May 1, 2020

May 11th, and just a reminder for the photo group.

I’ll be posting a photo entries thread on the 15th. The theme is: “Things that make me smile.”

I hope that all of you are finding a way to use photography to somehow lighten the mood during these times.

Have fun with the 📸

April 29, 2020

REMINDER: MAY PHOTO CONTEST THEME AND TIMELINE

Please forgive my shouting...

Talitha won the April contest and has set the theme for the May contest: "'Things That Make Me Smile'
It could be anything from a heaping pile of spaghetti to a pastoral landscape scene."

Because Soph0571's timeline worked so well I am going to simply adjust it for the May contest:

I will open the competition to entries on the 15th May A submission thread will be posted at that time.
Will close the competition for entries on 22nd May at 7:00pm PT.
First round of voting 22nd May for 3 days
Final round of voting 26th May for 3 days
Winner announced 29th May and they will decide the July theme (June is reserved for the Spring contest)

REMEMBER: the winner DOES NOT have to host a contest.


Please keep your entry no larger than 1024 pixels in its longest dimension and under 675K in file size. If you need help posting a photograph or with image sizing, just ask.

Please remember that the Submission thread will be for Photos Only. A separate thread will be started for comments.

I will see you all on the 15th of May; or, as Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) said in Saving Private Ryan: "I will see you on the beach!"


CONTEST LICENSE:

An entrant to this contest, by submitting a photograph, is giving permission for that photograph to be copied to Demopedia or to a linked Gallery and included in a DU Calendar that will display the photographs entered for this contest for the purpose of publicizing future contests and/or commemorating current and past contests. The entrant retains all other rights to the photograph being submitted. Neither Demopedia and/or a linked Gallery may use any photograph submitted for any purpose other than to display the photograph being submitted by the entrant, and neither gains any real or implied ownership rights to the photograph.

April 29, 2020

MAY PHOTO CONTEST THEME AND TIMELINE

Please forgive my shouting...

Talitha won the April contest and has set the theme for the May contest: "'Things That Make Me Smile'
It could be anything from a heaping pile of spaghetti to a pastoral landscape scene."

Because Soph0571's timeline worked so well I am going to simply adjust it for the May contest:

I will open the competition to entries on the 15th May
Will close the competition for entries on 22nd May at 7:00pm PT.
First round of voting 22nd May for 3 days
Final round of voting 26th May for 3 days
Winner announced 29th May and they will decide the July theme (June is reserved for the Spring contest)

REMEMBER: the winner DOES NOT have to host a contest.


Please keep your entry no larger than 1024 pixels in its longest dimension and under 675K in file size. If you need help posting a photograph or with image sizing, just ask.

Please remember that the Submission thread will be for Photos Only. A separate thread will be started for comments.

I will see you all on the 15th of May; or, as Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) said in Saving Private Ryan: "I will see you on the beach!"


CONTEST LICENSE:

An entrant to this contest, by submitting a photograph, is giving permission for that photograph to be copied to Demopedia or to a linked Gallery and included in a DU Calendar that will display the photographs entered for this contest for the purpose of publicizing future contests and/or commemorating current and past contests. The entrant retains all other rights to the photograph being submitted. Neither Demopedia and/or a linked Gallery may use any photograph submitted for any purpose other than to display the photograph being submitted by the entrant, and neither gains any real or implied ownership rights to the photograph.

March 11, 2020

Sunrise

Sunrise

March 3, 2020

Central Valley Sunset

From a couple of summers ago. I was on a drive north from San Diego to the Bay Area on old Hwy 99. It was 110° earlier in the day.

March 2, 2020

Dow up 500+

Slowly gaining.

February 27, 2020

Does anyone here have experience with the Luminar editing program?

Thinking about adding it as a plug-in to Lightroom.

February 10, 2020

...interesting...interpretation of Orff's O Fortuna.

Vincent Niclo, the Red Army Choir, and a woman with a sword (who I think represents Fortune, or Fate).

Also, unfortunate lip synching (and one popup ad blocker at the beginning).

&list=RDJ15kqKyo2yQ&index=1

Here are the Latin lyrics for those of you who would like to sing along at home:

O Fortuna
Velut luna
Statu variabilis
Semper crescis
Aut decrescis;
Vita detestabilis
Nunc obdurat
Et tunc curat
Ludo mentis aciem,
Egestatem,
Potestatem
Dissolvit ut glaciem.
Sors immanis
Et inanis,
Rota tu volubilis
Status malus,
Vana salus
Semper dissolubilis,
Obumbrata
Et velata
Michi quoque niteris;
Nunc per ludum
Dorsum nudum
Fero tui sceleris.
Sors salutis
Et virtutis
Michi nunc contraria,
est affectus
et defectus
semper in angaria.
Hac in hora
Sine mora
Corde pulsum tangite;
Quod per sortem
Sternit fortem,
Mecum omnes plangite!

Translated into English:

O Fortune,
like the moon
you are changeable,
ever waxing,
ever waning,
hateful life
first oppresses
and then soothes
as fancy takes it;
poverty
and power
it melts them like ice
fate – monstrous
and empty,
you whirling wheel,
you are malevolent,
well-being is vain
and always fades to nothing,
shadowed
and veiled
you plague me too;
now through the game
I bring my bare back
to your villainy
fate is against me
in health
and virtue,
driven on
and weighted down,
always enslaved.
so at this hour
without delay
pluck the vibrating strings;
since Fate
strikes down the strong man,
everyone weep with me!

Lyrics at: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/o-fortuna-carmina-burana-lyrics/

February 3, 2020

Just wanted to post something.

I haven't posted in awhile, so I dug out some shots I took early last fall on a drive over to Alexander Valley. The Kincade Fire burned through these hills a couple of weeks after I took these.

The drive out there was nice, on a country road with some cool old houses:



I couldn't get out to the vines to shoot across the tops, so I'm stuck with a less than ideal wall of vines in the foreground:






Mt. St. Helena in the background, with commo towers and a fire lookout on top:



Vines and trees starting to show fall colors:



Random terrain shot. You can see how dry our hills get during summer:


That's it. Hope you all are well and maintaining your sanity during these times.