Greyballed.  That's what it's called when you're thwarted by grey skies.  One can understand apertures, shutter speeds, lens and filter selection, composition, etc.  You can make great efforts to get to the place you need to be, and at the right time.  But luck still plays its hand at landscape photography.  And in this case, my luck ran out.  I was hoping to obtain images of the rugged Oregon coastline backed by beautiful pastel sunsets.  We even stayed at the Sunset Oceanview Lodge!  Though, I did return back to Redding with some decent black & white images.

It often seems non-photographers fail to comprehend the lengths that photographers go through in order to acquire their images.  I'd estimate that maybe 1 out of 10  trips yields useable results.  This trip to Bandon, Oregon, falls into that 90% of the unusable ones, unfortunately. 

Bandon is a quaint little coastal town, with not much to offer other than it's intriguing scenery and cold summer temperatures.  Restaurants are just average.  But we did enjoy the Safari Game Park while we were there, which contains a host of wild animals and offers the opportunity of handling some of the baby ones.  On our way home, we stopped at one of our favorite places, Trinidad, for lunch at the Trinidad Bay Eatery, which always prepares delicious meals.  I may try to head back to Bandon in the winter or fall, as supposedly that's when the best sunsets tend to occur.  We'll see!

Photography is like sex:  The urge builds up the longer you go without it.  Seeking a location is like foreplay.  And each release of the shutter is purely orgasmic.  In photographic terms, I'd be considered a bisexual.  That is, I never know if I'm going to wake up one morning craving portraits or craving landscapes.

Well, my landscape craving was definitely satiated on this trip to Death Valley, which was a first for me.  Having grown up in the desert, it reminded me much of home (several years ago, prior the population explosion), right down to the smells of the mesquite bushes and moist sand after the rains.  Of course, there are a lot of qualities that make Death Valley unique, for example the windswept sand dunes, Badwater Basin, Devil's Golf Course, and the mysterious racetrack.

Hear that?  It's the sound of absolute nothingness.  Photographing Badwater Basin was the quietest place I've ever experienced.  There was a deathly silence and absence of any life form as far as the eye could see....No weeds, not even mosquitoes.  Weird.  Occasionally I'd hear the sound of salt planks collapsing upon themselves, which added to the eeriness. Atop the sand dunes offered a similar experience, with the exception that I could hear the wind swirling around my ears.  The trip was a magical experience.  I'd love revisit it some day.

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Unfortunately, I received notification just prior to my departure that my Aunt Lydia unexpectedly passed away.  Lydia was a beautiful, genuinely sincere and caring person, and will be sadly missed.  My heart goes out to my cousins Scott, Jessica, and Angela.  I wish you all well during these difficult times.

Finally, after months of contiguous portraits, what a pleasure it was to head out for some landscape photography.  When I think about it, I've lived all over California:  Palm Springs, Sherman Oaks, Palm Desert, La Jolla, Scripps Ranch, Pomona, San Dimas, Huntington Beach, Anaheim, Loma Linda, San Francisco, Temecula, and now beautiful Redding.  Photographic opportunities abound throughout the state.  This most recent trip to the Salton Sea proved a first, however, in terms of success in acquiring usable images.

The Salton Sea is quite odiferous, with millions of rotting fish carcasses and bacteria-laden water accumulating along its periphery.  And yet, under the right light and cloud conditions, it's a magnificent place to photograph, with beautiful desert mountain ranges and the Anza-Borrego desert nearby.

And so, I welcome the New Year with a new set of much anticipated images, more of which I hope to acquire over the upcoming months.  Brian and I are trying to coordinate our next expedition, which I'm guessing, if not hoping, will take place in Oregon, since, after Bend, I've been desiring to revisit the state, especially its incredible coast.  Can't wait.

Looking back, what a year it has been.  Let's hope for the best in 2010.  I wish everyone well.  Bless!

Well, suffice it to say that I've been extraordinarily busy. Senior portraits have finally wound down, giving me a chance to post images of my new studio, which I've been meaning to do since construction finished in September. This is it. It's 48 feet in depth and 26 feet in width, giving me all the space I ever dreamed of. There's an interior bathroom, closet, and extra storage for props and supplies.

Areas painted on the back walls are dedicated to high key, neutral, and low key settings. There are also two background hangers for muslins and rolls of seamless paper.

There is an outdoor shower and access to the pool for more creative shooting. Over time I'll design dedicated exterior settings for outdoor shots, and am currently researching options.

