It's in the Signs

I know, I haven't posted anything to this blog in a while. I really haven't taken very many photos over the last month or so, mostly because of the very hot 95+ degree temps almost every day since early July. My last two photo walks took place in over 100 degree heat.  The heat makes me extra lazy. Basically I am looking forward to fall. Cooler temps and clouds in the sky.

Anyway, I thought I would post a few of the wonderful signs I have found while taking photos. I love the age and history that comes from each sign. I am always on the lookout for interesting signs in my area.

Love the giant crawdad!

Abandoned Dairy Farm in Oakley/Brentwood CA.

From the historic town of Locke

Mountain Lion Upgrade Tips

Before I give my basic impression, you should know I have not only been using the Macintosh for about 18 years but I have worked as a tech support manager for over 17 years with a Macintosh based software company.

First, BACKUP your computer before you upgrade. It is always smart. Yes I work for a backup software company, but I want to keep the blog objective, so I won't mention the company name.

Overall I think Mountain Lion is a nice upgrade from Lion, but a couple of changes in the system may be confusing to users or make you unhappy overall.

1) Safari no longer supports RSS feeds. If you are like me, I check RSS feeds for about 100 websites every single day, multiple times per day. Seeing the RSS feeds stop working suddenly was a shock. I had a little bit of a panic attach because it would totally change my web browsing experience.

I have come up with my own workaround, that seems to be doing a decent job.

• Setup a Google Reader account
• Copy all of your RSS feeds into the Google Reader account
• Download a program like "Caffeinated" from the OS X App store. You can search on "google reader" to find free and paid RSS feed programs. Caffeinated seems to be working really well for me
• Login to your Google Reader account within your RSS Reader and all of your feeds will show up.

2) Gatekeeper: Apple has added a new security feature that blocks programs that do not have an official Digital Signature for Mountain Lion.

If you have a program downloaded from someplace other then the App Store, that program may not launch until you make a System Preference change. In my case, non of my Safari Extensions would work.

• Security & Privacy inside System Preferences and change your settings to match this screenshot:

The above change will allow all programs to run, like they did before the upgrade. All developers will eventually release updates with a correct signature to avoid this issue.

3) Messages. If you want to see your buddy lists, so you know who is online, you must use "command-1" on the keyboard to display the list of online users.

4) The Google search field in Safari is now gone. It has been combined with the address bar.  Many of us are not happy about this, but you will get used to the change.

5) Safari started opening all Windows in a new tab and not a new Window. I prefer new windows.  You can go to the Safari Preferences>Tabs and change the drop down menu to "never" as a fix.

For me, these were the biggest issues I experienced on 3 different computers. I hope it helps you.

The Club!

Got a chance to attend the first meeting of the Delta Digital Camera Club.  Really a great group of people of all skill level. Very much looking forward to learning how to be a better photographer from the wealth of knowledge the group has to offer.

If you are in the area, come join the fun.

Taking a photo at the mall is against the rules....

On July 4th around 8am I was walking through the outdoor mall in my city with my Nikon D5100 when I was stopped by the shopping mall facilities manager who informed me that taking photos in the outdoor shopping center was not allowed. At the time I was stopped, I had the camera around my neck with the lens cap on. My LowePro camera bag was around my shoulder.  No photos were being taken at that moment.

That same day would be a parade and other holiday activities.  My plan was to take a few photos before the event and return later in the day to take more photos. Clearly this was not a welcome activity.

Below is an edited version of my email to the mall property manager and the reply they sent me regarding the photography policy. I removed the city name and the name of the shopping center:

I wanted to follow-up and find out if you are able to provide me with any more specific details about your photography policy. The shopping center has developed into a social hub within the City, almost like a 2nd downtown within the city. While I do understand the shopping center is private property, I would hope that the outdoor "community" spaces would be open to the same rules as you might find in any city center.

