Derby Square Book Store – Salem City in Massachusetts

Derby Square Book Store

Drove the chevy to the levy but the levy was dry

Chevrolet Pickup 1965

Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes (Boston – Bunker Hill Monument)

Below shots are taken during my visit to Boston, Massachusetts for a business trip, I had the chance to visit some of the city’s historic landmarks. The Bunker Hill Monument is one of them, I arrived at the perfect time just before the sunset, no tripod, no DSLR, only my little gem (Olympus OMD with 17mm lens), shooting handheld with multiple exposures.  Processed as HDR and post processing in Lightroom. Not so satisfied by the processing as I was lazy to remove the chromatic aberration colors because I had to do it manually, for some reason my lightroom did not recognize the lens profile, so I just ignore it and get them out :P.

below is some history about the Monument – from Wiki:

The Bunker Hill Monument was built to commemorate the Battle of Bunker Hill. The 221 foot (67 m) granite obelisk was erected between 1827 and 1843 in Charleston, Massachusetts, with granite from Quincy, Massachusetts, conveyed to the site via the Granite Railway, built specially for that purpose, followed by a trip by barge. There are 294 steps to the top.

The Bunker Hill Monument is not on Bunker Hill but instead on Breed’s Hill, where most of the fighting in the misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill actually took place. The Monument Association, which had purchased the battlefield site, was forced to sell off all but the hill’s summit in order to complete the monument.

The monument, one of the first in the United States, was erected to commemorate the Battle of Bunker Hill, the first major conflict between British and Patriot forces in the American Revolutionary War, fought there June 17, 1775. The first monument at the site was created in memory of Mason and fallen Bunker Hill hero Dr. Joseph Warren in 1794 by King Solomon’s Lodge of Masons and was initially an 18 foot (5.5 m) wooden pillar topped with a gilt urn. In front of the obelisk is a statue of Col. William Prescott, a native of Groton, another hero of Bunker Hill. During the battle, according to popular stories, he coined the famous Revolutionary War phrase, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes“. However, it is uncertain as to who said it, since various writers attribute it to Putnam, Stark, Prescott or Gridley. Doubts have also been expressed as to how original it was, and whether it was said at all.

19th century lodge built near the base of the monument

Bunker Hill Monument

Bunker Hill Monument

William Prescott

William Prescott

William Prescott

A Yellow Corner

I was walking near China Town along Powell street in San Francisco and found this colorful shops and resident buildings line up. I liked the yellow corner and the Chinese shops’ signs, no English translations, something I like as it shows the authenticity of Chinese neighborhood and how Chinese American preserve their culture and language in America.

I took multiple exposures then processed them as HDR photo. Taken using Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera.

Yellow Corner – Chinatown , Powell Street in San Francisco

My First Winning Photograph!

I’m so happy to share the news that I am a first prize winner for the “Beaches, Islands & Underwater” category in PDN Magazine “The Great Outdoors Photography Competition” for Amateur photographers.

This is my first participation in a photography contest and I was not expecting to be a finalist in the first place then I got the surprising news that I’m a first prize winner. I was so excited to know that I won and my photo will be published in the PDN magazine printed edition for August 2013 issue.

The fact that my photo will be part of a winners gallery in an eminent photography magazine in US is a great thing by its own, especially this is my first experience with a photography competition.

below is my winning photo, this edition is larger than the submitted version due to restrictions and guidelines by the competition.

PDN 2013 Great Outdoors Photography Competition – Winning Photo – Victoria Tower in Victoria Beach, Laguna Beach in California

This might be my favorite place I have ever visited for photo shooting and seascape photography. I’m lucky to live only few miles a way from that location.

In each visit, I tried to take different photos from different angles and experiment different compositions in different daytime lighting . I loved the way the tower is blended with the beach cliffs and loomed over the ocean and how the entire scene is hidden and revealed only when you look around and further beyond the surrounding beach area.

This photo caused me trouble when I captured it, because in order to have good composition I had to cross a high tide area and I got late so when I was trying to go back I was thrown by a big huge wave and I got soaked completely, my phone got damaged! and thankfully my camera did not broke.

But all the soaking , loosing my phone and challenges had paid off at the end when I saw the resulted photos in Lightroom and especially when I received the news of my winning photo. I’m proud of it and mostly proud because I had the chance to be part of a contest that include hundreds if not thousands of photos taken by different kind of experienced and amateur inspiring photographers.

It is inspiring to view all the entrees. I learnt a lot from other contestants and definitely will help me to improve my photography skills and flood my mind with new ideas.

The contest has a separate track for professionals with the same breakdown of categories and prizes allocation.

click here to view the online winners gallery for both Professionals and Amateurs.

below is the list of amateur prizes , I much care about the print out and the galleries and the kind of exposure I will get, this is must more important than any physical prize. It gave  me a boost to sustain my passion for photography:

1. ALL AMATEUR FIRST-PLACE WINNERS will receive a one year subscription to MatadorAccess.
2. AMATEUR FIRST-PLACE WINNERS will each receive a $100 Adorama gift certificate.
3. Winning images be printed and displayed at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market trade show July 31 – August 3rd 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The gallery will be on display for the event’s 21,000 attendees which includes 1,000 outdoor brand representatives and related media players.
4. ALL FIRST-PLACE WINNERS will receive digital cameras.
5. All winning images will be featured in PDN’s August issue which has an additional print circulation to 5,000 photography industry creatives!
6. SELECT WINNERS ACROSS ALL CATEGORIES will be interviewed and featured on CNN Photos blog.

I wish I have the time to visit the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market trade show in Salt Lake City, Utah to see my photo displayed there, I have tight schedule in my work and I will not able to go 😦 but lets hope someone will get interested in my photo and contact me 😛

my only disappointment is there is a spelling error in the verbiage of the photo! that they could not correct it due to the printed edition timing issue and also they will keep the old caption while the latest caption and verbiage will be only available online, but that is not a big deal for me, all I care is the photo itself, it speaks itself and does not need a description.

Congrats to all other grand prize and first price winners photographers!

One Day in San Francisco

Old Saint Mary’s Cathedral

Cable Car

San Francisco Civic Center

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco Hop on Hop Off

My heart and soul have never left SF State

Cable Car

Looking for something – Cable Car

Cable Car

Cable Car

Hang on – Cable Car

Reading in Union Square

Alley – MOCCA MOCCA

At Night

A Corner in LA at Night – Riordan’s Tavern Restaurant

LA at Night – Riordan’s Tavern Restaurant

Temecula Rod Run 2013 – Vintage Car

Vintage Car

One of a kind vintage purple

Vintage Beauty

A Night with The Temecula Rod Run Show Oldies

It was freezing cold outside today at the Rod Run yearly event in Old Town Temecula. Here you can see all types of vintage and old cars competing and showing off their authentic character by cruising the front street of the Old Town in Temecula at night. The show is a two days event, the first day mostly at night when the cars are getting some exercise 🙂 for the next day show off. It was hard to capture moving cars while they’re cruising, but I found some parked cars and with the help of some nicely loomed street lights, I could take couple of shots. I played with the pictures using cross processing (Lomo effect) and then HDR with a cold color muted theme.

Tomorrow will be all day event and I’m so ready for the photo-shooting during the day light. Hope you enjoy those nightly pictures of an old Ford (first two pictures) and an old chevy (the last two pictures) , I put for each picture the HDR version and another one which has a more realistic perspective.

Rod Run Show – Vintage Car

Rod Run Show – Vintage Car

Rod Run Show – Vintage Car

Rod Run Show – Vintage Car