Photos as I Like It

Wow, I'm behind in posting my hourly photos, so here goes: 7 AM: Out the Bedroom Window 8 AM: Macro Flower 9 AM: Finnegan's View 10 AM: Yard Beauty 11 AM: Carrington Way Stair Mural Noon: Fourth of July Party Prep

To finish the pre-dawn hours of 5AM and 6 AM, I'm completing the four corners of Bay Station. Many of the intersections along Lincoln, a main thoroughfare across Alameda, have "station" names to match the cross street where there used to be streetcar station. My intersection is named Bay Station for Bay street. For 5AM I captured my third corner that contains a very popular shop that buys and sells collectible shoes. For 6AM I captured the fourth corner that houses a small local corner shop. There are many of these small shops down Lincoln avenue.

Ever since I first saw this mural being painted on a building at the corner of my block, I knew I wanted to capture it. I definitely wanted to include it in the "A Moment in Time" series, I just wasn't sure what time, but for 4 am I decided to check out the different corners of the block again and I really like this night view. This is on the corner directly across the street from the auto shop that was the subject of my 1 AM photo. I've decided now to share a "dark hours" photo from each of the four corners. This mural was commissioned by the owners of this building from graffiti writer Royyal Dog .

Sticking with the noir theme that goes so well with these very late/early time periods, I headed back to the Naval Base and found this nicely lite inset door.

For 2 am, with rain and wind happening outside, I decided to stay inside and play with fire.

For 1 am, I ventured outside again, but just to the corner. At the corner is an auto shop and they have this one older section of the lot that just seems to serve as a roof for old cars, but it looks pretty cool at night.

Molly, Sarah and I are back at it with a yearly photo challenge, and repeating a favorite from a few years ago. We'll be taking a photo at every hour of the day (two/month) starting at Midnight. Also joining us this time is Katie and my Mom. Looking forward to seeing all the different views around the state and world as Sarah travels. Here's my midnight photo, at the Alameda Navy Base, one of my favorite old buildings sitting on the bay, and all lit up at night.

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