Man's Best Friend But Not Really Each Other's

Jack [left] belongs to one the family of one of my wife's cousins. Big, the other dog, belongs to another cousin and her family. The two dogs aren't what you would call best buddies.

So, when they get together - like when we took them both out for an evening walk in Fukushima last weekend - sparks fly.

Faced with this fight, and with plenty of people on hand to split the pair up, I just stood at a safe distance trying to control my laughter and did what I do best: shoot photos :-)

The Gear
2 x charged-up dogs
Nikon D700
Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8
1600 ISO
f/3.2 and 1/200th sec
In-camera monochrome

I have been photographing these rocks for years! One of the first things I did back in 2007, when I first got my hands on a DSLR, was drive out to the ruins of the Sutro Baths in San Francisco to photograph these rocks (known as the seal rocks even though no seal are ever found here ... it's the sea lions that one hears barking). I have taken countless images of these rocks since then.

I dropped by here again last night on the way home from work. As I was waiting for each long exposure to finish, I watched a few other photographers scrambling around in the ruins below (I was up above in the observation area next to the Cliff House Restaurant). It ends out that it was +Brian Bach Sørensen, +Toby Harriman and +Swee Oh. I wish I had known it was you guys. If I did, I would have taken the time to climb down and say hello to you! Maybe next time ...

Anyway ... these rocks are like old friends to me ...

Inner Dock

It seems ages since I've been on here so I thought it was high time I posted something again. This is a shot from a couple of weeks ago on thew way to work. Hadn't really planned on shooting but the clouds were in just the right direction and I was early enough.

This is a two shot vertorama, the bottom 100 seconds the top 40 seconds (it was really rather windy), both at ISO 100, f7.1 at 16mm using an ND110.

As its ages since I've entered any daily themes this is for

One of the reasons I haven't posted anything recently is my battle with banding - and I thought I'd nailed it with this one, but now its uploaded I can see it again - really annoying. Not entirely sure what I'm doing wrong but it just seems to creep into my workflow somewhere. In this instance the water isn't a million miles from what I shot its not heavily darkened so I'm a little surprised, and once its there just don't seem to be able to get rid of it - I've done the normal trick of adding noise and a bit of gaussian blur, plus even more extreme processes but just can't seem to eradicate it - any ideas?


For #longexposurethursday curated by +Le Quoc +Francesco Gola
For #bwfineartle curated by +Joel Tjintjelaar
For #PlusPhotoExtract curated by +Jarek Klimek


#cityscape #cityscapephotography #skyline #reflection #thirstythursdaypics

Cheetahs are included on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list of vulnerable species as well as on the US Endangered Species Act: threatened species. Today there are just 12,400 cheetahs remaining in the wild, and the biggest population is currently located in Namibia with about 2,500 individuals. Asiatic subspecies is critically endangered counting only fifty to sixty individuals that still have their habitats in Iran. However, thanks to breeding programs the cheetah has been removed from the endangered species list of the South African Red Data Book for Terrestrial Mammals.

There are many reasons why cheetahs are endangered and the most important are definitely: decline in prey, loss of habitat, poaching, and high mortality of cheetah cubs. Cheetahs, the excellent hunters they are, require open plains to hunt, and habitat loss is probably the biggest reason for big decline in their population. Many cheetah cubs fail to reach adult age because of genetic factors and predation by carnivores in competition with the cheetah, such as the lion and hyena. Cheetahs are often in conflict with farmers because they attack livestock which usually ends in being shot by the angry farmers.
#ThreatenedThursday curated by +Sumit Sen , +Diego Cattaneo , +Sandy Schepis & +Anette Mossbacher
#InMotionThursdays by +Scott Thomas
#PlusPhotoExtract by +Jarek Klimek
#BreakfastClub by +Gemma Costa, +Ester Negro and +Andrea Martinez
#WholeWildlifeWeek

Via Camel
Wadi Rum Desert, Jordan

The warm unmoving desert air was stifling, a day riding these four legged beasts felt like riding an oven with square wheels. Never the less I enjoyed it! Spending the day wandering across the desert free of the sound of any vehicles, journeying our way to a place where there is shade and water before the heat of the high noon sun arrives. It was actually slightly overcast, the thin clouds above acting like a giant blanket keeping all the heat of the day in, instead of letting it escape into space.

Photographic Details: These camels had a lot of attitude but of course by now we were used to each other. This guy was laying down and in the clean soft sand it was easy enough and really comfortable to lay down as well. I wanted to get a unique perspective, this is a classic example of a photographer either getting as low or high as possible but not at eye level. Because of his incessant chewing of cud his jaw looked unusually blurred, I had to use a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second to freeze that motion.

Camera Settings 1/250s f/5.0 ISO200 70mm

for #travelthursday curated by +Laura Mitchum

. nobody could push her around .

edit::
i have heard that there are some glitches on G+ today and lots of people are showing that they are no longer being circled. i hope they fix it soon before i start a VancouverStyleRIOT .

blinkyEyes

My head's been in the clouds

It's not often I get in front of the camera, but when these clouds presented themselves, and I saw this walkway, I thought I should make a cameo. :)

+Nathan Wirth has an amazing self portrait series, so thank you for the inspiration Nathan!

Sometimes the whole social media thing gets overwhelming and I go into seclusion. My head is in the clouds sometimes, but in this case, it was a good thing. I went out and had fun again and now I am feeling much more social. I know I'm not alone, I read about it all the time. Being social on a computer is not quite the same thing as being around actual people, and not everyone adapts to it the same way.

Anyway, I'll leave all that to the psychiatrists and psychologists!

Nikon D7000
Nikkor 12-24mm @ 24mm
30 sec, f8, ISO 400
LEE .9 Hard GND

#PlusPhotoExtract by +Jarek Klimek
For #bwfineartle by +Joel Tjintjelaar and +Black and White Fine Art Photography Gallery

Lien flickr : http://www.flickr.com/photos/anto13/7138776427/

with original size XXL D800 ^^ & alternative shot with Yellow F458

Home Sweet Home - Quebec, Canada - Very Old and New Work

Friday's tradition

almost every Friday I post for the lovely themes of
#floralfriday #feelgoodfriday (I feel good every Friday ;-)) & #colorsonfriday
this ritual normally starts a good weekend and as this is an extended one it's even more important

thanks to curators +Tamara Pruessner +Rebecca Borg +Erin Henderson +E.E. Giorgi +Gilmar Smith +Susan Edel +Christina Lihani

wish you and all g+ers a nice (and hopefully long) weekend

I will be out for a big celebration and hope to be back for #macromonday ;)

#canon #canonusers eos5d #tokina 100mm #plusphotoextract by +Jarek Klimek