The Santa Barbara Arts Collective is looking for worthy photographs to hang in the Mayor’s office. And my friend Joe just called to suggest I submit some candidates.
In my Flickr collection I have 3,928 shots tagged “santabarbara”, and 1,017 with “Santa Barbara” in title or caption text. Tops on both lists is this one:
But it’s not my favorite, and it looks like the mission itself is on fire (which it wasn’t). I’m kinda partial to…
- This view out the front door of a friend’s house
- This shot in flower season on Figueroa Mountain Road (or just pick any flower shots in this set… my fave there, though not the best shot compositionally, is this one of a lizard on serpentine)
- This shot of a sunset, over the airport and UCSB
- This shot of a sunset (or a sunrise) over a reflecting pool
- This silhouette shot of palm trees during one of the wildfires
- This oil platform
- This one of a fire dancer
- A similar shot, but in daylight, of a kid making a circle of spray with his hair
I could go on, but I’d rather leaving the chosing up to you. (If you think any of them are worthy.) Votes?
By the way, most of those shots were taken with a 5-megapixel Nikon CoolPix 5700. Not my newer (but now also old) Canon 30D or 5D cameras. None of my cameras or lenses are especially desirable, by Real Photographer standards. Someday I’ll get the gear I’d like, starting with lenses. Meanwhile, like they say, the best camera is the one you’ve got. And what you see in those collections is from what I had at the time.
Oh, and all are Creative Commons licensed just to require attribution. Feel free, because they pretty much are exactly that.
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Pingback from Marc's Voice » Second week of May ’11 blogging on May 11, 2011 at 6:00 am
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Great shots, Doc!
I’d suggest the last one of the kid in the pool. It’s the most fascinating pic. The second choice would be the sunset over the reflecting pool – however, I would recommend two changes. (If you’re an anti-photoshop purist, than I understand.) If you want to submit that one, you should remove the top of the chimney and the top of the electrical poll. They distract from the perfection of the line at the edge of the pool.What camera would you get, if you could get whatever you wanted? My preference would be for the Nikon D700. But I’ve always been a Nikon guy!
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Hey, Todd.
I’m not against Photoshop, and use a number of tools these days to improve photographs. Most of the shots I highlighted predate that, though.
As for cameras, i was a Nikon guy before a wedding in Santa Barbara we both went to, when rented D90 baffled me, and a briefly-borrowed Canon 5D sold me on the Canon UI. When I bought the 30D, it was better than the Nikon equivalent, especially in low light. Canon lenses were also cheaper.
But I always liked Nikon’s colors better, and the D700 is better in low light today than the Canon 5D Mark II (though both are outstanding).
But all the bodies are too expensive, and I have a good used 5D, which is still an outstanding camera. What I need are good lenses: two or three primes and a zoom. All my lenses are cheap, not very good, and made for less than a full-frame sensor. In other words, I don’t have a proper lens for the 5D, even though the ones I have do work, to some degree.
One of these months…
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All personal taste
Concur with Todd on the power line – breaks up the line
Airport, oil rig – not as much a fan of structures in the view, unless they are a focal point or it’s an architectural shot.
Oil rig – good shot, but PR?
Fires – maybe not the best PRjust happened to take a few shots this AM
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37996599816@N01/5710952020/in/photostreamCanon Powershot SD1400IS (pocket)
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Here are my votes, Doc. In order:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/75974710/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/88518941/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/93937942/Good luck! These look great.
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Well, I like this one > 2005_12_21_sunrise_07.JPG or this one 2006jan31sunset_10.JPG. I really thought that the pic on top is catching fire 🙂
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/75974710/
Beautifull, where has been taken that pic!?
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Derecho, that was shot out the front door of a friend’s house. There is a little blurring vertically (it was hand held, in the evening), but not so in the two others like it in the series. Alas the colors and mood of those are not as good.
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Your sunrise / sunset sky shots are incredible. I particularly like the feel of 2005_01_17_sunrise02. Have you already made your decision?
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