A turtle getting a ride on alligator in Naples, Florida, in November, 1982.

I finished working on these images last night, a week after shooting them - more playing around more with Topaz plugins.

Flickr



Playground equipment at Peppertree Park in Newbury Park after using Topaz Simplify.



A self-portrait shadow at Peppertree Park after using Topaz Simplify cartoon preset.



Photo from my iPhone using Topaz Simplify to give artist look and hide the grain in shadow areas.



Fountain in downtown Los Angeles given bump with Topaz Detail.

Tonight I stumbled across this flickr set, basically a history of famous images recreated with legos.


Raising the Flag over Iwo Jima by Mike Balakov. A recreation of the famous 1945 photo by Joe Rosenthal.

Check these images out, they are great. Also here is an online article with original photos and lego versions. Another cool feature of Balakov's photos is he often includes setup shots.

In 1982 newsprint was cheap and newspapers very thick. Bundles of newspapers were perfect to use as sandbags to keep floodwaters back from a store in downtown Martinez, Calfiornia. You can't do that with today's thin papers.

Back in the 1980s a loose band of Southern California photojournalist got together and marched in the annual Doo Dah Parade in Pasadena. Here are some pics from the 1986 parade. Ring leader is Davis Barber. I, of course, was just an innocent bystander documenting these photographers as they, I mean we, terrorized spectators, TV crews and cops - giving them the paparazzi treatment.

The full collection of photos is in this Flickr set.

Fireworks are normally shot with tripods and long exposures. The only real exposure control is the lens aperture. I use f/11 at 100 iso. But instead of a tripodI I usually handhold the camera, moving it during star bursts. Here are a few examples.

Howard Jarvis pumps his fist during June, 1978, victory party for Prop 13. Photo by Scott Harrison

I was working for the Downey Southeast News in 1978 and covered the victory party for Prop 13. Since California is in the midst of the type of budget collapse long ago predicted by anti-Prop 13 forces, I thought it was a good time to post this image. Another image by Los Angeles Times photographer Joe Kennedy is posted here. We were standing on chairs side by side when these photos were taken.

Hugo Tringali, of Thousand Oaks heads his small flock of sheep back to his Agoura Ranch after Sunrise Easter Services at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California. 1984 photo by Scott Harrison/The News Chronicle.

Tomorrow is the 15th Anniversary of the Northridge Earthquake. The 4:30 am shaker woke us all up. Of course I had to go off to work at the old Valley Edition of the Los Angeles Times.

I spend most of the morning helping coordinate coverage and pulling radios, batteries and other needed equipment out of the badly damaged Chatsworth plant. Late in the morning I was able to get a ride to Sylmar area with a reporter to check out the damage. Here are four photos from that morning.

For the next two weeks, I was at work almost constantly. Our house only lost a couple of chimney bricks. But it took a month to get the kids out of our bedroom - they wanted to sleep on the floor because of all the aftershocks.

An obituary of Anthony Tarracino in Monday's Los Angeles Times caught my eye. I met Tarracino, known at Capt. Tony, on a quick one day trip in Key West in early 1981.

I was working at a newspaper in Naples, Florida. The local airline flew old World War II era DC-3s to many Florida locations. Where else would you fly on a DC-3, but Key West! I booked a morning flight and evening return flight.

After a fun flight on the old twin engine two-seater, I made my way into Key West. After roaming around shooting photos I wandered into Capt. Tony's Saloon (for a diet coke of course!) Tony was sitting on his corner stool and welcomed me. We sat around for about an hour trading stories - mostly Tony's - and I took a few photos of Tony. I don't remember Tony's stories, but yes, they were all on the wrong side of the law, full of four letter words and always ended with a good woman.

I finally excused myself for another walk around town, but Tony invited me back later for a ride to the airport. So at the end of the day, Capt. Tony took me - a total stranger - back to the airport for another ride on a DC-3.

Yes that was a cool day.

My cousin Wes recently e-mailed a great collection of photos titled: "Military Humor". Of course I found the same collection on You Tube set to music. Great images. Have a laugh on bleak Monday.

Scott

While scanning old negatives I found a good example of capturing a key moment. An instant earlier of later would have missed the humor of this 1982 photo I shot at a Thousand Oaks elementary school.


First graders react after checking out portable toilet installed at school where water service was cut off for repairs.

Back around July 4th i mentioned the volcano photos at USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory web site. Well on July 16th this photo was published that looks like a real fireworks image - but its not. Its reaction from lava flowing into the Pacific Ocean.

Caption for photo: Incandescent parabolic arcs trace the path of ejecta cast out during explosions at the Waikupanaha ocean entry early Wednesday morning. This was a relatively small explosion, reaching a few tens of meters height, while the largest explosions this morning approached 70 meters in height. At the bottom of the photograph is the rim of the littoral cone built up by explosion deposits. USGS photo.

Last Sunday, a photographer working for the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory shot this image of explosions from molten lava entering the Pacific Ocean.


A littoral explosion at dusk. Explosions such as this have been common throughout the last several weeks at the Waikupanaha entry. (U.S. Geological Survey photo)

Kilauea Volcano on the big island of Hawaii has been pouring lava into the ocean since 1983. Since about 2001 the USGS has been posting beautiful images easily downloaded on their web site. For a couple of months in 2004 I downloaded over 25 images that made a great screensaver slide show. I would come back from lunch to find co-workers just standing around watching the images.


Image from July 4th, 2004 of lava entering the Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Geological Survey photo)

The images are found at this USGS web site: Volcano Images

Go to the image Archive. The summer of 2004 had a high number of outstanding images and a good place to start. Enjoy!

"Street Named Desire" was taken in August, 1978, in Rowland Heights at the corner of Desire Avenue and Colima Road. The photo was taken on Tri-X film most likely with a 300 mm lens. Gas prices were in the mid-60 cent range, having doubled from around 30 cents-a-gallon in ten years.