Livermore Wine Country and Altamont Pass Wind Farm

The weather was wintry, forecaster had called for a partly cloudy day. I wanted to take a drive and get some fresh air away from the city and thought I should venture out to Livermore to see how the grapevines are shaping up thus far. Northern California has had a whole year's worth of rain already - could it wreck havocs to the year's vintage? I wonder...Anyhow, my excuse for driving 50 minutes northeast to the pretty rolling hills countryside despite the menacing rain clouds hovering over my head most of the journey. .
I was not too optimistic about getting decent shots. Well, the sky did clear (long enough for me to take a couple of nice shots of the wind generators towering on the hills along Altamont Pass). I did not really mind the cloudy sky, to me it just added to the mood. The intermittent sun and dark clouds and its shadows falling on the rolling pastures made for beautiful landscape. There is always photo ops I reminded myself. The real reason for my little escape today was that I had acquired a nice (well used) Mamiya RB67 Pro SD with 90mm f/3.5 KL/L lens and a 120 film back last Sat all for a mere $280 and I have been dying to use it. I had a roll of 120 Velvia in hand and thought I should take it out for a "test drive". The RB67 Pro SD is soooo heavy, weighs a good 6+ lbs not counting my tripod :(. I weigh a mere 110 lbs and have a 5 ft frame!! This is going to be fun.....My shoulder will probably hurt tonight but what did they say about chasing your hobby (my passionate pursuit of something called photography). I had just the right backpack for it though....a new backpack I got last Xmas (it even has a touch of champagne pink fabric on the front) See pictures below. It is pretty large but not overly large for me, with straps on both sides so I could strap a tripod on it (barely though) (the main selling point of the backpack). I was able to pack my RB67 ProSD body with the 90mm lens and 120 film back, my Pentax digital spotmeter, Canon 10D with a wide angle lens and even a Holga which I had a couple of frames left that I wanted to finish. I quickly loaded everything in my car, and drove north on 680 and then 84 in the direction of Livermore at 7:30am.



A few comments from the trip:

First of all I love the RB67 ProSD...I am all smitten by it. The waist level viewfinder is so very bright, what a world apart from the viewfinder of 35mm SLR. Second, there are a few safety locks so one will never accidentally click that shutter without cocking the level and winding the film forward. Third, multi exposure on same frame is a breeze, just set it and adjust for stops and shoot away. Fourth, I don't have to rotate the entire camera to change from vertical to horizontal shot or vice versa, just rotate the film back, WOW!! (that is such a brilliant idea). Finally, it is all mechanical, no worries of camera battery dying on me just when that perfect moment presents itself!!

It is HEAVY!!! but it is such a joy to use....The only way for me to use it is to shoot on a tripod (a good habit anyway)

The images posted above were from my Canon 10D, as I need to finish the roll of 120 Velvia and as soon as I have it develop, I will update with some images...can't wait.

Finally, this is the day I decided to leave all my Canon DSLR lenses at home except for the wide angle because it would simply be way too heavy. I wish I had them expecially the 70-210 f/4. Anyhow, I had also inadvertently set the image size on the Canon 10D to small (uugh)!!! I was so grateful I had shot a roll of Velvia on the RB67, I never have to worry about accidentally setting the wrong image size with film camera. I was reminded of how pros used polaroid to do test shots before the advent of digital camera. Well mine sure look like polaroid samples now, good for web use:(. So much for agonizing over whether to leave my other lenses at home. On a good note, I did find a couple of spots that would be awesome for black and white photography and as soon as my films arrive from Adorama this week, I shall head out there to shoot more!!







"my beloved new backpack" It has a rather large top camera compartment where I put the medium format camera and a second bottom compartment for a second camera, seen here in the picture. Here is a link to Amazon's Cuscus Amazon store I can't seem to find the same backpack on their store anymore, I remember reading that it was out of stock. They have some really nice hiking backpacks tho :)
Find Camera Backpackson Amazon

Looks like dust spots have found their way into my Canon 10D again, time to cough out some money to get the sensor cleaned again!! With film cameras, one never have to worry about sensor dust spots.

A footnote about the wind farm, these towering wind generators do make a constant swirling (humming) noise (sort of like sound of a quiet engine running constantly). It is very audible indeed at the foothills some 400 ft down and I understand now why some farmers in the midwest objected to their neighbors starting a wind farm as a way to subsidize their farm income

A visit to Napa and Sonoma wine country

Back to my other passion......that of visiting the wine country, soaking in the beautiful scenery...and letting my creative juices run.

I had not driven up to Napa/Sonoma wine country for a few years now and I have been wanting to make a trip. Early May isn't quite the right time for photography as the day is so long and it is difficult to catch sunrise or sunset without having to stay a night in the area. Unfortunately, the way my schedule has been lately it is either now or wait a few months and visit in the Fall. Anyhow, I jumped out of bed early Saturday, with my cameras already packed in the bag, I drove north heading to Napa and Sonoma with a plan to visit Sebastopol and Bodega Bay in the same afternoon. I was not expecting much as far as photography goes....


"Napa wine country hillside basking in the early morning sun - I learned from a winemaker friend of mine that roses planted close to the vines for a reason..some of you may know why"



Left very early around 5:30am from San Jose, I am an early riser and you could get me out of bed wee hour of the morning if it is to catch the light for photography...As Napa is some 140miles away from San Jose, I did not get into town until 7:30am, and the soft morning light was already fading away....Fortunately I was able to catch a glimpse of it...just wished it had lasted longer.....


"Wine country landscape - I like the oil painting look"
The town of Sonoma is very charming...a bit of Taos, a bit of Palm Springs and a lot of wine country....many tasting rooms, great restaurants around the square, and world famous spas on the fringe of town.


"Morning sun showering into a very narrow alley between two weathered stone walls in Sonoma city square"
Also check out my blog entry on HDR High Dynamic Range photography here. I am speechless

Highway 84W

Just a word on Topaz before the entry proper. I re-installed Topaz Adjust plug in I had uninstalled due to Topaz software bug, I am still getting the occasional "can't complete due to program error" (it is annoying as I have to re-do my processing all over again). It does not look like it is a bug that will go away....I resigned to that fact and left the plug in on CS2 for now.

Was up in Livermore California last weekend, took Highway 84 from 680N and it was a beautiful magical ride at 7:30am in the morning (I had to pick a daylight saving day and it was really 6:30am that morning since I had moved the clock forward an hour....that explained my sleepy eyes). There were a handful of cattle ranches along 84E to Livermore, still shrouded in the overnight mist as the early morning sun was breaking through. I said to myself if only I had been there before daybreak and waited for the first light to come through the old house.


Livermore is officially now on my "A few more visits" list :) I often visit a place for the first time to scout for photo opps and make notes of locations in my little notepad I carry with me.



I like the old town charm, oh did I mention the many vineyards in Livermore. Ah, that was the bonus. Or was it the reason why I went there in the first place :)

Footnote: I am going back there soon and this time armed with my old style Canon A1 with rolls of Black and White and Velvia slide films .... It makes me happy just thinking of the prospects.