Skip Kuebel Photography

Painted Bungalows , a photo by skip.kuebel on Flickr. Sunset on the beach in Capitola, California with brightly painted beach bungalows in the foreground. I've been in a tilt-shift mode lately and here is another example. It makes the highlighted buildings look like miniature models like you would see on a model train set-up. Visit my Flickr site to see these images at full size. Happy New Years! Skip Kuebel, Photographer skiptown@comcast.net

Golden Gate Bridge , a photo by skip.kuebel on Flickr. Here is the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge shot from the west side above Baker Beach on the hiking trail. Had to go underneath the toll plaza and hike past  WWII Godfrey Battery to get this view. I shot this with my Canon 40D and the post-processed it using Lightroom for basic color balancing, cropping and so on, then a quick trip to the Nik software plug-in to cross-process the color, then a touch of glamour glow and finished off with lighten/darken center. Then into Photoshop to do some minor touch-ups and then used the tilt-shift blur filter. Back to Nik to use the auto noise reduction and then sharpened up the middle portion a tad. Check out more of my GG Bridge pictures at my Flickr site to see the pictures at full size and resolution. Skip Kuebel, Photographer skiptown@comcast.net

Skip Kuebel, Photographer skiptown@comcast.net  A family portrait of my tennis buddy Yoshi and his wife and 3 month old baby girl. We shot some pictures at the Bollinger fountain in San Ramon and then went over to Central Park to get these photographs. The trees were great the lighting was beautiful the family was into it, the only problem was the wind was blowing about 30 mph! But we pushed on with a few breaks for the little one to warm back up. Here are two shots from the day. If you want to see the rest you can view them on my Flickr site.

IMG_5724.jpg , a photo by skip.kuebel on Flickr. I was scouting locations for an upcoming family portrait session and realized that California is always knocked for not having any seasons. I know it ain't New England in the fall, but still not too bad right? This is the fountain in San Ramon. Maybe the saving grace is that it's 72º with no snow! Skip Kuebel, Photographer skiptown@comcast.net

Here are some more of my Washington D.C. adventure pictures. Mount Vernon was George Washington's Virginia estate. The view from the front porch is very relaxing. Too bad George was too busy to enjoy it much. I guess leading the army, setting up the country and being President took a lot of time. Go figure. There is also a working farm on the property, that they work like they did back in Washington's day. See more of these photos on my Flickr account. http://www.flickr.com/photos/97777205@N03/sets/72157636642510135/ Skip Kuebel, Photographer skiptown@comcast.net

I visited Washington D.C. a few years back and had such a good time wandering the Mall and looking at all the monuments. As, you can imagine I took a bunch of pictures. I can't believe they would put up barriers around these, as they are just out there in the open. Now, it would be hard to get pictures near them. Hopefully everyone will come to the senses soon and open these treasures back up. Even more so with the National Parks. It must take more personnel and equipment and cost to keep people out vs. watching them visit? Here are a few of the WWII Memorial and you can see more from my trip at my Flickr site.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/97777205@N03/with/9196711208 Skip Kuebel, Photographer skiptown@comcast.net

Container Ship vs. Alcatraz , a photo by skip.kuebel on Flickr. Like King Kong vs Godzilla, this giant container ship passes just in front of Alcatraz island in the San Francisco Bay. The ship is almost the same size as the old prison island. I shot this near the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. Skip Kuebel, Photographer skiptown@comcast.net