ShutterBlog

Happy Halloween!

A halloween mask infront of a house at Hathaway park, the glare is because of the rising sun from the opposite direction (on a Halloween morning) (Click on the image to see the Complet picture)

I found these cute little flowers in the parking lot. (Please click on the image to see the complete picture)

Salim Afzal is a colleague of mine, he is the most hardworking man I have ever worked with and I have the utmost respect for him.

I took this picture last night around 9:20 pm by placing the camera on a tripod outside our office and zooming in through the cubicle's glass window. (Click on the image to see the complete picture)

Sunrise project

I took a series of 50 photographs over a period of 43 minutes to capture the sunrise. Word of advice, always carry a soft tissue paper if you want to capture sunrise in the cold as the lens gets foggy after every 5 seconds.

You can see the fog on the ground in the first few seconds, then as the sun rises behind the mountains the fog on the ground slowly disappears. The sun shows its face briefly and then sneaks behind the trail of clouds over the hill. Finally you can see how the sun comes out from behind the clouds. (Click here to see the frames individually)

Caltrain station: Java and Borregas

Caltrain station at the intersection of Java and Borregas streets in Sunnyvale, California. It was 11:30 pm when I took this picture and it was drizzling.(Please click image for the complete picture)

Stevens Creek reservoir

Stevens creek reservoir is located about 2 miles southwest of Cupertino; it was built in 1935

The stream of water is named after an early settler, Captain Elishia Stephens who lead the successful passage of wagons over the Sierra Nevada in 1844

The reservoir has a picnic spot complete with barbeque grills and benches

There was a marathon going on this morning, runners were running pretty close to the speed limit ;)

There is this beautiful and very expensive resedential area if you go up the hill, further down the reservoir

These electricity cables cross the road. I stopped the car on the single road that twirls around the hill to take this picture.
(Please click on the images for the complete pictures)

Pumpkins

Halloween is a few days away and people have set up temporary shops to sell pumpkins. They setup a wire fence in an open plot and put up kids' toys to attract the customers
(Please click image for the complete picture)

If you think about it, these pumpkins look like prisoners (prisoners in US wear orange jump-suits).

It rained ...

Its amazing how the rain brings out all the colors
(Please click images for the complete picture)

Lady Mary looked beautiful as ever on an overcast Sunday. The atmosphere was magestic, you could hear the hymn coming from the nearby church as if angels were taking you into their embrace
(Please click images for the complete picture)

These picture was taken at the Our lady of Peace church in Santa Clara. The building you see in the background belongs to Exodus.
(Please click images for the complete picture)

This is a view from my cubicle's window at work, its 7:00 pm and everything is wet outside.
(Please click image for the complete picture)

The lobby of Ritz Carlton Hotel at Half moon bay, California. Its a beautiful hotel located right at the beach with a private golf course.

A vase at the entrance

Downtown Sunnyvale on a weeknight

This is what Sunnyvale downtown looks like on a weeknight, I took this picture around 8:30 pm on my way to get a hair cut a few days ago. This street comes to life on a weekend (click the picture for the uncropped version)

Right at the corner is the Ace loan office (a.k.a pawn shop), looks more like a jail than an office :) (click on the picture for the uncropped version)

Sunset in Fremont, California

A view of Fremont city and sun setting in the backdrop. I took my new digital SLR camera out for a test drive yesterday and hiked up the Mission peak in Fremont just in time to see the sunset. There were still a few minutes for the actual sunset, but I loved the way the city was glowing in the golden light

The sunset :)

Pigeons

These are the American Trenton Pigeons, a strand of the famous Homing pigeons that people race. The French, Swiss, Israeli, Iraqi and Chinese armies still use homing pigeons today! Pigeons proved valuable in the Gulf War, as their messaging was not affected by electronic jamming :)

I saw these pigeons feeding on rice outside a desi restaurant today, I tried my best to get close to them for a better photograph but the siren from a nearby ambulance scared them away. Pigeons have the rare ability for a large bird to be able to fly nearly straight up.

Twisted tree

I came across this interesting tree when I went out for lunch today. It's in a small shopping compound at the intersection of Grape and El Camino Real in Sunnyvale; right across from Fresh Choice restaurant.

The branches were twisting, twirling and coming out unlike any tree I had seen before

The branch on the right sticks out almost perpendicularly off the tree trunk and extends beyond of the picture frame. With the thickness and weight for this kind of branch, it's amazing how it hangs in mid air without any support.

Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco

Palace of Fine Arts was designed in 1915 by the fifty years old architect Bernard R. Maybeck, who was known for his innovative ideas. He chose a Roman ruin as his theme, mutilated and overgrown, in the mood of a Piranesi engraving. But this ruin was not to exist solely for itself to show "the mortality of grandeur and the vanity of human wishes .... " Although it was meant to give delight by its exterior beauty, its purpose was also to offer all visitors a stimulating experience within doors.

In playing host to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, The Fair, which opened on February 20, 1915, San Francisco was honoring the discovery of the Pacific Ocean and the completion of the Panama Canal; it was also celebrating its own resurrection after the shattering earthquake and fire of 1906.