Prof. Boerner's Explorations

by Gerald Boerner

Exciting times are here again as the succulents in our backyard are starting to bloom. I thought I would share a couple of photos of them with you to cheer up your day, especially if you live in the colder climates. We are looking forward to a week in or around the 80s! A little hot, but nice after some cold, wet weather in recent weeks.

Hope that you enjoy the blooms and that they cheer you up!  GLB

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
— Albert Camus

“All our discontents about what we want appeared to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.”
— Daniel Defoe

“A Poem does not grow by jerks. As trees in Spring produce a new ring of tissue, so does every poet put forth a fresh outlay of stuff at the same season.”
— Wilfred Owen

by Gerald Boerner

We were at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park in Escondido, CA, on a cool spring day. As we were having lunch in a patio, the sun broke through the clouds and I saw this scene. I loved how the sum ‘peeked’ through the branches and the intensity of the blue sky.
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

I was at one of my favorite photo places, the Hidden Valley Wildlife Area, between Riverside, CA, and Norco, CA. On this particular morning, there was a ground fog obscuring the area behind this pair of trees, giving the photo an ethereal look.
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

When Grace was in Mettman, Germany, for the birth of our grandson, she caught this set of tree shadows in a little park in the middle of town. She loved the look of these shadows and snapped this photo with her little ‘point and shoot’ camera. I love it!
[Photo by Grace Boerner]

This is another tree at the Hidden Valley Wildlife Area. I caught it in the early morning after a rain and a beautiful, cloudy sky. In order to preserve both the detail in the sky AND the detail in the darker, shadow side of the trunk; to accomplish this, I merged five exposures, each a stop apart, to create this HDR (High Dynamic Range) image. While it may still needs ‘tweaking’, I love it…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

All photos are Copyright©2007-2009 by GLB-Photo
— All Rights Reserved —

 Coppola of the Museum of Man in San Diego’s Balboa Park on our recent visit. It was taken in bright sun (at the upper left) in mid afternoon. I was glad to get some good detail in the shadows…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

 Shadows in the Reflecting Pool at the restaurant of the San Diego Museum of Art in San Diego’s Balboa Park. This was taken in mid afternoon sun and two layers of shadows (on the water’s surface and at the pool’s bottom) are shown, but none of the structure itself…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

Bodies Against Each Other, found on the wall of the restaurant area of the San Diego Museum of Art in San Diego’s Balboa Park, was taken in latter afternoon light. The small angle at which the sun hit the background creates an interesting pattern. There is a bit of a glow on the surface of the bodies…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

The San Diego Museum of Art is located in a beautiful Spanish-style building in San Diego’s Balboa Park. In many ways, it looks like it could have been transplanted from Barcelona or Paris, with its statues embedded in the façade. In the foreground is my beautiful bride trying to cope with the breeze blowing in from the left…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

All photos are Copyright©2007-2009 by GLB-Photo
— All Rights Reserved —

This image was captured in the early morning backlight so that the buds ‘glowed’ like they were lights. The shallow depth of field helps to isolate the one plant. Love the colors in this one…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

This was another image with morning backlighting. I found this week along the side of the road not far from my house. The ‘glow’ effect is even more noticeable in this photo.
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

And yet another roadside week in the same early morning sun behind. This was taken a little later in the morning, as indicated by the areas of the flowers lit. This was taken at a separate location than the ones above.
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

I was driving along a road in the rural area between Perris and Lake Elsinore. I saw this group of weeks along a fence. I was fascinated by the ‘dangling’ piece of barbed wire curving through the image. This was taken just as the sun was rising. Love the overall effect.
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

All photos are Copyright©2007-2009 by GLB-Photo
— All Rights Reserved —

Photo of a Metrolink engine passing by me at about 25 mph through Riverside (by the Riverside Plaza).
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

I caught this Metrolink train one morning after an night of rain showers. The sun was just starting to peak through the remaining cloud cover. I caught an angle that allowed me to obtain the reflection of the signals in the side of the train. Love this one…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

