Imani Winds

Lydia and I went to La Petit Trianon in San Jose and saw a fantastic show this past Saturday. It was a wind ensemble that was a completely surprising performance. I was expecting the usual Mozart or Brahms, which would have been fine, but was completely surprised. Four young musicians, all with classical training. They played an amazing selection of 20th century compositions from Latin and Eastern Europe composers that were just fantastic. Kind of a mix of jazz and classical. The music was great and their playing was just superb. It is also a wonderful small hall with fantastic acoustics. They also gave little talks before each piece that talked about the composer and the history behind the piece. Frankly I was spellbound and didn't drift off into my usual day dreaming state that classical music sends me to. Highly recommend seeing them. Lydia and I bought two of their CDs right there on the spot.

Surfer

Surfer
Originally uploaded by dlnwelch

I think this is my favorite photo from the Santa Cruz outing. It was captured in a sequence of shots and just happened to catch the surfer making a cut back. This was an 18-200 lens all the way out at 200mm but still turned out pretty sharp. It is cropped quite a bit, maybe 50%?, as I was really too far to be using a 200mm lens. Post processing was mostly around basic tone and sharpness work. I love the composition and the feel of the surfer's position as he makes the cut. Dynamic action yet has an artistic quality.

Photo outing in Santa Cruz

Windsurfer I
Originally uploaded by dlnwelch

My friend Steve and I went out last Saturday for an all day photo shoot in the Santa Cruz area. Started at Steamer lane and shot dozens of frames trying to capture that special surfer shot. From there we headed up to Natural Bridges and then on to Davenport Landing to catch the sunset. While it was over 100deg back at home, the beach was in the 60s with howling wind. Freezing. Managed to get a couple of windsurfer shots in the setting sun before my teeth started chattering. After that headed back to the Boardwalk for the lights. Great day altogether. Have only developed two shots but have 3 or 4 more I will get up. Check out what I got on Flickr.

Our cycling trip to Prague

The river in front of Telc
Originally uploaded by dlnwelch

Well, its been awhile since I've been back but finally I have posted pictures of our trip to Prague and Budapest. Over a period of 10 days at the the end of June, Lydia and I cycled 250 miles on an REI tour. We started in Prague and ended in Budapest. We explored wonderful towns along the way. Places like Sopron, Telc, and Gyor. These are all very old towns with a lot of history and lovely architecture. You get such a wonderful view of a place on a bike. Highly recommend this trip. Check out my pictures on Flickr. Here are my pictures on Flickr.

Death of Newspapers, not the News

I am borrowing that headline from somewhere, just don't remember where! I think it summarizes the impact Blogs, Podcasts, and the Web in general, are having on the way news, information, and entertainment is being created and delivered. Blogs and Podcasts allow anyone to be a publisher and reach millions of people, potentially, with what they want to say. True, they may not have the editorial review behind them to insure credibility, etc, but I wouldn't discount the "free market" effect the web has on incorrect, inappropriate, or zero value content. More broadly, user created content is pervasive today. Sites like YouTube, Flickr, are visited by millions and have a huge impact. Traditional providers are using those channels today in addition to information channels they have used before. Those same traditional providers of news are turning to user created content to compliment their professional staff of writers, especially for small town or obscure stories. All in all, its blurring and changing in real time.

Blog and Podcast Habits

Despite this Blog being a new thing for me, I have been a reader of Blogs and a listener to Podcasts for some time. Lets start with Blogs. I use Google Reader and have it set up for several dozen feeds. The feeds mostly cover news, sports, tech, and areas of special interest for me. Each topic area has a folder to keep it organized. A typical morning ritual is to sit down with a cup of coffee and scan Reader. First stop is news. What's happening with the New York times, read a couple of articles. Check out the Local news, see if there is anything of interest. If I have a time, I will take a look at some Photography blogs. Otherwise I will catch up on personal interest areas sometime later in the day or evening.

