Inside the Discovery Cube

This past March my neice, her daughter, and boyfriend stopped by to visit me just prior to a beginning a trip to Disneyland. Since they were celebrating her daughter's birthday we decided to visit the discovery cube science museum in Santa Ana California. I purchased tickets in advance so we wouldn't have to wait in line to enter. The museum had lots of interesting and engaging exhibits and I of course was carrying around my camera, well two cameras to be accurate. I think I was one of the only visitors carrying a real digital camera that day. Most people were using their cell phone camera. At one point we visited an exhibit about rockets which illustrated how rocket propulsion worked in relation to payload and fuel. This exhibit was located inside a giant cube which is the museum's most recognizable architectural feature. As we walked in, I looked up at the giant cube soaring above me and immediately decided to take a series of HDR sequences to later stitch together into a big panorama. At the center of the cube was what looked like a real rocket engine.

 

Run Silent, Run Deep

During our recent trip to Chicago, Kathy and I visited the Science and Industry Museum. While I had wanted to go to the museum on prior trips, this was my first visit. In my planning for our vacation, my research revealed that the museum had a World War II era German U-boat submarine in their collection including the sub's enigma cipher machine which enabled it to communicate securely with the German Wehrmacht Kriegsmarine headquarters in Berlin. The captured sub also included a full complement of 22 torpedoes. If this were not enough, the museum has created a submarine pen resembling those built by the Nazi's in France at Saint-Nazaire. The photo below does not do justice and cannot convey the scope and scale of this world-class exhibit. The sub itself is about 250 feet long while the pen is longer than the length of a football field. Enormous! We purchased a timed ticket to tour the interior of the sub which was very interesting. The crowded interior was somewhat unexpected given how huge the exterior appears to be. This panoramic image is comprised of 3 sets of 9 HDR sequences for a total of 27 individual images. I want to return and try to find a way to shoot with my gorillapod since tripods are verboten!

Mission Inn Grand Courtyard Overview

Here's another old vacation image from one of my visits to the historic Mission Inn Hotel in Riverside, California. This hotel is very large and consists of one main multi-story building. The architecture is California mission style as established by the Franciscan Padres from Spain who founded 21 California missions in the mid to late 1700's with a goal of "pacifying" and bringing religion to the native Indians. Instead, their European diseases decimated the tribes who had no immunity.

Sunrise at the Mission Inn

I had just left my room at the historic Mission Inn and Spa in Riverside, California when I saw the sunrise looked like it was going to be spectacular. Althought it was still quite dark, the horizon was turning more orange by the minute. I went back to my room, grabbed my camera, tripod, expodisc white balancer, and off camera shutter release. I decided to shoot an 4 image wide x 3 image high HDR panorama. Each photo consisted of 10 exposures between -5ev and +5ev for a total of 120 individual exposures. The final panorama was more than 20,000 pixels wide and the color corrected file tipped the scales at 1.4GB in size. After taking this shot, I quietly walked around the property taking more photos until one of the security guards stopped me, asking if I was a registered guest. I produced my room key and gave him my name. He radioed the front desk. Once they confirmed my identity, I was allowed to continue taking photos so long as I didn't disturb any of the other guests.

Empire Builder Observation Car Panorama

Now on Amtrak's Empire Builder train traveling across the State of Montana. There has been some amazing scenery to see today. I woke up early as usual, 5:50 am, grabbed my camera bag and walked through several train cars to what has quickly become my favorite place to hang out, the observation car. I ordered breakfast, and settled in to watch the sunrise. Last night my wife insisted she would sleep on the top bunk in our Roomette. However, she found the mattress and tight confines (The curved ceiling is just 6" above your head at one point) uncomfortable and she was unable to sleep. We agreed to switch places which was an adventure given the tight confines of the space we occupied.

This photo was taken using my Sony a99 camera and my now 35 year old Minolta 16mm fisheye lens. I took 6 portrait orientation shots and then imported them to my iPad Pro. I am using a new (to me) photo editor called Affinity Photo. It brings new capability to the iPad including the first good HDR tone mapping software I've found and the ability to stitch panoramas. This photo is my first try using this feature. Since there are misalignments and it duplicated items in the final stitched image, I'll give it a C grade.

Chihuly Northwest Room

Let's keep going with the Chihuly stuff. This amazing room features Dale Chihuly's collections of indian blankets, baskets and photographs. The glass art displayed here was influenced by these collections. I really like how you get a peek into the sealife room with it's spectacular 20 foot high sealife tower. This image was taken with my 10-18mm lens and is a panorama which explains the fairly severe distortion seen in  the image. At the risk of repeating myself, I am still amazed at the quality and power of my new Sony a6000 mirrorless camera. I have no intention of abandoning my full frame sony cameras but having so much capability in a tiny camera is still mind blowing to me. I like it so much I purchased another one for Kathy and invested in 5 high quality lenses for the e-mount system. 10mm, f4.0, 3200 ISO

I've Got Me Surrounded

So this is where I spend my workdays. When working, I do best if my surroundings are creative and familiar. So here I have hung some of my photography on the walls along with some of my favorite skateboards and a few pieces of art that reflect my interest in aviation.  Although this panorama makes my office appear well lit, in reality I usually work in near darkness to eliminate glare and to minimize eye strain. I also like the uncluttered, quiet serene feel of this office. It allows me to focus, be more productive, minimize stress, and maximize energy. My job often involves responding to multiple and often changing deadlines so a Zen attitude and environment are big advantages. This 11 shot panorama was taken with my really right stuff, BH-55 ball head's precision panning base which is laser engraved at 2.5 degree intervals and allows me to perfectly align my camera's sensor to the nodal rotation point. This ensures that my panoramas are rotationally symmetric and are not affected by parallax errors.

Space Race

Space Race, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

In the 1960's and 70's the United States and the Soviet Union were trying their best to outdo one another with feats in outer space. This hall at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, features many artifacts from this time period.

Jump in, the water's wine

Jump in, the water's wine, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

This photo conveys California's amazing weather better that any other image I have ever made. This was taken in early October, the sun was so warm and the cobalt sky was completely devoid of clouds.

Kathy and I were on our second Hearst Castle tour of the day and when we climbed the steps that led to the extraordinary Neptune pool, I was once again overwhelmed by the grandeur and beauty of this place. I reflected on how wonderfully situated it is on the "enchanted hillside". Architect Julia Morgan once said she drew inspiration from the pools she saw in Mediterranean villas and Roman baths while studying in Europe.

Two curved colonnades and an ancient Roman temple set the stage for the beautiful mythological statues carved by Charles Cassou.

Holding 345,000 gallons of spring water, this is one of the largest and most expensive pools built for a private residence in the world.

Wide Angle View of the City by the Bay

Wide Angle View of the City by the Bay, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

This was a cool guerrilla photo shoot. I was staying at the San Francisco Hyatt Regency and had found a platform on the 17th floor just adjacent to the emergency stairway. There was a concrete wall with a 9" wide gap in it that allowed me to put my camera and lens through it. This is what I saw.