Anselmo

I was taking photos around town and encountered this very innovative display.  Luckily a woman was nearby and, when queried about the artist, she said she and her son had created the artwork.  Using Lego bricks, they made a very unique Little Library sculpture around the free library box in front of their house.  Love this!

Trees in an Artificial Sunset

Scanned Japanese washi paper and a B&W treatment of trees shot in Seattle make for a happy marriage. 

It Rained Too Much at One Time!

Power lines down, streets closed, creeks close to overflowing; creeks which were completely empty one week ago.  Exciting taking photos in the storm (2nd from top pic shows rain falling, bottom shows drops on the window.) Mother nature is certainly a force to be reckoned with.
 

It Rained!

 and the leaves are falling!  Never been so happy to feel raindrops or welcome fall.  

A Day at North Beach Video

Family having fun at North Beach in Pt. Reyes, May 2021.  Soundtrack includes The Swan by Saint-Saens and Bernard Romberg cello music played by Susan Manata, and the original composition Elegy by J.L. Autrey with Susan Manata on cello and J.L. Autrey on piano. 

This Beautiful World

View from Marin County of San Francisco Bay, including Angel Island, and in the distance, Mt. Diablo.  Shot walking the Dipsea trail from Muir Woods in Mill Valley to Stinson Beach.  Nice workout, lovely views.  More landscape pics taken during this hike at  Lucy Autrey Wilson (@lucyautreywilson) • Instagram photos and videos and some with people below

I Agree

 Walking around the neighborhood, I spotted this sign.  Couldn't agree more (although not all the time!)

Marin County Drought - We're In for it Now!

 Top two photos taken April 2021; Bottom two taken August 2016.  Different angles, different lenses and a significantly different amount of water!  

Thanksgiving Hike along the Trails above Rossmoor in the East Bay

Thanksgiving day socially distancing hike with family.  Clear blue skies, fabulous views, unique terrain, steep uphill - well worth the effort!

The Neighborhood Mannequin Has Gotten Political

 Top photo from September, shot in the Orange Fire Ash Fog.  Vote democratic to save the environment, before the rest of the country looks like the burning down west coast.

Bottom photo from March, when the sun was shining and the sky was Blue in California.  Mannequin Bunny has since seen the light!

At Home and Around the Neighborhood During Covid-19 Shelter in Place

Top:  Garden flowers in vase with mask
Middle:  My much younger self, the clown my aunt made about 80 years ago, a lamp, and roses in bloom in the side yard.  Photoshop has much improved photo stacking.  This is a combination of 8 images
Below:  Sam reflected in the window of Brookside, the local elementary school, closed for Corona Virus.  

Project Focusing During Corona Virus Stay At Home Orders

The Attraction to Utility Poles and Lines in Landscape Photography

It's good to have a project, during these days of required social distancing.  I always have too many so am trying to focus on one at a time.  Having recently expanded my interest in making soundtracks, with music recorded by various family members, I'm working on creating more video animations for my YouTube Channel that feature new music scores.  This also requires selecting and editing photos based on a common theme.  By current project is "Utility Lines in the American Landscape."  With over 200 images now selected, it will take some quality time to meld them into something of interest.  Then, more fun, going through reams of recorded music to find a good pairing of sound and image.

Photographing the reflection of the clouds in the sky in Sam's Eye

The reflection is as is - not altered! 

Best Ten 1x1 Cropped Nature Photos of 2019

From the Berkeley Botanical Gardens to the Oregon Coast Beach; from around the Neighborhood in Marin County, California, to the Pt. Reyes National Seashore, with a bonus of a few weeks in Paros, Greece.  We live in a beautiful world!  I hope we can stop wrecking it.

Seattle Pink Poppies

Sadly I no longer have a reason to travel up to Seattle a few times a year to take photos and visit family (since they moved to Portland).  But it's now fun to see how many ways I can edit the thousands of photos I' took in Seattle over the years.  The four above are from a Queen Anne poppies garden shot I photographed in 2014, starting with one unadulterated version.  The editing fun is almost as endless as the complexities of the original as created by Mother nature.

Marilyn Monroe, Floral Fantasy, and Photoshop CC Collide

I've been compulsively editing my best floral photographs, out of the thousands I've taken since I went digital.  This has given me the opportunity to not only go down memory lane, but to experiment with as many digital techniques as I can come up with to try to bring out the essence of each photo. Lately, I discovered a pattern feature in Photoshop CC I was unaware of.  Having done some fabric design previously, it was with excitement I realized I could create offset patterns in Photoshop using my illustrator art.  This has opened a whole new area in which to play.  In these four pictures I started with a beautiful field of flowers shot in Salem, Oregon in 2016 (bottom).  Moving up from there, I've combined the original photo with three alternate patterns based on my Marilyn Monroe vector drawing.

A Day at China Camp

(Above) A digital collage of various photos take at China Camp yesterday.  It's been awhile since visiting this site in San Rafael - about 23 years!  Last time was January 1996 when I did this drawing (Below).  The best way to tell time is with old artwork and photos.  Makes up for having no memory.