Seeing 2011 (#101)

For your consideration: a particularly serendipitous discovery — having rounded a building's corner at precisely the optimum time of day to capture this choreography of shadows and geometry.

This tableau is but one of an unusually high percentage of quality images which was my good fortune to garner during a rather extemporaneous and exceedingly delightful Sunday morning meander about the campus of San José City College (not SJSU). I had the complex virtually to myself, the weather was perfect, and the setting offered many attractions for my 70-3oomm telephoto, all subjects which allowed me to test the sharpness and overall performance of the optics.

The results were rather sweet.

Untitled, #0031

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: February 27, 2011; Canon 20D; f/6.3 @ 1/5000 sec; ±0 EV; ISO 200; Canon EF f/4 L IS USM 70-300mm @ 70mm

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Seeing 2011 (#100)

For your consideration: a spotty link to my (relatively) recent posting as IT support to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., library . . .

I recorded this image not long after acquiring my exquisite macro lens; the setting was the amazing fifth-floor conference room tucked well-beyond public access in the Special Collections area of the library. It was late afternoon and the massive west-facing windows beckoned to and seemingly amplified the ample stream of sunlight flooding the space. The dots are shadows cast by a sun-protection screen.

The arrangement is an homage to Picasso and his cubist/abstract visions.

Mother and Child (Cyclops), #7391

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

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Details: April 22, 2010; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 1/160 sec; ±0 EV; ISO 200; Canon EF-S USM 100mm f/2.8 Macro

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Seeing 2011 (#99)

For your consideration: a simple still-life study of a fallen fruit, hardened to the point of rigor mortis after losing its grasp on its life source — apropos for a found-object discovery on a December day in a cemetery.

Native Plant, #2747

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: December 4, 2010; Canon 20D; f/4.5 @ 1/100 sec; —1 EV; ISO 400; Canon EF-S USM 100mm f/2.8 Macro

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Seeing 2011 (#98)

For your consideration: an oddly disquieting tableau, clad in a few eccentricities . . .

Shadows here are in turns potent yet upon closer inspection reveal themselves to be not quite uniform; vertical channels run up the building's face, yet are both opaque as to function and asymmetrical to what appears to be — what? an impossibly high and acutely misplaced call box? Unlikely, but then again so too the unexpected tear in the container's silhouette.

The coda is provided by a sky which hints at indecisive atmospherics — intruding smoke from a nearby fire? fog burning off or rolling in? a storm gathering . . . or evaporating?

A trivial construction, which leaves ample space for indeterminate conjecture.

(Enjoy: the script is yours!)

Red Box, #0354

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

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Details: March 10, 2011; Canon 20D; f/6.3 @ 1/8000 sec; —1/3 EV; ISO 800; Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L @ 125mm.

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Seeing 2010 (#97)

For your consideration: a friend of many years, yet one who I see but annually . . . no, not then. In June. Usually.

It does not surprise that this gentle soul serves as an official Santa — one of the rare editions whose beard is genuine.

A jolly fellow, to be sure; Gene is possessed with a personality matching his sparkling eyes and kindly smile. As we would all expect of Mr. Claus, just being in this man's company brings a sense of warm comfort and pleasure — priceless gifts without the tedious necessity of unwrapping and saving the paper.

Santa Gene Doherty, #0592

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: June 5, 2011; Canon 20D; f/3.2 @ 1/100 sec; —1 2/3 EV; ISO 400; 100mm.

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Seeing 2011 (#96)

For you consideration: my father James Houston, content after a brunch in Alameda celebrating the grace of the love provided by two wonderful mothers — my mom Joan and my wife Julianna.

Offered belatedly to honor dad's Father's Day.

Mother's Day, Father, #2122

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: May 8, 2011; Canon 20D; f/3.2 @ 1/100 sec; —1 EV; ISO 400; 100mm.

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Seeing 2011 (#95)

For your consideration: the crown jewel, in my opinion, of the San Jose State University campus. Taken moments after sunset on an unusually chilly afternoon on the cusp of June, this perspective is looking south from the roof of the City parking garage across the street.

The expansive sky, given added depth by the clouds, in concert with the luscious skirting of trees masking the edifice's grounding below, yields a surprising sense that this beautiful vault of lofty ideas is indeed itself floating.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Library, #0196

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

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Details: May 31, 2011; Canon 20D; f/8 @ 1/100 sec; +1 EV; ISO 100; Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 @ 11mm.

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Seeing 2011 (#94)

For your consideration: a stoic, silent observer of the observing, from the perspective of an elevated stature.

Taken during a delightful, modestly long walk through an estuary hard on the edge of a massive power plant on the northern California coast. Normally prone to lingering marine layer fog at this time of year, the conditions for my recent visit (the first in twenty years or so) were sparkling to the degree that shorts and a tee shirt would've been entirely comfortable. Consequently, with an assist from my tripod, ample late morning light existed allowing for this record of a regal creature calmly surveying its domain.

The combination of such splendid weather and accommodating subject was a bit of grace indeed.

Barn Owl, Elkhorn Slough, #0935

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: June 15, 2011; Canon 20D; f/5.6 @ 1/6 sec; ±0 EV; ISO 200; 480mm.

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Seeing 2011 (#93)

For your consideration: an update on a sette setting . . .

