HDR Photography
There’s something about a (relatively) simple wooden bridge over a wee creek that shouts, “SUMMER!” Given that today is the “unofficial first day of summer” (pools open today in much of the country, etc.), it seemed appropriate to feature something so summer-centric.
Whenever Photomatix releases an update, I like to go back and see what I can do with old RAW files and new software. This shot is a little bit older now, but I fell in love with the way it captures so much of the Bay Area in a single image: the Port of Oakland on the left, bits of Berkeley on the bottom-right, the Bay Bridge and Yerba Buena in the center, and San Francisco itself on the right. For so much of the year, the sky is absolutely clear until the marine layer blankets the bay in fog. The fog was just sliding over the hills as I took this shot; in a few minutes, the city had disappeared.
The Berkeley Public Libraries recently remodeled their north branch, nestled at the bottom of the Berkeley hills in North Berkeley. It’s actually quite attractive, in stark contrast to a lot of the public buildings in the east bay.
The experience of a hot dog stand: the cascading sizzles, the protein-heavy meat smells, the… decades of libertarian literature taped to the walls? Top Dog is a Berkeley institution known as much for their politics as their delicious food. I particularly enjoyed lunch here during the time that the staff was working their way through the entirety of Star Trek on DVD as they cooked.
During a brief jaunt through Berkeley Marina on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon I was able to catch this shot of an intrepid crew setting sail out into the San Francisco Bay and beyond.
We’ve all seen desire paths before, but it wasn’t until recently that I knew their name. They occur in places where the constructed landscaping and walkways don’t reflect the routes people actually want to take. It might be a result of my background as an academic, but I’ve found them to be most ubiquitous at colleges and universities, where designers aren’t always cognizant of the hurry and crowding that results when thousands of students all attempt to change classes simultaneously. (I should probably be proud that a redesign of one of the quads at my alma mater is actually taking previously-developed desire paths into account in its new geometry.)
Today’s shot comes from outside the Valley Life Sciences Building at UC Berkeley; at each corner of the building, the name of one of the life sciences appears in the stonework. I didn’t plan it this way, but was happy to see that the “Psychology” corner was visible over the desire paths: the cause hovering over the effect.
Berkeley really does have some truly gorgeous vignettes, both on- and off-campus. This shot of a tree on Hearst Ave. last fall is so conveniently lit to accentuate the broad reach of its branches and their solidity relative to the leaves in the stiff breeze.
(Or perhaps I should call it the Crushinator?) You may recognize today’s shot from Campbell Hall’s time as a mummy, but yesterday the reaper finally came for the building. I have to admit to my own exhilaration as I watched them slice and tear through the acres of rebar; of course, everyone in the crowd was watching through their cell phones as they snapped pictures. There’s something hypnotic in watching the end of something that seemed to permanent.
Berkeley’s machine shop really is one of my favorite places–so much so that I keep posting on it. It’s so unlike the world of modern consumer technology, and simultaneously so integral to accomplishing much of my scientific work, that I can’t help but feel an attachment.
Today’s shot features one of the enormous lathes that take up the majority of the space in the shop. Every control is manual, mechanical, and enormously satisfying to actuate. Once it’s up and running, the amount of kinetic energy is pretty intimidating.
Say what you will, but I do sort of like the urban jungles that folks around Berkeley tend to plant around their houses. Some, like these folks, even attempt to groom the foliage which results in this, a sort of idealized representation of a small corner of forest.
I’ve posted previously on the benefits of Berkeley’s gorgeous campus (and particularly the top of the Chemistry complex.) Today’s shot of Piper relaxing in the sun is perhaps the purest representation yet of how amazing a break can be. Any moment away from the lab bench is heaven when you have a view like this. (Or the right playlist.)
Though, like anyone else, some days at work turn out to be excellent while others are slogs to the finish, my morning walk to work is always a high point. I cross this little bridge over Strawberry Creek and stare up at the redwoods and inhale those great pine-y smells–much better than any cup of coffee!
At UC Berkeley, 4/20 is celebrated as a major holiday. At the appointed hour, students and staff gather on Memorial Glade. Today’s shot was taken about an hour later, as folks dispersed and things wound down. The amount of trash and litter left behind was a little sad; it felt like the end of a music festival.
Succulent plants, like the rather sizeable one pictured here (I believe it is some sort of agave? I’m no botanist), abound in suburban Berkeley. Sometimes they even compete with passersby for sidewalk space, as is the case for this ones’ partner (not pictured) and evidently, based on the evidence of pruning, this one in the not too distant past. They sort of look alien in the otherwise temperate-appearing trappings of the bay area (the previously mentioned palm trees aside).
In Berkeley there are some truly spectacular houses. This one is just up the street from my apartment, and has always caught my eye, mostly because it sticks out like a sore thumb, being flanked by sort of bland apartment buildings. With the coloring and the detailing over the front porch this house always reminds me of a flowering thistle or a flowering artichoke.
Decaseconds 