I got two photographs accepted into the Orange County Fair this year. If you happen to be at the fair this year (July 11 through August 3) head over to the Visual Arts building. Thumbails of my two submissions are below. If you want to see a larger image, head over to this page where you can see each of this photographs a bit larger.

“Chopper Monster”

This was shot at Cooks Corner in Trabuco Canyon. The original photograph was of the engine and the fuel tank. I then rotated it, mirrored it, then duplicated the whole thing and mirror that one more time to create this kaleidescope-like affect.

“Half Dome Meadow”

This is one of those right place at the right time shots. This is definitely one of my favorite pictures I’ve taken. I’ve setup a page where these can be purchased. Come and get it

Tags: orange county, fair, photography, yosemite

The World Wide Panorama began in March 2004 and has become an ongoing series of events. Photography takes place on the solstices (longest and shortest days of the year) and equinoxes (day and night of equal length). Photographers all over the world are welcome to participate. I have participated five times in the last four years. And this year, I managed to get two contributions included.

I really encourage you to check out the work of all the photographers that have contributed to these projects. Not only did nearly 300 panoramic photographs contribute to these two projects, but most of the images can be seen full screen and all are geo-located on a map of the world so you can see where each image was photographed. A special thanks goes out to the organizers of the world wide panorama effort, as without them these last 17 events would not have taken place.

Wrinkle in Time
19 December 2007 marked the 10th anniversary of this initial event. The original Wrinkle in Time project is considered the first major, collaborative immersive, panoramic photography event. To enter the original event, your panoramic photograph was to be taken at the exact same time as the solstice in one's local area. 10 years later, the original event was commemorated by 165 photographers from every corner of the world taking an immersive, 360 degree panoramic photograph within a 12 hour window before and after the Solstice in the photographer's locale.



Since the Solstice passed at 10:08pm local time on 19 December, I elected to take a picture of Christmas lights in the neighborhood. My contribution for the Wrinkle in Time 2007 event can be viewed on the World Wide Panorama website.

[ View: Mike Morper's Wrinkle in Time 2007 panoramic photograph contribution ]

And for your Google Earth users, all of the photographed for this event can be viewed in Google Earth. Read More...

Tags: panoramic, world wide panoramic, orange county, qtvr, photography

One of the fires currently out of control in Southern California is about 5 miles directly north from our home. Called the Santiago Fire, it was started by an arsonist. The Orange County Register is maintaining an outstanding Google Map of the fire's progress. What's more, each of the points denoted on the map provides a wealth of information.


View Larger Map

Many thanks to the OC Register for maintaining this great source of information.

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Tags: fire, orange county, google, mashup, california

As a Southern California native, I have seen my share of fires, but this year is different. Every year it is the same week -- the week before Halloween. As of this writing, there are 16 major fires burning in Southern California, all fueled by some of the driest weather I can remember, coupled by 90+ degree temperatures and of course, very strong Santa Ana winds (in excess of 80 mph gusts in some areas).
The closest fire to us, the Santiago fire, is about 10 miles due north from us and was started yesterday early evening by an arsonist.

Below is a Google Map maintained by the Orange County of all the active fires.


View Larger Map

And after the jump (click "read more..." below), you can see an amazing image captured by a NASA satellite today of Southern California. Read More...

Tags: fire, google, mashup, visualization, nasa, california, orange county

Today, the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) held their annual Open House. With two boys that eat, drink and think all things fire fighting, today was all about visiting stations and of course the main training facility of the OCFA. While there, we saw a couple of demonstrations -- a car extrication and a fast attack. The photograph below was shot during the car extrication demonstration conducted by the crew from Truck 9.



To see a version of this panorama you can pan around within, head over to my full screen panorama page.

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Tags: qtvr, photography, panoramic, fire, orange county

And now for your viewing pleasure, I give you Orange County, California. OK, not the whole place, but at least a few notable locations such as: San Clemente Pier, Seal Beach Pier, Balboa Fun Zone in Newport Beach, Greeter's Corner in Laguna Beach, Cook's Corner biker bar in Trabuco Canyon and last but not least, the hills around my neighborhood after a pretty good sized fire came through the area.


Click the picture above to view the Orange County, California picture map.

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Tags: google, panoramic, photography, qtvr, mashup, orange county

I got a few more panoramic photos posted this morning. These three include two cubic images -- meaning, these images have a full 360 x 180 degree display. Not only can you pan left and right, but also up and down. And they really look good full screen too.



Here is the Rocket Garden at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This image was created using six photographs shot with a fisheye lens. Four horizontal shots (each at 90 degree increments) one pointing straight up and one straight down. Each of the images was handheld (as opposed to using a tripod and a pano head).

View "Kennedy Space Center Rocket Garden" in fullscreen

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Tags: photography, qtvr, panoramic, travel, florida, california, orange county

I decided to put a few pictures in the photography exhibition at the Orange County Fair this year. If you happen to be in the OC, drop on by the Fair and see if you find these photographs there. Click on the "Read More..." link below to see the photographs.

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Tags: orange county, fair

For the third time, I have contributed to the World Wide Panorama effort. This project is coordinated by the Geo-Images Project at the University of California, Berkeley. On the equinox or solstice, photographers from around the world are encouraged to take a panoramic photograph and contribute it to this project. Each project has a theme by which the photographers are to interpret as they see fit, and contribute accordingly. Click on the world image above to go straight to the Water (the current theme) website. When you get there, each of of the "pin points" is actually the exact location where each of the panoramic photographs was taken. Purty cool.

To see my contribution, click "Read More..." below.

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Tags: panoramic, san clemente, california, orange county