A model Santa Barbara

Well, the power's gone off again. It seems to be the local electric company's attempt to make the island feel authentically third world. My place loses power at least once a month and you get used to it over the years, but it is quite a pathetic performance by Hawaiian Electric. During the winter the power losses can often be once a week with less problems during the summer. If there's a storm or the weather is a little breezy you can can guarantee the candles will be needed. Tonight the wind is calm, there's no rain or lightning so it's more likely someone's driven into a utility pole.

At least I have my emergency backup laptop at home since my PC died, and it has a battery! Please excuse typos though. I'm a terrible typist at the best of times and this post is being written by candlelight!

Anyway, I've been meaning to try Tilt Shift Maker for a while but had no appropriate pictures before now . I was originally pointed to it by Alice at 10,000 Monkeys and a Camera and it's fun to visit. It makes your pictures look very odd and toy-like. Essentially, it keeps only a very small part of your picture in focus while defocusing the rest with the result that your image looks as if you took a photo of a model. It's quite effective and don't forget you can click on the pictures for a larger view.

Santa Barbara from the tower on top of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse.

Santa Barbara Harbor.