Low light venue

March 7, 2011 Gary Wium Leave a comment

This past weekend we went to see Liz Carroll at The Plough and the Stars in San Francisco–the event was part of the three week long Irish-American Crossroads Festival currently taking place in the city. Liz is an absolutely amazing fiddle player! On this occasion she was accompanied by a fine young Canadian guitarist/pianist named Jake Charron. The show was GREAT! What a night of top notch music.

I brought the G11 along and discreetly took a bunch of photos. During their sets, the stage lighting was very low so I had to shoot at a high ISO with a very slow shutter speed–and because of the slow speed many of the shots of the very animated musicians came out blurry–in a distracting way. I do, however, like this shot of Jake taken just after he tuned his guitar and just before the start of the first set.

Jake Charron

I got several decent shots of Liz, but the mic placement turned out to be too much of a distraction in the frame. For some reason I kept coming back to this grainy, soft focus shot. It pleases me aesthetically.

Liz Carroll

Canon G11 being discreet.

Out and About, Photos

Exit

March 5, 2011 Gary Wium Leave a comment

I like abstraction. Sometimes an image of something with a clear meaning can be made abstract by the framing. Abstracting the color adds to the effect.

Exit abstract

Canon G11 askew to the way out.

10,000 Miles, Photos

Turquoise cap

March 4, 2011 Gary Wium Leave a comment

What’s he building in there? (Tom Waits) Pulled from my 10,000 mile collection of photos, this is a shot I took from a stopped train somewhere in New Brunswick–though it could be from anywhere. I must be missing Canada.

Turquoise cap

Canon G11 blast from the past.

Commute, Photos

South Bay vista

March 3, 2011 Gary Wium Leave a comment

Two blocks from where I work is Bayfront Park–the only open space in Menlo Park. During lunchtime, three or four days a week, I put on my running gear and slog the trails. I’ve been running there for years. Now and again the view from the hilltops is spectacular. To get shots of the vistas, however, requires a bit of a hike. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time at the end of the work day at the start of my long commute home to get into hiking mode. But yesterday, because of the wild sky, I decided to head up the closest hill from the back parking area and grab a couple of quick shots. This is my fave.

SF Bay view from Bayfront Park

Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85mm at 85mm. 1/125 second at f/16. ISO 200.

Canon T2i from the stomping grounds.

Commute, Photos

Tiled steps

March 2, 2011 Gary Wium Leave a comment

Today, during my commute home, I got stuck in very slow traffic on 19th Avenue–when 19th bogs down it’s never fun. I turned up Moraga Street with the intention of bypassing 10 or so blocks of the jam up but ended up stopping to grab a few shots of these tiled steps. It was lightly raining and it was getting late (I’d already stopped to take photos earlier) so I didn’t have much time. I did, however, manage to get this very symmetrical shot of these very cool looking stairs.

Art tiles at 16th and Moraga

Lens: Canon EF-S 15-85mm at 46mm. 1/40 second at f/9. ISO 200.

Canon T2i finding art along the commute.