At once elegant and sterile, with an undefined terminus, the composition is formally poised for a fulfillment — yet even then, if a suitable populous were to manifest, it's not at all apparent that an engaged conversation would arise.

Silence Sitting, #2785

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: May 26, 2011; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 1/100 sec;
±0 EV; ISO 400; Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 @ 16mm.

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Seeing 2011 (#92)

For your consideration: a return to the scene of my last self-portrait . . .

This instance being nearly as much of an opposite as possible: flooded with ample, late-afternoon sunlight; an extreme wide-angle view versus seen through the compressed magnification of a long telephoto, black & white treatment . . .

And not a soul in sight, creating a tableau reminiscent of ray-spewing space invaders from 1950s era sci-fi films.

Mary Avenue Bridge, #0880

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: June 13, 2011; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 1/200 sec; — 2/3 EV; ISO 200; Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 @ 16mm.

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Seeing 2011 (#91)

For your consideration: a long stretch of plywood fencing has been erected, possibly to keep away the riff-raff from the construction field of a massive new building on campus. A response from the exiled: painting the fence blue.

Looks like they missed a spot . . . else perhaps a statement was being made about a beacon of hope amid an existence swamped by the blues. In either case this Macro perspective the story is depicted as a weathered, wrinkled face . . .

Study in Blue and Gold, #0789

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: March 28 201; Canon 20D; f/16 @ 1/500 sec; — 1/3 EV; ISO 400; 100mm.

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Seeing 2011 (#90)

For your consideration: a formal geometric abstraction — lines, tangents, cylinders and ellipse — arranged with a view towards contradictory thrusts . . . At once firmly anchored yet cast amidst zigzagging vectors, this steel pillar strives in vain to escape its Cartesian landscape, rooted to its shadow below.

An unexpected vision on the Rapture day of 2011 . . . ironic by its conflicting homages to steadfast strength and the presumptions of Fate.

Untitled, #2718

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: May 21, 201; Canon 20D; f/14 @ 1/1252 sec; — 1/3 EV; ISO 100; Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 @ 12mm.

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Seeing 2011 (#89)

For your consideration: a dangling particulate as the newest member of the inorganic abstract collection.

Great fun with the razor-sharp 100mm Macro — a potent canvas constructed of the simplest of props awash in late afternoon sunlight.

Circumspect Shadow, #7215

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

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Details: April 6, 2010; Canon 20D; f/16 @ 1/160 sec; — 2/3 EV; ISO 400; 100mm

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Seeing 2011 (#88)

For your consideration: perhaps the return of Rod Serling — a door leading to another dimension . . .

The reality of the scene as I encountered it is closer to this conceit than you might think: this stand-alone portal is one of several jutting out of a wetland area, all in relatively good shape, each ultimately offering a wet and tangled egress.

Alviso Façade, #4449

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: February 9, 2011; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 1/801 sec; — 1/3 EV; ISO 400; 230mm

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Seeing 2011 (#87)

For your consideration: a surrealistic terrain derived from the passage of years . . .

All things must pass, yet it is from the substance such passages that the universe is renewed. Thus — exposed by the relentless and unforgiving slice of a saw — the map of a eucalyptus' lifespan, writ in dead wood, newly yields a swirling and undulating abstraction à la Van Gogh and Pollack.

Untitled, #0613

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: June 5, 2011; Canon 20D; f/8 @ 1/1001 sec; —1 1/3 EV; ISO 400; 100mm

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Seeing 2011 (#86)

For your consideration: a dramatic backdrop for one of the few gems still standing in San Jose's downtown.

Taken from the top of a parking garage, the final image below is a composite of three successive, hand-held exposures taken in burst-mode. Each shot was +1 1/4 f-stop removed from the next (thus one image was considerably underexposed, one closer to a "normal" setting, and the last overexposed). Initial processing was done using Photomatix Pro 3, followed by adjustment layer masking in Photoshop CS3 for some fine detail work on the building's façade and bits of cloud structure.

This roiled sky is (historically) a bit late and rare for this time of year: having checked the forecast the night before I took my camera to work, hoping to capture a final bit of atmospheric drama before the onset of months-long overhead monotony — imposed by the admittedly flawlessly blue, formless vault of summer skies . . . due any day now . . .

Bank of America Tower, San Jose (HDR), #2496-2498

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: May 31, 2011; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 1/500 sec; — 2/3 EV; ISO 100; 291mm

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Seeing 2011 (#85)

For your consideration: tableaux within a tableau — an unorthodox adornment, the entire stage being a bit out of kilter . . .

Foremost we're confronted with a jarring, complex atmosphere mixing agonizing grief with resignation and tender compassion, profound almost beyond comprehension by mere mortals. Yet closer examination of the scene yields an equally incongruous surprise — a garden ornament, apparently fixed with bemusement over the looming drama so dramatically memorialized.

This seems a very strange leap of sensibilities.

On the grounds of the St. Francis Retreat Center which I frequently visit and will do again this weekend coming.

IV Toad, #2391

© 2011 James W. Murray, all rights reserved.

(click image for larger version)

Details: May 14, 2011; Canon 20D; f/11 @ 1/500 sec; — 2/3 EV; ISO 400; Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 @ 12mm.

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