Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The fog burns off ... a rust bucket appears
The fog was burning off this morning, after a morning much like the ones we've been having lately. If it's not raining, it is =really= foggy in the morning and then the fog burns off and around 11A or noon we are left with a sunshiney blue day.
I was taking photos of the fog burning off ... the Ferry Building. ... 10:31A
The SFO Bay Bridge. ... 10:49A
About an hour later, the fog was mostly gone and one of the old military ships from the mothball fleet in Suisun Bay, near Vallejo, appeared, dragged fore, with two tugs tailing aft, headed to have its barnacles and paint scraped before it's hauled away to be scrapped.
Rust bucket. 11:42A
posted by Sal Towse at 12:40 PM|
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I was taking photos of the fog burning off ... the Ferry Building. ... 10:31A
The SFO Bay Bridge. ... 10:49A
About an hour later, the fog was mostly gone and one of the old military ships from the mothball fleet in Suisun Bay, near Vallejo, appeared, dragged fore, with two tugs tailing aft, headed to have its barnacles and paint scraped before it's hauled away to be scrapped.
Rust bucket. 11:42A
Labels: fog, photographs, SanFranciscoBay, SFOBayBridge, ships
posted by Sal Towse at 12:40 PM|
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Monday, February 08, 2010
[PHOTOS] Red-tailed hawk
A red tailed hawk hanging out down the hill
Until a three-some of crows dive-bombed it until they chased it away.
posted by Sal Towse at 2:33 PM||
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Until a three-some of crows dive-bombed it until they chased it away.
Labels: photographs
posted by Sal Towse at 2:33 PM|
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Sunday, January 31, 2010
Lucky ship ...
Horizon Falcon at the end of the rainbow. [26 Jan 2010]
Labels: photographs, SanFranciscoBay, ships
posted by Sal Towse at 11:04 PM|
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Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Storm waves. Mendocino coast
Cliff Way. Just south of Noyo Bay. One of a handful of photos taken through the Mini's windshield. Too wet and windy out to play with my camera outside.
Labels: photographs, weather
posted by Sal Towse at 4:56 PM|
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Sunday, January 17, 2010
Storm arriving ...
What does this photo show? Planes coming in for landing from the north, which means the wind's from the south, which means the expected storm is starting to blow in.
Labels: photographs, weather, Yerba Buena Island
posted by Sal Towse at 1:58 PM|
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Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Thunderhead over the east hills
Monday, December 28, 2009
I am doing my best to keep my boat steady and my sails full.
I am sailing into the wind and the dark. But I am doing my best to keep my boat steady and my sails full.
-- Arthur Ashe
A lone sailboat on the Bay yesterday afternoon. ...
[click to biggify]
Labels: photographs, SanFranciscoBay, SFOBayBridge
posted by Sal Towse at 4:35 PM|
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Thursday, December 03, 2009
Let us now praise Canon Customer Support
Nearing the end of October, an annoying spot appeared on photos taken with my Canon SX110 IS. The spot was too big to edit out of most photos. I tried cleaning the lens. That wasn't the problem.
At first the spot was up near the top of the photo and I could work around it with judicious planning and cropping. The spot drifted down over the days toward the lower middle of the frame. Cropping and editing EACH AND EVERY photo was not a plan.
I'd had a similar problem with my previous Canon, ending up with multiple spots to deal with, and eventually bought this one not that long ago. Trading in a 4x for a 10x made the upgrade easier to justify. But now this camera had a spot as well ... so I went looking for a solution.
The online help at Canon did not deal with dark spots on photos. No solutions given. White spots, yes. Dark spots and blurs, no. So I searched online and found some who claimed the problem was with dust specks inside the camera. The one solution I found for do-it-yourself dust removal seemed hair-raisingly difficult.
I sent a note to Canon support:
Every photo I've taken for the last several weeks has a spot in the lower middle of the frame. The spot is large enough that retouching is difficult although I can crop the spot out of some photos. The problem appears to be a dust speck (or specks) within the camera body. What can I do to clean the dust out of the camera?
First back from them within three minutes was an auto-response: we got your msg
The following day:
Thank you for contacting Canon product support. We are sincerely sorry
to hear you are experiencing an issue with dust in your PowerShot SX110
IS. Please accept our apologies regarding this matter. We value you as
a Canon customer and appreciate the opportunity to assist you.
Please mail your digital camera to the Factory Service Center shown
below. When shipping your camera, please be sure to remove the memory
card and batteries. You are not required to send any accessories or
manuals when shipping the camera. Be sure to include your name, street
address (no P.O. boxes, please), telephone number, and a letter
describing the issue with the product. Since it has been less than one
year since the camera was purchased, we ask that you also include proof
of warranty in the form of a copy of your sales receipt.