Now is probably a good time to enter a plug for my contractor, Pete Streiff, of Sabre Crest Constructors (530-510-0962). I can't speak highly enough of Pete. He really listened and executed flawlessly all of my ideas. He's very well connected, with excellent subcontractors, all of which did a splendid job. I'd recommend him without hesitation.

Family sessions are in full swing now, as the fall colors turn and Christmas nears. I've had the itch to shoot landscapes, too, but haven't had the chance given the multitude of portrait sessions. I was just in Vegas and had hoped to photograph Death Valley, which, unfortunately, didn't pan out. I sense a pending road trip approaching!

We encountered some great scenery, like this one taken above the Grand Prismatic Springs at Yellowstone. The colors here are spectacular (and all natural). You can walk along a quarter of its border. The steam is ultra-thick, fogging up lenses in seconds. But its warmth is welcome in the midst of the bitter cold. Yellowstone offers unique and otherworldy locations to shoot. The many geysers and vast wilderness were genuinely overwhelming. Of course, wildlife abounds (see below).

All-in-all, Yellowstone was an interesting experience. I recommend really, really long lenses, like 500-600 mm (and more with teleconverters) to take advantage of the magnificent wildlife there.

Bend, Oregon, was the big surprise of the trip. I knew something was going on in this small town when we came across Porsche and Mercedes dealerships. It turns out to be a unique little resort, offering a host of outdoor activities, like kayaking, skiing, camping, hiking, and fishing. Weather there is impeccable: Cool in the summer but not unbearably cold in the winter. Real estate comes at a hefty price tag. Thank goodness for hotels, since I'll definitely be back. It's only about a 5.5 hour drive; and it has some extraordinarily beautiful scenery.

I'm very content with my Sparks Lake series. There are several lakes with great views of the many snow-capped mountains. It's hard to go wrong there photographically!

As mentioned above, there were tons of wildlife. We saw 4 bears (2 grizzlies and 2 black bears), 2 moose, 3 badgers, a beaver, a host of birds, pronghorn deer, elk, a bighorn sheep, herds upon herds of bison, and more. The bison were funny. They were everywhere, often taking strolls up and down the streets. As big as they are, they can really sneak up on you quietly. And they can get mean. We encountered no problems, fortunately.

I shot all my wildlife shots with a Nikon D300 and 300 mm lens (450 mm equivalent). There were a lot of photographers sporting $9,000 lenses in the 600 mm f/4.0 category. Truth be told, I had little interest in shooting the wildlife. For anyone who's more serious about it though, big glass is really a necessity.

Buffalo

So that's about it. The Tetons for me really stole the show. Photographs can't do them justice. But Palouse Falls in Washington was the weirdest place on our trip.Yellowstone was great for wildlife, but less so for landscapes, believe it or not. Jackson and Bend are two beautiful resort towns that I highly recommend vacationing to.

It took me a good week to recover from this trip. But it was perfect, and worth it in every regard. Upon my return to Redding, the footings for my new studio had already been dug. Today they poured the concrete slab. The next addition to this blog will undoubtedly revolve around its completion. Just something more to look forward to...and I can't wait.

Well, I've been heading to Whiskeytown Lake every evening to take advantage of these great sunsets we've been experiencing here in Redding. Summer storms are the best, and really remind me of Hawaii. Plus, they've been giving me plenty of opportunities to get accustomed to my new camera before the upcoming journey. It's important to know your equipment prior to using it for serious jobs. 21 megapixels allow me to print enlargements well above 30 x 40 inches with unsurpassed quality, which I'm certain paying clients will appreciate.

Larger images also equate to larger computer files. Each image takes up about 30 MB hard drive space. What's not seen is that for each image posted, I might have taken between 30-60 images to get it. I've got back-ups to my back-ups in terms of hard drives. But suffice it to say, I'll be needing yet another computer...and am just awaiting the release of Windows 7, which hopefully will be soon.

The portrait on the left is of Brian. We'll be heading north to the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and much more in about two weeks. Can't wait. My next post will be after we get back.

Well, I’ve been pretty busy and haven’t had much chance to update this blog.  We went to San Francisco last week for Easter Break and had a relaxing time.  We finally got out to Point Reyes, where I was able to acquire some great shots (also see the Earth Gallery).

We had wanted to go to the Academy of Sciences for some time since they remodeled it.  But when we got there at around 10:30 am, the place was absolutely swamped, and we kept on driving.  The next day we decided to arrive early and ended up FIRST in line.  Much to our surprise, that day ended up being free ($80 admission subsidized by Wachovia), and, since all the kids were off from school, they were expecting 10,000 visitors that day.  Before we knew it, the line had grown to beyond visible distance (see images).  We felt very special.

