Hardly Harley

When I first started this blog I thought I'd use it as a place to write about stuff that was on my mind, be it personal stuff, stuff that interests me, the Sharks, photography, etc. Somewhere along the way that got lost and this became a bi-weekly place to post a photo (which has taken on a new avenue of stress, oddly enough). Well, here goes a little something different, or more accurately, getting back on plan.

As some of you know my dad was diagnosed with cancer 2.5 weeks ago. And, as some of may know, my dad's health prior to cancer wasn't great to begin with. The cancer is of the throat, and surprisingly enough not related to smoking, which he's been doing for at least 50 of his 78 years. Treatment is targeted radiation therapy and a type of chemotherapy specially designed for this type of cancer. The first step of the treatment was to have started last week with a surgical biopsy done in an area behind his vocal chords and the insertion of a feed tube because dur…

Some quick shots from the Kinetic Grand Championships today. Head on over to Google+ to have a look. 2012 Kinetic Races (13 photos)
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One from the archives today. I've wanted to visit the falls close by in the evening to make use of a longer shutter speed and a more smooth, silk look. Sadly this isn't that shot. It was taken later in the evening, but for some reason all of my 6+ second shots didn't get recorded. Not sure if it was user or equipment error (probably user) so I'll try again. This is a 5 shot HDR, with some slightly longer shutter speeds than ones taken during the day. I should probably just get a neutral density filter that would allow me longer shutter times when the light is a little too strong. I like what the HDR technique did to the water, turning it kind of ghostly. I actually used a tripod for this shot too. Sadly I hate this tripod and it is about as sturdy as a house of cards on a wobbly table. I think my dislike of this, and the weight and unwieldiness of my other one, has trained me to just "forget" the tripod in the car. 

Rewind back to the end of 2011. Google+ was still fresh and new and I came across a post asking if there'd be any interest in making a group of photographers who were intimidated by doing a 365 project but could probably handle a 52 shot project. Probably to the surprise of Giuseppe Basile there were a lot of people interested. And so a list of themes were made, and subsequently copied into Evernote for future reference.

A first post to the #MonochromeMonday tag. It might not be Monday yet, but if I don't post now it might not get posted. I'm getting to a point in my photography where I'm realizing all future trips might just revolve around if there are waterfalls close by. This is a local shot, which I was surprised to stumble upon. I'm also enjoying shooting square. Enjoy. View or comment on Iain Harley's post »
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As some of you may know I typically post on my blog twice a week. Mondays show my Project 52 submission and Thursdays usually have something else. This week has been a little crazy. My dad was just recently diagnosed with cancer, and things seem be accelerating along. So today is a "me" day. There are no doctors appointments, papers to fill out, or errands to run.

I recently wiped my Mac to clear out the junk and am trying to make sense of what it is I want to do with the social networks, the blog, etc. So I want to see if I can post and publish from one network and have it branch out to the other ones. Not a teaser post, but the full contents of this post finding itself on my blog (with some editing) then finding itself on my Facebook, then a blurb out on Twitter. So far this is what I've found:

If you use Blogger's submit by email put that email in a circle in G+ you're post will find it's way to Blogger. I'd suggest putting the posts as drafts otherwise …

So I'm trying to find a way to post from Google+ to my other networks. I'm hoping this will work using Blogger's post by email. I've posted this photo earlier this week on Google+ as a follow up to my contrasting colors photo from the +Project52-2012.


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It's funny how things kind of work out. This week's theme was contrasting colors and I had something in mind from the get go. But then while out on a bike ride I came across this shot and decided I'd use this instead. The more or less white cow was the only one in this herd of chocolate milk cows.

Old town Eureka has some great specimens of Victorian houses north of San Francisco, and 2 of them are right across the street from each other. The Carson House, named after the owner and big time lumber tycoon, is an odd green on green affair. The Carson House is now home to the Ingomar Club which looks to be a very private mens club devoted to keeping the mansion in pristine shape. There are no public tours of the inside of the mansion.

Across the street from the mansion is the slightly smaller Pink Lady, a house Carson had built for his daughter.

Both are HDR shots, just gone about in different ways. The Ingomar Club is made from one RAW shot that I then made two other exposures from, under and over exposed. Because RAW files carry so much more data in them (14 megs vs 3-4 megs for JPEGs for my GF2) I'm able to pull a lot of the shadow or high light detail out of a single RAW exposure. Which is good when I forget to change a setting on my camera to give me what I call true HDR.…

Hopefully I get back on schedule this week. So to start the week off right we have my submission for the GPLUS::PROJECT52::2012 over on Google Plus. Our theme this week was sky/clouds. I was a little worried at first because my time outdoors was spent under dull grey clouds, then it cleared up and I got a number of good shots to use. In the end I chose this shot because I liked the stacked layers of it.

Been feeling under the weather lately. Not a cold or flu just not 100%, so I've not had much motivation to get out and shoot. Submissions for the Google Plus Project 52 are usually due Monday at 8pm. I just submitted mine, and I'm hoping it's not too late and won't get me kicked out of the group. I usually enjoy trying to get a shot to fit the theme, but with the theme being symmetry I just went out back and found what I could. Good thing it works! Maybe next week will be better.

You can view this, and the rest of my Project 52 photos here.