[...]
OK. Fine. So I packaged up the camera, made a copy of the receipt, mailed it off (as suggested) via USPS priority mail. They had suggested that or some other method that tracks packages.
I sat back to wait.
In the mean time, I received two requests from Canon to fill out a survey to see how they were doing. I decided to wait until I saw whether they fixed the camera. ...
30 November: a note from Canon that my camera had arrived there and yes, indeed, it looked like a problem they could fix. However, " Please note that in the unlikely event that any additional internal damage is found due to liquid/water, sand, corrosion, battery leakage or impact (such as dropping the unit), a revised estimate will be sent for your authorization, since these conditions are specifically excluded from warranty coverage."
02 December: a note from Canon saying they'd shipped my camera back to me.
03 December: I signed for it at the door and took a couple of test shots.
FIXED!
I went back to take the Canon survey that they'd sent earlier and the survey window had expired. [sad face here]
So, instead, I am writing this paean to Canon service. Thank you for fixing my camera so promptly. I felt naked without it with me as I walked around. I appreciate your efforts.
p.s. I wish you'd make some note on your site that black specks in photos could be caused by dust inside the camera that you will fix under warranty. If I'd known that, I would've sent my previous camera back to you for service, but now it's too late and the camera, which I bought a little over two years ago, is out of warranty. Alas. [sad face here] Cost to have a camera repairman take the dust out is probably more than the value of the camera. Instead his nibs will use his fine motorskills to see what he can do -- the worst he can do is make the camera unusable, which it already is.
posted by Sal Towse at 1:50 PM||
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At first the spot was up near the top of the photo and I could work around it with judicious planning and cropping. The spot drifted down over the days toward the lower middle of the frame. Cropping and editing EACH AND EVERY photo was not a plan.
I'd had a similar problem with my previous Canon, ending up with multiple spots to deal with, and eventually bought this one not that long ago. Trading in a 4x for a 10x made the upgrade easier to justify. But now this camera had a spot as well ... so I went looking for a solution.
The online help at Canon did not deal with dark spots on photos. No solutions given. White spots, yes. Dark spots and blurs, no. So I searched online and found some who claimed the problem was with dust specks inside the camera. The one solution I found for do-it-yourself dust removal seemed hair-raisingly difficult.
I sent a note to Canon support:
Every photo I've taken for the last several weeks has a spot in the lower middle of the frame. The spot is large enough that retouching is difficult although I can crop the spot out of some photos. The problem appears to be a dust speck (or specks) within the camera body. What can I do to clean the dust out of the camera?
First back from them within three minutes was an auto-response: we got your msg
The following day:
Thank you for contacting Canon product support. We are sincerely sorry
to hear you are experiencing an issue with dust in your PowerShot SX110
IS. Please accept our apologies regarding this matter. We value you as
a Canon customer and appreciate the opportunity to assist you.
Please mail your digital camera to the Factory Service Center shown
below. When shipping your camera, please be sure to remove the memory
card and batteries. You are not required to send any accessories or
manuals when shipping the camera. Be sure to include your name, street
address (no P.O. boxes, please), telephone number, and a letter
describing the issue with the product. Since it has been less than one
year since the camera was purchased, we ask that you also include proof
of warranty in the form of a copy of your sales receipt.
[...]
OK. Fine. So I packaged up the camera, made a copy of the receipt, mailed it off (as suggested) via USPS priority mail. They had suggested that or some other method that tracks packages.
I sat back to wait.
In the mean time, I received two requests from Canon to fill out a survey to see how they were doing. I decided to wait until I saw whether they fixed the camera. ...
30 November: a note from Canon that my camera had arrived there and yes, indeed, it looked like a problem they could fix. However, " Please note that in the unlikely event that any additional internal damage is found due to liquid/water, sand, corrosion, battery leakage or impact (such as dropping the unit), a revised estimate will be sent for your authorization, since these conditions are specifically excluded from warranty coverage."
02 December: a note from Canon saying they'd shipped my camera back to me.
03 December: I signed for it at the door and took a couple of test shots.
FIXED!
I went back to take the Canon survey that they'd sent earlier and the survey window had expired. [sad face here]
So, instead, I am writing this paean to Canon service. Thank you for fixing my camera so promptly. I felt naked without it with me as I walked around. I appreciate your efforts.
p.s. I wish you'd make some note on your site that black specks in photos could be caused by dust inside the camera that you will fix under warranty. If I'd known that, I would've sent my previous camera back to you for service, but now it's too late and the camera, which I bought a little over two years ago, is out of warranty. Alas. [sad face here] Cost to have a camera repairman take the dust out is probably more than the value of the camera. Instead his nibs will use his fine motorskills to see what he can do -- the worst he can do is make the camera unusable, which it already is.