I was on the elevated walkway between the two sides of the Metrolink station in La Sierra (Riverside, CA) one spring morning shortly after sunrise. It was foggy (see background) along came this freight train pulling a line of similar tank cars moving about 40 mph; in my many days of observing the BNSF trains, seldom had I seen one that had only one type of cars. I loved the image of this train receding into the distance around the bend in the tracts (distance).
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

Another train caught this BNSF freight train coming through the La Sierra (Riverside, CA) station at 40 mph. I loved the blend of colors that are caught in this image. For this one, I was on the platform at ground level about 9 am. Another of my favorites!
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

I caught this image on a cool November morning at the Inland Empire Railway Museum in Perris, CA. They run this steam engine one weekend each month. The cool morning and the hot steam combined to produce rain-like droplets of water that showered me as it passed by me. The sun flare was not intentional but does enhance the image.
[Photo by Gerald Boerner on B/W film and then scanned]

All photos are Copyright©2007-2009 by GLB-Photo
— All Rights Reserved —

by Gerald Boerner

This sculpture was found in the Sculpture Garden outside of the ‘West Building’ at the Getty Museum. This person (and his girlfriend blocked out in the background) was walking up the stairs and I snapped this when he was at the same height as the sculpture. This was taken in afternoon sunlight, but with a tree shading the couple…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

On a set of tiers, I found these two planters filled with flowers. I liked the marble facings on the steps and the gentle shadows (both form and cast) in this afternoon sun. It gave me the illusion of a cascading water fall that one might find in the mountains. It creates a sense of ‘Zen’ for me…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

The sculpture made a good foreground feature to set off the building, with its rough stonework, and the sky and clouds in the background. I was pleased by the shadow detail on the front side of the sculpture captured without going to an HDR technique. (The Getty does not allow any tripods!) The sky color and the clouds really pop for me…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

This was a photo taken of the fountain wall where you get off the tram at the Getty Museum’s main entrance. It was taken at night without flash and I love the way it captures the rough face of the stonework behing the fountain.
[Photo by Gerald Boerner, Digital Color converted to B/W]

This flower grouping gave me a nice set of compatible colors that gave me a ‘warm fuzzy’ feeling. Technique-wise, this may not be an notable shot, but it caught my eye and I just had to capture it…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

All photos are Copyright©2009 by GLB-Photo
— All Rights Reserved —

by Gerald Boerner

Grace and I were lunching in the outdoor café at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) last November when this little bird flew into a bush by our table. As it perched on one of the branches, I was able to capture it. I love the way the branch in the front is out-of-focus, but the bird is sharp and reveals the detail of its feathers. It was only about 3-4 inches in total size…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

I was out one morning near my home when I parked along side of a construction pad where there was a baby hawk on the fence. It left the fence and hopped along the sandbags that edged the plot. Then the parent hawk came along and gave the little one a flying lesson. I was able to capture it from my car, hand-holding my camera with a 300mm telephoto lens. The hawks just ignored me and went along with their lessons. There’s no telling where you will see nature in our cities…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

I was out in my backyard pool one spring day and saw this butterfly landing on one of our oleanders. I grabbed my camera with the 300mm telephoto lens, hand-held it, and got this shot. I love the detail. I stopped the action with a shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

We visited the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park in Escondido, CA. It was in early April just before they shut down their butterfly exhibit space. I was able to out-maneuver the hordes of Kindergarteners who were also visiting the butterflies that morning; they were running around trying to catch them! I finally got this shot when this critter landed on a leaf that I had pre-focused on and it came out great…
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

This is another shot from the Wild Animal Park. This duck was swimming in one of the lagoons; I was shooting with Fuji Velvia 100 color slide film. I loved the way the colors ‘popped’ on this film; I scanned it and it created a pleasing image, especially since I love blue!
[Photo by Gerald Boerner]

All photos are Copyright©2007-2009 by GLB-Photo
— All Rights Reserved —

Watch this space for some of my favorite photos. These may be either from my own photo shoots, scans of photos from our family’s archives, or other photos posted on Flickr.com. I welcome you to view these photos and comment on them.