Yummy super sized clouds.....

Well if you havent noticed by now there was a BIG change made to the ol blog. Thanks to my friend and AMAZING photographer Blaine Franger i was able to figure out how to "supersize" the photos on here. They are huge....maybe a little to huge. The biggest concerns is of course load time so if any of you that read the blog experience really slow load times or the photos are just to big then let me know. Ok so i have been sitting on these photos for like a week now since i have been waiting for the info that i needed to make the size change now that i figured out how i have some new posts for all of you to enjoy. 1st up is the tasty stormy skies that we had last week, ive been really busy and didnt get a lot of time to shoot but managed to get some quick snaps. I love this time of year since its getting cold now and we get lots more stormy skies which makes for a lot more dramatic photos. I cant wait for the next storm to pass through. Heres some photos. Enjoy!!






I also dont want to forget to thank my brother in law William Wilson, who despite his incredibly busy schedule scraped up some time and made it possible for me to make big pictures on here.Thanks brotha as always you are amazing. Come back soon as i have quite a few new post coming up including some night stuff down in Coronado that i did with my buddy Mike Baca

addendum:
In addition i would like to give a shout out to my budy Michael Chan whom i forgot to thank. I was having trouble figuring all this html stuff but he led me to HTML Dog which was a HUGE help and answered a lot of questions for me. Thanks dude, sorry i forgot about ya!!

Log Cabin Shootout.....

Earlier this year i did a post of when i was over at my buddy Shane's house. This place is ridiculously cool because it looks like and old Lincoln Log House. Well not to long ago Shane proposed to his girlfriend (now fiance) Sarah and i asked if i could do some engagement photos with them. Not the cutesie lets kiss and hold each other kind of stuff mind you. No sir......i know that they both like to shoot guns, and Shane has always liked to collect them. So i wanted to incorporate this into the photos, i decided that we should just shoot at Shanes house since the property lends itself well with what i wanted to do. Not only that but i figured that we might have problems with people if we were shooting photos on the beach and Shane was holding a 12 gauge shotgun. dont know why people are so paranoid but i figured it best to avoid the fiasco. Anyhoo the afternoon was a blast ( no pun intended ) and we got some pretty cool stuff, for now heres a couple of shots. Ill post more as i get more time to work on them. Enjoy!!

Wavecrest 2007

Saturday was a sweet day!! My dad told me about a car show that was going on in Encinitas, but not just any car show......the Woodie show. I love classic cars and love to go to Hot Rod shows and such, but this is something different. Woodies are in a league all their own, yes the wood paneling sets them apart from normal classic muscle cars but its the whole culture around them that is really fun. Everything about the cars just says laid back cruisin along the coast. Its so cool to talk with the owners and seeing really how the car is an extension of their personality. It was awesome and it was great to be there with my Dad who has taken an interest in photography i might add. The really surprising thing though was the fact that i was up at 6 am to be at dads house.....now thats just unheard of for me!! Having never shot these cars before i took the same approach as i have with other cars and shots detail stuff. It worked great in the sense that it showed the beautiful wood paneling but i dont feel it really captures the essence of the what the cars are about. next time i want to try and show more of the "culture" side of it. So i shot cars in the morning and in the afternoon did an engagement session with my buddy Shane and his bride to be Sarah, but pictures will come later on........but it was a ton of fun. Havent had a lot of time go through and edit but heres a few shots from the show. Enjoy!

Return to Paul Ecke Ranch....

Yesterday i returned to Paul Ecke Ranch for a photoshoot (for a local publication) i had actually been there last year as well to get photos of the ranches specialty....Poinsettias. This year i had to go back and get some quick grab shots and a quick portrait of Mr. Paul Ecke III. I thought this place was HUGE last time i was there but apparently i only saw a fraction of what it truly is, this time i walked all over the place and it just kept on going. I couldnt believe how big this place was!! What a contrast though from last year, last time all the flowers were in bloom so there was color everywhere, this time it was all green. It was a lot of fun, and i got a nice workout in the process all in all a good day. Heres some photos.

Return to the cemetery.....

