Photos as I Like It

We've come to the end of this year's photo challenge, and it was definitely a great one. We all loved the connection of photographing at the "same time". Look forward to a similar challenge next year. Thank you to Molly and Sarah for being fun partners in photography. For my final photo, I went in search of Christmas lights in Santa Cruz, while at a sleepover at my Mom's with a couple nieces. I captured the Walton Lighthouse at the yacht harbor decorated with lights, a nice outline to illuminate it's shape in the dark. 11pm on December 13 Molly 11pm Sarah 11pm

We're approaching the end of our photo moments challenge. With that, my 10pm moment is the last in the San Francisco area, so I decided to go with the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. It was dark, cold and windy, but I'm happy I made it out there to capture the view. 10pm on December 1 And, I had to share a color outtake.  Molly 10pm Sarah 10pm

I've been waiting to take this photo of the Alameda Theater , so being home for the 9pm moment, I finally had an opportunity to photograph this beautiful Art Deco building. I really like how the antique light filter lends to the overall look of a classic street scene. Now I just need to go see a movie there. 9pm on November 3 Molly 9pm Sarah 9pm

My 8pm photo is from my visit to Yosemite last week. Let me tell you, it's very dark in Yosemite at 8pm at this time of year, with the sun long gone and very little moon, there was no natural light and very little other lights. I stayed in Curry Village in one of the tent cabins, which requires more bear safety precautions than I'd like. And, the bears are there, I saw a mother and cub in the middle of the day wandering across a creek (although I wasn't able to get a photo of them). I decided to capture the lights of the Camp Curry entrance sign, which is a nice combination of Hollywood lights with an old style structure. This sign has been there since 1914 .  8pm on October 22 Molly 8pm Sarah 8pm

I don't have quite as fun a story for my 7pm moment as last week. Back home, I headed to Grizzly Peak in Berkeley, a spot I had considered for one of my shots with it's striking view of the Bay. 7pm is dusk at this time of year, just after sunset, but in black and white, without any clouds in the sky and a bit of haze, the view wasn't providing the scene I was hoping for. But I like the lights of the traffic on the new part of the Bay Bridge and the San Francisco skyline, which you can just barely see through the haze as the buildings start to be defined by their lights.  7pm on October 3 Molly 7pm Sarah 7pm

Road trips never go quiet as planned, but that's the fun of it. This week for my 6pm photo moment, I had two ideas in mind that both seemed like they could be spectacular. But, as many things go, my plans were changed due to a series of random of actions. I am on a road trip in AZ to see the Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon . I was all set to stay in the Grand Canyon today until 6pm and then head to Page, AZ, the town near Antelope Canyon soon afterwards. But, after excessively checking the weather it appeared it could thunderstorm in Grand Canyon around 6 and not wanting to drive in the dark and the rain. With plenty of time in the afternoon, over three and a half hours to make a 2 and a half hour drive to Page, I switched locations for the 6pm moment to Horseshoe Bend . We had plenty of time, so we decided to still stop at the Desert View lookout which includes the Watchtower , and I'm glad we did, the clouds were amazing (see below). We finally headed out of the G

Today was another walk through the neighborhood, discovering beautiful homes. I found this amazing place with just as nice a garden as architecture. But I appreciated it even more when I got closer and saw the "well water" sign attached to the tree in front. (For a close up shot see my outtake below.) With all the news and issues with drought in California this year, it is great to see someone finding a way to maintain their garden. 5pm on September 4 An up close view of the "well water" sign. Molly 5pm Sarah 5pm

For today's 4pm photo moment, I took a walk on the local Alameda beach. It was pretty quiet being the first day of school in town, but there were a few birds to entertain me and be my subjects. 4pm on August 25 Molly 4pm Sarah 4pm

One of the things I've enjoyed about moving to Alameda is the beautiful variety of homes. I've been doing a lot of neighborhood walks lately since I got a FitBit and started following a few friends, who could easily be called over achievers (in the 20k+ steps/day category). Alameda is known for its victorian homes, but there are also quite a few bungalows, spanish style and even colonial east coast looking homes.  There were so many homes to try and capture, but so hard to get an interesting shot that really featured what I like about the homes. I ended up with this looking up option showing all the peaks and detail in one of homes.  3pm on August 4 For my outtake today, I wanted to share one of these cute little free libraries. I've seen several of these around town and I love them. Such a great idea, and I love how they are all different from each other. Molly 3pm Sarah 3pm

For today's 2pm moment, I am back home so I figured it was a good time to finish my series of routes on and off the island of Alameda. Today's feature is the High Street Bridge , another draw bridge with a very distinctive look all in silver paint. I loved all the lines and shadows. This photo is taken from the Oakland side, looking into Alameda. 2pm on July 24 And, a few outtakes showing different parts of the bridge, including the lights and lots of corners. Molly 2pm Sarah 2pm

For our 1pm photo moment, Molly, Sarah and I were in the same place at the same time. We met up in Santa Monica, the site of many of Molly's photos. I found this beautiful old building with pretty window and decorative details. For a little extra fun, I added a sunflare, a common element in many of Sarah's photos. It was really great to explore and photograph together. 1pm on July 11 Here's a few outtakes, the first showing the building in context, and the second a sweet group of old ladies having a chat on the promenade. Molly 1pm (Be sure to visit her blog for more info on her twist in this challenge.) Sarah 1pm

I had a fun little photo session with 20 mo. old Charlie at his local park yesterday, and I wanted to share a few of my favorite picks. Just look at that expressive face!

For today's Noon photo moment I decided to go on an adventure as I had a friend visiting from Las Vegas, and I wanted to show her the beautiful coast line and country side in Marin County. (And, the last of the bridges into and out of Alameda can be saved for later.)  We headed out with the idea of going to the Marin Headlands and photographing from above the Golden Gate Bridge. It was pretty foggy several days this past week and I was hoping to get a photo of the bridge peaking through the fog layer. Foggy days are usual for June Gloom around the Bay, but today was a bright sunny day with nothing in the sky.  There were several tourists trying to do the same thing as us with very limited parking, so we headed further into the Headlands to find one of the many historic forts and check out the options there. I'm so glad we did. We found Battery Mendell, which like many historic forts is a combination of decaying buildings with graffiti and striking views of the ocean,