Labels: life, photographs
posted by Sal Towse at 1:50 PM|
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Saturday, November 21, 2009
Waxing crescent. On Nov 18th.
We were walking down to dinner and spotted the moon. Of the four shots I took, this was the least fuzzy.
Labels: moon, photographs
posted by Sal Towse at 12:19 AM|
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Wednesday, November 18, 2009
View
Today from the 52d floor of 555 California.
Labels: Alcatraz, photographs, SanFranciscoBay
posted by Sal Towse at 9:25 PM|
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Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Sunrise. Yesterday.
We've been having amazing weather, but, please, may it rain, really rain, soon?
Labels: California, photographs, San Francisco, SanFranciscoBay, sunrise, weather
posted by Sal Towse at 2:11 PM|
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Parrots susurrating and lovey-doveing in the tree
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Red-tailed hawk. Circling. Circling.
Labels: photographs, San Francisco, SFOBayBridge, Yerba Buena Island
posted by Sal Towse at 7:05 PM|
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009
bellies-full of plastic
via @NYRblog
Chris Jordan's latest photography set.
These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on idway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.
posted by Sal Towse at 3:32 PM||
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Chris Jordan's latest photography set.
These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on idway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.
Labels: environmentalism, photographs, science
posted by Sal Towse at 3:32 PM|
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Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Night shots 04Nov2009
Waning gibbous moon ...
Giulio Verne tucked in for the night ...
Labels: photographs, SanFranciscoBay, SFOBayBridge, Treasure Island
posted by Sal Towse at 11:16 PM|
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Let me introduce The Giulio Verne
We've been watching the Giulio Verne for the last few days as it slowly moves along the waterfront toward Potrero Point.
The TransBay Cable (a 53-mile long, 400 MW high voltage DC transmission line connecting the PG&E substation in Pittsburg with one down at Potrero Point in San Francisco) is becoming a reality.
Soon the spewing Unit#3 at Potrero Point will shut down. Unit#3 has the honor of being San Francisco's #1 source of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. Take a bow, Unit#3.
When the cable is functioning, next spring, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) will allow San Francisco to close down Unit#3. The three peaker plants at Potrero Point must remain available, however, until such time as San Francisco has replacement alternative power generation in place.
Labels: photographs, politics, SanFranciscoBay
posted by Sal Towse at 5:20 PM|
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Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Harvest Moon Rises Over Berkeley
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Full moon tomorrow ...
Labels: moon, photographs, SFOBayBridge, Treasure Island, Yerba Buena Island
posted by Sal Towse at 5:01 PM|
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
Bay Bridge still closed ...
The ferries head in and head out. The bridge is empty of traffic (except for the 108 on the upper deck) while repairs continue on the eastern span.
After sunrise. A single truck on the bridge. Traffic is only allowed between San Francisco and Treasure Island/Yerba Buena: the 108, a few cars, repair vehicles, an occasional truck. That's it until the repairs on the broken crossbeam and tie rods are finished, examined, inspected, okay'd, and the bridge re-opens.
Traffic elsewhere is a scramble. BART and the ferries are packed.
posted by Sal Towse at 9:08 AM||
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After sunrise. A single truck on the bridge. Traffic is only allowed between San Francisco and Treasure Island/Yerba Buena: the 108, a few cars, repair vehicles, an occasional truck. That's it until the repairs on the broken crossbeam and tie rods are finished, examined, inspected, okay'd, and the bridge re-opens.
Traffic elsewhere is a scramble. BART and the ferries are packed.
Labels: life, news, photographs, SFOBayBridge
posted by Sal Towse at 9:08 AM|
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Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Castro view
Took some photos from the deck of one of the Eureka Valley Victorians while we were on the house tour Sunday. Biggify by clicking on the photo.
posted by Sal Towse at 4:30 PM||
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Labels: photographs, San Francisco
posted by Sal Towse at 4:30 PM|
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Monday, October 19, 2009
After The Deluge
Added: [desciption] TCHO as the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
(I also PhotoShop'd the picture to enhance the edges. So sue me.) Check the links below.
Deluge this afternoon. Havoc reigned.
Labels: photographs, San Francisco, SFOBayBridge, weather
posted by Sal Towse at 5:01 PM|
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: views from the Hill
Bertold Brecht:
Everything changes. You can make
A fresh start with your final breath.
But what has happened has happened. And the water
You once poured into the wine cannot be
Drained off again.
Everything changes. You can make
A fresh start with your final breath.
But what has happened has happened. And the water
You once poured into the wine cannot be
Drained off again.