The kids are viewing the white aligator!

It was pretty cool.  My favorite part was the movie at the planetarium, in which you transcend the exhibit, fly around the globe, then throughout the universe.  It was definitely out of this world.

Photography has been good.  I recently took best of show in photography at the Sundial Film Festival.  I had an $810 order in landscape prints from a local dentist, and I’ve just ordered the new Canon 5DmkII 21 MP full frame camera along with some accessories.  Photography should really start picking up at this time of year, too.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get out for a lot of landscapes.  Brian & I are planning an epic journey up to Washington and back, and expect to get some amazing shots.  That trip is for the next update to my blog though.  So check back in late June!

This weekend was absolutely pristine. I headed out to Whitmore Falls with Brian for some early morning landscapes prior to starting the multitude of family portraits that were scheduled. Whitmore Falls is located just a few minutes outside of Redding, and offers some unique shooting. And it's very easy to get to, which is an added bonus. Prior to our arrival, however, we decided to do some shooting out in an open field, which turned out not so easy, unfortunately. There was what seemed to be a small creek that we needed to cross. Well, that creek in fact ended up a big swamp, which couldn't be visualzed through the overgrowth of brush. Suffice it to say that I took an unexpected mud bath. Brian fared much better (until we got to the falls, when he misjudged the depth of a small water hole and took a bath himself...HaHa). These are the hazards of photography that we subject ourselves to, that most people don't realize. I think it should be a sport. A dangerous one. I'd swear I have 9 lives (actually more).

I've had a lot of inquiries regarding purchasing landscape prints. First, the print prices are the same as for portraits, the list of which can be seen on my "Pricing" page. Second, yes, the images viewed here on my blog page can be purchased as well. I thank you for your interests.

From Snow to Sun

Talk about a busy week. I went from the freezing cold climate of Mt. Lassen on the west coast to the warm and sunny beaches of Hilton Head on the east coast...and back again...and it's only Thursday. I had to cut my trip to the east short given five scheduled portrait sessions between now and Sunday. But it's the kind of busy I enjoy! The weather should start getting great for photography, likely up until May or so. Of course, the fall colors notoriously result in increased numbers of family portait sessions, of which several are brewing. I hope to find time to go shoot more landscapes in the upcoming weeks. Redding and its surroundings offer so much in the way of fantastic scenery. Autumn and spring are by far the most beautiful times of the year here.

The lake is terribly low in water right now, though. It's truly a sight for sore eyes. Hopefully we'll get significant amounts of rain...but only during working hours. We got a decent snowfall in the mountains and some rain a couple of weeks ago which should help. Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen are already blanketed in snow and are gleaming in their usual beauty! Above are three images from this past week. There are many more to come!

Waist-deep in the frigid water with waves crashing against rocks at either side of me, trying to prevent yet another camera from succumbing to a watery death, I'm thinking to myself: "Boy, I've GOT to find a different hobby!" And yet, this vacation to Trinidad was a blast. It was a nice break from the suffocating smoke settling in Redding due to the 1,000 lighting strike fires, and was a great way to beat the heat as well. Weather in Trinidad was completely random, ranging from stormy, to foggy, to sunny...and that was just in the first hour of our arrival, which makes for great picture-taking opportunities that I had to take advantage of.

The freezing water of course didn't deter the kids from getting soaked. As long as there's water...they're in it, regardless of the temperature or time of year. I learned that during our time in San Francisco, living just up the street from Baker Beach. I've concluded that kids are immune to frozen pools, oceans, and lakes, which I don't mind, since they seem to go to bed early afterwards. Oh, to be young again!

I spent several hours of our vacation at Patrick's Point, waiting patiently on a big rock for just the right light. Fortunately, collecting agates kept the rest of the clan occupied just long enough. I saw a whale for the first time. Make that many whales, so many in fact that I finally lost count. It was a spiritual thing for me...really.

So, we get back to Redding only to learn that the 4th of July fireworks have been cancelled due to the fires. I'm not sure what the authorities are concerned about since everything's already burned anyway. Oh well, Mt. Shasta City is supposed to have a nice display (which we'll be missing, unfortunately).

That's it for now. I hope you have a nice 4th of July!

May 23, 2008

What photographer doesn't like Yosemite (or anybody for that matter)? I can think of none. My most recent trip was a good one. Each time I go, it's a different experience...different light, different clouds, varying colors of foliage, etc. I saw my first bear this time, which was close and consequently a little daunting. Of course, deer and coyote were relatively plentiful as well.