Wednesday, April 18, 2012: Ambassador College in Pasadena, CA

I don't know what this house or building is for, but I liked its look with the leafless trees in front of it.  It looks like something in an Edgar Allan Poe story.  Here is the Facebook page of the alumni.  Kind of cool.

The Ambassador Auditorium.  I believe that concerts and speakers series are still performed here.

I liked this picture.

This is a keeper.

A very sad tree.

Red maple?

View of the San Gabriel Mountains.

This is the Hulett C. Merritt Mansion on the Ambassador College Campus in Pasadena.

Southern California palms.

View of Pasadena City Hall dome.

Love the filigree trim on this house.

When you're done looking at these pictures, there are more online at this site and this one. 

A Las Tunas Night

I went for a walk on Las Tunas Boulevard last night and passed by the old New Century Ford dealer, which is now an RV center.  But as I walked past it on the sidewalk I realized how the pastel colors of pink, beige, and green of the trees were so vibrant against the black night. The effect was caused by the Ford dealership's parking lot lighting, which illuminated the flowers, leaves, and branches brilliantly.  The photos you see are what I captured.  Some of the pictures came out surprisingly good from my 16 mpxls pocket camera.  I was lucky to find this serendipitous scene.  It was almost like a made-for-me studio with black backdrop and super lighting overhead. 

 

This may be the best example of how the Ford dealership's light illuminated a mundane tree into a spectacular subject, standing sharply against the night canvas.

I loved this picture.  When I came upon it I found so many interesting elements.  The tall electric towers evocative of a tower in Paris, the three traffic signs, the leafless trees, the contrasting layers both top to bottom and foreground to background of light and dark.  I love the horizon in this scene.  It is remote.  I love remote scenes, where you can see a distant point, seize it in your imagination and let the unknown details of the place play upon your mind.  I love that stuff.  This shot captures that perfectly.  Though the traffic sign describes the contours of the road, it also attempts to give directions.  But like most signs and maps, it is only a representation of the territory and not the territory itself.