One of the challenges of meeting up with photographers that you know is that you end up talking as much (or more) as you do making photos.  You’ll notice this time and time again in the following Sunday Morning Short:

(watch it in HD for the best experience…)

Since the high fog and flat light were a bit uninspiring at first arrival, I climbed up to an overlook while everyone else was down at the Baths photographing.  I thought it was a perfect chance to roll some film for time lapse sequence of photographers in action. Only yesterday when I uploaded this video did I learn of the Life in a Day project which this video happened to qualify for and I happen to upload in time to participate.  So I submitted it to the project as the chance coincidents were trying to tell me something…

At the end of the day, I ended up with a handful of photos that made my final cut for the photowalk.  You can also view all the photos that were submitted to the photowalk flickr group that Jim setup.

Bouquets to Art 2010 - Michael Daigian Designs

One of the best things was standing in the corner (waiting for the crowd to dissipate so I could get the above photograph) and listending to everyone’s comments on the design.  I thought it was interesting, the Mrs. didn’t; it’s hard to hear people’s comments/criticisms of your work.

Besides the design, she also competed in the Floral Fashion show during the Opening Galla, designing a dress made out of flowers and plant material!  (photo below courtesy of Drew Altizer Photography)

Floral Dress designed by Jennifer Lato

Mr. Michael Daigian also created a design for the show:

Bouquets to Art 2010 - Michael Daigian Designs

The art piece that Mr. Daigian’s work was based upon was located across the isle from the art piece, so I couldn’t photograph both at once.  A thumbnail of the artwork can be found to the right.

If you are ever in San Francisco during the week of Bouquets to Art, make an effort to stop by the de Young Museum to check out all the amazing work that Bay Area floral designers do for the show.  You won’t be disappointed.

You can view a select number of designs from the 2010 Bouquets to Arts and 2007 Bouquets to Arts in my photo archive.

Coastal Trail Decision

One of the great things about visiting the California Coast around Mendocino is all the great hiking trails along the coast.  Trail heads dot the coastal route of Highway 1.  Just pull off, park, and head off in a direction…

I hope everyone in the United States had a wonderful and safe 4th of July Holiday weekend.  I took advantage of the holiday time to relax, work on a few projects that have been sitting idle for way to long, and take some photos of the local firework displays.  The above photo was taken from the 17th hole of the local golf course which overlooks the city of San Ramon, CA.  My family (and about 50 other family’s from the neighborhood) were able to catch the local firework display from this wonderful vista.  Click through to see more photos from the 4th of July as well as photos from the Pleasanton, CA firework display on the 3rd of July.

So, it’s time for some crowdsourcing feedback.

Which of the following three photos (all from my wine country portfolio) speaks to you most?  Why?

Please leave a comment with your explanation.  I need some feedback in the next couple of days.  Afterwards, I’ll post a comment with which was my favorite and what points that my wife raised that made me second guess it.

This past Saturday, I happened to be in San Francisco to catch the arrival of Airship Venture’s Zeppelin to the Bay Area. I was able to make it to Crissy Field to just catch the Airship arriving over the Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately, from a photographic perspective, there was just a bit of marine layer in place which cases less than perfect photographic conditions. I was able to grab the above photos of the airship before it headed on down the Bay to Moffett Field for it’s official arrival ceremony.

Last weekend was the opening weekend at the de Young Museum for the show of Dale Chihuly’s work. In the afternoon, Dale made an appearance to autograph books for people. The previous set of images was taken while waiting in line for Dale.

Chihuly at the de Young is a wonderful showing of Dale’s vision and the work of his teams. And a very challenging exhibit to try to shoot (low lights, flashes won’t help and are down right rude, no tripods) but well worth it. If you go, make sure to take some time to enjoy the artwork without the camera in front of you…

I wonder if the people who coordinate the logistics for signing events like this purposely put the Artists in locations that makes it difficult (technically) to grab a snapshot of them. Without my external flash unit, I had to push the limits with the camera which resulted in Dale’s photo being less than pin sharp…I hate to think what the photos look like from those snappers who had point and shoot cameras.

Make sure you click through on the photos to view the entire portfolio of photos from this event…