Today’s photo was taken on my trip to Newport Beach, California back in April. I took it from the same location as this one about an hour and a half later.

Posted on July 28th, 2012 under Other. Tags: beach, california, laguna beach, night photography, nikon d7000, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 Lens for Nikon. Comments Off on Laguna Beach surf and stars

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge

Happy 75th birthday to the Golden Gate Bridge (金門橋) earlier this week. I went over this bridge at least a hundred times with Japanese tourists back in the early 1990s when I was tour guiding in San Francisco. Those were some good times…

Posted on May 29th, 2012 under Japan, Other. Tags: beach, california, nikon d7000, pacific ocean, san francisco, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 Lens for Nikon. Comments Off on Golden Gate Bridge is 75 years old

The Tigers didn’t exactly cut Lou Gehrig when they let go of Brandon Inge a couple weeks ago. However, Inge hit his fourth homer for the A’s this past weekend and knocked in four runs for the fourth time in five games, a feat matched by only the Iron Horse (Gehrig).

The day after Inge joined Gehrig’s elite company he could be seen chatting with Tigers third base coach (and former manager of the White Sox and Pirates), Gene Lamont, between innings as he warmed up. I wish I could have heard what they were saying.

I practically lived at the Oakland Coliseum from 1980 until 1986. Saturday’s game was only my third time back since 1986 and first time in well over a decade. It still feels like home.

Posted on May 14th, 2012 under Other. Tags: AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, baseball, california, nikon d7000, Nikon TC-17E II 1.7x Teleconverter, oakland. Comments Off on Who would cut Lou Gehrig?

I have to admit it. Had Ghost, Mastodon, and Opeth been playing anywhere else in the San Francisco Bay Area I don’t think I would have bothered to make the (300+ miles each way) trip. Seeing them in the Fox Theater is why I made the journey. The Fox Theater has so much personality and so much history. Ghost looks that much more in character in a place like this. The reverse is also true. The Fox Theater looks like it was built for bands like Ghost, Mastodon, and Opeth. The giant, gold statues flanking each side of the stage would not be out of place on a Mastodon album cover.

Posted on May 3rd, 2012 under Other. Tags: california, fox theater, ghost band sweden, nikon d7000, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 Lens for Nikon. Comments Off on Ghosty Fox Theater

Oakland has a curfew of 11:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. Opeth finished things up promptly at 11:30, but it seemed a shame to just go home with my all access pass still in effect so I headed back up to the stage for some photos of the now vacated Fox Oakland Theater.

This photo is actually five pictures taken vertically with an ultra-wide angle lens and then photomerged together in Photoshop CS5.

Posted on April 30th, 2012 under Other. Tags: california, fox theater, nikon d7000, opeth, photoshop, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 Lens for Nikon. Comments Off on After the show