Henry’s Blog

Last week Sara and I went on a road trip to Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, visiting 8 national parks along the way (Great Basin, Capital Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Death Valley). It was an incredible trip with lots of photography opportunities. I’ve been working on some new scripts to process the photos in a speedier fashion, hoping to have them online this week.

In the mean time, some new photos of the Cats, including this one of Riley with his new friend, a Bobcat stuffed animal we picked up at the Visitors Center in Death Valley.

On the Thursday before our Sara and I got married Sara lead the women into San Francisco for her final dress fitting while Dad, Mike, and I visited the USS Hornet an aircraft carrier moored at the old Alameda Point Naval Base, now open as a museum. Dad served on the USS Independence in the early 1960s and showed us many familiar sites on the Hornet. Much of the ship is open to the public and free tours are offered engine room, captain and admirals quarters, and the command decks. Definitely worth a visit.

It’s been a while since my last blog posting. The last few months we’ve been keeping busy planning our wedding. Now we’re back from our Honeymoon in Hawaii and the photos are starting to coming in. First up, the official wedding photos and the same photos in black & white. Lots more photos from Sara, Doug, Branwyn, and Stephen.

Henry’s photos from Getting Ready and The Big Day.

Ayaz has posted a wonderful collection of photos from the rehersal, wedding, and reception at his website. You will need to login as HenrySara with password eharmony

More photos to come!

PS: Reports of my drowning in Hawaii are (thankfully) not true. My co-worker Dave reported hearing the news while also in Hawaii this past weekend.

The evening photography sessions in San Francisco continue. Recently Christophe and I explored the streets around Union Square. This time I left the tripod at home and looked for shots with interesting illumination. We found some neon signs and a few remaining Christmas lights.

Today’s addition to the photo library are two sets of Star Wars photos. The first comes from Celebration III which took place last April in Indianapolis. Ayaz and I have got to all three fan club conventions. This was the biggest one yet, around 40,000 people including a rare appearance by George Lucas.

The second set of photos comes from Rancho Obi-wan in northern California. Ayaz arranged a visit for us in January of 2001. Rancho Obi-wan is home to the largest collection of Star Wars toys and memoriablia in the world. A huge barn filled with rows and rows of action figures, placesets, movie props, and home made items.

It’s been quite a week for crazy Christmas sites. First stop, check out Chewie singing. While that’s playing you might enjoy an interactive Christmas light display with 26,000 lights that can be controlled via a web browser. From the just plain wierd department it’s Santarchy. Be careful out there.

Speaking of furry Christmas, help a furry Maine Coon find a good home.

For years I’ve been watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation at the start of each holiday season and dreaming of creating a holiday display like Clark Griswold’s. A family in Novato has taken that idea and gone even further, covering their front lawn, roof, and most of the interior space with a wonderful display of Christmas cheer. The Cronicle has an article on their home and counting up the lights at 80,000. Sara and I went for a visit on Saturday, check out the pictures here.

Doug and Alma have also added holiday cheer to their home, and to the web with some nicely decorated trees.

While you’re viewing all the photos, enjoy a listen to the music from last weekend’s UCCE Holiday Show.

Photos from two recent outings in San Francisco. On Monday night I headed out to the Embaradero waterfront with my new co-worker Christophe, also an avid photographer for some evening photography. The lights of San Francisco are quite wonderful after dark. I focused on long exposure shots, going for the streaking car lights, and smooth water effects. We’ll be heading out for many more outings after the holidays.

The other set is from the recent Go Game in North Beach. Team Player reunited and put in another solid showing. There was some controvery over the scoring. Officially we came in second, but we’re convinced the judges miscounted and we were robbed of first place.

Sara’s brother Evan has some rockin’ new music available for free download at download.com. Also check out Evan’s other project, Chronic Town, an R.E.M. tribute band.

This years family Thanksgiving dinner too place at the Raymond’s in Orinda, CA. Sara cooked up a storm for 24 hours. Photos are available here. On Friday we visited the Bay Model in Sausalito, a 2 acre working hydraulic model of the San Francisco Bay. Fascinating and definitely worth a visit.