The LA Times Blog picked up one of my picks.

Just a quick note, if anyone wants to see this, the Picture from the Mission Inn Rotunda was used for the LA Times Local Blog.  Thanks LA Times for posting it!

Here is the link,

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/04/a-stairway-to-r.html

Day 136, Mission Inn, Riverside, CA, Daytime, Hall of Arches

Day 136, Mission Inn, Riverside, CA, Daytime, Hall of Arches, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

Here is the other entry to the Day and Night comparison shots that I wanted to try. This arched walkway is on the 4th floor and leads to the patio on the north east corner where the moorish style orange dome is. There is a little patio there and a room that is surrounded in all glass that looks out on the main courtyard and the patio. There are rooms along this walkway with beautiful entries and a little stained glass.

Thanks for looking.
EXIF Data,
Day

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture:	f/5.6
Focal Length:	40 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Night

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.5 sec (1/2)
Aperture:	f/4
Focal Length:	30 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Day 135, Mission Inn, Riverside, CA, Daytime interior cupola

Day 135, Mission Inn, Riverside, CA, Daytime interior cupola, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

Today, the same shot, just one in daylight and one at night. This little dome is actually on the second floor in the east central part of the hotel. It is a little court area that leads to one of the nicer meeting rooms with a stage and this beautiful old pipe organ.

Since the property was built a little bit at a time, there seems to be always something new to see. And it is always a little different in each part. There are Spanish, Moorish, European, Oriental, and Pueblo influences through out the property. No two towers or domes are alike. The rooms in different areas have different styles of entries, different layouts and different architectural styles. Some rooms are unique to that particular room for architectural style and decoration. Some rooms have huge amounts of stained glass, windows and grand entrances, while others have only a little entrance and a single window.

Every time I come back to shoot, even though I have lived in Riverside for almost my whole life, I notice something a little different that I missed before.

Thanks for looking.
EXIF Data,

Daylight

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.04 sec (1/25)
Aperture:	f/5.6
Focal Length:	48 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Night

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	2 sec (2)
Aperture:	f/5
Focal Length:	42 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Day 134, Mission Inn, Riverside, CA, Dome

Day 134, Mission Inn, Riverside, CA, Dome, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

Just before the dinner that after which I took those night pictures, I walked around the roof a little to take some pictures. I will soon post some day/night shots of a few spots. But for now, a late afternoon shot of the dome on the north east corner.  I have always thought that if you did not know you were in Riverside, you could very well think that you were somewhere else. Some other country or exotic city, maybe Islamabad or Istanbul. But Riverside? Yes, Riverside. That is our smog imported directly from Los Angeles and Orange County! It all gets trapped up against the San Bernardino Mountains.  Maybe there will be a clear day that will afford another opportunity.

The Bench and Boganvillas are from the roof terrace of the Mission Inn on the south side looking east over the entrance.  It was beautiful.  But I had to rush off and meet my clients for dinner.

Thanks for looking.

EXIF Data,

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture:	f/10
Focal Length:	80 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Day 133, Mission Inn, Riverside, CA, Terrace Patio, Night Time

Day 133, Mission Inn, Riverside, CA, Terrace Patio, Night Time, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

More from the Mission Inn. This terrace is on the second floor and over looks the courtyard that you come into as you come out of the main entrance. There is a little dinning court to look over. On this floor from here there are some meeting rooms and then you are just below the clock. The church is up a level and two to the top floor. It is probably one of the more peaceful of many peaceful places in the Inn. Especially at night.  This church is where a few of my friends have been married.  There is a flyers wall dedicated to the flyers from and who flew out in the IE.  The courtyard is so serene, a little to lit, but serene.  Maybe one day I will get in again and have the chance to shoot inside.

Thanks for looking.
EXIF data,

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	1 sec (1)
Aperture:	f/3.5
Focal Length:	24 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Day 132, Mission Inn, Riverside, CA, Rotunda Stairway, Night Time

Day 132, Mission Inn, Riverside, CA, Rotunda Stairway, Night Time, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

This is an image that I have wanted to take for a while. After dinner at Marios with some of my clients, I walked through the Mission Inn and had a chance to just walk through with little to no people around. The last few times that I have been by with time to walk for a little bit, there have been a lot of people around. This time I was mostly on my own. The only thing that has ever been said to me about photography there was no tripods. This is then all handheld. I did lean against posts, walls and whatever to steady the long exposure time. This rotunda is really cool, but it does not seem that I have enough wide angle to get all that I want of it. I will try again some time, with a tripod and see if I can't get wider then the 18 mm that I have now.

Did I mention that I am really digging Aperture 2.0?  These shots are a great example of why.  The controls are great.  Since different types of artificial light have different color casts to them, it can be hard to get the shot that you want at night.  Our eye does not always note the difference.  But florescent is a little green and incandescent can be very yellow.  These were very yellow and I could reduce the saturation of the yellow and green (some bulbs have been changed to the compact florescent and so there is a mix) and increase the reds and magentas to get a more true to my eye pic.  In iPhoto all I can do is increase or decrease the saturation.  I also have control over the white balance and can move the black point to save blown highlights and rescue shadow.  

Hope you can live through a few days of Mission Inn posts.

Thanks for looking.
EXIF Data,

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.25 sec (1/4)
Aperture:	f/3.5
Focal Length:	18 mm
ISO Speed:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV

Day 25, Lamp, Mission Inn, Riverside

Day 25, Lamp, Mission Inn, Riverside, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

Today, and tomorrow I am putting up two shots of the same subject. I like both, but I want to know what you think. Which one? 

I am leaning towards the Black and White version on this one since the ability to light up the wall behind in enhanced when I add a lot of red once I have removed all saturation. If I was shooting in Black and White native, I would use a red or yellow filter in front of the lens to get this effect.

I am looking forward to seeing your comments, B&W or Color version.

Exif Data

_________________________

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture:	f/6.3
Focal Length:	75 mm
ISO Speed:	800
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV

Day 24, Christmas Lights, Mission Inn, Riverside

Day 24, Christmas Lights, Mission Inn, Riverside, originally uploaded by solostandfound.

The downtown area of Riverside is dominated by the Mission Inn. When I was in High School, it was mostly abandoned and the city was looking for anyone to take it over. They put up some great financing help to get it going again.

Over the last 10 years, the downtown has come back. The center of this comeback has been the Mission Inn. It really is a unique place. There is a boatload of history and art there. Well, at least by west coast standards. We don't really have many 200 year old buildings or great revolutionary war stories. Until about 80 years ago, this was nothing but scrub and rancheros. The citrus boom really put this on the course to being somewhere. Most of California has a similar history.

Every year now, the big lights that the Mission Inn does are really better and better. If you need to visit Southern California, and you want to stay somewhere that is not just another hotel, stay a night here, you won't be disappointed. I can't tell the difference anymore between Marriott and Hilton. When I travel for work, few places have any quality of their own. That is what is probably unique to the Mission Inn, it really is a place of its own.

Thanks for looking, as always, below are the shots that I did not choose to run with as well as the EXIF data for the lead image.

___________________________________________________

Camera:	Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure:	5 sec (5)
Aperture:	f/29
Focal Length:	31 mm
ISO Speed:	800
Exposure Bias:	0/3 EV