Today’s photo didn’t require the breaking of any laws, but it was a bit sneaky how I came about it. In the Hilton Hotel to the west of Union Square I took the elevator to the 44th floor. During the day you can’t go to the 46th floor where the Cityscape Bar and Restaurant opens in the evening, and a special key is required for the 45th floor. From the 44th floor I walked up the stairs to Cityscape and found I was the only one there.

This panorama of San Francisco isn’t what you can see by looking out any one window. I took 5 photos looking out one side of the building and 6 more pics from a different side and then photomerged them all together to achieve this 200 degrees or so of panorama.

Posted on November 25th, 2012 under Other. Tags: Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Nikon D600, panorama, photomerge, photoshop, san francisco. Comments Off on Panorama of San Francisco from Cityscape Bar and Restaurant on the 46th floor of the Hilton

While taking today’s photo of the Golden Gate Bridge just after sunset I was nearly killed by a “Go Car” driver who hit the accelerator instead of the brake. She ended up crashing into one of the pillars you see in the lower left portion of the photo–the one two down to the right in fact. Had she not hit the post (and she hit it at full speed) she could have ended up over the edge and into the bay, into my car, or into me.

Posted on November 24th, 2012 under Other. Tags: blue hour, dusk, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Nikon D600, san francisco. Comments Off on Golden Gate Bridge during the “blue hour”

Today’s fish were spotted at “Aquarium of the Bay” at Pier 39 in San Francisco yesterday.

I’m really digging the high ISO possibilities with my new, Nikon D600. Both today’s photo and yesterday’s photo were hand-held shots taken at ISO 3200. Amazon has dropped the price of the D600 to under $2,000, and they are still throwing in about $250 in freebies and rebates.

Posted on November 23rd, 2012 under Other. Tags: Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Nikon D600, san francisco. Comments Off on Aquarium of the Bay

Harry Bridges Plaza, San Francisco Ferry Terminal, and Bay Bridge from the Hyatt Regency San Francisco

We drove down I-5 to San Francisco for Thanksgiving today. We ate Thanksgiving dinner at Perry’s on the Embarcadero. We had some time to kill before our reservation so we headed to the Hyatt Regency for this view.

Posted on November 22nd, 2012 under Other. Tags: california, night photography, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, Nikon D600, san francisco. Comments Off on San Francisco Bay night view

I’m not sure how much of this photo is an optical illusion caused by my angle, but (considering the ladies around Carly are all about 6′ tall) doesn’t it look like Carly Wopat can leap about three or four feet into the air straight up?

Posted on November 21st, 2012 under Other. Tags: AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, nikon d7000, sports photography, volleyball. Comments Off on Carly Wopat’s ridiculous vertical jump