Just a little advice..........never watch zombie movies when you have to go shoot at a cemetery at night!!! Your mind just starts playing trick on you man, luckily my buddy Michael Chan decided to accompany me on that shoot. It was fun to have him there and just be able to talk to someone, night photograhy while exciting to see the results is extremely BOOOOORING waiting for the exposure to finish up. As if that not enough you have to wait after the exposure too because the camera does noise reduction which can take just as long as the exposure. So this shoot was again for a local publication, i was planning on shoting more that night but like an idiot i forgot to charge my batteries. So i didnt have enough power fo more exposures, so yeah there you go. Heres the 2 exposures from the night. Enjoy!!

Belated Labor Day.....

So i took these images on Labor Day of course, but i have just been so busy with stuff that i havent been ablt to post them. We sepnt labor day at Williams boss's house and pretty much spent all day in the pool and hanging out. It was a lot of fun, i actually did something really stupid though. Not having an underwater housing to play with i decided to put my camera in a ziplock bag and tryt o shoot that way. Aside from the fact that its sketchy beyond belief to do that and it pissed my wife off beyond all measure it was still fun. the i mages were blurry of course since youre shooting through plastic, but i thought it made them look kind of Holgaish too. Just to clarify, i only dipped the front end of the camera in not the whole thing.......how dumb do you think i am!?!?! dont answer that. Anyhoo, shot some other stuff at sunset and then called it a day, over all it was way relaxing and fun. Enjoy.

Congrats to David & Julia....

Last Saturday i had the great privilege to shoot my brother David's wedding. It was a really small (and i do mean small ceremony). There was no wedding party and it was only immediate family at the ceremony. I am incredibly honored to be considered family and was able to attend, better yet i got to shoot it. They were married in this nice little garden at the Fairmont Hotel. Now.....i dont usually get sentimental but being that this is my blog and i can do whatever i want with it im going to get sentimental now. Its very rare to meet great people on this journey that last for no more than a blink of an eye. It seems even more rare to meet people in this world that can see the good in others and are willing to open their lives and home and take a chance on someone just to make a difference. In my life there has been no greater (human) influence than the Coulters, in a time when i was just learning about God still letting go of my past life and when most people believed that i would be a failure in life......they were the ones who took a chance on me. To this day i cannot comprehend what they were able to see in me, but when no one else wanted to take that chance they opened up their lives and their home to me and called me son. They have encouraged and supported me beyond all measure and comprehension and are truly one of the biggest reasons why im able to pursue my dream now. In a world were caring for one another is nothing more than a dying virtue it is refreshing to know that there are a few still in it that can give people hope. Mom and Dad to you i owe a debt that can never be repaid, Danny and David you two are truly my brothers in this world and thank you for your amazing influence in my life. Julia, i cannot think of a better woman for David, welcome to the family. Some people are privileged enough to keep in touch with those who influence them greatly, i am blessed beyond all measure to call them family.

The secret graveyard....

Got an email to shoot some pictures of a graveyard for a local publication last week. Since the article is not published yet i cannot divulge any details and cannot publish the location of the graveyard either since it is privately owned. It was fun to shoot though and the caretaker was this really cool elderly gentleman that has apparently lived on the property his whole life. It was fun to hear about the history of the location and all that went into the burial, since it is privately owned only members of the family that own it may be buried there. I went out to shoot and shot some of the grave stones and went for making some of the images look darker and moodier. I got permission to go back at night which im really excited about because i want to do some star trails and light painting. There was also a bunch of old tractors and other tools around the property and while they had little to do with what i was sent to shoot i still got some quick shots. I got permission to post some images, so here they are. Enjoy.






This is an old lawn mower that was laying around. Underexposed the scene by about a stop with a tungsten white balance and used my strobe off camera with an orange gel. The white balance makes the scene go really blue and the orange gel on the strobe throws on a really warm orange light that i think contrasts nicely against the blue. This 1st image is pretty heavily photoshopped but the next one is not besides a minor contrast curve. the 2 images are pretty much the same except that on the 2nd image i used a snoot on the strobe to concentrate the light to a small area.