The Header Pics
28 March 2007 - 10 ניסן 5767 by Huw
Photography is a new love. previous cameras have come out of the pack on vacation… if at all. Rarely did one bother even to turn on the video cam n the laptop. This all changed upon moving to Asheville: where it was necessary to document for family and friends all the things that were happening to the wayward son. All of the header pics on Sarx are from photographs taken by Yer Host and rendered in black and white using the tools in Apple’s iPhoto software (there is a bit about process at the end of this post). The pictures are available, in both colour and black and white, via the flicker service. Links will be provided in the text that follows, a wee bit of narrative for each shot.
French Broad River
This picture, looking south over the French Broad River was taken in Hot Springs, NC. The French Broad flows north, towards the Tennessee River. It’s one of the widest rivers in the area (hence the name). It was once a major economic route through the area, with the sides being used by drovers and the waters by boats. There was much industry along the way as well. Asheville was once just a cattle pen along this route. In some ways, it still is: different cows is all.
Fishing Pond
This little fishing pond picture was taken on the same trip to Hot Springs, NC. The pond is located behind a kick-butt coffee shop out in the middle of nowhere (but with all the evidence of having once been a sort of tourist trap or maybe a gas station). It’s one of my favourite shots (it’s framed in an 8×10 glossy next to my desk). In the process of removing colour and adding text to this picture it seemed that it worked better flipped along the horizon.
Shroomage
These little orange mushrooms grew all over the front lawn two summers ago: they have not been seen since.
The Drive Way
There is no colour version of this, one of the more popular shots of the driveway at the Black Mountain Centre. The driveway shrouded in summer fog. But the full-sized version is here: good for a desktop image. There are also shots of the same drive way in Autumn, Spring and Winter.
The Black Mountains
From up on the Blue Ridge Parkway, the local fogs of summer give way to beautiful, blue skies and vistas like this - a seemingly coastal short of view that reminds one of the fog in SF.
The Golden Gate Bridge
Speaking of SF, here is another favourite shot: the Golden Gate Bridge at night. This was shot from on top of a WW2 gun-placement located in the Presidio.
Our Lady of Guadalupe
She looks down from her shrine over one of the best Mexican restaurants in San Francisco (others will disagree!): La Rondella, on the corner of 21st and Valencia. There are other shrines in the place - one that comes to mind most especially is on to the Infant of Prague. But this one, standing as it does over the door to the kitchen and behind the dining counter, has pride of place and draws special attention. Permission was requested before this photo was taken.
The Bay Bridge
“The only bridge, that is a real gosh darn bridge, is the bridge across the Bay, to San Francisco…” so sings Judy Garland. She’s right. The bridge stretches from Oakland to Treasure Island, in sort of a standard freeway format and then tunnels underneath the island (a Navy Base in WW2) and then suddenly springs forth in this glorious suspended arch. This shot was take from the base of Coit Tower on Telegraph hill.
Golden Hills
This shot was taken from a moving car heading towards the California wastes near Death Valley. From the colour shot you can see why California is called the Golden State (apart from any mineral deposits). An attempt was made to make the B&W shot look like an old news photograph.
Sam’s Gap Tree
This tree stands a high and lonely guard over Sam’s Gap, on the boarder between Tennessee and North Carolina, in a rest area on the newly completed I26. The limbs start so very far up.
Commemoration Loaves
These tiny loaves of bread (about 5cm across) will be used to make commemorations during the Divine Liturgy. Baking bread as a spiritual act, or an act of meditation, has been an on-going practice: sometimes these tiny loaves, sometimes full-sized communion breads and, more often, just bread to eat at home. The stamp on the loaves reads IC XC NIKA - The first to being a common Greek abbreviation for Jesus Christ and the last letters being the word for conquer: Jesus Christ Conquers. Each loaf is presented to the priest along with a list, or even a small book, of names. as each name is read off a small particle of bread is pulled off the loaf and placed, along side the main communion bread, on the altar during the communion service. At the end of the communion service all the particles are placed in the chalice containing the left-over consecrated wine. Thus immersed in the prayers of the Church and the blood of Christ, the particles are consumed by the priest.
The Rusting Caboose
These train cars sit on an old siding in Asheville, NC. I love trains. These were so close I could walk up to them and touch them.
A Note on Process
Previously my B&W photos were created either by the camera settings or by simply clicking “Grey Scale” in Photoshop. However, following a couple of tips around the internet these shots were produced using iPhoto as follows:
1) Open the picture in edit view.
2) Click on adjust to open the slider window.
3) Set the temperature all the way to the left - blue.
4) Set the tint all the way to the right - green.
5) Slide the saturation all the way to the left.
6) Now play with the temp and tint, as well as the exposure, brightness and contrast to get the desired effect. Each picture will be different!
7) Save it.
Sometimes, in rendering it B&W, nuances were discovered in the pictures that were missing in the colour version: notice especially the two hills found behind and to theleft of the Golden Gate Bridge in the B&W which are not very clearly present at all in the colour shot.