Podcasts are accessed through iTunes where I have a variety set up that match my reading habits similar to Reader. Probably the most interesting content comes from the Economist, NPR, and yes, The Car Guys. I sync these on a weekly basis to my Ipod and then listen to them in the car. When we take long trips in the car, I usually try to load up the Ipod with Podcasts I think the whole family might enjoy. Car Guys is always popular.

Clouds Lake Almanor

clouds looking south from point
Originally uploaded by lydiadehn

I have discovered the ability to blog directly from Flickr, so may be a few of these! Very cool cloud formation looking southwest over Lake Almanor on Memorial Day weekend. My wife took this shot with her point and shoot from the end of the Peninsula. We go there often. In fact, the image at the top of the Blog page here is taken in the early AM at the same spot looking more to the south. Post processed 4 exposures to get HDR image.

Director's award 2009!

A very proud moment for Mom and Dad. Our youngest, really enjoys playing music and being in the band. He has learned the basics in piano, a little guitar, and is now trying sax. This year he played percussion in his first year in middle school. He received the Director's award last night. He really was enthusiastic and highly engaged all year, even volunteering to play every other Friday in local HS pep band during football season. He has also been selected to be in the symphonic band next year. Way to go!

Great Book on Lincoln

My wife has been in the same book club for over 20 years. They meet once a month to discuss a book, mostly fiction. Once a year, the husbands join and one couple is picked, to select a book and lead the discussion. This year was our turn. I insisted on non fiction, so we picked Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It was daunting as it is 750 pages long, but what a great book! It is essentially about Lincoln and his cabinet. It tells the story of their relationships and individual personalities, and how the dynamics of his cabinet changed over the course of the war. Lincoln possessed the ultimate in "Emotional Intelligence" and was a master at bringing together strong leaders, with different politics, and initially who had little respect for him. Fascinating reading. Although I have read much about the Civil War in the past, this shed a whole new light on what was happening in the political arena and in Lincoln's life.

Favorite Places for Cool Images

Two sources for cool images from the world of photojournalism are the Wall Street Journal and the Sacramento Bee. The Frame at the Sacramento Bee is a photo blog put together by their Multimedia staff. Currently showing is a set of images from the Vivid Sydney Light show that are absolutely stunning. Shown here is one of my favorites from that show, courtesy of Getty Images / Sergio Dionisio The other source, an unlikely one in my mind, is the Wall Street Journal's Photo Journal. Who would have thought that a paper known for its coverage of financial events and pages of market data could produce such an engaging set of images. They publish "Pictures of the Day" each weekday which I try never to miss. I also have a link to their feed in the side panel here to your right. Check these out. Very cool images.

Fly Fishing the Delta

I could get into this. On Friday, Hal and I spent the day fishing for Bass on the Delta. We went out with one of our favorite guides, Kevin Doran (KD). KD specializes in Fly Fishing on the Delta for Stripers and Largemouth Bass. This day was all about learning to fish for Largemouth Bass with specialized Sage fly rods and topwater flies. KD's first lesson is "every cast is a perfect cast". The flies we were using could be cast into the thickest cover, and with a stiff mono weed guard, could be pulled out without getting hung up. The key was to slowly pull the fly through the cover, which was hopefully catching the eye of a bass below. And it works. The conditions were tough (high wind) but we managed to catch a few nice fish and lose even more. It's a cool way to fish we are certain to try again. Check out KD's web site, Delta Adventures, for more info if you are interested.

Snuggles

OK, so now the class requirement is to add a picture of our cat or significant other. Of course, announcing this has created a controversy of which is truly the right choice. I'm choosing CAT as it will avoid the inevitable discussion of which picture gets posted. The CAT, aka, Snuggles, has no opinion, or at least no known opinion. So here it is, the cute family cat.

First!

OK, so now I have a blog. I have no clue what I will do with this but I have started one as a result of an assignment for a class I am taking. My idea is simply a place to record completely random crap I think of or come across day by day. Who knows where this will go.