January 31, 2006
November 13, 2005
Even Better!
I went to the roof and shot the panorama again in the evening. As if the shot was not cool enough, just as I set up to take this, three or four motorcycle cops blocked all traffic on the freeway. You can see their red and blue lights blinking in the foreground.
This image will be printed ten feet wide and hung in the elevator landing on the second floor. :) We're not sure about the final wall-color yet.
November 12, 2005
Skyline Panorama
I am thinking of printing this ten feet wide for one of the elevator landings. What do you think? Click on the image to see a high-resolution (8000 pixels wide) version.
July 26, 2005
Preserving the Building's History
One of the ideas mentioned often last night is that we should preserve our building's historical value. A couple meeting attendees thought it might even be nice to paint the original text on the front of the building. Can anyone tell me what the rest of the text was? I can't quite tell from this or by examining the photograph on the second floor.
For all you purists - I realize that the typeface is not exactly right. If we wish to pursue this idea further, I'll find the exact face. And I am guessing that the text was black with a white stroke based on two very faded black and white images. the images also suggest that the rest of the building was unpainted concrete - that's why I chose gray for the mock-up.
July 23, 2005
PhotoShop File Ready for Action
Last night I created a high resolution PhotoShop file with masks so that we can experiment with color schemes for our building. If you have PhotoShop, and would like to play around with color schemes, please download the 41 megabyte file here.
July 22, 2005
247 Fourth Street
I was able to get up on the construction site across 4th Street this week and take a few shots of the building. I intend to use the pictures taken from this unique vantage point to experiment with color ideas.
July 7, 2005
One More...
This one turned out fairly well, too. A high resolution version is available here.
July 6, 2005
Lofts from the Air
I had the opportunity to fly to Napa today, and made sure to get a shot of the 'hood on the way. Click on the image below for a higher resolution view. If you'd like to see the full resolution file, click here.
June 21, 2005
Design is a Process
At last night's productive HOA meeting, the discussion led to ways to improve the building's esthetic appeal. We all agreed that the exterior needs paint - and a new color scheme. This idea is nothing new. We've been talking about painting the builiding for years. I even did some work on a 3D version of our building specifically to experiment with color schemes in the context of the rest of the neighborhood. Unfortunately, I ran out of motivation to complete this complex project partly due to the realization that we will never agree on a color scheme. Another reason we still live in a dirty pink building is because the cost of painting the exterior is so high. Never mind that new paint could drastically improve the resale value of our homes, this major undertaking probably will not happen soon enough.
I suggested that there is something we could do to improve the building without spending all of our reserves. I believe we could make a huge improvement to our building's interior for just a few dollars - by replacing the faded photographs on the top three floors, and by addding a little color.
The board asked me to put together a proposal. So, I have begun to explore possibilities. I visited Oakland's main library today, and found that we might be able to locate original negatives or prints of some of the images already on display. We could have prints made at a fairly reasonable fee.
Another, possibly simpler option, would be to photograph the existing photos and reprint them using today's best technologies. We could reprint the old black and white shots with vuirtually no loss of detail. In fact - we could probably improve them somewhat.
A third option would be to replace some or all of the images with entirely new ones. We happen to have some very talented neighbors who have expressed interest in contributing to such a project.
So, I need your opinions and your help.
I'd like to hear what you think of the sample designs for the second floor. (Please click on the thumbnails above and view the full-size versions.) Are the colors too dark? Is this too much of a change? Should we stick with with black and white images? Historical or contemporary? Do you have images to contibute? Should we upgrade the lighting too? (YES!) Would you like to help paint? Are you interested in proposing something foor your floor? Also, I wonder if you know how letters are applied directly to walls - a technique you may have seen in many in art museums. (Yes, I'd like to get rid of the horrible multi-colored plastic signage.)
Please leave a comment of e-mail me directly. I'll put together a more "formal" proposal for our next meeting.
May 28, 2005
Beautiful Signage
Sure, they have a spiffy new sign, but I prefer the old one.
May 9, 2005
Soizic
My favorite table at my favorite restaurant.
May 8, 2005
Port of Oakland
From the roof of our building. I can see that I need to shoot this again later in the day, when the lights are on. :-)
(I'm posting these images at a higher resolution than I normally do so that you can appreciate the details. There are at least two seagulls in flight in the image above - can you spot them? :)
May 6, 2005
Weights and Measures
We won't live here forever, but we'll have hundreds (thousands?) of images to remind us of our years in the loft in Oakland.
April 21, 2005
Tower Lofts Tower
OK, so I bought a magnificent new lens - a Sigma 80-400 mm. This is a l-o-n-g lens! On My Nikon D2X, it offers a magnification approximatly 20 times that of a normal lens. I've been looking for excuses to use it everywhere. I wish there had been someone up on the tank when I took this shot from the roof of Fourth Street Lofts. Next time...
By the way, have you checked out Simon's 300 Harrison Street webcam lately? He's posted a very cool time-lapse movie which I have copied here for the benefit of those on the Fourth Street Lofts network. Nice work Simon!
April 10, 2005
Local Architecture
This week I ordered a new digital camera. I don't even have the camera yet, but I'm so excited about the prospect that I'm shooting again. I'm thinking I should do a series of shots focusing on the architecture found in our fabulous Waterfont Warehouse District.
247 Stairwell