Every few years I venture out onto the ocean to look for birds. I generally get pretty seasick. Then, the Albatross shows up, and it's so friggin' amazing that I forget about everything else. Only a few years later, I'm ready for more. This time, for the first time, I took a camera with me, and tried to take some bird pictures. You can read about our weekend at birdWalker, it was fabulous.
Tonight was my first time to participate in Member Slide Night at the Bay Area Bird Photographers club. We saw images from about six or eight photographers, including Doug Cheeseman. I showed about 28 images from my laptop, including this Red-tailed Hawk which I just shot this morning. A slight majority of the images came from the Dell 3300 DLP projector; the rest were good old fashioned 35mm slides. The slides people had to contend with focussing the projector and not putting their slides in sideways; the laptop people had to contend with video connector adapters and wacky brightness/contrast/color settings, so everyone had their challenges. Altogether, though, it was an impressive body of work, and I came home wired and inspired.
With only hours left before our Photo Challenge deadline, Grant took me along on a visit to CoffeeTec, a local engineering firm that advises and outfits coffee roasters. Jay, the proprietor, was very generous with his time, spending almost an hour showing us around the shop and helping us take pictures of glorious old roasters he's restoring. Thanks, Jay!
My friend Ashok took me to the Hayward Regional Shoreline yesterday, where we discovered that the shorebirds are back! Woo! I had a great time and shot over 200 pictures. The new lens is working great, even delivering sharp images with the 1.4X teleconverter.
Well, I took the new lens out for a test drive this morning. I didn't get to the duck pond until nearly 9:40am, by which time the light was already rather harsh. Still. The lens performed perfectly, the weather was delightful, and this little guy posed very patiently. Woo hoo!
We had a swinging rehearsal at our house tonight to officially welcome the Hammond C3. Afterwards, Pat showed me how to perform the required annual maintenance of the organ by putting the prescribed amount of official Hammond Oil into the reservoirs in the back of the instrument.
Pat Smith invited me up to Healdsburg for the Healdsburg Guitar Festival this weekend. This festival brings together an impressive collection of high-end luthiers and guitarists from bluegrass to classical to jazz for an intense weekend of concerts, workshops, and exhibits.
We performed for an hour in the Cabaret (a respite for those overwhelmed by the exhibit floor), after which I was Pat's teaching assistant for a workshop entitled "Stuff about the Blues". The next day we were the host band for Tom Ribbecke's legendary festival party, hosted at his nearby workshop. Despite the long drive, we had a great time!
Does this seem like normal pet behavior? I've known about Izzy's prediliction for corn, but never before had the opportunity or inclination to acquire such graphic photographic evidence.
Hey you all, it's time again for the annual KKUP Jazz Marathon in Santa Clara. Come hear me perform with the Pat Smith Trio on Sunday, July 10th, at 5pm. We'll be playing out in front of the KKUP studios at 1241 Franklin Square in downtown Santa Clara. The music starts around noon and runs all day, so grab your lawn chairs and get on over there! See the KKUP website for more details.