I had been a city home owner for over 10 years. I am not a professional photographer and I have never sold a photo but I do consider myself an advanced amateur photographer. I would hope noncommercial photography that highlights some of the park features or even the fountain would be encouraged and not discouraged. What better advertising can you have then members of the community wanting to share photos of your shopping center with friends or even other photographers? What I do is not much different from someone taking a photo with a camera phone and posting the picture to Facebook or Flickr.

My original plan on the 4th was to take photos of the play structures and maybe some of the "setup" for the big event and then return for the parade and take photos of the event itself. I was pretty disappointed that taking photos was against policy and decided not to return later in the day. 

If you can shed some light on what is allowed and not allowed, I would appreciate it. I would like to return again with my camera for future Shopping Mall community events, but not without a better understanding of your facility rules.

The official response:

John is correct telling you that we have a policy regarding photography on property without prior approval from Mall Management.  This is private property and we just ask people to let us know when they want to take pictures and for what purpose.  We typically never deny anyone but we just like to know in advance.

I am a little jaded over the entire thing, mostly because I was singled out at a time I wasn't even taking a photo. I was simply walking through the facility at the time I was stopped.

Going forward, I will be keeping my camera at home next time they hold a big BBQ contest or parade at the shopping center.

Sure I can get permission to take a photo before the event, but I am sure lots of people will show up with cameras phones and be left alone.

I suppose the right thing to do is always get a signed property release document, but honestly I wasn't planning to take photos I would post on anything outside of flickr.

What type of things have you experienced in situations like this?

Preston Castle

I went on a visit to Preston Castle in Lion CA today.  I went on the guided tour which lasted about an hour, leaving not much time to compose photos in this 40,000 SQ foot building.

Below are some of my favorite shots.

These fire hose wheels can be found all over the castle.

Not really sure about the royal history

I believe this is an old X-Ray machine

A lot of texture in one place

Showers

Basement

Need some new places to shoot

I feel like I have pretty much exhausted all of the interesting buildings and landscapes in my area (that don't involve really long hikes).  You can only take photos of so many barns and store fronts before you run out of local options.  Although the recent suggestion to visit Fremont was pretty good.

I posted a few photos to 500px this week from my archive and didn't feel very confident with the quality, and just deleted the post.

To help keep my camera busy, I am working to photographing each of the 65 parks in my town. Some of them have some pretty interesting play equipment and some are just very basic and don't excite me.

On Saturday I am taking a road trip to Ione California to visit a haunted house that is supposed to be pretty camera friendly. I will be on the tour. I am hoping it is "self guided" so I can take my time. Otherwise I think the town itself will have a lot of interesting buildings and landscapes.

As a side note, I have started going on walks every day to get myself back into shape. A 3 mile hike used to be no big deal to me, but these days a mile is far from easy.

I also went to the eye doctor today for a checkup. Good news, the eye I use to look through my camera is in good shape for long distances. On the downside I need reading glasses.

Abstract in the Park

Decided to explore a local park with some free time today.

I took this shot in Tilden Park last year.

Color or black and white

Sometimes during the editing process I wonder if an image is better in color or B&W. This is a prime example:

At times the idea of using B&W is because I can't seem to get the colors to look right or I was unhappy with the original lighting and B&W is a way to salvage a photo.  In this case, I think the black and white has a nice feel for the old barn.  What do you think?

What method does everyone else use with B&W editing? Do you have a specific process you use for the B&W workflow?

As a side note about this photo. I love this barn, but I am not super happy with the photo itself, The sharpness isn't what I really wanted. Mostly I think it was the lack of a tripod.

Best of the Doors

I have always been a fan of doors and the texture and age they can express. Just showing off a few that I thought were interesting.

D600 upgrade rambling

Now that I have seen photos of the future Nikon D600, I am wanting it even more. I am now realizing that the lens I use the most is a DX Tamron 10-24 lens and it can not take full advantage of the D600 sensor.

