Tilted ocean, and a little more city in the in this alternate entry.
Originally posted on Instagram as part of the #WHPSidewaysCity photo challenge. The theme: tilt the image so that the horizontal aligns with a diagonal.
Partway down the central escalator at the San Diego Convention center, you can look down the long cylindrical skylight that makes up the roof of the lobby, rings forming the appearance of concentric circles. Years ago, a friend of mine referred to it as the Death Star Cannon shot, and it’s a popular one to take, both during Comic Con and at other events.
At this year’s Comic-Con International, I found myself looking at the windows surrounding the stairs instead. My first thought was to mix things up with the classic cannon shot, but when I got home and looked at the results, I realized: This really does resemble the windows in the Emperor’s throne room. It’s still a Death Star shot, but a different part of the station!
If you’d like to see more photos or read more about my experience at the convention, check out I Survived Comic-Con 2013.
Most of the “supermoon” effect is illusion and expectation (the full moon at perigee is a little bit bigger in the sky than at other parts of its orbit, but not that much), but it’s a great reminder to get out and look at — or photograph — the full moon.
Point Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro, California, at the southern tip of Los Angeles.
The Victorian lighthouse is surrounded by a city park, and the park is lined with a walkway along the top of the cliffs by the sea. Off to one end is the infamous sunken city, a suburban development that was abandoned when the land started sliding into the ocean. I took a whole slew of photos as I walked along the clifftop, and you can see the seven best on Flickr.
This is one of three lighthouses in the area that I considered driving to over the weekend for Instagram’s weekend hashtag project (theme: lighthouses), figuring it had the best chance of clear weather. No such luck. (Update: I have since been to Point Vicente many times, but I can’t remember what the third one was. Maybe the one in Long Beach by the aquarium?)
Strangely, the phone picture I chose for the project turned out to be more striking than the better shot taken with my camera. I was trying to keep the lamppost separate from the house, but it turned out I shouldn’t have.
I’m always surprised when that happens, even though it’s not that uncommon an occurrence.
Photo Challenge (Instagram): Lighthouse
Last night I had a perfect view of the conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, but only a phone. Tonight I had a more obstructed view, but I think the power lines ended up making it a bit more interesting than a plain photo with this camera would have been.
It’s also astonishing how quickly Mercury moves. No wonder they named it after the god of speed.
