Couple Enjoying View of San Diego Skyline, Coronado Island

Baby Boomer Couple Enjoying View of Downtown San Diego Skyline While Seated at Waterfront Park, Coronado Island, California

What caught my eye about this scene is that it could work well for magazine and travel guide covers. While not a photo I'd likely hang on my wall, publishing has different needs such as space for logo and type. Plus the picture also suggests that people are enjoying the scene which is always a plus when it comes to travel imagery.

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San Diego City Skyline

San Diego City Skyline at Dusk, Coronado Island, California

This was last night's sunset at Coronado Island. I had never crossed the bridge over into Coronado before yesterday. I knew that San Diego had a strong military presence, but didn't realize that almost the entire coastline is devoted to military operations. In fact, just to the north of where I took this photo was there was a huge Naval base. The military planes flying in and out of the island make for a challenging cell phone conversation experience but interesting to see.

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Kids, Ribbons and Photos

America's Kids Exhibition Prizes, LA County Fair, California

I've been like a kid in a candy store the past few days while using the actions to process my photos.

By the way, it's almost that time of year again for the L.A. County Fair. This year features a photo contest called, "Paw Prints". Maybe someday I'll get a ribbon myself.

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Photography Website Re-Launch

I would like to announce that I have relaunched my photography website: Richard Wong Photography: Image Boutique

The previous design was a very personal one for me as it related to my family history but it didn't integrate well with other forms of media. I needed something where I could tie together all of my online and physical marketing materials in a cohesive manner. I also wanted a contemporary design not unlike that of a boutique you might find at The Grove. So after nearly four years of the old website, I have re-branded my website.

This is the start of many new things. I have launched a "Merch" section where you can purchase my magazine currently and will eventually be accompanied by other items. I also plan to add more multimedia. Eventually I also hope to have a portfolio website developed and leave this site as an e-commerce website.

One thing for certain is that for future heavy-duty stuff, I will consider outsourcing the development of my ideas so I can concentrate more on the photography and less time behind a computer.

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Sports Cars For Rent, Las Vegas Strip

Sports Cars For Rent on the Strip, Las Vegas, Nevada

I have been looking for ways to streamline the digital production aspect of my images because it has just taking up way too much of my time that would be best served doing other things. So I've been experimenting with various Photoshop actions that I found on some photography forums. I think I found a nice combination of actions now that I can use for any given image.

This photo here required no retouching on my part. I just clicked on "Dave's Image Punch!", the Orton Effect on Screen blending mode, and the medium "Kalifbanane Cross-Coloring" actions. It looks just as good if not better than what I would have done manually, and still looks realistic.

So from now on, I'll be looking to use my actions to process my files unless there's a compelling reason to do it manually. I'm excited!

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New Redwood Coast Web Gallery

If you've been following my blog for the past month, you probably know that I went on my first trip up to California's North Coast. So now I have uploaded a gallery of images onto my website:

Redwood Coast Photos

Thanks.

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The Golden State Photos Magazine

I just got the proof back from my first magazine and I am impressed with how well the photos were reproduced on the pages. I've heard a lot of horror stories about other photographers not being happy with the print quality of their images from various book publishers and magazines so I'm happy the report that there are no such issues with the MagCloud publisher.

The Golden State Photos Magazine is now available for purchase for $5.50 and features several full and double-page spreads worth of photography. While they aren't quite as large as my 12 x 18 and larger sized archival fine art prints, the magazine provides a much better viewing experience than seeing the photos on the web in my opinion.

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Jesus Loves Laura?

Jesus Loves Laura, San Gabriel Valley, California

I have been hiking regularly for over a month now, both with and without my camera. Two days ago I encountered this in the hills near my house. The only words I could make out was the + Laura. I figured it was a guy doing something romantic for his girl. How sweet! Then I went back last night with my camera and once I looked through my viewfinder I was able to see what it said. All of the sudden, it felt sobering to realize this perhaps didn't have such a happy ending. However one question remains for me, what does it say between the names Laura and Michael? It appears to be a "1 43" but I'm not sure. I looked on the internet, and no biblical passages fit. Nor does it say, "and". How it reads to me is, "Jesus loves Laura and Michael" but I can't quite connect the dots due to the ambiguous nature of those three letters. I even looked through the local news sites and search engines, came up with nothing.

Laura and Michael?

Does anyone have any answers or theories about what this message represents?

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June Gloom at Point Vicente

June Gloom Coastline, Rancho Palos Verdes, California

Gary's equipment was giving him all sorts of issues last Tuesday so I thought this image was fitting of his day.

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Point Vicente Lighthouse

Photographer Gary Crabbe Taking Pictures of Point Vicente Lighthouse, Rancho Palos Verdes, California

Last Tuesday, I went to Point Vicente to meet up with photographer Gary Crabbe since he was in Southern California to take pictures for his 5th book, Backroads of the California Coast. If you're not familiar with Gary's work, he worked for legendary outdoor adventure / nature photographer Galen Rowell for nearly ten years prior to starting his own career ten years ago. And he's a pretty damn good photographer himself.

A few minutes after I took this photo, Allen Schaben, a staff photographer from the Los Angeles Times approached us and we all ended up shooting and chatting for the rest of the day since the light never really materialized. Allen was a pretty cool dude. The day before, he covered a shooting in Inglewood. Talk about an awesome job! The drawback to being a staff photographer though is that the newspaper owns your assignment images. If they paid enough, I'd probably be okay with that too though.