If I decide to upgrade to a D600 I need to figure out what Ultra Wide Angle lens will give me the same field of view that I get with the DX camera.  My research shows that many Ultra Wide FX compatible lenses do not allow you to screw on a filter. So not only do I need an equivalent  viewpoint, I also need something that will support my 77mm filters.

I am still new to the FX vs DX world, so it is hard for me to figure out which lens I should consider buying (without breaking the bank).  It looks like Nikon has a very good Wide lens but I am not sure if it is wide enough or equal to the Tamron.

If you have any thoughts, I would love to hear your feedback.

Car House #3

Yes, I made another trip to the Western Railway Museum. Mostly because I learned about a train barn that I had never visited before. Before we talk about Train Barn #3 (Car House Three), I was able to track down a train shows in a 1975 family photo.

The original photo was taken by my dad during my first visit to the museum. Today the train is not working and visitors are not allowed inside.  The "Blackpool Corporation Transit Boat Car" is from england and was built in 1934. It joined the museum in 1972 and road the streets of San Francisco from 1983 to 1985.

Boat Car in 2011

Boat Car interior 2012.
Had to hold my hand into the air above the train to get this shot... Without the viewfinder.

Car House #3

The Western Railway Museum has a giant train barn full of almost dust free perfectly restored trains. For train fans, they are beautiful. For some crazy reason, access to these trains is limited to a 45 minute guided tour twice a week. All other access is prohibited.  Basically the best of the best is locked away and you are rushed though the barn by a tour guide. Almost no time is available to take a quality photo, let alone look around and just enjoy the history. It is a shame.  Below are a couple of the cool trains I found, a bunch more shots can be found on my flickr WRM photo set. The fastest way to get as many shots as possible was to just put the Nikon D5100 into automatic mode and just shoot.

You can't really tell but the size of this steam engine really is impressive.

Sadly, the steam engine in this family photo is in Barn #2 and "rusting away"

Old Pullman sleeper car. I would love to get inside to shoot photos.

Boxcar with it's own hobo

Oregon Electric

United States Maritime Commission Shipyard Special

Former San Francisco Street Car

This Sacramento Northern train was recently restored and is in working condition

LowePro Pro Messenger 200AW

I picked up a Pro Messenger 200AW shoulder bag today. It is a big bag, almost as big as my LowePro backpack but the layout makes it look smaller.

The shoulder strap had a super thick pad and the inside is full of so many little pockets to store gear, I would never have trouble filling it up.  I was super impressed.  Without a doubt this was a great purchase. I will post photos in a few days when I get some more time.

With my LowePro backpack, I have to set it on the ground to change my lens so I wanted a bag I could hold while changing a lens. The Messenger 200AW can hold my 70-300mm lens on it's end and I could easily swap lenses in a crowd with this bag.

I don't see a little dedicated memory card pouch like in my LowePro backpack, which so far is the only downside I can come up with.

Highly recommended.

Return to the WRM

I have a long history with the Western Railway Museum. My first visit was in the mid 1970's when my parents took my on a visit.

The Comet. Taken around 1975

The Comet taken in August 2011

My next visit was in the 1980's when my best friend and his parents took us on a day trip. I had no idea where the place was located but last year I accidentally passed it while going for a drive.

Museum ticket from 1987 and 2012

So I stopped in 2011 and took some photos and returned again today.  Below are some the shots.

This HDR capture of an old red boxcar was the last image I took today.
Clearly they are doing work to rebuild the interior and exterior.

The next 2 shots were taken of the same train 1 year apart using different lenses. Which one do you prefer?

2011 HDR 18mm Nikon kit lens version

2012 HDR 10mm Tamron wide angle version

HDR train interior

HDR image turned almost totally B&W. Not very happy with the POV.
Next time I will get the tripod lower toward seat level.

I also took a bunch of Macro shots with the Tamron 90mm Macro lens

And of course a few cool signs from inside the train that I really enjoyed