Even without a full array of ancillary pillows, a spot to lounge by the pool on a cool desert evening seems like an enormous upgrade over the second half of winter in Northern New York.
Category: California
Integratron
Landers, California’s Integratron is said to be at the intersection of ley lines and underground reservoirs, and was originally designed to hold a device that its creator hoped would extend human lifespans. While I can’t say I’ve been able to verify any of that information, its stark white presence in the desert above the Coachella Valley is certainly striking.
While it was freezing and blustery outside, within the Integratron, the enormous parabolic dome of wood (with no metal used in its construction) was definitely warm and inviting. I’ll attribute this to thermodynamics more than supernatural forces.
California Wind Turbine
An iconic image of renewable energy in California, if I do say so myself: scrub brush in the foreground, mountains in the background, and a huge wind turbine in the center of it all. I particularly like the way this particular shutter speed allowed for just a slight blur at the tips of the turbine blades.
Wind in the North of Coachella Valley
At the northern end of Coachella Valley, civilization peters out and the wind kicks up. The seemingly endless fields of wind turbines are (unsurprisingly) well-positioned: hopping out of the car to get this shot, I was nearly knocked over by a grit-enhanced gust, the likes of which I’m not sure I’ve ever felt before.
San Francisco Canyon
Describing city streets as canyons is, at this point, a cliché, but that doesn’t mean that an image of San Francisco can’t be perfectly canyon-evoking.
SoFi Stadium at Dawn
Sunrise over Los Angeles and SoFi Stadium; time to say goodbye to 2021. See you in the new year!
A E S T H E T I C Hot Tub
Magenta-and-cyan “vaporwave” aesthetics go well with an Indio hot tub.
Ten Years of Decaseconds: Return to Campbell Hall
Our first post on Decaseconds debuted on this day ten years ago. I can scarcely believe it myself! In the intervening decade, both of your humble photographers finished doctorates from Berkeley and moved to new states across the country.
Looking back to how photography has changed since 2011, the rise of platforms like Instagram (have you visited Brendan’s or mine recently?) brought with it whole new aesthetics and a new generation of photographers. In spite of the possibilities that such channels allow, I still enjoy the independent posting style of Decaseconds.
In honor the past decade, I returned to RAW files from the evening of that first post and selected another image of the old, now-demolished Campbell Hall in its mummified form. Here’s to another decade!
Seats By/In the Pool
Whether it’s a hot desert afternoon or a cool desert night, the best seat by the pool appears to be the seat in the pool.
San Francisco Weekday Traffic
Night on Zenda Drive
Thanksgiving in Palm Springs has 100% more hot tub than might otherwise be expected. Can you spot Hazel the dog, on guard for coyotes?
San Diego to Palm Springs
The route over the mountains between San Diego and Palm Springs, CA 74, leads down this incredible twisting spiral of two-lane blacktop. Far in the distance, the twinkling lights of the desert valley await night travelers.
Lake Cahuilla
Thanksgiving in California, for some, means camping on the shores of the Lake Cahuilla reservoir.
Bridge Construction in the Fog
A moment in time, glowing through the fog: lights from the old (now dismantled) and new (still under construction, at the time) eastern spans of the San Francisco—Oakland Bay Bridge.
Civ Gradient II Redux
My favorite view, run through my new favorite tool: Photoshop’s Super Resolution algorithm. My six-year-old laptop chugs a bit when running it, but the results are worth it; I recommend clicking through to see the detail in Berkeley’s South Campus.
Decaseconds 