Car Photos - The new Mercedes-Benz CLA

Mercedes Benz recently introduced their new CLA model to the U.S. Market. Lynn and I had lunch with friends that had just taken delivery of their sporty new car. This was definitely a photo op. The new CLA wreaks sporty. I took this picture as our friends were parking their car for our lunch.  I love the German crest on the front plate and the sunlight illuminating the headlights . I think that this photo screams "I want one!" What do you think?

I am usually challenged when I try to get good auto interior photos, but this interior screamed of impact. I particularly like the dark and light contrast of the interior fabric. And, my friends added a nice touch with their Turkish floor mats. I used a Gaussian Blur on the background of the top image to focus on the CLA's style. These photos were taken with my tiny compact Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LF1.

San Diego Skyline from the 34th Floor

Every time that I get an opportunity to photograph a cityscape/skyline from the highest point in a city I jump at the opportunity.  Such was the case recently on a trip to San Diego. I love the view here with traffic (upper left) from San Diego International Airport (Lindbergh) as well as the Interstate 5 corridor funneling right into the heart of the city.  Interestingly, San Diego International is the busiest airport in the country with just one runway handling all of the traffic.

A friend invited Lynn and me to lunch at the University Club on the 34th Floor of the Symphony Towers in downtown San Diego.  Before he and his wife arrived at the restaurant I took these photos.  

Later we took our final tour of the trip on the Old Town Trolley where I took the photo above.  Once again the freight yards feed into the heart of the city revealing that beautiful skyline at the top of the picture.

This final photo was also taken from the Trolley on Coronado Island.  What a tranquil scene with the lines of sailboats at anchor with San Diego in the background. All of these photos were taken with the Olympus OMD-EM5 camera and the Olympus 12-50mm lens. The next time that you take the camera out in a new travel destination look for a unique perspective from which to photograph.

Railroad Photography - Denver

Photographing the railroad has become one of my recent passions.  On one of my recent trips to Colorado I spent the day shooting the recently renovated Union Station in downtown Denver.

The station makes for some great HDR opportunities.  My friend Jim and I were able to talk an influential employee into photographing from upstairs in the station which is now a hotel.  I like shooting from this different perspective.

Converting photographs of old places to black and white offers a nice sense of place to historical buildings.

I love this old original safe on the second floor of Union Station with the stacked suitcases from another era.

The beautiful Denver Union Station upstairs bar (above) and (below) one of the private cars available for corporate or private luxury traveling on the rails.

This is a photo of a poster over the underground pathway that leads from the railroad tracks to the station.  I reversed the photo so that you can read the writing on the top of the poster.

Today the California Zephyr is the only passenger train that goes through Union Station. It's journey takes it from Chicago through Denver to San Francisco.  A scenic trip on the Zephyr is on my bucket list.

All of these photos were taken with the Olympus OMD EM-5 using only one lens, the Olympus 17mm 1.8 lens.  For a future Denver trip I am going to focus on the massive rail yards.  I will appreciate your comments.