Winter approaches....

Despite our recent heat wave there are signs that summer is releasing its hot grip and making way for its chilly cousin, winter. Nowhere is it more evident that in the coastal regions where the ocean never ceases its relentless attack upon the coast. Here the waters churn and swirl, they pound into the coast with unimaginable ferocity it is here that winters coming chill can be felt the most. It is but a faint feeling of cold right now, but as the days grow shorter that chill will become a permanent fixture in So Cal. Our 80 degree paradise will give way to a freezing 60 degree nightmare that will send all so cal residents running for their fireplaces and taking shelter in, heaven forgive us, pants sweaters and shoes. It is a nightmarish scenario that none of us want to think about.........but it is coming make no mistake. Yesterday afternoon i got a glimpse of the impending doom when i went shooting at the beach, seeing that the cloud cover was broken up but relatively thick i knew that an "epic" sunset was not going to happen. Still there was potential, it wasn't going to be the suns intense golden light that we all love but a more subdued pastel kind of sunset. Turns out my instincts were right and while that golden light never surfaced there was still a lot to take in and i am grateful i was able to go out. I am a big proponent to revisiting areas that i have already photographed, to think that you can photograph an area once and think that you have captured it is really kind of arrogant. Light is not that predictable or boring, every minute of every day light falls on a subject differently than the day before, giving you endless possibilities to the scene before you. With that in mind i decided to revisit the cliffs, i had photographed them in the golden light of sunset before and it was spectacular. Yesterday though, there was mood to it a dark brooding feeling to it that cannot be described, i knew that the tide would be high and i had never been able to photograph it at that time as it is to dangerous to do so from my usual spot. So i decided to to go and see if i could find a new vantage point from where i could take some shots. Man am i glad i made that decision, everything was there the cliffs in all of their grandeur, dark moody clouds reflecting just a little of the suns color, and the ocean.....violent, churning and relentless. This is what i crave, this is where i lose myself not in pretty colors but in the untamed fury of nature and as the suns rays tried in vane to escape their prison of clouds the heat of summer dwindled away and the chill of winter was there lingering.......ever-present. Reminding me that it is coming........i for one look forward to its return and the foul weather it brings :) Enjoy!

Film!!!

Several months ago i decided to start shooting film again, my goal was to go out very often and finish it and continue my growth as a photographer. Alas it has taken me a lot longer to finish that roll of slide film and have been trying to finish since January of this year. One of the reasons why it took so long is that with film if you really seek to understand how it reacts to light and how to expose it detailed notes must be kept so that you can compare the images to your notes after the film is developed. To many this is a very tedious and frustrating process, but for me i see it as a way to discipline yourself. It slows you down, you have to study light how it falls on your subject how it hugs its contours and changes in color, you have to think about composition. You have to think about what goes into your photos. Many have said in the past and even now that film is obsolete, that its dead but film is thriving within a community that is alive and vibrant. Unfortunately many of the people who shoot film now do so because it is trendy and gives you that vintage look, it is my hope that these shooters take the time to learn the strengths and weaknesses of this wonderful medium. You might ask what the big difference is between film and digital, some say there is none but in reality there is a big difference. Digital for its many advances and incredible amount of details that it can capture still looks sterile, it lacks depth and for a lack of a better term it lacks feeling and heart. Don't believe me? look at a print one printed from a digital file and one printed from film. Digital looks clean, sharp with lots of detail, while these are good things our brains can only take in so much. Film is an analog medium, its soft, grainy, smooth with a very natural warmth, thats the incredible beauty with film our brains romanticize the look of it. Sort of like the way that one language will sound harsh and another will sound smooth and warm (thats why there area called the romantic languages) we are naturally attracted to one over the other. Consequently it is interesting to to think about how many digital photographers edit their photos beyond belief in order tho add grain and that vintage look, the very things that digital has sought to get rid of we are trying to put back in. Does this mean that one format is better than the other? Not necessarily, they both have strengths and weaknesses but i do believe that we are naturally attracted to one over the other. One thing that i will say is that digital with its infant gratification has bred a shooter that is undisciplined, doesn't understand light and doesn't take the time to learn to strengths and weaknesses of their medium. This is a detriment not just to themselves but ultimately to photography in the long run, Photography is not just art but a fair amount of science, a science that is only understood with effort and discipline. So after all this. What about my roll? 2 things. 1) After 10 or so years of not using it I'm out of practice, so i was a little disappointed. Ultimately i don't take it as a defeat but as a a chance to learn and a stepping stone to greater discipline. 2) i really need to get my incident meter calibrated, many of the shots i took with settings from my incident meter were underexposed. I look forward to shooting more, heres a few highlights for you. Enjoy!

Therapy....

