Old Santa Cruz Architecture
November 30, 2006
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Some of the old apartment buildings near the boardwalk still have a unique style to them.
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November 18, 2006
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Hiked up to the top of Yosemite Falls in the morning. I got a little dizzy from the lack of breakfast food at the fall retreat. I ate part of a sandwich, found a fly in it, and promptly threw it away. Then I had the afternoon in front of me to hit some of the best picture spots for fall in the valley. There were quite a few animals about, including a pair of bears that got a lot of the tourists excited.
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November 5, 2006
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Went hiking in Castle Rock State Park on a glorious fall day. Temperature was about 70 degrees and all the leaves were falling from the oaks. Snapped this pic on the back side of Goat Rock. The other side faces South and has a sweeping view, but the sun makes the pictures really dull.
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Happy Halloween Wisconsin
October 31, 2006
Coastal Grasses, Ano Nuevo
October 27, 2006
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Took a trip with Lou to Ano Nuevo state park. We hiked out to the point and
saw a small herd of Northern Elephant Seals. More pics to come later.
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Fall Creek
October 22, 2006
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Took an 8 mile jog in Fall creek. It was pretty tiring since there was also about 2000 feet of elevation gain and loss over varied terrain. There's still quite a bit of water in the creek for this time of year.
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Southern Sierra Portrait
October 15, 2006
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Ding! on your left: Whitney and friends from 30,000 feet and 100+ miles away.
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The Special Day!
October 7, 2006
The wedding cake waiting to be sliced up at The Enchanted Forest.
Monterey Bay Panorama
October 2, 2006
The rain showers made for an exceptionally clear day. The whole Monterey
Peninsula can be seen across the Bay. This picture was taken from the
hill overlooking the bike trail at UCSC. Most of Santa Cruz can also
be seen in the foreground.
Back Off You, This is my Mustang
October 1, 2006
A kitty naps on his favorite perch.
San Lorenzo River
September 29, 2006
Trees along the San Lorenzo River in Henry Cowell Redwoods. I took a hike
along the Big Rock Hole Trail that runs along the canyon bottom. This is
less than 5 miles from the apartment but I always feel like I'm in the Sierras.
American Classic
September 27, 2006
I think every town has one of these. Just makes me think of American Graffiti.
T.U.B. Angle Display on the Shane 3m
September 20, 2006
The display for the T.U.B. (telescope utlization bin) angle on the Shane 3m
still uses the old Nixie tube display. I wonder how many people under 30 years
old actually know what a "nixie tube" is? Well, they are prettier than LED displays.
Night, Benesio Liquor Store
September 18, 2006
Here is one of those deceptively simple looking photos. My biggest fear while
setting up for this shot was that the two people in the window of the taco
stand would get up and leave, or the fellow loitering in the front would walk
away. There were also some street tough kind of guys milling about on the
corner where I was standing. Finally, the liquor sign flashes, so I had to
make sure I took the photo when it was flashing pink. The JPEG makes the sign
a little noisy. JPEG never gets straight lines right. Tiff just is too fat
for a website though.
View from Wilder Ranch
September 12, 2006
Evening finally brings relief to an unusually hot day on the central coast.
This photo was taken from the second of at least 3 coastal terraces along
the Baldwin trail in Wilder Ranch. Monterrey is visible in this photo but
it is extremely faint (it is at least 60 miles away).
Lars by the Old Shipwreck Mast
Amaryllis belladonna
It's been a total boon year for Amaryllis belladonna. It seems to be volunteering
everywhere I look. In this case, the alley behind Downworks in Santa Cruz.
Camping at Sugarloaf Ridge
Because there just aren't enough couple photos here. I have got to start competing
with GSP. Me and Lou snapped this pic at the Sugarloaf Ridge campground.
Visible Vs. Infrared
Here is a nice comparison of visible photography (centered around 550nm) and infrared
photography (centered around 1 micron). Notice the improvement in haze penetration
for the infrared which can be seen in the detail visible in the distant hills.
These pictures were both taken with my camera, a Sony DSC-F717 which I maintain
is the best camera Sony ever made. Everything since then has been a drop in the
standards of Sony I'm afraid. More info on this photo can be found in the
North Cal 2006 trip report in the photo gallery.
Lars Moves out of Westwood
The woods are lovely dark and deep, but I have promises to keep
and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.
Santa Cruz Mountains near Loma Prieta
A veiw from Highland Way near the Soquel Demonstration Forest. While I was
taking this pic some A-holes in a pickup decided to do a dukes of hazard
slide out next to my truck. They kicked up dust and rocks and I thought
they were going to slam into me for a second. There are a lot of hillbillies
around this area I must say. I'm happy with the picture though.
Point Santa Cruz Sea Lions
The most hotly contested coastal real estate in Santa Cruz. Sea Lion rock has been
the favorite haul-out spot for the local sea lions since the days of the
Ohlone indians. They spend their time out of the water basking in the sun
and fighting for dominance.
Santa Cruz Surf Museum
Well, life must go on without my fish tank. I went for a nice relaxing ride on a
lazy summer afternoon in Santa Cruz to clear my mind. I was going for a fisheye effect here.
TANK A TOTAL LOSS! JULY 31, 06
Well, notice the temperature up there.
Apparently there were some major brownouts the monday and tuesday before
while I was taking my Advance to Canidacy Exam in Riverside.
The GFCI (which had never tripped before during an outtage) was tripped and
the tank dropped to 68 degrees, room temp, for the week. Everything was
was dead. Even the detritivores were dead. The whole mess stank like a
bucket full of Calamari. I guess I'll be quitting the hobby for a while.
BMC MEMs deformable mirror
This is a Boston Micromachines deformable mirror. It is a MEMs (micro-
electro-mechanical system) device manufactured using varying layers
of dielectric and conductors. The mirror has 1024 actuators. This is
an early generation device that we have lying around the lab. I took
this picture today while I was photographing the lab for my qual exam.
Price for a new device would run around $100,000. That's a lot to pay
for a machine the size of a quarter. This is the kind of thing that comes
shipped in its own pelican case.
Akamai Maui 2006
We took this group picture with the Akamai Maui 2006 students on top of
Mauna Kea at a ceremonial site. I think it came out really nice.
I plan to put up more pictures related to the camera obscura activity
I worked on during this course.
Steve Tackles a 5.8 Crack
Steve is tackling the classic 5.8 fist crack near the summit of Mt. Rubidoux.
This is one of my favorite climbs there. It's fun and there is a pretty
good camelot placing up near the top to make an anchor.
The wall to the right is also a fun 5.11. This crack claimed my favorite
biner though.
Happy Leather
The most I ever paid for a frag was $40 which was for this pink leather coral.
So far it has been a hearty and beautiful member of my collection. It was
money well spent. All too often you pay $30 for a frag that dies a week later.
It's nice when you really get your money's worth for once.
Old Blog Photos Vol. 2 ( Dec. 3 2006 - Apr. 15 2007 )
Old Blog Photos Vol. 3 (May 2007 - ???)
Back to Homepage
All photos copyright Edward Laag 2006