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17 Frogs in a Bucket and other Adventures
Back from a very brief Spring Break and honestly not all that ready to begin working again. Summer, you can't arrive soon enough. It was, however, nice to get out of Cambridge for a while and enjoy the good food and weather of my home state, California. Visiting my mom and her family on the farm means all sorts of exciting things like, for instance, finding 17 frogs in a bucket in the back yard. Apparently these guys were swimming around in the pool, so we fished them out and then released them into the pond elsewhere on the property.
It also means lots and lots of driving. The area where I grew up in California is a rural farming district halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Due to the long standing agricultural interests in the area there are plenty of old farm buildings to check out, and I usually enjoy stalking around and climbing on the things that I probably shouldn't be climbing on.
It's also interesting to see how rural buildings are built. This grain shed is built from half rounds of culvert pipes bolted together into large arches and then aggregated to form a corrugated vault.
The use of half-rounds makes allows the barn to resist the intense load of grain pushing out laterally without resorting to thick walls or extra reinforcement.
Old barns naturally settle, but the seismic activity ensures that few buildings stay true.
The Paso Robles area is basically in the foothills of the Pacific Range. There are no great heights, but nice views are easily afforded by ambling mounds of earth.
9 Comments
Gah~, that photo of frogs in a bucket is my worst nightmare pixelized. Yet I can't stop looking at it. Welcome back -!
I'm so afraid of frogs that I would have had a heart attack if I saw that bucket! AHH!
I still can't get over how good your camera is...
sigh, the farm looks and sounds so nice. can't wait for summer!
Wow, great photos and insights, really glad I clicked on your blog. And the frog photo, touched up a little could be a veritable work of art, I'm absolutely serious, really powerful somehow.
Cheers!
theres a couple of frogs gettin their freak on in that bucket man....
stop the frog porn now
triplelutz-
I'm constantly amazed at how many people ask what type of camera is used when they see impressive pictures, no doubt Bryan's pics are nice, but it is mostly his composition and EDITING that makes them look nice. I am a freelance photographer and pictures of this quality can easily be achieved with a $200 digital camera, some talent, and boosting the contrast and saturation a bit.
Bingo, kai. It's all about framing and levels. The camera I use cost me $300 and it's no digital SLR technotronic super camera by any means.
Looks like all these comments are a couple of years old, so this may never be seen by you, Bryan. The many inquiries about your camera remind me of a vignette from my first year ('85-'86) on the trays. A group of us were observing the watercolor technique of a particularly painterly renderer in our class. One student peppered him with agitated queries about paints, paper, and, finally, the kind of brush he was using.
"Bobby," another student cut in, "It's not the brush."
I've heard that remark many times in my head since then. Really enjoy your blog for the peek into more recent GSD life. Ever hear any (not so apocryphal) stories about the infamous truss races of the eighties? (Ended after near-death episode.)
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