It had been several months since i had been able to go out and shoot any landscape photos, in the last couple weeks i began to notice a shift in my attitude towards everything. I was easily irritated, felt stressed about even the smallest things, and was just on edge. It was not at all pleasant and what was even more frustrating is that i could not put my finger on it at all, after some thinking i came to the conclusion that the source of the problem was that i had not gone out to do what i wanted to do. Im working at a photo lab in carlsbad at night now, i get there shortly before the sun sets. Most of the time the marine layer obstructs the sunset, but the times that its clear or there some clouds in the sky makes it difficult for me. Knowing that there is something out there in beautiful light that i could be photographing but am not able to is the worst kind of torture. Im lucky to have a wife that understands this and a boss at the lab that also understands this. When i got the go ahead from jen to go out and shoot on friday after i got off at work i asked my boss if i could leave early, with how busy we have been at the lab i really thought that the answer was no. I was pleasantly surprised when i got the ok to leave early, i decided to head to swamis to shoot. I have lived in north county for over 20 years and had never been there, once i got there i looked for a location to shoot from and planted myself there and waited and watched the light. As soon as i got set up there was a feeling of........i don't know how to describe it but everything that had been getting to me just faded away and i got into the moment. Even the fact that i had forgotten my tripod and limited the pictures that i could shoot didn't get to me. While i waited i found this bush of really weird looking but colorful plants, i shot some pictures of those for a little while and then shot some surfers and watched the light. As the sun went down the light became progressively more golden and red. The clouds over the beach reflected all this beautiful light giving everything this ethereal look to it. All the light just spread all over the place, exposures were easy and so much fun to do, on top of that i also finished my 1st roll of slide film. All in all i had a blast, thank you to my wife and to bonnie for seeing how much i need to do this not just for work purposes but to keep my sanity. I look forward to doing it again soon. Enjoy.

P.S.
Ill post more pictures later, the 2 horizontal photos look pretty much the same but one is shot earlier in the afternoon and the other is shot towards the end. I wanted to show the change in the lights intensity and color as the sun gets lower and lower, the transformation is really quite beautiful to experience :)

The last few weeks.....

and weekends have been.......well......incredible! Having the ability to go out and spend time with my beautiful wife and get to do what i love to do all at the same time is an incredible blessing. Since we got our puppy our never ending quest to tire him out so he is not ridiculously hyper at home has gotten us out of the house pretty consistently. The ever changing weather patterns in San Diego have also been a blessing, its given me many opportunities to capture some cool landscapes. Here is the end result. Enjoy!!

The South Carolina and Steve Donley Incident.....

Ok i know it took me forever but as promised here is the post on our short road trip from NC to SC. Ill keep this short as theres a ton of photos. We went to NC to visit my brother and his wife for thanksgiving, while there my brother was gracious enough to let us borrow his car so we could travel to SC. As luck would have it my good friend Steve had just recently come back from living in Romania and was living in NC not to far from my brother. Steve had lived in SC for a while and knows a bunch of people down there and he was willing to be our tour guide and found some friends that graciously put us up for the night. I always love seeing Steve as he and i have the same weird sense of humor, so were always laughing at something. The drive was a little over 3 hours and it was beautiful! We unfortunately missed the peak of the fall colors but there were still some patches here and there so that was a treat. We got to listen to some tunes, talk and just relax on the way down. Once there we drove around a ton, we only had about a day so landscape photos just werent going to happen this time around. It was fun to have Steve show us around, Jen wanted to see the Atlantic sooooooo that were we headed 1st.......






Jen leaves her mark on the sands of the Atlantic












I have a whole sequence of Steve doing this monkey walk......if i get some time ill do an animation of it cus its hilarious




Sweet beach houses!!


After checking out the Atlantic we decided that we needed food. Steve proceeded to take us to this place called Poes Tavern. The whole decor of this place is based around the great poet Edgar Allen Poe, i didnt really have a lot of expectations for the food. I mean really how much better can their burgers be right?! How good was it? Lets just say that Gods Holy Spirit descended upon my burger in the form of a dove.........eating it was a spiritual experience.


Jens burger


Steves burger


My burger..........destruction soon ensued


The aftermath!


Jen got a small sample of sweet tea....


she liked it. I think its gross.....but when in rome.


Steve enjoying his tasty meal.


This was the bathroom....yes i take my camera everywhere! It was really cool, the walls are lined floor to ceiling with pages of Mr. Poe's poems.


After dinner, we drove around some more enjoying the scenery. Ill tell you now, SC is absolutely beautiful! Cool looking swamp areas, bunch of little islands connected by some sweet bridges and Charleston!! Its so much to take in, we went to downtown Charleston that night to walk around and get some dessert. Downtown Charleston was so cool!! There were some parts of it that was like going back in time, im a big history buff so seeing all these historical places were the civil war took place was awesome. Narrow brick ally's cobblestone roads, incredible old houses that were like going back in time gas street lamps........it was truly incredible. So after walking around in the cold for a while we went to get dessert and it was mmmmmmmm delicious.




The inside of that little dessert and coffee shop.


MMMMMMMM Fattening


Jens girlie drink......way to sweet for me.


Mine on the other hand was bitter and had booze in it........it was sooo good!


After that we were tired and called it a night.The next day we didnt have a lot of time as there was a storm heading in and i didnt really want to drive in the dark and in the rain. So we headed out, picked up one of steves friends and got some lunch at a sweet Thai food place in downtown Charleston. After nlunch and dropping of Steve's friend We headed for a place called Angel Oak. I didnt know what to expect, i knew from talking to Steve that it was a big tree. I thought.....ok big tree lets go check it out. OH MAN!!! This thing was MASSIVE!! Its 1500 year old Oak that words just cannot describe and my pictures do it very little justice. It was a lot of fun to be there and shoot......











Steve is a big guy, very few things dwarf him.........we finally found one.


After this we made a quick stop to the photography studio that Steve worked at before moving to Romania. After that we hit the road and i had to drive in a torrential downpour and in the dark. I will say this though, after driving through a South Carolina rain storm the heaviest Southern California storm is like child's play. Well, thats it i could write much more but who wants to read it. I would like to extend a huge thanks to my brother Daniel for the use of his vehicle, to Steve for showing us around and finding us a place to sleep for free and to Steve's freinds for putting us up for the night. Our visit was awesome! Cant wait to go back.