Where World's History Changed

Where World's History Changed, originally uploaded by Ivan Makarov.

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Again, a bit more of American history for you. This is the site of President Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas. This picture is taken right across the street from the spot where Zupruder filmed his famous video. Please scroll over notes to see where action took place. To read more about the surrounding events, visit here.

I found it interesting that there is a museum in the building where Oswald shot Kennedy, and that the square where it all happened has been preserved to look pretty much the same way it looked on that historical day of November 22, 1963, a day many of you remember. If you were alive that day, how did you find out about the event?

The Tip of the Giant

The Tip of the Giant, originally uploaded by Ivan Makarov.

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One more view of the Fountain Place skyscraper in Dallas, Texas.

The Fountain Place

The Fountain Place, originally uploaded by Ivan Makarov.

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One of the most beautiful skyscrapers I have seen. From the web-site:

"Fountain Place is a dramatically sculpted 1.2 million-square-foot office tower of green reflective glass rising 60 stories from a tree-lined water garden at Ross Avenue and Field Street in downtown Dallas. A symbol of superior architecture, Fountain Place rises out of an oasis of fountains, pools, trees and flowers on the northern edge of the Dallas central business district."

In the Heart of Dallas

In the Heart of Dallas, originally uploaded by Ivan Makarov.

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I just came back from Texas, where I spent a few days. I've been to the East and West Coast, and Wild West, but never been to what they call Mid-West. I'll tell you this - they know how to cook over there. I also enjoyed wondering around downtown of Dallas. They have amazing sky scrapers there, and at the same time the old downtown where Kennedy was shot is still the same. Next few images will be from this trip.

Technical details - I know I'll get asked, so I say upfront - this is not an HDR. I took one exposure to get this image, but it was 25 seconds long. I used two filters - ND400 to get the exposure time from 1/125 to 25 seconds, and a 3-stop ND grad to control the contrast between the bright sky and not-so-bright foreground. Post processing was a simple RAW conversion.

The Rock Farm

The Rock Farm, originally uploaded by Ivan Makarov.

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As I described before, this particular beach was not the safest place to walk around, as waves would often cover these sharp rocks, and we had to watch ourselves. MumbleyJoe told me that last time he visited this place back in January, the water wasn't nearly as close to the shore as it is now.

This was the moment the evening was officially over. Few minutes later colors disappeared and night took over.

The Edge of the Day at Golden Gate

The Edge of the Day at Golden Gate, originally uploaded by Ivan Makarov.

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Besides being a good rocky beach, Marshall Beach also offers alternative views of the Golden Gate Bridge that most tourists coming to San Francisco do not see (the beach is a bit of a hike, and the trail is easily overlooked), and it's there that one realizes that this big famous bridge is just a tiny structure in a huge Bay, not the other way around, as pictures taken from the top may suggest.

The Rocks of Marshall Beach

The Rocks of Marshall Beach, originally uploaded by Ivan Makarov.

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Last Saturday I met up with MumbleyJoe at Marshall Beach, a beach few hundred yards below the Golden Gate Bridge. The sunset was beautiful, but it is easy to get caught up in it and completely forget that the waves can crash on you out of nowhere. Several times during the evening we found our equipment and camera bags drenched in salt water of the Pacific ocean, and as I got home, I had to spend an hour dusting off the sand and cleaning tripod, lenses, filters and even camera body.

This was also my first outing with the new ND400 filter that supposed to help capture longer exposures. I loved using it, but it'll take some learning to start using it properly. In this image I combined two exposures, one for the sky and one for the ground. ND graduated filters will help me capture this in one shot, but they will arrive later this week.

Ancient Elements

Ancient Elements, originally uploaded by Ivan Makarov.

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This is probably my last picture from the outing to Big Sur last Monday.

It bugles my mind to think that this rock at Garappata Beach has probably been standing on that beach for thousands of years, before any human have ever stepped a foot on the Coast of California.

Rocky Pt Bridge at Big Sur

Rocky Pt Bridge at Big Sur, originally uploaded by Ivan Makarov.

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A bit of American history for you.

Rocky Point Bridge is a twin bridge located just half-mile away from the identical bridge called Bixby Bridge, which you may see in the distance on the image I posted earlier. Both were built in 1932, and with their construction, it opened a whole new world for automobiles to discover, as previously it could have taken as long as three days to cross 70-mile stretch of coast we now know as Big Sur. These bridges began a new era of travel along the Pacific coast of California, and are now a popular destination to tourists coming to see Big Sur from all over the world.

The bridges are also famous as they often appear in movies and in TV car ads (hence, the look to this photograph that I wanted to portray). I'm not sure why Bixby Bridge tends to be more famous of the two - they look exactly the same to me.