Leaving San Francisco

This post has been delayed somewhat, catching up after having 4 weeks away and phone problems.

The photos for trip posts are all taken on my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone. Unfortunately, it has been running down the battery in just a few hours, even a new battery, for several months. It also runs the battery down while plugged in to the mains power if I try and use it. All this made posting to my blog and Twitter, etc a bit of a problem.

I just managed to edit some recent photos that I took on it and it will be replaced this week. Hooray!

We finished our photo trip to California and Canada with an evening in San Francisco after our jaunt around Napa Valley. Some new beers at the Mikkeler brew pub to try but no new photos around the city, I gave myself a few hours off!

We returned on Virgin Atlantic on 9th June, flying over the main SF bridges as we left.

Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco

Bay and Oakland Bridges

I have 72 rolls of exposed Ilford 120 film. Mostly FP4, but also 16 rolls of 400 Delta (rated at 500 ISO in case you're interested) and a few rolls of SFX infrared film. 20 rolls processed so far, just 52 to go, probably spread over 3 more days. It will be a while until I start scanning them. None of the film I took with me was subject to x-ray machines, Jan put a lot of effort into pre-arranging a hand search at Heathrow Airport. San Francisco and Vancouver Airports did hand searches as soon as we asked on arrival at the x-ray machine, as is usual in North America.

Travelling South

From Whistler Jan drove us back to Vancouver. A Bald Eagle swooped around the road just north of the city.

Next day it was more photos around Vancouver, as well as good beers at the Tap and Barrel pub. Back to Steamworks Brewery in the evening but they ran out of stout, obviously no call for it there either!

Vancouver Chinese Garden

Then it was a travel day flying back to San Francisco. Very slow into city as ball game had just finished at the stadium between Airport and city centre.

After a slow start we collected a hire car and Jan drove us over Golden Gate Bridge for photos from Marin Headland. We parked at Vista Point and using the underpass beneath the road reached the footpath to the top. Quite a clear day. Took FP4 with a red filter and SFX infrared photos.

Then on to Napa. Walked into town for a wander and again in the evening for food, no photos though.

Napa Hotel Courtyard

Today we visited the Robert Mondavi vineyards north of Napa. Very interesting 'signature' tour with Dick, and tasting of 3 wines. Could be the start of a new vineyard photo collection! The words at the start 'there's just one rule on this tour, take as many photos as you like' made a very pleasant change to the usual restrictions. Even so, I loaded my Mamiya 7 camera with Ilford 400 Delta 120 film rated at 500 ISO for hand-holding. I thought I would get left behind if  I tried using the tripod!

The photos shown here were all taken on my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone. It will take a few weeks to get the trip photos processed and the negatives scanned.

Mondavi entrance

Fermentation room

Barrels and vats

Filled barrels

Christmas Travels Begin

That's it, my last Christmas order for framed photos has been delivered at a rendezvous with customer at the A50 services south of Derby. Now driving down M1 to spend Christmas with Jan's family in Harpenden.

Tuesday we fly from London Heathrow to Washington DC. The first stop on this years winter photo trip. Colorado, Wyoming and Utah follow for skiing and snowshoeing. Really looking forward to the break, it's been pretty full on through last 3 months. Lots of photography planned too, as you would expect, as well as the odd visit to a brew pub or two!

Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year to one and all.

New Images of Boston

I have just sent 7 new images of Boston, Massachusetts, to Martin of 10th Planet, who maintains my web site. They should appear on the site within the next few days.

Charles River Bridge at Night

Charles River Bridge Reflection at Night

Quincy Market TreesLong Wharf and Snow
State Capitol Building and Snow
USS Constitution, Charlesworth
Quincy Market at Night in Winter

Colorado Ski Resort Photographs

I have just scanned and tweaked 27 images taken at 4 ski resorts in America in January this year.

The weather was mixed so there are both sunny and misty shots. Lots of views including mountains like the Gore range, snowy trees and skiers.

The ski areas, all in Colorado, include Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone.

They should be on the web site on Tuesday. They will be under Skiing, Landscapes and Recent. Hope you can wait that long!
Dave Butcher