HDR Photography
Another from my series of photographs from UC Berkeley’s student machine shop: the autofeeder of a practically-antique milling machine. I love the gold colors from the machine’s recent work in cutting brass, and the was it smears into the other tones of steel and plastic.
The relative safety of the fire trails above Berkeley you can survey most of the rest of the bay, in this case I’ve got a nice vista of downtown Oakland which makes it seem much more reputable (but maybe less charming) than it is when you actually walk into downtown proper. When you’re down in the thick of it all you often forget how green the bay area actually is, something you are reminded of from the hills.
I’ve always enjoyed photographs where I can contrast the stark geometries of man-made objects with the stochastic curves of most natural forms. (You can see the theme again in Part I.) In this case, I love the hexagonal cross-section and rough texture of the concrete in comparison with the smooth, vibrant waves.
I’ve shown before how beautiful the Fourth of July can be in the Bay Area; the overlapping sensory inputs of multiple fireworks shows is stunning. This year, the Berkeley Marina’s display was particularly lovely.
One of my favorite views in the Bay Area from from Grizzly Hill. (You might recognize a bit of this picture from an earlier night shoot.) I love the combination of dense city in San Francisco, sylvan suburbs in Berkeley, and proper trees in Strawberry Canyon and LBNL.
Today is a travel day for us, so I’ll be pulling an older shot out of the collection. A workbench, mid-job has this wonderful degree of barely ordered chaos. The sense of capability, competency, and potential is heady mix.
These three trees (try saying that one three times fast) outline a little glade in the Berkeley Hills. Their needles and shade enforce the limits of a calm place for an afternoon nap.
Though I posted photographs taken in UC Berkeley’s machine shop before, I keep coming back to its complicated-but-calming tools and machines. The sense of decades-old purpose and function in this lathe sprouts from every scratch and dent.
I know I’ve said it before but probably my favorite thing about California is the coast, and probably the folks out on the beach on this particular day would agree with me. I don’t know that I’d have the fortitude to surf the chilly waters of the northern California coast but the surf does look sort of inviting in the late afternoon.
Brendan has previously posted a several of gorgeous shots of Half Moon Bay and its associated Pillar Point air force base. This particular shot shows a different kind of Cold War-era neurotic nostalgia that I find really enticing. On one hand, this young couple is gazing off at the family silhouetted in the sunset–a vision of their future. On the other hand, the radar dome of the Pillar Point AFS is a sinister reminder of Cold War-era threats from across the ocean. Taken together, I’d like to think it’s emblematic of the Californian experience for a lot of folks: promise and peril.
The libraries on UC Berkeley’s campus are truly a sight to behold (if you ever get the chance to check out the Gardner Stacks, do it; it’s a massive underground book repository and it is amazing, like the ruins in Skyrim or something) but perhaps none more than the Doe Memorial Library previously featured here and here. The scale is truly amazing. You can compare it to the people sitting around the steps for a sense of scale, but this is massive and it feels twice as big on the inside.
During my time as a student at Berkeley, I’ve had a chance to watch Blum hall begin as a foundation and grow to this glowing glass-and-wood holocron you see here. It’s a beautiful building, and its modern architecture fits surprisingly well with the older buildings around it. Still, I have to wonder: given how small its footprint is, I have to wonder what the cost-per-square-foot of the space inside was?
Enormous. But oh-so worth it for the slightly sinister luminescence on winter nights. (I particularly like the manner in which the street lamps ring the building like matadors trying to keep its stampeding bulk contained.)
The hills that rise above Berkeley and the east bay are home to some of the most spectacular vistas — when the weather is nice. On this particular day we were just lucky enough to get a patch of blue sky peaking through the bleak grey clouds, which was enough to completely light up the east bay while leaving the gloom looming over the city.
Berkeley is a strange and wonderful place full of odd things in the least expected places. For instance check out this mural by Beth Emmerich, far up in the Berkeley Hills away from prying eyes. It’s actually kind of an experience, and it wraps around on all three sides of this car port. She’s also got photos (not taken by me) of other samples of her murals and other art on her website, if you’re interested.
The face of this massive grandfather clock comes from the Legion of Honor museum (from which I’ve posted some one of my other favorite shots). The level of craftsmanship exhibited (both in the clock face, and the Legion in general) is just overwhelming. The detail makes me think of some sort of grand alethiometer. My favorite feature, though, is the way the contrast brings out the enscription, “solem arte equor.” If my very rusty Latin is correct, this roughly means “sun by the sea.” Given the Legion’s gorgeous surroundings on the Pacific Ocean, I think it’s quite appropriate.
Decaseconds 