Background Index

My Desktop Background Index is back up to date and now supports the newer 16x9 desktop files I'm uploading. Enjoy.

Bi-weekly Background: 2010.12.03

So I decided to start up my bi-weekly backgrounds again (mostly at the urging of others...) -- they fell off during my trip to India and subsequent chaos. I'll try to be more prompt. For now, though, enjoy this background. It's rather more heavily edited than I've posted in the past, but I think this picture maintains the same flavor as the original while still looking more appealing.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.10.11

Today's picture is a close-up of a Sea Anemone that I took at the National Zoo. I rather like Sea Anemones (see a previous background), but I rarely get good close-ups. This shot is close enough that the result is almost abstract. Enjoy.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.10.04 and 2010.10.08

Another two for Saturday post. Things have been entirely too crazy recently... Anyways, common theme here in that both of my backgrounds feature sunlight streaming through things. My first shows the internal details of a Ginkgo leaf near my house, while the second was taken during sunset on the Autumnal Equinox. Enjoy.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.10.01

Today's shot is of a pine tree in Lassen Volcano National Park. This was taken near Bumpas Hell, and the tree was clearly not doing so well near the hydrothermal vents. This is one of my favorite shots from the area, just because of the uniformity of each of the bunches of needles -- some yellow near the base, some green near the ends -- and the exposure on the branches.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.09.27

Posting way late. Sorry about that. This shot is of a berry bush that I found while hiking in Lava Beds National Monument in northern California. I love the focus in this shot, as well as the detail on the berries. Enjoy.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.09.24

Today's background, for your enjoyment, is a leaf that I took on the autumnal equinox, also known around here as DC-henge, since the sun sets directly in the east and the lighting is great for photos in the DC area. General cloudiness blocked my DC-henge prospects, but since I already had my camera, I got some great pictures of normal stuff on the way home from work. I love this leaf, because you can see the leaf's veins so clearly, and it's halfway to fall -- just as the sun was. If I were more poetic, I could probably draw some sort of metaphor from the picture...

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.09.20

My next background is a bit more abstract. This was taken in Crater Lake National Park, in Oregon, but the subject is hardly unique to that location. I love the clutter in this picture, particularly the contrasting color berry on the right side. Enjoy.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.09.17

Today's background was taken in Klamath Falls, Oregon, at a park. I love the reflections of the ducks and the color of the water. The way that the wake cleanly divides the image in two is also very nice. Enjoy.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.09.13

A bit late... Yesterday was too crazy. Today's background (which I call 'Lonely Flower') is a flower I found on the sidewalk when I was on a walk with my wife. I loved the framing of a little purple flower, all by itself, on the sidewalk... The photo was a bit overexposed (what do you expect for a white sidewalk background?), so I adjusted it a bit in GIMP. I usually don't do this, so my skills may be a bit, ah, lacking in the photo editing department. Anyways, for your enjoyment, Lonely Flower:

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Also wanted to point out that my background index has been updated.

Bi-weekly Background - 2010.09.10

My next picture is another bird, this taken at the National Zoo, just outside the bird exhibit (ironic, eh? natural bird in a zoo...). I love the color contrast in this picture, particularly the way the colors of the bird almost exactly match the color of the background. You would almost think it's a black and white picture, except for the hints of color from leaves in the background. No, I have no idea why it has a tracking bracelet.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.09.06

So today I decided to visit the National Gallery of Art to work on taking pictures on dark, non-natural lighting conditions. I'd also never been there, despite living in the capitol for a couple years now, which is somewhat pathetic. Anyways, after wandering through an entire wing of religious artwork, I discovered a statue by Antonio Canova (imaginatively titled "Dancer with Finger on Chin") hiding in a stairwell connecting the two floors of the gallery. After being subjected to dozens of sculptures and paintings of Madonnas, Jesus and other saints, this was like a breath of fresh air (seriously, did no one paint anything non-religious in the Renaissance?). Equally important, hardly anyone else in the gallery was even paying attention to this masterpiece.

The statue is fantastic, with sharp folds in the dancer's clothing, and an extremely intricate garland. But my favorite is the statue's face, with the curled hair and detailed fingers. The statue is convincingly human enough that Picasa wants me to name the person in the picture (I'm tempted). This is my picture for today -- enjoy. And if you ever visit the National Gallery of Art, it's easy to be overwhelmed by the Monets, da Vinci, and other big names, but the real treasures are hidden in the stairwells.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.09.03

Sticking with my butterfly theme, here's a picture of a Blue Copper butterfly. I took this in Lassen National Park last week. While my wife and I were wandering around the park, we turned a corner and found a huge field, full of butterflies. This is the only one who stopped long enough for me to get a picture, but I love the way it turned out. Enjoy.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.08.30

Yeah, another late post... Hopefully this awesome butterfly makes up for it. This is a Chalcedon Checkerspot butterfly (according to my limited knowledge of butterfly families.. who makes an identification website and groups species by 'Brush-footed Butterflies'? I didn't see the feet!). I found this while hiking in Bothe-Napa State Park.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.08.27

Sorry for the late post... My wife and I visited Southern Oregon/Northern California last weekend and I'm still trying to catch up photographically. Going to have some new pics in my Picasa once I get through them all. In the meantime, I decided to continue my leafy green background thing for my Friday background this week. Enjoy.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.08.23

I felt it was time for something a bit more abstract. Today's background is a common plant around the bay area. I took this while walking around Foster City, CA. I'm not sure what exactly this plant is, but it's everywhere. I'll try to fill in with more details later.

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Bi-weekly Backgrounds - 2010.08.20

As promised, another bird post, and from Yosemite, too. This is a Stellar's Jay, in resplendent blue colors. I love how this guy blends in with the background, despite being such a different color. The out-of-focus background is rather nice as well.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.08.16

A bit late -- forgot to upload this yesterday. This is a shot I took of a bird (what kind of bird? I'm a satellite engineer, not an ornithologist... apparently a White Headed Woodpecker; who would've thought?) in Yosemite National Park, while waiting for a bus. I love the faded background and parallel lines in this shot. Taken with my telephoto lens on maximum focal length, so as not to frighten the little guy. Yosemite was a great place to take pictures of birds -- I may use another bird picture on Friday.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.08.13

As promised, another marine animal, this time a sea anemone. I'm not sure what I do right with aquariums and the like, but I always end up with phenomenal pictures of sea creatures. It doesn't matter that the lighting isn't good, or that there's a glass wall -- it just works out. This extreme close up was taken at the Exploratorium, using my 18-50mm lens. I love the curled tentacles on this guy -- and their clarity -- as well as the mouth. As an added benefit, I discovered that inverting the colors, it looks like a space alien. I'm providing both images for your enjoyment.

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Bi-weekly Background - 2010.08.10

My third background comes from an exhibit at the Exploratorium. I loved these little brine shrimp, and the color of the water in the exhibit. This particular photo caught my eye because of the curved shapes the shrimp made, as well as the background element. I'm not entirely sure what the background groove is for, but I like the composition. This is likely to be a marine photography week -- I always seem to have good luck with marine animal photographs.

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