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Venice Beach Drum Circle

Young Woman Playing Tambourine in Drum Circle, Venice Beach, California

Compositionally there are things I would like to have done differently in this photo but I felt that this was the picture captured the vibe that I experienced at Venice Beach last Sunday. I actually had a few that I felt were technically better from a compositional standpoint but the girl's expression in this frame is what draws me to this one in addition to the murky lighting conditions. The photos where she is looking into the camera didn't quite work in my opinion.

I think that is the interesting part to photography. There are elements that generally make for solid compositions but there are no formulas or rules that make for an emotional connection with the scene. Photography is a lot like jazz improv in that way. You learn your craft and practice it, but when it comes down to it, sometimes you've just got to go out there and wing it. That is when all the preparation you did prior pays off.

35mm, f7.1, 1/60 sec, ISO 400, hand-held.

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Beach Party, Venice

Girl Dancing in Drum Circle, Venice Beach, California

Last Sunday I went to Venice Beach to try shooting some "youth culture" for Photoshelter's Shoot! the Day contest. I photographed the drum circle last month but had been wanting to do a re-shoot so this contest gave me another excuse to shoot more photos of this weekly event. This time was a little different because the cops made us all move near the water rather than stay next to the boardwalk. I think this loosened everyone up more and attracted a bigger crowd so there were quite a few people dancing this time. Fortunately, mostly attractive young women.

I wanted to mess around with longer exposures for a few shots so I stopped down to f16 and got nearly one-second exposures while hand-holding. This was one of the few attempts that came out with just the right parts moving and the rest sharp.

17-35mm @ 17mm, f16, 1/8 sec, ISO 100, hand-held

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Trinidad State Beach

Trinidad State Beach, California

This was taken on the last evening of the trip. I didn't really encounter any special lighting conditions during this trip, as it was mostly just harsh light, but it was a relatively productive trip nonetheless. Trinidad is definitely a place that I would like to explore some more as this area has potential for great scenic photos.

Now that I've been to the North Coast, the only other areas that I haven't visited along the California Coast are the Mendocino Coastline and the Crescent City / Smith River area which was just a few miles north of Klamath. Where I would also like to spend some more time photographing is Big Sur and the Sonoma Coast.

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The Little People, The Trees of Mystery

The Little People Redwood Sculptures at The Trees of Mystery, Klamath, California

A big part of the Trees of Mystery narrates the Paul Bunyan mythology with pre-recorded stories. I thought this was one of the more interesting attractions along the Tale of Tall Trees trail. I should have brought along a pen and paper so I could have written down the back story of this.

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Paul Bunyan & Babe the Blue Ox

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, Trees of Mystery, Klamath, California

I've always liked cheesy road side attractions. There's just something charming about them. When you walk up to the 49 ft. tall Paul Bunyan, an friendly older male voice greets and interacts with the guests. You can't see where the guy is, but I'm guessing he's either hiding inside of the visitor center or inside of Paul Bunyan.

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Klamath

Speared to Death Indian Statue at Trees of Mystery Entrance, Klamath, California

My first reaction when pulling into the Trees of Mystery parking lot was, "Wow!" Klamath is located within the Yurok Indian Reservation so I found this statue to be a powerful statement.

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Samoa Dunes Recreation Area

Bush Lupine at Sunset, Samoa Dunes Recreation Area, California

I couldn't pull myself away from motel TV while watching Game 4 of the NBA Finals until the almost too late (8 minutes to go in the game, 12 til the sunset, Lakers up by 2) to get this sunset. After the sunset, I turned the radio back on in the car to hear the final score and felt that the sun had set on the Lakers season as well after blowing a 24 point lead. The Lakers ended up winning Game 5, and well Game 6 you can look up the box score yourself...

This was the first time that I've had to choose between my life-long obsession with the Lakers and photography. Not really a fun situation to be in. If the Lakers had won the game then I guess it would have been a little more palatable. I'm glad that I managed to salvage something from this evening though.

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Louis Armstrong Mural, Eureka

Louis Armstrong Mural on Parking Lot Wall, Eureka, California

Eureka seems to have a lot of murals all over town. This mural of legendary jazz trumpeter and singer, Louis Armstrong really caught my eye because he was someone that I have a lot of respect for. I believe that this mural was probably done for the Arkley Center for Performing Arts at the Richard Sweasey Theatre because sharing the mural with "Satchmo" was a clown and some other entertainment stuff.

Eureka definitely has a charm of it's own. The town has it's rugged side with the industrial aspect, and a cultured side such as this mural suggests.

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Richard Sweasey Theatre, Eureka

Arkley Center For The Performing Arts in Richard Sweasey Theater Building, Eureka, California

Carson Mansion is a beautiful Victorian mansion no doubt, but I think the architectural style of the Richard Sweasey Theatre is just as unique. When driving through Eureka on Highway 101, it really caught my attention. This building was built in 1919 and at one point, housed the Dalys Department store from the 1970's til the 1990's. It was sat vacantly in disrepair for a lengthy period of time afterwards until they finally restored it to house the performing arts center now. I don't know what it used to look like, but I'm glad that they restored it because it is truly a work of art.

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Carson Mansion, Eureka

The Carson Mansion, Old Town Eureka, California

Carson Mansion is arguably the most recognizable landmark on the North Coast. A Victorian-era mansion, it's a private men's club now so there are no tours offered. The nice thing about photographing Carson Mansion before dawn is that there are no other tourists out there. The lights are still on as the sun starts to rise so it's nice to able to get a good exposure with backlighting. Unfortunately on this morning, it was overcast until around 8 a.m. so I didn't get to photograph an actual sunrise at this location.

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