Yesterday, Rouzbeh and I set out to photograph the murals in the Mission district of San Francisco. However, by the time we got there, it had started drizzling, so we had to put off that project for another day.

On the way to the Mission, we decided to drive up to Bernal Heights to indulge in another project that we’ve been trying out for a while now – create a gigapixel panorama of the city. The basic idea is to take hundreds of images using a long lens, and then stitch them together to get an image with a ridiculous amount of detail. That, however, is easier planned than done. Not only is it difficult to zoom in with a 400mm lens and pan across a cityscape without missing a spot, it’s equally hard to stitch those images together without misaligning some of them, or blending exposures incorrectly.

Yesterday’s attempt gave us nearly 430 images of 21 Megapixels each shot with a 400mm lens, and a final image that was over 8 gigapixels. However, the project remains a work in progress while we fix holes in the picture and stitch them better.

In addition to the images we took for the gigapixel project, I also shot a few images with my trusty wide-angle, and put them together as a preview of the scene we are trying to capture. The image above shows how the component (raw, full frame) images were put together.

This is the final (non-gigapixel version) result of the handful of wide-angle shots of the city. It may not be gigapixel, but it’s still pretty big and will make a gorgeous print.

I didn’t have my 5dM2 when I was in London last year, so I went in the direction of poor video quality, hand held shots and quick edits. Here’s a walk through London.

Ellery Lake, on the way to Mammoth Mountain from Yosemite.

Chiang Rai is home to some of the most interesting displays of art in the form of two temples – one, a place of worship, bathed in white and awash in opulence. The other, dark, a place of display for strange and sometimes erotic art, including many skulls and full-size skeletons.

The Black House (Baan Si Dum) is the home of Thailand’s famed artist Thawan Duchanee. It has been worked upon for over 30 years and is a sight to behold.

The White Temple (Wat Rong Khun) wasn’t as interesting to me, although it is visually spectacular.

I have never peed in a golden bathroom before, so I guess it wasn’t so bad.

The night market in Chiang Rai with its bugs, food, trinkets and wonderful music.

The new iPad has been leaked. Oh no!

Preparing for elephant rides.

For most of the ride, it was just us and the elephant. The mahout ditched us after a few minutes to go find bananas for this fella. I have to say – elephants are scary, but they are so lovable at the same time. How can you not love this bald little head…

The world looks pretty good when you are perched atop an elephant…

I was woefully unprepared for a hike to the waterfall. It probably wasn’t a good idea to try to clamber on to the slippery rocks.

The pottery place – Doy Din Dang.

Combining images, videos and timelapses from New York into one piece. More images are available on Flickr or on the previous post.

My last trip to New York was in 2008, right before Christmas and it was a very snowy winter. This year, it was snow-free and barring a couple of days when it was cold and rainy, the weather was incredibly good for walking around. These are a few pictures from all over Manhattan.

Continuing the series of pictures from Thailand, these are some photographs from the islands near Krabi. It was cloudy at times, but it wasn’t all in monochrome.

Low tide at Kho Poda.

Boats at Ao Nang.

Low tide at Krabi. The effect of the low tide is quite dramatic at East Krabi. A huge swath of land opens up and while it looks like it might be possible to walk on it, don’t trust it too much. I almost lost my shoes after getting my foot stuck in the slushy earth, and the slush itself was fine, almost clayey soil. It took quite a while to wash it all off.

Cave at Phra Nang. One of the rocky outcrops on the beach of Phra Nang is hollow – There are wooden stairs that lead you part of the way up where you can look out of holes in the mountain wall. The rock formations along with the colors from moss make it quite the sight.

Sunset at Ao Nang beach.

Boats at Phra Nang beach.

The beaches in Thailand usually have spectacular displays of color with the blue-green waters, white coral sands, rocky outcrops covered with greenery and the longboats with brilliantly colored sashes on the bows. However, there is more to these beaches than just color; There are variations that go beyond just sun, sky, sand and water which makes it fun to go island hopping. Here are a few images from the islands near Krabi.

Looking out from the shrine on the island of Phra Nang.

View from a lagoon near the island of Kho Hong.

Mangrove roots exposed during low tide in a lagoon near Kho Hong.

Low tide near the beach of Krabi East.

The island of Kho Hong.

Boats anchored at one of the islands.

The Golden Gate bridge is probably one of the most photographed features of San Francisco. Sure, it’s majestic and unique (how many other bridges are painted International Orange?) but this is a bridge with plenty of character and looks just a little bit different every time you get to it. Maybe it’s the summer fog in San Francisco, or maybe it’s the gorgeous sunsets, but like any other super-model, there’s no angle or aspect of this bridge that hasn’t been photographed before. The only thing left to do is to show the bridge through different eyes.

These are a couple of pictures I took from Fort Point last month when the weather was good enough to show all of the bridge.